For our first annual Free Speech Awards, the Media Research Center (MRC) is honoring 35 champions of the First Amendment, including five members of the U.S. Senate, 10 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 10 additional public officials and 10 outstanding advocates of free speech in non-governmental organizations. On Monday, MRC announced its Senate honorees. Today, it is recognizing ten members of the U.S. House of Representatives who have stood strong for Americans’ free speech rights, especially on social media. The recipients of the MRC’s 2024 Free Speech Awards are Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), Dan Bishop (R-NC), Ben Cline (R-VA), Tom Cole (R-OK), Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Darrell Issa (R-CA), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rich McCormick (R-GA) and Jay Obernolte (R-CA). MRC Founder and President Brent Bozell hailed these lawmakers in a statement announcing the awards as part of Free Speech Week.  “We mark the second day of free speech week with the 2024 Top 10 House Members to defend the First Amendment,” Bozell said. “Speaker Mike Johnson, along with Chairmen Jim Jordan and Tom Cole, have led the effort to investigate and halt censorship efforts from the federal government.”  Bozell continued: “It is truly astounding how much the deep state was able to censor during the Biden-Harris years, and how much these defenders of free speech have been able to halt through their Congressional efforts.” Five awarded congressmen have faced online censorship as documented in MRC’s exclusive CensorTrack database. ♦ 2024 MRC Free Speech Award Winner: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)  Speaker Johnson has marshaled Congressional leaders, in an unprecedented way, to fight for the preservation of the First Amendment by defunding censorship initiatives throughout the Biden-Harris administration and for ensuring that the Kids Online Safety Act stayed focused on protecting children, not censoring constitutionally-protected speech.  He defunded the Biden-Harris censorship initiatives across three separate appropriations bills, which defunded the censorship acts of the departments of State, Homeland Security, and Defense, all of which are heavily involved in the Censorship Industrial Complex. As a former member of the House Judiciary Committee, Johnson forcefully called out government-tied censorship, delivering an epic smackdown of embattled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after MRC Free Speech America unveiled that DHS funded a program that drew parallels between conservatives, Christians and Republicans with hate groups. “The reason the Framers of our Constitution did not create an exception for ‘false information’ from the First Amendment is because they didn’t trust the government to determine what it is,” Johnson said. “And you have whole committees of people in your agency trying to determine what they, they determined, they defined as false or misinformation.” ♦ 2024 MRC Free Speech Award Winner: Rep. Jim Banks  Rep. Banks remained a strong and consistent ally in defending First Amendment free speech rights, advocating for policies that protect Americans’ right to freely express their views. In September, Banks launched an investigation into the Department of State after its press office claimed Banks’s efforts to expose censorship were somehow Russian disinformation.  In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Banks affirmed that such retort was a “sloppy and hypocritical lie” typical of the Biden-Harris State Department’s “repeated attacks on the First Amendment and Americans’ free speech rights.” In August 2020, Banks introduced the Campus Free Speech Restoration Act, seeking to strip “speech codes” curtailing free speech at public universities. The bill would have required learning institutions to disclose policies related to free speech. “Like so much else Americans cherish, the modern radical left wants to destroy Free Speech. This twisted worldview originated in universities, where it entrenched itself and is now moving to silence all dissent," Banks said of the proposed legislation. "Taxpayers shouldn't be forced to fund the subversion of America's most valuable principles. Without free political expression, we can't preserve what's made America great." Proud to receive @theMRC inaugural Free Speech Award! I will always defend our first amendment rights ?? pic.twitter.com/dWHG7vlJKX — Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) September 19, 2024 ♦ 2024 MRC Free Speech Award Winner: Rep. Dan Bishop Rep. Bishop led the initiative to block the federal government from exploiting taxpayer-funded dollars to subsidize the Censorship Industrial Complex. He is running to become North Carolina’s next attorney general, calling this election a “pivotal moment for free speech.” In April, Bishop rebuked Wikipedia after co-founder Larry Sanger alleged the digital encyclopedia colluded with the U.S. intelligence community to fix entries.  “The censorship-laundering enterprise, fed by government money and other resources, is pervasive,” Bishop wrote in response to the scandal. “Sunlight is the best weapon to defend/restore freedom, and exposure of the crazed ideologues in positions of power [sic] the best version of that.” ♦ 2024 MRC Free Speech Award Winner: Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) Rep. Cline has led the initiative to defund the Biden-Harris Administration’s censorship initiatives and to expose National Public Radio (NPR) for its censorship activities. He has also been one of the most vocal critics of the federal government's efforts to censor Americans. In September 2023, Cline sought to defund the United Nation’s efforts to launch an AI-fueled fact-checking tool dubbed “iVerify.” This tool would have labeled and censored speech online under the guise of fighting mis-, dis- and mal-information.  “That’s wrong and goes against the very principles enshrined in the First Amendment,” Cline said of the infamous program. “We must prevent taxpayer dollars from playing any part in censorship on a global scale, and my bill will do just that.” ♦ 2024 MRC Free Speech Award Winner: House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole Rep. Cole has provided unprecedented leadership as the House Appropriations Committee Chairman to defund the Biden-Harris Administration’s censorship initiatives throughout the executive branch of government.  He led the defunding of several government-tied censorship initiatives at the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State. House Republicans’ message to government censors was loud and clear: No taxpayer dollars will ever be used to censor Americans. ♦ 2024 MRC Free Speech Award Winner: Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) Rep. Hageman spearheaded the investigation into the DHS’s censorship regime and fought to strip qualified immunity from government censors who sought to infringe upon free speech. In 2023, Hageman pressed DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after MRC Free Speech America exposed the taxpayer-funded Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention grant program that tied conservatives to hate groups and terrorist organizations.  In July 2024, Hageman introduced the Standing to Challenge Government Censorship Act, a bill that would provide a right of action against federal employees and agencies that collude with social media platforms to censor Americans. “Our forefathers ratified the First Amendment recognizing that government actors would always seek to control public discourse in order to protect their power structure,” Hageman said in a statement announcing the bill. “No one has a monopoly on truth, and the Biden administration and federal agencies are not entitled to declare that American’s speech is ‘mis-information,’ ‘dis-information,’ or ‘mal-information’ ... We will continue to fight to protect our First Amendment rights.” ♦ 2024 MRC Free Speech Award Winner: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)  Rep. Issa fought to hold the National Science Foundation accountable for its weaponization of Artificial Intelligence against conservatives and worked to expose the Biden-Harris administration’s broader censorship regime. In October 2024, Issa pressed the Department of State to act against the anti-free speech actions taken against tech mogul Elon Musk and his social media platform X.  “The Brazilian Supreme Court’s actions to ban social media platform X in the world’s seventh most populous nation is a grave breach of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, of which Brazil is a Member State,” Issa wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.  ♦ 2024 MRC Free Speech Award Winner: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)  Judiciary Chairman Jordan led the first-ever congressional investigation into the Biden-Harris administration’s anti-American censorship regime, investigating the NSF, FBI, DHS and the State Department. He has also led the battle against the deceptively-named censorship outfit, the “Global Alliance for Responsible Media.” Most recently, Jordan successfully pushed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to admit the federal government pressured  Facebook into censoring the Hunter Biden laptop scandal before the 2020 election. The shocking admissions came years after Zuckerberg slow-walked his collaboration with the House Judiciary Committee and after the federal government faced a damning lawsuit over censorship collusion. ♦ 2024 MRC Free Speech Award Winner: Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) In both 2024 and 2023, Rep. McCormick led the fight to prevent the U.S. Department of Defense from funding the censorship of conservative ideals through anti-censorship provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act. In 2024, the House of Representatives blocked the Biden-led Department of Defense from weaponizing taxpayer dollars for the second conservative year for contracts with self-described media ratings firms like NewsGuard, Ad Fontes and the Global Disinformation Index. McCormick cited several studies by the Media Research Center that exposed NewsGuard and Ad Fontes’s ratings overwhelmingly favoring leftist media outlets.  “Congress has a real opportunity to do something about that by reining in for-profit censors that have been funded by our own government like NewsGuard and GDI,” McCormick told MRC in 2023.  ♦ 2024 MRC Free Speech Award Winner: Rep. Jay Obernolte Rep. Obernolte was a leading voice in pushing for Section 230 reform to prevent Big Tech platforms from continuing to censor constitutionally-protected speech, ensuring accountability in the digital age. Speaking at a congressional hearing in May about how policies seeking to end potentially harmful content may violate the First Amendment, Obernolte said, “We've got these problematic situations that have originated on social media that I think everyone can agree is not healthy and should not be permitted and needs to be stopped but then we have this idea which that's the intention with that which is that we don't want to chill free speech.” He added, “So we're here talking about repealing Section 230 to create more liability on social media platforms and this is where I start to have a problem because … it seems like the premise of repealing 230 is that the world would be a better place if we just all sued each other more often and I reject that premise. I'm not sure that this solves the problem.” MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider and MRC Free Speech America Staff Writer Tom Olohan contributed to this report.

Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz’s Monday tour of friendly interviews concluded on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, where he and host Jon Stewart gathered to plot strategy, gush over Kamala Harris’s vision for the country, assure the far-left that Dick and Liz Cheney won’t actually affect their governing philosophy, and allow one guy in the audience to shout, “We love you, Tim.” The Daily Show, and Stewart in particular, like to lampoon the media for what they consider to be an obsession with superficial matters like polling analysis or campaign strategies, but that didn’t stop Stewart from asking, “What's been an effective argument that you have felt has pulled people closer to you?”     Walz replied with a story about how, “A Republican introduces me in Omaha, he said, “I can't stand with this guy anymore, that’s not the party of Reagan, this isn’t freedom,” whatever it may be. It’s a lot of those folks that are trying to find permission to get off the MAGA stuff and move over. So, they’re still listening. They're finding a way.” Stewart then sought to elaborate with what he thought were trivial critiques of Walz’s Minnesota governorship, “Is the concern they have that a Harris-Walz, you know, team would be too liberal or, you know, is it, do they point to 'Oh, in Minnesota, you allowed tampons in different bathrooms and trans people were allowed to play sports, and oh, my god, we are all going to be communists?' Like, what are they—”     Eager to portray Republican critiques as overblown, Walz agreed, “Our children are eating breakfast and lunch,” as Stewart continued, “What do you find is a barrier to them being able to place at?” Walz declared, “For a lot of them, they've never crossed over that line.” He also claimed, “They don't have a home anymore, and I think for a lot of cases, they hear the noise that is out there; that is why I'm out there talking to them. We talk about tax cuts to the middle class, talking about home ownership. Talking about— the one that makes a difference, especially in rural areas because it is an older population, expanding home care for Medicare, and then all of a sudden, they are like, ‘Oh, that’s a damn good idea.’” Stewart clearly liked that answer, “I got to tell you, that may be my favorite policy.” Later on, Stewart was still strategizing, “How do you convince them that the things that will be done in your administration will impact their lives in a tangible way?” Walz discussed the importance of meeting voters where they are on the economy, but further along, a dismayed Stewart wondered, “The Cheney thing—do we really have to do that?”     Not calmed by Walz’s mentions of Bernie Sanders and Taylor Swift, Stewart tried again. “What country did Taylor Swift get us to invade?” Walz did his best to assure Stewart not to worry, “I think Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney give permission to those folks who want to find a reason to do the right thing. It doesn't mean they agree with us. We’re not going to take their foreign policy decisions and discussions, you know, and implement those.” Finally, Stewart concluded with a T-ball question, “What is the proudest thing that you instituted in Minnesota during your time as governor?” Walz repeated his earlier bit about “free breakfast and lunch for kids,” but added, “the philosophy we have, and this is what I know Kamala agrees in, you’re either going to buy school buses and school meals or prison buses and prison meals.” A sarcastic Stewart replied, “Well, we appreciate you coming here. It’s clear that a lot of our audience is undecided,” to which an audience member shouted, “We love you, Tim!” The love was clearly in the air as Walz was able to go another interview without being asked about his long record of making things up about his life. Here is a transcript for the October 21 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 10/21/2024 11:24 PM ET JON STEWART: Have you met people that appear to be — because what I know, people who say, "Oh, I am undecided" you talk to them for 30 seconds and you are like, "Oh, you’re a libertarian." They have what their deal is already set up. They just sort of place themselves in this "I don't know yet." Have you, what's been an effective argument that you have felt has pulled people closer to you? WALZ: Well, it’s a lot of— the folks I'm talking to on that, they're folks that are probably, they are Republicans and they say it. A Republican introduces me in Omaha, he said, “I can't stand with this guy anymore, that’s not the party of Reagan, this isn’t freedom,” whatever it may be. It’s a lot of those folks— STEWART: Right. WALZ: — that are trying to find permission to get off the MAGA stuff and move over. So, they’re still listening. They're finding a way. STEWART: Is the concern they have that a Harris-Walz, you know, team would be too liberal or, you know, is it, do they point to “Oh, in Minnesota, you allowed tampons in different bathrooms and trans people were allowed to play sports, and oh, my god, we are all going to be communists?” Like, what are they— WALZ: Our children are eating breakfast and lunch.  STEWART: Right, but is that, what’s the battle here? What do you find is a barrier to them being able to place at? WALZ: For a lot of them, they've never crossed over that line. I mean it really is, you can say it about, you know, Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney, and some of those that did show some courage to cross over. They don't agree. These are folks that were told that "I'm historically Republican, I’m going to vote Republican," but they don't have a home anymore, and I think for a lot of cases, they hear the noise that is out there; that is why I'm out there talking to them. We talk about tax cuts to the middle class, talking about home ownership. Talking about— the one that makes a difference, especially in rural areas because it is an older population, expanding home care for Medicare, and then all of a sudden, they are like, “Oh, that’s a damn good idea.” STEWART: I got to tell you, that may be my favorite policy. … STEWART: How do you convince them that the things that will be done in your administration will impact their lives in a tangible way? WALZ: Yeah, they need to feel it. I often times talk about this as a teacher. You know, the Maslow's hierarchy is self-actualization, you have to have a lot of money and time to self-actualize. They're worried about — when they say that they’re worried about the economy, believe them. They are worried about the economy or they’re struggling. You can't tell them “well, inflation is down, interest rates are coming down.” They need to see the tangible things that will make a difference. So, talk to them what a $6,000 tax credit looks like as opposed to a Trump tariff that would have 20 percent. These are folks that want to find a reason to not vote for Donald Trump. We need to get them that. So, I think in the midst of this – I said, coming out after that opening, it is terrifying what they are doing but that is all distraction, the Trump distraction. He is dangerous. It is serious. He's not going to do, he's not going to do any manufacturing. STEWART: It's interesting. If I judge it from, and again, New York is not a swing state, but we see the commercials. We are inundated with the commercials, mostly for down-ballot races and things like that, but if I were to look at this as an alien stepping into this election, just from the commercials, I would think that Republicans vote on two things: Stopping people from coming over the border and stopping trans people from playing sports.  WALZ: Yeah. STEWART: Like, those are the only two commercials that I've seen. WALZ: Yeah. STEWART: — and the Democrats, oddly enough, run on two things as well. Stopping people coming in from the border. They’ve accepted it, like, all the Democrats that are running for Congress and for other offices here in New York, all talk about the border, and then choice legislation. WALZ: Yeah. STEWART: And you would think those are the only two things that are going on that anybody is talking about. So it's interesting to hear that it is more economy. WALZ: Well, they ask people to rank the issues where they’re at, depending on where you rank it, and look, these guys figured out early, fear is a great short-term motivator. I often say, I supervised the high school lunchroom. I know fear works, but it doesn't change behaviors and I still believe that there is this aspirational piece, and really listening to where people are at. In small towns, these are not hateful people but they are wondering, where the manufacturing jobs go? Well, Donald Trump ship them overseas, you know, — and things like that. We need to make sure that we are making the case that, looks, here’s how this is going to specifically impact you.  STEWART: Right. WALZ: We hear you about this. … STEWART: The Cheney thing — do we really have to do that? WALZ: Look, it goes farther than that. Look, Bernie Sanders, Dick Cheney, Taylor Swift — STEWART: No, no, no. No, no. No, no. No. No. WALZ: Having the Cheneys on board? STEWART: You can't Dick Cheney or Taylor Swift. No! WALZ: Perfect ten. Perfect ten. STEWART: What country did Taylor Swift get us to invade? No! WALZ: Don't you think, though — and I do this, I believe this. STEWART: Yeah. WALZ: There is still a core group of folks out there. You know, your point being, the Don't Tread on Me, the Reagan piece of this, the libertarian piece of this, the Constitutional piece— STEWART: Yes. WALZ: — There are a lot of people out there. I think Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney give permission to those folks who want to find a reason to do the right thing. It doesn't mean they agree with us. We’re not going to take their foreign policy decisions and discussions, you know, and implement those. We're going to take – STEWART: Promise? WALZ: Yes, promise. It's a stressful time. STEWART: It’s a stressful time. … STEWART: What is the proudest thing that you instituted in Minnesota during your time as governor? WALZ: Free breakfast and lunch for kids. They learn better. Couple that with, you know, early childhood, couple that with paid family medical leave, or whatever, and the philosophy we have, and this is what I know Kamala agrees in, you’re either going to buy school buses and school meals or prison buses and prison meals. It makes more sense to bulk on the front end and solve a lot of those problems.  STEWART: Well, we appreciate you coming here, it’s clear that a lot of our audience is undecided.  AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, Tim! WALZ: Thank you, thank you.

Monday’s White House press briefing was a light affair given the world’s focus on the upcoming election, but there were still some notable exchanges, led by ABC senior White House correspondent Selina Wang beating the liberal media’s drum that Telsa founder and X owner Elon Musk should face the wrath of the Biden-Harris Justice Department for his $1 million giveaways to registered voters in swing states who sign a petition with his group America PAC. “Elon Musk is pledging to give away $1 million every day up until the election to voters in battleground states. Some experts are saying this is clearly illegal vote buying. Does the White House believe what he’s doing is illegal,” Wang huffed, to which Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment.     Wang really, really wanted Musk to pay for his political activity, though: “Can you talk about how the President’s reacting to this in terms of does he believe it’s appropriate? Does he agree with what Governor Shapiro is saying about how this needs to be investigated?” To her credit, Jean-Pierre didn’t change her answer, saying that’s not something for her “to speak to” and she “would have to leave to” the Federal Elections Commission. Wang tried not once but twice more, implying something should happen to Musk’s company SpaceX given its government contracts (click “expand”): WANG: And if you could just talk broadly about what Trump has also said about making Musk the head of a new government efficiency commission. Does the White House see that as a conflict of interest given the fact that Musk’s companies have so many contracts with government agencies — JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. WANG: — and it could potentially give them the power to regulate the agencies that hold sway over his own company? JEAN-PIERRE: Well, since that’s a campaign related item there, what they’re planning to do next or what it looks like under — uh — uh — uh — you know, and — and — and their platform for his campaign, I’m just not going to respond to it from here. WANG: Any reaction from the President or White House about Elon Musk’s role at this moment in the political discussion? JEAN-PIERRE: I have no response — no comment on that at this moment. A few moments later, NBC’s Monica Alba cued up a softball on FEMA funding and kvetched about Donald Trump’s “misleading information” that she insists will significantly prolong recovery efforts in North Carolina from Hurricane Helene. A good tell it was a good softball? Jean-Pierre thanked her for the question (click “expand”): ALBA: Finally, former President Trump is in North Carolina today. He was talking about some of the FEMA efforts there. He called the rescue effort “non-existent.” He repeated some misleading information about where some of the funds have been directed to. So, how concerned — JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. ALBA: — is the White House still about what that might do to not just people taking in this information again that’s misleading, but to voters — JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. ALBA: — specifically in key states where the devastation of the hurricane’s — JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. ALBA: — has been evident? JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I’m glad in your question you said misleading information, which is true, misleading information that is being — uh — put out there and — and it’s not just from us, you’ve heard from Republicans and Democrats — right — in North Carolina who have said — who have — who have made it very clear by pushing these types of conspiracy theories, they are dangerous. They are unhelpful, and it is, it is not — uh — uh — it is not what leadership looks like. I’ll say it there — like that and uh and it is a time when you see something like that, these types of hurricanes that have impacted communities the way that they have — both of them, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton — it’s time that you bring a — you bring a community together and stand by each other. And so, you’ve heard from — again, the governors of all of these states — well — in particular in particular, certainly as we’re talking about governor in — — in New — in — uh — sorry, North Carolina, he spoke to this today and he said the Biden-Harris administration has responded quickly and positively to our request. The federal government has been responsive to all — to our call for help. That’s coming from the governor of North Carolina. We also heard from the mayor of Asheville as well. And so, we have seen a bipartisan — uh — uh — reaction to this — uh — appreciation for what — for what this administration has been able to do and the reason we’ve been able to do this work on the ground is because we’ve had a good partnership with local and state officials on the ground, and this type of con — conspiracy — a theory that’s out there, it is dangerous to your point and your question. It’s dangerous, it’s unhelpful, and it gets in the way. Later on, far-left Washington Post reporter Toluse Olorunnipa lamented to Jean-Pierre that endangered Senate Democrats Tammy Baldwin (WI) and Bob Casey (PA) have made ads promoting their bipartisan bona fides by showing where they agree with Trump: Washington Post’s Toluse Olorunnipa on #PASen & #WISen: “There's a recent report about how a number of Senate Democrats that are running for re-election are having ads that show images of President Trump, touting their own cooperation with President Trump when he was in office.… pic.twitter.com/Zl5JV26pRH — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 21, 2024 Jon Decker of local TV station conglomerate Gray TV tried to have Jean-Pierre explain where Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden differ on policy. But, like the increasing number of blunders from Harris on this topic, Jean-Pierre tossed a word salad: GrayTV’s Jon Decker: “Can you think of any issue — foreign policy or domestic policy — in which the Vice President has a differing point of view than the President?” KJP: “Here —” Decker: “Any daylight between them?” KJP: “— here's what I will say. I will say that they've been… pic.twitter.com/LfrXm3sBSX — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 21, 2024 Finally, Fox Business’s Edward Lawrence chose to continue pressing this administration on American weakness abroad with developing nations cozying up to Russia: Fox Business’s @EdwardLawrence: “So, Tuesday, the countries in BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates] are going to be going to Russia for a meeting. How concerned is the administration that this block of countries… pic.twitter.com/ZXH4nTOXZM — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 21, 2024 He also had a follow-up, noting the newest member of BRICS is the United Arab Emirates with rapidly growing ties between the two on the issue of artificial intelligence and thus there’s cause for concern such technological advances could be scooped up by Russia. To see the relevant transcript from the October 21 briefing, click here.

Kamala Harris held a campaign event Monday in Michigan with the apparent aim of attracting Republican women in the suburbs, having just bungled her attempts to win back male voters and Christians. The vice president once again leaned on former Jan. 6 committee member Liz Cheney, who proved more than willing to sacrifice her remaining political capital in service of someone she deemed just four years ago "a radical liberal who wants to raise your taxes, take away your guns and your health insurance, explode the size of our federal government and give it control over every aspect of our lives." While the Royal Oak event had all the makings of a town hall where voters might be able to ask the Democratic candidate questions, the host, former California first lady Maria Shriver, made clear early on that this was not the time for spontaneity or openness. In what appears to have been the only unscripted question, a woman in the crowd asked, "Are we going to be able to ask a question?" "You're not, unfortunately," replied Shriver. "We have some predetermined questions, and hopefully I'll be able to ask some of the questions that might be in your head. I hope so." 'They're not even hiding it anymore.' The apparently clairvoyant host indicated further that she wanted "this to be like a kitchen table — like, just think we're sitting around the kitchen table and we're jamming about all kinds of stuff." Concerning the scripted nature of the event, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, "HOLY S***! They're not even hiding it anymore." John Daniel Davidson, senior editor at the Federalist, noted, "Even Kamala Harris's town hall events are more 'staged' than Trump's legendary appearance at McDonald's." 'There's been a really dangerous embrace of isolationism.' Harris, spared from having to think on her feet, recycled the script she has attempted to recite in recent interviews, including the lines about former military and intelligence officials' opposition to President Donald Trump she used in her recent Bret Baier interview. Nevertheless, she still managed to toss a handful of word salads. In one instance, she told her muzzled audience: You know, the nature of a democracy is such that I think there is a duality. On the one hand, there's an incredible strength when our democracy is intact. An incredible strength in what it does to protect the freedoms and rights of its people. Oh, there's great strength in that. And it is very fragile. It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. So that's the moment we're in. And I say, "Do not despair," because in a democracy, as long as we can keep it, in our democracy, the people — every individual has the power to make a decision about what this will be. And that's — so let's not feel powerless. Cheney chimed in between Harris' monologues and concern-mongered over the possibility that Trump might not commit to another costly foreign entanglement. "I think that if you look at where the Republican Party is today, there's been a really dangerous embrace of isolationism," said Cheney, who secured less than 29% of the vote in her last bid to hold on to power. "The reality is that since the end of World War II, America has led and we've led, and that has been necessary to defend our freedom." The border czar agreed, noting, "Isolationism, which is exactly what Donald Trump is pushing — pull out of NATO, abandon our friends — isolationism is not insulation. It is not insulation. It will not insulate us from harm in terms of our national security." Cheney warned further that Congress might not be able to prevent Trump from exiting NATO or from executing other foreign policy decisions the American people would have given him a mandate to tackle. 'I don't know if anybody is more conservative than I am.' The New York Times noted that in similar events that Cheney attended with Harris Monday in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the former congresswoman — who had an "A" rating from the group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America at the time she was denied another term by Republican voters — characterized the vice president as an optimal choice for pro-life women. Cheney suggested that Republican pro-life laws protecting the unborn have gone too far, such that conservative women can back the pro-abortion radical with a clean conscience. "I think there are many of us around the country who have been pro-life but who have watched what's going on in our states since the Dobbs decision and have watched state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need," said Cheney. "In places like Texas, for example, the attorney general is talking about suing, is suing, to get access to women's medical records. That's not sustainable for us as a country, and it has to change." Harris has made clear the change she has in mind: eliminate the filibuster in the U.S. Senate in order to codify abortion as a national right. Neglecting to touch on Harris' support for taxpayer-funded sex changes for illegal aliens and her support for sex-change mutilations for minors, Cheney suggested that her supposed conservatism is compatible with a vote for Harris. "If people are uncertain, if people are thinking, 'Well, you know, I'm a conservative, I don't know that I can support Vice President Harris,' I would say I don't know if anybody is more conservative than I am," said Cheney. Trump mocked the establishment duo's events, writing, "Lyin' Kamala has stooped so low as to pick a woman to campaign with her who lost her Congressional Race by the largest margin, 40%, in history. The record holder is Crazed Warhawk Liz Cheney, whose father, Dick, convinced Bush to go into the Middle East and KILL." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Mark Levin had the privilege of serving in Ronald Reagan’s administration as a chief of staff, so he knows what he’s talking about when he says that Reagan, who he calls “a genius,” was the brain behind the idea of peace through strength. “He wanted to bring the most brilliant scientists in the United States together to figure out how to build a missile shield system,” which he called “the Strategic Defense Initiative — SDI,” says Levin, adding that Reagan was “mocked” and “attacked” for these ideas. The Democrats accused him of “wasting money.” They said “it was an excuse not to reduce nuclear arms.” They called him “a dunce” and “a cowboy” and joked that the program was playing a game of “Star Wars.” They even “made every budgetary movement they possibly could to try and block it.” One person took Reagan’s SDI program seriously — Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union before it was dismantled. Even Gorbachev himself admitted that “SDI was a game changer because the Soviets could never keep up with our technological knowhow, our scientific capabilities, and they certainly wouldn't have the money to build this system,” Levin recounts. Israel also saw the program’s merit. It “took the idea” and “refined it” to suit its unique needs — an adoption that has been hugely beneficial for the country. “Like no other country on the face of the Earth, the Israelis have a strategic defense missile defense system, and thank God they do,” says Levin. America, on the other hand, is “laying naked,” he warns. To hear more of Levin’s analysis, watch the clip above. Want more from Mark Levin?To enjoy more of "the Great One" — Mark Levin as you've never seen him before — subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

A new AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D benchmark leak appears to show the new gaming CPU running at a much faster clock speed than its predecessor, the 7800X3D. Despite the gaming prowess provided by its AMD 3D V-cache, the latter was held back by its meager 5GHz clock speed. However, this new leak shows a new eight-core Ryzen 9000X3D gaming CPU running at over 5.6GHz. The AMD Ryzen 9000X3D release date is coming soon now, and the successor to the acclaimed 7800X3D is widely expected to be the best gaming CPU when it comes out, assuming AMD gets the pricing right. Continue reading This AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D benchmark leak shows a massive clock speed boost MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Ryzen 7 7800X3D review, Best gaming CPU, Radeon RX 7800 XT review

For those of us interested in the design of the machines that so dominate our lives these days, there are few images more fascinating than the so-called "die shots" of CPUs and GPUs. The incredible structures they reveal, and the amazing colors they produce, are both fascinating and beautiful, and today we got our first glimpse of the beauty of Intel's new Arrow Lake chips with these Intel Core Ultra 9 285K die shots. With these new Intel Arrow Lake chips expected to put up a decent fight for a spot on our best gaming CPU list, there's plenty of reason to be interested in just what's going on inside these new Intel CPUs. And now, thanks to Asus China's manager, Tony Yu, we've just been given that opportunity. Continue reading These stunning Intel Arrow Lake die shots show you inside a new gaming CPU MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Core i5 14600K review, Best gaming CPU, Core i9 14900K review

New Football Manager games come out in the fall. That’s the way it’s been for 20 years, but now, with FM25, one of the greatest traditions in the history of management and strategy games is coming to an end. Football Manager 2025 is delayed until March, and now, unfortunately, there’s some more bad news. Eager to get to work on the new season, FM fans suggested to Sports Interactive that - while everyone waits for FM25 - the developer port the latest statistics, data, and players updates into Football Manager 2024. It sounds like a sensible interim solution, but after some research and experimentation, the developer confirms it’s just not possible. Continue reading After delaying Football Manager 2025, dev confirms bad news about FM24 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best sports games, Best management games, Best PC games

Paradox Interactive is home to some of the biggest grand strategy games out there. You can go medieval with Crusader Kings 3, take a step into the future with Stellaris, or go back to WW2 in Hearts of Iron 4. Paradox has made the historical grand strategy niche completely its own, but Victoria 3, the occasionally maligned sequel from 2022, remains underappreciated. The 19-century-set sequel didn't quite shake the Earth like Paradox's other games, but over the last couple of years it's been quietly improving. Now, update 1.8 and the new Pivot of Empire pack are coming to keep that momentum high. Continue reading New Victoria 3 DLC takes you to India, alongside the free 1.8 update MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Victoria 3 review, Victoria 3 beginner's guide, The best strategy games on PC

Secretlab has been impressing us recently with its expansion into accessories for its gaming chairs and desks. The Secretlab Ergonomic Recliner Add-On is the latest addition to the roster, and it lets you attach a leg-supporting recliner function to your Titan Evo gaming chair. It's not a cheap option but it's mighty comfortable. As a maker of one of the best gaming chair designs around, in the shape of the Titan Evo 2022, Secretlab is no stranger to finding ways to improve the comfort of its gaming chairs. However, this new recliner add-on converts your gaming chair into a whole new category of comfort. Like the Secretlab Heavy Duty Monitor Arm, it has a perfunctory name and a fairly high price, but it's built to a high standard and delivers on its duty. Continue reading Secretlab Ergonomic Recliner Add-On review: Gaming chairs just got relaxing MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best graphics card, Best gaming PC, Best SSD for gaming