House Speaker Mike Johnson is apparently plowing ahead with a showdown over voting legislation that could result in a government shutdown ahead of the 2024 presidential election. As reported by Fox News' Chad Pergram , Johnson said on Monday that he is determined to pass a measure that would demand proof of citizenship as a prerequisite to voting, despite the fact that it is already legal for noncitizens to vote and despite the fact that instances of noncitizens voting is incredibly rare. Pergram asked what Johnson would do if he couldn't make this come to pass and he replied, "There is no fallback position.
This is a righteous fight." However, even if Johnson passes the measure through the House, it is dead on arrival in the Democratic-led United States Senate. ALSO READ: 'Minor distortion': Writer gets close-up look at Trump's shot ear during Mar-a-Lago visit What's more, attaching such a measure to must-pass government funding bills means that there will potentially be a government shutdown next month if the GOP-led House of Representatives insists on trying to bend the Senate and the Biden White House to its will.
Because of this, Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman predicts Johnson's statement "will unnerve many, many, many moderates" who are in tough races and do not want to be held responsible by voters for a government shutdown. Complicating matters, former President Donald Trump has flat-out said that shutting down the government should be done if the Senate does not pass the legislation. Two leaders of a white supremacist group have been charged after allegedly plotting assassinations and terrorist attacks that they hoped would bring on a race war.
In a 37-page indictment unsealed by federal prosecutors on Monday, Dallas Erin Humber, 34, and Matthew Robert Allison, 37, were accused of leading a network of channels on the Telegram app that promoted "white supremacist accelerationism." Court filings said the ideology was "centered on the belief that the white race is superior," and the leaders hoped to start a race war that would collapse the government to create a "white ethnostate." The men were accused of soliciting members of the so-called Terrorgram Collective to carry out assassinations and critical infrastructure.
The court filings said that a U.S. senator, a federal district judge, and a former U.
S. attorney were included on a hit list of "high-value" targets. State and local officials and leaders of private companies and nongovernmental organizations were listed.
The indictment alleged that the men told members to "take action now" and assassinate the targets. Members were said to have been provided with instructions on making bombs and finding federal buildings. Prosecutors said that the white supremacist leaders inspired plots in the U.
S. and around the world. During a 2022 attack in Slovakia, two people were killed at an LGBTQ bar.
Five were stabbed in a knife attack outside a mosque in Turkey. In the U.S.
, law enforcement foiled a member's planned attack on an energy facility. Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen said the crimes went beyond "mere words" because attackers were equipped with actionable plans. ALSO READ: Something broke Trump’s brain "Today's indictment charges the defendants with leading a transnational terrorist group dedicated to attacking America's critical infrastructure, targeting a hit list of our country's public officials, and carrying out deadly hate crimes – all in the name of violent white supremacist ideology," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
"Today's arrests are a warning that committing hate-fueled crimes in the darkest corners of the internet will not hide you, and soliciting terrorist attacks from behind a screen will not protect you. The United States Department of Justice will find you, and we will hold you accountable." Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France last month, where prosecutors alleged that his platform had been used for criminal activity.
Telegram has since agreed to increase the moderation of private chats. The founder of the catastrophic Fyre Fest is out of prison — and already planning a re-do. Festival creator Billy McFarland was sentenced to six years in prison after the event, which resulted in hefty lawsuits .
But now he's ready to orchestrate Fyre Fest II, which he swears will be the same high-end experience he'd originally promised, but with hotels instead of tents and full meals instead of cheese sandwiches. Last time around, McFarland promised "luxury villas and gourmet food." The Fyre Festival was billed as a luxury music festival in the Bahamas in 2017, but it turned into a disaster and fraud.
Organized by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule, the event was poorly planned and executed, leaving attendees stranded with little food or shelter. McFarland was later sentenced to prison for wire fraud. Read Also: What the ‘Kids Guide to President Trump’ does not tell your children “We have the chance to embrace this storm and really steer our ship into all the chaos that has happened, and if it’s done well, I think Fyre has a chance to be this annual festival that really takes over the festival industry,” McFarland, who now claims he's older and wiser, told NBC News.
The costs will begin at $1,400 to attend the three-day event and $1.1 million for the top VIP tickets which include an exclusive experience where people can spend time with him personally. McFarland claims he already has 100 people signed up for tickets.
“It’s not about 10,000 people staring at a stage with their hands in the air,” he said. “It’s about getting on a plane with six people — two might be your friends, three might be people you met that morning — and going and exploring an island or a beach or a reef that you didn’t even know existed until you got in the airplane." This time around, McFarland says that he's hired a festival production company to “handle the stages and the bathrooms and all the stuff that I clearly don’t know how to do.
” He won't reveal who that is, however. McFarland is already involved in another lawsuit after a fellow inmate went into business with him. According to the lawsuit from Jonathan Taylor, McFarland breached their contract and ripped him off for more than $650,000.
The two men formed PYRT Technologies, which was supposed to be a podcast involving a treasure hunt and other activities, the court documents say. Donald Trump has been trying a new nickname for Vice President Kamala Harris in his Truth Social posts, but it seems to be missing its mark. Several commenters have said his "Kambala" moniker makes no sense.
Now New York Magazine's Olivia Nuzzi described the ex-president's crestfallen disappointment when he tried out the name during a recent interview — and saw a lack of comprehension on her face. “Well, I have a name. You saw the new name?” Trump proudly asked when the writer sat down with him at Mar-a-Lago.
When she replied that she hadn't, he unveiled it. “Kamabla,” he said. ALSO READ: Mike Johnson's now-deleted Trump social media post sparks controversy Sitting beside Trump was his communications director, Steven Cheung, who also sang out the nickname.
"Trump nodded. He gave me an expectant look, but I was confused. He repeated it again.
'Kamabla,'" she wrote, confused as to what it meant. "Just a ..
. mixed-up ..
. pile of words . Like she is,” Trump said.
Nuzzi described trying to pronounce it but noted she was "still struggling." MSNBC producer Steve Benen wrote about the name last month, saying that no one seems to understand it . At the time, he speculated that it might not be a nickname but a typo.
"Is he calling Kamala Harris 'blah'? Referencing Obama? Just being racist?" asked another New York Magazine senior editor after Trump used the name. Nuzzi said, "Trump stopped what he was saying and stared at me with a look of grave concern and disappointment. “Well, you have to see it to really understand,” Trump claimed.
"There are those that think it’s good. ” She noted he still seemed a bit uneasy asking his communications director if he liked it. “It’s a good troll,” Cheung said.
It turns out he was the one who "invented" the name. “Yeah,” he said, “I come up with a lot of things.” Nuzzi noted that the name hasn't been used much since then.
A New York Times report last month noted that Trump has struggled with remembering how to pronounce Harris' name. Then again, the report said, "During his primary race he repeatedly butchered the name of Nikki Haley , another woman of Indian heritage.” Read the rest of the interview here.
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