FreeBeacon

Alaska’s Dan Sullivan Cites Free Beacon article on Senate floor

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) said Thursday that the United States should boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, citing doubts that the Biden administration has done enough to ensure the safety of athletes and coaches traveling to Beijing.

Sneering elites condemn the life choices of voters who didn't go to college.

President Joe Biden appeared to fall asleep Monday at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Scotland.

A 13-year-old Virginia student attending a campaign rally for Republican Glenn Youngkin told Fox News he got politically active over what he saw happening in his own school.

In a town hall this week, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) blamed the uptick in crime in Minneapolis on the city's police force, saying they are choosing "to not fulfill their oath of office." Omar, however, was a proponent of the defund the police movement last year when riots broke out over the death of George Floyd.

Democratic candidates in Virginia are forcibly stopping people from filming their closing message to voters ahead of November elections. Attendees have been asked to leave events and had their cameras blocked by clipboards. Some have even been body checked to prevent them from filming.

During a Wednesday Senate Judiciary hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) lit into Attorney General Merrick Garland and reminded him that he was denied a seat on the Supreme Court in 2016 during former president Barack Obama's administration. "Your performance is shameful," Cotton told Garland. "Thank God you're not on the Supreme Court. You should resign in disgrace." Garland is embroiled in political controversy for issuing a memo that ordered the FBI to investigate parents as potential domestic terrorists. The order came amid nationwide backlash and protests against school boards implementing mask mandates and critical race theory in K-12 schools. https://freebeacon.com/politics/beastmode-sen-cotton-to-merrick-garland-thank-god-youre-not-on-the-supreme-court/

Here's the moment Terry McAuliffe abruptly walked out halfway through a 20 minute interview with a local ABC affiliate. "Alright, we're over. You should have asked better questions ... you should have asked questions that your viewers care about."

CNN, which fashions itself as a serious journalistic institution, is obsessed with the case of Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old white woman whose remains were recently found in Wyoming several weeks after she was reported missing. Her white boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, has also gone missing after returning from a road trip alone under suspicious circumstances. The network's target audience of woke liberals took issue with CNN's incessant coverage, prompting a number of its anchors to air segments denouncing "missing white woman syndrome" and the broader media's refusal to cover similar cases involving people who aren't white. Chief media correspondent Brian Stelter, for example, interviewed "1619 Project" author Nikole Hannah-Jones about the racial disparities in news coverage. The performative outrage notwithstanding, it would appear the message hasn't entirely sunk in. Either that, or CNN is simply more concerned with boosting its ratings and advertising revenue than it is with taking meaningful steps to promote equity in journalism. On Friday, for example, CNN aired an hour-long special report on "Gabby Petito and the Hunt for Justice" to give its viewers a primetime dose of "missing white woman." CNN's almost comical level of hypocrisy is just another example of how the media continue to validate the public's widespread distrust for mainstream journalism, which has fallen to near historic lows. https://freebeacon.com/media/cnn-gabby-petito/

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe said parents concerned about critical race theory in public schools are using a "racist … dog whistle" to "create divisions." During a Thursday roundtable with Hampton-based WAVY News 10, McAuliffe repeatedly refused to define critical race theory and accused parents who are concerned about the issue of "stirring" others up to "create divisions." "It's racist. It's a dog whistle," McAuliffe said. "Here's what I've said all along, and it really bothers me. It really bothers me—this whole idea of stirring parents up to create divisions. Our children are going through such challenges today because of COVID, and we're talking about something here today [that's] wasting precious viewers' time." McAuliffe did not return a request for comment. His roundtable remarks faced pushback from moderator Anita Blanton, who asked the Democrat how he can call critical race theory "racist" if he refused to define it. "If we don't have a definition, how can we say it's racist?" Blanton, who is black, asked McAuliffe. "I just want a definition." McAuliffe dodged the follow-up. McAuliffe's comments come as the Democrat faces a tightening race against Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin. According to an October Emerson College poll, McAuliffe is trailing among the state's suburban voters—whom President Joe Biden won handily in 2020—as parent groups in Northern Virginia push back on the emergence of critical race theory in their public schools. Parents Defending Education president Nicole Neily said McAuliffe's remarks "insult parents' intelligence." "In district after district across the commonwealth, PDE has received tips and anecdotes on how this ‘theory' is being implemented—and children are being treated differently on the basis of immutable characteristics," Neily told the Washington Free Beacon. The rise of parent activism has earned the ire not only of Democratic candidates but also of the Biden administration, which has attempted to cast it as a potentially violent movement. On Monday, the Department of Justice announced its National Security Division—which was created in 2006 through the PATRIOT Act to combat global terrorism—would begin investigating "violent threats" made against school districts. While McAuliffe assured viewers Thursday that critical race theory "is not taught here in Virginia," school boards across the state have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on coaching and training sessions that push the controversial framework. Loudoun County's public school district, for example, has spent more than $420,000 in taxpayer funds on diversity training from an "equity focused," California-based business that includes critical race theory in its "educational tools." This is not the first time McAuliffe, who served as governor from 2014 to 2018, has faced criticism for an education-related campaign comment. Just weeks before the roundtable, McAuliffe asserted that parents should not tell schools what to teach and defended his decision to veto a 2016 bill that would have notified parents if a teacher planned to use "instructional material that includes sexually explicit content." "I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision," McAuliffe said during a September debate. "So, yeah, I stopped the bill that—I don't think parents should be telling schools what to teach." McAuliffe and Youngkin will square off on Nov. 2. https://freebeacon.com/elections/terry-mcauliffe-parents-concerned-about-crt-using-racist-dog-whistle-to-create-division/

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday defended House Democrats' tax plan in the face of criticism that the legislation would see taxes and consumer prices rise for many Americans. Psaki insisted President Joe Biden is committed to keeping taxes the same for anyone making less than $400,000 a year, and she called it "absurd" that companies would raise consumer prices in response to higher taxes. "There are some … who argue that, in the past, companies have passed on these costs to consumers," Psaki said. "We feel that that’s unfair and absurd, and the American people would not stand for that." A number of economic studies have found that consumers bear approximately 31 percent of the cost of corporate tax increases through higher prices on consumer products. https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/psaki-unfair-and-absurd-to-say-companies-would-raise-prices-in-response-to-tax-increases/

President Joe Biden last week forgot the name of another world leader. During a virtual event with Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and his U.K. counterpart Boris Johnson, the president addressed the British prime minister by name before he referred to Morrison as "that fellow down under." It's hardly the first time Biden has flubbed a prominent official's name. In fact, since he launched his presidential campaign in 2019, the former vice president has consistently struggled to speak words in a coherent fashion and has often failed to convince observers that he understands where he is and what is happening at any given moment. Biden will turn 79 in November.

President Biden announced Thursday that all federal employees must be vaccinated against the coronavirus and that businesses with more than 100 employees will have to mandate COVID-19 vaccination or face weekly testing. The requirements are an about-face for Biden, who as president-elect in November 2020 said he wouldn't demand that vaccines be mandatory. In a July briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki said that issuing vaccine mandates was "not the role of the federal government." https://freebeacon.com/coronavirus/bidens-180-on-vaccine-mandates/

An Oregon House Democrat is "concerned" about the price tag of President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion budget plan, a sentiment that could threaten the White House's ability to deliver on a crucial piece of its domestic agenda. During a Tuesday virtual town hall, Rep. Kurt Schrader said while it was "really nice to see" bipartisan support for a $550 billion infrastructure plan, he is "concerned about the amount of money involved" in the multitrillion-dollar megabill championed by Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.). https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/house-dem-concerned-about-price-tag-of-bidens-3-5-trillion-budget-plan/

"Jeffrey Toobin was married with children when he entered into a prolonged sexual relationship with Casey Greenfield, the twenty-something daughter of Toobin's then-colleague Jeff Greenfield....." https://freebeacon.com/media/jeffrey-toobin-abortion/

During the chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, President Joe Biden vowed to keep troops in the country until all U.S. citizens were evacuated. The State Department, however, has said more than 100 Americans remain in Afghanistan after the last U.S. troops left Kabul on Tuesday. "We did not get everyone out that we wanted to get out," Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S Central Command, told reporters.

Thursday's suicide bombings in Kabul, which claimed the lives of at least 13 American servicemen, marked the deadliest day for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since 2011. President Joe Biden's low energy press conference in response to the attacks was widely panned for failing to inspire confidence as the situation spirals out of control. It wasn't supposed to be this way. During the 2020 Democratic primary, Biden touted himself as the only candidate with the experience necessary to successfully handle an international crisis. "To be commander in chief, there's no time for on-the-job training," he said during a primary debate in November 2019. "I've spent more time in the Situation Room, more time abroad, more time than anybody up here. I know every major world leader. They know me, and they know when I speak, if I'm the president of the United States, who we're for, who we're against, and what we'll do, and we'll keep our word." Former president Barack Obama tried to warn us. He urged Biden not to run for president in 2016, reportedly out of concern that his former running mate "would embarrass himself on the campaign trail and that the people around him would not be able to prevent a belly-flop." Obama did not mince words during the primary campaign, telling one fellow Democrat: "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to fuck things up." We should have listened. When Biden introduced his top foreign policy advisers in February 2021, he touted their "unmatched experience and accomplishments," as well as their commitment to diversity and inclusion. Biden went on to imply, without evidence, that he had compiled a team "that will keep our country and our people safe and secure." "It's a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it, once again sit at the head of the table, ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies, ready to stand up for our values," Biden said. The events of the past several weeks suggest otherwise. https://freebeacon.com/politics/biden-foreign-policy-team/

A sitting Marine battalion commander was fired Friday after he slammed the "ineptitude" of U.S. military leadership over the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, saying he was willing to risk losing his 17-year career and future retirement pension in order to "demand accountability" from top military brass. https://freebeacon.com/national-security/marine-battalion-commander-blasts-inept-military-leadership-over-afghanistan-withdrawal/

The White House this week prematurely celebrated the success of President Joe Biden's evacuation of U.S. citizens and allies from Afghanistan. Administration officials boasted that they were "over performing" their own metrics and "defying expectations," even comparing the withdrawal operation to the Berlin airlift. On Thursday, that characterization of the evacuation effort fell apart, as suicide bombers struck the gates of the Kabul airport and killed at least a dozen American service members and 60 Afghans. https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/video-biden-administration-spikes-the-football-on-afghanistan-a-little-too-early/

The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee defied State Department guidelines by traveling to France this month. That didn't stop him from lecturing Americans about the importance of following federal health and safety protocols. "We all have to do our part to crush this virus," Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D., N.Y.) wrote on Aug. 14, in the middle of his maskless European vacation. "Get your shot, wear a mask, and follow CDC guidelines. It's just the right thing to do." A Washington Free Beacon investigation of the Instagram accounts of Maloney and his husband, Randy Florke, found that the power couple's trip in France was in violation of U.S. health and safety guidelines. The State Department's website is unequivocal: "Do not travel to France due to COVID-19." https://freebeacon.com/politics/maloney-french-scandal/

The Biden administration has downplayed the severity of the situation in Afghanistan and deflected blame for the chaos. In an interview with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos, President Joe Biden remarked on the Taliban's decision to "provide safe passage for Americans to get out," even as thousands of Americans remain stranded in the country and the Taliban has blocked routes to the U.S.-controlled airport in Kabul. The administration has delivered unclear answers as to whether it will ensure all U.S. citizens are evacuated. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said she "didn't know of any government capable of reaching out to where everybody might be." https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/video-biden-admin-deflects-blame-for-afghanistan-disaster/

On August 19, 1991, anti-Semitic riots erupted in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood. For three days, mobs chanted Nazi slogans, looted businesses, and attacked the neighborhood's Jewish residents. Thirty years later, the community is remembering one of the worst episodes of anti-Semitic violence in American history. https://freebeacon.com/media/video-flashback-watch-the-crown-heights-riots-unfold-through-contemporary-media-coverage/

The Biden administration is struggling to spin the self-inflicted crisis in Afghanistan. White House deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer said the president has been "deeply engaged in all of the policy conversations," while national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the president "has not yet spoken with any other world leaders." Sullivan also regarded the question of whether U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan until all Americans had left as "hypothetical," and Pentagon press secretary John Kirby could not say exactly how many American citizens are still in the country. https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/video-biden-flacks-try-fail-to-spin-afghanistan-debacle/

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D., N.Y.), the Emmy Award winner and brother of CNN host Chris "Fredo" Cuomo, announced his resignation Tuesday amid disturbing allegations of sexual harassment. "Given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside," Cuomo said while continuing to deny any wrongdoing. "Everything I have ever done has been motivated by that love and I would never want to be unhelpful in any way." Cuomo, dubbed the "Luv Guv" by thirsty liberals, journalists, and other "Cuomosexuals" who swooned during his press briefings at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, is merely the latest object of liberal media obsession to meet an ignominious end. Celebrity porn lawyer Michael Avenatti, for example, was enthusiastically embraced as a "savior of the republic" for saying mean things about Donald Trump on television. He was even considered a serious contender to win the Democratic nomination for president. In February 2020, Avenatti was convicted on an array of charges, including extortion, fraud, embezzlement, and tax evasion. He was later sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. https://freebeacon.com/politics/andrew-cuomo-resignation-video/