‘We Were Ready to Die’: US Captives ‘Prayed for Death’ on Brutal Ride From Ukraine

/0 Comments/in , /by

Even after three months of captivity that included execution threats, physical torture, solitary confinement and food deprivation, it was the ride to freedom that nearly broke Alex Drueke, a US military veteran released last week with nine other prisoners who went to help Ukraine fight off Russian invaders.

His hands were bound. His head was covered by a plastic bag, and the packing tape holding it in place was secured so tightly it caused welts on his forehead. Drueke said he and fellow American prisoner Andy Huynh reached their limit in this state during the transit, which occurred in a series of vehicles from eastern Ukraine to an airport in Russia that was surrounded by armed guards.

“For all we went through and all the times we thought we might die, we accepted that we might die, we were ready to die when it came, that ride was the only time that each of us independently prayed for death just to get it over with,” Drueke told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.

“The mental and emotional torture of those last 24 hours in captivity, that was the worst,” he said.

Drueke, 40, is healing: The swelling is going down on his head and he’s trying to regain some of the 30 pounds he figures he lost eating a poor diet. But awful memories remain, and he’s unsure what comes next aside from trying to focus attention on fellow prisoners who remain in Russian hands. (Read more from “‘We Were Ready to Die’: US Captives ‘Prayed for Death’ on Brutal Ride From Ukraine” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Kamala Harris Blasted for Pushing ‘Racist’ Policy in Response to Hurricane Damage

/0 Comments/in , /by

Vice President Kamala Harris (D) faced backlash online Friday afternoon after saying that the Biden administration was prioritizing giving disaster relief to minorities for the sake of “equity” because the administration wants everyone to end up “in an equal place.”

Harris made the remarks during a discussion with leftist Priyanka Chopra at the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C.

“It is our lowest income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues that are not of their own making,” Harris claimed. “And so we have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity, understanding that we fight for equality, but we also need to fight for equity, understanding not everyone starts out at the same place.”

She added, “And if we want people to be in an equal place, sometimes we have to take into account those disparities and do that work.”

(Read more from “Kamala Harris Blasted for Pushing ‘Racist’ Policy in Response to Hurricane Damage” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

DOJ Seeks Expedited Ruling in Trump Special Master Case

/0 Comments/in , /by

The Department of Justice requested an expedited ruling in its appeal of the appointment of a special master to examine the classified documents obtained during a raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

The department’s inability to access nonclassified documents seized in an FBI raid last month is hampering its investigation into whether Trump illegally moved classified information out of the White House during his presidency, the department claimed in a court filing to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday.

The acceleration would allow the department to “more quickly resume its full investigation without restraints on its review and use of evidence seized pursuant to a lawful search warrant,” the department said. “Expediting the appeal would serve the interests of justice because the portions of the district court’s injunction that have not been stayed restrict the government’s ability to vindicate the strong public interest in proceeding expeditiously with the criminal and national security investigation that underlies these proceedings.”

(Read more from “DOJ Seeks Expedited Ruling in Trump Special Master Case” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

US Embassy Tells Americans to Leave Russia to Avoid Draft

/0 Comments/in , /by

The U.S. embassy in Russia is warning dual citizens to leave the country or run the risk of being drafted into the Kremlin’s mobilization effort to wage its invasion of Ukraine.

“On September 21, the Russian government began a mobilization of its citizens to the armed forces in support of its invasion of Ukraine,” the embassy said Tuesday in a security alert. “Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals’ U.S. citizenship, deny their access to U.S. consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia, and conscript dual nationals for military service.” . . .

“U.S. citizens … should depart Russia immediately while limited commercial travel options remain,” warned the embassy, which said it is severely limited in its ability to help U.S. citizens. (Read more from “US Embassy Tells Americans to Leave Russia to Avoid Draft” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Six States Sue Biden Administration Over Student Debt Relief

/2 Comments/in , /by

Six Republican-led states on Thursday sued the Biden administration over plans to cancel student loan debt, a move the lawsuit says will hurt the working class at a time when the economy is already struggling.

“The economy is not well,” reads the lawsuit filed in federal court in Missouri. “And there is no sign of relief.”

The Biden administration announced in August plans to cancel $10,000 to $20,000 of student debt per borrower for those who make less than $125,000 a year — or $250,000 for married couples.

“In addition to being economically unwise and downright unfair, the Biden Administration’s Mass Debt Cancellation is yet another example in a long line of unlawful regulatory actions. No statute permits President Biden to unilaterally relieve millions of individuals from their obligation to pay loans they voluntarily assumed,” reads the 36-page lawsuit.

The attorneys general from Arkansas, Nebraska, South Carolina, Missouri and Kansas are asking the court to pause the action, arguing the proposal exceeds presidential authority and would violate the Constitution and federal law. Iowa joined the lawsuit through its Republican governor. (Read more from “Six States Sue Biden Administration Over Student Debt Relief” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

‘It Was Too Late to Leave’: Fort Myers in Shambles After Hurricane Ian Batters Florida

/0 Comments/in , /by

The road to Fort Myers is littered with power boats, yachts and jet skis – including by its ‘Welcome’ sign – in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian which smashed into the coastal city Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, leaving it decimated and unrecognizable.

City officials had handed out evacuation orders the day before the the storm hit, but some residents stayed, believing the hurricane would hit further north, as forecasters predicted.

Robert Negrin, 74, and his wife Jane, 65, rode out the storm in their 24th floor apartment overlooking the Caloosahatchee River, which was shaking as it got battered by the storm on Wednesday night. . .

When the couple realized Hurricane Ian was going to hit them directly instead of Tampa Bay, it was too late to leave. . .

Ian travelled northeast after hitting Fort Meyers, Cape Coral, and the surrounding areas Wednesday, hitting Orlanda and then Jacksonville. The monster was downgraded early Thursday to a tropical storm, then regained hurricane strength as it travelled over the warm Atlantic water towards Georgia and the Carolinas. (Read more from “‘It Was Too Late to Leave’: Fort Myers in Shambles After Hurricane Ian Batters Florida” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Trump Doesn’t Need to Prove Claims Evidence Was Planted, Judge Rules

/0 Comments/in , /by

Former President Donald Trump does not have to submit a declaration on whether the Justice Department planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago before his legal team reviews the stash, a judge ruled in a victory for his legal team.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon overruled the special master she appointed, who sought a sworn document from Trump’s legal team on whether the DOJ planted evidence. She also pushed back key deadlines for the third-party special master review of material seized.

“There shall be no separate requirement on Plaintiff at this stage, prior to the review of any of the Seized Materials, to lodge ex ante final objections to the accuracy of Defendant’s Inventory, its descriptions, or its contents. The Court’s Appointment Order did not contemplate that obligation,” Cannon wrote.

In her ruling, she took note of Trump’s lawyers’ concerns that their “current inability to access the Seized Materials” would hinder them from corroborating the DOJ’s inventory of Mar-a-Lago records. (Read more from “Trump Doesn’t Need to Prove Claims Evidence Was Planted, Judge Rules” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

Horrific Aftermath: Bodies Exposed at Florida Cemetery in Hurricane Ian Aftermath

/0 Comments/in , /by

Human remains of those laid to rest were exposed after heavy rainfall and wind hit a central Florida cemetery during Hurricane Ian.

Video from Fox 35 Orlando showed a graveyard in Oakland, Florida, where some graves were exposed during the torrential downpours and heavy winds of Hurricane Ian.

The heavy rainfall unearthed the caskets, sweeping some away from their designated spots. (Read more from “Horrific Aftermath: Bodies Exposed at Florida Cemetery in Hurricane Ian Aftermath” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

New Book Details Just How Paranoid Hillary Clinton Was About Trump

/0 Comments/in , /by

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is not as tough as she wants the world to believe. When it comes to former President Trump, she trembles with fear remembering the time he beat her in a landslide during the 2016 election.

A new book details just how terrified Clinton was of Trump.

Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign staffers were so paranoid they thought the Russians would poison her through a handshake with Trump during the third debate.

Titled Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by the New York Times, Clinton believed that Trump was in cahoots with the Russians, planning a secret plot to poison her via a handshake.

“Democrats found themselves almost perpetually disoriented by autumn. During preparations for the third debate, Clinton’s team was disrupted by a warning from the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein, who said he had been told that Russians might try to poison Clinton through a handshake with Trump, to inflict a dramatic health episode during the debate,” author Maggie Haberman wrote.

(Read more from “New Book Details Just How Paranoid Hillary Clinton Was About Trump” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.

If the Feds Go After a Pro-Lifer Who Shoved a Bully, They’ll Go After Anyone

/0 Comments/in , /by

On Sept. 23, Pennsylvania pro-life activist Mark Houck was arrested on federal criminal charges. The details of the alleged crime and the arrest itself remain disputed, but we know enough to make a couple of observations about our nation and the current political climate.

Houck was arrested in connection with an alleged assault on a volunteer at a Philadelphia abortion facility. Unsurprisingly, the accounts differ as to what occurred. The Department of Justice issued a press release stating that Houck twice assaulted the alleged victim because he was a volunteer at an abortion facility. . .

Already we have a federalism problem here. Perhaps we have become too quick to accept the existence of an elaborate regime of federal criminal law. But as we know from the Tenth Amendment, the federal government has only the limited powers enumerated in the Constitution, with any remaining powers being reserved to the states or the people. From this comes the accepted principle in our federalist republic that states have the general police power. Federal criminal statutes and prosecutions must be limited to cases where the Constitution grants enumerated powers, such as interstate activity or crimes involving foreign agents and national security.

In this case, what we have is a very uneventful assault, where one man pushed another man. Hardly the stuff of a federal crime. An assault is a run-of-the-mill crime, and it is up to states to criminalize and prosecute such routine offenses. It is only when the assault occurs in a discriminatory way — in this case, because the alleged victim works at an abortion facility — that the feds claim jurisdiction. It remains questionable whether access to abortion facilities and assaults that occur on these properties should be within the jurisdiction of federal criminal authorities at all, but that goes beyond the scope of this essay.

A recent article on the incident explains that the Justice Department relies on the section of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act that “prohibits violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain or provide reproductive health services.” (Read more from “If the Feds Go After a Pro-Lifer Who Shoved a Bully, They’ll Go After Anyone” HERE)

Delete Facebook, Delete Twitter, Follow Restoring Liberty and Joe Miller at gab HERE.