Tex's Place

By Kyle Becker An Obama-appointed federal judge used the dismissal of the final Oath Keepers prosecution not simply to close a criminal case, but to deliver a lengthy rebuke of the Trump administration's handling of January 6 prosecutions. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ultimately concluded he had no legal authority to stop the Department of Justice from dismissing the indictment against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other defendants.  The Justice Department asked the court to dismiss the indictment after the D.C. Circuit vacated the convictions and remanded the case. President Donald Trump had previously commuted the sentences of Rhodes and several other defendants, while issuing pardons to hundreds of other January 6 defendants. Rather than simply grant the motion, Mehta issued a 15-page opinion questioning nearly every justification advanced by the Department of Justice. "The government thus asks to absolve these Defendants of crimes against the United Sta...

By Teri Christoph Lovers of the Second Amendment got some good news Wednesday after a federal judge out of the Northern District of Texas ruled that large portions of the National Firearms Act (NFA) were rendered unconstitutional after Congress eliminated the transfer tax that had historically provided the constitutional basis for registration and recordkeeping requirements governing suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns. U.S. District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix ruled in the case Jensen v. ATF that “[b]y zeroing out the transfer and making taxes for most NFA firearms, Congress eliminated the constitutional basis for the regulations that formerly supported the taxes for those firearms.” The Court’s injunction applies to “the plaintiffs and, where applicable, the plaintiffs’ agencies, political subdivisions, members, and customers—both current and future,” but does not take effect for seven days “to allow the defendants to seek relief, if any, at the...

By John Solomon The FBI opened a criminal probe specifically targeting Donald Trump in May 2017, alleging the newly elected president may have been acting as a Russian asset when he fired then-Director James Comey even though the bureau’s own evidence overwhelmingly showed at the time there was no collusion with the Kremlin. Internal memos newly declassified by the White House show the investigation – codenamed "Oxferd Comma" – was launched in the immediate aftermath of Comey’s May 9, 2017, firing and was predicated on an allegation that previously released memos show the bureau’s own agents had mostly dismissed. “The FBI is opening a full investigation based on an articulable factual basis that reasonably indicates that President Donald J. Trump may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation which may constitute violations of federal criminal law or threats to the national security of the ...

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey declares victory upon being elected to the office in 2022. (Harvard Crimson) By Hannah Bates Democrat Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts failed to answer The Federalist when asked whether she will sign H.B. 5595, a new abortion bill passed by both the state Senate and House last week. The Federalist questioned her on whether she intended to sign the bill that would make abortions legal through all nine months and received no response. The law would remove the state’s current 24-week abortion ban and make abortion legal up to the very moment of birth. The current law allowing abortion until 24 weeks is already extreme: At 24 weeks, babies are already capable of hearing, tasting, and remembering stimuli; their facial features are almost fully formed, and they can survive outside the womb with medical help. Any woman for any reason will be able to get an abortion based on a doctor’s “professional judgment.” According to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life Ame...

By Shawn Fleetwood ‘But it would be frankly shocking to me if there were not attempts by these states after … a likely, hopeful victory here for AR-15s to get around by just making it difficult.’ The U.S. Supreme Court is gearing up to weigh another big Second Amendment issue in its upcoming term — a matter legal specialists say will greatly affect Americans’ constitutional rights. During a Tuesday Federalist Society forum , Notre Dame Law School Professor Haley Proctor and American Suppressor Association General Counsel Michael Williams offered viewers a sneak preview into what’s at stake in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins . The pair of consolidated cases — which deal with the legality of laws banning AR-15s and similar semiautomatic firearms — will be heard by the high court in its October 2026 term. The two panelists began by laying the foundation of the Supreme Court’s existing Second Amendment jurisprudence, which included a discussion of its 2022 NYSRPA v. B...

By Teri Christoph Mike Rowe is a gem of a human being. He's a man's man who is both practical and smart – and he's not a bit afraid of using his celebrity to opine on controversial topics. He unabashedly champions America and everyday Americans, making it one his life missions to help young people learn the trades that will keep our nation humming along. And, boy does he have a way with words, which usually leaves those who question his beliefs looking quite foolish. One of the best things about Rowe's writings is that he makes his position on a wide variety of things quite clear, but you don't actually know his politics because it's not about that at all. It's about the truth.  Now, truth being the enemy of the Left, he often finds himself the target of angry keyboard warriors who can't stand the fact that Rowe doesn't always – or ever – share their overwrought beliefs. That's just what happened recently when Rowe posted a video of Bill Mah...

By Ben Smith The Chinese Communist Party didn't need to penetrate the Pentagon. It built a private network around it, and stocked it with some of America's most senior retired generals and admirals. That's the core finding in Natalie Winters' new report on the Sanya Initiative, a decade-plus military dialogue funded by the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) and run in coordination with the China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC). Congressional investigators have identified CAIFC as a front for the PLA's former General Political Department, responsible for intelligence collection and "propaganda and perception management." The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission specifically cited CAIFC's role in Sanya. Winters summarized the findings Tuesday on X: REVEALED: Top American generals formed a secret backchannel with a CCP military intelligence front that instructed them: “We wish you would advocate posit...