‘Blatant violation’: Dem uses hearing on ActBlue foreign funding to urge campaign contributions

Kennedy Center sued by National Opera over $17M of withheld funds

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is facing another catastrophic financial blow after the Washington National Opera filed a $17 million lawsuit against the troubled institution for refusing to release funds the company claims belong to them.According to New York Times reporting, the suit filed Thursday accuses Kennedy Center officials of withholding "endowment funds, donor gifts, and other contributions" collected for the opera's benefit since the company struck out on its own earlier this year."W.N.O. reluctantly files this case to preserve its future and to protect its donors and artists," lawyers for the opera said in court papers, identifying the funds as donor gifts received over years that are "critical" to its operations.The opera's attempt at negotiation went nowhere, it said. "For months, W.N.O. repeatedly tried to address these issues with the Kennedy Center, including through written requests, requests for meetings, and meetings with Kennedy Center leadership. Those efforts were met with indifference," the suit states.According to the Times, the opera's departure in January marked a dramatic rupture with an institution where the company had performed since 1971. Kennedy Center officials claimed at the time they decided to part ways "due to a financially challenging relationship"— but the lawsuit suggests a more sinister financial maneuver.The timing is damning, according to the Times' Julia Jacobs. The day before the separation announcement, Kennedy Center CFO Donna Arduin allegedly told opera leaders in an email that money in a fund containing bequests and contributions designated for the opera was being used as collateral for a line of credit for the center itself.Arduin asserted the funds belonged to the Kennedy Center. The opera company contends they were expressly reserved for its benefit. The suit does not specify how much money was used as collateral.The Kennedy Center's institutional collapse accelerated after President Trump assumed the chairmanship at the start of his second term and installed his allies as leadership. The move triggered an exodus of audiences, artists, and donors.The report noted that the opera's lawsuit comes amid broader institutional chaos at the Kennedy Center. A federal judge recently ordered Donald Trump's name removed from the center and temporarily blocked his plan to close the institution for two years of renovations. Trump and Kennedy Center lawyers appealed the decision Thursday.

NEW: Tulsi Gabbard Announces She’s Releasing Evidence of US Funding to Over 120 Biolabs in Over 30 Countries, Including Ukraine, for Gain of Function Research (VIDEO)

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Friday announced that she is declassifying evidence of US-funded biolabs and gain-of-function research around the world as one of her final acts before stepping down as DNI.  "After months of searching through intelligence community holdings and files, today I'm releasing longstanding US government funding of more than 120 bio labs in over 30 countries," including Ukraine, she said in a video statement. The post NEW: Tulsi Gabbard Announces She’s Releasing Evidence of US Funding to Over 120 Biolabs in Over 30 Countries, Including Ukraine, for Gain of Function Research (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Judge Rejects DOJ Assurance ‘Weaponization’ Fund Is Defunct

A federal judge in Virginia will allow a lawsuit to proceed challenging the Trump administration’s plans for a $1.8 billion fund for alleged victims of political “weaponization,” despite assurances from US officials that the plan won’t move forward.

Judge continues to block DOJ's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund

A federal judge continued to block the Justice Department's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, expressing skepticism with the administration's claims that the program is not moving forward.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard Exposes 120+ US-Funded Biolabs Worldwide

U.S. Taxpayer Money Funded 120 Biolabs in 30 Countries

Legal scholar reveals how to get Supreme Court back in line using 'fear'

The Supreme Court has left a trail of legal "wreckage" over the course of its last few terms, but according to one legal scholar writing for The Hill, a "fundamental" fix to get them back in line will be making them "fear" again.Paul M. Collins Jr. is a professor of Legal Studies and Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has written extensively about the Supreme Court and the issues pervading it. On Friday, The Hill published his latest piece, digging into the current situation surrounding it, with accusations of rampant political bias and disregard for clear legal precedents in order to aid President Donald Trump."In a few weeks, the Supreme Court will end its term, leaving behind a trail of legal wreckage that has become all too familiar since the emergence of its conservative supermajority in 2020," Collins wrote. "Although the headlines will focus on the specific casualties — most notably a crushing blow to the Voting Rights Act — the real story of this term is not what the court did, but why it felt so comfortable doing it. We are witnessing the solidification of a sovereign court: an institution that has effectively decoupled itself from the traditional gravity of American checks and balances."It was not always like this, he noted, explaining that the court once operated with a "healthy, if unspoken, anxiety," which he dubbed, "the fear of reversal.""This fear once acted as a structural brake, reminding the justices that if they strayed too far from the constitutional mainstream, the system would push back," he wrote. "For instance, the 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 26th Amendments to the Constitution were passed to overturn Supreme Court decisions. Congress has reversed several decisions by passing statutes as well, as exemplified in the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009. And the Supreme Court occasionally overrules itself, including overturning Bowers v. Hardwick, which allowed states to criminalize same-sex sexual relations, in 2003."Now, however, the "era of hyper polarization" has created a status quo where Congress is barely ever able to pass anything due to the radically different priorities on each side of the aisle. In this environment, the odds are vanishingly slim that Congress would be able to pass a bill rebuking the Supreme Court, let alone a new constitutional amendment, and as Collins noted, the court itself is expected to retain a conservative majority for decades if it is not expanded, meaning that future iterations of it also will not be likely to reverse past decisions."To restore the court’s legitimacy, we must do more than simply add seats; we must change the fundamental math of judicial power," Collins argued. "The goal should be to reintroduce the very thing the conservative supermajority has lost: the possibility of being corrected. The most effective way to achieve this is a two-pronged structural reset. First, Congress should exercise its clear constitutional authority to expand the size of the court. Second, and more crucially, the justices should no longer sit as a permanent, monolithic body of nine. Instead, they should be required to hear cases in randomly assigned three-judge panels with final decision-making authority."He concluded: "Ultimately, instilling a fear of reversal is an act of institutional humility. With public confidence at a historic low, we can no longer afford a court that is always right simply because it is final. We need a court that is final only when it is right."

Judge indefinitely blocks Trump 'anti-weaponization' fund

A federal judge in Virginia agreed to indefinitely block the Justice Department’s "anti-weaponization" fund after previously agreeing to temporarily block any payments. The decision from U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema came during a Friday hearing on whether to bar any payments from the $1.776 billion fund for the duration of the case. Democracy Forward, a [...]