The heckler interrupted Kirk’s address on faith and conservative values, yelling “Erika Kirk protects pedophiles” repeatedly, according to video posted by Turning Point USA.

Attendees booed immediately. Kirk stood silent for a moment, then delivered a line that landed like a hammer.

“It’s important to remember that happiness comes and goes and I pray that you find it.”

The crowd erupted in applause. After it settled, Kirk added: “And we must pray for our enemies and those that do not feel like their life has meaning.”

She called the heckler “not the enemy,” telling the audience, “We know who the real enemy is.”

Conservative commentator Eric Daugherty shared the clip on X, describing Kirk’s reply as “pure class.”

Kirk has faced a surge of hostility since her husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was assassinated at Utah Valley University in September, according to Fox News. She took over as TPUSA’s chief executive following his death.

The heckler named no individual. The Justice Department called similar claims about Trump false, according to TheWrap.

The wave of arrests began July 4 when armed, black-clothed activists arrived at the ICE Prairieland Detention Center for a protest that turned into a violent assault. The mob vandalized property before defendant Benjamin Song, nicknamed “Champagne,” began shooting at a local police officer who tried talking to them, according to Department of Justice evidence.

Song was convicted of attempted murder. The officer was shot in the neck.

“Many of the defendants have been convicted and are facing decades-long sentences for simply doing a sit-in outside a detention center.”

That claim — posted March 26 by four Michigan-based groups — is demonstrably false. The “sit-in” involved surveilling the facility beforehand, written plans for “Peaceful Protest no more,” arriving with multiple firearms, throwing fireworks and shooting at law enforcement, court records show.

Seven federal defendants pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in the months following the July incident. Jurors convicted Song and nine others in March. Eight defendants were convicted of material support for terrorism, rioting and explosives offenses.

Groups organizing support for the convicted defendants include the DFW Support Committee, a Texas-based operation that has raised funds and organized protests outside the Fort Worth courthouse. The committee’s website contains guidance on sending letters to prisoners and organizing fundraisers through “seemingly innocuous events such as bake sales.”

The committee called the jury verdicts “stunning” and reflective of a “sham trial, built on political persecution and ideological attacks coming from the top.”

Seven other activist groups in Santa Cruz, Oakland, Hudson Valley, Oregon and elsewhere have encouraged donating to the DFW Support Committee following the trial verdicts. Their statements called the convictions “devastating,” “oppression and retaliation” and part of a “terroristic assault on immigrants and protesters.”

A “Unitarian Universalist” church in Fort Worth advertised weekly fundraising dinners for the defendants in May Facebook posts, calling the July terrorist attack “a noise demo.”

“We know that the fight doesn’t end here, as we have to garner more support as we look toward appeals and supporting 13 defendants during their state trials.”

Prosecutors described all federal defendants as members of a North Texas “Antifa cell” largely led by Song, making the case the first U.S. terrorism prosecution explicitly targeting the so-called anti-fascist movement. Trump labeled Antifa a domestic terrorist organization in a September executive order that called for greater government attention toward the threat.

The Washington-based liberal organization Defending Rights and Dissent and the National Lawyers Guild hosted defendant Dario Sanchez in an April virtual panel focused on “the dangerous precedent” the prosecutions set. Johnson County charged Sanchez with hindering the prosecution of terrorism and tampering with evidence by deleting suspects from group chats. A judge dismissed the hindering prosecution charge on May 22.

Sanchez told panelists that watching comrades face consequences has created a “chilling effect” for some North Texas activists while emboldening others.

“Certainly, there are people that I know who have decided that they’d rather just stay home right now, right?” he said.

The case even sent shockwaves to Europe. The Bergen Art Book Fair website in Norway quoted the DFW Support Committee and included an April 10 presentation backing a Prairieland defendant whom jurors convicted of hiding pro-insurrection anarchist materials.

“As fascism continues to run rampant in the US under Trump and ICE is kidnapping people off the streets without any due process, we must turn our attention to how the act of dissent is being labeled domestic terrorism and how zines fit into the equation,” the event description says.

One Oregon-based group’s plans did not pan out. The Williamette Valley Abolition Project announced a “strip club” event planned for May 31 featuring performers whose earnings would go toward the committee. The group later said the “venue backed out” in a deleted Instagram post.

The chamber voted 215-208 to pass the concurrent resolution, with four Republicans joining Democrats. The problem: concurrent resolutions don’t have the force of law, according to the Senate’s website, meaning Trump has no obligation to comply.

“Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted, 4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats, to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Trump called the vote “meaningless” in a Thursday Truth Social statement and accused supporters of wanting to see the U.S. “fail.” He added the four Republicans are “GRANDSTANDERS” who “should be ashamed of themselves.”

The resolution, sponsored by Democratic New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, would direct Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran except when “necessary to defend the United States” or an ally from an “imminent attack” and seek congressional approval for military actions.

Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, a president has 60 days to engage in military conflict before Congress must either declare war or authorize force. Trump told Congress in a May 1 letter that the Iran war had been “terminated” as the deadline approached. Legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation that a ceasefire would not reset the war powers timeline.

A White House official told Military.com that concurrent resolutions are “unconstitutional,” making it “very unlikely” the administration would respond even if the Senate passes it.

“The War Powers Act was designed with a legislative veto, which was declared unconstitutional in 1983,” the official said. “President Trump will continue to protect our national security using his constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief while being transparent with Congress.”

If the resolution reaches the Senate, it will be referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. If sent to the floor, it would need a simple majority of 51 votes — no filibuster. The Senate’s own version is a joint resolution requiring Trump’s signature, which would almost certainly be vetoed. Overriding that veto would require a two-thirds majority.

Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted to advance the Senate’s joint resolution for a final vote on May 19. Cassidy lost his primary to Republican Louisiana Rep. Julia Letlow, who received Trump’s endorsement. Collins is seeking reelection in November against Democratic Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner.

Even if both chambers pass their versions, Congress would need a two-thirds majority to override Trump’s veto of any binding joint resolution — a threshold unlikely to be met.

Morris told Newsmax Friday the directive gives Trump a federal mechanism he’s long wanted. “It’s very exciting,” he said.

On March 31, Trump signed an executive order titled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.”

“A LIST BEFORE ELECTION DAY OF WHO’S ELIGIBLE FOR MAIL-IN VOTES TO MAKE SURE THAT BALLOTS ONLY GO TO THOSE PEOPLE.”

The order directs the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Social Security Administration, to compile a list of confirmed U.S. citizens of voting age in each state.

The Postal Service is instructed to deliver mail ballots only to voters on state-supplied absentee rolls submitted to the federal government at least 60 days before an election.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who joined Trump at the signing, said states would be required to apply USPS barcodes to ballot envelopes for tracking.

Morris said the order makes voting by mail auditable. He argued that without such a system, voting by mail cannot be policed the way in-person voting can.

“Unless you have photo ID for in-person voting, you can’t control it. But how do you control mail-in voting?” Morris asked, pointing to what he described as bloated voter rolls in states such as California.

Parking lots are getting ballots, he said, and “voters who have died 20 years ago are getting ballots, and many of them are voting.”

Morris tied the issue to illegal immigration, saying border czar Tom Homan had cited a population of 20 million to 30 million people in the country illegally.

The order faces a widening legal fight.

On May 28, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington declined to issue an emergency order blocking the directive, finding the challenge premature because federal agencies had not yet implemented it.

Democrats filed an appeal on June 1.

A parallel challenge brought by a coalition of Democrat-led states is pending in federal court in Boston, where U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani heard arguments June 2.

The Postal Service has begun rulemaking. A proposed rule circulated in late May would impose uniform standards for election mail, including unique envelope barcodes and verified state mail-in voter lists.

A final rule is due within 120 days of the order’s signing.

The border czar pushed back Friday on Newsmax against claims from New Jersey Democrats and protesters who have targeted the ICE facility for weeks.

“Lies, lies, lies. I went up there. There was never a hunger strike.”

Demonstrations have continued outside the facility for more than two weeks, fueled by allegations that detainees staged a hunger strike and complaints about medical treatment and living conditions.

Homan said reports of a hunger strike were false because detainees who skipped cafeteria meals were still purchasing food through the commissary.

“They claimed there was a hunger strike because a couple of people didn’t go to the cafeteria and eat food,” he said. “But what they didn’t know is that they were ordering food from the commissary and eating it in their rooms, so nobody missed a meal. No hunger strike.”

Homan also rejected claims that the facility is overcrowded.

“Wrong. Seven hundred people in the facility. It’s a 1,000-bed facility. There is no overcrowding.”

The criticism intensified after Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said detainees told him pregnant women, cancer patients, and others were not receiving adequate medical care and that some cases had languished for months without resolution.

Homan said he personally inspected the facility and found no evidence supporting those allegations.

“As far as the medical issues, I had a conversation with the governor [Democrat Mikie Sherrill]: ‘Give me the names of people that weren’t medically treated properly, in your opinion.’ They couldn’t give me a name,” he said.

Homan said he toured “every square foot” of the detention center, including medical facilities, recreation areas, housing units, showers, and the cafeteria. He returned the following day without advance notice and ate the same lunch served to detainees.

“I ate the same exact food — spaghetti with meat sauce, green beans, beans, rolls with butter, dessert, and a fruit drink. I’m a pretty big guy, and I didn’t finish the meal.”

Homan said the opposition stems not from concerns about conditions but from frustration with the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

He said Democrats “didn’t say squat for four years” and are angry “right now because ICE is arresting people at record numbers.”

“We’re ruining their long-term plans. That’s what it’s all about,” he said.

That’s a payroll-over-labor-force spread larger than any comparable postwar episode six years after a recession trough, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The three-month moving average of monthly job growth hit 188,333 in May — a level reached only 41 percent of the time in data going back to 1947. For an economy 73 months past a recession bottom, this pace of job growth has occurred in only three prior cases: the late Reagan expansion, the 1990s dot-com expansion, and the post-financial-crisis expansion.

“We’re in a jobs expansion that is unprecedented in the post-World War II economy.”

The foreign-born civilian noninstitutional population dropped by roughly 532,000 people over the past 12 months, the jobs report showed. The foreign-born labor force fell by 94,000, and foreign-born workers currently employed dropped by 107,000.

Federal government payrolls tell the other half of the story. Compared with a year ago, federal government payrolls are down by 275,000. Compared with the peak of federal employment in October 2024, payrolls are down by 346,000.

That means the net job growth isn’t being inflated by government expansion or cheap foreign labor.

Manufacturing Wages Hit 50-Year High

Weekly real wages for durable goods workers are up 3.5 percent — a pace not seen consistently since the post-war boom of 1947 to 1969. For context, real weekly gains averaged just 0.2 percent annually in the decade before the pandemic and were essentially stagnant going back to the 1970s.

Nominal weekly paychecks are up 7.4 percent year-over-year, hourly pay is up 5.3 percent, and overtime hours have jumped from 3.7 to 4.0 hours per week. The One Big Beautiful Bill’s overtime tax cut means take-home pay gains are even stronger than the gross figures.

Real durable goods output grew at a 5.8 percent annualized rate in Q1, and productivity surged at a 5.5 percent annualized rate.

Labor’s share of output fell to the lowest level ever — in data going back to 1947 — in the first quarter of this year, fueling capital investment and improved productivity.

Workers are seeing real gains funded by productivity and profit expansion rather than wage-price spiral dynamics that might trigger inflation or Federal Reserve intervention.

Warren Accuses Trump of Insider Trading — Stocks Perform In Line With Market

Sen. Elizabeth Warren complained during a Treasury hearing this week that Trump should be investigated for insider trading because his trusts bought shares of Bank of New York Mellon and Robinhood ahead of an April 6 announcement that the bank would be the financial agent for the Trump account.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified at the hearing.

Bank of New York is up around 15 percent since April 6 — the same as the S&P 500. Its competitor State Street is up almost 23 percent. Robinhood shares rose around 19 percent, but underperformed competitor Interactive Brokers, which is up 28 percent.

The stocks performed in line with the market and underperformed the closest comparable competitors.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced his resolution for independence to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. John Adams seconded the motion.

Congress delayed the final vote until July 2, when 12 colonial delegations voted in favor. New York delegates abstained, though New York approved the resolution on July 9.

The explanatory document — the Declaration of Independence — wasn’t adopted until July 4.

The terminated employees included four intelligence analysts and one supervisory analyst, according to their attorney David Laufman.

“This action is manifestly unjust, completely unsupported by the facts, and subverts standard FBI policy and procedure. These individuals deserved far better for the exceptional and faithful public service they rendered to protect our country.”

The January 2023 intelligence product from the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia field office ignited a political firestorm after it warned of threats from so-called “Radical Traditionalist Catholic” ideology and suggested new avenues for source development within Catholic communities.

Republicans in Congress seized on the memo as evidence the FBI under the Biden administration targeted conservatives based on religious beliefs.

Then-Director Chris Wray denied the charge. The document was quickly retracted and an internal review launched. Attorney General Merrick Garland called the memo “appalling.”

An internal FBI review found all individuals involved “failed to adhere to analytic tradecraft standards” and created the appearance that investigative activity was based on religious affiliation — a violation of First Amendment principles.

A 2024 Justice Department inspector general report summarized the earlier FBI review by noting departures from proper tradecraft but found “no evidence of a malicious intent or an improper purpose.”

The firings are part of a broader personnel purge under Patel, a Trump loyalist who has pushed out dozens of employees over the past year. In February, the FBI fired counterintelligence agents who participated in the investigation into President Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

The FBI declined to comment on the terminations.

The new charges follow an April indictment that alleged the SPLC created fake businesses to launder money to Klan members and neo-Nazis. Federal prosecutors now allege the organization fabricated business records, payroll documents, and checks for companies that never existed.

“My gut tells me that further indictments will be filed as the case progresses, based on previous cases the government has brought.”

William Byrnes, a professor at Texas A&M University School of Law who specializes in anti-money laundering laws, told The Federalist the superseding indictment suggests prosecutors are building toward charges against individual SPLC employees and informants who allegedly created the fake documents.

The new indictment is probably still just the tip of the iceberg, according to The Federalist’s analysis. Federal prosecutors have additional work ahead as they uncover who specifically produced fraudulent payroll records and bank documents.

Meanwhile, the SPLC has assembled a legal army. Since the April 21 indictment, nine defense lawyers from three law firms have filed three separate motions challenging the prosecution on procedural and ethical grounds — but not on the substance of the charges themselves.

The defense filings now stretch to 449 pages of memoranda and exhibits. On Thursday, three more lawyers asked to file an amicus brief on behalf of the Society for the Rule of Law, bringing the total attorney count to twelve.

Federal courts typically set trial dates within 12-18 months of indictment, but complex cases with extensive pre-trial motions can stretch longer. A presidential election looms in two and a half years. If the trial date gets pushed beyond the next inauguration, the SPLC could face a friendlier administration.

Byrnes noted the organization has over $750 million in assets, allowing it to hire the best litigation team money can buy. With that kind of war chest, delay may work as a legal strategy.

But a years-long courtroom battle carries political risk. The allegations — that an anti-hate organization allegedly paid for Klan robes, cross-burning materials, and kept extremists on a shadow payroll — will generate headlines for years.

The SPLC says explicitly in its own defense that it has been paying extremist groups for years to infiltrate and break them up. But as Byrnes asked, toward what end? The organization has no prosecutorial authority, and the Klan and Nazi groups it claims to be dismantling seem to be doing just fine.

The Federalist has repeatedly sent questions to the SPLC’s defense lawyers by email but has never received a response.

The charges remain allegations. The case has not been proven in court.

The flip came Thursday after The New York Times exposed Graham Platner, Maine’s presumptive Democrat Senate nominee, with allegations from multiple ex-girlfriends of “volatile and ‘toxic’ relationships” that were “unsettling and at times emotionally wrenching.”

“Mr. Platner could be charming and charismatic, they recalled in interviews, but also demeaning to women and, in at least one case, even physically threatening. He drank heavily and was regularly unfaithful.”

The Times report centers on Lyndsey Fifield, a 40-year-old Virginian who worked in conservative circles and dated Platner from 2013 to 2015. Fifield — who has since accused the Times of delaying and twisting the story to benefit Platner — alleged that the Democrat candidate “could be rough with her … particularly when they were drinking.”

She also claimed he “regularly grabbed her by the shoulders — sometimes hard enough to leave marks — and, on one occasion, yanked her out of a cab by her wrist after an argument.”

The Times buried those allegations in the 22nd paragraph of its report.

Platner’s campaign told the outlet he “strongly disputes” Fifield’s claims but admitted he “too often self medicated with alcohol, and was a far from perfect boyfriend.” He called any other characterization “false” and “politically motivated.”

The allegations follow reports that Platner sent sexually explicit text messages to several women while married to his current wife.

Within hours, Democrats dismissed Fifield’s allegations because of her work in Republican circles. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., reportedly said he’s “not impressed” with the Times report and that it “seems like a lot of nothing” from a “woman who works for right-wing political operations.”

Democrats are casting Platner’s accusers as unreliable after treating Kavanaugh’s less-than-credible accusers as gospel.

The evidence against Platner is far stronger than anything presented against Kavanaugh.

Platner doesn’t deny being in a relationship with Fifield. His campaign didn’t dispute some of Fifield’s claims, including that Platner allegedly said he would “rape” anyone who broke into his apartment “in a sexual way, not in a gay way.”

The Times reportedly obtained and reviewed texts between Fifield and Platner, Google Chat exchanges, Facebook messages with Fifield’s friends during and after the relationship, and diary entries from after the relationship ended.

Both parties confirmed they had a relationship. That’s already more than what existed during the Kavanaugh witch hunt.

In Kavanaugh’s case, there was no evidence whatsoever to corroborate his accusers’ claims of sexual impropriety, let alone that he had even met them.

Authors Mollie Hemingway and Carrie Severino noted the inconsistencies in the testimony of Kavanaugh’s chief accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, and how she couldn’t recall basic details about her alleged encounter with Kavanaugh. None of the people Ford named as being at the supposed party — including Ford’s lifelong friend Leland Keyser — recalled being at any such party.

Keyser also said she doesn’t know Kavanaugh, didn’t believe Ford’s story, and told the FBI that Ford’s allies tried pressuring her to change her statement to help Ford.

Claims by accusers Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick also lacked any corroborating evidence and similarly collapsed under scrutiny.

Democrats and their media allies treated them all as credible anyway.

The Platner scandal confirms that the left doesn’t actually “believe all women.” They choose to believe allegations only when they can be weaponized to advance their quest for power.

Kavanaugh’s accusers were deemed believable because they could block a conservative judge from ascending to the Supreme Court. But since Platner’s accusers could threaten Democrats’ chances of defeating GOP Sen. Susan Collins, the party couldn’t care less.

Unless Democrats make a last-minute swap with a less-controversial leftist, the “party of women” will continue to defend Platner for as long as it takes.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced the historic move, calling it a reflection of the growing partnership with Ljubljana under Slovenia’s newly elected conservative Prime Minister Janez Janša.

“Today, I am proud to announce that Israel will open its first-ever embassy in Ljubljana. The election of Prime Minister Janez Janša marks a new chapter in relations between Israel and Slovenia.”

Saar said the previous Slovenian government had been hostile to Israel. Now, he said, there’s an opportunity to rebuild and deepen a real partnership.

The foreign minister emphasized the embassy represents more than just diplomacy.

“An Israeli embassy is more than a diplomatic mission. It is a statement of friendship, dialogue, and a shared belief in freedom, democracy, and security,” Saar said.

Janša, a member of the Slovenian Democratic Party, is one of Europe’s best-known conservative leaders. He has long advocated closer ties with both Israel and the United States.

Throughout his career, Janša has aligned himself with President Donald Trump on issues including national sovereignty, border security, and opposition to excessive European Union centralization.

Slovenia — a former Yugoslav republic that gained independence in 1991 — is a member of both the EU and NATO. The nation has approximately 2.1 million people.

The embassy opening comes as Israel faces increasing criticism from several European governments over Middle East policy. In response, Jerusalem has moved to strengthen ties with governments viewed as friendly.

Hungary has remained one of Israel’s closest EU partners, frequently resisting efforts to adopt harsher positions toward the Jewish state. Serbia, while not an EU member, has also maintained warm relations and expanded cooperation with Israel in recent years.