00:03:08.800You are now diving headfirst into the Stone Zone, the hottest political program on the planet.
00:03:16.240Now, one of the things that make me a conservative is I don't like the idea of the government having an exhaustive list of every American in the country, whether it is real ID or whether it's one of the Silicon Valley giants like Palantir.
00:03:33.180And I really don't like these flock cameras as Americans watch American cities decay under decades of Democrat governance, rise in crime, open borders, failed soft on crime policies.
00:03:47.920Flock cameras are now being floated to us as the plausible solution.
00:03:52.660These automated license plate reading cameras have proliferated by the tens of thousands across the country.
00:03:59.740often installed with very little public notice or debate.
00:04:04.120So what began as a quiet expansion has now triggered a widespread and growing public backlash.
00:04:14.040It's actually the natural response of free people who recognize a fundamental threat to their privacy rights when they see one.
00:04:22.400Reports of vandalism against flock cameras have multiplied in recent months in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
00:04:28.740So, for example, a man was charged after damaging multiple units and leaving homemade flags as a calling card afterwards in Houston, Texas.
00:04:37.760Cameras were cut down and spray painted, one with an American flag stuck in it.
00:04:41.760Dallas police reported a surge of 25 intentional damaged incidents since March.
00:04:49.360In Grand Junction, Colorado, a man shot three cameras with a rifle.
00:04:53.840Similar attacks have occurred in Oakland, Oregon, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and elsewhere.
00:05:00.240Poles being sawed through, solar panels destroyed, cameras paint-bombed or simply ripped out.
00:05:06.760Now, these acts are illegal and in no way do we excuse them or do we advocate them.
00:05:13.220Destroying property solves nothing and should result in prosecution.
00:05:17.440However, free people will only be pushed so far.
00:05:20.580technology is transforming society at breakneck speed generating disruption profound angst among
00:05:27.960the american people as a result when unmistakable symbols of a rising surveillance grid appear on
00:05:34.480every major road that contract your every movement the pressure will build very quickly
00:05:40.460left unchecked that pressure risks escalating into something violent or god forbid even deadly
00:05:47.080Flock cameras have become a prolific everyday reminder of the Orwellian agenda advancing in plain sight.
00:05:57.440Common sense Americans really must reject the excuses offered by the surveillance state and its corporate stooges.
00:06:04.220Consider the words of Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley.
00:06:09.440He's referred to transparency activists who simply mapped the locations of these publicly visible cameras as terroristic organizations.
00:06:17.540He later issued a tepid apology, only after widespread backlash, by the way.
00:06:23.840Langley has dismissed concerns about how the data is used for immigration enforcement by saying the company has no opinion and authorities will enforce the law no matter what Flock does.
00:06:34.740He has framed opposition as people merely angry at the federal administration or seeking to normalize lawlessness
00:06:41.760These are not the statements of a man who cares one iota about liberties or our founding era revolutionaries fought for, killed, and died for
00:06:51.320This is a technocrat who wants to line his pockets, even if it means destroying the U.S. Constitution and replacing it with a China-like police state
00:07:01.880You see, in actuality, flop cameras are not a force multiplier for traditional law enforcement.
00:07:07.880They're actually a quiet technological substitute for it.
00:07:11.560They represent a sneaky end run around the demand to fund and support community police.
00:07:17.500So instead of putting more police officers on the street, more detectives on cases, and more resources into the necessary human work of policing,
00:07:27.340the system offers a dystopian surveillance grid that watches vehicle movements at scale.
00:07:34.060The authority shifts from local beat cops who understand and know their neighborhoods
00:07:38.040to a network database controlled by some distant bureaucrat and administrator and private vendors.
00:07:45.080This is not strengthening law enforcement.
00:07:47.600It's actually defunding it by other means, replacing judgment, presence, and accountability with automated observation.
00:07:55.900Yes, we need more resources flowing into actual police work, not less.
00:08:01.180Flock cameras pull resources in the opposite direction.
00:08:05.200Orwellian tyranny is being substituted for the local officer who walks a beat,
00:08:10.200builds relationships, and deters crimes through their presence and their knowledge.
00:08:15.040That substitution, to me, is terrifying, and it makes us less safe in the long run.
00:08:20.780A government without restraints is more dangerous than any street criminal.
00:08:24.820The Founding Fathers understood this with absolute clarity.
00:08:29.640They designed a system of limited powers and enumerated rights precisely because they had seen what unchecked authority does.
00:08:37.460They did not trust benevolent intentions.
00:08:40.100They trusted structure, accountability, and the people's retained rights.
00:08:45.500Yes, a dense network of cameras can help solve some crimes after the fact by placing a particular vehicle at a particular location.
00:09:21.520They avoid certain destinations and they live under the knowledge that their patterns are being recorded and can be queried.
00:09:29.700We become lab rats in an experiment run by technocrat elites who assist it all for our own good.
00:09:36.520This is un-American and it's abominable.
00:09:40.300Consider what these systems would enable during the next COVID-style emergency.
00:09:44.000With the flick of a switch, vehicle tracking could enforce quarantine zones, could monitor non-essential travel, and identify those who failed to comply with whatever mandate the moment demanded.
00:09:57.680Personal liberty would immediately become a lost vestige of the past.
00:10:02.500The same infrastructure lends itself to other nightmare scenarios that should alarm every American.
00:10:08.560Imagine systematic tracking of citizens into gun stores, ranges, or Second Amendment events,
00:10:15.060feeding databases that later justify red flag actions or other selective enforcement.
00:10:21.800Image monitoring attendance at political rallies, church services, school board meetings,
00:10:26.000or protests against progressive policies, with patterns used to identify and pressure dissenters.
00:10:32.840These actions have already happened under previous Democrat administrations and could be turbocharged under flock camera surveillance, and it could easily be taken to another, even scarier level.
00:10:43.640Imagine the network integrated with digital identification or future central bank digital currency so that movement itself becomes a conditional privilege.
00:10:54.040Imagine climate or equity lockdowns that restrict travel by vehicle type, destination, or political reliability.
00:11:02.080Each of these is a natural extension of a system that already maps the daily movements of millions without individualized suspicion.
00:11:10.640It's the next step on the road to the inescapable reality of Big Brother.
00:11:15.360We cannot build a panoptic simply because we're frightened.
00:11:20.160The pen option conceived by Jeremy Bentham is a prison design which inmates never know whether they're being watched or what therefore police themselves was later diagnosed by historian Michael Foucault as the model of modern disciplinary societies.
00:11:36.320It's a hellish nature lies in the permanent possibility of observation at all times.
00:11:42.500Freedom does not survive under the knowledge that every trip is potentially logged, queried, or retained for later use by whatever authority happens to hold the keys.
00:11:52.360Fear of crime is real and it's legitimate. Capitulation to total surveillance is not the answer.
00:11:58.480Give the police the tools, I say. Staffing, training, political backing they need to be effective against actual criminals.
00:12:06.320Crack down hard on violent offenders, repeat predators, illegal aliens, and the chaos that
00:12:11.760has been tolerated for way too long. Do it the way free societies have done it for generations,
00:12:17.200through officers, investigations, prosecutions, trials, and punishment, without destroying the
00:12:23.420core constitutional rights that make America distinct. That model once worked. Americans
00:12:29.300were safer when the government remained limited and rights remained primary. We can return to0.85
00:12:34.620that past glory, but we cannot do so accepting false dichotomies that force a choice between
00:12:40.580safety and liberty. Those who demand we surrender privacy in exchange for the promise of security
00:12:46.480are selling us a devious lie. It's time for localities and states to ban these cameras and
00:12:52.180media before society becomes a power keg. Eating well shouldn't be complicated, but somehow it
00:12:58.900turns into recipes, prep, cleanup, and half your Sunday gone.
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00:15:56.640Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has delivered a decisive rebuke this very day
00:16:01.440to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the Republican Conference,
00:16:05.800insisting that the upper chamber remain in session until the Save America Act is passed,
00:16:11.180or better yet, that the filibuster is terminated
00:16:13.880so the Republicans can finally deliver on election integrity for the American people.
00:16:19.060In a forceful true social post, Trump declared John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to leave town until it passes the Save America Act or, far better yet, terminates the filibuster.
00:16:32.040That's where Republicans can quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of.0.99
00:16:35.300President Trump warned the Democrats will scrap the rule themselves the moment they regain power, adding that stupidity always brings losing and death.0.97
00:16:43.980For those who don't understand the filibuster, it is a Senate rule, a custom, a tradition under which any measure requires 60 votes before it can move to the Senate floor for a vote.0.95
00:16:59.200So simply having 50 votes, which I believe the Save America Act has today, plus the vote of the vote-breaking Vice President J.D. Vance, is not enough to pass the bill.
00:17:12.220We need to do away with the filibuster because the Democrats, as the president says, surely will when they come and if they come back to power.
00:17:19.500President Trump is demanding no excuses, no retreat, and pure America first resolve from all Republican senators.
00:17:27.060After urging grassroots supporters last week to pressure Thune and call Friday for a $95 billion party line spending blueprint that includes critical election funding before the election, August 6th recess,
00:17:39.220The president is refusing to let Washington's status quo machinery grind progress to a halt.
00:17:45.520Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida have shown backbone by backing a stay-in-town approach.
00:17:53.020Yet the broader Senate Republican conference, full of rhinos more attracted to institutional comfort than results, lacks the votes and the will.
00:18:01.700There is no appetite to end the filibuster.
00:18:04.100Instead of fighting leadership, appears content to pack up and leave town while elections remain unsecured, heading into this crucial midterm cycle.
00:18:13.020President Trump's pressure campaign is the leadership the country needs.
00:18:19.760The Save America Act represents a major step to secure ballots nationwide and restore trust in our elections.
00:18:26.960It's really quite simple and it's not at all offensive.
00:18:30.220All they're saying is that one should be required to be a U.S. citizen and to have photographic proof of it in order to vote.
00:18:38.520Some polls show that as many as 87% of Americans support this simple idea.
00:18:45.040By confronting the Senate's lethargy and weakness head-on, the president is doing what weak-kneed Republicans will not,
00:18:51.880putting the nation first and refusing to accept another cycle of empty promises and procedural surrender from the rhinos.
00:18:58.680We have been talking about fixing the election machinery in this country since 2020, but we have done nothing about it.0.91
00:19:06.200Now, the weak-kneed, lily-livered, white-wine-swelling country club Republicans are hot to get out of town for vacation before enacting the Simple Save America Act.
00:19:18.940President Trump is right. Now is the time. Call your U.S. senator or congressman now and tell them
00:19:25.160no leaving for vacation till they pass the Save America Act. I'm Roger Stone. You're listening
00:19:31.000to The Stone Zone right here on the Red Apple Audio Networks. And I'm ginned up for more. We'll
00:19:36.220be right back. The Stone Zone. Entertaining and informative. On the Red Apple Podcast Network.
00:19:44.520This is the Stone Zone. Now, get in the zone. It's the Stone Zone.
00:19:50.920A man who's gone through hell, but he's kept going and he's smart and he's strong and people love him.
00:19:58.000Not everybody, but people love him and respect him. Roger Stone. Where's Roger Stone?
00:20:08.740It looks to me like left-wing activists are trying to find the new George Floyd right there in Madison, Wisconsin.
00:20:15.720Hundreds of anti-police activists marched through Madison, Wisconsin,
00:20:20.160after officials fatally shot 38-year-old Corey Ruiz during a confrontation under state investigation.
00:20:27.840But the facts emerging from police and video accounts complicate the activists' execution narrative.
00:20:35.160Police Chief John Patterson said officers were responding to reports of property crime and bicycle theft when Ruiz was taken to the ground and pulled a knife.
00:20:44.360Police deployed a taser, but it failed to stop him.
00:20:47.120Authorities said that Ruiz wounded one officer with a knife and injured another before an officer fired three shots.
00:20:53.680Video reviewed by ABC News reportedly showed a knife in Ruiz's right hand, and footage showed officers recovering a knife afterwards.
00:21:01.780Despite these circumstances, nearly 500 demonstrators filled the streets chanting anti-police slogans, demanding police defunding, and confronting outdoor diners.
00:21:12.960One activist disrupted a police news conference, seized the microphone, and compared the shooting to what happened to fentanyl addict George Floyd in Minneapolis back in 2020.
00:21:23.560That, as you recall, sparked nationwide riots.
00:21:28.580Ruiz's family called the shooting an execution, argued that his criminal history did not define him, really, perhaps because they're looking for their next payday.
00:21:37.880Ruiz has roughly 40 convictions, including violent offenses, a prior conviction for battery against a law enforcement officer, and a supervised release violation.
00:21:48.180The Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation will determine whether the shooting was lawful.
00:21:53.360They ultimately should, away from political pressure.
00:21:56.540Left-wing activists can always push and rush to condemn police before evidence is complete,
00:22:01.660while minimizing the split-second danger that our police officers face.
00:22:05.860As part of their war on civilization, we can never back down against the leftist threat.
00:22:10.480Otherwise, it will be like 2020 all over again.
00:22:15.940That must always take precedence over the cries of the soulless, woke mob.0.91
00:22:20.460Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci's diaries expose him to be a psychopath. In one particular notation, he speaks about Michael Caputo, the undersecretary of HHS, sent over from the White House to try to get some handle on Dr. Fauci and his self-aggrandizement.
00:22:41.380It's very interesting in his diary entry, Fauci specifically says, you know, this Caputo, he's a con man. If a guy would just stop tweeting about Roger Stone and pay more attention to my media appearances, we might be better off.
00:22:57.520Well, in my view, Dr. Fauci is one of the great psychopaths of all time
00:23:02.440And he could be the greatest mass murder in world history0.55
00:23:06.160I'm Roger Stone, you're listening to The Stone Zone
00:23:08.660I don't mind taking the slings and arrows if it's coming from Dr. Anthony Fauci
00:23:12.980Don't go away, we'll be right back with more
00:23:15.620The Stone Zone, entertaining and informative
00:23:24.080the stone zone entertaining and informative on the red apple podcast network the stone zone
00:23:34.140a man who's gone through hell but he's kept going and he's smart and he's strong and people
00:23:40.700love him not everybody but people love him and respect him roger stone where's roger stone
00:23:46.120Welcome back into the Stone Zone. As I said, Senator Rand Paul has released excerpts from Dr. Anthony Fauci's personal diaries, and the picture they paint is, well, deeply troubling.
00:24:02.500Across more than 1,100 pages, the former federal COVID advisor repeatedly tracked his media appearances, his glowing media profiles, and his rising celebrity, while Americans are being told to mask, isolate, cancel holidays, close businesses, and accept sweeping government restrictions on their private lives.
00:24:23.060In one May 2020 entry, Fauci describes his fame as explosive and wrote that he'd become the most recognizable person in the world.
00:24:33.040He also worried that the White House believed he was becoming a bigger star than President Trump.
00:24:37.960That self-focus stands in sharp contrast to the enormous human cost of the COVID lockdown policy that he pushed,
00:24:44.780which included lost livelihoods, closed schools, family separation, and the erosion of our basic freedoms.
00:24:51.000The diaries also show Fauci warning against Thanksgiving travel while recounting a public walk where he was mobbed by admirers seeking photographs.
00:25:00.780Meanwhile, early entries repeatedly reference Wuhan, China, and the efforts to challenge the lab leak theory, showing that Fauci initiated the cover-up from the very outset.
00:25:11.960Now, just to remember, Dr. Fauci denied under oath before the United States Senate, under questioning from Senator Rand Paul, that the COVID-19 vaccination had been weaponized or given gain of function status in a Wuhan China lab.
00:25:28.340That was a lie, a crime, lying under oath to Congress. I was charged lying under oath to Congress, but no misstatement I made to Congress was material. In other words, there was no underlying crime to cover up. Not the case in the situation with Dr. Fauci.
00:25:45.960Fauci now is scheduled to testify before the Senate this week, again, where Senator Paul is expected to press him on the pandemic response, once again go through the gain-of-function research and the credibility of his past statements.
00:26:01.960It's time, I think, that the American people deserve straight answers.
00:26:05.300The COVID era cannot be buried under media praise and bureaucratic excuses.
00:26:11.320Accountability is long overdue, and the American Mengele, as I like to call him, has skirted it for too long.
00:26:17.880Fauci must be brought before a court of law.
00:26:21.980Of course, he will argue that he has a pardon, a preemptive pardon,
00:26:25.640in which case the Justice Department can then argue that his pardon is executed with an auto
00:26:30.680pen. That would put the authority and the legitimacy of the auto pen in front of an
00:26:38.600American court, something I would like to see. This is what he did during the COVID pandemic.0.85
00:26:44.060It is inexcusable. Let us hope that the Justice Department will ultimately charge with him his
00:26:48.920lies before the Senate, if not crimes against humanity. Eating well shouldn't be complicated,
00:26:54.620But somehow it turns into recipes, prep, cleanup, and half your Sunday gone.
00:29:27.120In fact, I'm the first author in the country to fully expose Jeffrey Epstein
00:29:31.900back in 2015 in my book, The Clintons War on Women.
00:29:35.520But whenever you see this claim of Roger Stone being seen on Epstein's island,
00:29:40.400you never see a name associated with it.
00:29:43.000That's because anybody who says that will get slapped with a defamation suit faster than you can blink an eye, just for those of you who may be thinking about it.
00:29:52.720In any event, for years, Bill Gates portrayed his association with Epstein as limited, regrettable, and barely a relationship.
00:30:01.660But the Gates Foundation's WilmerHale review found roughly 30 meetings between Epstein and foundation leaders, including Gates, from 2011 through 2014.
00:30:11.240Those contacts continued even though employees repeatedly warned senior leadership about Epstein's 2008 sex crime conviction and the obvious reputational danger.
00:30:23.480Meetings occurred at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse and on the foundation's campus.
00:30:28.420Gates already knew about Epstein's criminal history, yet discussions continued over proposed philanthropic projects that ultimately produced no fund and no meaningful benefit to the public.
00:30:39.940The review found no evidence that the foundation paid Epstein, participated in illegal conduct, or knew about his trafficking operation.
00:30:47.380That's their story, and they're sticking to it.
00:30:49.780Gates' misleading public minimization of the relationship shows the connection is, at a minimum, bizarre.
00:30:56.100Bill Gates previously claimed there was no relationship of any kind and called the association a mistake.
00:31:03.220Well, 30 meetings to me, that indicates there was a relationship.
00:31:06.34030 meetings after repeated internal warnings are not easily dismissed as a few unfortunate or mistaken encounters.
00:31:14.520The review also had a major limitation as investigators did not examine Gates' personal emails or communications from his private office.
00:31:23.480That means many important questions still remain unanswered.
00:31:26.580Gates let her testify before Congress, calling the association a grave error in judgment, but accountability requires more than carefully lawyered regret.
00:31:36.340The facts show an elite billionaire ignored warnings, continued engaging with a convicted predator, and then spent years downplaying how extensive those communications really were.
00:31:46.560It's now clear that Gase is another co-collaborator of Epstein's and should also be brought up on charges, in my view.
00:31:54.220A federal appeals court has handed Democrat-led states a temporary victory over President Trump's election integrity agenda, blocking key safeguards just months before the midterm elections.
00:32:05.900In a two-to-one decision, the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to pause a lower court injunction preventing the administration from enforcing major portions of President Trump's executive order in 23 states and the District of Columbia through November 3rd.
00:32:23.600The order directs federal agencies to help states verify citizenship, tighten standards for mail-in ballots, and investigate officials who send federal ballots to ineligible recipients.
00:32:35.900These are common-sense protections designed to restore public confidence in elections that often operate with weak safeguards, inconsistent rules, and little accountability.
00:32:49.120Democrat officials, of course, claim the president is intruding on state authority.
00:32:53.560But the practical result of their lawsuit is clear.
00:32:57.160Basic election security measures remain frozen while the clock runs down toward Election Day.
00:33:02.400The Justice Department is now expected to seek emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court. That makes the stakes here unmistakable. The justices must do the right thing. They must recognize that large integrity is not partisan, that citizens' requirements to vote are not extreme, and secure mail ballot procedures are not voter suppression.
00:33:23.520The requirement that one have a photo ID is not in any way racist.
00:33:28.980You need a photo ID in order to order a, well, to buy a pack of beer, a sick pack of beer, order a pack of cigarettes, get on an airplane.
00:34:26.700First of all, the United States of America does not recognize the international criminal court in The Hague.
00:34:32.660We are not governed by some bureaucrat judges in another country.
00:34:36.780The trip comes after New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdami acknowledged the city lacks the legal authority
00:34:43.340to arrest a visiting foreign head of state, reversing his earlier campaign promises that
00:34:49.220he would be the man who arrested Netanyahu if he came to New York City. Netanyahu's decision to
00:34:55.360proceed with the visit is a demonstration of resolve in the face of political pressure
00:34:59.660and international criticism. The Israeli leader has dismissed the allegations against him and
00:35:05.320made clear that he intends to appear at the annual gathering of world leaders despite these calls
00:35:10.460for his arrest. The planned visit also comes amid heightened concern about growing anti-Semitism
00:35:15.980in New York City and across the United States. Jewish organizations, law enforcement officials,
00:35:21.600and public leaders have reported increased anti-Semitic incidents in recent months and years,
00:35:27.380with recent events in New York having intensified debate over the safety of Jewish communities
00:35:32.180and the impact of heated rhetoric surrounding Israel. Mayor Mamdami himself fanned the flames
00:35:38.460of anti-Semitic hatred to win over the growing radical left base of Democrats to become elected
00:35:43.500mayor, but then he capitulated when it came time to live up to his rhetoric. Netanyahu's visit
00:35:48.460represents more than a diplomatic appearance. This is an act of political courage and a refusal
00:35:54.240to be intimidated by critics, underscoring Israel's determination to engage with the
00:35:59.280international community while standing firm against efforts to isolate the Jewish state.
00:36:04.280Against the backdrop of rising anti-Semitism nationwide, Netanyahu's willingness to appear sends a message that Jewish leaders and the state of Israel will not be deterred by threats, intimidation, or political pressure.
00:36:18.020In other words, the terrorists and the sympathizers will not win, and the atrocities of the past will not reoccur on our shores. Never again.
00:36:26.840Meanwhile, a Minnesota jury has convicted Shiloh Hendricks of disorderly conduct after a viral playground confrontation in which she used an abhorrent and disgusting racial slur
00:36:39.580Now her words were ugly and indefensible and beneath stanza of decency and most certainly will not be repeated on this radio program
00:36:47.780But offensive speech does not automatically lose First Amendment protection
00:36:53.440Hendricks' attorney asked the court to instruct jurors that speech alone can be punished only if it meets the narrow constitutional definition of fighting words.
00:37:02.760That means a personally abusive language inherently likely to trigger an immediate violent response.
00:37:10.700Judge Krista Daly rejected that proposed language as the deck was being stacked against Hendricks in her trial.
00:37:17.180After a woke leftist attempted to destroy Hendricks' life in the aftermath of her comments,
00:37:21.120she was able to actually raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from people who believe she deserved a fair trial despite her uphorrent speech.
00:37:30.220Judge Daly orchestrated a kangaroo court proceeding against Hendricks to ensure that that did not happen.
00:37:36.300Judge Daly's 11-page instructions never mentioned the First Amendment,
00:37:40.360yet directed jurors to examine their implicit bias and consider whether the slur could provoke violence.
00:37:46.640That is, essentially instruct the jurors to disregard the rule of law and institute the rule of woke.
00:37:54.720Courts are supposed to apply constitutional standards, not ideological social theories.
00:38:00.440It's the principle here that is important, as abhorrent as some of the words may have been.
00:38:05.960The man filming Hendricks repeatedly urged her to say the offensive word.
00:38:13.180He remained calm. She did not respond violently.
00:38:16.640Hendricks also alleged that he followed her from the playground towards her car.
00:38:21.020None of that excuses what she said, by the way.
00:38:23.780It does, however, matter when deciding whether her speech crossed the demanding legal threshold of criminal punishment.
00:38:33.740The jury acquitted Hendricks of a disorderly conduct allegation involving a child, but convicted her over the confrontation with the cameraman.
00:38:41.200Her attorney called the proceedings bizarre
00:38:44.940And she felt he was fighting a prosecutor and a judge
00:39:10.480Welcome back into the Stone Zone. A federal judge has delivered a major victory for American citizens and Illinois taxpayers, striking down state laws that gave illegal immigrants access to in-state tuition and taxpayer-funded financial aid.
00:39:27.360The ruling came after the federal government sued Illinois and Governor J.B. Pritzker arguing the state was unlawfully giving benefits to people in the country illegally while denying those same advantages to many American citizens from other states.
00:39:41.520The court rejected Illinois' attempt to dismiss the case and declared several policies unconstitutional and invalid, including in-state tuition rules, the RISE Act, and the Illinois DREAM Act.
00:39:54.520The RISE Act, signed by J.B. Pritzker himself in 2019, allowed certain illegal immigrants to qualify financial assistance if they attended Illinois schools and promised to seek legal status when eligible in the future.
00:40:09.360But Judge David Dugan made the principle clear. American citizens cannot be treated worse than illegal immigrants.
00:40:17.860U.S. Attorney Steve Weinhof said that Illinois had attempted to reward illegal immigration at taxpayers' expense and place foreign nationals ahead of Americans.
00:40:28.460This ruling, he said, simply enforces the federal law passed by the Congress.
00:40:33.000Republican Congressman Mary Miller, a good friend of mine, raised the decision as a victory for students and families who have watched Illinois leaders prioritize illegal immigrants over citizens.
00:40:44.160So the message here is straightforward, as public benefits funded by American taxpayers should serve American citizens first.
00:40:51.260States do not have the right to undermine federal immigration law or create special advantages for those who entered or remain in the country illegally.
00:41:00.040Blue states are not permitted to subvert the rule of law in favor of illegal aliens.0.56
00:41:06.060This ruling restores fairness, respect for the U.S. Constitution, and puts taxpayers and American students back where they belong, prioritized first.
00:41:16.620Meanwhile, Cracker Barrel's leadership, Shake Up, is another textbook example of Go Woke, Go Broke.
00:41:22.740After a costly rebranding effort alienated local customers and failed to reverse the restaurant chain's financial struggles,
00:41:31.380CEO Julie Massino will step down effective August 10th and be replaced by veteran restaurant executive David Denno.
00:41:41.940Her departure follows months of declining sales, weaker profits, and continued efforts to repair the damage from a widely criticized modernization campaign.
00:41:52.740Under Messino, Cracker Barrel launched their $700 million overhaul intended to refresh its restaurants, menus, and public image.
00:42:02.040This was perhaps the worst rebranding in commercial American history, even making Bud Light's transgender partnership pale by comparison,0.67
00:42:11.720and immediately made headline news due to its complete and utter tone deafness.
00:42:16.460The company actually moved the old-timer figure from its logo, decluttering dining rooms and altered the traditional country store atmosphere that had defined this brand for generations.
00:42:28.740Customers responded with a swift backlash, accusing the company of abandoning its identity in pursuit of a more fashionable corporate image.
00:42:38.160Cracker Barrel reversed parts of the rebrand within days, acknowledging that the effort had completely missed its mark, but the retreat did not immediately restore customer confidence.
00:42:48.380Quarterly revenue and profits later declined. The company sold restaurant properties to reduce debt, and then it unloaded its Maple Street Biscuit Company business while closing 16 of its locations.
00:43:01.220Cracker Barrel shares also remained lower than they were before this rebranding controversy.
00:43:06.500This episode offers a clear warning to companies tempted to discard tradition in search of woke plaudits and left-wing cultural approval.
00:43:15.820Cracker Barrel built its reputation on comfort food, nostalgia, love of country, and a proud display of authentic Americana.
00:43:23.960By distancing itself from those qualities, management appears to forget the customers who made the brand successful to begin with.
00:43:31.280Massino's unceremonious exit suggests the market delivered its verdict.