Briefs are posted every weekday morning, M-F

NEWS

Republicans are hoping to cut the amount of time unemployed Wisconsinites can receive unemployment benefits when the economy is good, with a bill identical to one introduced last year that failed to gain a signature from Gov. Tony Evers.

The bill, which is being circulated for co-sponsorships, would directly link how long a person can receive benefits to the state’s unemployment rate.

Currently, unemployed Wisconsinites can receive regular benefits for up to 26 weeks. That would drop to as little as 14 weeks under the legislation, because the state’s unemployment rate of 2.7% is at a historic low. The number of weeks benefits that would be available would rise along with the unemployment rate, topping out at 26 weeks when the unemployment rate is at 9% or higher.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Former President Donald Trump demanded his Republican allies in Congress defund the FBI and the Justice Department.

A day after being charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, Trump took to social media and proclaimed, “Almost every legal and political analyst has said that the unfair and morally disgusting Indictment filed against me yesterday has NO MERIT, and is not even a case.”

“There was no crime,” he said, “and, anyway, the Statute of Limitations has been violated by many years.”

While the debate over the strength of the indictment continues, Trump was warned yesterday that he could be put under a gag order if he continues to attack prosecutors in the case.

—Mediaite

Charlie Kirk recently had lawyer Alan Dershowitz on The Charlie Kirk show and asked him if there was any chance the lawyer would join former President Trump’s legal team amid the charges that the former president falsified business records. Kirk kicked off the segment by suggesting that Dershowitz could get Trump’s case dismissed “very quickly,” but this was apparently not the lawyer’s opinion. Dershowitz started off by saying that he has a policy of “only representing somebody once and so I’m not a lawyer, but I would certainly be happy to participate in the court of public opinion.”

Dershowitz went on to suggest that Trump’s case will likely not be dismissed, saying that “I don’t think that if you had the best lawyers in the history of the world, Abraham Lincoln and John Marshall, a New York City judge would dismiss this case because that New York City judge’s life would be over.”

The lawyer said that the judge would be mocked if he or she were to dismiss Trump. Dershowitz continued by saying that he does think Trump will be convicted by “your jury who voted for Bragg.” However, he added that the case would “be reversed on appeal,” and it “will never be affirmed all the way up to the Supreme Court.”

The lawyer’s comments come after Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, which carries with it a maximum jail sentence of 136 years.

—Human Events

Former President Donald Trump’s arraignment drew comparisons from Christians to the Holy Week leading up to Easter.

Christians took note of the Passion of Jesus Christ events as Trump surrendered to authorities on Tuesday after being charged by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg for allegedly paying adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet about their alleged affair during his 2016 presidential election campaign.

Conservative lawyer Joseph D. McBride took to Twitter last month to react to Trump’s arrest. He compared Trump’s politically motivated indictment to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

“President Trump will be arrested during Lent—a time of suffering and purification for the followers of Jesus Christ,” McBride wrote on Twitter. “As Christ was crucified, and then rose again on the 3rd day, so too will [Donald Trump]. Violence is never the answer. Winning the election is. Vote for Trump!”

McBride also added that Jesus died on the cross for people like Trump, who have risked their lives to save the American people.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) also pointed out similarities to Trump’s indictment, comparing it to other notable figures who were arrested, saying the president was “joining some of the most incredible people in history [by] being arrested.”

“Nelson Mandela was arrested, served time in prison,” Greene said on her way to protest Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday. “Jesus! Jesus was arrested and murdered.”

—Townhall

Robert F. Kennedy announced his run for the 2024 White House, challenging President Joe Biden in the race.

Kennedy, the Democratic son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of the late former President John F. Kennedy, is the second candidate to take on Biden, joining left-wing hippy and author Marianne Williamson.

His bid comes a month after he launched a fundraising campaign on social media to help him decide whether to run for president.

“If it looks like I can raise the money and mobilize enough people to win, I’ll jump in the race,” Kennedy tweeted at the time. “If I run, my top priority will be to end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power that has ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted our landscapes and waters, poisoned our children, and robbed us of our values and freedoms. Together we can restore America’s democracy.”

Kennedy has been a longtime critic of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s push for Americans to get the Covid-19 vaccine despite having little to no long-term studies done.

He has often been known as an “anti-vaxxer” and released a book titled “The Real Anthony Fauci” in 2021, where he accuses Fauci of taking a vital role in “a historic coup d’etat against Western democracy.” In addition, he has criticized the federal government’s handling of the pandemic.

—Townhall

National Public Radio, or NPR, which is funded by taxpayers, corporate sponsors, and audience donations, has been labeled a “US State-Affiliated Media” entity by the social media site Twitter, which is owned by Elon Musk.

“Labels on state-affiliated accounts provide additional context about accounts that are controlled by certain official representatives of governments, state-affiliated media entities and individuals associated with those entities,” explains Twitter in its platform use guidelines.

“Labels contain information about the country the account is affiliated with and whether it is operated by a government representative or state-affiliated media entity,” added Twitter. “Additionally, these labels include a small icon of a flag to signal the account’s status as a government account and of a podium for state-affiliated media.”

Commenting on Twitter’s labeling of NPR as state-affiliated media, NPR President John Lansing said, “We were disturbed to see last night that Twitter has labeled NPR as ‘state-affiliated media,’ a description that, per Twitter’s own guidelines, does not apply to NPR. … It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy.”

NewsBusters’ Nicholas Fondacaro tweeted, “NPR is literally a state-affiliated media organization. NPR is funded by the federal government. PBS needs this label as well.”

Conservative Dinesh D’Souza tweeted, “When pushing for taxpayer money @NPR labels itself a public sector and public service organization. But when Twitter accurately terms NPR “state-affiliated media” the company protests that it is being unfairly labeled. It’s the truth, but they would like to pretend otherwise!”

—CNS News

More than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused over 600 children and often escaped accountability, according to a long-awaited state report released Wednesday that revealed the scope of abuse spanning 80 years and accused church leaders of decades of coverups.

The report paints a damning picture of the archdiocese, which is the oldest Roman Catholic diocese in the country and spans much of Maryland. Some parishes, schools and congregations had more than one abuser at the same time — including St. Mark Parish in Catonsville, which had 11 abusers living and working there between 1964 and 2004. One deacon admitted to molesting over 100 children. Another priest was allowed to feign hepatitis treatment and make other excuses to avoid facing abuse allegations.

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office released the findings of their yearslong investigation during Holy Week — considered the most sacred time of year in Christianity ahead of Easter Sunday — and said the number of victims is likely far higher. The report was redacted to protect confidential grand jury materials, meaning the identities of some accused clergy were removed.

“The staggering pervasiveness of the abuse itself underscores the culpability of the Church hierarchy,” the report said. “The sheer number of abusers and victims, the depravity of the abusers’ conduct, and the frequency with which known abusers were given the opportunity to continue preying upon children are astonishing.”

—Associated Press

Pope Francis has praised the virtues of sex in a documentary released on Wednesday, describing it as “one of the beautiful things that God has given to the human person.”

The 86-year-old pontiff made the comment in the Disney+ production “The Pope Answers”, which captures a meeting he had last year in Rome with 10 people in their early 20s.

Francis was quizzed by them on a variety of topics, including LGBT rights, abortion, the porn industry, sex, and faith and sex abuse within the Catholic Church.

“Sex is one of the beautiful things that God has given to the human person,” he said in the documentary.

“To express yourself sexually is a richness. So anything that detracts from real sexual expression lessens you and depletes this richness,” he said, referring to masturbation.

On abortion, Francis said priests should be “merciful” towards women who have terminated a pregnancy, but said the practice remains unacceptable.

“It good to call things by their name. It is one thing to accompany the person who had one (abortion), quite another to justify the act,” he said.

—Reuters

ADDICTION to your phone and its apps is real and could have a number of negative effects on your health, a new study has revealed.

Dr. Eric Lim and his co-authors found addiction comes from the dopamine response that is given when using your phone, and people can become seriously hooked.

The dopamine hit lures phone users back in every day and that is when the issues can really start to arise.

The study also found a direct correlation between phone addiction and something called nomophobia – the fear of being without a mobile phone or being unable to use it.

Phone addiction was also found to correlate with sleep deprivation and overall poor health.

Dr. Lim is from UNSW Business School and is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Information Systems and Technology Management.

—The US Sun

OPINION

It’s not nice to say, it’s not something I relish in saying, but you can only do so much to protect people from themselves. You can keep bad people away from good ones, but sooner or later, if they’re really intent on being around bad people and bad things, they will find a way. When that happens, you have to throw up your hands and walk away. That’s what we have to do for Americans in Democrat controlled cities – sadly, we have to let them deal with the consequences of who they voted for.

There isn’t a left-wing city in the country that runs risk of electing a Democrat, even though the last time one did – New York City with Rudy Giuliani – it worked our really well for them as it made the city livable, cleaned up the streets and lowered crime across the board. With that as an example, no other city followed suit. Oh well, to hell with them.

I get that deep-blue cities aren’t likely to elect Republicans ever, but when presented with the opportunity to choose between a rabid, anti-American, racist, Marxist lunatic and what used to be a run of the mill moderate Democrat, the voters there chose crazy; they chose damaging. When people elect someone who will care more about the criminals than their victims, why would you have sympathy for those people?

Chicago just elected a committed Marxist, a racist piece of garbage who never met a white person he wouldn’t blame for anything – the personification of Critical Race Theory. Soft on crime doesn’t capture the reality of the situation.

I love Chicago, lived there for a very short period of time and visited often growing up in Detroit. It has done nothing but get worse, crime-wise, in my lifetime. Mayors and prosecutors looking for “social justice” by going soft of criminals, mostly black criminals because everything is about race to the left, and ended up making more victims of black people because criminals tend to terrorize where they live and kill people who look like them. The bodies and victims piled up.

There’s no real point in tossing a failed Mayor like Lori Lightfoot when you replace her with someone who holds the exact same policy views.

Chicago had a chance, there was a more-sane Democrat running (they’re all crazy, to one degree or another, at this point), but he lost. The radical left united behind the candidate who will continue the policies that churn out illiterate, hopeless high school graduates (at least for those students who stick around long enough to be socially promoted to graduation). They went with the candidate who will continue the policy of not giving a pile of human excrement about the hundreds of murder victims annually. Voters chose the candidate who will embrace the drug dealer at the expense of the thousands of opioid deaths every year.

In other words: if the status quo hell is what voters in Chicago want, why are we normal people supposed to care?

Chicago is lost, at least for now, so let it be. So are Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis, etc., etc. Republicans should still use them as examples, but there is no point in fighting for people who won’t fight for themselves. They haven’t reached bottom yet, and may never, so be it. They voted for more murders, more death and suffering. Point out the horror and win in areas outside those cities by promising to keep hell contained, but hell must be what these voters want. Let them have it.

— Talk show host/Columnist Derek Hunter

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – In 1973 Ron Blomberg of the New York Yankees became the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball; the rule change, which allowed for a better-hitting player to replace the pitcher in the batting order, was originally only adopted by the American League.