Amber Duke

A few weeks before Easter, a staffer for Republican senator Rand Paul was randomly and brutally attacked in downtown Washington, DC. The staffer, Phillip Todd, was leaving dinner with his friend when an assailant stabbed him four times in the abdomen, skull, brain and lungs. He suffered a punctured lung and potential brain bleeding. Todd was rushed to hospital, where he was operated on and ultimately survived the attack.   The man who stabbed Todd is a forty-two-year-old named Glynn Neal. Like many of DC’s violent criminals, Neal has a lengthy rap sheet. Virginians for Safe Communities, a nonprofit organization, detailed the man’s long history of criminal behavior.

Pennsylvania Democrats over the past few months have put on a masterclass in political ruthlessness. Although they entered the legislative session in the state House of Representatives a few vacant seats shy of a majority, Democrats have since seized power through a series of shrewd — and arguably shameless — moves. Democrats first managed to win a one-seat House majority during the midterm elections, but three of the seats became vacant due to a death, a resignation and a promotion. This meant the GOP technically held a majority at the start of the session, but Republicans recognized that Democrats would almost certainly win the majority back in February when the three special elections were decided.

The old adage goes that there are two sides to every story, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle. There doesn’t seem to be a better way to describe the recent turmoil at Project Veritas, the conservative journalism organization known for its undercover sting operations. Project Veritas’s founder and CEO James O’Keefe resigned from his post a little over a week ago after the non-profit's board of directors placed him on unpaid leave pending an investigation for alleged financial malfeasance and abuse of staff.

Nebraska attorney general Mike Hilgers expressed optimism about the outcome of a Supreme Court case challenging President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness program during a Tuesday interview with The Spectator. Hilgers said following oral arguments on Tuesday morning that the justices asked "very positive" questions about the White House's authority to institute the program, which would offer up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness to individual borrowers making less than $125,000 a year or $250,000 a year for households. "To some degree it's always a little bit of reading the tea leaves, but I thought I the questions the justices asked were very positive.

Four billion dollars in debt relief for black farmers only. Special stipends for Black, “Latinx” and Native American entrepreneurs. Minority- and women-owned restaurants prioritized for pandemic recovery funds. School admissions policies designed to reduce the number of whites and Asians. Racial preference programs have become ubiquitous in American society. When was the last time you filled out an official form without being asked to disclose your race? In the name of ending racism, we have been divided and labeled according to vague and outdated racial classifications that are then used to benefit certain groups at the expense of others. Is there hope for a more race-neutral America?

The murder trial of prominent South Carolina patriarch Alex Murdaugh has it all: two deaths, a lethal drunken boat accident, a suicide-for-hire plot, the mysterious death of the family's housekeeper and a suspicious hit-and-run. That's why the case has caught the attention of true crime fanatics and the national media — ABC News, Discovery, HBO, CNN and Netflix have all taken a stab at various documentaries and podcasts. Others still might find themselves lost in the schadenfreude of watching a powerful and wealthy family descend into tragedy. The Murdaugh family has long exercised a significant amount of legal influence in the Low Country region of South Carolina.

The National Park Service cleared a major homeless encampment in downtown Washington, DC on Wednesday, a move that eased local residents and infuriated activists. McPherson Square, located just blocks from the White House, has been effectively cordoned off from the rest of the public since the proliferation of the tent city during the pandemic. The Spectator was the first to report in December that the NPS would start enforcing its no camping policy on park land in the nation’s capital. Signs went up around McPherson Square last month warning the inhabitants of the tent city that they would be removed on February 15.

A group of Republican congressmen and senators sent a letter to top US government health officials on Monday demanding answers on recent claims about "directed evolution" research made by a Pfizer employee during an undercover sting operation. A copy of the letter, which was sent to Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Robert Califf, and National Institutes of Health acting director Lawrence Tabak, was obtained by The Spectator. Senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson, and Representatives Chip Roy, Andy Biggs, Greg Steube, Eric Burlison, Bill Posey, Mary Miller, Lauren Boebert and Bob Good all signed the letter.

Newly elected GOP congressman Andy Ogles said that President Joe Biden shouldn't have been surprised to receive jeers when he "levied false accusations" about Republicans during his Tuesday night State of the Union address. "I think him standing in the dais and lying to the American people is inappropriate," Ogles told The Spectator. "If you're going to have the audacity to do that, don't be surprised that you get pushback from those who are being levied with accusations. So I would say what was inappropriate is his tone." Biden claimed during his State of the Union address that some Republicans wanted to sunset Social Security and Medicare every five years. "That means if Congress doesn’t vote to keep them, those programs will go away," Biden said.