Michael Bachmann

Michael Bachmann is a writer at Spectator World

The rise of the multilevel marketing mom

T​​he hottest new influencer isn't the gym bro or food guru. It’s the affiliate marketing mom of two working from her pool deck. If you’ve stumbled upon her Instagram, she’s most likely bragging about her two-hour workday and the new house she just bought with her six-figure income stream. And you know she's got a link in her bio directing you to the class she took to learn it all.   These new "entrepreneurs" are flooding social media. Some have just a dozen followers, others hundreds of thousands. But they are all part of a new scheme that promises to make you millions working from home as a freelance marketer. The catch — the course they're selling is how they're making their money; they're not actually using it to build a business. And their advice for you?

multilevel marketing mom

Mike Pence drops out of the 2024 race

Former vice president Mike Pence is suspending his bid to be the 2024 GOP nominee for president of the United States, following months of financial troubles and lagging polls.   Pence made the surprise announcement at the end of a speech given before the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference in Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon.    “After much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today,” Pence said. “We always knew this would be an uphill battle, but I have no regrets.”   Pence launched his bid in early June but had struggled to raise money from the start. According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, his campaign was $620,000 in debt entering October and had just $1.

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Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis pleads guilty in Georgia election case

Attorney Jenna Ellis, a former legal advisor to Donald Trump’s 2020 election campaign, pled guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings on Tuesday morning.    Ellis, who was charged alongside Trump and seventeen others with violating Georgia's anti-racketeering laws, has become the latest co-defendant to enter a plea deal in the case to overturn Georgia’s election results from the 2020 presidential election. Ellis’s guilty plea also implicates claims of voter fraud made by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and other Trump lawyers during a December 2020 Georgia Senate committee hearing.   Ellis distanced herself from the former president in a tearful statement before the court.

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Shutdown narrowly averted with stopgap bill

A stopgap government funding bill was signed into law by President Biden late Saturday, keeping the government open for another forty-five days, through November 17. The proposed bill, which passed the House of Representatives earlier Saturday afternoon, does not include the $6 million that the Senate’s own funding measure would have. It will, however, increase federal disaster assistance by $16 million, meeting President Biden’s full request.  The bill passed the House of Representatives 335-91, despite resistance from MAGA Republicans that led to a standoff over spending for weeks. Ninety House Republicans led by Representative Matt Gaetz, voted against the bill.

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Among the crowd at the Trump arraignment

Washington, DC As former president Donald Trump was ushered into court in DC Thursday afternoon, dozens of protesters and counter-protesters lined the blocks around the E. Barrett Prettyman US Courthouse. Some danced in celebration at “Trump’s indictment party,” while others marched down the road waving American flags. Obscenities were flung, insults traded, but the presence of any real agitators was small.    For what was billed as such a historic event, the afternoon was shockingly calm. Protesters clashed occasionally, but the Trump supporters and his critics mostly ignored one another. Both groups were, perhaps unsurprisingly, far outnumbered by the media and onlookers on the street.

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RNC ups qualification requirements for second GOP debate in California

The Republican National Committee is increasing the requirements for presidential candidates seeking to qualify for the party’s second debate next month at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.  Candidates will need to reach at least 3 percent in two national polls or one national and two state polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada to qualify for the September 27 debate, according to Politico. For this month's upcoming debate in Wisconsin, candidates only need to hit 1 percent to qualify. The RNC has also increased the total number of donors from 40,000 to 50,000 with 200 individuals in at least twenty states. The polls must be "conducted with large sample sizes and by firms that are not affiliated with any of the candidates.

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Donald Trump charged with bid to overturn 2020 US election

From our UK edition

Former president Donald Trump has been indicted, again, by Special Counsel Jack Smith — this time over his efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and the subsequent January 6 riot. Trump faces four counts: Conspiracy to defraud the United States Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding Conspiracy against rights Molly Gaston, a prosecutor affiliated with Smith, submitted an indictment on Tuesday evening. The forty-five page document can now be read here.

When Washington embraced UFOs

The calm tones and bipartisan agreement at Wednesday's congressional hearing didn’t match the zany issue on the table — UFOs. During the two-hour hearing, every congressman accepted the premise that UFOs exist. It seems the one thing Democrats and Republicans agree on is that the truth is out there.   Three former military and intelligence officials testified before the House Oversight subcommittee that America is being kept in the dark about unidentified anomalous phenomena, known as UAPs — and no one in Congress questioned it.   Representative Tim Burchett, who has been calling for a congressional hearing for months, set the tone during his opening statement. “This is an issue of government transparency. We cannot trust a government that does not trust its people.

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Hunter’s plea deal confusion in Delaware

A federal judge called a second recess in Hunter Biden’s hearing Wednesday as the plea agreement between Hunter Biden and the US attorney in Delaware appeared on the verge of collapsing. Biden was expected to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors after making a deal in June that would allow him to avoid prosecution on a gun charge. A disagreement between prosecutors and defense lawyers about immunity from other charges threatened to kill the deal. Biden's attorneys came to a limited agreement with prosecutors that stipulated the deal covered specific charges within a time period/ US District Judge Maryellen Noreika asked Leo Wise, a member of the prosecution, if the deal meant Biden would be immune from prosecution for other crimes, to which he responded no.

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RFK’s congressional hearing was basically an ouster from the Democratic Party

Thursday’s explosive congressional Weaponization subcommittee hearing didn’t uncover any new evidence on government censorship, but it did serve as an unofficial excommunication of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the Democratic Party.  During the House Judiciary Committee's three-hour hearing, Kennedy was relentlessly characterized by Democrats as a racist bigot spewing misinformation and hate. He was repeatedly denied the opportunity to respond to accusations or even answer questions by members of his own party who no longer claim him.  For House Democrats, it seems that Kennedy is the new Donald Trump.

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new york eric adams migrants

New York discourages migrants from coming

New York mayor Eric Adams is discouraging asylum seekers from coming to the Big Apple by emphasizing the city's expensive cost of living.  The mayor’s office released flyers Wednesday asking asylum seekers to consider cities other than New York when choosing where to settle in the country. The flyers, which will be handed out to migrants at the border, warn that “cost of food, transportation, and other necessities in NYC is the highest in the United States.” They also say there is no guarantee of “shelter and services to new arrivals.”  In addition to the flyers, Adams announced a new mayoral directive Wednesday that requires single, adult migrants to reapply to stay in the city’s shelter system after sixty days if they cannot find alternative housing.

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IRS whistleblowers allege special treatment for Hunter Biden

The Department of Justice denied agents investigating Hunter Biden’s taxes and foreign business deals access to evidence and witnesses, according to two IRS whistleblowers.   The House Oversight Committee heard testimony from Special Agent Joseph Ziegler and his supervisor Gary Shapley of the IRS during a six-hour hearing Wednesday. The two agents involved in Biden’s criminal probe expressed frustration at how US attorney for Delaware David Weiss and prosecutors within the DoJ handled the investigation.

Biden announces student loan forgiveness following Supreme Court ruling

The Biden administration announced on Friday that they would erase $39 billion for 800,000 borrowers due to inaccurate payment counts made under income-driven repayment (IDR) plans.  The plan will automatically and retroactively credit qualifying borrowers for mistakes made by federal loan services. It will also credit borrowers for late and partial payments and forbearances before the pandemic. The Department of Education said the plan will fix “historical failures in the administration of the federal student loan program in which qualifying payments made under IDR plans that should have moved borrowers closer to forgiveness were not accounted for.

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Trump says he will likely be indicted by the Justice Department, again

Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has received notice he is a target in the federal criminal investigation into the January 6 riot and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.  “Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site.  Two sources with direct knowledge of the grand jury probe confirmed to NBC News that Smith had sent Trump the target letter.

Which candidates are set to qualify for the first Republican debate?

High-profile candidates are on track to meet the Republican National Committee’s new debate requirements for the first showdown on August 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The rules require that a candidate reach 1 percent support in three national polls (or two national polls and one early-primary state poll) conducted from July 1 onwards and have 40,000 individual donors, with at least 200 donors in twenty different states. Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Tim Scott and Nikki Haley, who have all polled consistently over 1 percent in the past two polls, will likely qualify for the debate when the third is released. All but Pence have stated they have met the 40,000 donor threshold, according to Politico.

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What was the point of the PGA-LIV show trial?

The media buzz surrounding the PGA-LIV Golf merger just won’t stop — and the Senate’s investigation on Tuesday did little to help. The hearing came across as more a show trial of moral posturing on an issue that few outside of the golfing community have been following. After nearly three hours, one question still remained unanswered: why should anyone care?  Senator Richard Blumenthal, who announced the investigation last month, appeared to be the only one in the room invested in the hearing, which included testimony from PGA Tour chief operating officer Ron Price and board member Jimmy Dunne. The other committee members came with a few obligatory questions for PGA’s executives or outright supported them.

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Is the age of the legacy student over?

Johnston’s Gate isn’t the only entrance to Harvard Yard. For years, money, status and secret lists have opened back doors into Harvard University for a select group of privileged students. And the easiest way to open these doors? The right parents. According to the Harvard Crimson, over a third of the class of 2022 had a parent or other relative who attended Harvard. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action, the admission policy that has created America's aristocrats is starting to take some heat. Could legacy admission be the next to go? Three Boston-based advocacy groups say yes.

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Congressman warns about alien technology

There is compelling evidence we have threats to global security not from this earth, according to Tennessee congressman Tim Burchett — and it's time the American people learned the truth.  Burchett appeared on John Michael Godier’s Event Horizon podcast last week to discuss the government’s cover-up of extraterrestrial technology. The congressman, who sits on a House committee investigating UFO sightings, claimed that alien spacecrafts can travel at the speed of light, fly underwater and turn people into “charcoal briquettes.”  According to Burchett, the government has been covering up UFO sightings since 1897 when an alleged spacecraft crashed into a windmill in Aurora, Texas.

Titanic submarine passengers presumed dead: US Coast Guard

The US Coast Guard said Thursday afternoon that the five passengers aboard the missing Titan submarine are presumed dead after debris from the vessel was found on the seafloor.  “The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said. “Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families. On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families.” The announcement came after the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic deployed a remotely operated vehicle that found five major pieces of debris 1,600 feet from the Titanic. According to Mauger, the Coast Guard is uncertain if they will be able to uncover the victim’s bodies.

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Hunter Biden to plead guilty to tax misdemeanors

Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and has struck a deal with federal prosecutors over a felony gun charge. According to a court filing released by US Attorney David Weiss on Tuesday, Biden was charged with two counts of “willful failure to pay federal income tax” and for “possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.”  Weiss, who has overseen the federal probe into Biden’s taxes since 2018, has agreed to recommend probation for Biden’s tax violations and it is unlikely he will serve jail time for either his tax and gun charges, according to the Washington Post. If Biden complies with the terms of his pretrial diversion, he could have the gun charge removed from his record in two years.

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