EXCLUSIVE: Trump-Ally Introduces Bill Aimed At Codifying EO On Paper Straws
'They're a symbol of how far the Left is willing to go'
Florida male points gun at 4 in Mexican eatery amid bill dispute — including worker's son, 16. Technology assists in arrest.
Police in Ormond Beach, Florida, said a party of four had been dining at the Fresh Guacamole Tequila & Bar Mexican Grill on West Granada Boulevard on May 6 and were displeased with the bill, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.
Soon an argument erupted with the restaurant staff, the paper said, adding that an arrest report states that one of the employees actually tried to de-escalate the tense situation by telling the customers they could leave without paying the bill.
The suspect 'brandished a firearm toward restaurant staff, including a juvenile, during an altercation.'
Apparently, that wasn't good enough.
Amid the dustup, a woman with the dissatisfied group started banging on the plexiglass that protects the cashier, the News-Journal said.
What's more, she managed to get past the plexiglass and pushed toward four employees — one of them being the 16-year-old son of one of the workers, police told the paper.
Soon, the irate female started yelling in the face of one of the employees, and the 16-year-old boy stepped up to defend his dad, police told the News-Journal.
It was at that moment that a male was seen on surveillance video reaching into a bag, pulling out a silver handgun, and pointing it at the four employees — including the 16-year-old boy — police added to the paper.
With that, the woman pushed the male who pointed the gun out of the restaurant, and they departed, police told the News-Journal.
Then, cops got to work over the next month, the paper said, and police said they verified through photo lineups and facial recognition technology from the Volusia County Sheriff's Office that 25-year-old Anthony Rodriguez of Daytona Beach was the male seen pulling the gun on the restaurant's employees.
Police on June 3 posted a wanted notice on Facebook asking for the public's help in locating Rodriguez.
Police said in its public notice that an investigation determined Rodriguez "brandished a firearm toward restaurant staff, including a juvenile, during an altercation. No injuries were reported." Police asked for help and tips in order to locate Rodriguez, who had a felony arrest warrant for four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Police told Blaze News that in their above notice, the right-hand photo is a surveillance image while the left-hand photo is a previous mug shot of Rodriquez.
By the afternoon of June 5, police issued an update saying Rodriguez turned himself in and was taken into custody. Jail records indicate Rodriguez was booked on the evening of June 5 and released the next day. Jail records showed his cash bond amount for each count was $7,500 — or $30,000 total.
Anything else?
Just last weekend, Blaze News reported about another Florida restaurant dispute that turned into a dangerous encounter.
Police in Orlando said a male standing 6'2'' and weighing 280 pounds choked a cop after refusing to pay a $50.50 restaurant tab.
After being asked to pay up, 22-year-old Daniel Robinson allegedly shoved the female owner of the pizza joint and departed, WOFL-TV reported. Officers tracked down Robinson and tried to arrest him — and then one officer stared hollering, “He’s choking me," WFTV-TV reported.
Another officer said he punched Robinson in the face until the choking stopped, WFTV said, adding that police also maced the suspect. Police said when medical personnel arrived, Robinson spat in an officer’s face amid an attempt to restrain him on a stretcher, WOFL reported. Robinson was booked into jail and was facing multiple charges, including attempted homicide of a law enforcement officer, WOFL said.
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Liberal media spins Sen. Ernst's town hall death reminder while Iowa Democrats make their play
Iowa Democrats and the liberal media appear desperate to undermine Sen. Joni Ernst (R) and paint her as uncompassionate as she prepares to fight for re-election next year.
Ernst fielded questions from a boisterous crowd during a town hall meeting in Parkersburg, Iowa, on Friday, including a question about changes to Medicaid in the reconciliation bill.
The senator explained that the proposed changes would correct over-payments and ensure that ineligible persons, including millions of illegal aliens, could not continue receiving payments. Ernst underscored that eligible and vulnerable Americans would continue to be protected.
Midway through her response, a woman in the audience — later revealed to be India May, a radical Democrat who plans to run for the Iowa House — shouted, "People will die."
Ernst broke from her detailed answer to address the heckler's claim — a claim that Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought later called "astroturf" and that other Democrats, including Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), have recycled — with a memento mori: "Well, we all are going to die so, for heaven's sakes."
RELATED: Trump’s $9.3B rescission push faces a GOP gut check
The media framed the senator's remarks, which have gone viral on social media, as a callous response to "Medicaid cuts" in general, which President Donald Trump assured Americans Monday are not in the "one, big, beautiful bill."
The Associated Press, for instance, captioned an excerpt of the senator's answer, "Sen. Joni Ernst defends Medicaid cuts, says 'well, we all are going to die.'" Vanity Fair ran a piece titled, "Joni Ernst Not Sure How Else to Explain She Doesn’t Give a F--k About Your Medicaid." The New Republic published an article adopting the same framing, titled, "Joni Ernst Stoops to Shocking Low When Told Medicaid Cuts Will Kill."
Iowa News Now ran footage of "Iowans" reacting poorly to the senator's comment without noting that one of the featured commenters — identified in the reporting as a "father of two adults on Medicaid" — is actually the president of the local American Federation of Government Employees union and an activist who routinely criticizes Republicans.
CNN talking head Dana Bash repeatedly made reference to Ernst's remark on her show Sunday, providing Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) with ample airtime to attack the Republican.
'There's only two certainties in life: death and taxes.'
"I think everybody in that audience knows that they're going to die. They would just rather die in old age at 85 or 90, instead of dying at 40," said Murphy. "I wish Joni and others saw the immorality of what they're doing."
As if coordinated with the media pile-on, Democratic Iowa state Rep. J.D. Scholten seized on Ernst's bad press to announce that he was entering the U.S. Senate race to challenge her.
RELATED: Trump looks to rally Republicans as Senate takes up his 'big, beautiful bill'
Scholten, a pitcher for the Sioux City Explorers of the American Association of Baseball, told ABC News, one of the outfits that amplified the callous-comment narrative, that Ernst's remarks "really hit home with me."
"We need better leadership than that," added Scholten.
As critics and opportunists began feigning offense, Ernst posted a sarcastic apology video, noting, "I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement that I made yesterday at my town hall. See, I was in the process of answering a question that had been made by an audience member when a woman who was extremely distraught screamed out from the back corner of the auditorium, 'People are going to die.'"
"I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this earth," continued Ernst. "So I apologize. And I'm really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the Tooth Fairy as well."
Despite Democrats and liberal publications' apparent effort to batter Ernst over the remarks, she remains action-oriented.
"While Democrats fearmonger against strengthening the integrity of Medicaid, Senator Ernst is focused on improving the lives of all Iowans," a spokeswoman for Ernst told Blaze News. "There's only two certainties in life: death and taxes, and she's working to ease the burden of both by fighting to keep more of Iowans' hard-earned tax dollars in their own pockets and ensuring their benefits are protected from waste, fraud, and abuse."
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Gavin Newsom Supports Medicaid Changes — Why Don’t Republicans?
To cut federal spending, Republicans should join Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., in reforming Medicaid and saving federal dollars.Trump sends mixed signals on possible tax hike
President Donald Trump allegedly urged House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) during a phone call Wednesday to raise the top tax rate, albeit at a much higher income level, and close the carried interest loophole amid Republican lawmakers' efforts to finalize their Trump agenda bill.
The president indicated a change of mind Friday morning, however, suggesting on Truth Social that "Republicans should probably not do it."
Last month, Trump and Johnson shot down the idea of a tax hike on the wealthiest Americans.
The president said in his April 22 interview with Time magazine, "I certainly don't mind having a tax increase."
'Our party is the group that stands against that traditionally.'
"I actually love the concept," continued Trump, "but I don't want it to be used against me politically, because I've seen people lose elections for less, especially with the fake news."
The following day, Trump came out against the idea more forcefully, telling reporters in the Oval Office that the idea of a tax hike was "very disruptive," as it might prompt wealthy individuals to flee the country, reported Politico.
"You know, the old days, they left states. They go from one state to the other. Now with transportation so quick and so easy, they leave countries. You lose a lot of money if you do that," said Trump.
Johnson similarly came out swinging against a tax hike on April 23, telling "The Will Cain Show" last month, "We have been working against that idea. I'm not in favor of raising the tax rates because our party is the group that stands against that traditionally."
A number of provisions enacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 are set to expire in December. Unless lawmakers extend the cuts, tax brackets will revert back to pre-TCJA levels. Accordingly the top individual, estate, and income tax bracket would return to 39.6% from the current rate of 37%.
One unnamed Republican source said to be familiar with Trump's Wednesday call with Johnson told NBC News that the president was considering allowing the rate to revert to 39.6% "to protect Medicaid and help pay for middle- and working-class tax cuts."
Multiple sources suggested to The Hill that while the White House advocated for allowing the top marginal income tax rate cut to expire, the administration wanted to see the 2017 cuts extended for Americans in the lower tax brackets. While the top income bracket starts this year at $626,350 per individual, the New York Times indicated the proposed restoration of the previous top rate would apply to individuals earning over $2.5 million annually.
The Hill noted that a spokesman for the House Ways and Means Committee declined to comment on any policy specifics under consideration, and the White House did not return the outlet's request for comment.
'I'm OK if they do!'
When asked about the proposed tax income increase on the upper brackets, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told "The Hugh Hewitt Show" Thursday that he was "not excited about the proposal but I have to say there are a number of people in both the House and the Senate who are."
Crapo added, "If the president weighs in in favor of it, then that's going to be a big factor that we have to take into consideration."
Trump noted in a social media post on Friday, "The problem with even a 'TINY' tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, 'Read my lips,' the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election."
"NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election!" continued Trump. "In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I'm OK if they do!"
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