Swing state mailbox vandalized, absentee ballots missing: Report



A USPS mailbox in Michigan was vandalized over the weekend, potentially affecting local voters who had cast an absentee ballot, a new report from WZZM claims.

Sometime between 11 a.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. on Monday, someone apparently vandalized the mailbox outside the post office in Twin Lake, a rural area of Michigan about 45 minutes north of Grand Rapids.

'The good news is we have time before the election.'

What's worse, at least two local residents claimed to have deposited absentee ballots in the mailbox, but officials could not locate those votes.

Blue Lake Township Clerk Jeff Abram told WZZM he did not even learn about the apparent vandalism until a resident contacted him about his absentee ballot.

"I had a voter come into my office yesterday and said he deposited his ballot in the Twin Lake post office box that was outside the collection box, and he wanted to know if I had his ballot yet," Abram explained.

Just 10 minutes later, another resident came inquiring about an absentee ballot that had been deposited in the mailbox. Abram said he could not find either ballot.

Abram added that no one knows the motive behind the alleged crime or how much mail might be missing.

"I hope it's not to get the ballots. Again, we don't know what kind of mail was taken or how much was taken, but I do know that I do have two constituents that didn't get their ballots," he reiterated.

Abram confirmed to the outlet that he spoiled the ballots of the two residents who contacted him and issued them new ones.

He and other area clerks worry that other absentee voters, unaware of the allegedly stolen mail, might be affected. Anyone who placed an absentee ballot in that mailbox during that 46-hour window is urged to track their ballots online or call their local clerk so that they won't be disenfranchised.

"There are also two neighboring townships that use that post office branch as well. They too should contact their respective clerks to see the status of their ballot," Abrams said in a statement to Blaze News.

"The good news is we have time before the election if we need to spoil their current ballot and reissue them another ballot before the November 5 election," he added.

Whether any suspects in the case have been identified is unclear.

Blaze News reached out to the Twin Lake postmaster, who directed us to the U.S. Postal Service media contact. Blaze News was then redirected twice more. The final USPS source Blaze News contacted did not respond to a request for comment.

H/T: Gateway Pundit

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Hunting for hope: Hound hunters step up as FEMA falls short in Appalachia



A community of hound hunters across America banded together this week to donate thousands of dollars' worth of supplies to their fellow countrymen devastated by Hurricane Helene, and their efforts were so successful that a local Tennessee post office reportedly couldn't manage all the deliveries.

Last Friday, Hurricane Helene sent such torrential rainfall to parts of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee that within hours, residents were forced to flee to their rooftops in hopes of rescue.

T.L. Jones, the pastor of Appalachian Baptist Church in Greeneville, Tennessee, explained to Blaze News just how serious the situation quickly became.

"People [were] kicking out the top windows to get rescued by boats and lifted out by air in different places," he said. "And there's no way for the people in this area to have any concept of what was coming. ... And then once it happened, it just swept people away."

A friend, Boone McCrary, stopped by Pastor Jones' home shortly before venturing out in his boat to rescue someone trapped by the flooding. McCrary never returned.

"He capsized and drowned. They found him yesterday. They found his body," Jones said.

The pastor also shared harrowing stories of helicopters saving patients off the rooftop of a hospital, of a husband who drowned while attempting to escape the area with his wife after their home was ripped from its foundation, and a dam barely holding firm as millions of gallons of water cascade over its top.

'Where is the federal government? Where are they? We haven't waited on them, but we sure expected them to show up.'

Amid these dangerous conditions came a ray of hope: a group of people from all over America united in their love of hound hunting and their fellow man. Through the coordinated efforts of Pastor Jones and Chris Powell, the host of the "Houndsman XP" podcast, this group managed to send supplies en masse to Greeneville.

Screenshot of Houndsman XP website. Used with permission.

With the help of his daughter — "It needed a woman's touch on it," he joked — Powell developed an Amazon gift registry and then shared it on social media.

The response has been nothing short of amazing. As of Thursday afternoon, people had sent more than $8,000 worth of supplies to the ravaged area.

"There's everything on that site, from pre-made baby bottles to water to feminine hygiene products to cleaning supplies. canned food, snack food," Powell told Blaze News.

Photo of the Amazon registry receipts, shared with Blaze News

Powell and his fellow hound hunters were, in fact, so generous that the local Greeneville post office needed help delivering all the items donated off the Amazon registry, Pastor Jones said.

"It comes to a post office, and then we send vehicles to the post office and pick it up because they can't handle the number of stuff that's coming in," he explained to Blaze News.

Blaze News reached out to the U.S. Postal Service to confirm Jones' version of events but did not receive a response.

Powell also contacted Elite Nutrition, one of his show's sponsors, and the folks there donated two tons of pet food, he claimed.

Photo shared with Blaze News

Jones said that he also raised a total of $10,000 from the collection plate at his church as well as from another local church. He then started walking door-to-door, handing out $250 to residents. "Just so they could get some cash in their pockets," he said.

A network of churches and other organizations have reached out to Pastor Jones to send resources to the area as well. On the outside of one box of donated supplies was a particularly touching note: "To our fellow Tenneseans from the men of Uncle John's Handguns."

Photo shared with Blaze News

Though need in the area remains great, Powell, Jones, and others will soon divert the donations, which continue to arrive, to parts of North Carolina because the good people of Greeneville want to help take care of others.

Powell then shared a heartwarming story that aptly conveys the generous character, or what he described as the "fighting spirit," of the Appalachian people.

"One of the guys ... was literally delivering supplies and insulin and medicine up into the mountains with his horse and a pack mule. And he was talking to an older lady, an elderly lady there, that she couldn't even get out on a road. She didn't have electricity, and she didn't have water, but she had a spring," Powell said.

"And he rode up in there and he says, 'Can I leave you some food?' She says, 'I'm good. But I've got supper cooking. If you want to stay and eat with me, you're more than welcome to.'"

Powell, a retired conservation officer in Indiana who helped in the relief efforts following several natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005, told Blaze News that he knew the hound-hunting community would open their hearts and their wallets to those who are suffering.

"They're the people that serve on your power crew. They're the people that will build your house, and when they're in times of need, they will step up to the plate," he said with pride.

"[They're] just good, red-blooded, freedom-loving Americans that know the value of stepping up and helping their fellow man."

Meanwhile, FEMA, a federal agency with an annual budget of nearly $30 billion, has offered just $750 to taxpaying citizens who in some cases lost almost all of their possessions.

"Where is the federal government? Where are they? We haven't waited on them, but we sure expected them to show up, and we just want to know: Where are they? Where is FEMA?" Jones asked.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted the federal agencies under his purview, including FEMA, are doing the best they can.

"We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds," Mayorkas said Wednesday.

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This Game Show Legend Will Be Honored With A New Postage Stamp

[rebelmouse-proxy-image https://thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-18-at-6.46.08 AM-1200x675.png crop_info="%7B%22image%22%3A%20%22https%3A//thefederalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-18-at-6.46.08%5Cu202fAM-1200x675.png%22%7D" expand=1]Who is longtime 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek?

Federal judge rules guns cannot be banned from the post office



A federal judge in Florida ruled it unconstitutional to bar people from possessing firearms in post offices. The judge cited a Supreme Court ruling from 2022 as precedent.

Using the landmark decision from N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle dismissed part of a recent indictment of a postal worker who was charged with illegally possessing a gun in a federal facility.

According to Reuters, Mizelle said the charge violated the man's right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment.

"A blanket restriction on firearms possession in post offices is incongruent with the American tradition of firearms regulation," the judge's decision read.

The Trump-appointed judge also noted that the accused's gun possession did not violate restrictions placed upon on firearms in federal facilities.

"On average, the decisions made by post office employees are far from the weighty subject matter of elections or the legislative process. True, during the short window of time before an election, some post offices may receive mail-in ballots, making them more analogous to polling places. But even polling places were not protected indefinitely; instead, restrictions were tailored to the date of an election," Mizelle explained.

"That makes sense given the legal reason for these regulations — to prevent intimidation or interference with important government decisions."

However, the judge reportedly did not dismiss a different charge for forcibly resisting arrest.

Emmanuel Ayala, a United States Postal Service truck driver, carried a Smith & Wesson handgun for self-defense, according to his lawyers. The Daily Caller also reported that he kept it in a fanny pack and also had a concealed weapons permit.

According to prosecutors, Ayala allegedly brought the pistol onto the Postal Service grounds in 2012 and fled in attempt to avoid federal agents.

Ayala was charged under a statute that prohibits possessing a firearm in a federal facility, which includes a post office, but Judge Mizelle disagreed that a post office was constitutionally protected.

"The first prohibition on firearms possession in government buildings was not codified until 1964. ... And the first regulation specifically banning arms on post office property was codified in 1972," the judge continued.

"There is no evidence that Congress ever sought to address intimidation at post offices with firearms bans."

The judge went on to declare that "with respect to firearms regulation on government property, that legal principle cannot be used to abridge the right to bear arms by regulating it into practical non-existence."

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Want Proof Our Government Is A Cash-Gobbling Ball Of Incompetence? Look No Further Than The Post Office

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Insane Libs Are Mailing Sh*t to Republican Senators

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AOC outrages LGBT activists with plan to rename post office that honors LGBT hero: 'Is it that she doesn’t know our history?'



Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has unleashed the wrath of LGBT activists over a proposal from her office to rename a Queens post office that is named in honor of an LGBT hero.

What are the details?

Ocasio-Cortez's congressional office is soliciting suggestions to rename the Jeanne and Jules Manford Post Office Building in Jackson Heights, the New York Daily News reported.

The building currently honors Jeanne Manford, who is considered to be the first American parent to march with their LGBT child in a gay rights parade. Manford and her husband, Jules, also founded Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, a LGBT advocacy organization.

Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for Ocasio-Cortez, said the congresswoman will "consider all community input" and explained Ocasio-Cortez is "very open" to keeping the current building name. Hitt said Ocasio-Cortez began considering renaming the post office building after a community member suggested honoring Lorena Borjas, a prominent LGBT and immigration activist who passed away in 2020.

Ocasio-Cortez is soliciting naming recommendations through an online form.

"Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is looking to introduce legislation that would rename the Jackson Heights and Corona Post Offices after two individuals who represent the diversity and tenacity of New York's 14th congressional district," the form says. "We'd love to hear from you: who are the community leaders from these neighborhoods that have inspired you?"

What was the reaction?

Daniel Dromm, a former Democratic member of the New York City Council, told the Daily News that changing the name of the building would "erase our history" and condemned Ocasio-Cortez.

"Is it that she doesn’t know our history? Did they not check to see who the post office is named after right now? Does she not know who Jeanne Manford was?" Dromm reacted. "You don’t take one pioneer of the LGBT movement and pit them against another person."

LGBT activist Allen Roskoff agreed.

"How dare she put our community’s heritage up for a popularity contest or a vote," Roskoff told the newspaper. "We are outraged."

Dromm added that Ocasio-Cortez's push to rename a post office building that currently honors an LGBT hero is indicative of disconnect between her and Queens residents.

"I like her policies, but this is typical of her not being connected to the community," Dromm said.

Postal workers' union opposes Biden's plan to mandate vaccines for federal employees



Ahead of President Joe Biden's expected announcement of a new requirement for federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the AFL-CIO-affiliated American Postal Workers Union said Wednesday it opposes vaccine mandates.

"Maintaining the health and safety of our members is of paramount importance. While the APWU leadership continues to encourage postal workers to voluntarily get vaccinated, it is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent," the union said in a statement.

"Issues related to vaccinations and testing for COVID-19 in the workplace must be negotiated with the APWU. At this time the APWU opposes the mandating of COVID-19 vaccinations in relation to U.S. postal workers."

Various news outlets reported Wednesday that Biden will require federal employees to show that they've been vaccinated or be forced to undergo regular COVID-19 testing to keep their jobs. Speaking to reporters that day, Biden said a federal vaccine mandate was under consideration and "if you're not vaccinated, you're not nearly as smart as I thought you were."

"We have a pandemic because of the unvaccinated, and they're sowing enormous confusion. And the more we learn — the more we learn about this virus and the Delta variation, the more we have to be worried and concerned," said Biden. "And only one thing we know for sure: If those other hundred million people got vaccinated, we'd be in a very different world."

Mandates, though enormously unpopular with the American people, have in recent weeks been discussed by government and public health officials as the only means of ensuring enough Americans get vaccinated against COVID to slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

According to the New York Times vaccine tracker, 57.6% of Americans eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine (age 12 and up) have been fully vaccinated, while 66.8% have received at least one vaccine dose. Public health officials say 70% to 90% of Americans need to be vaccinated before the U.S. will reach the level of herd immunity necessary to end the pandemic.

However, many Americans remain hesitant to take the vaccines and say nothing will persuade them to get vaccinated. Some are concerned about the risks of possible side effects and the fact that the FDA technically has not approved any of the vaccines.

The various COVID-19 vaccines widely used in the U.S. have received emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration during the pandemic. Though more than 338 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the U.S. and coronavirus cases have plummeted, the FDA has yet to fully approve the vaccines.

Now, with cases rising again, physicians and scientists are urging the FDA to speedily approve the vaccines, noting that their widespread use has effectively reduced severe COVID-19 cases (those that put people in the hospital) with extremely rare instances of side effects. FDA approval could mean, however, that businesses and state governments will feel comfortable mandating vaccination for their employees.


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