DML Morning Briefing ~ Thurs. Sept. 22

Today is September 22. Below are some of the stories grabbing headlines this morning. I hope you share this briefing as doing so will make you the smartest person in the room.

1 – Trump suffers setback as appeals panel rejects Cannon ruling, grants DOJ request
Politico reports: A three-judge appeals court panel has granted the Justice Department’s request to block aspects of U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling that delayed a criminal investigation into highly sensitive documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

The panel ruled that Cannon, a Trump appointee, erred when she temporarily prevented federal prosecutors from using the roughly 100 documents — marked as classified – recovered from Trump’s estate as part of a criminal inquiry.

Trump “has not even attempted to show that he has a need to know the information contained in the classified documents,” the panel ruled in a 29-page decision. “Nor has he established that the current administration has waived that requirement for these documents.”

Two of the three judges on the panel, Andrew Brasher and Britt Grant, were appointed to the court by Trump. The third, Robin Rosenbaum, was appointed by President Barack Obama. In the unanimous decision, the judges declared it “self-evident” that the public interest favored allowing the Justice Department to determine whether any of the records were improperly disclosed, risking national security damage.

MY TAKE: And the witch hunt resumes.

2 – Man who admitted to mowing down ‘Republican’ teen doesn’t want his own personal life jeopardized
Fox News reports: The North Dakota man accused of killing a teenager with his car following a “political argument” said he didn’t understand the charges against him during a recent court appearance.

Shannon Brandt, 41, spent just days in a Stutsman County Jail on criminal charges related to the death of 18-year-old Cayler Ellingson before he posted his $50,000 bond and was released, according to county jail records.

He is charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.

“I don’t understand the differences,” he told a judge during a Monday court hearing before he was released, according to video footage from a local news outlet. “I have a job, a life and a house and things that I don’t exactly want to see go by the wayside — family that are very important to me,” he said.

Brandt was arrested Sunday morning after telling first responders that he struck the teen because the pedestrian was threatening him,” according to a probable-cause affidavit provided to Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning.

MY TAKE: Seriously?  But if you happened to walk into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, you’re still being held in JAIL.  While this guy mows down a Republican teen, is released from jail and doesn’t want his life disrupted.  Disgusting!

3 – Texas Governor Orders ‘Dismantling’ of Mexican Cartel ‘Terrorist’ Organizations
Breitbart reports: Texas Governor Greg Abbott designated specific Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations and ordered the Department of Public Safety to begin dismantling their infrastructure. The move comes as record levels of the deadly drug fentanyl are being pushed across the border.

“Fentanyl is a clandestine killer, and Texans are falling victim to the Mexican cartels that are producing it,” Governor Abbott said during a border security round table in Midland, Texas, on Wednesday. “Cartels are terrorists, and it’s time we treated them that way. In fact, more Americans died from fentanyl poisoning in the past year than all terrorist attacks across the globe in the past 100 years. In order to save our country, particularly our next generation, we must do more to get fentanyl off our streets.”

Specifically, the governor identified the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels (CJNG) as terrorist organizations. He requested President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris create federal terrorist designations for these cartels and others producing and distributing fentanyl.

Abbott also directed the Texas Department of Public Safety and other law enforcement agencies to identify Texas gangs that support Mexican drug cartels. He directed that the funds of these gangs and other criminal enterprises that are supporting the cartels.

MY TAKE: We should go after the cartel the same way we do ISIS.  They’re both terror organizations.

4 – National Guard Prepares To Lose 14,000 Troops Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
The Daily Caller reports: The Army National Guard could discharge up to 14,000 troops over the next two years for refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, service leaders told Stars and Stripes Tuesday.

That number includes individuals who have applied for medical or religious waivers to the vaccine, which is required by the Department of Defense (DOD) even though President Biden has declared the pandemic “over,” Anson Smith, deputy chief of the Army National Guard Strength Maintenance Division, told Stars and Stripes. Nearly 10,000 National Guard troops have declined to receive the vaccine, according to DOD data, and wait in limbo until the Army gives permission for the Guard to issue discharges.

Smith estimated the Guard could separate as many as 9,000 troops throughout the country in fiscal year 2023, which begins Oct. 1, and an additional 5,000 the following year, according to Stars and Stripes.

Only seven Army National Guard members have obtained permanent medical vaccine waivers, according to DOD data. The Guard has rejected 42 applications for religious waivers and has yet to grant a single one.

MY TAKE: Just another way Biden is weakening the U.S. military.

5 – VIDEO: Mississippi police officer saves choking baby
Fox News reports: A police officer in Mississippi saved a baby who was choking and couldn’t breathe. The incident happened in Oxford, Mississippi, on Sept. 15 when police responded to a 911 call of an infant “not being able to breathe.”

Officer Ortiz with the Oxford Police Department “observed that [the infant] appeared to be choking” and took “lifesaving measures” to save the baby.

The officer was able to successfully remove the object that was in the infant’s throat, and the baby was able to breathe again.

MY TAKE: FINALLY, some good news!  God bless this officer!