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Big Win! Maricopa Superior Court Judge Orders Board of Supervisors to Restore Key Election Functions to Recorder’s Office

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Voting machine with a checkmark on the screen, set against the Arizona state flag background, symbolizing democratic participation in elections.Professional portrait of a man in a blue suit with a red tie, smiling confidently against a blurred outdoor background.Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap defeated Stephen Richer in the Republican Primary in July 2024

In October of 2024, former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer entered into an agreement with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (Board) to shift certain election duties away from the Recorder’s office and to the Board.  This was done months after Justin Heap defeated Richer in the July 30th, 2024, Republican Primary for Maricopa County Recorder, and one month before Heap won the November 5th election to succeed Richer.

The agreement was unanimous and gave the Board control over early ballot processing, including the appointment of a bipartisan board responsible for overseeing the early voting process.  The agreement also centralized election-related information technology (IT) functions, as well as the $5 million budget associated with the IT service.

Following the agreement’s approval on October 10th, KJZZ Phoenix reported:

The agreement, unanimously approved by the board on Oct. 10, gives the Board of Supervisors the authority to appoint the board that processes early ballots, which includes an inspector and two judges from different political parties. According to the Election Procedures Manual, those boards examine, count and verify early ballots before they are tabulated. That includes opening envelopes, ensuring the ballot envelopes show the correct election code and identifying damaged ballots.

Under the previous shared services agreement adopted in 2023, the recorder managed early ballot processing.

Under the new agreement, the Recorder’s Office will retain other election-related responsibilities, including voter registration, planning and administering early voting and signature verification of early ballots.

However, the Board of Supervisors also voted to move the recorder’s information technology staff and its associated $5 million budget under its supervision, including “any IT-related service necessary for the Recorder to effectively perform its elections or business-related responsibilities as designated.

Upon assuming office, Heap cancelled the contract and called on the newly seated Board of Supervisors to renegotiate.  In a statement posted to the Maricopa County Recorder’s website, Heap suggested he would take legal action over “the Supervisors’ unwillingness to address these concerns.”

Heap did take legal action, and yesterday a Maricopa County Superior Court judge sided with the Recorder’s position.

According to the Court’s decision, the authority was delegated to a county’s recorder or an “other officer in charge of elections.”  But the order also stated that, “The recorder may subsequently withdraw his or her consent and reclaim his or her statutory authority or responsibility.”

The judge ordered that the Board of Supervisors “return to the Recorder’s direct custody and/or control the IT staff, servers, databases, software, websites, and equipment that were in the Recorder’s custody…prior to October of 2024…” and enjoined the Board of Supervisors “from further exercising any election functions delegated by the Legislature to the Recorder.”

The Board of Supervisors had argued that it had the authority to control funding and structure operations of the Recorder’s office, however, the judge rejected that claim, finding that the Board of Supervisors has a “non-discretionary duty to fund all reasonable and necessary expenses of the Recorder as set forth in Title 16 of Arizona Revised Statutes.”

Court order detailing responsibilities and authority delegation under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 16 for county recorders and boards of supervisors.

The post Big Win! Maricopa Superior Court Judge Orders Board of Supervisors to Restore Key Election Functions to Recorder’s Office appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Patronizing Democrat MA Governor Maura Healey Uses Donuts to Explain Soaring Energy Costs to Suffering Constituents (Video)

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Woman in a black leather top holds a donut while speaking passionately in a classroom setting.Woman in a black leather top holds a donut while speaking passionately in a classroom setting.MA Gov. Maura Healey uses donuts to lecture residents on energy costs. Image: Video screenshot/@MassGovernor/X

Fresh off being booed on Red Sox opening day alongside radical Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, leftist Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey thinks the suffering her constituents are facing with rising energy costs is a joke.

She appears to think voters are too dumb to understand economics and, instead of talking to residents like adults, she pulled out donuts to dumb down her patronizing explanation.

“Energy bills are high. Everyone can see that. So lowering your energy bills is my top priority. Now, how does that happen? That’s a little more complicated,” Healey began.

“So let’s talk about energy in a way that everyone understands— with munchkins.”

“Picture this: you’re at work or school, wherever. It’s 9 AM, and no one’s eaten breakfast. Someone shows up with one of these. Demand is high.”

“Everyone wants a munchkin or two or three, but we’ve only got 25. That’s where we’re headed with energy. So how do we fix that? See this glazed munchkin? That’s wind.”

“Massachusetts already has an offshore wind project lowering our energy bills as we speak. And we need more. It’s affordable, homegrown energy, and it’ll create thousands of jobs.”

“This sprinkled munchkin? That’s solar.”

“Solar is the cheapest, fastest way we can bring more energy into Massachusetts.”

“This chocolate munchkin? That’s storage. Storage is when we take energy off the grid when it’s cheaper and we store it, like you do in a battery, and then we use it later, when we need it most.”

“States across the country are going after more storage, and so is Massachusetts. And that’s not all. We’re going after geothermal and nuclear, gas, hydro, energy efficiency too. And I just signed an executive order to supercharge our all-of-the-above energy strategy to bring more energy in and to lower our bills.”

“Now Donald Trump wants to take energy options off the table.”

“You and I both know messing with Dunkin’ in Massachusetts is never a good idea because we know that when everyone gets a munchkin or 2 or 3, everyone’s happy.”

“And when there’s enough energy to go around, prices go down. So that’s why we’re saying yes to all kinds of energy and the lower bills and good jobs that come with it.”

“Now, what are you guys going to do with all these munchkins?”

Watch:

The post Patronizing Democrat MA Governor Maura Healey Uses Donuts to Explain Soaring Energy Costs to Suffering Constituents (Video) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Acting AG Todd Blanche Says Reporter Could Be Subpoenaed in Iran Leak Investigation

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Official press conference at the Department of Justice featuring a speaker addressing key issues, with American flags and DOJ insignia in the background.Official press conference at the Department of Justice featuring a speaker addressing key issues, with American flags and DOJ insignia in the background.Screenshot

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed on Tuesday during a press conference that the Trump administration is coming after the traitor who leaked classified details of the heroic Iran rescue mission.

As The Gateway Pundit has relentlessly reported, an American F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down over Iran last week in a brazen act of aggression by the terrorist regime. Both crew members ejected. One was rescued immediately.

But the second airman, the Weapons Systems Officer, was stranded deep behind enemy lines, evading capture by scaling a 7,000-foot mountain ridge and hiding in a crevice while Iranian forces hunted him with a massive bounty on his head.

What followed was nothing short of an Easter miracle. Both airmen were saved thanks to the unmatched bravery of our military.

President Trump himself revealed yesterday that somebody inside the government leaked critical details about the missing airman to the press, information that immediately tipped off the entire Iranian regime and put hundreds of American service members in mortal danger.

Trump said he’s prepared to send the reporter to jail unless they cough up the leaker’s identity.

Now Acting AG Todd Blanche is backing that up with steel.

When pressed by a reporter about whether there’s an ongoing leak investigation tied to the F-15E incident, Acting AG Blanche delivered a clear message:

Blanche: “I will never comment on ongoing investigations. I think that, to the extent that we have seen a series of leaks that necessarily involve classified information and put the lives of our soldiers or agents at risk, that is something we will always investigate.

And we will investigate, even if it means sending a subpoena to the reporter. That’s exactly what we should do, and that’s exactly what we will be doing.

If it means conducting standard investigations to identify who within the government feels it is acceptable to leak classified information and put lives at risk, then we will try to root him or her out as well.

So, I’m not going to discuss ongoing investigations, except to say that, yes, we will always investigate those types of leaks.”

WATCH:

The Gateway Pundit reported earlier that an Israeli journalist has come out and admitted to being the first to drop the bombshell details on the second missing U.S. airman in Iran.

Amit Segal, the high-profile political commentator and anchor for Israel’s Channel 12 news, stepped forward on his Telegram channel Monday and acknowledged his role in publishing the initial scoop about the downed U.S. fighter jet crew.

When confronted by the New York Post, Segal walked back his earlier claim, admitting he was “not sure” he had broken the story first, before adding that he would still protect his “sources.”

Read more:

Journalist Who First Broke Missing Airman Scoop Steps Forward After Trump’s Jail Threat — Vows to ‘Protect Sources’

The post Acting AG Todd Blanche Says Reporter Could Be Subpoenaed in Iran Leak Investigation appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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DEVELOPING: Shelly Kittleson, American Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq, Freed After Week in Captivity

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Surveillance footage capturing a suspicious interaction between two individuals near parked cars in an urban setting.

Surveillance footage capturing a suspicious interaction between two individuals near parked cars in an urban setting.

Shelly Kittleson, the American journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq last week, is set to be freed from captivity.

American freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson was kidnapped by armed men in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Iraq’s Interior Ministry confirmed the kidnapping.

Shelly Kittleson was reportedly kidnapped by Iranian-backed militias.

Per Al Jazeera last week:

“Security forces said they managed to arrest one of the suspects and seize one of the vehicles used in the kidnapping.”

“The Ministry of Interior announces that this evening, a foreign journalist was kidnapped by unknown individuals. Security forces immediately launched an operation to apprehend the perpetrators, acting on precise intelligence and through intensive field operations, tracking the kidnappers’ movements.”

Video shows a group of armed men surrounding a vehicle, opening the doors of the car, and driving off.

Shelly Kittleson’s whereabouts and condition are not known.

CBS News reported:

American journalist Shelly Kittleson is being released a week after she was kidnapped in Baghdad, an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq said Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the Kata’ib Hezbollah militia said in a post on the group’s Telegram messaging app channel that Kittleson was being released on the condition that she leave Iraq immediately.

Her whereabouts were not immediately clear.

Alex Plitsas, Kittleson’s designated point of contact in the U.S. and a CNN national security analyst, previously told CBS News the U.S. government had warned Kittleson about a specific threat against her by Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed paramilitary group that was allegedly looking to kidnap or kill female journalists.

Kittleson was contacted multiple times with warnings of threats against her, including as recently as the night before she was abducted, a U.S. official had told CBS News.

The post DEVELOPING: Shelly Kittleson, American Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq, Freed After Week in Captivity appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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