The Daily Signal - SCOTUS Ruling on Gun Case, Republicans to Stall Biden Nominees, Summer Movie Review | June 14

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Friday, June 14th. Here are today's headlines. The Supreme Court ruled today that the government can't use a decades-old ban on machine guns to ban bump stocks. A bombstock is a device that can be attached to a semi-automatic firearm that allows the gun to fire more rapidly. The six justices that voted that the ban on bumpstocks is illegal include Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice's Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch. The case involved whether a bumpstock device is a machine gun as defined within U.S. law.

Starting point is 00:00:53 Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion, and he said, semi-automatic firearms which require shooters to re-engage the trigger for every shot are not machine guns. This case asks whether a bumpstock, an accessory for a semi-automatic rifle that allows the shooter to rapidly re-engage the trigger and therefore achieve a higher rate of fire, converts the rifle into a machine gun. We hold that it does not. The three dissenting justices include Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elaine Kagan, and Katanji Brown Jackson. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissenting opinion, and she said Congress's definition of machine gun encompasses bumpstocks just as naturally as M16s.

Starting point is 00:01:40 Just like a person can shoot automatically more than one shot with an M16 through a single function of the trigger, if he maintains continuous backward pressure on the trigger, he can do the same with a bump stock equipment automatic rifle if he maintains forward pressure on the gun. For a deeper dive into this case and the ruling, you can check out today's show notes to find Elizabeth Troutman's full report. Well, two can play at that game. That is the message of Ohio Republican Senator J.D. Vance to Democrats. Vance says that Democrats have weaponized the justice system to target former President Donald Trump and other Republicans. And now Vance and five other Senate Republicans are vowing to exact revenge for the Biden administration's use of lawfare.

Starting point is 00:02:30 Specifically, the plan is to delay 44 of President Joe Biden's nominees to put. positions in the government who are awaiting Senate confirmation. Vance shared a short video on X explaining the plan. Let's take a listen to what Senator Vance had to say. I wanted to announce a policy that we've implemented with a number of my Republican colleagues to hold Biden nominations, particularly those who have participated in or encouraged the lawfare against Donald Trump and other Republicans. The basic idea here is simple that if the Biden administration is going to use these political appointees as foot soldiers in a lawfare against Republicans, then we're not going to give these guys the glide path anymore and we should stand together

Starting point is 00:03:12 and fight and I hope that more of my Republican colleagues will join me. And I have just a simple message, one to my fellow Republicans and one to Democrats. The first to Democrats, and it's very simple that if you guys stopped using the judicial system weaponized against your political opposition, we'd be happy to be more cooperative. So take that as an offer, take that in the spirit of a potential compromise here where you guys need to stop. It's destroying the American people's faith in our system of law and order. And if you stopped it, we'd be happy to try to let some of these nominations through. Vance went on to speak directly to his fellow Republicans saying that this is a practical step that makes it harder for Joe Biden to weaponize the justice system.

Starting point is 00:03:54 And he added that he hopes his colleagues join him in taking this step. The 44 nominees range from judges to U.S. attorney positions to various Biden administration department roles. And the five senators that are joining Vance in this effort to stall Biden's nominations include Mike Lee of Utah, Bill Haggurty of Tennessee, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Roger Marshall of Kansas, and Eric Schmidt of Missouri. Since Biden announced that he's changing Title IX, numerous legal actions have been taken to stop that change. Title IX acts as a protection for women's education and sports opportunities. The education amendment was set in place in 1972, and Title IX requires that there be equal opportunities for men and women in education settings across the country to include school sports. Biden said that he is going to change the definition of sex in Title IX to include

Starting point is 00:04:48 gender identity and sexual orientation. Well, this opens the door for men who identify as women to use female-only spaces like restrooms and to compete in women's sports. But yesterday, a judge in Louisiana slammed and invalidated Biden's rule change. Judge Terry Doddy in Louisiana granted the preliminary injunction in the case Louisiana versus Cardona. The judge laid out five reasons why Biden's rule change to Title IX is illegal. The judge said the court finds that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits that the defendant's final rule is one, contrary to law, under the Administrative Procedure Act, violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment,

Starting point is 00:05:32 violates the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, violates the spending clause, and is arbitrary and capricious. This is a significant ruling in the process to block Biden's rule change to Title IX that is supposed to take effect on August 1st. Big news out of the House today, the House of Representatives has approved a massive National Defense Authorization Act. sometimes called the NDAA, and it includes an amendment that blocks the Pentagon from funding abortions with taxpayer dollars. The NDAA is an $833.7 billion agreement that funds the U.S. Department of Defense. Democrats had pushed for there to be a measure in the bill that would use taxpayer funds

Starting point is 00:06:18 to reimburse abortion-related expenses, like travel costs, in order to obtain an abortion. But Texas Republican representative Beth Van Dine introduced an amendment to the bill that would block the Biden administration from using taxpayer funds to reimburse abortion-related expenses. And the measure passed. The amendment was approved by the House in a vote of 214 to 207. Two Republicans voted against the pro-life amendment. Those were representatives John Duarte of California and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. One Democrat voted in favor. of it. That is Representative Henry Quayr of Texas. Representative Beth Van Dynne spoke on the House floor and said that the amendment is simply about following the law. Take a listen. All we are asking

Starting point is 00:07:06 the department to do is actually follow the law, which under executive order currently, Biden is trying to have them surpass. For years, this has been an adopted practice by both Democrats and Republicans. What we are seeing is extreme measures taken by Democrats to show us exactly where their abortion is. In the end, the NDA passed largely along party lines in a vote of 217 to 199. For more on this story, check out Mary Margaret Ollahan's reporting in today's show notes. It's Friday, so it's time for our summer Friday movie review. I had never heard of this movie until my colleague here at The Daily Signal, Tony Kennett, told me about it. It is called the Untouchables. And it might be worth your time this week.

Starting point is 00:07:53 weekend. So I will clarify, this film is rated R. It's not one for the kids, but mom and dad, you might want to watch us after you put the kids to bed. It is what we call an oldie, but a goody. It was released in 1987. It has an amazing score on Rotten Tomatoes, comparatively. It has 83% approval rating from critics and 89% from the audience. Well, Tony is here with us now to tell us all about it. Tony, what is the central plot of this movie? The plot of the Untouchables is about, it's based on a true story of the crew that actually went to Chicago and got Al Capone. So it wasn't easy just to, you know, waltzing and say, hey, we think you're a gangster, so we're going to throw you in jail. Rico was not a thing at the

Starting point is 00:08:40 moment either. And so basically, Al Capone got away with a lot during the 1920s by basically just asking other people in his organization to do things for money, to do a lot of international business, etc. And what this entire story is about is Kevin Costner, who plays the Treasury Secretary, who comes in to investigate Capone during the era of prohibition, ends up recruiting Sean Connery, who plays this beat cop in Chicago, this old Irishman, and then two other guys work together to find something to take down Capone. And they were called untouchable because they couldn't be bribed. For a long time, they couldn't be attacked. Their families couldn't be attacked. And it's a really great drama. Al Capone and this is played by Robert De Niro back when he wasn't insane.

Starting point is 00:09:29 And so just a really great action drama thriller about a very scary time in the country that we really don't often focus on anymore. No, we sure don't. Do you know how accurate the movie is to what really happened? The makeup of the characters being that a brand new cop who could not be swayed by bribes yet because he wasn't at a police academy to treasury office. is one who was an accountant and had never been in the field, and then an old beat cop and the actual treasury agent, Elliot Ness, making up those four. That is true. And Capone going after them directly, a lot of that is true based on accounts from eyewitnesses. There's a lot of dramatization like any Kevin Costner movie, but it's how Kevin Costner

Starting point is 00:10:13 sells his devotion to the part, whether that's this, whether that's Robin Hood or dances with wolves or whatever Cousner's in that really does a phenomenal job. Anytime I get to hear Sean Connery play the old wise guy that has like tough truths for the hero. I mean, come on. It's a match made in heaven. Well, Tony, it's clear that you enjoyed the movie, but the real question is, did your wife like it? Could you get her to watch this movie with you? She's not a huge fan of a lot of dystopian war stuff.

Starting point is 00:10:45 So she sat down to watch this with me. I kind of trepidacious because she knew it was a violent time, but it grips you. Just the way that the movie rolls out, it is a little violent. I mean, Al Capone gets really upset when his organization starts basically falling apart. And there are a few rough scenes. But whether you're going to sit down and watch it as husband and wife or it's a movie to sit down with the guys and enjoy, again, it does shine a very important light with some great actors and great acting at a very important and critical time in our nation's history. Yeah, what a wild moment in history. Well, Tony, thank you for bringing us a summer movie movie.

Starting point is 00:11:22 review. We appreciate it, adding that one to the list for the weekend. Have a great weekend, Tony. Thanks, you too, Virginia. With that, that is going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for joining us here this Friday for the Daily Signal's top news. If you have not had the chance, make sure that you check out our morning shows every weekday. On Monday morning, I am sitting down with climatologist David Legates. We talk about whether there is actually a connection between the severity of hurricanes and climate change. That's a conversation. You are not going to I don't want to miss. Join me for my discussion with David Legates on Monday. But in the meantime, have a great weekend, and don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on

Starting point is 00:12:01 new shows from The Daily Signal. And if you would, take a little bit of time this weekend to leave us a five-star rating and review. That really helps us out to reach more listeners, and we also just love hearing your feedback. All right, have a great weekend. We'll see you back here Monday. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Bluey and Kate Trinko. Hosts are Virginia Allen, Giottsdeen, Mary Margaret O'Lahan, and Tyler O'Neill. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geine, and John Pop. To learn more or support our work, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - SCOTUS Ruling on Gun Case, Republicans to Stall Biden Nominees, Summer Movie Review | June 14

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