Posts

The Blue State Exodus

 Gateway Pundit: CENSUS DATA: Americans Still Fleeing Blue States in Droves, Moving to Texas and Florida My family moved to Texas when I was a teenager and I have lived here ever since except for the time I was in the Marine Corps when I spent time in Virginia, Florida, and Vietnam.  Texas continues to be a destination state with low taxes and warm weather. See also: Exclusive — Florida GOP Says State Is Solid Red: ‘Democrats Are Toast’

Minority voters fleeing Biden

 Washington Examiner: When  President Joe Biden  narrowly defeated  Donald Trump  in 2020, he carried 87% of the black vote and 65% of the Latino vote while losing white voters 41% to 58%.  Now, multiple recent polls show Biden’s support among minority voters collapsing, including just 63% of black people in the  most recent  USA Today  poll  and 66% in the  latest  New York Times  poll . Both polls also show Trump outright winning Latinos, including by a 46% to 40% advantage for Trump in the  New York Times  poll. As much as it might be tempting to blame these numbers on Biden’s age or Trump’s celebrity appeal,  Gallup numbers  that track party identification show similar, if not yet as dramatic, shifts among black people and Latinos away from Democrats and toward Republicans. Just four years ago in 2020, an overwhelming 77% of black people told Gallup that they considered themselves Democrats compared to just 11% who said Republican. That margin has slipped to 66% Democrat and 19% Re

Russians vs. Russia

 NY Times: Gathered in a Ukrainian farmhouse, soldiers checked their kits: rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers, spare batteries for radios, red and white flashlights, all that would be needed for a stealthy and daring night assault across the border into Russia. The soldiers are Russians who have turned against the government of their country’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, and are now fighting for the Ukrainian side by making incursions back into Russia. Their goal has been to break through a first line of Russian defenses, hoping to open a path for another unit to drive deeper into Russia with tanks and armored personnel carriers. “We will jump in their trench and hold it,” one of the soldiers, who declined to be identified for security reasons, explained. “Either we take them out, or they take us out.” By both Ukrainian and Russian accounts, fierce fighting has raged along Russia’s southern border for five days in the most sweeping ground attacks into Russia since its military i

Biden sanction exemption for Iran

 DC Daily Journal: ... According to The Washington Free Beacon , the Biden administration extended its sanctions exemption against the Iranian government on Wednesday, allowing billions of dollars in previously blocked funds to be released to Iran once again. The original report claims that Tehran is now able to access $10 billion in formerly blocked Iranian income from electricity exports, thanks to the extension of the sanctions waiver for an additional four months. The Biden administration has come under fire for adopting a soft approach towards Iran, which has not shown encouraging results. This includes lowering sanctions and paying “ransom” for captives in an attempt to placate the regime and stop it from acting resentfully against the West. Mark Dubowitz, the head of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), shared with reporters, “Leave it to the Biden administration to be giving access to $10 billion to an Islamist regime that has killed three American soldiers, maimed

Biden not prosecuted for doing same thing with documents as Trump

 Katie Pavlich: Newly Released Biden Transcripts Show DOJ's Double Standard on Trump There appears to be an attempt to criminalize Trump for doing what others like Biden have done. 

The 'bloodbath' slur against Trump

  Musk catches the media trying to mislead about Trump's comment. See also: Elon Musk defends Trump and slams establishment media for taking quote out of context Musk said the headlines with the word "bloodbath" were "legacy media lies" and he made multiple posts Sunday criticizing their use of the term and stressing the need for context.

Censorship of COVID-19 issues

 Headline USA: U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Case Alleging Government Censorship of Social Media 'Gvernment officials transformed private platforms into state actors...' The Biden regime is accused of illegally trying to suppress speech about COVID-19 that turned out to be more truthful than what the Biden regime was saying.  See also: SCOTUS Set to Hear Free Speech Case on Biden Admin Colluding With Big Tech to Stifle 'Misinformation'

Willis accused of using illegally obtained evidence

 Newsmax : Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' racketeering case tied to the 2020 election against former President Donald Trump could be upended if allegations are true that the Georgia prosecutor's evidence was illegally obtained. A recently released book on Willis' probe claims that the phone call between then-President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — a key piece of evidence in the indictment — was recorded illegally. Authors Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman write in "Find Me the Votes: A Hard-Charging Georgia Prosecutor, a Rogue President, and the Plot to Steal an American Election" that Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs taped the conference call. "Find Me the Votes" says Fuchs recorded the call to protect Raffensberger from possible false claims Trump might make about the conversation. But Fuchs, the authors say, made the recording while out of state in Florida. Florida, however, is a two-party cons

Border Patrol catch Hezbollah terrorist

Newsmax:   A self-admitted member of the Hezbollah terrorist organization was reportedly caught by U.S. Border Patrol earlier this month, coming over from Lebanon during Ramadan and heading for New York to conduct a terrorist bombing. Basel Bassel Ebbadi, 22, was stopped crossing the border illegally March 9 near El Paso, Texas, and admitted to plotting a terrorist attack in New York City, the New York Post reported Sunday. He said, "I'm going to try to make a bomb," according to a Border Patrol document reviewed by the Post. Ebbadi had been training with Hezbollah for seven years and served four years as a member of the armed Middle East terrorist group, guarding weapons, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Post reported. The training entailed "jihad" and killing people who were "not Muslim," but he sought to get away from Lebanon to head to the U.S. because he "didn't want to kill people" anymore, he reportedly told I

Dems have a dark money advantage

 DC Daily Journal: ... Ahead of the crucial 2024 elections, a significant influx of untraceable funds is pouring into politics, as revealed by a report from OpenSecrets. The report indicates that Democrat-aligned groups have garnered the highest monetary support thus far. In 2023 alone, dark money groups contributed approximately $160 million to political committees, marking the largest sum for this stage in any election cycle since the landmark Citizens United v. FEC ruling, which granted committees unlimited spending capabilities on political communications. Of this amount, Democrat-aligned groups received around $84.5 million, while Republican-aligned committees secured just over $74 million, according to OpenSecrets. The report delineated Democratic groups as those directing funds towards attacking Republicans or endorsing Democrats, while Republican groups were identified as those targeting Democrats or endorsing Republicans. Additionally, groups categorized as “other” accounted f

General concerned about drone traffic on southern border

 DC Daily Journal: ... Now a top general told senators on Thursday that more than 1,000 drones cross into U.S. airspace near the Mexican border each month. The amount of unmanned drone incursions is “alarming” and poses a “growing” potential threat to national security, Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of North American Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. “The number of incursions was something that was alarming to me as I took command last month,” Guillot said in response to a question from Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC). “I don’t know the actual number – I don’t think anybody does – but it’s in the thousands,” he added. When Budd probed Guillot on the period used by the general to establish his estimate, he replied, “We can probably have over 1,000 a month.” The top NORAD official stated that, while the number of invasions concerns him, he has not “seen any of them manifest in a threat to the level of national defense.” “Bu

Biden's idiotic illegal's immigration policy

 American Action News: The Biden administration is spending more than $1 billion to make America’s land ports of entry more climate-friendly while it tries to redirect funds away from border wall construction amid an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration into the U.S. The General Services Administration (GSA) — a federal agency that is responsible for managing federal buildings and real estate, among other things — will spend more than $1 billion on various projects to make dozens of land ports of entry more green, the agency announced Thursday. The Biden administration is deploying these funds while it is locked in a legal battle in which it is seeking to redirect funds away from the construction of a border wall amid an ongoing  illegal immigration  crisis at America’s borders. ... Biden has not made the case for allowing millions of illegals into the country.  He has allowed more illegals already than the population of several states.  See also: Biden DHS Withholding Info on

Biden's goofy Israeli policy

 Breitbart: President Joe Biden’s endorsement Friday of a call by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for Israel to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold new elections marks the worst crisis in the history of U.S.-Israel relations. Israel is currently fighting to defeat Hamas, which murdered 1,200 people in the October 7 terror attack. It is also under attack from Hezbollah in Lebanon, and has even faced missile attacks launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen. All of these groups are funded and armed by Iran, which views the United States as its enemy. Instead of backing Israel fully, Biden is not only criticizing Israel in increasingly strident terms, but demanding it remove its democratic leader. Biden is also slapping sanctions on Israelis who have not been convicted of any crime; this week, he also sanctioned two geographic areas under Israeli control in the West Bank. At the same time, he gave Iran a $10 billion sanctions waiver. Meanwhile, the Senate — at Schumer’s

Florida passes anti-squatting law

 Gateway Pundit: Lawmakers in Florida are finally addressing the problem of squatting, one of the most egregious property rights violations going on in America today. This month, both chambers of the state Legislature unanimously passed a bill allowing law enforcement to immediately remove squatters without waiting weeks or months for a case to move through the courts, according to WJXT-TV . If signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the measure would go into effect on July 1. The move comes as a relief to Florida property owner Patti Peeples, who dealt with squatters last year. “It gives me a real feeling of positive hope that we still have the ability to discuss challenges in our society and work with our legislatures in a bipartisan way,” she told WJXT. Peeples shared her story during a state Senate Criminal Justice Committee hearing in February. “Imagine for a moment that you leave from your day of serving the citizens of Florida as a senator and you return to your home,” she said, accordin

Musk see need for red wave this fall

 Red State: Twitter/X owner Elon Musk was busy posting to the social media platform that he owns Friday and Saturday, interspersing stories of  SpaceX rockets taking off  with searing political commentary about the state of our nation under Joe Biden and the Democrats. His outlook was anything but positive should things continue as they have under the current administration:  One of his main concerns is illegal immigration, where under the Biden administration, as many as  10 million people  have slipped into the country. Biden has made no effort to secure the border and casts blame everywhere he can think of – except on his own disastrous policies. Musk calls the president’s approach “insane” as he reacts to the awful story of 22-year-old nursing student  Laken Riley's murder  at the hands of a Venezuelan illegal: The billionaire and current holder of the  number three spot  on the list of the world's wealthiest humans is not known as a conservative firebrand; in fact, he hims

ISIS engaged in human smuggling at US border

 NY Post: FBI Director Christopher Wray warned Monday the bureau is “very concerned” about a human smuggling network with ties to ISIS terrorists that utilizes the southern border to gain entry into the US. Wray confirmed the potential threat during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing and said the FBI, along with other federal authorities, have been actively investigating the human trafficking cell. “So, I want to be a little bit careful how far I can go in open session, but there is a particular network that, where some of the overseas facilitators of the smuggling network have ISIS ties that we’re very concerned about and that we’ve been spending enormous amount of effort with our partners investigating,” the FBI director said in response to a question from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) “Exactly what that network is up to is something that’s, again, the subject of our current investigation,” he added. Last August, CNN reported that the bureau was investigating whether dozens of asylu

Squad members in Congress accused of supporting Hamas

 DC Daily Journal: NBC, CNN, and the like are known for running cover for Democrats constantly. That relationship may be on the rocks. Because CNN broke ranks and absolutely demolished this top Democrat. Several “Squad” members were outraged when CNN analyst Scott Jennings referred to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) as a “public relations agent for Hamas” during a recent panel discussion. Jennings participated in a talk moderated by CNN’s Abby Phillip, and he responded to Omar’s commitment to vote to re-elect President Joe Biden in 2024, despite whatever reservations she may have about his administration’s sustained support for Israel in the war against the terrorist group Hamas. ... Phillip started by asking Scott if he was surprised to hear Omar declare she would vote for Biden, adding, “And some of her colleagues, I’m pretty sure, wouldn’t say that today.” “No, she’s a Democrat. They’re gonna vote for Biden. I’m not surprised about that,” Jennings replied. “I am surprised that, in the year o

Willis threatened with contempt of Congress for attacks on Trump

 American Update: Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio threatened Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis with contempt proceedings in a Thursday letter. The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to Willis on Feb. 2 for records pertaining to oversight of her office’s use of federal funds, ultimately resorting to having a United States Marshal hand-deliver the document when she refused to accept it via email. Willis secured an indictment against Trump and other defendants in August over the former president’s efforts to contest the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, which Joe Biden won by less than 12,000 votes . “The Committee expects that you will produce all responsive documents to the subpoena in the categories prioritized by the Committee no later than 12:00 p.m. on March 28, 2024,” Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote in the letter to Willis. “If you fail to do so, the Committee will consider taking further action, such as the invocation o

Trump vows to free Jan. 6 'hostages'

 Newsmax: In a new wrinkle to his presidential campaign rallies Saturday in Dayton, Ohio, former President Donald Trump opened with a salute to the Jan. 6 "hostages," a term that has caused consternation among Democrats and their liberal media allies. "You see the spirit from the hostages, and that's what they are: hostages," Trump told a rally that aired live and in its entirely on Newsmax and simulcast on the Newsmax2 online streaming platform. "They've been treated terribly and very unfairly. And you know that and everybody knows that." The rally began with the Pledge of Allegiance, as repeated by the Washington, D.C., jail that has housed the Jan. 6 defendants that have yet to have been prosecuted — and uncharged in some cases. "We're going to be working on that soon as the first day we get into office," Trump said. "We're going to save our country. We're going to work with the people to treat those unbelievable patr

Republicans push for better border protection

 American Action News: Conservatives are already pushing back against an as-yet unannounced plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and its border enforcement efforts, at current levels with a continuing resolution through the end of fiscal year 2024. Republican leadership is considering putting forth a continuing resolution (CR) for the agency that wouldn’t include spending cuts or new policy proposals, several sources familiar told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Friday. Such a plan has already come under fire by conservatives in both chambers, including Republican Reps. Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Chip Roy of Texas, as well as GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah. “Any spending measure that continues funding DHS without significant policy riders to secure the border and protect the American people is a complete failure,” Clyde told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “Congress must use the power of the purse to stop President Biden’s intentional illegal invasio

Russians vs. Russians in border region near Ukraine

 Reuters: A senior Ukrainian intelligence official said on Thursday that armed groups he described as Russians opposed to the Kremlin were pressing an incursion into Russian territory and had turned two border regions into "active combat zones". But the governor of one of the Russian regions hit by the attacks said, after a visit to villages in an area, that hostile troops were no longer there. Three Ukraine-based groups issued statements saying they were pursuing armed operations in Belgorod and Kursk regions and asking residents to evacuate localities for their own safety. "Kursk and Belgorod regions are now an area of active combat actions. This is what we confirm," Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the GUR intelligence directorate, told national television. "And as stated by the volunteers and rebels, we are talking about Russian citizens who, having no other options, are defending their civil right with arms against the Putin regime." Vyachslav Gladkov

Trump dominating electoral map

 Washington Times: The 2024 presidential election will be an issues-based campaign whether President Biden likes it or not. Mr. Biden can try desperate tactics like taunting former President Donald Trump and foolishly threatening to go for his jugular while trying not to fall over, but Americans won’t be distracted from the mess he’s made. Bad Biden policies will be the dominant factor for the next eight months because this race is about which candidate the voters can depend on to address the foreign policy failures, border catastrophe and economic malaise that this president created. This is precisely the reason Mr. Biden is trailing Mr. Trump in both national and state polls. It’s simply a matter of common sense to understand that the person responsible for open borders, skyrocketing costs, and a chaotic foreign policy can never be trusted with four more years. There are many similarities between the disastrous presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Mr. Biden. During Mr. Carter’s one ter

Supreme Court to determine whether Texas can arrest illegal migrants

 Houston Chronicle: Texas' plan to arrest migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally is on hold while the Supreme Court considers a challenge to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's latest move over immigration. The nation's highest court put the law on pause over a lawsuit led by the Justice Department, which argues that Texas is overstepping the federal government's immigration authority. Under the law, any police officer in Texas could arrest migrants for illegal entry and a judge could order them to leave the U.S. Justice Samuel Alito has ordered a stay until Monday at 5 p.m. EDT, when the law could potentially take effect. A federal judge in Texas had blocked the law in a sweeping rejection last month, calling it a violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Texas swiftly appealed the ruling and argued that it has a right to take action over what Abbott has described as an “invasion” of migrants on the border. ... The law Abbott signed in December

Jan 6 committee accused of document concealment and destruction

 PJ Media: House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) announced this week that the House may refer members of the partisan January 6 Committee to the Department of Justice for alleged misconduct involving document concealment and destruction. During his ongoing investigation into the January 6 Committee's activities, Loudermilk revealed that the Committee had disposed of documents and records despite being warned by then-incoming Speaker of the House Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to preserve all records. This news comes in the wake of a House report that found that the Democrat-led committee withheld exculpatory evidence about Trump from the public. ... It did have the appearance of a partisan witch hunt even though there were GOP members on the the panel they were obviously hostile to Trump.  See also: Finally: Federal Judge Nails DOJ for Giving Pass to Antifa While Selectively Prosecuting Trump Supporters

Biden flunks the normality test

 Rich Lowry: Joe Biden won the normality test in 2020. There wasn’t anything remarkable about him. He just seemed like a steady hand who had been around for a while, who didn’t look or sound like a radical and who knew how Washington worked. He wasn’t the leader of a movement, wasn’t charismatic and wasn’t particularly witty or well-spoken. He was, in fact, completely uninteresting and utterly conventional. He was just the most normal guy in the room. He benefited from a favorable contrast with the magnetic, endlessly interesting, constantly outrageous, norm-busting President Donald Trump, whose theatrical and chaotic governance made him vulnerable to a basement campaign run by a candidate happy, in ice-cream terms, to be vanilla to Trump’s rocky road. If Democrats hope to rerun the 2020 campaign, they will once again have plenty of material to work with against Trump, who provides more of it on a regular basis. It’s the other side of the equation that’s the problem — the supposed safe

Judge questions charges against Trump

 Daily Caller: The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s Florida case questioned during a Thursday hearing why he was the only president who has been charged over his handling of classified material, according to multiple reports. During a hearing to consider various motions Trump filed to dismiss the case, Judge Aileen Cannon noted no former president had similarly faced criminal charges over the handling of classified material, according to NBC News. Trump’s attorneys brought up special counsel Robert Hur’s report finding evidence President Joe Biden willfully kept classified documents, but declining to charge him, according to CNN. “Even with other former presidents, there was never a situation remotely similar to this one,” prosecutor Jay Bratt told Cannon, according to CNN. (RELATED: ‘What Does Somebody Have To Do?’: Matt Gaetz Grills Robert Hur For Not Charging Biden And Ghostwriter) When Special counsel Robert Hur appeared before the House Judiciary Committee Tue

Biden's immigration fiasco

 Washington Examiner: A sizable percentage of voters, already fed up with President Joe Biden’s  border crisis,  are voicing opposition to the administration’s scheme to let migrants fly themselves into some  43 unidentified cities  across the nation. In a new  Rasmussen Reports survey  shared with  Secrets , 60% said they oppose the program, 46% “strongly.” Independent and Republican voters are overwhelmingly opposed and Democrats are split, 39% opposed, 38% in support. Secrets reported Monday on a new  Center for Immigration Studies  analysis that said a border program from Biden has allowed over 300,000 immigrants from Latin America to fly into 43 U.S. cities. CIS said that the administration has refused to identify the cities, keeping the impact of its CBP One app secret from the public. The program allows illegal immigrants to use the app to get pre-approved entry into the United States and was created as an alternative to crossing the southern border on foot. ... Biden's irre

Biden minority support collapses

 Washington Examiner: When  President Joe Biden  narrowly defeated  Donald Trump  in 2020, he carried 87% of the black vote and 65% of the Latino vote while losing white voters 41% to 58%.  Now, multiple recent polls show Biden’s support among minority voters collapsing, including just 63% of black people in the  most recent  USA Today  poll  and 66% in the  latest  New York Times  poll . Both polls also show Trump outright winning Latinos, including by a 46% to 40% advantage for Trump in the  New York Times  poll. As much as it might be tempting to blame these numbers on Biden’s age or Trump’s celebrity appeal,  Gallup numbers  that track party identification show similar, if not yet as dramatic, shifts among black people and Latinos away from Democrats and toward Republicans. Just four years ago in 2020, an overwhelming 77% of black people told Gallup that they considered themselves Democrats compared to just 11% who said Republican. That margin has slipped to 66% Democrat and 19% Re

Rotten Justice in the US

 Bob Hoge: As we reported, the judge in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ election interference case against Donald Trump ruled Friday that Willis could stay on despite her major ethical lapses.  She had infamously hired her lover, Nathan Wade, to be the prosecutor in the matter, paid him lavishly, and took expensive vacations with him which he paid for with his business credit card.  The strange ruling seems eerily akin to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s decision in the classified documents case, where he  refused to prosecute  President Joe Biden even as he admitted there was plenty of evidence of malfeasance. One also can't help but be reminded of  James Comey  and  Robert Mueller , both of whom made similarly convoluted decisions in the past. Plenty of observers were appalled by Judge Scott McAfee’s bizarre order. Harvard Professor of Law, Emeritus Alan Dershowitz wrote in his Substack account, “It's more proof of America's rotten justice.” ... Forget ethics and

'X' is not a gender in Arkansas

 The Federalist Wire: ... Democrats have been making a strong effort to try and introduce their woke gender ideology on American citizens. In some blue states like California, they’ve been successful, but red states are starting to fight back. One of those states is Arkansas, where Republican Governor Sarah Sanders has had enough of the Left’s agenda. On Tuesday, her office revealed that the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) would no longer allow individuals to use “X” as a gender option on their state-issued ID. Instead, they must use the gender that was given to them on their birth certificate, which is either male or female. “This policy is just common sense. Only women give birth, men shouldn’t play women’s sports, and there are only two genders,” Gov. Sanders said to The Daily Wire. “As long as I’m Governor, Arkansas state government will not endorse nonsense.” Any Arkansas resident who has an “X” on their ID is allowed to keep it until their license is expir
 DC Daily Journal: ... With all of the hullabaloo around “election interference,” you would think the Democrats would think twice about openly doing it themselves…you’d be wrong. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign and his cabinet to be dissolved. Meaning he’s openly interfering in other governments. Schumer took the remarkable step during a speech on the Senate floor. The New York Democrat claimed that Netanyahu “has lost his way” and has been “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza.” According to Schumer, Israel’s standing in the international world has deteriorated under the prime minister’s leadership. “Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah. Prime Minister Netanyahu has also weakened Israel’s political and moral fabric through his attempts to co-opt the judiciary, and he has shown zero interest in doing the courageous and visionary work required to pave the way for peace – even before this pres

Texas fastest growing state

 KXAN: Texas added more people than any other state between July 2022 and July 2023, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Texas’ population grew by almost 475,000 during that time period, but some counties grew at much faster rates than others. The Census Bureau published its 2023 county population estimates Thursday. Of the 254 counties in Texas, 177 saw an increase in population since July 1, 2022 , while 75 had a population decline. Two counties, Hall and Stonewall, had no change. Continuing a trend over recent years, Kaufman County, southeast of Dallas, grew faster than any other county in the state, with a population change of about 7.5%. The county was also the fastest-growing in the entire country, ahead of Long County, Georgia, which grew by 6.5%. Rockwall, Liberty, Blanco and Chambers counties all appeared in the top 10 fastest-growing counties in the country, each by 5% or more. Statewide, Texas’ population grew by 1.58%. King County, east of Lubbock, had the