Two Democrat congressmen running for U.S. Senate seats in Arizona and Texas endorsed keeping LGBT radicalism in the U.S. military on Friday.

In a letter sent to leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, more than 160 House Democrats voiced opposition to provisions in the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2025 that prohibit the Pentagon from adopting several extreme LGBT policies. Among the letter’s signatories are Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, both of whom are running for Senate seats in their respective states.

“The federal government should be working to ensure all service members and their families can thrive,” the document reads. “This includes working to ensure that LGBTQ+ service members and family members feel welcome in the military and that symbols and art forms related to the LGBTQ+ community are not singled out for censorship.”

Approved by House lawmakers in June, the lower chamber’s NDAA includes various amendments nixing neo-Marxist policies plaguing America’s armed forces. Among those specifically opposed by House Democrats are provisions prohibiting the Defense Department from using taxpayer money to subsidize so-called “gender transition surgeries” through the military’s TRICARE program and purchase materials containing “pornographic” and “radical gender ideology” for military schools.

The Democrats also voiced opposition in the letter to sections in the NDAA barring the Pentagon from funding “drag show[s], drag queen story hour, or similar event[s]” on military bases and stripping the “discretion of military chain of command and senior civilian leadership with

Nevada has used the “Effective Absentee System for Elections” (EASE) system to allow military and overseas voters to vote electronically for roughly the past decade. Since the 2020 election, the state has opened the EASE system to voters who are disabled or live on an Indian reservation, allowing them to vote online. But when asked how officials ensure the system is only used by eligible voters, the office of Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar could only point to each voter’s word.

Nevada’s EASE system is “an online application that seamlessly integrates voter registration and electronic ballot delivery and marking.” EASE is described as “the first entirely online application, from registration to requesting a ballot to ballot delivery to a ballot marking system using a digital/electronic signature,” according to the secretary of state’s website.

Voters who are registered with EASE can use an electronic image that is already on file with the county or state to “mark a digital image of their ballot and return their ballot submission electronically, negating the requirement of printing and signing the ballot before returning it,” according to the secretary of state’s website. Gabriel Di Chiara, the secretary of state’s chief deputy, said the program “is entirely secure,” according to Nevada Current.

But it appears the system has no safeguards in place — aside from an honor system — to ensure that EASE users are actually eligible for the system. So how does the state ensure that only eligible voters can use a system

Residents of flooded out towns across Appalachia have been forced to rely on charity relief efforts days after a Category 4 hurricane brought “biblical devastation” to communities seemingly abandoned by the federal government. While Hurricane Helene brewed over the Atlantic, the nation’s pre-eminent disaster agency was apparently distracted by concerns of “equity” and “climate resilience” over emergency preparedness.

The storm-related death toll eclipsed 100 on Monday morning as Americans desperate for resources depend on local first responders and private helicopters rather than the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). While FEMA routinely prepares for colossal rescue operations in the days leading up to major storms, such pre-staged support was clearly not available to residents in the Appalachian towns washed away by the torrential downpour from last week’s hurricane.

In an interview published with NPR on Sunday, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who visited where the hurricane made landfall in Florida this weekend, was asked about the devastation in Tennessee and North Carolina.

“I believe it’s nine search-and-rescue teams in North Carolina,” Criswell said, with “more that are coming in today.”

“We’re sending in more resources,” the FEMA chief added, “to make sure we can get to everybody that’s been impacted by this, people that are still isolated from the effects of the storm.”

But moving resources in days after the storm does not mean resources were nearby and ready for deployment. The agency’s lack of proactive measures might be explained by the federal government’s listed values.

According to FEMA’s website, storm