Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., asked attendees at a campaign event Saturday to show government-issued photo ID, even while opposing similar standards for voters in federal elections.

Email confirmation information for an Ossoff rally in Atlanta detailed that “a matching government-issued ID will be verified against the RSVP list by name to enter.”

Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., who is running against Ossoff for a Senate seat in 2026, blasted what he called a double standard.

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“Typical Jon Ossoff to say one thing and do another. It’s ridiculous that Jon Ossoff would require a government ID to listen to him speak about why you shouldn’t need a government ID to vote,” Collins said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Ossoff’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

In the wake of election security concerns highlighted by President Donald Trump in previous years, Republicans across Congress have made demands for tighter voter registration standards.

Most recently, lawmakers led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have called for the passage of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.

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In its current form, the SAVE Act would embed proof of citizenship requirements into existing voter registration pathways and require states to conduct stricter audits of their voter rolls. The bill also defines documentary proof of U.S. citizenship and links it to some form of photo ID.

It is illegal for noncitizens to participate in federal elections, although Republicans maintain that the standard is applied inconsistently, leading to easily exploitable election vulnerabilities. 

Democrats like Ossoff have blasted the legislation, arguing it would only make it harder for people with limited access to photo ID to participate in elections.

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“This is a nakedly partisan, totally unworkable, bad-faith bill cynically intended to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters,” Ossoff said in a statement on the SAVE Act as the bill made its way through the House of Representatives last year.

An earlier version of the SAVE already passed the House in April 2025, attracting bipartisan support in a 216-208 vote. Four Democrats joined Republicans to pass the bill.

Despite Ossoff’s previous opposition to the SAVE Act, his campaign event framed the requirement for photo ID as a security measure.

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“Due to security requirements … be ready to show ID that matches our RSVP list and these arrival instructions (printed or on your phone),” the campaign event’s confirmation email said.

The House Rules Committee, the final gatekeeper before most legislation reaches the chamber floor, is expected to consider an updated version of the SAVE Act in the House of Representatives Monday.

The last time that Virginia Military Institute was nearly destroyed was when Union troops set it ablaze during the Civil War. Today, a new threat to this storied college is coming from within the Old Dominion itself in the form of woke Democrat politicians.

Measures before the Virginia Legislature, in response to allegations of systemic racism at the institution, could not only strip the oldest state-run military college in the nation of its independence, but also cut off funding it needs to exist.

Last week, the Department of War, under Secretary Pete Hegseth, took to social media to back up VMI, writing that “the stability of this proven leadership pipeline is a matter of direct national security interest” and that the department “reserves the right to take extraordinary measures to protect the integrity of VMI.”

Having spent some time this week in Lexington, Virginia, the mountainous home of VMI, it is clear that not only is the college a national treasure, it is very much a local one as well.

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“VMI is the beating heart of Lexington,” Melinda, an educator who has lived in the town for decades, told me. “I can’t imagine the place without it.”

I met John, who graduated from VMI in the early 2000s and who said of the supposed racism and sexism, “The people who hate VMI just hate VMI because they think it represents the Confederacy.” He insisted that allegations are overblown because every cadet lives by the same code of conduct.

Even a group of anti-President Donald Trump protesters I ran into on a chilly Friday afternoon had little but glowing things to say about VMI.

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“We were disappointed by the firing of the superintendent,” Annette told me, referring to Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins, the first black head of the school, who was fired last year. “But we all love VMI.”

So, if basically everyone in Lexington thinks VMI is great, and if it has provided America with great military leadership, from Gen. George S. Patton to Gen. George C. Marshall, why is it on the chopping block?

Because of the insatiable appetite for destruction of wokism.

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VMI is integrally connected to the history of the Confederacy. Its most famous instructor was Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, whose preserved horse one can visit at the college museum. But over the course of the 20th century, the school came to terms with this, often bending over backwards to do so.

Take for example the historical marker for Benjamin West Clinedinst’s epic painting “Charge of the New Market Cadets.”

“Although ‘Charge of the New Market Cadets’ was completed during a time in American history when ‘lost cause’ ideology was pervasive in Virginia, today the painting serves the VMI community not as a commemoration of a Confederate victory or veneration of the Confederacy,” it says.

That is what political correctness looked like, sheepishly apologizing for your own culture when nobody asked you to. But wokeness is different. Wokeness cannot tolerate the existence of ties to the evil past.

Even my hotel, which for nearly a century stood as the Robert E. Lee, has a new name. The only reference to Lee left is a plaque indicating the elevator is an original Otis car installed in 1926.

The erasure of history lurks around every corner and is now coming for VMI.

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The Union army chief of artillery who shelled and destroyed much of VMI in 1864, over his personal objection, was a Delaware man named Henry A. Du Pont, who, in 1914, as a U.S. senator, passed legislation to reimburse the school for the damage he had wrought.

These are the kinds of stories that echo around the halls of the Institute, tales of imperfect men of an imperfect nation, working toward greater perfection. If you quiet yourself on the campus on a cold, crisp winter day, you can hear them.

Last week, the VMI Class of 2001 penned an open letter to Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, published in Lexington’s News Gazette. Two things are notable about this class: It was the first class to include women, and it graduated into war.

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“We integrated women into the Corps when the nation doubted it could be done,” the letter said. “We produced citizen soldiers of every race and background who trained, served, and bled together. We did not prove this through symbolism. We proved it in Fallujah, Kandahar, the Korengal, and in military funerals across the Commonwealth.”

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With Democrats in clear control of the political power in Virginia, the threat to VMI’s funding and future is very real, which is why it is so vital that Hegseth and the Department of War make clear that they are a backstop to keep this special place running.

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A nation and a people are its history, and few institutions hold so much of it as VMI. A town and a community are its institutions, the places that are old and storied, and in Lexington, that is VMI.

Long may Virginia Military Institute and its traditions endure.

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From dirty dining rooms to unwelcome pests, a viral ranking highlights where restaurant cleanliness complaints are piling up, and which states patrons say have the biggest problems.

The list comes from Chicago-based restaurant furniture company Affordable Seating, which analyzed more than 2.8 million TripAdvisor reviews across roughly 40,000 restaurants in 2024, according to reports. 

The company focused on low-rated restaurants that received 2.4 stars or fewer in major cities, flagging reviews that mentioned terms such as “dirty restaurant,” “hair in food,” “rats,” and “roaches.”

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The rankings are based on crowdsourced online reviews, not official restaurant inspection data, which is tracked by local and state health departments.

Here’s how the top 10 broke down — and what put each state on the list.

1. New Jersey

New Jersey topped the list by a wide margin, driven by an unusually high volume of complaints referencing dirty dining conditions. The Garden State had 320,520 mentions of “dirty restaurant,” 1,883 of “hair in food” and 810 of rats and cockroaches.

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The number of “dirty restaurant” mentions was more than eight times higher than the top 10 average, pushing the state far ahead of the rest, according to Food Safety News.

2. Florida

Florida’s ranking was fueled by thousands of cleanliness complaints in major tourist hubs. The analysis focused on Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and St. Petersburg, and excluded Broward and Palm Beach counties, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported. 

It turned up 4,560 mentions of “dirty restaurant,” 1,691 of “hair in food” and 636 of bugs and rodents, according to reports.

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3. California

California’s high ranking was driven largely by pest-related complaints rather than general cleanliness issues. While diners flagged “dirty restaurant” concerns 3,332 times and mentioned hair in food in 1,731 reviews, the state led all others in the top 10 for reports of rats and roaches, with 960 complaints — the most on the list.

4. Arizona

Arizona landed in the top 5 due to steady complaints across all tracked categories, particularly in its most populated metro areas. Reviewers cited “dirty restaurant” issues 1,759 times, along with 639 mentions of hair in food and 443 complaints involving critters.

5. Texas

Texas’ ranking reflected consistent — though lower — complaint totals spread across its large urban markets. The Lone Star State logged 1,068 “dirty restaurant” mentions, 471 references to hair in food and 232 pest-related complaints, a volume likely influenced by its size and number of restaurants.

6. Louisiana

Louisiana’s placement was driven by a relatively high number of pest-related complaints compared to its overall cleanliness mentions. Reviews included 951 references to dirty restaurants, 412 mentions of hair in food and 399 complaints involving rats and roaches.

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7. Alabama

Alabama saw notable complaints about cleanliness and food handling, though fewer pest reports than many other states on the list. Diners cited dirty restaurants 918 times, hair in food in 404 reviews and pest sightings in 141 cases.

8. Maryland

Maryland’s ranking reflected balanced complaint levels across all tracked categories, rather than a spike in any single issue. The state recorded 884 mentions of dirty restaurants, 436 references to hair in food and 201 vermin-related complaints.

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9. Nevada

Nevada’s position was influenced by a high number of pest complaints relative to its total review count, particularly in tourism-heavy areas. Reviews included 881 mentions of dirty restaurants, 579 references to hair in food and 414 complaints involving rats and roaches.

10. Georgia

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Georgia rounded out the top 10 with moderate but consistent complaint volumes tied to both cleanliness and pests. Reviewers flagged dirty restaurants 856 times, cited hair in food in 375 reviews and mentioned rats or roaches in 216 cases.