00 First Filter

Blurb:

During an interview on The National Desk (NTD), FBI Director Kash Patel addressed growing public concern over whether billionaire George Soros and his Open Run Foundation are funding anti-American movements. When asked directly if the foundation was supporting terrorist organizations, Patel declined to confirm or deny, saying he could not comment on ongoing investigations.

Turning to the issue of Antifa and the president’s new executive order granting expanded authority to federal agencies, Patel explained that investigators are focusing on financial networks behind the unrest. “The one thing I’ve done my entire career under investigations,” Patel said, “is follow the money.”

Blurb:

This country needs better foster parents, and the State of Massachusetts is no exception. That’s why it’s not only bizarre but deeply unserious that DCF has decided to revoke the foster license of one caring couple. Whether or not this has something to do with their Christian faith, well… you will have to do the math.

A married couple from Woburn, Massachusetts, had their foster care license revoked after declining to sign a gender-affirming policy agreement required by the state’s Department of Children and Families (DCF).

Blurb:

After federal agents raided an apartment building in Chicago to arrest Tren de Aragua gang members, MSNBC personalities repeatedly spread the fake news that agents zip-tied children. And, even though no one died in the raid, they also promoted hyperbolic comparisons to the Gestapo, the Tulsa killings of 1921, and the MOVE Philadelphia bombing of 1985.

Fox News not only highlighted DHS’s fact check that debunks Democrat misinformation on the subject, but Fox reporters also informed viewers that most of those living in the building were illegal squatters.

Blurb:

Skirmishes between ICE and “activists” continue to break out in Chicago, and some “journalists” are learning that claiming that title after the fact isn’t a get-out-of-detainment-free card.

Despite the Democrat-led city being ravaged by a murder epidemic, mostly caused by out-of-control gang violence, left-wingers have decided that the real problem is ICE deporting violent illegal aliens. Using tracking apps and other means, they show up at facilities and during raids to try to impede federal immigration officials. One of those people was Debbie Brockman, who is a video editor and producer for the creative services department of Chicago television station WGN.

Video shows her pinned on the ground by ICE agents as she’s detained and placed in the back of a vehicle. During the scene, she started proclaiming she’s a journalist.

Blurb:

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger refused to answer whether she still supports Jay Jones, the Democrat nominee for attorney general, after his text messages revealing he wanted to see a political rival and his children dead were exposed.

During a debate Thursday, Spanberger had the opportunity to come out against Jones, but she refused, only stating that she denounced his violent messages.

“Thank you, I didn’t hear an answer there on the endorsement issue so I just want to make sure, will you continue to endorse Jay Jones to be the next attorney general of Virginia and were you aware of these text messages before their release?” the moderator followed up.

Blurb:

‘I have family who don’t look like you who are triggered … I will be very candid with you

The coordinator of student-government programs at Oklahoma State University allegedly reprimanded a student who gave a small tribute to Charlie Kirk at a meeting just hours after Kirk’s assassination.

According to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Josh Wilson, a member of the OSU student government and debate society, “took a few moments to speak to fellow students” at a Student Government Association meeting that had been scheduled the day of Kirk’s murder.

“Wilson’s Sept. 10 speech contained no references to Trump, nor did it advocate for the election of any political figure or call for support of any political party,” according to the report.

“Instead, Wilson called Kirk ‘a father, a husband, a devout Christian, and a shining light for so many,” and “recalled that during Kirk’s April visit to OSU, Kirk was able to ‘provoke discussion and dialogue among countless students on this campus.’”

Blurb:

Trump held a White House event late on Friday afternoon, supposedly about drug prices, that, if it were covered by an objective media that was complicit and collaborating with the current administration, would sound alarm bells about whether any Democratic president ever sounded as incoherent as Donald Trump did.

The video can be easily glossed over, especially when someone has told as many lies and babbled as many words as Donald Trump has over the past decade, but transcripts of the words that the man actually puts together are more revealing.

Blurb:

Time for another entry in the continuing saga of the U.S. government being reassigned to work on President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

In the most recent development, hundreds of Department of Homeland Security employees in jobs unrelated to immigration have been ordered to transfer to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol, and the Federal Protective Service.

You might not be as familiar with the last one, which protects federal buildings. That might sound a bit sleepier than working for ICE or CBP, but not these days.

Blurb:

ZELENSKY HOPING ‘PEACE COMES FOR UKRAINE AS WELL’:  Still basking in the glow of his pivotal role ending the bloodshed in Gaza, President Donald Trump is reengaging in the peace negotiations he essentially gave up on last month, inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington to discuss how to put more pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to seriously consider ending the war which is well into its third year, and has claimed hundred of thousand of lives.

“I will also have the opportunity to come to Washington and meet with President Trump on Friday. I believe we will discuss a series of steps that I intend to propose. I am grateful to President Trump for our dialogue and his support,” Zelensky posted on X. “The main focus of the visit is air defense and our long-range capabilities aimed at exerting pressure on Russia for the sake of peace.”

Blurb:

Are you the kind of person who likes to spend $4 for every $3 you take in? If so, your financial management “skills” might qualify you to run for Congress. With people like that running the show, is it any wonder that interest costs on our national debt surpassed $1 trillion last year for the first time ever?

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) review of the fiscal year that just concluded on Sept. 30 provides one of many reasons why Republicans should reject Democrats’ demands to end the “Schumer Shutdown” — namely, a permanent extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies as part of $1.5 trillion in spending. While most Republican lawmakers won’t win any awards for fiscal rectitude, on this issue at least, they’re exhibiting the courage not to make a bad situation worse.

Blurb:

LendingTree CEO and founder Doug Lebda died in an an all-terrain vehicle accident over the weekend, the online loaning platform said Monday.

In a company announcement, LendingTree confirmed that Lebda unexpectedly died on Sunday and that its leadership “deeply mourns his passing” while extending condolences to the executive’s loved ones.

“Doug was a visionary leader whose relentless drive, innovation and passion transformed the financial services landscape, touching the lives of millions of consumers,” LendingTree’s board of directors said in a statement. “His passion will continue to inspire us as we move forward together.”

Blurb:

From The Guardian: “The use of artificial intelligence in healthcare could create a legally complex blame game when it comes to establishing liability for medical failings, experts have warned.

The development of AI for clinical use has boomed, with researchers creating a host of tools, from algorithms to help interpret scans to systems that can aid with diagnoses. AI is also being developed to help manage hospitals, from optimising bed capacity to tackling supply chains.

But while experts say the technology could bring myriad benefits for healthcare, they say there is also cause for concern, from a lack of testing of the effectiveness of AI tools to questions over who is responsible should a patient have a negative outcome.

Blurb:

Key Takeaways

  • Over 1,000 colleges are at risk of losing access to federal student loans due to high default rates, with 400 having rates above 40 percent and another 700 between 30-40 percent.
  • An economist says colleges in the ‘danger zone’ have time to take proactive measures to reduce default rates, such as advising recent alumni on loan repayment options, before facing potential loss of federal aid.

Blurb:

After a judge ordered Virginia Democrat governor nominee Abigail Spanberger to give sworn answers in a defamation case against the Virginia Democratic Party, the Democrats hired a new lawyer in what the plaintiff says is a transparent effort to cocoon Spanberger from political peril ahead of the November election.

Thomas Speciale, a retired Army intelligence officer and former Republican U.S. Senate candidate, alleges that the party concocted a devious scheme enlisting the House of Delegates speaker to serve as its lawyer, thereby delaying the case and preventing Spanberger from being forced to deliver what could be politically catastrophic testimony as a witness.

Blurb:

Key Takeaways

  • MIT rejected the Trump administration’s reform agreement due to concerns about its potential to restrict academic freedom and undermine institutional independence.
  • MIT President Sally Kornbluth emphasized that scientific funding should be based on merit and that the university’s values already align with the principles intended by the compact.
  • MIT is the first university to decline the compact, though other institutions like Dartmouth have expressed commitment to maintaining their academic independence despite acknowledging the need for improvements.

Blurb:

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) delivered a firm warning to his Democrat colleagues on Monday as the partial government shutdown drags past the two-week mark.

“We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history unless Democrats drop their partisan demands and pass a clean, no-strings-attached budget to reopen the government and pay our federal workers,” Johnson said during a press conference Monday.

Blurb:

Former FBI Director James Comey’s defense team wants to kill the Trump administration’s case before it goes to trial, but legal experts say their chances of success are slim.

Comey’s attorney Patrick Fitzgerald indicated Wednesday that the defense intends to file motions alleging vindictive and selective prosecution “at the direction of President [Donald] Trump,” as well as challenging the appointment of the prosecutor who brought the indictment, Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan.

If Halligan had not indicted Comey on Sept. 25, the statute of limitations would have expired within days, making it crucial for the government to prevail on a motion to dismiss. However, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation the two motions Comey hopes to file will be difficult to prove.

Blurb:

President Donald Trump will honor late conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Tuesday with the Presidential Medal of Freedom award at the White House.

Fresh off a historic trip to Israel and Egypt and following the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas, the president will turn to domestic issues as the fallout of political violence continues to reverberate across the nation.

Trump claimed the ceremony, which will be held in the East Room, would be “a great celebration” and include an appearance by Erika Kirk, the widow of the late Turning Point USA cofounder and the organization’s newest CEO.

Blurb:

Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch has called for a nationwide ban on burqas and niqabs in all public places, saying the country must “wake up from its naivety” about Islamism and act decisively to protect Swedish values and social cohesion.

The Christian Democrats (KD) leader told Aftonbladet that she wants legislation prohibiting the full-face coverings in streets, squares, shops, healthcare facilities, and other public settings — a step beyond previous local attempts to ban them in schools and public workplaces that were struck down under current law.

“You should be able to meet for real if you are on the street, if you are shopping in the square, or taking the children to the health center. Then I don’t want to meet someone who has covered their entire face,” Busch said.

Blurb:

Tearful reunions were captured on video Monday as the last 20 living Israeli hostages were released from Hamas captivity in Gaza and reunited with their families.
Family members shed tears of unimaginable joy as they embraced their loved ones for the first time in more than two years.

Video clips released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) depict the emotional moments when Guy Gilboa-Dalal (24), Matan Zangauker (25), Matan Angrest (22), and Eitan Mor (25), and Alon Ohel (24) were reunited with their parents at the IDF’s Re’im base in southern Israel.

Zangauker can be heard asking his mother if his dog was still alive.

Blurb:

“If you see something happening in Wilmette, in our communities, make sure to give them a call, take out your phone and take video.”

A Democrat running for Illinois State Senate, Patrick Hanley, revealed that agents were staying at a local hotel and urged his followers to call the hotel in an effort to get them to “reconsider whether or not they let government agents stay there in the future.” He also urged his followers to call an ICE reporting hotline if they “see something happening.”

Blurb:

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a first-in-the-nation law that forces operating systems and app stores to pass along users’ age brackets to apps — a win for Big Tech over Hollywood in a year-long fight over how to police kids online.

The Digital Age Assurance Act, carried by Democratic Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, pushes age-gating up the stack to Apple, Google and other OS makers starting Jan. 1, 2027, with civil penalties up to $7,500 per child for willful violations. It avoids photo-ID uploads and instead has parents enter a birth date at device setup; apps must request the resulting age signal via API.

Blurb:

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) joined NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, where he offered a surprisingly upbeat endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris as a potential 2028 presidential contender, even though she lost decisively to Donald Trump in 2024.

Kelly was asked directly by host Kristen Welker whether Harris would be “a strong candidate in 2028.”

“Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, she was, she was the nominee last time. I think you would encourage her to run. I think she would be incredibly strong. I think you’re going to have, you know, a dozen, if not more, folks running, probably on either side,” Kelly said.

Blurb:

Vice President J.D. Vance was nearly 13 minutes into a masterful media takedown of ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Sunday when he was muted and the show abruptly cut to a commercial break.

Stephanopoulos’ swift censorship of his guest came mere moments after Vance checked him for “going down some weird left-wing rabbit hole” by insinuating White House Border Czar Tom Homan engaged in criminal activity.

“George, you’ve covered this story ad nauseam. Tom Homan did not take a bribe. It’s a ridiculous smear. And the reason you guys are going after Tom Homan so aggressively is because he’s doing the job of enforcing the law,” Vance said earlier in the segment.

Blurb:

CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour snidely guessed on Monday morning that Israeli hostages were “probably being treated better than the average Gazan” on Monday, hours after Hamas released the last 20 living hostages. PBS actually simulcasts this woman’s nasty takes.

Fifty years ago, an Amanpour type would have greeted American POWs coming out of Vietnam by suggesting our tortured POWs were “probably treated better than the average Vietnamese.”

In a CNN News Central special, anchor Kaitlan Collins asked about Western journalists being denied access to covering Gaza, which cued Amanpour to lecture:

AMANPOUR: Kaitlan, you can imagine that’s a question that I’m asking every day. And surely all of my colleagues, it is unconscionable that us, we have not been able to go in and help our Gaza colleagues tell the full story to the world  That is just something that I’ve never seen any democratic nation forbid, outside journalists, and I’ve asked every Israeli official who I’ve interacted with over the last two years, publicly and privately, to open the doors and let us in. And I pretty much can assure you that one, that once those I those doors are opened, it will be a scene of absolute, abject horror.