02 U.S. Politics

Blurb:

Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to embrace democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for mayor could come back to haunt her bid for a second term.

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, a close ally of President Donald Trump, announced her campaign to unseat Hochul on Friday morning, torching the incumbent for aligning herself with a “defund the police, tax-hiking, antisemitic communist.” Stefanik, 41, rolled out a campaign launch video with the slogan “Save New York” after hinting at a gubernatorial run for months. (RELATED: Moderator Presses Mamdani On Hochul Snub As He Fumbles Praise For Her Job)

WATCH:

“From the ashes of Kathy Hochul’s failed policies, New York will rise like we always do,” the video’s narrator says. “The spirit of the Empire State cannot be broken. All we need is a courageous leader ready for the fight. Elise Stefanik will make New York affordable and safe.”

Blurb:

A Democratic Party lawmaker suffered a crushing electoral defeat and is out of her job after sending an unhinged, threatening voicemail to Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) this past July.

The voicemail, which was sent shortly after Sheehy and the majority of his Republican colleagues advanced the Trump-backed “Big Beautiful Bill” spending package that enshrined a number of the president’s most important campaign promises, was sent by Haley McKnight, a candidate for city commissioner in the Montana capital of Helena.

“Hi, this is Haley McKnight. I’m a constituent in Helena, Montana,” McKnight began in her message, which was obtained and reviewed by Fox News. “I just wanted to let you know that you are the most insufferable kind of coward and thief. You just stripped away healthcare for 17 million Americans, and I hope you’re really proud of that. I hope that one day you get pancreatic cancer, and it spreads throughout your body so fast that they can’t even treat you for it.”

Blurb:

President Donald Trump clearly has the climate cultists and green grifters among his top targets during his very busy second term, which began with his signing an executive order in January to halt new or renewed offshore wind leases.

Now it looks like the plug is going to be pulled from a massive offshore East Coast wind farm project.

Back in September, I reported that federal regulators were moving to revoke approval of SouthCoast Wind’s construction and operations plan, the final major permit required before offshore turbine installation. The project, located about 23 miles south of Nantucket, was slated to build up to 141 turbines supposedly capable of powering roughly 840,000 homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

A federal judge has now ruled that the Trump administration may proceed with revoking federal permits for the project.

The Trump administration signaled its intent to reconsider the permit in September, claiming that the Environmental Impact Statement for the project may have “understated or obfuscated impacts” that would possibly result in noncompliance with the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

District Court for the District of Columbia judge Tanya Chutkan, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ruled in favor of the White House Tuesday, saying that the project developers would not suffer from “immediate and significant hardship” if the administration proceeded with the reconsideration.

Blurb:

The student government at the University of Maryland passed a resolution Wednesday that seeks to ban Israel Defense Forces members from speaking on campus.

“The resolution came after a pro-Israel student group hosted IDF soldiers, which protesters disrupted by calling them ‘baby killers’ and comparing the IDF to the KKK,” the Jewish Journal reported.

According to the Diamondback student newspaper, the resolution — which passed unanimously — urges administrators “to condemn the hosting of the soldiers and change university policy so that student organizations and academic departments will not be able to host speakers who have been found, or are being actively investigated for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or systematic human rights violations.”

The resolution is non-binding, meaning it only represents the opinions of the student government and is not enforcable.

The crux of the controversy centers on an event held Oct. 21 by Students Supporting Israel featuring three guest speakers, Israel Defense Forces soldiers, who shared “their experiences fighting for Israel before and after October 7, and their advice for us college students on standing up against antisemitism and anti-Zionism every day,” according to the group.

The event prompted a protest, during which four students, including two student journalists, were detained by police for an hour, the Diamondback reported; according to campus police: “Four people were in the hallway causing a disruption. This disruption included screaming, holding signs and recording their actions.”

Blurb:

While liberal America is justifiably triumphant about Tuesday night’s election results, a lot of professionals are quietly worried about extremism infecting the party. Certainly, electing a mayor of New York who’s an unfortunate hellbroth of communism, Islamism, and “defund the police,” is not someone you want defining your party nationally.

And then there’s the problem of Jay Jones, the Attorney General-elect of Virginia, who won handily despite being caught sending text messages wishing death on a Republican colleagues’ kids — and this wasn’t some flippant message. After he did this, he called up his colleague on the phone to further argue his point about needing to watch kids die in order to make political progress. He also appears to have deceived the state and faked community service hours as part of a punishment for being caught driving 116 mph.

Despite this, no notable national Democrat called for Jones to withdraw from the race. Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger refused withdraw her endorsement of Jones, and Virginia Senator and former vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine also continued to support him.

Blurb:

There’s a familiar air of disillusionment the morning following any election; some cheer, others curse, and many retreat into silence.

But what happened this week wasn’t shocking, and anybody who thought otherwise wasn’t paying attention to the map, the math, or the mood of the country.

Two deep-blue states and one purple state leaned where they always lean. All three painted in predictable hues — Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City, along with California tightening its grip on redistricting — while Texas passed every constitutional amendment in the methodical order listed on the docket.

There was nothing revolutionary or accidental; it was just yet another reminder that America rarely turns on a dime.

That’s the thing about republics: they bend slowly. They don’t change course because of one election night’s chatter, which is precisely what many Americans have forgotten.

Blurb:

COLUMBUS, OH — A new bill introduced in the Ohio Senate aims to align state law with what could become a major shift in federal firearms policy. Senate Bill 303, sponsored by Sen. Terry Johnson and backed by the Buckeye Firearms Association (BFA), would allow adults ages 18 to 20 to legally purchase handguns from federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs).

Under current federal law, licensed dealers are prohibited from selling handguns to individuals under the age of 21. However, a growing number of legal challenges argue that this restriction is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court may soon weigh in, and Ohio lawmakers are preparing in advance.

“Sen. Johnson’s bill will not change federal law,” said BFA Executive Director Dean Rieck. “But it will prepare Ohio for the coming Supreme Court challenge to change the law regarding handgun purchases for those 18 to 20 years old.”

Blurb:

Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York has assumed Pelosi’s former role as House Democratic leader, while Senator Chuck Schumer, 74, continues as the party leader in that chamber.

While there are tensions between Jeffries, 55, and more liberal Democrats, he is expected to be the likely choice for speaker if the party does capture control of the House.

“Nancy Pelosi is an iconic, legendary, transformational figure who has done so many things over so many years to make life better for so many people,” Jeffries said at a press conference on Monday when asked about Pelosi’s 2026 intentions.

During her tenure, Pelosi gained a reputation as a defender of human rights and an early advocate of gay rights at a time when AIDS swept through the world and especially her hometown of San Francisco in the 1980s and beyond.

Blurb:

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., elaborated on the group’s support for a longer-term continuing resolution in an interview this week with The Daily Signal.

The group had released a statement on Monday supporting the passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government “as far into 2026 as possible (ideally, past the November 2026 election and with necessary defense stop-start anomalies).”

The statement went on to note that such a CR would “effectively keep federal discretionary spending flat at the same levels since 2023,” and “block any further effort by Democrats and the Swamp to advance a budget-busting, pork-filled, lobbyist-handout omnibus in November or December.”

The Daily Signal also received a statement from Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who concurred. “Congress must act responsibly and pass a long-term continuing resolution to fund the federal government—not another short-term patch that merely delays the inevitable. These constant, stopgap extensions have become a political crutch, allowing Congress to lurch from one manufactured crisis to the next instead of governing with fiscal sanity and discipline.”

Blurb:

One of the most notorious tactics employed by left-wing agitators during their so-called “peaceful protests” is to try and conceal their identities by wearing a bandana or scarf that partially covers their faces, ski mask-style facial coverings, or some type of character mask that obscures pretty much everything but their eyes.

More recently in Portland, however, the nightly rabble rousers have, in many instances, begun wearing full costumes in front of the city’s ICE facility as a way to distract and deceive federal law enforcement, something we also saw during some of the “No Kings” protests in mid-October.

Here are a couple of examples:

Blurb:

“Unfortunately, we expect to see more of these operations in the coming weeks. It’s important to remember that everyone still has rights—no matter what,” said Rep. Ruiz.

Oregon state representative Ricki Ruiz called to disrupt a high-risk immigration enforcement operation, which involved making targeted arrests of Tren de Aragua gang members at an apartment complex situated next to a Portland elementary school.

The suspects, all of whom are illegally present in the United States, had been using the apartment unit as a “stash house” to harbor illicit drugs, firearms, and ammunition, which were being sold in the Portland, Oregon area, according to federal investigators. Rep. Ruiz, a Democrat, condemned the October 24 operation on social media, sharing a hotline from the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC) that mobilizes anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activists to disrupt immigration enforcement actions once ICE activity is reported.

Rockwood Preparatory Academy (K-5) closed the school for the day due to the presence of federal agents.

Blurb:

President Trump on Wednesday redoubled his efforts to end the Senate filibuster rule, despite opposition from key Republicans.

Trump has repeatedly called for the elimination of the filibuster, urging GOP senators to use the so-called “nuclear option” to pass legislation with a simple majority. The filibuster currently requires 60 out of 100 senators to agree on most legislation, which has been a major obstacle in ending the government shutdown that began on October 1.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and would be able to pass bills with a simple majority if the filibuster were removed.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other Republican leaders have resisted weakening the filibuster, citing concerns about long-term consequences and precedent.

Thune and Johnson have failed to enact federal election security measures or impeach activist judges accused of bias in the ten months since Republicans gained congressional majorities.

Blurb:

At least 1,863 individuals were unlawfully registered to vote under the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) voter registration system.

Oregon election officials announced that they will not pursue criminal investigations against the dozens of non-citizens who illegally cast ballots in elections in recent years after they were unlawfully registered to vote due to a DMV clerical error.

According to a statement from the Oregon Secretary of State, the decision rests on the fact that the non-citizens allegedly did not knowingly violate election laws or were either eligible to vote at the time they did. “The Secretary of State’s Office will not refer anyone for criminal prosecution because the DMV mistakenly registered them to vote,” the statement reads. “A clerical error at DMV caused these mistaken registrations, not the unlawful actions of any of the people registered.”

This comes after a last year investigation revealed that at least 1,863 individuals were unlawfully registered to vote under the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) voter registration system. Hundreds of those individuals were determined to be non-citizens. Oregon law allows anyone to obtain a driver’s license despite immigration status. The error occurred when DMV staff mistakenly selected “US passport” or “US birth certificate” while entering documentation data for individuals applying for driver’s licenses. This error led to non-citizens being added to the voter registration system.

39 of the 1,863 individuals who were unlawfully registered, many of whom were noncitizens, had cast ballots in elections in recent years, the Oregonian reported. Election authorities argued that the number of people who voted illegally did not affect the outcome of an election, giving them another excuse to avoid inquiries.

Blurb:

The Federal aviation Administration (FAA) will reduce flight capacity by 10 percent at 40 major airports across the country starting Friday due to critical shortages among air traffic controllers and other flight support staff, thousands of whom have been forced to work without pay for a month due to the Democrat-led government shutdown.

The restrictions will go into effect Friday morning, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced during a press conference on Wednesday. The airports affected will be announced Thursday, officials said.

According to a report from ABC News citing sources familiar with the matter, reductions will start at four percent as early as Friday and work up to 10 percent over the course of the weekend. The flights impacted by these reductions are scheduled during the hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Blurb:

Democrats are learning all the wrong lessons from where their vile rhetoric has gotten them — and Nancy Pelosi’s latest outburst is only the latest proof.

In a recent CNN interview, Pelosi called Donald Trump “a vile creature” and “the worst thing on the face of the earth,” before backing up her claim with virtually nothing.

“He’s just a vile creature. The worst thing on the face of the earth, but anyway,” Pelosi told the interviewer.

“You think he’s the worst thing on the face of the earth?” the interviewer asked.

“Yeah, I do, because he’s the president of the United States, and he does not honor the Constitution of the United States,” Pelosi replied.

Blurb:

The “No Kings” movement started last June with a series of protests opposing what the organizers say are the corrupt and authoritarian policies of President Trump. The most recent event occurred on October 18, when supporters claimed that more than seven million people participated in over 2,700 events across all 50 states.

Like any president, Trump has made some mistakes, but calling him a “king” is absurd. Kings are not elected, and Trump ran for office three times, winning twice.

In fact, when it comes to tyranny, the fingers should really be pointed at the leftists in the “No Kings” crowd.

Let’s start with Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, and his cronies. As Victor Davis Hanson points out, in 2021, Biden’s DOJ and FBI raided former President Trump’s home. They found only 102 classified documents among approximately 14,000 seized, yet still indicted him. However, there was no SWAT raid on Biden’s multiple repositories of illegally removed classified documents.

Blurb:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has become a problem. She’s shooting inside the ship, blaming GOP leadership for the Democrat-induced Schumer shutdown, and opted to go on The View. She’s doing everything she can to break from the MAGA wing of the GOP, or is she? What the hell is happening? Well, Tara Palmeri had an interesting post on her Substack, where she alleges that President Trump’s political team nuked Greene’s plans to run for Senate in Georgia. Yet, the first reported slight was when Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) was asked to deliver the GOP response to Biden’s State of the Union address (via The Red Letter):

When Greene flirted with a statewide run in Georgia, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s political team quietly told her she wouldn’t beat Senator Jon Ossoff. That hit hard. Some people point to that moment in May as the catalyst for what we see now. It’s not just rejection of Speaker Mike Johnson. It’s a series of perceived slights from the broader MAGA machine, and she’s not hiding her bitterness even while insisting, “I support President Trump.”

Her recent Washington Post interview makes her grievance plain. “Whereas President Trump has a very strong, dominant style — he’s not weak at all — a lot of the men here in the House are weak,” Greene told the Post. “There’s a lot of weak Republican men and they’re more afraid of strong Republican women. So they always try to marginalize the strong Republican women that actually want to do something and actually want to achieve.”

Blurb:

Last night was disappointing but blue states voting Democrat isn’t big news. Still, it is, well, unsettling that new Attorney General of Virginia declared he wants to kill Republicans and their children and still got elected – but that’s where the Democrats are at.

But at the end of the day, no matter what – a catastrophic Biden presidency, an invasion of migrants, or the miracle of Trump’s first 10 months in office – Democrats will be …… Democrats.

Virginia Elects Attorney General Candidate Who Called for Death of His Opponent: ‘Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head’

Those who have been tracking with the contest know those texts came from Jay Jones. It’s worth highlighting: The man who wrote that is now the incoming chief law enforcement officer for the Commonwealth of Virginia. National Review:  Embattled Democrat Jay Jones, who spent recent weeks embroiled in a scandal surrounding violent text messages he sent in 2022, won Virginia’s off-year attorney general contest on Tuesday evening against GOP incumbent Jason Miyares. Jones’s victory was a major defeat for Republicans, who spent millions in advertising in the final stretch of the campaign to boost Miyares. Jones was leading 53 percent to Miyares’s 47 percent with 90 percent of ballots cast when the Associated Press called the race (National Review).

Blurb:

On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough sought to present himself as the kindly, non-partisan political consultant, saying he had warned Republicans not to overreach after their 2024 victories, or imagine they’d occupy the White House forever.

How phony. That was just cover for his gloating proclamation that Republicans didn’t listen to him:

“And if you go too fast, voters will knock you on your ass immediately. And that’s what happened yesterday.” 

Democrat ex-senator Claire McCaskill didn’t even bother trying to disguise her glee, saying of President Trump: “Yeah, I’d say he’s on his ass.” 

Morning Joe proceeded to give the shortest, most misleading, of shrifts to the victory of Democrat Jay Jones in the Virginia attorney general race.

The show devoted all of seven seconds to it. Here’s the totality of what the show, via Mika Brzezinski, had to say:

“Democrat Jay Jones won the race for Virginia Attorney General, overcoming a text message scandal that threatened his chances.”

An unsuspecting viewer might have imagined that Jones had sent some racy texts. The reality, of course, is that he sent texts saying a Republican lawmaker deserved “two bullets to the head,” followed by a wish that the Republican lawmaker’s children “die in their mother’s arms.”

Blurb:

The once-promising marriage between Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and the Republican Party appears to be headed for a nasty divorce.

Greene — who rose to prominence as one of the loudest and staunchest supporters of President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement — has been headed down this path for a while now.

The outspoken Greene has been excoriating her own Republican Party over the last month, particularly raging about the ongoing government shutdown and the battle over healthcare premiums.

(In a clear break from her party line, Greene doesn’t seem too interested in blaming Democrats for the shutdown.)

WARNING: The following post contains vulgar language that may offend some readers. 

Blurb:

Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has mysteriously changed his tune on eliminating the Senate filibuster shortly after President Donald Trump called on Republicans to end the procedure.

On Wednesday, the anti-Trump Democrat declined to say whether he supports eliminating the filibuster, despite previously being a vocal supporter of such efforts.

Raskin previously endorsed calls to end the filibuster during the Biden administration.

The congressman was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash about President Trump’s recent comments urging Republicans to end the filibuster.

He was also asked about the GOP’s losses in several races on Tuesday and the ongoing government shutdown.

“One of the things that he has been talking about for the last couple of days more intensely is getting rid of the filibuster,” Bash asked.

Blurb:

A multi-term House Democrat in a district carried by President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will not be seeking re-election in 2026, setting up a contentious election in what is sure to be one of the most closely-watched House races in the country.

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, who has represented Maine’s Second Congressional District since 2022, announced his decision in an article with the Bangor Daily News.

The congressman explained that while he has enjoyed his time in politics, he has become increasingly demoralized by “increasing incivility and plain nastiness that are now common from some elements of our American community — behavior that, too often, our political leaders exhibit themselves.”

He also pointed to recent high-profile instances of political violence and noted that he too has received threats on his family home.

“Beyond these family considerations, my decision is motivated by the clarity recent months have provided about the state of our politics. This week, we passed a grim milestone, having endured the longest government shutdown in our nation’s history. This unnecessary, harmful shutdown and the nonstop, hyperbolic accusations and recriminations by both sides reveal just how broken Congress has become,” the congressman went on to say.

Blurb:

In what should be an unsurprising development to every conservative in America, the “everyday normal Democrat voter” we are all told exists just came out in numbers to vote for assassination fetishist Jay Jones to be the next attorney general of Virginia.

We often hear some version of: I know their political leadership wants to groom and mutilate as many children as possible, kill as many unborn babies as possible, condone political violence against their opponents, and keep Americans addicted to drugs, homeless, destitute, and hopeless, but that doesn’t reflect every Democrat voter!

The fact that Jones beat incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares, R-Va., by a relatively significant margin (52.73 percent to 46.87 percent) should be understood as the strongest rebuke of that “level-headed Democrat voter” notion.

Blurb:

The election of extremist abortion advocates Abigail Spanberger, Ghazala Hashmi and Jay Jones is a sad day for all Virginians. Their views are in line with some of the most radical abortion promoters in the country.

Unfortunately, the donations from those groups were used to fuel deceptive ads about the Republican Candidates positions on abortion. That helped them over the finish line.

Virginians have also been dealt a serious blow tonight in the statewide elections for the House of Delegates.

Sadly, the victories of pro-abortion candidates means that more extreme bills will be passed in the General Assembly that are designed to protect abortion businesses and not vulnerable women and their unborn babies. Most tragic of all is that with the newly elected pro-abortion majority in the House of Delegates intact, the dangerous unlimited abortion up to birth amendment will likely pass for the second time before going to a ballot measure.

Blurb:

Pennsylvania voters on Tuesday opted to retain three Democrat justices on the state Supreme Court, preserving a 5-2 liberal majority that pro-life advocates warn will expand abortion access to any reason throughout all nine months of pregnancy.

With more than 54% of the vote tallied, 62.3% voted yes to retain Justice Christine Donohue, 62.5% for Justice Kevin Dougherty and 62.4% for Justice David Wecht.

The outcome ensures Democrats maintain control of the court, which pro-life groups had urged voters to reject as a direct threat to unborn children.

Blurb:

A disturbing exit poll from Fox News found that less than half of Virginia voters found the murderous text messages sent by Attorney General-elect Jay Jones — in which he threatened to kill his political opponents and their children — were disqualifying.

With 96.4 percent of precincts reporting, Jones is currently garnering 52.7 percent of the vote to Republican incumbent Jason Miyares’ 46.9 percent, enough for a shocking upset that was called a little more than two hours after polls closed on Tuesday. The result constitutes a surprising upset, as Miyares had surged ahead in the polls following the emergence of Jones’ disturbing messages back in early October.

In a series of disturbing text messages sent to a former House of Delegates colleague back in 2022, Jones fantasized about killing the state’s then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert.

“If those guys die before me… I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves,” Jones, who served two terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, wrote in one of the 2022 messages to a former colleague.

Blurb:

In case you hadn’t noticed how brazen far-left Democrats have become since President Donald Trump won the 2024 election, allow me to introduce you to a woman who previously admitted that she was living in the U.S. illegally and who just won an election to become the next mayor of St. Paul, Minn. The left isn’t even hiding the fact that illegals are participating in our political/governmental systems anymore.

How bold do you have to be to declare, openly, that you’re in the country illegally and then run for political office while not being a citizen? And the government is allowing this to happen right out in public, without much, if any, pushback.

Democratic State Rep. Kaohly Vang Her took home a big victory on Tuesday night, defeating incumbent Democratic Mayor Melvin Carter after a tabulation of second-choice votes. She, who was born in Laos and entered the country as a refugee, once stated during a public debate that both she and her family were illegal migrants. She later walked the comment back, but obviously, if she previously admitted this, it’s likely true.

Blurb:

Erica Deuso is a man. He is a man who likes to dress as a woman. He is a man who likes to fight for the rights of men who like to cosplay as women. He is also a man who condoned and arguably, encouraged, violence against federal officers for enforcing federal immigration laws.

And the worst part is that he just won the mayoral race in Downingtown, PA.

Downingtown is a small town of 9,000 people. While many people voted for this man, many also did not. So, at this point, all we can do is keep the sane residents in our prayers.

According to The Post Millennial:

Erica Deuso, who is openly transgender, had recently suggested armed violence against the federal government after footage came out of illegal immigrants being detained.

“Tonight, the numbers are clear,” Deuso stated early Wednesday morning, according to WHYY. “We won. Voters chose hope, decency, and a community where every neighbor matters. I am honored to be elected as Pennsylvania’s first openly transgender mayor. I carry that responsibility with care and with purpose.”

Blurb:

Republican Virginia state Del. Carrie Coyner, who was the recipient of the infamous violent text messages sent by Democratic Attorney General-elect Jay Jones, lost her bid for reelection to the House of Delegates on Tuesday.

Jones, who defeated incumbent Jason Miyares on Tuesday, drew backlash for lost by more than five percentage points by Democrat Lindsey Dougherty.

“Tonight’s results mark the end of my time serving our community in elected office, but not the end of my love for this community or my commitment to its people,” Coyner wrote in a statement. “For 14 years, it has been the greatest honor to serve you on the School Board and General Assembly— to listen, to work alongside you, and to build lasting friendships that I will always treasure.”