Author name: LifeZette

Trump Gives a Surprising Response to Fauci Pleading the 5th 111 Times [WATCH]
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Trump Gives a Surprising Response to Fauci Pleading the 5th 111 Times [WATCH]

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President Trump weighed in Wednesday after Dr. Anthony Fauci delivered a spectacle on Capitol Hill that looked less like accountability and more like a master class in self preservation.

Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, where Senate Republicans pressed him over the COVID pandemic, his shifting claims, and the long list of statements Americans were told to accept without question.

Instead of clearing the air, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right 111 times.

That is quite a performance from the man the left spent years treating like a lab coat version of Mount Rushmore.

Senator Rand Paul announced that the committee is expected to vote next week on holding Fauci in contempt.

Paul also suggested Fauci’s repeated refusal to answer may not have been legally proper under the circumstances.

Trump was asked at the White House whether Fauci should be held in contempt.

He did not directly call for punishment, but he made clear he remembers exactly what dealing with Fauci was like.

“Well, I watched the whole thing today, but more importantly, I was a part of the whole Fauci. I inherited Fauci. He was here from the 1980s, so I had him for a period of time, and I disagreed with him on a lot,” Trump said.

Trump added that “I would have had to close down the whole country if I listened to him.”

That line alone captures the divide between the bureaucratic panic machine and the Americans who still had bills to pay.

“I went the Federalist way, which is basically let the governors decide, and generally speaking, the Republican governors did very well.

The Democrat governors did not very well,” Trump continued.

The president also reminded the press that Fauci’s guidance was anything but steady.

One day masks were unnecessary, then came the era where the public health crowd seemed ready to wrap everyone in cloth from head to toe.

“But Fauci wanted to have nobody wearing masks, if you remember, and then everybody had to wear five masks, as many masks as you could get. I mean, made a lot of mistakes, and he wasn’t a big factor for me. He was a very big factor for Biden, and if you remember, even though we were sort of prime time in terms of that whole disaster of COVID, far people died fewer in the Trump administration than in the Biden administration.”

Then came the wrinkle that had conservatives raising eyebrows.

Lindell TV’s Cara Castronuova asked Trump whether the Justice Department should revisit Joe Biden’s auto pen pardons and challenge whether they were legitimate.

Trump, who previously declared documents, executive orders, and contracts signed by Biden’s auto pen to be “null, void, and of no further force or effect,” sounded far more cautious this time.

He described the pardon power as “the most powerful thing a president has.”

“So, he was pardoned by Biden, and I respect that. I know how powerful it is,” Trump said.

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That answer landed with a thud among those who want a full accounting of the COVID years.

If Biden’s auto pen operation deserves scrutiny, Fauci’s pardon would seem like one of the first places to start looking.

Trump did leave the door open slightly, noting there may be questions about whether the person operating the auto pen knew what was being approved.

“Maybe there’s something on the auto pen. Other than that, the power of pardon is very powerful.”

Later, Trump was asked why Fauci refused to answer questions even though he had a pardon.

His answer was simple, and it pointed right at the legal choreography surrounding the hearing.

“Look, I’ve never been a big fan of Fauci. Why he did that was very simple. His lawyer told him to,” Trump said.

“I don’t know if he would have been better off not doing it. There were a lot of questions that I guess he could have answered, and some maybe he didn’t feel comfortable answering, but his lawyer told him to do that.”

For millions of Americans, that will not be good enough.

They remember the mandates, the school closures, the censored doctors, and the smug lectures from the same expert class that now suddenly discovers silence when accountability comes calling.

DCCC Chair Dodges DSA Denunciation While Claiming Democrats Are United [WATCH]
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DCCC Chair Dodges DSA Denunciation While Claiming Democrats Are United [WATCH]

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Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene tried to steer clear of a growing headache for her party on Tuesday, after being asked whether Democratic leaders should denounce the Democratic Socialists of America platform.

Appearing on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” DelBene did what seasoned party operatives often do when the left flank gets too loud for comfort.

She changed the subject to affordability and insisted Democrats are united, which is a neat trick when the question is about socialists pushing ideas that sound like they were drafted in a faculty lounge after midnight.

Guest host Manu Raju put the issue directly in front of her by playing remarks from Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has been increasingly willing to say the quiet part out loud about his own party’s radical wing.

Fetterman criticized democratic socialist positions of “abolish the Senate, … abolish the presidency, abolish the border, abolish prison, and the presidency.”

He also argued that Democratic leaders should call out those ideas instead of pretending they are just harmless chatter in deep blue enclaves.

Raju then asked DelBene the obvious question: “So, Congresswoman, should you call out the democratic socialists and police your kind of ranks and repudiate the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America?”

DelBene responded by shrinking the issue geographically, as if radical ideology becomes less radical when it is confined to a few safely liberal zip codes.

“First of all, I think you’re talking about some races in bright blue districts in a few parts of the country. The folks in Iowa who want representatives to stand up for them aren’t interested in who is running for election in New York City.”

That answer may satisfy consultants who live by polling crosstabs, but it does not actually answer the question.

Voters in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia might be very interested in whether the party seeking control of Congress is willing to draw a bright line against the abolish everything crowd.

Raju pressed again, asking, “But what about Democratic leaders? Should you guys repudiate it?”

That was the moment for a clean answer, but clean answers are apparently in short supply when the activist left is listening.

DelBene continued, “The path to the majority is through these swing districts across the country. And having candidates who are talking about the issues that matter, who are focused on the issues they hear from their communities, is what makes the difference. And so, absolutely, we are united in making sure that we’re addressing the number one issue we hear from folks across the country. Families are struggling, affordability is the top issue. Housing, food, healthcare, childcare, energy costs, rising gas prices. We need a Congress that’s going to stand up for people across the country. That’s our priority, and that’s what we’re going to do when we have the gavels. And we will have gavels in November.”

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There it was, the affordability pivot.

Asked about democratic socialists who want to abolish borders and other basic structures of government, the DCCC chair turned to gas prices, childcare, housing, and gavels.

Nobody doubts that families are struggling with costs.

The problem for Democrats is that many of those same families also remember years of liberal spending, regulatory overreach, energy hostility, border chaos, and the usual Washington lecture circuit insisting that everything was fine.

DelBene’s claim that Democrats are “united” on affordability is also a convenient way to avoid saying what they are not united against.

If the party cannot clearly repudiate a platform that entertains abolishing the border, voters are allowed to wonder what exactly the moderates are moderating.

Fetterman’s comments landed because they tapped into a real political liability for Democrats.

The activist left may dominate online spaces, city politics, and campus style debates, but its wish list becomes a massive burden when candidates have to face normal voters who want safe streets, secure borders, affordable groceries, and functioning government.

Republicans will almost certainly seize on DelBene’s nonanswer as part of a broader argument that Democrats are afraid of their own base.

That message writes itself when party leaders treat socialism like a local zoning dispute instead of an ideological infection spreading through their ranks.

DelBene wants the conversation to be about swing districts, but swing district voters often have strong radar for political evasion.

They know when a candidate is answering a question, and they know when a party boss is trying to hustle them past the uncomfortable part.

The exchange offered a preview of the Democratic strategy heading into November.

Talk about affordability, accuse Republicans of not caring, and hope nobody asks too many questions about the radicals standing just off camera.

That might work on CNN for a few minutes.

It is much harder to pull off when voters start asking why a party that wants the gavels cannot even bring itself to plainly reject the people calling to abolish the border.

Texas Dem Candidate James Talarico Accidentally Proves He Needs a Basic Economics Lesson [WATCH]
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Texas Dem Candidate James Talarico Accidentally Proves He Needs a Basic Economics Lesson [WATCH]

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Texas Democrat James Talarico appears eager to audition for the Senate by taking a swing at capitalism, and judging by his latest remarks, he may want to start with a basic economics textbook before heading back to the microphone.

At a Tuesday campaign rally, Talarico told supporters that trickle down economics is not a theory, but theft, then claimed wealthy Americans “have been stealing the wealth that we all created. It’s why everything sucks right now. It’s why people are so angry.”

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That is the kind of line that plays well in a room full of activists who think slogans are substitutes for math.

It is also the kind of line that reveals just how casually the modern left blames private success for problems created by government failure.

The theory Talarico attacked is rooted in the idea that policies helping businesses and investors, including lower taxes and lighter regulation, can spur growth, hiring, investment, and consumer activity.

Conservatives can argue over the finer points, but pretending wealth creation itself is theft is not serious economic analysis.

It is campaign theater dressed up as populism. Democrats have found that if they say the word theft loudly enough, they can distract voters from who actually reaches into their pockets every payday.

After all, who takes money from workers before they even see the full fruit of their labor.

It is not some local business owner sending armed agents to your house because you failed to satisfy a bureaucrat.

Government does that. Federal, state, and local authorities take a cut of nearly everything Americans earn, buy, own, sell, inherit, or try to build, and then politicians act shocked when families feel squeezed.

The left loves to portray capitalism as a villain lurking in a top hat, but the average American knows the real shakedown comes with official forms, penalties, fees, and deadlines.

Miss a tax payment and see how quickly the friendly face of government turns into a collection machine.

Civil asset forfeiture is one of the ugliest examples. Law enforcement agencies have seized money, vehicles, and homes from Americans accused of no crime, often without an arrest or conviction, and getting that property back can become a legal nightmare.

Since 2000, agencies have reportedly collected at least 82 billion dollars at the federal level and another 25 billion dollars at state and local levels through that practice.

If Talarico wants to talk about theft, he might start there instead of scolding people who built businesses and signed paychecks.

Property taxes are another fine example of government calling permanent rent by a more polite name.

Americans can spend decades paying off a home, only to learn that ownership still comes with annual tribute to local officials who can take the property if the bill is not paid.

Yes, private lenders can foreclose when borrowers fail to meet terms they voluntarily accepted.

But nobody voluntarily signs up for being taxed forever on land and a house they supposedly own outright.

None of this means corporations are saints or that every wealthy person is noble.

Conservatives do not need to pretend that private markets are perfect in order to recognize that government power is far more coercive and far less accountable.

Talarico’s argument relies on an old progressive trick, blame capitalism for the damage caused by political meddling, reckless spending, inflationary policy, regulation, taxation, and bureaucratic arrogance. Then offer voters more of the same medicine that helped make them sick.

Americans are angry because groceries cost more, housing is punishingly expensive, wages feel stretched, and the ruling class keeps lecturing them about fairness while Washington spends money it does not have.

That anger is real, but Democrats keep trying to aim it at job creators instead of the political machine.

If Talarico wants to run as another Democrat who thinks prosperity is suspicious and government control is compassion, he is free to do so.

Voters are also free to notice that his answer to economic pain seems to be more resentment, more government, and fewer people who understand how wealth is actually created.

‘We Are Going to Beat the F**king Sh*t Out of Them’: Trump [WATCH]
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‘We Are Going to Beat the F**king Sh*t Out of Them’: Trump [WATCH]

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President Donald Trump delivered a blunt warning Wednesday after Iran launched a surprise overnight missile strike targeting American forces in Jordan, making clear that Tehran’s latest act of aggression would not be brushed aside with diplomatic throat clearing.

Speaking to Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst, Trump said the United States would respond with force after Iranian ballistic missiles were fired at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base and the headquarters of United States Central Command in Jordan.

“We’ll be hitting them hard,” Trump said of Iran. “They’re going to get a beating.”

The attack was claimed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a statement carried by Iran’s state run IRNA news agency.

That detail matters, because Tehran loves hiding behind proxies until the bill comes due.

United States Central Command said all incoming Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted.

Jordan’s military said five Iranian missiles were intercepted and destroyed, and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Trump said American personnel on the ground had only minutes to react as the missiles came in.

He said he reviewed video of United States forces calling out coordinates in real time while intercepting the incoming threat.

That performance appears to have prevented what could have been a far bloodier outcome.

It also served as a reminder that American troops are still sitting in the crosshairs of a regime that has spent decades exporting terror while pretending to be a normal government.

The strike comes after the Army identified two victims killed in an attack on a Jordan air base, with Trump previously warning that Iran would pay “many times over.”

For a regime used to testing weak Western leaders, the tone from Washington is now considerably different.

Trump also addressed overnight United States and Saudi strikes against Iran backed Shiite militia logistics and weapons sites in eastern Iraq.

The military said the strikes followed alleged drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.

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The Saudi Defense Ministry said it “does not seek escalation but will respond to any aggression.”

That is the kind of message Iran’s clerical rulers understand far better than another round of empty international statements.

Trump told Fox News the United States and Saudi strikes in Iraq were coordinated with the Iraqi government.

He described the militias as a “cancer on the world” and said more warnings against Iranian proxies were being considered.

That description will not win applause at a faculty lounge seminar, but it is hard to argue with the substance.

Iran’s proxy network has destabilized Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and beyond while Democrats and foreign policy mandarins keep rediscovering the magical thinking of appeasement.

The broader regional picture is heating up quickly.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused Iran of flying Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel into Yemen as the Houthi threat escalates, further tying Tehran to a web of violence stretching across the Middle East.

Iran’s leadership has long relied on a familiar playbook. Attack through militias, deny responsibility when convenient, celebrate destruction at home, and then complain about escalation when someone finally fires back.

Trump is signaling that this game may be reaching its expiration date.

His message was not wrapped in think tank jargon, but it was direct enough for the mullahs to understand.

Still, the president said talks with Iran will continue.

“We’re going to let them keep talking,” he said.

That line reflects a familiar Trump approach, keep the door open, but do not let talks become a shield for terror.

There is a difference between diplomacy backed by strength and diplomacy used as a sleeping pill for the American people.

Iran’s overnight missile strike also raises fresh questions for Congress about force protection, deterrence, and the security of United States installations across the region.

Lawmakers will likely press the Pentagon for details on the timing of the attack, the intelligence picture before launch, and the readiness of regional air defenses.

For now, the most important fact is that American and allied forces appear to have stopped the missiles before they could kill more United States personnel.

That outcome is a credit to the troops who performed under pressure while the world was asleep.

Tehran gambled that it could fire on American forces and control the consequences.

Trump’s warning suggests the regime may soon learn, once again, that poking the eagle is a very expensive hobby.

Rand Paul Boots Fauci Lawyer From Hearing as Gallery Erupts in Applause [WATCH]
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Rand Paul Boots Fauci Lawyer From Hearing as Gallery Erupts in Applause [WATCH]

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Anthony Fauci finally found himself back under congressional scrutiny Wednesday morning, and the scene delivered exactly the kind of accountability moment millions of Americans have been waiting years to see.

The former face of the federal COVID regime appeared before a Senate hearing chaired by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, one of Fauci’s most persistent and well-informed critics.

Fauci opened with a statement claiming Paul had an “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution,” then promptly invoked the Fifth Amendment.

That move may have kept Fauci from answering direct questions about his record, but it did not spare him from an embarrassing spectacle.

His attorney, David Schertler, managed to become the main event after repeatedly ignoring the rules of the hearing.

Schertler had reportedly been instructed not to sit at the witness table because he was not a witness.

He did it anyway, parking himself beside Fauci as the former bureaucratic pandemic czar declined to answer questions.

The attorney then began speaking during the proceedings despite not being recognized and despite not having a microphone.

Apparently, the same crowd that lectured Americans for years about respecting institutions suddenly forgot how hearings work.

Paul was not interested in letting Schertler hijack the room.

The Kentucky Republican cut him off and reminded him that he had no right to take over the proceedings.

“You will respect these proceedings. You were told not to sit at the table. You insist on sitting at the table and we told you you would not be recognized. You are not invited here for testimony, sir. You are being disruptive. Would you behave this way in a courtroom? No, because the judge would put you in jail. I can’t do that today. But I can have you escorted from the premises,” Paul told Schertler.

That should have ended it.

Instead, Schertler kept talking, giving Paul every reason to call security and have him removed from the room.

“There’s a row behind you, sir. That’s where you were told to sit … and now you’re disrupting the proceedings,” Paul said as the attorney continued his performance.

The chairman made clear that the hearing would not be turned into a Democrat friendly sideshow.

Then Paul delivered the line that captured the whole mess. “This is the way Anthony Fauci wants to be remembered: For a lawyer not listening to the rules. That’s the way you want to be remembered, and that’s what you’re going to do.”

As security escorted Schertler out, the gallery broke into applause.

WATCH:

For a public that endured lockdowns, mandates, school closures, shifting guidance, and endless sanctimony from Fauci and his allies, the reaction was not exactly hard to understand.

The moment was made even richer by the fact that Fauci was hardly abandoned.

Paul noted, with obvious dry humor, that Fauci had several other attorneys present, so nobody needed to faint over the idea that the most protected man in pandemic politics had been left alone.

Investigative journalist Catherine Herridge, who was seated in the gallery, shared what she witnessed from inside the room.

Her reporting added to the sense that the hearing had become a revealing snapshot of how the Fauci orbit operates when it is not being treated like royalty.

For years, Fauci presented himself as the embodiment of science while federal power was used to crush dissent, silence questions, and shame ordinary Americans into compliance.

Parents watched their children fall behind, workers lost jobs, churches were treated like threats, and small businesses were flattened while the expert class congratulated itself.

Yet when Fauci had the chance to answer questions under oath, he chose the Fifth.

That is his legal right, of course, but Americans are also free to draw their own conclusions from a man who spent years demanding trust and then refused to provide answers.

Schertler’s removal only sharpened the contrast.

The same political machine that scolded citizens about rules and responsibility could not even follow basic hearing instructions when the spotlight turned back on them.

Paul, who has challenged Fauci for years on COVID policy, federal health power, and research questions, did not allow the hearing to become another carefully managed performance.

He enforced order, called out the antics, and gave the public a rare sight in Washington: someone actually refusing to indulge the protected class.

Fauci wanted to frame the hearing as persecution. Instead, he helped remind the country why so many Americans lost trust in the public health establishment in the first place.

The applause in the gallery said plenty.

After years of lectures from Fauci world, plenty of Americans are ready to see the lecturing class sit down, stop talking, and finally answer for what it did.

‘Who the F**k Do You Think You Are?’: Fauci Gets Torn a New One by Bernie Moreno [WATCH]
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‘Who the F**k Do You Think You Are?’: Fauci Gets Torn a New One by Bernie Moreno [WATCH]

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Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio tore into Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday during a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing, laying the blame for pandemic era mandates squarely at the feet of the former White House COVID czar.

Fauci, long treated by the corporate press as if he existed somewhere above ordinary accountability, sat with his attorney nearby as Moreno made clear this would not be another polite Beltway recital.

“Clearly, what you think today is that somehow you’re above reproach.

Somehow you feel like you don’t need to be treated like a normal American,” Moreno said.

The Ohio Republican then walked through the list of views that got ordinary Americans mocked, censored, fired, or treated like public health heretics during COVID.

Many of those supposedly fringe concerns now look a lot less crazy than the experts insisted at the time.

Moreno pointed to Americans branded racist for using terms tied to the virus origin in China, people who questioned the six foot rule, workers punished over vaccine mandates, and parents furious over school closures. That was not conspiracy talk to millions of families, it was lived reality.

He asked spectators in the room to stand if they had been shamed for holding those views.

Several people rose, including Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

Moreno then pressed Fauci to turn around and look at them. Fauci declined, choosing instead to speak with someone behind him who appeared to be an attorney or aide.

“Look at the people who were absolutely shamed for saying what we know now to be the truth,” Moreno demanded.

“You can’t even look at them.”

The people who paid the price were in the room, while the man who helped shape the national COVID response would not even give them the courtesy of a glance.

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Moreno also recalled a pandemic news story about a mother and her children being arrested for not wearing masks outside while watching a football game.

He said that episode helped push him toward public service.

“When that story broke, I said to myself, ‘I cannot stand idly on the side and watch this happen,’” Moreno told Fauci.

“It was about six years ago today that I decided ‘I’m going to give up my businesses, sell them all, run for office, run for the United States Senate.’”

Moreno then delivered the central accusation, asking in blunt terms who Fauci thought he was to help impose such sweeping decisions on Americans.

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It was a rare moment in Washington when the fury outside the marble halls actually made it into the room.

When Moreno tried to question Fauci, the doctor repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment rights.

The report said Fauci did so roughly 1111 times during the hearing, an astonishing figure for a man who spent years speaking with supreme certainty into every available camera.

Republicans on the committee repeatedly tried to draw him out with pointed questions.

Fauci declined again and again, relying on constitutional protection despite having already received a full pardon from then Joe Biden.

Moreno also noted Fauci’s decision to hire David Schertler, a high powered lawyer who represented former Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey in the bribery case that ended with the Democrat’s conviction.

The senator needled Fauci over whether his legal situation was more serious than he wanted to admit.

At one point, Moreno asked whether Fauci would apologize to the people harmed by his actions. “Do you have the dignity to just say you’re sorry?” he asked.

Fauci again invoked the Fifth Amendment. For Americans who lost jobs, watched kids fall behind, or were treated like second class citizens for questioning the official line, that answer spoke volumes.

Committee Chairman Rand Paul of Kentucky later said the panel will vote next week on whether to hold Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer questions. Contempt charges can carry penalties of 1 to 12 months behind bars and fines of up to $100,000.

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The hearing was not just about relitigating the pandemic.

It was about whether powerful officials who helped crush livelihoods, close classrooms, and shame dissenters will ever face real accountability, or whether Washington will simply hand them lawyers, pardons, and another round of applause from the usual media choir.

Socialist Mayor Snaps at Reporters as Seattle Shooting Questions Explode [WATCH]
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Socialist Mayor Snaps at Reporters as Seattle Shooting Questions Explode [WATCH]

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Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson found herself on defense Monday after reporters pressed city officials over why the public waited hours for clear answers following a deadly mass shooting at Seattle Center.

Three people were killed and four others were wounded Sunday evening when gunfire erupted at the Bite of Seattle food festival, a major summer event that had drawn thousands near the Space Needle.

The shooting began around 6 p.m., according to officials, but the city did not hold a full press conference until shortly before 11 p.m.

That left residents, witnesses and families trying to make sense of a violent scene while official information came out at a crawl.

Seattle police posted one update about thirty minutes after the shooting, confirming that officers were investigating.

At that point, the public still did not know whether anyone was in custody or whether a suspect might still be on the loose.

Wilson did not issue her first statement until around 8:30 p.m.

By then, frustration had already spilled across social media, where Seattle residents demanded to know why city leaders were moving like a committee meeting had broken out during a public safety crisis.

On Monday, Police Chief Shon Barnes said the city had “no problem” reviewing how it handled public communication.

That was a polite way of acknowledging what everyone else could already see.

Wilson argued that officials were trying to avoid spreading bad information while still keeping the public informed.

“If we had been reporting up to the minute everything that we were hearing in the swirl that happened last night, there would have been a lot of inaccuracies out there that would have confused people and that we then would have had to correct,” Wilson said.

“We are managing this tension, and we are doing the best that we can to provide accurate information in a timely manner without increasing confusion.”

That explanation might have sounded better if the city had not already botched one major detail.

In Wilson’s initial statement, her office said two people were in custody in connection with the shooting.

Wilson later corrected that claim, saying only one person was actually in custody.

So much for the carefully managed information strategy.

Adding fuel to the fire, officials said before the Sunday night press conference that they were waiting for “dignitaries” to arrive.

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson and Rep. Pramila Jayapal later appeared at the briefing alongside Wilson and Seattle Police Assistant Chief for Special Operations Tyrone Davis.

Asked Monday whether the public had been forced to wait while elected officials made their way to the cameras, Wilson denied that any office requested a delay.

“As soon as we coordinated with SPD and agreed that it was time to talk to the media, as soon as we knew that we were going to be doing that, I and Gov. Ferguson and Congresswoman Jayapal arrived on the scene within minutes,” Wilson said.

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That answer did not exactly calm the room.

When a city suffers a mass shooting at a packed public festival, people tend to care less about political choreography and more about whether their children are safe.

Authorities said two men, ages 19 and 44, died at the scene.

A 56 year old woman later died after being taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Four others were wounded, including a 2 year old boy. Police said they believe three people exchanged gunfire during the chaos.

One suspect was taken into custody, another suspect was killed, and officials were still searching Monday for another possible suspect.

That alone explains why timely public communication mattered so much.

For Seattle residents, the issue was never just whether officials eventually produced a corrected timeline.

The issue was whether leaders in a city already battered by crime and disorder understood the fear spreading across the festival and throughout the community in real time.

Instead, the public got limited updates, shifting information and a late night parade of officials once the microphones were ready.

In the vacuum, rumors did what rumors always do.

Critics saw the episode as another example of progressive city leadership struggling when public safety demands urgency instead of process.

Seattle has spent years under leaders more comfortable with slogans than street level reality, and residents are tired of paying the price.

Wilson and her team can promise reviews, better messaging and lessons learned.

But after bullets flew at a crowded food festival and innocent people were killed, Seattle residents were not asking for polished talking points.

They wanted answers.

They wanted them quickly.

And they wanted them before the dignitaries arrived.

Mamdani ‘Is Inciting the Bloodlust of His Marxist Revolutionary Comrades’: Miranda Devine [WATCH]
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Mamdani ‘Is Inciting the Bloodlust of His Marxist Revolutionary Comrades’: Miranda Devine [WATCH]

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New York Post columnist Miranda Devine criticized New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani during a Fox News appearance, arguing that a searchable database made available through the city’s website could expose residents to potential safety risks.

The discussion began as Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy described the database and questioned whether it could create security concerns.

“What that’s referring to is since this guy put a searchable database online on the city’s website,” Doocy said. “All you got to do put in an address or a name, and it’ll pop up. That’s not safe.”

Devine agreed with Doocy’s assessment, arguing that making the information easily searchable could have unintended consequences.

“That is not safe,” Devine said.

She claimed the database could encourage people with malicious intent to target homeowners.

“That is really inciting the bloodlust of his Marxist revolutionary comrades, like Hassan Piker, who has said that he wants to see red capitalist blood in the streets.”

According to Devine, the database could also attract individuals seeking to occupy properties unlawfully.

“This is inviting either professional squatters to move into these homes, or worst case, Luigi wannabes to prey on these people who have done nothing wrong other than have a New York City bolt hole as their second home, their pied a terre.”

Devine argued that the issue reflects what she sees as Mamdani’s broader political philosophy.

“You know this is this is just what Zoram Mamdani is all about,” she said.

She contended that while Mamdani presents himself as an advocate for human rights, his political agenda is different.

“He poses as this sort of principal defender of human rights,” Devine said. “That’s that’s when he’s doing his Israel bashing and his capitalist bashing.”

Devine then offered a broader criticism of Mamdani’s political ideology.

“But really, he is just a Marxist Islamist revolutionary who is bent on destruction and mayhem, and he’s driven by hatred.”

She also referenced opposition from some families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks regarding Mamdani’s attendance at Ground Zero commemorations.

“And that’s why the 911 families don’t want him at ground zero because all he’s doing is asserting his dominance,” Devine said.

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The discussion focused on the debate surrounding the searchable database, with Doocy emphasizing his concerns about public safety and Devine arguing that the policy could expose certain property owners to unnecessary risks while reflecting what she described as Mamdani’s broader political agenda.

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Raging DNC Boss Ken Martin Reportedly Hurls Phone as Democrat Cash Crisis Deepens [WATCH]
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Raging DNC Boss Ken Martin Reportedly Hurls Phone as Democrat Cash Crisis Deepens [WATCH]

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Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin is reportedly facing a fresh headache inside the party machine, and this one involves an alleged fit of rage, a junior staffer, and a phone flying toward a desk.

According to the New York Times, Martin angrily threw his phone at an aide’s desk earlier this month as pressure mounted over the DNC’s ugly financial picture.

The staffer reportedly complained to human resources, which then met with Martin about his conduct.

That is quite the scene from the party that never tires of lecturing the country about decency, norms, workplace culture, and emotional intelligence.

Apparently, those standards get a little more flexible when the fundraising numbers look like a political horror show.

The alleged outburst landed as Democrats stare down the coming midterms with a committee that is not exactly swimming in cash.

The DNC is leaning on a $15 million loan, described as its largest ever borrowing in an off year cycle, and it has reportedly put up its Washington, DC headquarters and other assets as collateral.

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A DNC official tried to wave away concerns in a statement to The Post.

“This is not new. The loan documents were publicly released in November, and the DNC’s building was also used as collateral in our prior lines of credit in 2019, 2018, 2014, and many other years,” the official said.

The committee declined to comment on Martin’s alleged phone episode.

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That silence is convenient, but not exactly surprising for a party apparatus that seems to have plenty to say about Republicans and very little to say when its own house is wobbling.

Federal Election Commission records show the DNC had $16.3 million cash on hand at the end of last month.

That figure sits below the $18.5 million in debts and loans currently on its books.

The contrast with Republicans is brutal for Democrats.

The Republican National Committee ended June with $128.5 million cash on hand and no debt, according to FEC records.

That gap matters even more after the Supreme Court recently struck down limits on coordinated spending between parties and campaigns.

In plain English, parties with money can move more aggressively, and parties pawning the furniture may find the midterm map even less forgiving.

Martin has tried to talk up the DNC’s fundraising, telling nervous Democrats that the committee has posted historic numbers for a party without the White House.

He argued in a Substack post that the DNC raised $154.8 million through June 2026 from small and large donors, compared with $95.2 million over a similar period during the 2017 and 2018 cycle.

Still, happy talk only goes so far when vendors are reportedly being asked not to send bills until after the midterms.

DNC Executive Director Roger Lau pushed back on that characterization, saying, “This is nothing more than standard negotiations with vendors over contracts and payment processes.”

That sounds polished enough for a press release, but voters and donors can read numbers too.

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When a national party is juggling debt, borrowing against assets, and trying to calm internal panic, the spin starts to look thinner than a Biden campaign crowd.

Martin’s tenure has already been messy.

He took over in February 2025 after Democrats were still reeling from their 2024 defeat, when the party’s coalition looked exhausted and its message looked stale.

Almost immediately, Martin had to deal with the David Hogg problem.

The former DNC vice chairman drew backlash for meddling in Democratic primaries while holding a leadership role inside the party structure.

Then came the fight over the DNC’s autopsy of the 2024 election.

Martin initially resisted releasing it, then faced criticism after the document was made public and critics complained about errors and missing pieces.

The leaks have reportedly driven Martin into a more paranoid and frustrated posture.

In a May staff meeting after the autopsy mess, Martin reportedly snapped about leaks from inside the building and told staff, “My success is your success,” before adding, “So the weaker I am, the weaker all of you are.”

That kind of message may be intended as team building, but it lands more like a warning from a boss under siege.

For a party already struggling with donors, morale, debt, and credibility, that is not exactly the inspirational poster version of leadership.

Martin has reportedly joked in private about how long he will survive as DNC chairman.

Earlier this month, before meeting with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both New York Democrats, he reportedly received assurances they were not preparing to force him out.

For now, Martin appears to be hanging on, but the picture is not pretty.

Democrats are heading toward a major election cycle with money problems, internal leaks, leadership drama, and now a reported phone tossing incident inside headquarters.

Republicans will gladly let the DNC keep pretending everything is fine.

If Democrats want to lecture America while borrowing against their own building and calming down angry bosses behind closed doors, that is their circus, and apparently their collateral too.

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Revealed: Mainstream Media Stars Took China-Linked Trips as Beijing Chased Friendly Coverage [WATCH]
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Revealed: Mainstream Media Stars Took China-Linked Trips as Beijing Chased Friendly Coverage [WATCH]

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Foreign agent filings are raising serious questions about how a Chinese Communist Party linked influence operation courted some of the most recognizable names in American journalism.

The records describe efforts tied to the China United States Exchange Foundation, known as CUSEF, to arrange access for reporters whose work could help shape perceptions of Beijing.

The filings do not simply describe harmless cultural exchange or some innocent sightseeing tour with noodles and polite handshakes.

They show operatives discussing how to generate “favorable coverage” and “effectively disseminate positive messages to the media, key influencers and opinion leaders, and the general public” regarding China.

CUSEF was founded by Tung Chee-hwa, a former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

That body sits inside the broader United Front ecosystem, which congressional investigators have described as a central tool for advancing Chinese Communist Party influence abroad.

The names tied to these trips and media programs read like a roll call from America’s elite press club.

The list includes current and former figures connected to The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, NPR, the Associated Press, Vox, The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and more.

Among those identified were Ezra Klein, Ronald Brownstein, Marjorie Miller, Steve Clemons, David Rohde, Daniel Gross, Kathleen Deveny, Tom Omestad, Steve Chapman, Bruce Stokes, Craig Gilbert, Shikha Dalmia, Jonathan Broder, Cristi Kempf, Jon Healey and Julian Pecquet. That is not exactly a fringe blogger meetup in a hotel basement.

The concern is not merely that journalists visited China.

The concern is that a CCP linked outfit funded or organized access while its representatives talked openly in foreign agent records about cultivating coverage that would make Beijing look better to American audiences.

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Some of the later commentary fits the pattern in ways that should make readers wonder how often the press corps confuses access with independence.

Shikha Dalmia published a piece titled “China Bashing is for Losers” during the same year she traveled to China.

Bruce Stokes warned that economic “decoupling” from China would “backfire.”

Catherine Rampell criticized President Trump’s China posture in columns such as “Team Trump should be careful what it wishes for on China.”

David Rohde offered one of the most striking examples after taking part in a CUSEF organized trip.

He praised the role of the Chinese state in building business and later framed complaints from American politicians as “ideological babble.”

Rohde also argued that Americans should accept the disappearance of large scale manufacturing as a permanent fact of life.

That message sounded awfully convenient for a regime that spent decades benefiting from American factories leaving towns across the heartland while Washington elites shrugged.

Ezra Klein later defended parts of China’s early pandemic response, writing on X, “I keep hearing that China bought us some real time and our government wasted it doing nothing and downplaying the threat.”

Matthew Yglesias joked that he wanted to “give Party flunkies notes” on improving “propaganda.”

Steve Chapman repeatedly mocked Trump’s trade confrontation with Beijing.

In one post, he wrote, “China may have a bad human rights record, but you don’t have to take off your shoes for airport security.”

The network also brushed up against Biden world.

Bruce Stokes is married to Wendy Sherman, who later became deputy secretary of state in the Biden administration, while Steve Clemons enjoyed a friendly rapport with Biden during the then vice president’s 2013 trip to China.

Clemons later wrote that “Biden gets China” and spoke approvingly of “a new global order” with China as its “anchor.”

For Americans who have watched the ruling class bend over backward for Beijing while lecturing everyone else about democracy, the irony is not subtle.

The scandal here is not that every word written by these journalists was dictated from Beijing.

The scandal is that a CCP linked influence machine could fund travel, curate access, arrange meetings and then watch trusted American voices deliver narratives that often lined up neatly with Chinese interests.

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American readers were not always shown the machinery behind the curtain.

They got polished columns, expert analysis and respectable bylines, while the deeper influence game remained buried in filings that most people never see.

That is exactly how soft power works when the target is a decadent media establishment desperate for prestige, access and global approval.

Beijing did not need to buy the newsroom outright when so many of its preferred themes could arrive wearing a press credential.


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