Secretary of State Marco Rubio has terminated the legal status of three Iranian nationals tied to Masoumeh Ebtekar, the spokeswoman for the militants behind the Iran Hostage Crisis, placing them in ICE custody and initiating their removal from the United States.
“I terminated their lawful permanent resident status and today, Seyed Eissa Hashemi, Maryam Tahmasebi, and their son are now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pending their removal from our country,” Rubio said.
Rubio added that the decision reflects a broader principle: “America can never become home for anti-American terrorists or their families — and under the Trump administration, it never will.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
‼️ NEW DETAILS: 
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has TERMINATED the legal status of three Iranians tied to regime figure known as “Screaming Mary.”
They are now in ICE custody and facing deportation.
“I terminated their lawful permanent resident status and today, Seyed Eissa… <a href="https://t.co/7XnEgjbyQ0">https://t.co/7XnEgjbyQ0</a> <a href="https://t.co/xU3udiFLJ8">pic.twitter.com/xU3udiFLJ8</a>
— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) <a href="https://twitter.com/MOSSADil/status/2042982578995478677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The individuals are directly connected to Masoumeh Ebtekar, known to many Americans as “Screaming Mary,” who served as the English-language spokeswoman for the militants who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
That crisis saw 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days, a defining moment in U.S.-Iran relations that continues to shape policy decades later.
Chosen for her fluent English and familiarity with the United States, she became the public face of the hostage-takers, appearing repeatedly on American television to defend the operation and relay the group’s demands. She has never expressed regret for her role, and frequently used her appearances to justify the takeover.
After the crisis, she transitioned from revolutionary activist to establishment figure, eventually rising to serve as a vice president of Iran, specifically Vice President for Women and Family Affairs from 2017 to 2021.
Despite that history, her son Hashemi had been living in Southern California, working as a lecturing psychology professor while residing in Los Angeles County with his wife, according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/04/06/us-news/son-of-irans-twisted-pr-chief-found-living-life-of-luxury-in-la-and-hes-teaching-superrich-california-kids/">New York Post</a>. Reports and photographs placed him at upscale locations in the area, fueling criticism that relatives of senior regime figures were benefiting from life in the United States.
Public pressure had been building for months. Petitions and protests called for federal authorities to review the immigration status of Hashemi and others connected to Iran’s ruling apparatus, arguing that allowing such individuals to remain in the country undermines U.S. credibility on human rights and national security.
In its statement, the State Department <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/04/secretary-rubio-terminates-green-cards-of-foreign-nationals-tied-to-infamous-iranian-regime-propagandist/">indicated</a> that the individuals originally received visas during the Obama administration before later obtaining green cards through the Diversity Visa Program.
Later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters, “Her family should never have been allowed to benefit from the extraordinary privilege of living in our country. America can never become home for anti-American terrorists or their families.”
The move follows broader scrutiny of relatives of Iranian regime figures living in the West, particularly as tensions with Tehran remain elevated.
The message from the administration is that drawing a harder line not just against Iran’s government, but against those connected to it, is going to continue and we could see similar moves going forward.
For all the latest Iran news, follow <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-updates-iranian-protests-intensify-as-citizens-demand-end-to-ayatollah-rule?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Daily+Wire&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=LIVE+UPDATES%3A+U.S.%2C+Iran+Face-To-Face+As+Trump+Warns+Negotiating+Window+Could+Close+Fast">The Daily Wire’s live blog</a>.

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Rubio Takes Action Against Family Of 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis Spokeswoman ‘Screaming Mary’

Executive

Global Politics

Iran

Marco Rubio

State Department

World

A long-stable community of chimpanzees in Uganda has fractured into a sustained, lethal conflict that researchers are now describing as a kind of civil war, raising new questions about the roots of violence not just in primates, but in human societies.
The conflict is unfolding among the Ngogo chimpanzees in Kibale National Park, a group that scientists have studied continuously since the mid-1990s. For roughly two decades, the apes lived as a single, unusually large and cohesive community, at one point numbering around 200 individuals.
“They were living the good life by being together,” primatologist John Mitani, a longtime researcher on the project, told The <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/ngogo-uganda-chimpanzee-civil-war-99f04332">Wall Street Journal</a>. The chimps hunted together, shared territory, and even coordinated attacks against rival groups outside their own. That stability and cooperation began to break down around 2015.
According to a new study published in <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz4944">Science</a>, the group started to split into factions after several key male chimpanzees died, weakening the social bonds that had tied different cliques together. Around the same time, a shift in the dominance hierarchy introduced new tensions, with a new alpha male rising to power.
At first, the changes were subtle; chimpanzees that once moved freely between subgroups began avoiding each other, interactions that had once ended in grooming and cooperation started to turn hostile. Then, in a moment researchers described as unmistakable, the shift became visible.
“All hell broke loose,” Mitani recalled of a 2015 encounter between two factions that suddenly turned violent. Over the next three years, the split hardened, and by 2018, what had once been a single group had fully divided into two separate communities, occupying different parts of the forest, no longer mating with one another, and treating a shared territory as a contested border.
Then the killing began.
Members of the smaller faction, called the Western group, began launching coordinated attacks on the larger Central group. Researchers observed organized patrols, targeted ambushes, and repeated attempts to kill rival males — among other <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/nov/02/chimps-use-military-style-tactics-to-gain-advantage-on-rivals-study-reveals">common tactics</a> used by chimpanzees. By 2021, the violence had escalated further, expanding to include attacks on infants.
In total, researchers have documented more than 28 deaths among the Ngogo chimps, including those of 19 infants, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/science/chimpanzees-war-ngogo-uganda.html">according</a> to The New York Times. The real number is likely higher, as some bodies are never recovered.
What makes the situation unusual is not just the scale of the violence, but who it is directed at. Chimpanzees are known to attack rival groups, but in this case, the victims are former allies — animals that once lived, hunted, and socialized together for years.
Researchers say they still do not have a definitive explanation for why the split happened. One theory is that the group simply grew too large, straining the social ties that kept it together. Another points to the loss of key individuals who acted as “bridges” between different cliques. Changes in leadership and competition for mates may have further accelerated the breakdown.
Aaron Sandel, another co-author on the study, said those overlapping pressures may have been enough to push the group past a tipping point.
The findings are significant because they challenge a common assumption about conflict, that it is driven primarily by cultural or ideological differences. Scientists and philosophers have long debated where human warfare is rooted: whether it lay mainly in cultural differences, desire for wealth and security, or whether it can emerge more fundamentally from the breakdown of social cohesion.
The Ngogo chimps suggest the latter may play a larger role than previously thought. Researchers caution against drawing direct parallels, but the pattern is difficult to ignore. A large successful group, the gradual erosion of internal bonds leading to the emergence of factions, and eventually, sustained violence between former members of the same group.
For now, “It’s an ongoing conflict,” Mitani said, with no signs of slowing down.
And for the scientists tracking it in real time, the experience is as unsettling as it is revealing. “I feel like a war correspondent,” Sandel said. “I want to be there to see it, but it’s sad. I’ve seen so many dead bodies of chimps.”

1280px-Chimpanzees_in_Uganda_(5984913059)

Bloody Civil War Between Two Factions Of Chimpanzees Has Scientists Baffled

Africa

Animals

General

A warehouse employee is facing multiple felony arson charges after allegedly setting a massive fire at a paper distribution center, and recording himself doing it while ranting about his pay.
Authorities say 29-year-old Chamel Abdulkarim, an employee at a facility operated for Kimberly-Clark, was arrested after a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/massive-california-warehouse-destroyed-in-suspected-arson-attack">six-alarm fire tore through a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse</a> in Ontario, California, Tuesday morning.
The fire was set at around 12:30 a.m., quickly spreading through the building, which was filled with paper goods like toilet paper and facial tissue. What sets the case apart — beyond the sheer scale of destruction — is video circulating online that investigators believe shows Abdulkarim lighting the fire while delivering a profanity-laced grievance.
“All you had to do was pay us enough to live,” a voice believed to be Abdulkarim says repeatedly in the footage.
“You may not pay us enough to f*cking live … but these b*tches dirt cheap,” he adds referring to a lighter, as stacks of products catch fire. At one point, as flames begin to spread, a voice is heard over a walkie-talkie: “We’ve got a fire in the warehouse.” He concluded the rant saying, “there goes your inventory.”
Warning: Strong Language
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A pissed off employee started a massive fire at a warehouse after complaining about low pay. 😬
“All you had to do was pay us enough to f*cking live… there goes your inventory.” <a href="https://t.co/beWaZScs55">pic.twitter.com/beWaZScs55</a>
— kira 👾 (@kirawontmiss) <a href="https://twitter.com/kirawontmiss/status/2041995687168979210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 8, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Fire officials said the scale and speed of the blaze immediately raised red flags. “This fire was very quickly identified as suspicious in nature,” Ontario Fire Department Deputy Chief Mike Wedell <a href="https://6abc.com/post/arson-suspect-arrested-massive-fire-tears-warehouse-ontario-california/18851853/?ex_cid=TA_WPVI_FB&amp;link_source=ta_first_comment&amp;taid=69d771a78830ae00010ca3f1&amp;utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&amp;utm_medium=trueAnthem">said</a>. “There was a subject of interest identified very early on in the incident. That subject has been arrested.”
While investigators have not publicly confirmed a motive, if the video is verified, it would certainly leave little question.
More than 140 firefighters responded as the fire escalated to six alarms, with crews forced into a defensive operation as flames moved rapidly through the structure. Roughly 20 employees were inside at the time. No injuries were reported.
Abdulkarim was initially reported missing, but was later located nearby and taken into custody. He is being held without bail. The warehouse itself was a major regional hub, supplying paper goods to an estimated 50 million people. The facility is valued at roughly $156 million.
Officials said the building’s fire suppression system activated, but was ultimately compromised when part of the roof collapsed.
The nature of the inventory, large quantities of paper products, accelerated the fire’s spread. Flames and smoke were visible for miles, and air quality warnings were issued for surrounding neighborhoods. Several trucks docked at the facility were also destroyed.
Beyond the immediate damage, the fire is expected to have a broader economic impact. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-07/toilet-paper-facility-fire-risks-disruption-to-major-us-market?srnd=homepage-americas&amp;embedded-checkout=true">Industry analysts</a> say the loss of the facility could affect more than 3% of Kimberly-Clark’s U.S. sales, while increasing transportation and logistics costs as distribution is rerouted. The company’s stock fell more than 4% following the incident.
The warehouse was operated by a third-party logistics firm, which said it is cooperating with authorities and working to relocate affected employees. Kimberly-Clark said its supply chain is designed to handle disruptions and does not expect widespread shortages.
Authorities say the video is part of an ongoing investigation.

WATCH: Did An Arson Suspect Just Record Himself Lighting A Warehouse On Fire?

Arson

California

Crime

Law Enforcement

U.S.

The federal government is moving to overhaul how young American men enter the military draft system, shifting from individual responsibility to automatic enrollment.
Under a proposed rule from the Selective Service System (SSS), men would no longer need to register themselves within 30 days of turning 18. Instead, the government would automatically add them to the draft pool using existing federal data.
The change, which could take effect as soon as December, was authorized by Congress in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act and is now under regulatory review.
“This statutory change transfers responsibility for registration from individual men to SSS,” the <a href="https://www.sss.gov/about/">agency says</a>, calling it a “streamlined” system that integrates federal data sources.
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), who sponsored the provision, framed it as a resource decision. “This will allow us to rededicate resources—basically that means money—towards readiness and towards mobilization,” she told the <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/04/08/automatic-registration-for-us-military-draft-eligible-men-to-begin-in-december/">Military Times</a>, “rather than towards education and advertising campaigns driven to register people.”
For decades, the government has spent millions reminding young men to comply with a requirement that is already mandatory. Nearly all men between 18 and 25 must register under the Military Selective Service Act, and failure to do so can carry serious penalties, including fines up to $250,000, potential jail time, and loss of access to federal student aid and jobs.
Despite that, compliance has slipped falling to roughly 81% in 2024, per official <a href="https://www.sss.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Annual-Report-2024-6-4-25.pdf">SSS reports</a>. Automatic registration is designed to close that gap entirely. The United States has not used conscription since 1973, at the end of the Vietnam War, when widespread public opposition helped usher in the modern all-volunteer military. The draft system itself was later reinstated in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter as a contingency measure during the Cold War.
Today, officials insist the new rule does not signal an imminent return to conscription. “It’s not part of the current plan right now,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt when asked about the possibility of a draft. “But the president … wisely keeps his options on the table.”
That caveat is precisely what has fueled concern among some Americans. The idea that registration will now happen automatically, combined with ongoing instability abroad, has led critics to question whether the infrastructure for a draft is being quietly modernized.
Legally, however, a draft remains a high bar. Even with a fully populated registry, the president cannot reinstate conscription unilaterally. Congress would need to pass new legislation authorizing inductions into military service. In practical terms, the policy change does not expand who is eligible, it simply ensures that those already required to register are captured in the system without relying on them to act.
Women remain exempt from the system, despite efforts in Congress to expand draft eligibility in recent years. For now, the shift is framed as administrative, an efficiency measure in a sprawling federal system.
The result is a policy that is, on paper, about saving money and improving compliance, but in practice touches on a far deeper question: how prepared the country is, and how much it expects from its citizens if crisis comes.

Army Chief Of Staff Gen. Casey Swears In New Army Recruits

What A Push To Overhaul The Military Draft Could Mean For Young American Men

Draft

Trump Administration

U.S. Military

The suspect in a brutal killing outside a Fort Myers, Florida, gas station has been captured, becoming another statistic in the national immigration debate, after federal officials confirmed the suspect had been released into the United States and later shielded from deportation.
Rolbert Joachim, a Haitian national, is accused of murdering Nilufa Easmin, known to friends and family as Yasmeen, by bludgeoning her with a hammer outside the Chevron station where she worked. The attack, captured on surveillance video, unfolded in broad daylight.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This criminal illegal alien from Haiti BARBARICALLY MURDERED an innocent woman by hitting her in the head multiple times with a hammer.
He was RELEASED into our nation by the Biden administration. Not only did they release this heinous murderer into our communities, but they… <a href="https://t.co/vbIKRNiIgx">https://t.co/vbIKRNiIgx</a> <a href="https://t.co/P6NgTzCUQy">pic.twitter.com/P6NgTzCUQy</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/2041618194335769001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
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According to the Department of Homeland Security, Joachim first entered the U.S. in August 2022 and was “caught and released” at the border. Later that same year, an immigration judge issued a final order of removal against him. But instead of being deported, DHS says he was allowed to remain in the country under Temporary Protected Status, which expired in 2024.
“This illegal alien barbarically hit this woman in the head multiple times with a hammer,” said Acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “This heinous murderer was released into the country by the Biden administration. Not only did the administration release him, but they then gave him temporary protected status. Their reckless immigration policies cost this woman her life.”
Surveillance footage shows Joachim allegedly smashing a car windshield in the gas station parking lot. That vehicle, according to coworkers, belonged to Easmin. Moments later, she walked outside to confront him. He then rushed toward her and struck her in the head with a hammer. She collapsed, and investigators say he struck her repeatedly again.
Police launched an intensive manhunt, ultimately locating Joachim nearby. “I would just say one word — persistence,” a Fort Myers police official said. “We were not going home until we found him. We had a cop on every single block in the last confirmed area, and we used every resource — from aviation support to canine units to boots on the ground.”
Joachim is now in custody and being held without bond. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on him, and DHS says he will be deported following the resolution of his case.
Neighbors described her as kind, devout, and consistent in her daily routine. “She was good,” said M.D. Islam, a local man who knew her. “She came and did her prayer in the morning … just minutes before the attack.”
“Everybody right now is sad,” Islam added. “Not only me or my Bangladeshi community — all of us. People around the world are very sad to see this news.”
A growing memorial now sits outside the gas station on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Highland Avenue, where flowers and candles mark the place where Easmin was killed.
But alongside mourning, the case is raising broader questions, particularly about how an individual ordered deported was able to remain in the country.
<a href="https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/2041599762844062049">According to DHS</a>, Joachim’s case reflects a wider system that has relied on release mechanisms and temporary protections rather than immediate removal. An immigration judge had already determined Joachim should be removed, yet he remained in the country for years after that order, long enough, tragically, for the April 3 killing to occur.
For neighbors like Islam, the policy debate is secondary to the senselessness of the violence. “I don’t know why some people become like this,” he said. “I cannot explain.”

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Biden Admin Gave Illegal Haitian ‘Protected Status.’ Now He’s Accused Of Killing An Innocent Woman.

Haitian immigrants

illegal immigrant

Illegal Immigration

Violent Crime

Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro sat down with Peter Robinson on &#8220;Uncommon Knowledge&#8221; for a conversation that ultimately landed on a single, animating concern: what happens to a political movement, and a country, when it loses its grip on truth.
“Every proposition, when originally proposed, is nuanced,” he said, “and by the time it is popularized, it becomes a bumper sticker.” 
That flattening, he argued, has reshaped American politics on both the Left and the Right, replacing argument with emotion and, increasingly, skepticism with outright conspiracism.
That shift, in his telling, is downstream of collapsing institutional trust. Events like Russiagate, COVID-era policymaking, and the unrest of 2020 each contained “grains of truth,” he said, but those truths were “abstracted into a theory whereby the fundamental institutions of the West are themselves corrupted.” Once that belief sets in, “you’re susceptible to literally anything.”
Nowhere is that dynamic more visible, he argued, than in the rise of grievance politics. On the global stage, Shapiro pointed to Israel as a case study in how success breeds resentment. “There’s only one successful state in the Middle East … a tiny state,” he said, noting its economic and military strength relative to the region. “That country is hated for its success because of that.”
But the same instinct, he warned, is now taking root on the American Right. If people come to believe the United States is in managed decline, they begin searching for someone to blame. “You start to look at who’s had a pretty good 80 years?” he said. “The truth is that Jews in America have had an amazing 80 years … and the state of Israel has had a pretty stellar 80 years.” That line of thinking, he suggested, helps explain the overlap between populist grievance and rising anti-Semitism.
Shapiro has increasingly taken aim at those tendencies within his own coalition. Reflecting on a recent speech at Turning Point USA following the murder of Charlie Kirk, he warned that “the conservative movement is in serious danger … from charlatans who … traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty.” In the interview, he was more blunt: “There is a market for conspiracism.”
He dismissed criticism from figures like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly as beside the point. “They’re not even remotely arguments,” he said, drawing a distinction between censorship and judgment. “Anyone can have anyone on any stage at any time. This is America. If you decide to waste your time listening to the conspiratorial ravings of an incipient madman like Tucker Carlson, you can do that. This is America. But you are also wasting your time and you&#8217;re making your brain dumber.”
That raised a deeper question: what actually defines conservatism today? Shapiro drew a sharp distinction between the Republican Party and the conservative movement, arguing the former is “a vehicle for victory,” while the latter has lost touch with its philosophical roots. The principles that once undergirded the right, limited government, federalism, localism, are no longer widely understood. “When you say to people, government should be as small as it can, most people’s reaction is, why?” he said. “Most politicians even have no capacity to explain that.”
The result, he predicts, is fragmentation. The post-Trump coalition contains too many competing strains to hold together long-term. “It will fragment,” he said, pointing to a broader “withering of the ability to explain the philosophy undergirding these policy preferences.”
That same erosion, he argued, is playing out in governance itself. Blue states losing residents to red states are unlikely to correct course anytime soon. “That’s like saying when will East Germany fix itself if they had left an open border,” he said. “It won’t — because everybody who wanted to fix it left.” Real change, he suggested, will only come through crisis: “The only thing that could happen that would prompt it is almost full-scale collapse of some of these states in terms of their financing and fiscal capacity. And I think that will come. I think that you will see bankruptcy of many of these states.”
Still, Shapiro’s most pointed critique was cultural, not political: “One of the great disappointments of my life has been finding out that people follow people, not ideas,” he said. That reality, he argued, fuels everything from audience capture to the spread of bad thinking.
It also undercuts what he sees as the core of the American experiment: the idea that problems are meant to be solved. “If you’ve got a problem in your life, it is solvable by you,” he said. &#8220;If you don&#8217;t have a solution, if you&#8217;re asking questions and you&#8217;re not interested in the answers, then as I&#8217;ve said before, you&#8217;re not really asking questions. You&#8217;re fomenting a proposition.&#8221;
In Shapiro’s view, that shift, from solving problems to narrating them, is the real fault line in American life. And until it’s reversed, the politics built on top of it will remain unstable.
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Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro Talks Truth, Problem-Solving, And True Conservatism On ‘Uncommon Knowledge’

Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger is touting a series of major business investments as part of a new jobs push, but each of the headline projects she highlighted was first announced under her Republican predecessor, Glenn Youngkin.
Spanberger <a href="https://x.com/GovernorVA/status/2041230913024008469">announced</a> she had signed legislation tied to several high-dollar investments across the Commonwealth, including projects from Avio USA, Hitachi Energy, Eli Lilly and Company, and AstraZeneca. 
&#8220;Attracting new companies and jobs to communities across our Commonwealth is a core focus of my administration,&#8221; she posted on social media.
Collectively, the deals represent billions in capital investment and thousands of jobs in regions like Pittsylvania, Halifax, Goochland, and Albemarle counties. The announcement lacked details, but they were found in the <a href="https://x.com/nickminock/status/2041882986514092338?s=46">press release</a> sent to local journalists.
However, each of those projects had already been publicly announced during Youngkin’s administration, in some cases months earlier.
At the time, state and corporate leaders emphasized the long-term economic impact these projects would have on the Commonwealth. Then-Gov. Youngkin described Hitachi Energy’s $457 million expansion in South Boston as a “landmark investment.” Unveiled in September 2025, the project is expected to create more than 800 high-paying jobs in a historically underserved region. Youngkin described the project as “transformational for Southside Virginia,” noting that the facility would strengthen the electrical grid supply chain.
AstraZeneca characterized its Virginia investment as a “cornerstone” of its broader U.S. manufacturing push aimed at boosting domestic pharmaceutical production and reducing reliance on foreign supply chains. Similarly, Avio USA’s planned rocket motor manufacturing facility, a roughly $500 million investment announced in late 2025, was framed by Youngkin as significant for both national security and Virginia’s growing aerospace sector. 
Eli Lilly’s project was likewise presented as a generational investment in both public health and regional growth, with company officials highlighting its role in producing cutting-edge treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases while anchoring a growing life sciences corridor in Virginia.
The move comes as Spanberger faces mounting political headwinds early in her tenure. Recent polling has shown her support slipping, particularly among independents, the very voters who delivered her victory, alongside growing skepticism about her leadership and economic agenda. As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spanberger-may-have-won-in-a-landslide-but-she-just-got-hit-with-a-reality-check?author=Drew+Berkemeyer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Spanberger+May+Have+Won+In+A+Landslide%2C+But+She+Just+Got+Hit+With+A+Reality+Check">previously reported</a>, concerns about affordability and governance have already begun to erode her standing.
Polling shows that 41% of Virginians believe Spanberger’s policies will make the state less affordable, compared to 31% who say she will make it more affordable, with independents breaking sharply negative. Even among Democrats, a notable share of respondents say her policies will either have no impact or worsen costs.
The numbers reinforce ongoing concern about economic conditions in the state. Against that backdrop, highlighting investments, even those initiated under the Youngkin administration, offers a clear political upside. Spanberger can point to job creation, business recruitment, and economic wins that were aggressively pursued, prioritized, and developed by her Republican predecessor. 
Taken together, the episode reads less like a routine policy announcement and more like policy piracy, an attempt to associate her administration with economic successes that voters already recognize, even if they were delivered by someone else. In Virginia politics, where economic development is often a long game, the timeline matters. And in this case, it points squarely back to the previous administration.

Abigail Spanberger Is Sworn In As First Female Virginia Governor

Spanberger Rolls Out ‘New’ Virginia Investments, Except They Aren’t Actually New

abigail spanberger

Virginia

Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger entered office with a decisive mandate and a carefully crafted centrist brand. Now, just months later, new polling suggests both are under strain.
<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/06/virginia-spanberger-approval-poll-affordability/">A survey</a> conducted by The Washington Post and George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government shows Spanberger at 47% approval and 46% disapproval, the weakest early-term standing for a Virginia governor in decades. The erosion is particularly sharp among independents, a key bloc that powered her November landslide. Just 45% now approve of her performance, while 46% disapprove, a stark shift from the 59% of independents she carried on Election Day, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/election/2025/exit-polls/virginia/general/governor/0">exit polls</a>.
Governors in the Commonwealth have typically enjoyed relatively stable approval ratings early in their terms, if not downright charitable. Glenn Youngkin, for example, maintained a solid 54% approval rating with just 39% disapproval at a comparable point in his tenure, despite only winning Virginia by two points in the 2021 election.
45% of voters say Spanberger’s views are “too liberal,” compared to 42% who say they are “just about right,” and just 7% who view her as “too conservative.” Nowhere is the shift clearer than on the issue that defined her campaign: affordability.
Spanberger repeatedly promised to lower costs, pledging an “Affordable Virginia” agenda aimed at easing pressure on health care, housing, and energy. But voters are increasingly skeptical. The poll finds 41% believe her policies will make Virginia less affordable, compared to 31% who say more affordable, while 23% expect no impact.
That skepticism extends across party lines. While 63% of Democrats believe her policies will improve affordability, a significant share, more than three in ten, say they will either make no difference or worsen costs. Among independents, the numbers tilt negative, with 41% saying her policies will make the state less affordable versus just 27% who expect improvement. Roughly eight in ten Republicans say her agenda will drive costs higher.
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/after-running-on-affordability-virginia-dems-push-for-nations-highest-income-tax?author=Drew+Berkemeyer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=After+Running+On+Affordability%2C+Virginia+Dems+Push+For+Nation%E2%80%99s+Highest+Income+Tax">previously reported</a>, Democrats in Richmond have introduced sweeping tax proposals that would create new income brackets and expand taxes on investment income, potentially pushing Virginia’s top effective rate to roughly 13.8%, higher than California’s. Supporters frame the measures as a “fair share” approach to fund public priorities, but critics argue they directly undercut Spanberger’s affordability message. The tension between centrist campaign rhetoric and left-wing governing reality is becoming a defining feature of her early tenure.
Beyond taxes, Spanberger is facing mounting scrutiny over a broader policy slate. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/blue-state-dems-plow-ahead-with-dozens-of-gun-control-bills?author=Drew+Berkemeyer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Blue+State+Dems+Plow+Ahead+With+Dozens+Of+Gun+Control+Bills">More than 30 gun control measures</a> are advancing through the legislature, including proposed bans and new restrictions on firearms and magazines. Her decision to end cooperation between state law enforcement and federal immigration authorities has also drawn criticism, as has her support for rejoining a regional climate initiative opponents say could increase energy costs.
Taken together, the policy direction has fueled a perception that her administration is governing to the left of where she campaigned, a dynamic reflected in the polling.
Political observers say the speed of the shift is notable. Larry Sabato has <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/virginia-gov-abigail-spanbergers-approval-rating-drop-gmu-washington-post-poll-immigration-affordability-taxes-voters-redistricting">warned</a> the decline is “stunning” and could become a serious liability if it continues. Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government, similarly noted that while polarization is expected, the degree of early division is “unusual” for a governor who emphasized a centrist image.
But the more compelling explanation may not be polarization at all. Spanberger didn’t win as a culture-war left-winger or a doctrinaire liberal, she won as a center-leaning pragmatist who promised cost relief and moderation. What the early polling suggests is not simply that voters are sorting into partisan camps, but that a decisive bloc, particularly independents, believes the product they were sold is not the one being delivered.
The risk for Spanberger is that this isn’t a messaging problem, it’s a definitional one. Once voters conclude a candidate has misrepresented their governing approach, it becomes extraordinarily difficult to rebuild credibility, especially when the policy record continues to reinforce that perception.
In that sense, the centrist brand that carried her to office may not be fraying, it may already be gone.

Spanberger May Have Won In A Landslide, But She Just Got Hit With A Reality Check

Elections

Politics

Polls

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, is once again under scrutiny, this time for comments she says were meant to “connect” with prison inmates, but which critics say reveal a tone-deaf and elitist perspective.
During a recent interview reflecting on conversations with juvenile offenders at San Quentin prison, Newsom described sharing a traumatic childhood story, the death of her older sister Stacey, in an effort to relate to inmates serving life sentences for violent crimes.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Newsom’s wife&#8217;s latest virtue signal is telling San Quentin lifers that she faced zero consequences when her sister was killed because it was an accident then telling them their life sentences are probably for “accidents” too
Peak elite tone-deafness <a href="https://t.co/9HxWIIn10T">pic.twitter.com/9HxWIIn10T</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/2041541436319859145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“I blame myself for her death,” Newsom said, before illustrating a comparison that has since drawn widespread criticism, “they ultimately were accused of committing these violent crimes and sentenced for life. And I think it shocked them that this blonde lady who was interviewing them had a similar story … but wasn’t punished the way they were, because clearly it was an accident — but theirs was probably an accident, too.”
The incident she referenced was a tragic accident from her childhood. Newsom was only 6 years old when her sister Stacey, 8, was killed while playing on golf carts during a family vacation in Hawaii. Stacey had been hiding behind Jennifer’s cart when it rolled backward, striking her.
This episode follows a string of high-profile comments from the self-described “First Partner” that have drawn criticism for sounding out of touch. On Monday, she framed the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gavin-newsoms-wife-offers-bizarre-defense-of-kristi-noem-pam-bondi">removal of conservative women</a> from the Trump administration as evidence of systemic patriarchal oppression, despite openly disliking the officials in question.
The pattern echoes moments from her husband’s public commentary as well. Gov. Gavin Newsom faced backlash after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/im-like-you-gavin-newsom-brags-to-black-mayor-about-his-960-sat-score">telling</a> Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens that he was “like you … I’m a 960 SAT guy,” a remark widely criticized as patronizing and implicitly racial. Both instances reveal a tendency to universalize personal experience and moralize it, often at the expense of nuance.
In Jennifer Newsom’s case, the comments may have been well-intentioned, rooted in real trauma and a desire to connect. But the optics: a privileged, self-described “blonde lady” comparing her childhood accident to inmates’ life sentences, have overshadowed the intended message.
The comments are infantilizing in a way that cannot be separated from her position as “first partner” of the governor of California. Life sentences in San Quentin are the result of serious, violent crimes — particularly since death row at the prison was largely <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/california-to-close-san-quentins-death-row-as-part-of-a-broader-prison-reform">decommissioned</a> and a moratorium placed on all executions by Gavin Newsom in 2019. By suggesting their situations are “probably accidents,” the remarks flatten complex legal and moral realities into an anecdotal moral lesson that feels more self-serving than enlightening. It is a rare example where empathy crosses over into condescension, alienating the very audience the message was meant to reach.
For a political and cultural elite class that emphasizes lived experience as a source of moral authority, these moments backfire. Rather than demonstrating empathy, they project privilege and misunderstanding, highlighting the gap between them and the voters they attempt to reach. And for a governor with national ambitions, every misstep in tone from him and his family becomes fodder for any voter trying to reconcile the Newsoms’ self-styled moral leadership with the realities of their everyday comments.

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Gavin Newsom Holds Election Night Event In LA

Watch Gavin Newsom’s Wife Bizarrely Attempt To Relate To Prisoners

2028 presidential election

Gavin Newsom

Jennifer Newsom

A leading coalition of state financial officers plans to share new polling data, and a sharpened warning about what it calls an “invisible tax” on American families, with Vice President J.D. Vance’s anti-fraud task force leadership, as the Trump administration’s broader “war on fraud” continues to take shape.
The survey, conducted by Deep Root Analytics and obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire, underscores just how politically potent the issue has become. 87% of voters say they are concerned about fraud or misuse of taxpayer dollars, including 50% who say they are “very concerned.” Another 83% say fraud contributes to higher taxes and rising costs for families, while a majority, 52%, believe little fraud is actually being stopped.
Taken together, the numbers point to a shift: voters are no longer viewing fraud as a niche or bureaucratic issue, but as a direct driver of the affordability crisis.
“Americans rightly understand that fraud is the invisible tax worsening the affordability crisis,” OJ Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), told The Daily Wire. “Taxpayer dollars being stolen and wasted by fraudsters isn’t just a criminal issue, it’s an economic one.”
Oleka said the group intends to ensure those concerns are heard at the highest levels of the administration. “We support Vice President Vance’s leadership of the anti-fraud task force and hope these survey results will help guide and strengthen their mission,” he added.
The outreach builds on prior coordination between the group and the administration. As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-report-contrasts-minnesota-fraud-with-big-wins-for-red-state-taxpayers">previously reported</a>, SFOF shared its sweeping oversight report with Vance via letter in late February, pledging state-level cooperation as the White House elevated fraud enforcement into a national priority.
That report detailed how SFOF’s network of conservative treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers, spanning 28 states, helped recover or safeguard roughly $28 billion in taxpayer funds in a single year through efforts targeting waste, fraud, abuse, and financial mismanagement.
In that sense, the new polling represents both a political and policy reinforcement of a message the group has been advancing for months: that fraud is not just a law enforcement issue, but a central economic concern.
The administration has increasingly echoed that framing. President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-launches-war-on-fraud-taps-vance-to-lead-fed-crackdown-on-benefits-scams">tasked</a> Vance with leading a government-wide task force aimed at identifying vulnerabilities in public benefit programs and strengthening safeguards against abuse. Officials have warned that large-scale fraud is draining billions from programs intended to serve vulnerable Americans while undermining public trust.
The administration’s renewed focus on fraud comes as congressional Republicans continue to highlight high-profile cases like the sprawling pandemic-era fraud scandal in Minnesota, which Trump has <a href="https://www.fox9.com/news/trump-state-union-mn-stunning-corruption-ilhan-omar-exchange">described</a> as a “stunning example” of systemic failure, and as oversight efforts ramp up heading into the midterms.
That federal push is now converging with state-level efforts already underway, since before the administration formalized its initiative, SFOF members have positioned themselves as frontline watchdogs of taxpayer dollars, a role Oleka reiterated in a recent letter to Vance.
“In the months and years ahead, SFOF and our state financial officers stand ready to support you and everyone in the administration involved in this fight as allies already on the battlefield,” he wrote. “By working together, we can protect our nation’s treasure to the fullest extent against every foe and every plot to endanger it.”
State officials say the polling suggests that approach is aligned with voter sentiment across the political spectrum.
“The survey makes clear that Americans across the political spectrum are concerned about their tax dollars being lost to fraud and waste,” Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks, the group’s national chairman, exclusively told The Daily Wire. “When accountability weakens, the financial burden ultimately falls on households.”
That connection is borne out in the data. A majority of voters, 53%,  say government policy, spending, or taxation is the primary driver of rising costs, while 70% say there is too little oversight and support more aggressive fraud investigations.
As the administration leans further into fraud enforcement as both an economic and political issue, with Vance at the center and state-level allies reinforcing the message, the findings are likely to serve as fresh ammunition in what is shaping up to be a defining policy fight ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Fraud

EXCLUSIVE: The ‘Invisible Tax’ Quietly Hitting Your Wallet Is Getting Harder To Ignore

Economy

JD Vance

The pathway to the upper middle class remains open, with millions of American families moving up the income ladder even as public perception grows more pessimistic, according to a new report.
Researchers at the <a href="https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/the-middle-class-is-shrinking-because-of-a-booming-upper-middle-class/">American Enterprise Institute</a> (AEI) found that while the “core” middle class has shrunk slightly over the past several decades, it has not been hollowed out. Rather, more Americans are ascending into the upper middle class than at any point in modern history.
Using an absolute definition of class based on purchasing power rather than relative comparisons, the study found that the share of families in the upper middle class tripled, rising from about 10% in 1979 to roughly 31% in 2024. Over that same period, the share of Americans who are poor or near-poor dropped dramatically, from more than half of families to roughly one-third.
The findings challenge the common narrative of a collapsing middle class. The study argues that many claims about a “hollowed-out” middle class rely on relative definitions that automatically shrink the middle as incomes rise. By contrast, when measuring what families can actually afford, the data show broad gains across the income distribution.
“Decrying a shrinking or hollowed-out middle class is just a gloomy way of saying the upper-middle class has boomed,” the researchers concluded. 
Median family income, adjusted for inflation and household size, has risen more than 50% since the late 1970s. At the same time, wage growth, particularly over the long term, has outpaced price increases, helping push more families into higher income brackets.
Today, the upper middle class, defined in the study as families of three earning roughly $133,000 to $400,000 annually, accounts for nearly a third of U.S. households. Even more striking: for the first time on record, more American families are above the middle-class threshold than below it.
Despite rising incomes, many Americans who now fall into the upper middle class do not feel wealthy. Families earning well into six figures increasingly describe themselves as “average,” squeezed by rising housing costs, education expenses, and a broader cost-of-living crunch.
Randy Shilling, a Texas resident whose household earns around $220,000 a year, said, “I view myself as an average Joe,” despite having $3 million saved for retirement, he told the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/more-americans-are-breaking-into-the-upper-middle-class-bf8b7cb2?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqdVUm7NIyO23tjCzL8qjyiAHgUPq20KjnPypm6GrW5FA8nvttuOllJm1yykbIU%3D&amp;gaa_ts=69d3c52a&amp;gaa_sig=HuRXPX2t2k42t3TlSl55IkpevN_snKX49h7jQKvOKf0PENh9Jmr66WJFlTUtPC_pulorUlby9SIcStaTu45g7Q%3D%3D">Wall Street Journal</a>. Laura Shields, 46, told the Journal that she only began feeling financially comfortable in the last 10 years. She and her husband bring in approximately $240,000 per year, but have a son nearing college age. They fear that loans are the only answer, wiping out their progress. 
Those concerns are not unfounded. The median <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS">home price</a> in the United States now exceeds $400,000, while <a href="https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college">college tuition</a> continues to climb, often nearing $40,000 per year. 
That disconnect helps explain why, even amid measurable economic progress, pessimism persists. <a href="https://talkerresearch.com/9-in-10-americans-say-there-is-a-cost-of-living-crisis-survey/?ref=finco-services.ghost.io">Surveys</a> show that a large majority of Americans still feel burdened by a high cost-of-living. 
Still, AEI’s researchers argue that the broader trend is clear: economic growth, expanded opportunities, and a stronger safety net have combined to lift more Americans into higher-income tiers over time.
Importantly, income gains were not limited to the top. The research found that earnings increased across nearly the entire income distribution, with even lower-income households significantly better off than their counterparts decades ago.
None of this means inequality hasn’t grown; it has, particularly at the very top, the study finds little evidence that gains for higher earners came at the expense of others. Instead, the data suggests a more complex picture: an America where the middle class is evolving, not evaporating, and where upward mobility remains a defining feature of the economy.

Ariel Skelley / The Image Bank / Getty Images

The ‘Middle Class Is Dying’ Claim Doesn’t Hold Up Against One Key Reality

Housing

Middle Class

Poll

NASA astronaut Victor Glover is earning widespread praise from conservatives after rejecting identity politics in favor of what he described as a shared human achievement during the historic Artemis II mission.
Glover, one of four astronauts aboard the first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years, addressed the cultural weight surrounding the mission during a pre-launch press event, particularly its designation as the first to include both a woman and a black astronaut on a lunar assignment.
While acknowledging the importance of representation, Glover made clear he sees the mission in far broader terms. “I love that, but I also hope we are pushing the other direction … that this is just — this is human history,” Glover said. “It’s the story of humanity — not black history, not women’s history.” The remarks quickly gained traction online, especially among conservative commentators.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NASA pilot Victor Glover CLAPS back after being asked what it means to be the first black man to visit the moon: “It’s the story of humanity, not black history, not women’s history, but that it becomes human history.”
“I also HOPE we are pushing the other direction that one day… <a href="https://t.co/0ctJfiWVRE">pic.twitter.com/0ctJfiWVRE</a>
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) <a href="https://twitter.com/RedWavePress/status/2039771462970536238?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Radio host Dana Loesch <a href="https://x.com/DLoesch/status/2040110577922584990">praised</a> Glover’s framing, calling him “ridiculously qualified” and applauding what she described as his rejection of “the commie tactic of CRT — prioritizing identity politics over all else.”
“He’s not going to allow the attempted perversion of unity to undermine how this was a real achievement for America and humanity,” Loesch added. 
Australian commentator Drew Pavlou echoed that sentiment, <a href="https://x.com/DrewPavlou/status/2039962395775545634">writing</a>, “Victor Glover is a good man. In my view he is a hero of American and Western civilisation.” 
Clips of Glover’s comments were widely shared by conservative figures, with many highlighting his emphasis on unity and merit over demographic firsts. 
Glover’s perspective also aligns with a broader ethos expressed by his fellow crew members. Astronaut Christina Koch noted that progress should be measured by equal opportunity, saying, “we are at a time when everyone gets to work equally hard to achieve that dream,” while Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen emphasized that “anybody who shows up and is able to contribute something meaningful can be part of this mission.”
Born in Pomona, California, Glover graduated from Ontario High School before earning a degree in general engineering and three master’s degrees. He went on to serve as a U.S. Navy test pilot, logging more than 3,500 flight hours across over 40 aircraft, including the F/A-18 Hornet, Super Hornet, and EA-18G Growler, while completing 24 combat missions and more than 400 carrier landings. Selected by NASA in 2013, Glover later served as pilot on SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission and spent 168 days aboard the International Space Station.
Glover has also stood out for his openness about his Christian faith, which he has described as inseparable from his career in aviation and spaceflight. After returning from the International Space Station, he noted that NASA supported his ability to take communion weekly while in orbit. “I was able to worship in space,” he said, calling it an important part of his “faith walk even while I was off the planet.”
In <a href="https://christianchronicle.org/there-are-no-atheists-on-top-of-rockets/">interviews</a>, Glover has repeatedly emphasized that faith and science are not in conflict, but deeply connected. “My career is fed by my faith,” he said. “Anytime I do something that’s pretty risky, I pray — before I fly, every time I fly. Definitely when you go sit on top of a rocket ship.”
That perspective has produced some of his most widely shared one liners: “We need Jesus, whether on Earth or circling the Moon,” and, paraphrasing a military saying, “There are no atheists on top of rockets.”
For Glover, the wonder of space exploration itself points to something greater. He has spoken about referencing the “beauty of creation” in conversations with colleagues at NASA, adding that he sees no contradiction between scientific discovery and belief in God. “I believe in both,” he said. “And I don’t find them to be in conflict.”
As Artemis II pushes humanity back toward the moon, Glover’s message, grounded in faith, service, and a focus on shared human achievement, has resonated far beyond the mission itself.

Astronaut Victor Glover

WATCH: Black Astronaut On Artemis II Hailed For Answer To Identity Politics Question

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Drew Berkemeyer