House Speaker Mike Johnson&#8217;s (R-LA) successful fundraising going into the midterm elections has handed House Republicans a massive war chest to fight back against radical leftist policies — but they are still staring down a brutal historical buzzsaw.
The Louisiana Republican just announced a powerhouse second-quarter haul of $19.1 million, surging his hard-dollar total for the year past $53 million. Over the course of this election cycle, the speaker has raked in a jaw-dropping $135 million. It is a historic, record-shattering high-water mark for any Republican leader in congressional history. And that’s to say nothing of the hundreds of millions more sitting in his endorsed Super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund.
Since taking the gavel over two and a half years ago, Johnson has generated a mind-boggling $200 million-plus to protect the thin line of defense holding the House.
&#8220;While Democrats lunge further into disarray and to the far-left, House Republicans are united, well-funded, and on offense to win the midterms,&#8221; Johnson said, drawing a stark line between Republican common sense and the Democrats&#8217; &#8220;embrace of crazy and Communism.&#8221;
He is putting his money where his mouth is, distributing $80 million across the party, including $38 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee, $21 million to protect battle-tested incumbents, and $3.9 million to fire up red-wave challengers.
Despite Johnson’s historic financial muscle, the GOP is up against a deeply entrenched Washington landscape.
The battlefield math is incredibly tight. Republicans hold a narrow 218–212 majority with four vacancies, meaning Democrats only need to claw back a few net seats to reclaim the speaker&#8217;s gavel and resume their far-Left agenda.
History is also a major hurdle. The party holding the White House has lost House seats in 90% of midterms since 1946. Liberal forecasters and mathematical models are already gleefully predicting a standard &#8220;referendum&#8221; backlash that could cost the incumbent party roughly 28 seats.
Compounding the challenge is a wave of early exits from Capitol Hill.
Congress is experiencing a near-record exodus, with 68 lawmakers <a href="https://www.quorum.us/blog/2026-midterm-tracker-key-retirements-and-open-seats/#:~:text=Republicans%20currently%20hold%20a%20220%E2%80%93215%20majority%20(with,favored%20to%20do%20so.%20The%20Toss%2DUp%20Battleground.">calling it quits</a> — the second-highest number since 1992. Crucially, the departures are lopsided: 36 House Republicans are stepping down compared to just 22 Democrats. This breaks the previous single-party retirement record set by the GOP back in 2018, right before a punishing midterm cycle. Defending these newly opened seats without the advantage of an active incumbent is a statistically steeper climb.
With <a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/latest-polls/2026">recent generic congressional</a> polls showing Democrats clinging to a 2-to-6 point edge in surveys from Echelon, YouGov, and Morning Consult, the stakes couldn&#8217;t be higher.
Mike Johnson has successfully built an unprecedented financial fortress. The real test this November is whether that historic mountain of green can permanently break the iron law of midterm history.

Trump’s Weaponization Fund Hits Republican Backlash In Senate

Can Mike Johnson’s Record Fundraising Smash The Midterm Curse?

2026 Midterms

fundraising

Mike Johnson

U.S. House of Representatives

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sounded a fiery alarm on Capitol Hill Tuesday, warning that the United States is facing an existential showdown against a radical, Godless Marxist threat — and it’s happening right on our doorstep.
&#8220;The barbarians are in the gate,&#8221; Johnson declared during a tense press conference, giving a blunt, high-stakes wake-up call to the American public.
He continued, &#8220;There&#8217;s a small number of times in the history of America where the actual experiment in self-governance was on the ballot. The idea that we would preserve a constitutional republic: One nation under God, a government of, by, and for the people. All that is in question right now. For the first time, really in my lifetime, this is a real question the American people have to decide in November, in a midterm election for Congress and Senate. It&#8217;s not something that we would have projected. I hoped and prayed it would never come to this, but here we are. The barbarians are in the gate.&#8221;
The Louisiana Republican and constitutional law attorney argued that the upcoming November midterms are no longer just a standard political squabble over tax brackets or government regulations. Instead, he said, the nation is locked in a &#8220;philosophical war&#8221; to save the soul of the country from a Left-wing nightmare.
Invoking the ghost of Ronald Reagan, Johnson reminded the room that freedom is always just &#8220;one generation away from extinction.&#8221; But while the Gipper fought the Soviet Union on distant shores during the Cold War, Johnson warned that the radical socialist agenda has breached the domestic perimeter.
Pointing to the &#8220;In God We Trust&#8221; motto inscribed in the House chamber — originally put there in 1962 as a direct rebuke to Soviet communism — Johnson slammed the radical Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for trying to tear down America’s foundations.
According to Johnson, the DSA’s terrifying, real-life platform includes:
<ul>
<li data-path-to-node="10,0,0">Packing the Supreme Court and abolishing the Senate to create a Marxist-run legislature.</li>
<li data-path-to-node="10,1,0">Abolishing all borders and granting mass amnesty to everyone, including dangerous criminals and terrorists.</li>
<li data-path-to-node="10,2,0">Emptying the prisons and completely defunding the police.</li>
</ul>
“This is not a game,” he warned. “Everybody needs to understand: These crazy little mini-Mamdanis, who are popping up all around the country, they are a danger to you and your family. This is not a game.”
He continued: &#8220;We are here as the Republican Party to stand on the founding principles of the greatest nation in the history of the world. It is our duty to do that. And we&#8217;re doing it on behalf of all of you, even the journalists who don&#8217;t agree with our policies all the time. You&#8217;d better agree on these principles because that&#8217;s what keeps you free. &#8230; This is essential for your well-being, and your family. This is not a game. This is not our father&#8217;s Democrat Party. We&#8217;re not arguing over marginal tax rates anymore. We&#8217;re arguing over whether or not freedom is going to survive. And that&#8217;s why we&#8217;re so serious about this.&#8221;
Though he calls himself a &#8220;happy warrior,&#8221; Johnson made it clear that the time for pleasantries is over.
&#8220;Our rights come from our creator, God. They do not come from the government,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The communists believe the opposite. They believe that the government, the state, is God. The state is the one that gives you all your rights. And you know what? The state can also take those rights away. And that&#8217;s exactly what happens. It&#8217;s inevitable. Communism and this philosophy has led to the murder of tens of millions of innocent people in the 20th century alone. It is a nightmare. It is a trail to certain death.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kcj8U1tmU6M?si=kHLWnSlL7QPaWI6E" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

House GOP 7/14/26

‘A Trail To Certain Death’: Speaker Johnson Warns Against Rising Socialist Trend

Democratic Socialism

Democratic Socialists Of America

Zohran Mamdani

A Canadian national learned the hard way that political rage can carry a hefty price tag — including a possible one-way ticket out of the country.
Kaitlyn Tracey, a 33-year-old living in Asbury Park, allegedly lost her cool on the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk on Jersey Shore over the Fourth of July weekend and is accused of <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/07/15/us-news/canadian-woman-kaitlyn-tracey-detained-by-ice-after-allegedly-assaulting-teen-girl-wearing-trump-clothing-at-jersey-shore/">unleashing a physical assault</a> on a teenager whose only crime was her wardrobe choice.
According to authorities, Tracey filmed herself confronting a group of four young girls on July 3. The trigger? Two of the minors were wearing patriotic sweatpants emblazoned with the words &#8220;Trump&#8221; and &#8220;ICE.&#8221; Tempers flared, and Tracey allegedly smacked one of the young girls across the face and body. While the teenager escaped physical injury, Tracey couldn’t escape the law.
Cops used security footage to track down the angry Canadian. She was hit with a laundry list of charges, including endangering the welfare of a child, assault, harassment, and obstruction.
But her troubles didn&#8217;t stop there. On Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents snatched Tracey up and threw her into the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark.
Her husband, Matthew Geroni — who calls himself the &#8220;Clown of Asbury Park&#8221; and regularly mocks conservatives — scrambled to TikTok to beg his 140,000 followers for help, conveniently leaving out the part where his wife allegedly slapped a kid. A GoFundMe page he promoted for her legal fees was quickly yanked down after angry MAGA supporters reported it.
The leftist&#8217;s boardwalk tantrum is just the latest flashpoint in a years-long wave of violent outbursts targeting everyday Americans for wearing red hats or flying conservative flags.
Just two months ago, the hatred turned lethal. Kerry Sheron, a 69-year-old Army veteran known for his patriotic &#8220;Trump House&#8221; in Escondido, California, was brutally beaten in his own front yard. The elderly veteran <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/army-vet-dies-after-hes-beaten-outside-his-famed-trump-house">died of his injuries</a> days later.
The rage extends to even the most mundane settings. Back in July 2018, a Texas teenager sitting in a San Antonio Whataburger had his MAGA hat ripped off and soda thrown in his face by an angry patron. In August 2019, a man was jumped outside a Portland, Oregon bar by two thugs simply because he was <a href="https://www.opb.org/news/article/maga-hat-trump-portland-oregon-assault/#:~:text=By%20Rob%20Manning%20(OPB)%20Portland%2C%20Ore.%20Aug.,to%20the%20Multnomah%20County%20District%20Attorney's%20office.">wearing the signature red hat</a>.
Even law enforcement has been caught in the middle of the madness. A federal appeals court previously ruled that Trump supporters attacked at a 2016 campaign rally in San Jose could sue local police. Officers allegedly funneled attendees right into a hostile mob of anti-Trump protesters and stood by while they were pummeled and pelted with garbage.
For Tracey, her next date in court is on August 4 if Uncle Sam doesn&#8217;t deport her back to the Great White North first.

Nation’s Capital Prepares For President-Elect Donald Trump’s Second Inauguration

ICE Takes Action After Canadian Lefty Accused Of Slapping American Teen Over Trump Pants

Canada

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

New Jersey

Trump Supporters

A shareholder revolt against The New York Times is gaining serious legal muscle, with a growing bloc of law firms now threatening to drag the paper of record into court unless it hands over internal records probing whether its board has been asleep at the wheel while the newsroom churns out coverage slanted against Israel.
On Tuesday, the National Center for Public Policy Research, backed by the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC) and two heavyweight firms, fired off a fresh <a href="https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Renewed-and-Supplemental-Demand-for-Inspection-of-Books-and-Records-of-The-New-York-Times-Company.pdf">demand letter</a> giving Times brass until July 21 to cough up board materials or face a lawsuit in Manhattan&#8217;s Supreme Court, The Washington Free Beacon <a href="https://freebeacon.com/media/exclusive-two-new-law-firms-threaten-new-york-times-with-shareholder-suit-over-gaza-rape-story-and-softball-investigation-of-platner-accuse-times-of-push/">reported</a> on Tuesday.
&#8220;The inclusion of two new prominent law firms — Grant &amp; Eisenhofer and Schall, Brown &amp; Schwartz — on NJAC&#8217;s campaign suggests that the Times may face difficulty dismissing their fresh concerns, which extend past mere anti-Israel bias to now encompass velvet-gloved reporting on two high-profile, anti-Israel Democrats,&#8221; the Free Beacon noted.
This is round two. The coalition first came knocking in May, furious over a widely panned Nicholas Kristof column that accused Israeli forces of using dogs to sexually assault Palestinian detainees — allegations that leaned heavily on sources tied to Hamas and that the paper&#8217;s own executive editor later admitted his newsroom &#8220;probably wouldn&#8217;t have&#8221; run &#8220;that exact piece.&#8221;
Now the group says things have only gotten worse. Its new target: the Times&#8217; soft-touch June investigation into Senate candidate Graham Platner, who was accused by ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield of a horrifying pattern of abuse. The paper said it couldn&#8217;t corroborate her account — even though, Fifield says, she handed reporters witnesses, screenshots, diary entries, and more. Platner&#8217;s campaign didn&#8217;t implode until a second woman, this time a Democrat, told POLITICO he&#8217;d raped her.
The lawyers argue the Times gave shifting, contradictory explanations for its reporting standards — telling one outlet the story met &#8220;our standards,&#8221; and another that it only included facts that were confirmable — and say that inconsistency alone justifies letting shareholders peek behind the curtain.
&#8220;Stockholder seeks to investigate whether the Board is engaging in any form of oversight to ensure that the New York Times remains a news reporting agency worth anything to its stockholders, rather than becoming viewed by the public as a simple propaganda arm that selects its articles and reporting in a way that ignores truth in favor of pushing false narratives,&#8221; the letter states.
The letter also revives an ugly side-by-side: a March story that framed New York Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman&#8217;s wife as courting controversy over pro-Israel social media likes, versus a far gentler piece days later about democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani&#8217;s wife, who&#8217;d liked posts celebrating the October 7 massacre. Critics say the paper bent over backward to protect one and pounce on the other.
Beyond the Israel-related complaints, the filing dredges up the Times&#8217; long history of humiliating corrections — from the Wen Ho Lee <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/26/nyregion/the-times-and-wen-ho-lee.html">spying debacle</a> to the &#8220;Caliphate&#8221; <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/12/18/944594193/new-york-times-retracts-hit-podcast-series-caliphate-on-isis-executioner">podcast hoax</a> to a <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/york-times-retracts-massive-exaggeration-163906675.html">wildly inflated</a> child COVID hospitalization figure — arguing it all points to a board that looks away until public embarrassment forces its hand.
The Times, for its part, isn&#8217;t budging, with a spokeswoman dismissing the campaign, saying, “As we told the National Jewish Advocacy Center and National Center for Public Policy Research in response to an earlier demand letter, while positioned under corporate law, it is a clear attempt to chill First Amendment-protected journalism.”
But the shareholders insist this isn&#8217;t about politics or the First Amendment — it&#8217;s about whether the people overseeing America&#8217;s most influential newspaper are actually doing their jobs. If the Times doesn&#8217;t blink by July 21, the fight moves to a courtroom.

New York Times building – NYC

New York Times Nightmare: Shareholder Revolt Threatens To Expose Paper’s Inner Sanctum

anti-Israel

New York Times

Propaganda

President Trump was mid-discussion about Iran on Fox News this week when he suddenly slammed the brakes on himself before revealing something about former President Barack Obama.
“But if you look for 47 years, they&#8217;ve been tapping people along, presidents,” he began. “Every president got tapped along, didn&#8217;t do anything, and they became more and more powerful. This should have been done 47 years ago. It shouldn&#8217;t have been allowed to start. But Clinton let them go and Bush let them go. Everybody let them go.”
Then he turned to Obama: “And Obama was the worst of all because Obama actually went to their side.” Then cryptically, he added, “Obama, because, you know, he&#8217;s a —  Well, let&#8217;s not say. Let&#8217;s not say. Let&#8217;s leave that for another time.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
DID YOU CATCH THAT?! 👀
Trump says that Obama “went to their side”, referring to Iran, and then catches himself before he reveals some information about Obama that he is not supposed to say yet, and says “let’s save that for another time”.
Trump has been preparing the public… <a href="https://t.co/L6iNPfc7zh">pic.twitter.com/L6iNPfc7zh</a>
&mdash; Clandestine (@WarClandestine) <a href="https://x.com/WarClandestine/status/2076696919640858730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump zeroed in on the 2016 episode in which the Obama administration flew roughly $1.7 billion in foreign currency to Tehran aboard an unmarked cargo plane, timed to coincide with the release of American hostages. Critics have long branded the payout a ransom, and Trump reminded Fox viewers just how staggering the sum was — enough cash to fill an entire jumbo jet.
That episode has fueled years of conservative outrage. Back in 2016, Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee fired off a <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Letters/20160812_IranRansomLegalityLetter.pdf#:~:text=6%20Id.%20See%2C%20e.g.%2C%20Andrew%20C.%20McCarthy%2C,http%3A%2F%2Fwww.state.gov%2Fj%2Fct%2Flist%2Fc14151.htm.%2031%20C.F.R.%20%C2%A7%20560%2C204.%2010%20Id.">scathing letter</a> to Obama&#8217;s State Department, Treasury and Justice officials, demanding answers about whether the payment violated sanctions law. The senators noted the suspicious lengths the administration went to — converting dollars into euros and Swiss francs and routing the money through European banks — and questioned why, if the transaction was legitimate, it needed such secrecy.
Prior to that, Defense official-turned-commentator Douglas Feith <a href="https://www.hudson.org/national-security-defense/seeing-the-iran-deal-clearly#:~:text=But%20they%20don't%20all%20seem%20to%20grasp,America%20and%20the%20clerical%20regime%20in%20Tehran.">attacked the Iran nuclear deal</a> in 2015, arguing Obama abandoned his original goal of dismantling Iran&#8217;s nuclear program in favor of forging a broader &#8220;strategic partnership&#8221; with the regime — even as Tehran kept chanting death to America and holding U.S. prisoners.
Critics also <a href="https://americandiplomacy.web.unc.edu/2010/09/the-grand-jihad/#:~:text=If%20the%20threat%20posed%20to%20the%20United,and%20values%20of%20the%20new%20American%20administration.">pointed</a> to Obama&#8217;s 2009 Cairo speech, accusing him of an apologetic tone toward the Muslim world and a naive embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood that, they argued, emboldened Islamist extremism across the region.
Trump has never been shy about targeting Obama; he famously branded Obama the &#8220;founder of ISIS&#8221; during the 2016 campaign, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/12/us/politics/donald-trump-obama-isis.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&amp;smid=nytcore-iphone-share&amp;_r=0">doubling down</a> when pressed by radio host Hugh Hewitt that he meant it literally, not metaphorically — even tossing Hillary Clinton in as &#8220;co-founder.&#8221;
Whatever Trump almost said on Fox this week remains a mystery. But his broader message was clear: Obama&#8217;s Iran policy wasn&#8217;t just soft — it was a historic blunder Trump believes America is still paying for.

US-GERMANY-POLITICS-TRUMP-MERZ

Trump Teases Obama Claim On Iran, Then Goes Silent

Barack Obama

Donald Trump

Iran

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing a firestorm of criticism after appearing to wave away New York City&#8217;s climbing rape numbers by pointing to a legal technicality.
The controversy erupted after PIX11&#8217;s Dan Mannarino pressed the mayor on rising rape and felony assault figures that City Council Speaker Julie Menin has flagged as troubling, even as the NYPD touts historic lows in murders and shootings. Rather than directly addressing the spike, Mamdani suggested a chunk of it was attributable to New York&#8217;s broadened legal definition of rape, plus survivors finally reporting decades-old attacks.
&#8220;I believe the NYPD, when they put forward their numbers, what we&#8217;re seeing are some of the lowest numbers that New York City has seen in recorded history, especially when it comes to murders and shootings,&#8221; Mamdani stated. &#8220;These are the lowest we&#8217;ve ever seen. And what I think is important to know is a lot of the increase in rape also comes from an expanded definition of what counts as rape, as well as survivors coming forward for acts that took place years prior.&#8221;
That explanation landed like a lead balloon online.
Democratic Council Member Susan Zhuang was among those turning on a fellow Democrat, warning that redefining rape under the law should never become a shield against accountability for actually reducing sexual violence.
&#8220;Expanding the legal definition of rape was an important step toward recognizing more survivors under the law. But it should never be used to deflect from the responsibility to reduce sexual violence,&#8221; Zhuang said. &#8220;Survivors deserve leadership, action, accountability, and justice. They don’t deserve deflection.&#8221;
Conservative commentators piled on with even sharper comments. Women&#8217;s sports activist Riley Gaines questioned how female voters ever got behind Mamdani.
&#8220;HOW did women vote for this guy?&#8221; Gaines <a href="https://x.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/2076743143798546787?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2076743143798546787%7Ctwgr%5E1e0ac2a0303ddf562f7c2aacb4edfa12edddc0de%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.dailywire.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D1134781action%3Dedit">asked</a>.
Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy <a href="https://x.com/chiproytx/status/2076770638627303524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2076770638627303524%7Ctwgr%5E163d1d9a2b795cdcde90f8d2e61d6889127a0ed4%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.dailywire.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D1134781action%3Dedit">blasted</a>, &#8220;Rapes are up. Rents are up. Foreign diseases and parasites spreading. Historic Churches burning left and right. Elect the third world, get the third world.&#8221;
In January 2024, New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signed the &#8220;Rape is Rape&#8221; Act, which went into effect that September. The law altered the old requirement that rape convictions hinge solely on non-consensual penile-vaginal penetration, expanding the definition to cover forced oral and anal contact as well — acts previously prosecuted under a separate, lesser charge of criminal sexual act. Before the change, advocates argued, survivors of those other assaults were denied the ability to see their attacks legally labeled as rape at all.
But Mamdani&#8217;s critics were <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/mamdani-roasted-over-assertion-higher-nyc-rapes-come-from-expanded-definition">quick to note</a> the legal shift doesn&#8217;t fully explain the trend. NYPD&#8217;s own CompStat figures reportedly show rape reports still climbing 6.6% year-over-year — well after the new definition had already taken hold, undercutting the notion that redefinition of the standards is driving the numbers all by itself.

Mayor Mamdani Lights the Empire State Building in Celebration of America 250

Mamdani Torched Over Explanation Of Why Rapes Are Skyrocketing In NYC

Crime

New York City

Rape

Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivered a chilling account to lawmakers on Tuesday on the threats she has faced after the infamous Dobbs leak.
Testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee on the Supreme Court&#8217;s 2027 budget, Barrett revealed that her own children have been swept up in the wave of threats and harassment aimed at the nation&#8217;s highest court — from a bulletproof vest she had to explain to her young son to a terrifying swatting hoax that sent police cruisers swarming her street.
Roughly six weeks before her testimony, Barrett revealed, her family was targeted in a swatting attack — a false report of gunfire and yelling inside her home that sent a fleet of police cars racing to her door. One of her teenage sons opened the door to head out with friends only to find the street lined with squad cars, she said. Supreme Court police on scene were able to convince local officers that the call was a hoax before anyone tried to force entry.
Barrett said she and other justices have also received anonymous, intimidating deliveries sent under a specific name: Daniel Anderl, the slain son of federal judge Esther Salas.
Anderl, 20, was gunned down at the family&#8217;s North Brunswick, New Jersey, home in July 2020 by a gunman disguised as a FedEx courier. The shooter, lawyer Roy Den Hollander, had appeared before Salas in court and was believed to have been targeting the judge herself. Anderl answered the door and was killed instantly; his father, attorney Mark Anderl, was critically wounded. Den Hollander took his own life soon after, and investigators later discovered he&#8217;d been scoping out other female judges as potential targets.
The killing spurred passage of &#8220;Daniel&#8217;s Law&#8221; in New Jersey and the federal Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act, signed in December 2022, which shields judges&#8217; home addresses and personal data from public disclosure.
Barrett&#8217;s remarks also revived scrutiny of the still-unsolved Dobbs leak — the 2022 disclosure of Justice Samuel Alito&#8217;s draft opinion gutting Roe v. Wade, published by POLITICO weeks before the official ruling. The breach, the first of its kind in Court history, ignited protests outside justices&#8217; homes and led to a man&#8217;s arrest near Justice Brett Kavanaugh&#8217;s residence on attempted murder charges.
A probe that grilled nearly 100 court staffers came up empty in 2023; the FBI announced in 2025 it was reopening the case.
The leaker&#8217;s identity remains one of the Court&#8217;s most stubborn unsolved mysteries.

Kagan, Barrett To Defend Budget As Hill Tensions Simmer

Barrett Tells Congress Of Chilling Threats Against Her

Amy Coney Barrett

Death Threats

Supreme Court

Gov. Kathy Hochul slammed the brakes on New York&#8217;s data center boom Tuesday, handing China a gift-wrapped win in the global tech arms race.
A <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-impose-countrys-first-statewide-moratorium-data-centers-rcna587429">report</a> stated she would sign an executive order that freezes state permitting for massive AI server farms. It halts new hyperscale data center approvals and orders state regulators to establish rules on energy use, water consumption, and other environmental impacts before any more projects move forward. Hochul framed it as consumer protection, saying she couldn&#8217;t sit by while server farms threaten to increase utility bills and drain New York&#8217;s water supply.
But tech industry backers say the real story is who&#8217;s actually driving the anti-data-center movement — and it isn&#8217;t people worried about their electric bills.
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie and fellow Republicans recently fired off a <a href="https://d1dth6e84htgma.cloudfront.net/2026_06_04_Letter_to_PCAST_and_FBI_on_Foreign_Influence_AI_Data_Centers_99f6aa6cda.pdf">letter</a> to the FBI and White House science advisers demanding answers on what they call a coordinated foreign influence campaign involving China.
“Investigations by the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) and Power the Future (PTF) have exposed new information regarding how foreign influence campaigns — many originating from China — have engaged in a coordinated effort to slow U.S. growth in AI development and the building of infrastructure supporting AI data centers,”  they wrote. “Equally sinister, PTF’s report details how billionaire donors filter money through a complex financial web to fund America’s non-profit ecosystem — often with strong political or ideological leanings — to skew public opinion against the buildout of AI data center infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, OpenAI reported catching Chinese-linked bot networks using ChatGPT to gin up fake outrage over electricity prices.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5931292-data-centers-influence-campaigns-china-republicans/">didn&#8217;t mince words</a>, declaring, “Any place that’s trying to build data centers is getting bombarded with foreign-directed propaganda to try to block these from being built.” Investor Kevin O&#8217;Leary, backing a $100 billion Utah project, said his team traced suspicious social media surges to what he flatly called &#8220;the CCP at work.&#8221;
A Facebook group with 170,000 members, &#8220;Say NO to Data Centers,&#8221; has also become the online engine of the resistance. Its digital mapping guru, George Duarte, who built a nationwide tracker of data center projects, moonlights as a strategist at a D.C. consulting shop whose client roster reads like the Democratic Party&#8217;s who&#8217;s who — the DNC, the DCCC, the DSCC, and the Democratic Governors Association, as The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-soros-linked-dem-operatives-weaponize-the-anti-data-center-push">reported.</a>
Money trails lead straight back to George Soros. Records show Soros’ Open Society Foundations funneled more than $7.6 million to Indivisible, the activist network that has organized data center protests from Texas to California. Soros also poured $23.7 million into the Working Families Party — the same outfit now recruiting data center opponents to run for office in swing states.
Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss chipped in too, routing another $1 million to Indivisible last year through his Berger Action Fund, according to tax filings. One watchdog group tallied more than $39 million in foreign money flowing to a dozen organizations fighting data centers nationwide.
Hochul&#8217;s Republican rival, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, wants local governments — not Albany — deciding whether to strike deals with tech firms. He argues the moratorium sacrifices jobs and cedes American ground to Beijing in the AI race.
For now, New York joins a handful of states flirting with similar bans — even as evidence mounts that the &#8220;grassroots&#8221; revolt against America&#8217;s AI buildout has some very well-funded and very foreign fingerprints on it.

Data center under construction at Waltham Cross, England.

Liberal State Takes A Major Step In The AI Data Center Fight

Hochul Pulls Plug On Data Centers In NY, As Foreign Actors Fuel The Backlash

Communist China

Data Centers

George Soros

Kathy Hochul

New York

Silicon Valley giants Apple and Google largely shielded Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner from negative news coverage, giving the disgraced leftist political cover until his campaign completely imploded, a <a href="https://mrcfreespeechamerica.org/blogs/free-speech/luis-cornelio/2026/07/13/special-report-inside-apple-googles-failed-attempt">new study</a> found.
According to the Media Research Center (MRC), Apple News and Google News, which pull in 215 million monthly hits, largely ignored reports about Platner&#8217;s mounting controversies while he was leading in the polls, then abruptly shifted course after his political fortunes deteriorated.
The MRC’s data exposes an astonishing pattern of censorship by omission. From November 1 through May 30, as Platner campaigned to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins, Apple News and Google News ran a grand total of zero stories in their premier top 20 morning feeds about his disqualifying controversies, despite widespread reporting elsewhere.
According to MRC, stories absent from the aggregators&#8217; featured feeds included reports about:
<ul>
<li data-path-to-node="7,0,0">An SS-style Nazi Totenkopf</li>
<li data-path-to-node="7,1,0">Scrubbed Reddit posts where he proudly declared himself a &#8220;communist.&#8221;</li>
<li data-path-to-node="7,2,0">Online rants attacking law enforcement, degrading rural voters, and using sexist slurs.</li>
</ul>
The only piece of news the aggregators deemed worthy during those critical months was an April 7 Axios article hyped by Google touting Platner’s confidence in the primary, MRC found.
Google and Apple didn&#8217;t just ignore the scandals; they reportedly aggressively muted anyone who reported them. The MRC documented that Apple and Google buried at least 112 significant stories from prominent right-leaning news outlets that were trying to expose the truth.
Then the pattern changed when the numbers turned rotten for the Democrats.
The shift followed a June 30 Fox News poll showing Sen. Collins leading Platner 50% to 47%, with 54% of voters expressing concern about his judgment (38% &#8220;extremely concerned&#8221; and 16% &#8220;very concerned&#8221;).
On July 7 and 8, both aggregators suddenly dumped 12 negative stories about Platner into user feeds, according to MRC.
Platner officially threw in the towel on Wednesday following new allegations of rape and sexual assault. MRC argued the timing showed Apple and Google surfaced damaging coverage only after his campaign collapsed rather than while voters were still deciding whether to support him.

platner_google_apple

How Big Tech Kept Graham Platner Looking Like The Good Guy

Apple

Google

graham platner

As Americans flee blue states and migrate to red states, thereby endangering Democrats by changing census numbers, CNBC hilariously listed the “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/11/worst-states-to-live-in-america-2026.html">10 worst states to live in for 2026</a>.”
Needless to say, every state chosen was a red state: Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.
To make it abundantly clear just how partisan the report was, take a look at the smorgasbord of issues that the states were targeted for:
<blockquote>
Alabama: lack of mental health providers per capita, lack of worker protections
Arkansas: Food insecurity, violent crime, weak protections against discrimination
Georgia: few protections for LGBTQ+ people, minimal worker protections
Indiana: lack of childcare availability
Louisiana: high crime rate, removal of affirmative action, strict abortion bans
Missouri: violent crime
Oklahoma: strict bans on abortion, worker protections
Tennessee: focus on the traditional nuclear family, violent crime
Texas: highest rate of people without health insurance
Utah: air quality
</blockquote>
After pointing out that CNBC did a masterful job cherry-picking issues with its list, it should be noted that Louisiana and Missouri, which are cited for violent crime, rank 6th and 9th in the nation, <a href="https://www.opencrime.us/analysis/crime-statistics-by-state">according</a> to Open Crime; the District of Columbia is 1st, and California and Colorado (places not seen on the CNBC list) ranked 7th and 8th.
Now let’s take a look at the <a href="https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/state/totals/NST-EST2025-ALLDATA.csv">net domestic migration</a> for the most recent year. Notice anything?
<ol>
<li>North Carolina +84,064</li>
<li>Texas +67,299</li>
<li>South Carolina +66,622</li>
<li>Tennessee +42,389</li>
<li>Arizona +31,107</li>
<li>Georgia +27,333</li>
<li>Alabama +23,358</li>
<li>Florida +22,517</li>
<li>Idaho +19,915</li>
<li>Nevada +14,914</li>
<li>Oklahoma +14,492</li>
<li>Arkansas +14,475</li>
<li>Missouri +14,028</li>
<li>Indiana +12,197</li>
<li>Ohio +11,926</li>
<li>Washington +9,238</li>
<li>Minnesota +8,300</li>
<li>Maine +7,406</li>
<li>Kentucky +7,269</li>
<li>Wisconsin +6,984</li>
<li>Delaware +6,855</li>
<li>New Hampshire +6,554</li>
<li>West Virginia +6,408</li>
<li>Montana +6,348</li>
<li>Virginia +6,268</li>
<li>Utah +3,343</li>
<li>Oregon +2,228</li>
<li>South Dakota +2,169</li>
<li>Michigan +1,796</li>
<li>Wyoming +1,474</li>
<li>North Dakota +512</li>
<li>Nebraska −366</li>
<li>Kansas −519</li>
<li>Vermont −726</li>
<li>Mississippi −917</li>
<li>Iowa −970</li>
<li>Rhode Island −1,551</li>
<li>New Mexico −2,267</li>
<li>Pennsylvania −2,936</li>
<li>D.C. −4,128</li>
<li>Alaska −4,525</li>
<li>Connecticut −5,945</li>
<li>Hawaii −8,876</li>
<li>Colorado −12,100</li>
<li>Maryland −12,127</li>
<li>Louisiana −14,387</li>
<li>Massachusetts −33,340</li>
<li>New Jersey −37,428</li>
<li>Illinois −40,017</li>
<li>New York −137,586</li>
<li> California −229,077</li>
</ol>
Yup. Of the “10 worst states” according to CNBC, Alabama ranks 7th in the number of people who have moved there, Arkansas 12th, Georgia 6th, Indiana 14th, Louisiana 46th, Missouri 13th, Oklahoma 11th, Tennessee 4th, Texas 2nd, and Utah 26th.
Meanwhile, the five worst states were the leftist bastions of California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
Americans voting with their feet are stomping on the leftist notion that red states are bad places to live.
And it’s making leftists nuts.

Electoral map

CNBC’s ’10 Worst States’ List Shows Hilarious Anti-Conservative Bias

CNBC

Democrats

migration

Republicans

The Justice Department unleashed a barrage of grand jury subpoenas, sending federal agents to the doorsteps of four New York Times reporters who wrote a story that the FBI warned would compromise highly classified national security secrets and give America&#8217;s enemies a roadmap to the commander-in-chief&#8217;s vulnerabilities.
The Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/business/media/new-york-times-trump-subpoenas.html">admitted</a> on Saturday that according to federal law enforcement sources, a top FBI official contacted “a reporter and a senior editor,” asking them to kill a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/08/us/politics/trump-air-force-one-security.html">story</a> citing unnamed sources about President Donald Trump departing Turkey on the old Air Force One instead of the new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/questions-swirl-around-security-lapses-for-new-qatari-air-force-one">Qatari-gifted jet</a>.
The Times ignored the FBI’s urgent request, slammed the &#8220;publish&#8221; button, and refused to unmask who leaked the classified information in the first place.
Now, the Justice Department is bringing down the hammer. New York Times scribes Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt have been ordered to appear before a Manhattan grand jury to answer for the breach.
“Reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are,” a DOJ spokesman stated.
The administration made it clear it isn&#8217;t playing games when it comes to the nation&#8217;s secrets.
“We are not going to ignore the law and stop investigating the people who work in the administration and think it’s okay to leak classified information impacting national security,&#8221; the spokesman added.
The drama started after the Times published details of the security protocols of Trump’s new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, claiming it lacked antimissile defenses. The paper suggested that the classified leaks explained why the Secret Service briefly put Trump on the older aircraft during a high-stakes NATO summit in Turkey while tensions flared with Iran.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung blasted the reporting, confirming that the new jet is a &#8220;state-of-the-art aircraft&#8221; packed with high-level security protocols.
&#8220;There are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal — including distraction and misdirection — to address those threats,&#8221; Cheung said.
The Times immediately started crying foul, with their top newsroom lawyer David McCraw complaining that the home-visit subpoenas were a &#8220;brazen act&#8221; and meant to &#8220;shock the conscience.&#8221;
&#8220;This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country,&#8221; McCraw said.

TURKEY-US-NATO-SUMMIT-DEFENCE

The NYT Story That Just Triggered DOJ Subpoenas

Air Force One

classified information

The New York Times

A <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trump-wanted-20-000-peacekeeping-troops-in-gaza-he-is-starting-with-10-to-20-cf0ab958">new report</a> from The Wall Street Journal reveals the promised International Stabilization Force (ISF) for Gaza is currently struggling to deploy an initial group of just 10 to 20 troops.
The force was originally envisioned as a 20,000-strong multinational peacekeeping presence tasked with securing Gaza and preventing the terrorist group Hamas from rebuilding its military. Instead, regional instability has severely hampered recruitment.
The deployment shortfall comes amid deep skepticism over political developments within Gaza. On Monday, Hamas announced that its governing body would step down and transfer administrative authority to a United Nations-backed Palestinian technocratic council.
Here’s the catch: Hamas conspicuously refused to commit to disarming its military wing.
Critics argue that Hamas is attempting to replicate the &#8220;Hezbollah model&#8221;—allowing a civilian administration to handle municipal duties like garbage collection while the terrorists maintain real power through their arsenal. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar strongly condemned the move, writing:
<blockquote>
Hamas’s trick is simple. Hamas’s apparent willingness to “make room” for a technocratic government is designed to prevent its own disarmament. Hamas seeks to replicate the “Hezbollah model” in Gaza: a technocratic administration would be responsible for garbage collection and other municipal services, while Hamas would remain the dominant military force.
As long as Hamas retains its weapons, any civilian government will of course operate as Hamas dictates. This would allow Hamas to continue oppressing the Palestinian people in Gaza, while pursuing its jihadist war against Israel. Israel insists on the full implementation of the Trump plan, with its core principles being the disarmament of Hamas and all other terrorist organizations, and the complete demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Hamas’s trick is simple.
Hamas’s apparent willingness to “make room” for a technocratic government is designed to prevent its own disarmament.
Hamas seeks to replicate the “Hezbollah model” in Gaza: a technocratic administration would be responsible for garbage collection and…
&mdash; Gideon Sa&#39;ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) <a href="https://x.com/gidonsaar/status/2074154631152742813?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
The ISF&#8217;s current troop shortage underscores the massive hurdles facing the broader peace plan. A small contingent of Moroccan soldiers, originally scheduled to arrive in June, is now delayed by several months. Once they arrive, they will not enter Gaza immediately; instead, they will base themselves at a newly constructed logistics hub in Israel near the border to conduct training and limited reconnaissance operations.
Broader recruitment efforts have collapsed due to conflicts involving Iran and Lebanon. Indonesia—which had previously floated a commitment of thousands of peacekeepers—placed its participation on hold after four of its UN peacekeepers were killed during clashes between Israel and Hezbollah.
Until Hamas fully disarms, the civilian power transfer will remain entirely symbolic.

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Hank Berrien