Establishment Democrats Wasted $63.9 Million Trying to Take Down Abdul El-Sayed

Establishment Democrats in Washington spent over $60 million in support of Rep. Haley Stevens’ bid for the Michigan U.S. Senate nomination. It wasn’t enough.

The messy primary pitting their pick, Stevens, against progressives Abdul El-Sayed and Mallory McMorrow (before she abandoned her bid) saw a record amount of outside spending. AdImpact, which tracks campaign advertising, called the 2026 race the most expensive on the Democrat side in history. 

“Stevens (MI-11) has seen a majority of ad support targeting the primary, at $63.9M. In total, 78% of all spending targeting the primary went towards supporting Haley Stevens. Her opponent, El-Sayed has seen $7.5M in ad support. Prior to dropping out, McMorrow saw $9.0M,” said the company in a summary of the race. 

The pro-Israel organization AIPAC spent the most of any group, backing Stevens with more than $30 million in spending over the past year. That funding came via United Democracy Project, doubling the amount it spent to defeat former Democrat Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York in 2024. 

Stevens’ bid was heavily supported by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). 

The New York Times wrote in June that Schumer asked party donors to support Stevens, calling her the “strongest candidate” in private conversations and spawned efforts giving her a sizeable edge from big-spending Democrats. 

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Zelensky Pushing For WWIII

The September Duma Elections – Will Putin Face Pressure to Escalate or Moderate?

One of the greatest mistakes analysts make is assuming that international events are driven solely by the decisions of a single leader. They personalize history, reducing complex geopolitical developments to one individual. Netanyahu did that assassinating the Ayatollah assuming instant victory. The world is far more complicated. Political leaders are often reacting to internal pressures that are invisible to outside observers.

The upcoming State Duma elections deserve attention not because they are likely to determine who governs Russia immediately, but because they may reveal how much political room President Vladimir Putin has to maneuver as the war and the broader confrontation with the West continue.

The Western Miscalculation

Since 2022, much of the Western narrative has assumed that economic sanctions would rapidly undermine Putin’s domestic support and eventually force either a change in policy or a change in leadership. This is the standard Neocon playbook which has NEVER worked even once. But they simply feel better punishing someone they hate. That Neocon forecast has repeatedly underestimated Russia’s ability to adapt economically while overestimating the willingness of the Russian political establishment to fragment during an external confrontation. Their sanctions against Iran were first imposed in 1979, triggered by the Iran hostage crisis . This initial action has been followed by several significant expansions over the decades, creating a layered and complex sanctions regime  that has not been successful. The U.S. sanctions on Cuba were imposed in a series of steps, beginning in 1960 and culminating in a comprehensive embargo in February 1962. They are still in place 66 years later proving sanctions make Neocons feel good and powerful but fail to topple governments or achieve goals.

History teaches that sanctions do not produce the political outcome intended by those imposing them. More often they strengthen nationalist sentiment by allowing governments to portray outside pressure as an attack on the nation rather than on the ruling administration. This often strengthens the government they seek to overthrow.

Elections in every country, even where the outcome is largely expected, serve as an important measure of elite cohesion and public confidence. This is often why those in power seek to rig elections to retain power.

There are signs that Ukraine’s deep strikes inside Russia are creating pressure and dilemmas for the Kremlin. However, there is no direct evidence that this has led to explicit calls from Russian hawks for tactical nuclear weapons just yet. Replace Putin, and this can become nuclear faster than anyone realizes. Nuking Kiev would probably save the world not unlike the US did to Japan. It would be a demonstration to the EU that they better think twice about trying to destroy Russia.

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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Florida’s Ban on Exposing Children to ‘Lewd’ Drag Shows

A federal appeals court has upheld Florida’s child protection law that seeks to prevent kids from attending or being exposed to “adult live performances” like suggestive drag shows or lewd “drag queen” story hours.

The case has been in litigation for three years after a federal judge blocked the law after Orlando’s Hamburger Mary’s Restaurant and Bar sued to preserve it’s ability to host “family friendly drag shows,” according to Courthouse News Service and other outlets.

The 2023 Protection of Children Act law defines an “adult” performance as any show that depicts or simulates “nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement or specific sexual activities, lewd conduct or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts,” the legal news service reported.

Drag shows are known to feature performers dressed in over-the-top sexualized costumes who perform suggestive dances and sometimes simulate lewd acts.

On Tuesday, the full 11th Circuit bench decided on the appeal, ruling 8-5 in favor of overturning the lower court ruling made by Clinton-appointed Senior District Judge Gregory Presnell 2023, as well as overturning an earlier three-judge panel in the circuit last year that agreed with the lower court’s ruling.

“We will not second-guess the Florida Legislature’s decision to regulate obscenity,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Brasher on behalf of the majority. “Preventing children from attending adult live performances obscene for them is rationally related to Florida’s interest in safeguarding the well-being of minors.”

Brasher was appointed to the appellate bench by President Donald Trump.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier praised the decision.

“Huge victory for our team at the 11th Circuit! After 3 years of litigation, the full court affirmed the constitutionality of Florida’s ban on children attending sexualized drag show,” he said in a statement. “Great work by Solicitor General Dave Dewhirst, who argued the case on the state’s behalf!”

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Radical Leftist Francesca Hong Does Total 180 – Now Claims Thanksgiving is Her Favorite Holiday! 

Francesca Hong, the radical leftist running for governor of Wisconsin, has been in the news for the last two days over negative comments she once made about Thanksgiving being a symbol of colonialism and ‘the original superspreader.’

Well, the polling on that must have come in because now Hong is out there telling people that Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday and she totally means it, everyone.

These people have no shame. They will literally look you in the face and say whatever they think will open the doors of power for them.

They think no one remembers a thing.

Forget what she said before. Now she loves Thanksgiving.

From The Hill:

Francesca Hong says Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday: ‘I don’t want to cancel it’

Democratic socialist and Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong (D) walked back on her previous social media post calling to “cancel Thanksgiving,” telling Politico’s Irie Sentner in an interview Wednesday that the holiday is her “favorite.”

Hong, a professional chef and Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate, added that she “actually loves” Thanksgiving. She originally defended the post, which was published to social media in 2021, during a Monday CNN appearance — sparking criticism from Republicans and political strategists.

“I’m just going to be real, I’m kind of a curmudgeon when it comes to holidays in general,” Hong told Sentner on Wednesday. “But right now, what we want to get serious about is making sure we deliver a Democratic trifecta.”

The post — now deleted — read, “Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621.” During her CNN interview, the gubernatorial candidate described the holiday as a “time that’s incredibly painful for many people in our communities.” Though she added that “views can evolve.”

She really means it, folks.

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How Lockheed Martin, Raytheon & Bae Systems Are Propagandizing Children To Support War Through Stem

Raytheon sponsors the Girl Scouts of America. BAE Systems is reading your toddlers their favorite fairytale stories. And Lockheed Martin funds children’s math and STEM festivals. This is done with great fanfare, supposedly to empower and inspire children to pursue their passion for science. In reality, though, these companies are attempting to launder their images and enlist the next generation to become cogs in the military-industrial complex.

All the while, these organizations’ products are being used across the world by the United States and Israel to commit war crimes – in Iran, Yemen, Palestine, and beyond – to target children.

MintPress explores the murky world of the arms companies training kids to bomb kids.

Normalizing War to Kids

When many Americans think of Raytheon (now officially rebranded as RTX Corporation), they don’t envisage rockets and cruise missiles; they think of math. For decades, the second-largest arms manufacturer on the planet has bankrolled a wide range of organizations aimed at getting children excited about STEM subjects.

Since 2009, Raytheon has been the title sponsor of MATHCOUNTS, a non-profit organization that provides engaging math programs for middle school students in every U.S. state, as well as organizing math competitions to find the brightest children in America.

In 2005, Raytheon launched its MathMovesU program, aimed, in its own words, “to inspire middle school students to get excited about math and science.” In addition to the materials provided, it has also spent millions on scholarships, grants, and study awards to thousands of students, teachers, and volunteers.

And its MathAlive! traveling exhibit promises, in rather outdated branding, to take math “2theXtreme”. MathAlive! Has also traveled to several countries in West Asia, including Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia – all of them among the biggest purchasers of Raytheon weapons technology.

The company also enjoys a longtime partnership with the Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA). In 2017, for example, it launched the GSUSA’s first national computer science program and cyber challenge for middle and high school girls.“

The progress to diversify the STEM workforce needs to be accelerated… At a time when technology is transforming the way we live and work, we can – and should – show young women a clear path to taking an active role in this transformation,” said Thomas A. Kennedy, then-Raytheon CEO; “Working together, Raytheon and Girl Scouts will help girls build confidence to see themselves as the robotics engineers, data scientists and cybersecurity professionals who will create a better tomorrow.”

Raytheon also spearheaded the GSUSA’s “Think Like a Programmer” project, which encourages girls to explore the world of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, and developed many of the programming badges available to the scouts.

GSUSA appears proud of this relationship. Its website profiles one former scout who now works at Raytheon as a success story and a model to follow. The article includes a step-by-step guide and a list of tips for those wishing to follow in her footsteps.

Unsurprisingly, Raytheon also works closely with the U.S. military on these matters, establishing four new STEM “centers of innovation” with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., all near military bases.

While some might be surprised by the closeness of the relationship between a children’s organization and an arms manufacturer, it is worth remembering that the scouting movement was originally established by Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell, as a stepping stone towards boys joining the military. Baden-Powell was deeply concerned that English boys would not be physically fit enough to fight for their country in any upcoming wars, and designed an organization that would train them both physically and mentally to do so.

Kirsten Bayes from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade was unimpressed by Raytheon’s attempts to improve their image and to train the next generation of weapons manufacturers. “Our view is that arms companies have no place in schools or colleges, and should certainly not be working with children’s educational charities,” she told MintPress, adding:

“Schools and other places of education should be places where children learn, grow and develop their full potential. They should not be a recruiting ground where arms companies whitewash their activities.”

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FBI Follies: Bureau secretly probed Trump as a Russian asset for firing Comey: declassified memos

he FBI opened a criminal probe specifically targeting Donald Trump in May 2017, alleging the newly elected president may have been acting as a Russian asset when he fired then-Director James Comey even though the bureau’s own evidence overwhelmingly showed at the time there was no collusion with the Kremlin.

Internal memos newly declassified by the White House show the investigation – codenamed “Oxferd Comma” – was launched in the immediate aftermath of Comey’s May 9, 2017, firing and was predicated on an allegation that previously released memos show the bureau’s own agents had mostly dismissed.

“The FBI is opening a full investigation based on an articulable factual basis that reasonably indicates that President Donald J. Trump may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation which may constitute violations of federal criminal law or threats to the national security of the United States,” the electronic communication opening the probe on May 16, 2017, stated.

Goal of the investigation was to determine if Trump was directed by or controlled by the Russian Federation 

“The goal of the investigation is to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation in a manner constituting a threat to the national security of the United States and/or a violation of federal criminal statutes,” it added. “In addition, this investigation will also seek to determine whether President Trump and others yet to be named obstructed and/or conspiracy to obstruct any associated FBI investigation.”

OXFERD COMMA – Opening EC – redacted and declassified by FBI 7.30.26 (2).pdf

The memo, written by the FBI’s counterintelligence division and approved by then-FBI General Counsel James Baker and then-Assistant Director for Counterintelligence William Priestap, made clear the concerns about Russian influence and obstruction included Comey’s firing, in part because of the public explanations Trump gave for the termination.

“This alternative explanation can be reasonably read to imply that the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation was a factor in President Trump’s decision to terminate Comey,” the memo stated.

Both the Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were advised that the probe had been launched, the memos show.

OXFERD COMMA – FBI Informs DOJ – redacted and declassified by FBI 7.30.26.pdf

The FBI marked the investigation as a “sensitive investigative matter” and declared it was “the least intrusive method to address the serious national security risk posed by the activities alleged.”

But that decision proved anything but nonintrusive: it prompted the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller by Rosenstein and a nearly two-year probe that hampered the start of the Trump presidency even though Mueller’s team, like the FBI before it, was unable to substantiate any collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election.

MuellerReportFinal.pdf

A subsequent investigation by Special Counsel John Durham – released by the Biden Justice Department in 2023 – concluded there was no basis for the FBI to even open the original Crossfire Hurricane investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion.

durhamreport (1).pdf

The newly declassified Oxferd Comma memos show the case was closed on April 9, 2019, a few weeks after Mueller’s probe was sunset with a final report and no charges against Trump.

“The Special Counsel provided the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining his prosecution and declination decisions,” the closing memo noted.

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Senator Ron Johnson Says He Obtained Fauci’s COVID-Era iPhone from HHS Ahead of Contempt Vote

The Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has obtained a copy of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s COVID-era iPhone as it continues its investigation into the federal government’s handling of the pandemic and Fauci’s past lies to Congress. 

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) confirmed a Wall Street Journal report revealing that the Department of Health and Human Services provided a copy of the phone to the committee.

“The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has obtained a copy of Dr. Fauci’s phone from HHS,” Johnson, who chairs the subcommittee, wrote on X.

“Hopefully, this device will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week’s hearing.”

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has obtained a copy of Dr. Fauci’s phone from HHS. Hopefully, this device will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week’s hearing. https://t.co/ltaKmGaExL

— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) August 5, 2026

This comes after Fauci’s contentious Senate hearing last week, where he refused to answer any questions and invoked his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times as Senate Republicans grilled him over the COVID pandemic and his many lies over the years.

After years of spreading COVID and vaccine disinformation, he couldn’t answer for any of it despite having a sweeping preemptive pardon from Biden.

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Greer Blasts Democrat State Attorneys General For Choosing Foreign Sweatshops Over American Workers

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer accused Democratic-led states challenging President Donald Trump’s new tariffs of putting foreign sweatshops ahead of American workers and siding with China against U.S. efforts to eradicate forced labor from global supply chains.

“It’s official: Twenty-five Democrat-run states, spanning from Michigan to California, have made their priorities clear: foreign sweatshops come before protecting hardworking Americans,” Greer said in a statement obtained exclusively by Breitbart News.

The statement is the Trump administration’s most forceful response yet to lawsuits filed by 25 states seeking to overturn tariffs of 10 percent to 12.5 percent imposed last month on goods from more than 80 countries.

The states, led by New York, California and Illinois, filed their complaint Monday in the U.S. Court of International Trade. They argue the administration used forced labor as a pretext for rebuilding the global tariff system invalidated by the Supreme Court in February.

“After losing at the Supreme Court, the administration is once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said when the lawsuit was filed.

Greer rejected that characterization, saying the states are asking courts to give countries that tolerate forced labor in their supply chains a free pass.

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Spanish Leftists’ Push to Replace ‘Right-Wingers and Racists’ With Migrants: Is It Full Speed Ahead?

I called it at the time the most mask-drop moment by a leftist ever. That the radical admission came from the mouth of a petite Spanish woman only added to its shock value.

The tirade of Irene Montero, the political secretary of Spain’s far-left Podemos party (unlike normal conservatives who are smeared with the “far-right” label, these people really are far-left), was so rage-filled that it prompted Elon Musk to say she was advocating genocide. Here’s what Montero said earlier this year:

I want to ask migrant and racialized people that they please don’t leave us alone with so many retrograde right-wingers, and of course we do want them to vote, of course we do, we’ve achieved regularized-status legal papers, status regularization now already, and now we’re going either after full citizenship or after changing the law so that they can vote, of course. I hope for Great Replacement theory, I hope we manage to sweep this country of retrograde right-wingers and racists with migrant people, with working people, of course  I want replacement to take place. Replacement of retrograde right-wingers. Replacement of racists. Replacement of scroungers, and that we manage to do it with the working people of this country, whatever skin color they may present, whether Chinese, black, brown, with all comrades the working people of this country.

It was a political confession at its most revealing. There’s the reference to Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s plan to regularize more than 500,000 illegal migrants, with the admission that they’re seen as future leftist voters. There’s the shameless call for replacing naturalized citizens with illegal migrants. There’s the proud declaration that she views her political opponents as not merely wrong, but evil. And then there’s the standing ovation at the end to remind you how effective the left can be at rallying the mob.

It hits even harder in the aftermath of last month’s invasion of the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta by an estimated 70,000 illegal migrants from Morocco. Want to take a guess how Montero responded to the crisis? Hint: It wasn’t with compassion for the Spaniards in Ceuta.

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All Flock cameras taken down in Burnet County

The Burnet County Sheriff’s Office posted that all fixed Flock cameras in the county were taken down as of Monday.

Those cameras were installed by the Heart of Texas Auto Theft Task Force and commonly used to read license plates.

According to the sheriff’s office, two of the cameras were damaged by vandals before the removal effort. One camera was vandalized by someone who cut its mounting brackets and cables. In a separate incident, another camera was struck with a blunt object before its battery and cables were damaged. Criminal cases were opened; however, the task force said there were no known suspects in either case.

The Burnet County Sheriff’s Office tells KXAN they’ve received multiple concerns regarding the cameras.

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