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Michigan Democrats’ Israel divide deepens as Jewish attorney general skips state convention

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel will not attend Saturday’s Michigan Democratic Party convention, citing concerns about antisemitic harassment and what she describes as a deteriorating political climate within her own party.

Nessel, a Democrat and the first Jewish person elected to statewide executive office in Michigan, announced last month that she would skip the Aug. 29 nominating convention in Lansing because she does not feel safe or welcome there.

“I don’t feel safe going,” Nessel said, according to Fox News. “I feel like my presence isn’t going to be welcome. I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying.”

Her absence comes after Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., was loudly heckled by pro-Palestinian activists during the party’s April convention as she addressed the crowd about her support for Israel. 

Stevens ultimately lost the Democratic Senate nomination to Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate who has been sharply critical of Israel.

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Leftist Defends Mass Mail In Ballots While Admitting The USPS Sucks

CNN legal so-called analyst Norm Eisen used an appearance on the network to slam President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in ballots while casting doubt on the U.S. Postal Service’s capacity to enforce it.

“No mail-in voting is currently being affected by this rule; it’s grossly unconstitutional, and we and others have gone to court to stop it—we will stop it—and voters should know that this idea that the Postal Service is going to screen every mail-in voter and mail-in ballot in the country is not going to happen,” Eisen said, according to a clips of the interview.

In the same discussion, Eisen quipped that “they can’t even deliver my utility bill on time” and argued that USPS therefore cannot “turn into a kind of super registrar for every voter in the land,” using his own mail delays to contradict his defense of mail in ballot voting to begin with.

His comments came after the Supreme Court, in a 6–3 unsigned order, allowed Trump to move forward with key portions of the March executive order that directs the Postal Service and the Department of Homeland Security to build voter-eligibility lists and limit mail-ballot delivery, while explicitly declining to decide the order’s legality leaving it open for further litigation amongst the states across the country.

The justices said the states that sued lacked standing because any harms were still “conjectural or hypothetical,” lifting a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts that had blocked the USPS provisions in 23 states and Washington, D.C.

Even after the Supreme Court’s intervention, Talwani and other lower-court judges have questioned the constitutionality of using USPS to “police” mail voting, with earlier rulings emphasizing that election rules belong to state legislatures and Congress.

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AI Skepticism Outweighs Excitement In The US

Despite the tech industry’s conviction that the rise of AI is an inflection point that will change the course of humanity, many humans remain skeptical whether the new direction we’re headed in is the right one.

As Statista’s Felix Richter reports below, the pace at which AI seems to be taking over parts of our lives, whether we like it or not, is especially worrisome to many.

In a recent Statista Consumer Insights survey, 31 percent of U.S. respondents said that they were worried about the speed at which AI is developing and 25 percent of respondents claimed to be avoiding AI wherever they can.

18 percent said they used AI but felt bad about it and another 28 percent simply don’t believe in the hype, saying they weren’t convinced that AI is as good as people say.

You will find more infographics at Statista

At the other end of the spectrum, 28 percent of respondents said they were excited about AI, 19 percent said they liked to use AI for shopping and 15 percent described themselves as early adopters – always keen to try the latest AI features first.

The bottom line is that Americans are neither all in on AI nor are they fully against it.

Many people are mixing their excitement with a dose of skepticism, which is probably a good way of looking at a potentially life-altering technological shift.

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U.S. Military Veterans Appeal Directly to Trump to Help Uncover the MMTLP Financial Scandal

After Years of Regulatory Stonewalling, Veterans Are Taking Their Fight Straight to Their Commander in Chief

American military veterans caught in the unresolved MMTLP financial debacle are taking their fight directly to President Donald Trump.

MMTLP (Meta Materials Class A Preferred Stock) is a controversial security that was abruptly frozen by FINRA in December 2022, leaving thousands of retail investors unable to trade or exit their positions.

After more than three years of unanswered questions, regulatory roadblocks, and congressional inaction, affected veterans say they have exhausted the normal chain of command.

Now they are going to the top.

The President of the United States.

For these veterans, this is no longer simply a story about a stock ticker.

It is about trust.

It is about accountability.

And it is about whether the federal agencies responsible for protecting American investors are willing to show the public what really happened.

VETERANS FOLLOWED THE CHAIN OF COMMAND

Military veterans understand the chain of command.

When something goes wrong, you document it.

You report it.

You move it up the chain.

That is exactly what veterans inside the MMTLP community say they have done.

They contacted state securities regulators, Attorneys General, Congress and the SEC, and filed Freedom of Information Act requests. They asked for investigations, meetings and the records.

And after more than three years, they still do not believe they have received a full accounting of what happened.

The consequences have been real.

Veteran advocates say members of the broader MMTLP community have lost homes, retirement savings and marriages. They also report suicides among affected investors.

For veterans watching their fellow service members suffer, enough is enough.

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Poland, US Discuss Establishing Permanent American Military Bases

Poland and Pentagon officials are in discussions about possibly locating several American military bases in the country, Polish Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Zalewski said after a meeting of the North Atlantic Council at NATO headquarters in Brussels Aug. 27.

Zalewski said he met with Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby about plans for the bases and defense policy.

“The American presence in Poland can encompass various defense capabilities,” Zalewski told Polish Radio after the meeting. “We believe it doesn’t have to be concentrated in one place. Of course, there are several locations we want to discuss with the U.S. side where such a presence would be truly massive. However, we are still talking about several bases and several locations.”

Poland formally requested new permanent U.S. military bases in June after Trump pledged to send 5,000 additional troops to the country. About 10,000 U.S. troops are already stationed in Poland, which spends about $15,000 for each, according to the country’s defense department.

Poland’s priorities are to secure defense capabilities the country currently lacks, such as reconnaissance and command functions, rather than simply increasing troop numbers, Zalewski said.

The bases would be a permanent strategy for the United States and not just a reaction to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, according to Poland.

“A permanent U.S. presence would reflect America’s long-term strategic interest in the country, not merely respond to the recent activities of Russia,” Zalewski said.

The discussion also included nuclear weapons logistics, according to the deputy defense minister.

He added, however, that Poland didn’t want nuclear warheads stationed in the country.

“Poland does not want to have nuclear warheads on this territory,” Zalewski said. “We want to participate in NATO nuclear deterrence but that does not mean to have nuclear warheads on our territory.”

Poland’s Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz appeared to clarify the comments in a statement on X later in the day.

“To dispel any doubts: Poland remains steadfastly interested in participating in the NATO Nuclear Sharing program,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said in the post. “We are also conducting talks regarding the proposal for participation in the European nuclear protective umbrella. Our government’s stance on these issues is unequivocal.”

The Pentagon didn’t respond to a request for comment about the bases by publication time.

Colby visited Belgium this week to meet with European allies and press them to increase their defense expenditures as Washington evaluates its policy toward the region.

The Pentagon asked the allies to assess their commitment to U.S. foreign policy goals as part of a European Force review launched in June by War Secretary Pete Hegseth. The review examines the future deployment of about 80,000 U.S. troops across Europe, with nearly half of them expected in Germany.

Colby introduced the new framework, which he dubbed “NATO 3.0,” earlier this year.

Some countries are concerned the review will result in U.S. troop cuts in Europe. President Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw troops from countries that refused to help the United States secure the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran conflict.

In May, the Pentagon ordered the withdrawal of 5,000 troops from Germany after tensions flared between Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the Iran war.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Friday that Europe and Canada had accepted a more equitable share of defense spending since last year.

“Still, there is much more to be done and we’ll get there,” Rutte said.

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The Most Dangerous — And Incompetent — Feds You’ve Never Heard Of

Nested within ICE is an American Stasi with the power to target U.S. citizens. Called Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, it is the country’s second-largest criminal investigative agency behind only the FBI — though with broader authorities.

But the most dangerous feds in America may also be the most incompetent. The Justice Department’s ongoing attempt to turn 15 Minnesota anti-ICE activists into a sprawling “Antifa” conspiracy opened a rare window into HSI, with disclosures that are equal parts creepy and hilariously inept, including:

  • The Dropped Wire: An undercover agent spying on a church gym when her concealed surveillance wire fell out — which she only realized later.
  • The Terrorist Dental Plan: Hunting for a “terrorist financing” ring, HSI secretly subpoenaed years of labor union SEIU’s bank records only to uncover a paper trail consisting entirely of strike supplies, retiree dues, and member dental benefits.
  • The Antifa Bike Shop: Prosecutors showed a grand jury an Alex Jones-style HSI briefing titled “The Conspiracy” that framed a bicycle repair shop as a key node in a criminal syndicate.

Federal court records describe Operation Puppet Master — yes, that’s the official name — HSI’s clandestine effort to infiltrate anti-ICE groups that the agency believe are fronts for “Antifa” domestic terrorists.

The reality of HSI’s work, as depicted in the court filings, contrasts starkly with the ICE’s official propaganda. Press releases highlight HSI’s work busting child predators and little more. It is an unimpeachable public relations shield: who isn’t against pedophiles? But HSI has quietly evolved into a lightly regulated domestic intelligence apparatus that under the name of “counterterrorism” now investigates unions, non-profits, environmental groups, and protesters.

In a document detailing Operation Puppet Master entered in the court record, HSI says: “Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) St. Paul has opened an investigation … [which] will prioritize the identification of funding sources, organizational structures, and predicate actions behind these campaigns.”

Here’s what that looked like in practice.

Two undercover agents sat through a skills workshop at the Minneapolis Public Library. Their report is a memo of pure nothing. The marquee finding: an attendee had red curly hair.

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RFK Jr. Exposes the Ugly Reason America Fell Behind Europe in Restricting the Transing of Kids

For years, the transgender lobby sold the world on a lie: give a child puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and eventually surgery, and everything will be fine. Europe swallowed that lie first. Now Europe is spitting it back out. So why is the United States only now catching up?

European countries like Sweden, Finland, and even the United Kingdom once led the charge in normalizing these barbaric procedures on minors. They built the clinics, wrote the guidelines, and exported the ideology to the rest of the Western world. In recent years, though, those same countries have slammed the brakes. In 2021, Sweden’s Karolinska Institute stopped prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors. In 2022, the NHS shut down the Tavistock Clinic, the UK’s only child gender identity clinic, and later banned the use of puberty blockers in most cases. Finland moved to prioritize psychotherapy over medical transition. And Britain’s Cass Review, the most comprehensive scientific study of its kind, found that the evidence behind these interventions was “remarkably weak.”

Fox News’s Kayleigh McEnany pressed HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on exactly this disconnect during Fox News’s Saturday in America town hall, asking him why the United States had fallen so far behind Europe on the issue. Kennedy didn’t hesitate to name the real motive.

“I think it was politicized issue and there were people making huge amounts of money,” Kennedy told her. “A lot of the medical centers were making billions and billions of dollars on these surgeries, and they were falsifying the science and making it look like there was some benefit over the long term.”

Kennedy pointed directly to the Cass Review as the turning point Americans were never allowed to have. “The Cass report, which came out in Britain and was the first really comprehensive scientific study, showed that the benefits were minimal and the cost, the people who were getting these surgeries, that it was often catastrophic for them, that in terms of suicide, suicidal ideation, that those numbers went up,” he said. He added that HHS has now “essentially replicated” those findings.

Kennedy said his department is using every tool available, including Medicaid and Medicare funding, to discourage medical centers from performing these procedures on adolescents. This is the kind of common sense that used to be uncontroversial: kids whose brains, hormones, and judgment are still developing shouldn’t be making irreversible, life-altering decisions.

The Trump administration is finally doing what Europe already figured out: treating this as a medical scandal instead of a civil rights crusade. I blame the Biden administration for the United States falling behind. Europe led the way in normalizing this evil. Now it’s leading the way out of it. The only question left is how much damage was done to American kids while Washington finally caught up.

Much of that European reversal happened while Joe Biden sat in the Oval Office. While European doctors and regulators were quietly admitting they’d made a catastrophic mistake, the Biden administration was doubling down. It pushed to expand access to these procedures, fought state laws that tried to restrict them, and treated anyone who raised concerns as a bigot.

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MIT student claims he synthesized one of the deadliest chemicals known to man — sparking massive hazmat response

A student at MIT claimed he synthesized one of the world’s deadliest chemicals last week — sparking a massive hazmat response and the closure of the lab where he worked.

The unidentified grad student arrived at a local emergency room, saying he had synthesized dimethyl mercury, a highly toxic compound that can be fatal if exposed to humans in even the smallest amounts, NBC Boston reported.

The student was not authorized to be working with the compound and it was not part of his research, according to school officials.

MIT closed off Building 18 where the experiment took place on Wednesday and called in city emergency responders to begin the cleanup.

Common areas in the student’s residence hall were also professionally cleaned as a precaution, and the student’s room was sealed off.

Building 18 remained closed through Sunday as testing and investigations continued.

“Emerging information calls into question whether this compound was in fact synthesized,” an MIT spokesperson said on Saturday.

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Flock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its Code

Vehicle surveillance giant Flock Safety has told the public for years that its technology “cannot recognize, identify, or track individuals.” It has now built a system that does both, an artificial intelligence tool for police that can identify drivers and track vehicles by their patterns of movement alone, WIRED has learned.

Drawing on a network of cameras that logs the movements of drivers in more than 6,000 communities, the tool can pick out potential witnesses by how often their cars pass through a neighborhood, or surface a driver’s “associates” from the cameras they pass together. Because the system also reaches police case files, 911 dispatch logs, and commercial identity records, those plates can be turned into names, home addresses, and relatives. It can search for people in an area drawn on a map based on nothing more than a physical description.

The software, originally called Nightshift and more recently renamed OS Investigate, ships with 69 prewritten prompts that officers can select, review, or edit, and then submit to the AI. Officers can also input prompts of their own.

The suggested prompts sit in a cache of more than 450 files that WIRED found on Flock’s own website, served by its login pages to anyone who loaded them. The code describes 45 tools at the AI’s disposal, giving it access to plate scans and camera metadata, arrest records, case files, dispatch logs, ballistics results, and commercial databases that contain Social Security numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, relatives and associates.

Flock says it is testing the product with a small group of law enforcement partners and describes it as still in development, with capabilities that may not reflect what it eventually sells. It arrives as the company faces bipartisan political pressure, a growing record of officers caught misusing its platform, and a wave of vandalism that has left cameras sawed off and lenses painted over in cities across the country.

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