Tag: democrats

Model City: Portland’s Journey From Symbol of Chic to Shabby

In December, bestselling author and humorist David Sedaris wrote a New Yorker magazine essay about a recent trip to Portland, Oregon. While on a walk to a donut shop, he “lost count of the strung-out addicts I passed on my way” before eventually encountering four homeless people huddled around an empty baby carriage and smoking drugs right on the sidewalk. Moments later, a dog belonging to one of the addicts rushed out and bit him. 

Following the incident, Sedaris, a former methamphetamine addict himself, was struck by the fact that most people in Portland didn’t seem concerned about the state of the city – even the medical worker who treated him appeared more concerned with the dog’s well-being than what had happened to him: 

I mean, how hard should it be to get a little sympathy when an unleashed dog bites you? What if I were a baby? I wondered. Would people side with me then? What if I were ninety or blind or Nelson Mandela? Why is everyone so afraid of saying that drug addicts shouldn’t let their dogs bite people? Actually, I know why. We’re afraid we’ll be mistaken for Republicans, when, really, isn’t this something we should all be able to agree on? How did allowing dogs to bite people become a Democratic point of principle? Or is it just certain people’s dogs? If a German shepherd jumped, growling, out of one of those Tesla trucks that look like an origami project and its owner, wearing a MAGA hat, yelled, “Trumper, no!!!,” then would the people in my audience be aghast?

That one of America’s most progressive cities has become a laughingstock in one of the country’s more progressive magazines is a sign of Portland’s ongoing troubles. Like other big cities with major challenges, such as Chicago and San Francisco, Portland boasts many lovely areas and vibrant neighborhoods. But it is also defined by a range of pervasive problems – including crime, homelessness, drug addiction – that are less the consequences of modern society than self-inflicted wounds created by ineffective policies. If Portland stands out from other beleaguered cities, it is because its decline has been so swift.

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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Accused of Altering LAFD Report on Wildfires to Lessen City’s Liability

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is accused of making changes to a report by the LAFD following last year’s wildfires because she allegedly wanted to lessen the city’s liability over their response to the disaster.

Bass and Governor Newsom have been widely criticized for how they handled the fires and for the lack of rebuilding a year after the blaze.

Naturally, Bass denies that she altered the LAFD report in any way.

FOX News reports:

Mayor Bass facing blowback over explosive report that she altered wildfire report to downplay city’s role

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is under fire this week after a Los Angeles Times report claiming she successfully altered in her favor a critical after-action report on the devastating southern California wildfires that killed 31 people.

While Bass has repeatedly denied that she interfered with the report, the Los Angeles Times reports, citing two sources, that Bass was concerned that the city could be exposed to legal liability for its lack of preparedness and removed or softened language implicating the city.

One of the key changes, according to the Los Angeles Times, was altering details about failures to fully staff and deploy resources leading up to the fire, an issue that has drawn intense scrutiny over the past year.

The report cites a “Bass confidant” who said “the mayor didn’t tell the truth when she said she had nothing to do with changing the report.”

Bass, who has also drawn criticism for flying to Africa for an event days before the fire broke out despite hazardous conditions in the forecast and warnings about fire risks, has denied the accuracy of the reporting.

In the video below, Bass claims this is all made up.

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Democrats Just Gave Away The Real Reason They’re Fighting Immigration Enforcement

Democrats have spent years insisting illegal immigrants do not vote, yet Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries just gave the whole game away.

In a letter to GOP leadership, they demanded a slate of “reforms” to immigration enforcement as the price for funding the Department of Homeland Security, including targeted enforcement, no masks, mandatory use of body cameras, and other demands, several of which I suspect are nonstarters.

I don’t see Democrats getting anywhere with these, but the big thing is that buried in that list is a rather revealing demand:

Protect Sensitive Locations – Prohibit funds from being used to conduct enforcement near sensitive locations, including medical facilities, schools, child-care facilities, churches, polling places, courts, etc.

Polling places?

They went out of their way to include polling places right alongside hospitals, courts, and churches. There is only one thing that happens at polling places that would matter to illegal immigrants, and it is not the bake sale.

Democrats have insisted for years that illegal immigrants cannot and do not vote, and that the whole issue is a right-wing myth. If that is true, then why is “polling places” even on their list of protected zones for immigration violators? No one accidentally adds “polling places” to a policy letter being negotiated at the leadership level. This is deliberate. It gives away what they are worried about… and what they are counting on.

“Democrats just admitted they think illegal aliens need to be protected at polling places. Why exactly would illegal aliens be at polling places? We MUST fully fund DHS AND pass the SAVE America Act,” Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) posted on X.

That is the obvious question Democrats do not want to answer. If illegal immigrants are not supposed to be anywhere near the ballot box, then immigration enforcement near polling sites ought to be a non-issue.

This comes as Republicans are pushing election reform through Congress with the SAVE Act. The SAVE Act is a straightforward concept: safeguard federal elections by ensuring only American citizens can cast ballots, and that an ID is required to vote.

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Raskin: Trump ‘Has One Objective in Mind Which Is Trying to Steal the Election’

Tuesday on MS NOW’s “The Last Word,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said President Donald Trump has one objective in mind: “trying to steal” the midterm election.

Raskin said, “We know it’s not as simple as just turning the clock back to, the time before Donald Trump, because obviously, those were the conditions that allowed for Donald Trump and MAGA to penetrate our society and take over our government. We’re going to have to fortify democracy and freedom to make them much stronger going forward. And having been through this nightmare together and with the heroic resistance and opposition that we’re seeing all over the country, we are going to make it through.”

He added, “We need to obviously mobilize the vote and keep winning the way we won in Virginia, in new Jersey, in California, in Alabama, the way we just won in Texas, a 31 point swing in a state Senate election. We’re going to keep going, and we have to defend those elections because Donald Trump, who obviously has no other program for America relating to health care, relating to housing for young people, relating to any public good, has one objective in mind which is trying to steal the election the way he tried to steal it back in 2020, when he called the Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in Georgia and said, I just want you to find me 11,780 votes. That wasn’t Donald Trump trying to stop election fraud. That was Donald Trump trying to commit election fraud. And he did it all over the country and he will try again.”

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Muslim state senator introduces Virginia bill defining Islamophobia as hate crime in assault cases

A Bengali-American state senator from Virginia has introduced a bill to criminalize Islamophobia. 

The bill, introduced by state Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim, would define “Islamophobia” “as it relates to the crime of assault and battery as malicious prejudice or hatred directed toward Islam or Muslims.”

The summary for Salim’s bill says that the Islamophobia definition “applies regardless of whether the victim is actually a practitioner of Islam, provided that the perpetrator targeted such victim based on a perceived adherence to such faith. The bill also clarifies that religious conviction includes Islam.”

The bill “directs the Department of State Police, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, to include the bill’s definition of ‘Islamophobia’ in its hate crime reporting central repository.”

Salim represents Virginia’s district 37, which includes all of Fairfax City and Falls Church City, and parts of Fairfax County.

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You’re Gonna Laugh Your Head Off When You Find Out Why Jasmine Crockett’s Opponent Is In Trouble

The Texas Democratic Senate primary race took a bizarre turn when a TikTok influencer claimed one of the candidates made a racist remark about former Rep. Colin Allred, who had dropped out of the race.

Morgan Thompson, a black political TikTok personality, dropped a bombshell allegation on Sunday. She claimed she had a private conversation with state Rep. James Talarico, who is running neck and neck with U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett for the Democratic Party’s nomination.

During the conversation, Talarico insulted Allred, allegedly telling her that he “signed up to run against a mediocre black man, not a formidable, intelligent black woman,” referring to Allred and Crockett respectively.

Thompson said she previously backed Talarico before Crockett entered the race in December. She had requested the meeting with Talarico to express her concerns over his association with Democratic strategist James Carville, who has told the party on several occasions that they need to abandon their reliance on woke identity politics.

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Iowa Dem Accepts $250K from Epstein-Linked Billionaire Who Stayed at Townhouse, Flew to Island

A $250,000 campaign contribution to Iowa State Auditor and gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand (D-IA) was made by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, whose visits to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, New York townhouse, and New Mexico ranch are documented in emails released by the Department of Justice.

The Iowa GOP flagged the donation in a February press release, pointing to Hoffman’s well-documented history with Epstein. Hoffman, a longtime Democrat financier and founder of LinkedIn, is featured in Justice Department documents detailing plans to visit Epstein’s private island, his New Mexico ranch, and his Manhattan townhouse. One email from Epstein’s assistant about a 2014 itinerary includes the note, “Reid will take a Virgin America flight… to Fort Lauderdale,” part of travel arrangements described elsewhere in the documents as a trip to Epstein’s private island, Little St. James.

Further emails released by the DOJ show Epstein telling his assistant, “I have [Reid’s] passport. Found in the gift bag they had given me.” In another, Epstein casually references Hoffman in correspondence with Elon Musk, inquiring about holiday plans at St. Barts. Neither Hoffman nor any other figures mentioned in the documents have been charged with any crime related to Epstein.

Despite Hoffman’s past admissions — including acknowledging his visit to Epstein Island and a planned overnight stay at Epstein’s New York townhouse in 2014 — he has defended the interactions as being associated with MIT fundraising efforts. He later told the Wall Street Journal, “It gnaws at me that, by lending my association, I helped his reputation… I am sorry for my personal misjudgment.”

Hoffman helped fund E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump through a nonprofit organization he primarily financed, according to court disclosures. He has also funneled money through various progressive nonprofit networks, including the Good Information Foundation—an organization accused by attorney Preston Moore of offering payments to social media influencers to produce anti-Trump content, in apparent violation of federal tax law governing 501(c)(3) groups. In 2024, Hoffman’s longtime political adviser, Dmitri Mehlhorn, reportedly emailed journalists suggesting that the assassination attempt on Trump may have been staged—suggesting it was a “classic Putin play”—and urged the media to explore the theory publicly.

Iowa Republicans are calling on Sand to address the Hoffman contribution directly. “Will he return the money, or is this who he really answers to? Iowans deserve to know,” said Iowa GOP spokesperson Jade Cichy.

This donation follows a $50,000 contribution Sand previously accepted from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire Democrat described by the Iowa GOP as “one of the most liberal governors in the country,” whose administration has enacted policies including taxpayer-funded gender transitions for minors, sanctuary protections for illegal immigrants, a no-cash-bail law, and some of the strictest gun control measures in the nation.

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SHOCK: Democrat Rep. Nadler Says Americans Would Be “Justified” in Shooting Masked ICE Agents 

Democrat Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY) on Tuesday said Americans would be justified in shooting masked ICE agents.

“What is really the major problem in this country today is the fascism in our streets,” Nadler said during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.

“The attacks on American citizens by masked hoodlums. If you were attacked by a masked person, you might think you were being kidnapped,” Nadler said.

“You’d be justified in shooting the person to protect yourself,” Nadler added.

Nadler referenced the fatal shooting of Renee Good, the anti-ICE agitator who tried to run over an ICE agent in Minneapolis.

DHS agents also fatally shot Alex Pretti, an armed anti-ICE agitator who impeded an immigration operation and resisted arrest.

“We see people being shot! For what? For driving a car?” Nadler said.

“We see these ICE goons breaking into people’s homes without a warrant. You see them drag out a man – an American citizen in his underwear in the snow without even permitting him to get dressed!” Nadler said.

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One Glance at Jasmine Crockett’s Website Tells You Everything You Need to Know About Her Senate Campaign

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s (TX-33) campaign website tells you everything you need to know about her bid to become Texas’ next senator.

And what it tells you is almost nothing.

Over the past decade, we have seen a weird trend in which people pretend to run for office without actually trying to win to gain notoriety and fame. I’ve learned to spot such performative politicking, and one red flag is how their campaign websites are set up.

If you head over to Crockett’s campaign website, you will see how little there is to her candidacy. Her home page features a statement from the lawmaker explaining that she is running because she believes “Texas deserves a Senator who will be an independent voice for all 30 million Texans — not a rubber stamp or party line vote for Donald Trump.”

Okay, fine. That’s what you’d expect from a Democratic candidate. When you click on her “About” page, you are treated to a quick overview of her political career and learn that she is “a battle-tested fighter for the people” who has “gone toe-to-toe with Trump, Abbott, and Paxton.”

She promises that she “will fight hard for you and your loved ones and get Texas back on track.”

The question is: How?

That’s where the red flag is. There is absolutely no mention of policy on her website. No idea of what legislation she will introduce. Zilch. Nada. Nothing.

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Texas Democrat Running for U.S. Senate Under Fire for Allegedly Making Racist Comment About Black Colleague

James Talarico is a Democrat rep. in Texas who is running for U.S. Senate, but he is not the only one vying for that nomination.

Jasmine Crockett is running for it as well, and so is another black Democrat named Colin Allred.

Talarico may have already nuked his campaign, because he allegedly made some questionable comments about Allred. Isn’t it funny when Democrats succumb to their own attack tactics?

FOX 4 in Texas reports:

Colin Allred blasts Senate hopeful James Talarico over alleged ‘mediocre’ comment

A dispute over alleged racial comments could impact voter preferences in the upcoming Democratic Senate primary.

On Monday afternoon, former congressman Colin Allred blasted Senate candidate James Talarico for comments the senate hopeful reportedly said about his Black former political opponent.

“I understand that James Talarico had the temerity and audacity to say to a Black woman that he had signed up to run against a mediocre black man, meaning me,” Allred said in a social media video.

“This man should not be our nominee for Senate. I was not going to get involved in this race, but don’t come for me unless I send for you, OK James? And keep my name out of your mouth.”

“This man should not be our nominee for Senate. I was not going to get involved in this race, but don’t come for me unless I send for you, OK James? And keep my name out of your mouth.”

TikTok influencer Morgan Thompson laid out the claims from a private conversation she had with Talarico last month, saying he told her he signed up to run against “a mediocre Black man,” referring to Allred, and “not a formidable, intelligent Black woman” referring to his current opponent, Jasmine Crockett.

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