Tag: politics

7 Republicans vote no on FISA extension

Seven Republican senators sided with Democrats early Friday to vote against advancing an extension of warrantless spy powers set to expire next week, complicating efforts to keep those powers alive.

The procedural vote failed by a vote of 47-52 after Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.), Sen. John Kennedy (La.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.), Eric Schmitt (Mo.), Rick Scott (Fla.) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) broke with their GOP colleagues.

Some of the pushback was attributed to President Trump’s tapping of Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence, which received backlash from both sides of the aisle.

Lee brushed off speculation that anger over Pulte’s appointment was the motivator behind the defectors who voted with Democrats, instead pointing to privacy concerns.

“FISA 702 reauthorization failed because it did not contain a warrant requirement for spying on Americans,” the Utah Republican wrote on the social platform X. “The people who spied on the Trump campaign, Members of Congress, and countless other Americans hate the idea.”

He added, “Come back with warrant requirement, and we’ll pass the bill.”

The motion to proceed would have paved the way for enhanced federal surveillance authorities under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) before it lapses June 12.

Trump’s decision to name Pulte to replace outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard triggered fights on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Democrats could not support extending surveillance authorities with Pulte in a position to access sensitive intelligence information that could be used against Trump’s political foes.

“I thought I had gotten to the stage where I could no longer be shocked by Donald Trump’s choices, but this may be the most outrageous of all,” he told MS NOW, speaking of the recent appointment.

Every Senate Democrat except Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) voted against the motion, as they argued Pulte could not be trusted to oversee the nation’s intelligence apparatus, among other reasons.

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Sunny Hostin Admits She Hates America, Declares Country a ‘Failed Experiment’

People often use the term “hate” rather loosely these days.

“I hate the Buffalo Bills,” or “I hate pepperoni,” or “I hate pumpkin pie” are various forms of “hate” you may hear.

The term has, frankly, lost a lot of meaning, not unlike the term “racist.”

But there’s a different, much more real sort of hate that exists out there. It’s not the sort of hate you just casually announce or throw around. It’s the sort of genuine hatred that emanates from one’s actions and words.

And it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin really does hate America for not being the far-left fever dream that she seems to want.

Just watch this latest clip, courtesy of the Media Research Center’s Associate Editor Nicholas Fondacaro, that’s making the rounds showing how festive Hostin is in the lead-up to America’s 250th birthday celebration:

“And so I think we have a very complicated history here,” Hostin said. “I think it’s a very complicated country.”

Honestly, had she stopped here with her Debbie Downer act, it would’ve been defensible. History is complicated. Nobody’s arguing that it isn’t.

But of course, Hostin just couldn’t help herself.

“And at this point, I am embarrassed at our government,” she said. “I’m embarrassed at our lack of health care. I’m embarrassed on the assault on the press. I’m embarrassed of our Congress. I’m embarrassed by the criminal felon president that is in the Oval Office that has a UFC cage on the White House lawn.”

Obamacare failed. Former President Joe Biden’s social media pressure about the coronavirus vaccine was worse than anything Trump may or may not have done against the press. I’ll actually give her Congress being embarrassing, since people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar are in it. “Criminal felon president” is a cute slogan, but missing crucial context. And the UFC is gnarly.

What else you got, Sunny?

“I’m embarrassed about all those things,” she droned on. “And I’m also embarrassed at how America is now seen across the globe. I don’t think that many Americans understand that we are part of a wonderful global community. And when you look at our allies, our allies are now giving us a one-star rating as a country.

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MacCormack Facing Intense Pressure To Abandon House Race After Calling For The Death Penalty For “Sodomites”

“It’s American to be Anti-Pride Month,” wrote Jadon MacCormack, the 23-year-old GOP candidate for Connecticut’s 50th House District, in a now-viral social media post announcing his intention to “stand firmly against the Transgender and LGBT movement” and celebrate “Straight Month” this June.

His post drew immediate blowback and calls for him to drop out of the race:

  • Governor Ned Lamont called the comments “hateful” and “completely out of step with Connecticut values. Elected democrats, Democrat Town Committees and candidates from all across the state similarly condemned the comments, and called on MacCormack to pull the plug on his campaign.
  • House Speaker Matt Ritter and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas said it was “sickening to think that this candidate wants to spew this kind of poison in the people’s chamber.’
  • Vanita Bhalla, the vice chair of the Connecticut Democrat Party, said MacCormack represents an element of the contemporary GOP — he’s a “MAGA extremist.”
  • The Young Democrats of CT said the comments were “part of a clear, unvarnished pattern of hate” and pushed Ryan Fazio and CT GOP leadership to take concrete action against MacCormack’s dialogue.
  • The Connecticut Republican Party issued a statement strongly condemning “any rhetoric… encouraging hostility, intimidation, or violence toward any individual or group,” asserting that McCormack “crossed a line.”
  • CT GOP Chair Ben Proto said MacCormack”immediately withdraw his candidacy and step aside.”
  • Gubernatorial candidate Ryan Fazio echoed the CT GOP’s sentiment, as did Republican State Senator Jeff Gordon, whose district covers much of the same area as the 50th House District. Gordon strongly condemned the “reprehensible” comments.
  • House Minority Leader Vince Candelora said it was “immature and reckless”, “hate speech” and a sign MacCormack “isn’t ready for the responsibility he’s asking voters to give him.”

Rep. Candelora noted in a subsequent social media post that he will “always call out anyone who supports violence.” He included an image MacCormack had posted of a noose with the comment, “The Bible has a better idea,” in reference to gay marriage.

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INSANITY: New York State Democrats Pass Bill Replacing the Words “Mother” and “Father” with These Two Ultra-Woke Terms

Democrats in New York State have declared war on the nuclear family after passing a bill designed to kowtow to the radical pro-trans lobby.

As The New York Post reported on Wednesday, the New York State Legislature this week passed legislation that would erase the terms “mother” and “father” from state child custody and parental laws in favor of two woke, gender-neutral terms.

The terms that would be used instead? Gestating parent and non-gestating parent.

This sounds like something straight out of the Babylon Bee.

The New York Post reported:

A woke new bill erases the terms “mother” and “father” from state child custody and parental laws — a gender-neutral rewriting that’s expected to spark a flood of similarly clunky legislation.

“Mother” would be replaced with “gestating parent,” while “father” becomes “non-gestating parent” or “parent” in family court, passed this week by state Democrats.

“Paternity” proceedings to determine a child’s biological father would meanwhile become “parentage” cases, under the bill, which was rammed through the Assembly in March and of the Senate this week.

A “putative father” — also known as a deadbeat dad — would now be called “an alleged parent” in official state records, under the bill, which was sponsored by liberals Sen. Luis Sepulveda (D-Bronx) and Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Westchester) and will go to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk for approval.

Sepulveda, a Bronx Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, claimed the bill was necessary “to be consistent with current statute and case law>

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman lashed out at the changes:

“Democrats led by Kathy Hochul have continued their declaration of war on New York families by canceling the loving terms of Mom and Dad and replacing them with ‘gestating and non-gestating parent,’” Blakeman said in a statement obtained by the New York Post.

“The insanity ends when I’m Governor.”

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Michelle Bachelet, Who Helped Cover Up Uyghur Genocide, Visits China to Campaign for U.N. Chief

Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng on Wednesday, touring the country amid her campaign to become the next U.N. Secretary General.

Bachelet, a radical leftist, served as president of Chile before completing her term and taking over the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). She served two terms as president in the country, from 2006 to 2010 and, later, from 2014 to 2018. Her time leading the OHCHR spanned from 2018, shortly after the end of her time as president, through 2022, when she chose not to run for a second term amid global disgust and calls for her resignation for her poor handling of the Chinese genocide of Uyghurs and other Turkic people in the country.

Bachelet notably visited China in 2022 shortly before stepping down and, far from condemning the ongoing genocide, praised China’s human rights record and claimed that the concentration camps the Chinese Communist Party had been caught using to imprison as many as 3 million people were no longer functional.

Bachelet is one of five official candidates running to replace Antonio Guterres as the secretary-general of the United Nations. The other candidates are former General Assembly leader María Fernanda Espinosa, former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan, former Senegalese President Macky Sall, and the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi. Bachelet initially enjoyed the endorsement of her country under leftist former President Gabriel Boric, but Chile withdrew its support after the inauguration of conservative current President José Antonio Kast.

Campaigning for the position is often less overt than a traditional political role, involving private meetings with the most powerful actors at the United Nations. Bachelet appears to have traveled to Beijing seeking support from China, though Chinese state media reports did not overtly describe her visit as a formal campaign stop.

Chinese government television networks published images of Bachelet receiving a warm welcome from Wang, the nation’s top diplomat.

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UH OH: Three Ex-Lovers of Graham Platner Reveal His Awful Physical Abuse, Shocking Behavior, and Sickening Remarks: “I Would R*pe Them to Show I’m Dominant”

The Senate campaign of Graham Platner is now almost certainly kaput, as several women have come forward with stunning abuse revelations, shocking behavior from him, and more disgusting remarks while they dated.

The New York Times dropped the bombshell of the 2026 election cycle on Tuesday with separate claims from former lovers of Platner who independently say he engaged in predatory behavior.

Interestingly, Platner invited these allegations after several news reports confirmed he had sent sexual messages to women while married. Platner reached out to several of his exes to ask whether they would say he may have been a bad boyfriend but otherwise a good guy.

While some of the women told Platner what he wanted to hear, three offered a more sinister picture after the New York Times reached out.

The Times reported:

In extensive conversations over the past two months, three other women who had been romantically involved with Mr. Platner offered a far more complicated assessment, describing volatile and “toxic” relationships that were unsettling and at times emotionally wrenching.

Mr. Platner could be charming and charismatic, they recalled in interviews, but also demeaning to women and, in at least one case, even physically threatening. He drank heavily and was regularly unfaithful.

40-year-old Lyndsey Fifield, a Virginia conservative who dated Platner between 2013 and 2015, called him “cavalierly contemptuous of women’s emotions, of our ‘weakness.’

She added that Platner “reminded me of just how much he hated women.”

41-year-old Jenny Racicot, a Maine Democrat who dated Platner between 2019 and 2021, said that his sexist Reddit posts about women were not sh*tposting, but true to his character.

“When I saw the old comments that he made online,” she said, “I recognized a version of him that I had experiences with.”

A third woman, also from Maine, had a long-distance relationship with Mr. Platner on and off for years, as recently as 2016. She said she was “collateral damage to the world that is his.”

But the most volatile relationship Platner had was with Fifield. This included him making some incredibly disturbing comments right in front of her.

The most shocking comment that Fifield recalled Platner saying? “I would r*pe them to show them that I’m dominant.

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Senate GOP Narrowly Defeats Schumer’s Amendment to Ban Trump’s Weaponization Fund – These Three Republicans Voted with Dems

Senate Republicans on Thursday voted 49-50 to defeat an amendment that would ban Trump’s weaponization fund.

Three Republican Senators voted with the Democrats: Susan Collins (ME), Dan Sullivan (AK) and John Husted (OH).

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche this week said the DOJ is dropping the $1.8 billion weaponization fund created to pay people who were persecuted by the Biden Regime.

President Trump and the DOJ have suggested that they are working on a backup plan to pay back Americans who were brutalized by Biden’s DOJ.

Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced the amendment to ban Trump’s weaponization fund during Wednesday’s vote-a-rama.

The Hill reported:

Senate Republicans voted on Thursday morning to defeat an amendment sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) to prohibit the Department of Justice from establishing a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund for MAGA allies, a proposal that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers this week the administration would abandon.

Notably, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and John Husted (R-Ohio), who all face tough re-election races in November, voted for Schumer’s amendment.

The proposal, which would have amended a $70 billion budget reconciliation package to fund immigration enforcement, still failed by a vote of 49 to 50.

All Democrats voted for it.

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Watch Democrat Senators Squirm When Asked About Graham Platner of Maine 

Graham Platner, the scandal plagued Democratic Socialist (communist) running for a U.S. Senate seat in Maine, has put Democrats into an impossible position. They want so badly to support him but they also know that he has the potential to be an anchor around the neck of the party.

They’ve stood by him through the scandal over his Nazi tattoo and multiple problematic Reddit posts. They’ve tried to spin every which way, saying that he’s a different person now, and that they believe in his personal redemption. Of course, they would never show this kind of understanding to a Republican, but they don’t care if people see through all of this, they just want to win the senate.

The funny thing is that now that Platner’s candidacy is becoming truly toxic, you can see the shift in them when they’re asked about him on TV.

In this clip, Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts is asked repeatedly if he is endorsing Platner’s campaign and each time, instead of saying that he endorses him, he just says that he believes Platner is running on all of the right issues.

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The Left’s New Favorite Christian Politician Has a Theology Problem

There’s been a ton of talk about James Talarico, the Democrats’ nominee for the Senate seat in Texas, and how he claims that Christianity is a left-wing faith. The left so desperately wants it to be true, even as so many leftists reject Christianity.

A couple of mainstream media outlets are hyping up Talarico as a new kind of Christian politician. What they’re inadvertently doing is revealing how out of touch with true Christianity Talarico actually is.

If you want an idea of how far out of the mainstream Talarico’s theology is, check out the first few paragraphs of a profile of the candidate’s pastor in the New York Times:

On a recent Sunday morning at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, Jim Rigby asked his congregation to share what came to mind when he mentioned the Apostle Paul, the major Christian figure to whom 13 books in the Bible are attributed. They cheerfully complied:

“Villain!”

“Homophobic!”

“He’s a jerk.”

Paul’s attributed writings include passages seen as encouraging wives to submit to their husbands and instructing them to be quiet in church, and others condemning same-sex sexual behavior as sinful.

Mr. Rigby acknowledged the trouble. But in a sermon that also cited the Bhagavad Gita and the Buddha, he nudged his congregation to reconsider the apostle, one of the most important in the early Christian church. “Aristotle and Plato, they were creeps, too, in modern times,” Mr. Rigby said. “But do we want to learn from our ancestors or not?”

That fourth paragraph gives a lot away. We expect the Times to approach everything from the left, so of course, it would judge the Apostle Paul to be on the “wrong side of history,” to use that phrase the left loves so much.

But the article tells us much more about the faith environment Talarico grew up in. His pastor:

…does not use male pronouns for God, for example, because it is a kind of “violence” to imply to a girl that her brother is more like God than she is, he said in an interview after the service. He does not use the word “Lord,” because it conjures a wealthy, European, male God, he said. For that matter, he added, he does not much care for the word “God.” He uses it on occasion, he said, but he tries to use synonyms, because “it’s going to mean something different to everybody.”

In his sermon that morning, he had referred to “the creative impulse of the universe,” which “can be called God, but it doesn’t have to be called God.”

This is the environment that shaped Talarico’s views on faith, scripture, and theology. No wonder he doesn’t sound like any mainstream Christian.

The Atlantic gives the game away with a ballsy headline: “Texans Will Decide if Jesus Was a Lefty.” In this piece, Elizabeth Bruenig repeats the lie that podcasters Joshua Haymes and Brooks Potteiger called for Talarico’s death, when, as I wrote in March (see the link below), the two men were using the biblical language of killing Talarico’s sin nature and arguing that he should be, in Paul’s words, “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20).

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Rubio Mocks Screeching Democrat Rep. as She Storms Out of Hearing

Democrats spent Wednesday morning shouting at Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a hearing over the State Department’s budget.

Marco Rubio’s testimony to the House committee on Wednesday comes just one day after he had back-to-back hearings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Rubio testified before the House Foreign Relations Committee about the Trump Administration’s 2027 budget.

Democrat Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove shouted at Rubio about his role in shutting down USAID abuses.

“And giving contracts with no transparency is exactly the reason why you shut down USAID! So practice what you preach!” Rep. Kamlager-Dove shouted.

“Can I answer? Oh, she gets to scream now, too?” Rubio said.

“What kind of thing is this? What is this? You get asked questions for 5 minutes, and you don’t get time to answer? It’s not a hearing! What is this?” Rubio said.

Democrat Rep. Kamlager-Dove then stormed out of the hearing.

“Why is she leaving? I’m gonna answer her questions!” Rubio said, pointing to Rep. Kamlager-Dove.

The Democrat shouted at Rubio as she stormed out.

“Well, thank you for coming,” Rubio said.

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