Tag: politics

Oregon petition to criminalize hunting, fishing reaches signature threshold

Supporters of an effort to criminalize the killing of animals for food in Oregon are one step closer in getting a measure on the November ballot.

Initiative Petition 28 would make it illegal to injure or kill animals and would effectively ban hunting, fishing and the breeding of animals.

Supporters have been collecting signatures for this since 2024 and this past week, they reached the number necessary to make it onto the November ballot.

But it’s not official yet. The Secretary of State’s Office still needs to verify the signatures.

Keep reading

THEY’VE LEARNED NOTHING: California Democrat Governor Candidate Tom Steyer Says ‘I’m Totally in Favor of Trans Athletes in High School’

Democrats learned absolutely nothing from the 2024 election and this proves it.

During a recent podcast appearance, Tom Steyer, the liberal billionaire Democrat running for governor of California, said that he is ‘totally’ in favor of trans athletes in high school.

This technically violates two public sentiments on this issue. Not only do people not want trans athletes in high school sports, people don’t want minors to be allowed to transition genders at all.

The 2024 election made the public’s position on this crystal clear but the Democrats just don’t care.

FOX News reports:

California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer defended transgender athletes competing in high school sports in a podcast posted on Sunday, arguing that excluding transgendered youth from athletics would worsen the emotional and mental health struggles many already face.

“I’m totally in favor of trans athletes in high school,” Steyer told “I’ve Had It” podcast host Jennifer Welch.

“When you understand the vulnerability, the stress, the danger of being a trans kid, and you understand almost half of them try to commit suicide, then you think, ‘We’re gonna punish those kids, we’re gonna cut them off from team sport.’ It’s like, no we’re not.”

Steyer made similar remarks when speaking to CBS Los Angeles but also branded dissidents for perpetuating a “right-wing attempt” to smear transgender individuals.

“To be clear, this is not some huge epidemic,” he said. “This is a right-wing attempt to victimize and villainize already vulnerable and desperate people, and my heart completely goes out to the people who are so sad, feel so rejected, and so unaccepted that half of them would try to kill themselves.”

Steyer is among a crowded field of Democrats vying to retain party control of the governorship once incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom’s term expires.

Keep reading

Mamdani’s ‘Balanced Budget’ Is an Accounting Atrocity

In mid-May, after extending the executive deadline, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released his $124.7 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Executive Budget. 

After warning that NYC faces a budget crisis of “historic magnitude” in late April, Mamdani now assures the 8.5 million residents of the Big Apple that the city is on “firm financial footing” after he “balanced the budget” “without raising property taxes” or “slashing services.”

While it is certainly true that Mamdani did not slash services or raise property taxes even higher than they already are, it is ludicrous for him to declare that NYC’s budget is sound and sustainable.

Aside from Mamdani’s smoke-and-mirrors budget summary, the harsh reality is that the Big Apple is bankrupt. 

According to NYC Comptroller Mark Levine, the “$2.2 billion budget shortfall for FY2026 and projected $10.4 billion gap for FY2027… is the first time since the Great Recession that the City faces a budget shortfall of this magnitude.”

Based on Mamdani’s “balanced budget,” the FY 2026 and FY 2027 deficits are no longer a concern. 

Much of the gap has been taken care of by what Mamdani calls a “partnership with Albany.” New Yorkers outside of the Big Apple call it a bailout.

“Thanks to Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, the City secured an additional $4 billion in state support and actions to help stabilize the budget,” Mamdani bluntly put it.

However, Albany could not supply enough money to make the short-term math work.

Thus, Mamdani’s balanced budget relies upon accounting gimmicks and “new tax revenue.”

Keep reading

She’s Running Again: Kamala Harris’s 2026 Memorial Day Message is a Lot Different Than Her Previous Posts

She’s running again.

Failed presidential hopeful Kamala Harris’s 2026 Memorial Day message is a lot different than her previous posts.

“Today, we pause to remember the Americans who laid down their lives in service to our nation,” Kamala Harris said in a caption with a photo of Arlington National Cemetery.

“May we always honor their legacy and support the loved ones they left behind,” Harris said.

In 2021, Kamala Harris caused a firestorm after she posted a callous Memorial Day message.

“Enjoy the long weekend,” Harris said.

Keep reading

Caucus That Claims Congress Is Silencing Black Voices Silences Black Voices

The Congressional Black Caucus, which frequently complains that Congress is silencing black voices, has denied the application of four congressional black voices.

The four black members of Congress include Reps. Burgess Owens, R-Utah; Wesley Hunt, R-Texas; Byron Donalds, R-Fla.; and John James, R-Mich.

“Unfortunately, for the Left, their priorities are power and profit” Owens told the Daily Signal.

Owens and Donalds pushed to rename the Capitol’s press gallery after civil rights icon Frederick Douglass, a Republican, but caucus members refused to co-sponsor the resolution.

“Democrats know Douglass was a Republican,” Owens said. “They don’t stand up for the things that really should make a difference. They stand up for everything the Democratic Party wants, which means the black community is not always in a good place.”

Owens, who sits on the House’s Education and Workforce Committee, said the Congressional Black Caucus will advocate against the things that could strengthen the black community, such as education.

“That means they are going to vote against school choice,” he said. “Our kids are going down so fast, so far because they’re not getting the right education. … The Black Caucus doesn’t want [school choice] to happen because the Democratic Party doesn’t want that to happen.”

Owens said he grew up in the 1960s deep South, where his community “was doing well” and people believed in faith, family, and the free market. However, he added, the Left doesn’t value those ideals today.

“Marxists and socialists hate faith, family, and free market education because that sense of independence takes away their power and ability to make profit,” he said. “When they make profit on people’s misery, that’s a big business.”

Owens added, “They allow people not to feel good about themselves, feel hopeless, feel desperate, then they depend on you. … And when people have that kind of mindset, and they have no concept of what it is to believe in God or have empathy, they’ll do everything selfishly.”

The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing legislation asking young black athletes to avoid playing college sports for universities in the South, as a method of retaliating against states that redrew congressional maps. Owens, who was the third black athlete to receive a football scholarship from the University of Miami, criticized the effort, saying it’s a move by “black elitists” who want to “take the dreams of young black people away so that they can keep theirs.”

The caucus has received criticism for other decisions, including denying membership to Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., a white congressman who nevertheless represents the largest black community in Tennessee.

Keep reading

AOC Taking Major Steps Toward 2028 Presidential Bid, According to New Report

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is actively positioning herself for a potential run for president in 2028, according to a new report.

The New York congresswoman has begun a “de facto national tour,” visited key early primary states, held meetings with Democratic insiders, and continues to build the kind of infrastructure that could fuel a White House campaign.

While AOC has not formally announced any decision, her recent moves, combined with strong early polling and a history of hiring veterans from Bernie Sanders’ presidential bids, have led many to speculate that she has something up her sleeve.

In a new report from Axios, reporters Alex Thompson and Holly Otterbein detailed how Ocasio-Cortez is making concrete steps toward a presidential campaign.

The report described her as “one of the biggest X factors in the 2028 Democratic primary,” noting that Democratic operatives believe she could “easily raise $100 million just from small-dollar donors, mobilize many supporters of Sanders’ past campaigns, and command attention as few other candidates could.”

The report points out that just this month, AOC has:

  • Rallied voters in Philadelphia for a left-wing congressional candidate in a competitive primary.
  • Spoken at a rally in Montgomery, Ala., about voting rights.
  • Addressed the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta with Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock. (Democrats note that Warnock, the church’s senior pastor, doesn’t always allow visiting politicians to speak at this church. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg didn’t speak when he visited in March.)
  • Met with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter at the King Center in Atlanta to talk about data centers and voting rights.
  • Visited Morehouse School of Medicine, also in Atlanta, to discuss Black maternal health.
  • Rolled out several endorsements in races across the country.

Speaking at an event at the University of Chicago with former Obama adviser David Axelrod earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez responded to questions about 2028 by saying, “They assume that my ambition is positional… They assume that my ambition is a title or a seat. And my ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country.”

Keep reading

69-Year-Old Army Veteran and Owner of ‘Trump House’ in Southern California Dies After Being Brutally Beaten

Kerry Sheron, the 69-year-old owner of the ‘Trump house’ in Southern California, has died after being brutally beaten by a Navy veteran.

Sheron, an Army veteran, was violently assaulted by 32-year-old Thomas Caleb Butler in an unprovoked attack on May 20 outside of Sheron’s home.

Kerry Sheron decorated his Escondido home with Trump banners and American flags.

The Trump-supporting Army veteran died Sunday night just days after he was hospitalized in critical condition.

Butler was previously charged with attempted murder, elder abuse, making criminal threats and battery. His charges will be upgraded after Sheron died from his injuries.

Deputy District Attorney Ross Garcia said Sheron was violently attacked by Butler.

“It was a single punch to the jaw,” Ross Garcia said, NBC San Diego. “The victim then falls to the floor, and there are subsequent hits to the victim’s head area.”

The New York Post reported:

The owner of a heavily decorated pro-Trump home in Southern California has died days after he was beaten to a pulp allegedly by a Navy veteran.

Kerry Sheron, a 69-year-old Army veteran known locally for covering his residence with MAGA banners and American flags, died Sunday night after nearly a week hospitalized in critical condition.

The attack happened May 20 outside Sheron’s home in Escondido, police said.

Prosecutors allege 32-year-old Thomas Caleb Butler attacked Sheron in what officials described as an unprovoked assault.

Butler, who has been described in local reports as a Navy veteran, has pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted murder, elder abuse, criminal threats and battery.

Keep reading

Husband of Former Scottish PM Sturgeon Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Over $540,000 in Party Funds – Peter Murrell in Custody Pending Sentencing

The former chief executive of SNP used stolen funds to finance his luxurious lifestyle.

Another ‘progressive’ politician has been shown to be pocketing money to advance himself.

The husband of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pleaded guilty today (25) to embezzling more than half a million dollars (400,000 pounds) from the Scottish National Party.

Associated Press reported:

“Peter Murrell, 61, who was remanded into custody in the High Court in Edinburgh after his plea, admitted using party funds to buy a high-priced motorhome, two cars, including a Jaguar, and luxury goods, including Bremont watches and household items that included two toilet seats.

‘By embezzling from the SNP, Peter Murrell was stealing the hopes, the dreams and the aspirations of thousands of people all over Scotland, people who gave what they could over many years in the hope that it would help contribute to a better country’, SNP leader John Swinney told a press conference. ‘I am horrified; I am betrayed’.”

Keep reading

Western Democracy?

Two pronounced — and inverse — trends in Western societies have long been observable, and yet they are rarely noticed or discussed.

There is a reason for that. These trends tell us something deeply revealing about how our societies are shaped by structural forces — forces that individual office holders can do little to shape through their own values or personalities.

These forces operate rather like laws of nature — though there is nothing natural about them. They are the very opposite of how most Westerners imagine power works — that is, that it derives from the will of the people and is democratically accountable.

The first trend is this: the nearer to power a politician or official gets, the more their behaviour has to align with the structural interests of the billionaire class. Or put another way, the only route to power for any individual in our societies is by subordinating their personal beliefs and values to the interests of a rapacious, predatory class of capitalists.

The second trend illuminates the first. The further a former office holder moves away from the centre of power, the more room there is for their humanity to resurface — assuming they were not a hollow vessel for power to begin with, or turned permanently sociopathic through years of service to elite interests. (Yes, Tony Blair — I’m looking at you.)

Keep reading

The Devil Neither Political Party Will Name

The widening wealth inequality gap is the political third rail nobody in power truly ever wants to touch.

Politicians will scream at each other all day over taxes, healthcare, immigration, tariffs, student loans, climate policy, or whatever outrage is currently driving engagement on cable news and social media. But the second the conversation turns toward monetary policy, toward the machinery of money creation itself, the room suddenly gets very quiet.

That’s because monetary policy has quietly become the single most powerful force reshaping wealth distribution in modern America. And unlike the endless partisan theater surrounding fiscal policy, monetary intervention oddly enjoys remarkable bipartisan support.

Republicans and Democrats may pretend to be existential enemies on television, but when it comes to flooding the financial system with dollars, both parties reliably fall into line. And that support is precisely why this topic is politically radioactive: once people understand how the system works, the illusion of two competing economic ideologies starts to collapse. Republicans want less spending, Democrats want higher taxes…but both parties want the Fed to keep printing dollars.

Since the early 2000s, and especially after 2008 and the COVID era, America has effectively entered a permanent regime of monetary intervention. Quantitative easing, near-zero interest rates, endless debt monetization, emergency lending facilities, and the mainstream acceptance of Modern Monetary Theory-adjacent thinking have fundamentally altered the structure of markets beyond recognition.

When Ben Bernanke first rolled out quantitative easing during the 2008 financial crisis, Americans were repeatedly assured it was a temporary emergency measure. Bernanke described the programs as targeted interventions designed to stabilize markets and support recovery, not permanently redefine the financial system.

QE1 was supposed to calm panic. Then came QE2. Then Operation Twist. Then QE3 became effectively open-ended, with the Fed purchasing tens of billions in bonds every month indefinitely. What began as a supposedly temporary crisis tool metastasized into a permanent feature of the modern economy. And every subsequent crisis only justified bigger interventions: larger balance sheets, lower rates, more liquidity, more market dependence on central bank support.

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet exploded from under $1 trillion before 2008 to nearly $9 trillion after the pandemic era. Like nearly every government “emergency” program in history, the temporary measure never truly disappeared, it simply normalized, expanded, and embedded itself deeper into the system. It culminated in Neel Kashkari taking to national television to let the world know the Fed has “infinite” cash.

Keep reading