Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom used his official powers to try to counteract the $1.7 billion “anti-weaponization fund” proposed by President Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, Newsom said in a statement on social media that he had signed legislation to tax 100% of the funds that were granted to any Californian.

‘Taxpayer dollars should support victims, not the people who attacked law enforcement officers and our very democracy. We don’t fund criminals.’

The anti-weaponization fund was a part of the settlement Trump made in his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service after his tax records were leaked to the public. Critics say he wants to use the fund to benefit his supporters and allies.

“I just signed a new law imposing a 100% state tax on any Californians who benefit from [Trump’s] Jan. 6th slush fund for insurrectionists,” Newsom wrote. “Taxpayer dollars should support victims, not the people who attacked law enforcement officers and our very democracy. We don’t fund criminals.”

The state of the fund is in dispute, as some members of the administration have said it does not exist and will not exist, but the president has made comments that he still wants it to be established.

“We are not moving forward with the fund. Period,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a congressional hearing.

Opponents of the fund have also filed a lawsuit to prevent its operation.

The Justice Dept. said the possible beneficiaries of the fund would include “millions of Americans whose online speech was censored at the behest of the government, parents silenced at school boards, Senators whose records were secretly subpoenaed, churchgoers targeted by the FBI, and so on.”

RELATED: Video shows Nancy Pelosi exploding with fury at reporter over Jan. 6 claims: ‘SHUT UP!’

“We believe democracy is worth defending, the rule of law matters, and public dollars should support victims — not those who attacked the very institutions that protect our freedoms,” Newsom added.

Newsom is widely believed to be jabbing at the president in order to jump-start a presidential campaign for 2028. He has tried to take on the mantle of the foremost opponent to Trump’s policies.

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​Anti-weaponization fund, California, Gavin newsom, President donald trump, Tax, Politics 

New York City residents were surprised to find two masked people climbing the Empire State Building just after noon on Wednesday.

The New York Police Department confirmed via social media that they closed down streets near 5th Avenue and 34th Street in Manhattan.

They unfurled a banner that read, ‘When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.’

The couple identified themselves on social media as daredevil climbers Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau from Russia.

They unfurled a banner that read, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.”

The NYPD later confirmed that officers had taken the couple into custody but did not immediately say what charges they may face.

One woman told USA Today that there were rumors that the man proposed to the woman during the climb.

“But I don’t really know exactly what it is,” Stephanie Hazelwood said. “It just seems like an attention thing and art, maybe.”

Video obtained by ABC News did indeed appear to show the male climber getting on one knee and proposing to the female climber, who then takes photos of her hand.

“If it’s a proposal, it’s an elaborate one, and I hope she said yes,” one news anchor said on the video.

“OK, they’re hugging. I think he just proposed!” the other anchor said.

The couple were the subject of a documentary titled “Skywalkers: A Love Story” from 2024 and have a large following on social media.

RELATED: Watch: ‘Pro-Life Spider-Man’ climbs New York Times building and California’s second-tallest skyscraper in daring protest against abortion

A spokesperson for the Empire State Building said the “unauthorized” incident was resolved and used the occasion to market the building.

“It is to be emphasized that the Empire State Building Observation Deck, atop the ‘World’s Most Famous Building’ in the center of New York City, does offer a practical way for the most memorable marriage proposals,” the spokesperson said.

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​Daredevil climbers, Empire state building, Manhattan, Marriage proposals, New york city, Nypd, Crime 

Tragedy struck Senatobia, Mississippi, when police were called to Walmart for a shoplifting call. When police confronted a pair of adults, one allegedly drove a car toward the officers, who then shot at the car — killing 1-year-old Kohen Wiley.

“They are arguing that they weren’t running their car into the police and there was no reason for the police to shoot into the car,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says.

However, regardless of what the truth is, Whitlock has found the mother’s reaction tragic as well.

The mother, Vellesiya Wiley, posted photos of herself at the funeral, fanning out a stack of cash and holding a stuffed animal.

“The mother looks like a child. That looks like a teenage mother. That looks anywhere from age 15 to 20 years old to me, is what this mother looks like. But this is at the funeral,” Whitlock says. “What are you doing?”

“I have some sympathy because she’s a child, the mother seems to be. And so she’s reacting like a child,” he adds.

Attorney Ben Crump didn’t waste time chiming in on the devastating news, writing in a post on X that he “will be commissioning an independent autopsy for baby Kohen Wiley because this family deserves the truth.”

“We are calling on the Senatobia Police Department to release the body camera footage now. Kohen Wiley will never get the chance to grow up. His mother will carry this pain for the rest of her life. There must be full transparency and accountability in this case,” he continued. “Justice for baby Kohen!”

“Ben Crump, the ambulance chaser. The illiterate ambulance chaser that barely has command of the English language,” Whitlock comments.

“There doesn’t seem to be much disagreement. The child was shot. What’s the autopsy going to show?” he asks, before pointing out that regardless, “one of the major takeaways” should be, “Don’t use your child if you’re planning on committing any sort of crime.”

“Don’t take your child with you if you’re planning on shoplifting. If you’re planning on doing anything illegal, leave your child with a babysitter at home. Don’t carry your child. And if you decide to get in your car and drive away as police try to detain you, really don’t have your child involved,” he continues.

“But we’ve created a society and a mentality and a culture that says, ‘No, other people are responsible for my safety’ … This is a toxic, poisonous, deadly mindset and culture that we’ve created that too many black people have fallen for,” he adds.

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​Ben crump, Jason whitlock, Kohen wiley, Senatobia mississippi, Fearless with jason whitlock, Vellesiya wiley 

Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker appears to be supportive of socialist Democrats making gains in recent elections, despite their decidedly anti-billionaire policies.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Pritzker during an interview Tuesday if he was comfortable with the far-left Democrats who frequently target billionaires as the enemy, despite the governor being worth about $4.3 billion.

‘I think it’s about what do you stand for and what do you actually accomplish for people, not how much money you have.’

“What do you make of Democrats in your party, as we lead up to 2026 and the midterm elections and 2028, who rail against the billionaire class in your party?” Collins asked.

“I completely understand how people feel looking at Elon Musk and what he’s done to this country and with DOGE and all the things that he blurts out on his own platform, on X,” Pritzker responded, “when people look at what the other kind of oligarch, Big Tech types, have done, right? Those are the examples that people have now of billionaires. Look at Donald Trump and the way he has treated working-class and middle-class people. The fact is that I understand why people feel as they do.”

When pressed by Collins, he implied that he would be exempt from the ban because of his Democratic policies.

“I think it’s much more about the values that you carry and then carry out,” he continued. “And as somebody who has stood up for a workers’ rights amendment and got it passed in the State of Illinois, who’s stood up for LGBTQ and reproductive rights, somebody who’s legalized cannabis, somebody who’s raised the minimum wage in my state for people from $8.25 to $15, you know, I think it’s about what do you stand for and what do you actually accomplish for people, not how much money you have.”

Collins quoted Trump as referring to the socialist Democrats as the greatest threat to the U.S. since the founding, and Pritzker responded by claiming the president suffers from dementia.

“The man is continually suffering from dementia. I don’t think he really understands what he’s saying,” he said.

“I think he has these concepts in his head, and he blurts them out without really thinking,” Pritzker added.

RELATED: George Soros has dumped MILLIONS of dollars into midterm elections — and he’s not done yet

Pritzker is the heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune.

In Feb. 2026, the governor’s cousin Thomas Pritzker stepped down as the executive chairman of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation after 22 years over his involvement with the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

In a letter to the board, Thomas Pritzker wrote, “Good stewardship also means protecting Hyatt, particularly in the context of my association with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, which I deeply regret.”

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​Elon musk, President donald trump, Socialist democrats, Politics, Jb pritzker 

On a recent episode of his show, Tucker Carlson interviewed Christian commentator and theologian J.D. Hall on Christian Zionism, dispensationalism, and related topics.

During the discussion, Hall argued that Islam has historically been “kind” to Christians, especially under the Ottoman Empire.

Allie Beth Stuckey, however, believes this Muslim-sympathic interview is another attempt by Carlson to “whitewash Islam.”

On this episode of “Relatable,” Allie dives into the real history of Islam’s relationship with Christianity.

“When the Ottomans were in control of the promised land for 400 years in the millet system, they didn’t charge churches tax. Israel started just a few years ago,” Hall said, arguing that the Muslim rulers were actually “very kind to Christians.”

Citing the work of Raymond Ibrahim — a prominent historian specializing in Islamic history, the Middle East, and the historical and contemporary interactions between Islam and the West — Allie calls Hall’s claim about the taxes “misleading.”

“Churches weren’t specifically taxed, but Christians … had to pay an extra tax called the jizya that was imposed on non-Muslims. That was the only way to guarantee any kind of protection,” Allie corrects.

“It’s true that the Ottomans allowed religious communities to govern many of their own affairs … but non-Muslims remained second-class subjects. In addition to paying extra taxes, they faced restrictions on churches, on evangelism, legal rights, dress, bearing arms,” she continues.

Hall’s claim that Muslims were kind to Christians, however, “is just not true” at all, says Allie. “The Islamic Ottoman Empire persecuted Christians for centuries, killed them, enslaved them for centuries.”

She then gives the example of the Muslim takeover of Constantinople — “the center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity” and “the last remnant of the Roman Empire.”

“So when the city’s defenses gave way, thousands of civilians crowded into the Hagia Sophia, the city’s largest church, seeking safety, and the Ottoman troops led by Sultan Mehmed II forced their way inside, and the refuge became the scene of looting, enslavement, widespread abuse, including mass rape,” says Allie.

She reads eyewitness accounts from Thomas the Eparch and Joshua Diplovatatzes (two Byzantine figures who witnessed and documented the city’s fall): “Then, he (Sultan Mehmed II) seized one of the grand duke’s daughters, who was quite beautiful, and made her lie on the great altar of the Hagia Sophia with a crucifix under her head and then raped her. Then, the most brutish of the Turks seized the finest noble women, virgins, and nuns of the city and violated them in the presence of the Greeks and in the sacrilege of Christianity.”

“Wow — things haven’t changed in centuries,” says Allie. “This is the same thing that happens to Christians today in very similar manners, certainly in places like Nigeria and Uganda.”

“It is not just the pillaging of Christian women; it is the purposeful blasphemy against the Christian God.”

To hear more of Allie’s rebuttal, watch the episode above.

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​Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Allie beth stuckey, Islam, Tucker carlson, Relatable 

The $850 million Obama Presidential Center opened last week in Chicago — but not without a performative “land acknowledgement.”

“We’d also like to take a moment to recognize the original inhabitants of the land upon which we are gathered today,” Valerie Jarrett, chief executive officer of the Obama Foundation, said. “We honor the Anishinaabe, the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi nations.”

“First of all,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray comments, “It’s the ugliest building on this planet, especially at the price that was paid to build that thing, $850 million.”

“Secondly, I’m so sick of hearing about stolen land,” he says. “If you’re on stolen land, Barack, give it back. How about that? Once again, the United States is the only nation on earth … that’s continually hammered with this stolen land stuff.”

“Every nation on earth, all of them have been taken from someone else. Every major nation on earth has been taken from some indigenous peoples either through conquest, displacement, colonial expansion, war, you name it,” he continues.

Executive producer Keith Malinak points out that the tribe names Jarrett repeated had all “defeated each other over history.”

“The indigenous people who stole it from each other,” Gray agrees. “The only nations on this planet that can say … that they’re not on stolen land now are the ones that weren’t inhabited in the first place.”

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​Anishinaabe, Barack obama, Council of three fires, Obama center, Odawa, Ojibwe, Pat gray, Potawatomi nations, Stolen land, Valerie jarrett, Pat gray unleashed 

While Democrats are hopeful about their chances to gain control of the U.S. Senate as well as the House of Representatives, a CNN political analyst says the former is very unlikely.

Harry Enten explained the math problem plaguing Democrats in a segment focusing on the polling results on the Senate campaigns in several states.

In all of those states, Republicans are beating Democrats by at least 2 percentage points.

“So what’s the simple math here? Democrats need a net gain of four — four Senate seats to regain control of the upper chamber in Congress, and right now the math, simply put, isn’t there for them. … It’s a math problem,” Enten said.

Enten went on to show that the most likely Senate seat gains for Democrats are in North Carolina and Texas, where they are either ahead in the polling or even. However, they need at least two other seats to flip, and the most likely candidates are in Iowa, Alaska, and Ohio. In all of those states, Republicans are beating Democrats by at least 2 percentage points.

He went on to show that Democrats were basically tied in the election polling in Maine, a state where they should be further ahead.

“Even in Maine, a state that Kamala Harris easily won back in 2024. … You have a race that, simply put, is way too close to call. So really, on the mathematical march to four seats, there’s really only one seat at this point that Democrats can look like they can count on,” Enten explained.

CNN anchor John Berman noted that President Donald Trump’s popularity has suffered because of high inflation and the unpopularity of the Iran war. Enten countered that Democrats have still polled poorly in red states, where they need to pick up seats in order to win the Senate.

“These are states that are just very hard to win because, bottom line is, what is holding them back … is the fundamentals,” he added.

RELATED: ‘Blue wave’ expected for midterms looks more like a tiny ripple, says CNN’s Harry Enten

Enten ended by showing that prediction markets lessened the chances of Democrats winning the Senate from 49% in May to only 41% currently.

Republicans, meanwhile, have improved their odds to hold on to the Senate in the prediction markets from 51% in May to 59% currently.

Enten posted the video of his CNN segment to his official social media account on Wednesday.

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​Democrats, Donald trump, Harry enten, Midterm elections, Republicans, Politics, Senate 

Democratic Socialists of America continue to take out establishment Democrats at the ballot box. The latest casualty is a longtime congresswoman from Colorado.

On Tuesday, Gen Z upstart Melat Kiros trounced longtime incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District of Colorado, representing much of Denver. With 81% of the vote reported, Kiros holds a lead of nearly 10 points, 51.3% to DeGette’s 41.7%, according to NBC News.

‘This is the most anti-incumbent cycle we’ve seen in a really long time.’

As of Wednesday afternoon, DeGette had still not conceded the race on social media. Late Tuesday night, she posted to X that “it looks like we won’t have final results tonight.”

By all accounts, DeGette has established far-left Democrat bona fides. She was a manager in President Trump’s second impeachment effort, she supports “Medicare for all,” and she wants to abolish ICE.

Though she has a progressive track record, DeGette characterized Kiros’ platform as “extreme.”

Indeed, Kiros has been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, Justice Democrats, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and she espouses many of their radical views, especially regarding Israel. She even claims to have been fired from a law firm after writing a letter supporting Palestine after the October 7 attacks.

Kiros, a lawyer and a Ph.D. student, explained that once she began campaigning for office, she realized: “All these policies I’m calling for are democratic socialism,” Vox reported.

DeGette, 68, was first sworn in to Congress in January 1997, four months before Kiros, 29, was born.

RELATED: The People’s Republic of NY-13: Election results breakdown

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Kiros is just the latest democratic socialist to successfully primary a Democrat incumbent. In the New York primary races last week, 32-year-old Darializa Avila Chevalier took out 71-year-old incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, and NYC Comptroller Brad Lander defeated anti-Trump radical Rep. Dan Goldman.

Democratic socialist Assemblywoman Claire Valdez also won the primary for the open seat in the 7th Congressional District of New York. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) is retiring at the end of the term.

Both Avila Chevalier and Lander had been endorsed by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a fellow democratic socialist who, like Kiros, was not born in America. Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents, while Kiros was born in Ethiopia and brought to America as a baby.

Kiros views the 2026 Democratic primary races as an opportunity to reshape the party.

“This is the most anti-incumbent cycle we’ve seen in a really long time,” she told Vox. “So I think this is an opportunity to change the party in a way that — I don’t think we’ll have another chance like this. To pass it up, I think, is irresponsible.”

“This isn’t just about replacing one generation of leaders with another,” she also told Vox. “It’s about replacing it with moral clarity, with urgency, with courage — and making sure that the will of the voters is actually being represented and fought for at the federal level.”

The 1st Congressional District of Colorado is heavily Democrat, and Kiros is expected to win the seat in November.

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​Politics 

The president has made a major announcement regarding the upcoming midterms.

President Donald Trump says he will be heading up a Republican midterm convention, the first ever, in September.

‘THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN!’

The midterm convention will be held in Dallas, Texas, according to President Trump’s post on social media. He previously pitched the idea in Aug. 2025.

“It will be fantastic! It has never been done before, and will be a truly Historic Event. We are going to celebrate the GREAT AMERICAN COMEBACK, and the incredible successes of the American People who transformed our Country through the America First Agenda,” he wrote Tuesday.

He lauded a list of his accomplishments that included the shutdown at the border, lowering crime, and increasing the nation’s energy dominance.

Trump went on to say the convention will prepare the country for another 250 years of success.

“At the Event, we will have hardworking Americans, our Great Innovators, Entrepreneurs, Manufacturers, First Responders, and Job Creators who are powering our Nation’s Golden Age, and proving that America’s best days are still ahead of us,” he added. “We will also have lots of Great Entertainment — It will be a RALLY like none other!”

Richard Hudson, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, praised the president in a statement on social media.

“President Trump has united Republicans behind a winning agenda that’s delivering results for the American people,” he wrote. “The Midterm Convention will showcase our strong Republican candidates, energize supporters across the country, and ensure House Republicans have the resources to protect and grow our majority in November.”

The midterm convention will run from Sept. 9 to 10.

Democrats considered returning their midterm convention but decided against it. Some suspect that their dwindling cash donations forced them to abandon the idea.

RELATED: ‘Blue wave’ expected for midterms looks more like a tiny ripple, says CNN’s Harry Enten

The convention should help galvanize Republican voters to show up at the ballot box for the midterm elections, which will determine whether Democrats will take over Congress for the rest of Trump’s second term.

“THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN!” the president concluded.

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