Commentary Culture Investigations

PALM BEACH, Fla. — National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair Sen. Tim Scott says he remains “incredibly optimistic” the GOP can not only hold but expand its current 53–47 majority in the fall 2026 midterm elections.But as Republicans battle stiff political headwinds as the party in power in the nation’s capital traditionally loses seats in the midterms and as the GOP faces a rough political climate fueled by economic concerns amid persistent inflation and President Donald Trump’s underwater approval ratings, Scott isn’t sugar-coating things.”There’s no doubt the climate has gotten more and more difficult by the day, it seems like at times,” Scott said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital at an annual economic conference in Florida hosted by the Club for Growth, an influential and politically potent conservative political group that pushes for fiscal responsibility.Scott in early February gave fellow GOP senators some straight talk about the party’s chances in the midterm elections, when he briefed his colleagues at a closed-door meeting, according to sources in the room.STRATEGY SESSION: TRUMP TEAM HUDDLES ON MIDTERM MESSAGING The NRSC chair told Fox News Digital in December 2025 that in the battle for the majority, “54 is clearly within our grasp right now, but with a little bit of luck, 55 is on our side.”Asked again in his Fox News Digital interview Saturday, Scott said, “I think we have a possibility of more than 53 seats.”MAJORITY AT RISK? — THESE SIX GOP HELD SENATE SEATS MOST AT JEAPARDY”The good news is we have a president who made promises, he’s been keeping those promises, and we have been able to recruit the highest quality candidates anyone could want in every single battleground state,” Scott said. Highlighting seats the GOP’s aiming to flip, Scott pointed to Georgia, where Republicans view first-term Sen. Jon Ossoff as the most vulnerable Democrat seeking re-election in 2026. He also spotlighted open Democratic-held seats in battleground Michigan, swing state New Hampshire, and blue-leaning Minnesota.GOP CALLS TRUMP ITS ‘SECRET WEAPON’ — BUT POLLS SHOW WARNING SIGNS HEADING INTO MIDTERMSScott said he’s “incredibly optimistic, not only about holding the majority, but still expanding the majority through Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire and even Minnesota, we have a strong candidate.”The candidate he was referring to in Minnesota is former NBC Sports reporter turned conservative activist and commentator Michele Tafoya.But Democrats are targeting Maine, where longtime GOP Sen. Susan Collins is running for re-election in the blue-leaning northern New England state, and battleground North Carolina, where Republicans are defending an open seat in the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis.Democrats are also trying to flip GOP-held Senate seats in Texas, Ohio, Alaska and Iowa, which are all red states.”Voters are sick and tired of Trump and Senate Republicans’ toxic agenda raising prices and threatening their health care,” the rival Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) emphasized in a social media post. “Voters across the country are ready to send Senate Republicans packing this November.”PAXTON SAYS HE’S STAYING IN THE RACE EVEN IF TRUMP BACKS CORNYNIn Texas, the NRSC is backing longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn, who is now facing off with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a MAGA firebrand, in a costly and combustible primary runoff.Trump said last week, following the primary election where no candidate in the crowded Republican field cracked 50% to win the nomination, that he would soon make an endorsement.The NRSC and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who is also backing Cornyn, are concerned that a Paxton victory could give the Democrats a path to flipping the red seat, thanks to the state attorney general’s political baggage, including a plethora of past scandals and a current messy divorce.”The one thing we know about John Cornyn is he will win Texas. If you want to have the clearest path of victory, John Cornyn is your guy,” Scott said. “President Trump is the only person that can make that a reality immediately through this runoff process.”Scott said “we hope and pray” that Trump will endorse Cornyn. But he added: “The President is going to do what the President is going to do. I won’t pretend to influence his final decision, but I will say, I’m certainly praying for John Cornyn to be our our nominee.”TRUMP ARGUES GAS PRICES SPIKE IS TEMPORARYOil prices have shot up in the week and a half since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, instantly resulting in higher costs for gasoline across America. That’s a major concern for Republicans in a midterm election cycle where the economy, and specifically affordability, is the top concern of voters.”I think the economy will continue to get better month over a month,” an optimist Scott predicted. “I think the rest of this year we’ll see unfolding good information, good facts about why the American people should focus on the Republican Party and keep us in the majority.”And with the annual tax filing deadline just more than a month away, Scott touted the numerous tax cuts kicking in this year in the GOP’s sweeping “big, beautiful bill”, which Trump signed into law in summer 2025. Scott touted “a bigger tax return for millions of Americans, that’s great news. The more they see more money in their pockets, and the more they attribute it to the Republican Party, the better we’re going to do this election season.”

From BizPac Review:
As had been reported in February, the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, which had officially begun its mission of reparations in 2019, had announced another 44 residents were expected to get taxpayer-funded handouts of $25,000 meant to go toward housing expenses. The monies were said to have been collected through the real estate transfer tax and revenue from the sale of cannabis.
Meanwhile, it had also been detailed that Evanston was facing a class action lawsuit over the reparations as Judicial Watch had asserted in a court filing that the handouts were a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
“[T]he program’s use of a race-based eligibility requirement is presumptively unconstitutional, and remedying societal discrimination is not a compelling government interest. Nor has remedying societal discrimination from as many as 105 years ago, or remedying intergenerational discrimination ever been recognized as a compelling government interest,” argued Judicial Watch. “Among the program’s other fatal flaws is that it uses race as a proxy for discrimination without requiring proof of discrimination.”
Read more here…
The post Reparations commission releases report on harms against black citizens, calls for lawmakers to act appeared first on Judicial Watch.

From Fox News:
The future of reparations in California appears to be precarious as well after Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected several bills to avoid legal issues and none of his potential successors appear to champion reparations in the gubernatorial race. One of the candidates outright rejected the notion of direct cash payments, which is often associated with reparations efforts.
Lisa Holder, a civil rights attorney and a former member of the state’s Reparations Task Force, reportedly said that advancing reparations would be a long process while advocates search for a champion of the cause. “You can’t legislate yourself out of 400 years of inequality and injustice. You have to do an entire body of laws to change the systems that have been disparately affecting black folks for decades,” Holder told KQED on Jan. 19. 
“You now have to put many, many laws in place to change practically every system, whether you’re talking about systems of finance, housing. Laws that require equitable treatment, laws that require affirmative hiring sometimes in industries where Black people were affirmatively not hired.”
Cash payment reparations was implemented in Evanston, Illinois. Evanston was the first city in the nation to pass a reparations plan, pledging $10 million over a decade to Black residents in November 2019. 
Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, told Fox News Digital earlier this month it filed a lawsuit against Evanston, to stop the city from paying Black residents reparations. The $25,000 payments to Evanston residents are intended to cover housing expenses. The city committed to focus on housing because the issue is “the strongest case for reparations.” 
Read more here…
The post Reparations advocates push for payments to Black Americans despite budget and legal challenges appeared first on Judicial Watch.

Another federal judge has ruled against the Trump administration after a group of fired employees filed a lawsuit to oppose layoffs ordered at Voice of America.President Donald Trump nominated Kari Lake to oversee the federal multimedia broadcaster in March 2025 as part of an order to reduce redundant government agencies.’We don’t have anyone in our foreign bureaus. We don’t have anybody, basically, to cover the news.’On Saturday, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that Lake did not have the authority to order the layoffs, but it is unclear how the agency will proceed after the ruling.”Only the Appointments Clause or the Vacancies Act’s exclusive structure may authorize service as a principal officer, and Lake satisfies the requirements of neither the statute nor the Constitution,” Lamberth wrote in the ruling.Lamberth also noted that Lake had not been approved by the U.S. Senate.The journalists who filed the lawsuit included Voice of America White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, Kate Neeper, and Jessica Jerreat.”We feel vindicated and deeply grateful. The judge’s ruling that Kari Lake’s actions shall have no force or effect is a powerful step toward undoing the damage she has inflicted on this American institution that we love,” reads a statement from the journalists.”Even as we work through what this ruling means for colleagues harmed by her actions, it brings renewed hope and momentum to the next phase of our fight,” they added, “restoring VOA’s global operations and ensuring we continue to produce journalism, not propaganda.”About 85% of the staff at VOA and the U.S. Agency for Global Media has been fired since March 2025, which includes about 1,400 workers.”There’s about 120 working right now, and that’s all based in D.C.,” Widakuswara said. “We don’t have anyone in our foreign bureaus. We don’t have anybody, basically, to cover the news.”RELATED: Judge orders Trump administration to restore slavery exhibits to presidential home site Lake excoriated the judge and indicated the government would appeal the ruling.”The American people gave President Trump a mandate to cut bloated bureaucracy, eliminate waste, and restore accountability to government,” she wrote on social media.”An activist judge is trying to stand in the way of those efforts at USAGM,” she added. “Judge Lamberth has a pattern of activist rulings — and this case is no different.”Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

An 11-year-old Florida boy who was just arrested for making a death threat was charged with the same crime in October, police said.The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office noted in its news release last week that “we have a repeat visitor” before disclosing that it was the young suspect’s “second arrest for making a written threat to kill.”‘If you can threaten to shoot 7 teachers you can take a perp walk. Parents, discipline your kids and I won’t have to.’The sheriff’s office said the boy has been in a diversion program as a result of his last arrest in October at Southwestern Middle School after he sent a group message “IM GONNA SHOOT YOU” from another student’s communications account.But officials said the 11-year-old on Thursday once again used another student’s account to send the message “imma shoot you” to seven teachers at DeLand Middle School.The sheriff’s office posted video of a deputy perp-walking the handcuffed boy into a holding cell. Blaze News is not naming the suspect or showing his face because of his age.RELATED: 10-year-old Florida boy arrested, perp-walked on camera over kill list, threatening to bring gun to elementary school: Cops Image source: Volusia County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office video screenshot, compositeSheriff Mike Chitwood had strong words for those who “coddle” young people accused of such crimes.”Now understand this. We have 63,000 students and 4,400 teachers in Volusia County Schools. I know some want to make excuses and coddle the select few who choose to make threats. You can pat them on the head and tell them everything’s going to be alright. My job is to look out for everyone else,” Chitwood wrote. “These idiotic threats disrupt our schools, eat up time and resources, and increase the chances a real threat slips through the cracks. If you can threaten to shoot 7 teachers you can take a perp walk. Parents, discipline your kids and I won’t have to.”Such arrests seem to be piling up in Florida.The day before the 11-year-old boy’s arrest last week, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 10-year-old boy and perp-walked him on camera after officials said he threatened to bring a gun to his elementary school and left a kill list in his classroom.Late last month the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said officers arrested a 12-year-old girl after she posted online a “detailed manifesto” about carrying out a mass shooting at a middle school due to bullying.Also in February, a pair of 15-year-olds were arrested after being accused of threatening to shoot up high schools, police said.In late October, an 11-year-old girl was arrested after writing a “kill list” at her desk at school, police said. Then just two weeks later, an 11-year-old boy from the same school district was arrested after allegedly creating a “kill list” at school, police said.Also in October, a Florida sheriff’s office came under fire for posting 9-year-old male’s mug shot on Facebook after his felony arrest for allegedly bringing a knife into his elementary school.Just a week prior, that same sheriff’s office said a 10-year-old was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, a third-degree felony, after bringing a pocketknife to school and threatening another student. The sheriff’s office posted the suspect’s name and mug shot.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

President Donald Trump on Monday successfully urged Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese to grant the Iranian women’s soccer team diplomatic protection after the hardline regime branded them “wartime traitors” for refusing to sing the Islamic Republic’s national anthem during a game last week.
Trump initially said Australia would be “making a terrible humanitarian mistake” if it forced the players to return to Iran after their act of defiance against the regime. The players, he said, would “most likely be killed” and he urged Albanese to grant them asylum.
Trump also pledged that the United States would welcome the players if Australia did not allow them to stay. It was initially unclear whether the Australian government would offer the team asylum. Matt Thistlethwaite, assistant minister for foreign affairs and trade, said earlier on Monday that the government could not “go into individual circumstances for privacy reasons,” according to the Times of Israel. The Australian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The State Department directed inquiries to the White House, which referred the Washington Free Beacon to Trump’s Truth Social posts.
Two hours later, Trump announced that he held a phone call with Albanese and confirmed that five players had “already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.” He noted, though, that others on the team are choosing to return to Iran “because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return.”
“In any event, the Prime Minister is doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation,” Trump continued in a post on Truth Social. “God bless Australia!”
The 25-player soccer team drew Tehran’s ire last week after its members stood silent on the field as the Islamic Republic’s anthem played, an act of rebellion against the hardline Iranian regime during its military conflict with the United States and Israel. The players who return home will likely face repercussions from the regime, which on Sunday appointed the late Ali Khamenei’s son, Mojtaba Khamenei, as its next supreme leader.
The Islamic Republic has a history of imprisoning and even executing athletes who protest against its government. The regime tortured and executed prominent wrestler Navid Afkari in 2020 after he participated in anti-government protests in 2018 and did the same to karate champion Mohammad Mehdi Karami, who took part in the 2022 wave of demonstrations, in 2023. The regime also sentenced soccer player Amir Reza Nasr Azadani to death for participating in those protests.
The regime reportedly forced the women’s soccer team to reverse course and sing the national anthem before matches on Thursday and Saturday. Several players were seen flashing the international signal for “help” from their bus over the weekend, suggesting they faced imminent danger. Supporters rallied around the team’s bus after a loss on Sunday, shouting, “Save our girls.”
Five members of the team have fled their hotel in Australia and have received shelter from police, CNN reported Monday, while others may follow suit after Trump’s intervention.
Trump last month faced criticism from opponents who accused him of being anti-woman after he joked about reluctantly inviting the U.S. women’s hockey team to join the men’s team at the White House after both won Olympic gold medals. The men’s team did attend a celebration at the White House, while the women’s team declined the president’s invitation.
The post Australian PM Will Grant Iranian Women’s Soccer Players Asylum After Trump Mounts Pressure Campaign appeared first on .

CBS News justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane announced on Monday that he is leaving the network.MacFarlane became the latest CBS News employee to exit amid editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ reshaping of the organization. He penned a farewell note to colleagues explaining that it was his decision to walk away. “To my incredible colleagues at CBS: I want to personally let you know that my work will soon no longer appear on CBS News. This is my decision, and I appreciate the bosses at CBS for understanding it,” MacFarlane posted on X.’CBS MORNINGS’ EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ANNOUNCES EXIT WITH CANDID MEMO TO COLLEAGUES”I will always value the opportunity I had to work alongside the talented and committed professionals here. I’m proud to have had the words ‘CBS correspondent’ next to my name — always will be,” MacFarlane continued. “For the next phase of my career, I look forward to some independence and finding new spaces to share my work in line with my personal goals. I thank you all. The work will not stop, and I’ll always be a call away.”CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment. MacFarlane has been with CBS News since 2021 and earned 20 Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards, according to his bio page on the network’s website. His exit comes weeks after Anderson Cooper walked away from “60 Minutes,” and a trio of producers bolted.  CRONKITE-ERA PRODUCER EXITS CBS NEWS IN DRAMATIC FASHION AFTER 46 YEARS AT NETWORK”CBS Mornings” executive producer Shawna Thomas on Thursday announced she would leave the show at the end of the month, saying she’s “tired.” Last month, veteran CBS News producer Mary Walsh exited the network in dramatic fashion, suggesting the organization has been told to aim reporting at a particular political party. “CBS Evening News” producer Alicia Hastey also quit and suggested there “has been a sweeping new vision prioritizing a break from traditional broadcast norms to embrace what has been described as ‘heterodox’ journalism.” Weiss, who was handpicked by CEO David Ellison, was formally named editor-in-chief of CBS News in October after her outlet, The Free Press, was acquired by Paramount. OUSTED CBS NEWS STAFFER TAKES TO TIKTOK TO ACCUSE NETWORK OF RACE-BASED LAYOFFSWeiss landing the coveted role was met with both internal and external criticism, with some citing her opinion background and lack of television experience. Others, however, have welcomed the move, noting that CBS News trailed ABC and NBC in most metrics and needed to evolve. In the months since taking control of CBS News, Weiss has put an emphasis on trust and bluntly told staffers they’re “not producing a product that enough people want.” She also irked “60 Minutes” staffers by delaying a report on the notorious El Salvador prison CECOT, and she has been accused by media liberals of carrying water for President Donald Trump’s administration, although Weiss’ supporters insisted she was simply attempting to balance out the network that has drifted to the left in recent years. CBS News has also faced layoffs in recent months as parent company Paramount aimed to reduce headcount after Paramount Global and Skydance merged last year. 

In the sharia state established by Ayatollah Khomeini, there was no small amount of luck involved in Ali Khamenei’s becoming supreme leader.

The implications for other Western societies are dire.

The top Senate Democrat wants President Donald Trump to tap the nation’s oil stockpile as fuel prices skyrocket, years after blocking his attempt to replenish the supply when prices were low.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Trump to unleash reserve barrels of oil from America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as oil prices spike amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.Schumer argued in a statement that the reserve “exists for moments exactly like this.”TRUMP’S ENERGY DOMINANCE REWRITES THE STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE AFTER BIDEN DRAWDOWNS”When wars and global crises disrupt energy markets, the United States has the ability to act, but President Trump and his administration are refusing to do so,” Schumer said. “Trump should release oil from the SPR now to stabilize markets, bring prices down, and stop the price shock that American families are already feeling thanks to his reckless war.”During his first term, Trump wanted to use about $3 billion from a colossal COVID-19 stimulus package making its way through Congress to fill the reserve, but the move was promptly rejected by Schumer and congressional Democrats, who panned it as a “bailout” for the oil industry.The price per barrel at the time was roughly $29, according to WTI Crude Oil. Now, oil has eclipsed $110 per barrel over the weekend for the first time since 2022.Though the SPR has capacity for over 700 million barrels of crude oil, the reserve currently has far less.TANKERS TO RESUME NORMAL MOVEMENT IN MIDDLE EAST IN ‘A FEW WEEKS’ AT WORST, ENERGY SEC SAYS, ENDING OIL SURGEThat’s because under former President Joe Biden, it was tapped twice — once to relieve soaring fuel prices as the nation still grappled with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and another time to combat increased energy costs at the onset of the war between Russia and Ukraine.At the end of Biden’s term, the reserve had about 415 million barrels of crude on hand, according to data from the Department of Energy. Schumer supported both instances when Biden opened the nation’s oil reserves but, years prior, blocked Trump from building up the stockpile toward the end of his first term.”Senator Schumer championed Joe Biden’s Green New Scam, which raised energy costs, threatened our national security, and stifled American energy independence,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital in a statement. “President Trump has been unleashing American energy dominance since day one, and now, American oil and gas production is at record highs.” GAS PRICES COULD JUMP AS MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS THREATEN GLOBAL OIL SUPPLYSchumer lauded Biden’s first move to tap into the SPR in 2021, arguing that it provided “much-needed temporary relief at the pump.””Of course, the only long-term solution to rising gas prices is to continue our march to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels and create a robust green energy economy,” he said at the time.And toward the end of Biden’s presidency, his administration did buy back barrels of oil to refill the reserves, which Schumer did not object to. Fast-forward, and the price per barrel of oil has launched into the stratosphere since Trump’s Operation Epic Fury and Iran’s response to put the Strait of Hormuz — a key route ferrying barrels around the globe — into a chokehold.For now, the administration has no public plans to tap into the reserve as Americans undergo sticker shock at the pump.Energy Secretary Chris Wright argued that the best way to lower prices was to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by neutralizing Iran’s ability to target oil tankers.Wright told Fox News over the weekend that the disruption would last for “weeks, certainly not months.””We believe this is a small price to pay to get to a world where energy prices will return back to where they were,” Wright said. “Iran will finally be defanged, and now you can see more investment, more free flow of trade, and less ability to threaten energy supplies.”