Don't miss...
US targets Chinese refinery in sweeping Iran oil crackdown, sanctions ‘shadow fleet’ tankers
The OFAC sanctioned a major Chinese oil refinery and dozens of Iran-linked shadow fleet vessels in an escalation of a maximum pressure campaign on Tehran.
Highly contagious stomach bug surges in US as some groups face severe effects
Conversation starters, celebrity health reveals, healthy living hacks and medical cautions: Here’s what you missed in Fox News Health this week
NASCAR makes major change in front office, including new CEO in unprecedented move: report
NASCAR reportedly is undergoing a historic leadership shift as Jim France is set to step down as CEO, and Steve O’Donnell will become the first non-France family leader.
WATCH: Trump reveals flashy new color for National Mall’s reflecting pool makeover
Trump reveals the National Mall reflecting pool is being repainted in “American flag blue,” with repairs expected to be finished in three weeks.
UC Berkeley slammed after anti-Israel group hosts failed suicide bomber as guest event speaker: ‘cesspool’
UC Berkeley Law Students for Justice Palestine capped off Palestinian Political Prisoners Day with a video from a convicted attempted car bomber.
Meghan McCain reveals peace made with Trump, says he sent ‘very kind’ message
Meghan McCain shared on her podcast that she prefers Trump’s second-term tone and reveals he sent a “very kind” private message to her family.
‘Gigantic’ ancient octopus used jaws to crush prey and hunted alongside the dinosaurs 100M years ago: study
Octopuses’ earliest relatives may have been gigantic predators hunting during the age of dinosaurs, according to new Hokkaido University research.
Trump administration calls off criminal probe into Fed Chair Powell
President Donald Trump’s administration has dropped the criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for his multibillion-dollar renovation project.
The Department of Justice dropped the probe just days after Trump’s pick to replace Powell, Kevin Warsh, testified before the Senate Banking Committee. After the hearing, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina reiterated that he would not support Warsh’s confirmation unless the investigation into Powell is dropped.
‘I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation.’
Tillis is one of seven Republicans on the 13-member committee, meaning his vote is needed to advance Warsh’s nomination to the Senate floor, presuming no Democrat defectors.
After Tillis once again made his demands clear, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced the investigation was dropped.
RELATED: The lone Republican who could tank Trump’s Fed pick
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“This morning the Inspector General for the Federal Reserve has been asked to scrutinize the building costs overruns — in the billions of dollars — that have been borne by taxpayers,” Pirro said in a post on X. “The IG has the authority to hold the Federal Reserve accountable to American taxpayers.”
“I expect a comprehensive report in short order and am confident the outcome will assist in resolving, once and for all, the questions that led this office to issue subpoenas,” Pirro added. “Accordingly, I have directed my office to close our investigation as the IG undertakes this inquiry. Note well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so.”
Warsh’s confirmation now awaits a vote from the Senate Banking Committee before proceeding to the Senate floor, where the nominee will need to secure a simple majority. Powell’s term expired in March, but he said he will remain in the role until Warsh is confirmed.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
COUCH POTATOES: Desperate late-night hosts bore viewers with Tim Walz, John Kerry
Johnny Carson made us howl by having the biggest stars on the galaxy grace his “Tonight Show” couch.
Sinatra. Reynolds. Rickles. Martin.
‘We need somebody, we need a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat.’
Modern late-night shows settle for the likes of John Kerry and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Both far-left Democrats appeared on late-night this week, eager to take the hosts’ softball queries and smack ‘em out of the park.
Walz’s chat on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” found him deflecting the massive fraud in his state to, you guessed it, President Donald Trump. Any tough questions about Cap’n Jazz Hands quitting his re-election campaign? Hardly.
At this point, one of those “Technical Difficulties: Please Stand By” signs would be better than these late-night hacks …
Mind freak
Psychic abilities are overrated, apparently.
Sunny Hostin, in a daily scrum to prove who the dumbest “View” host is, told the ABC show crowd this week about her unique skill set. No, it doesn’t involve twisting the truth into a Bavarian pretzel. She’s already proved that more than a few times.
This week, Hostin shared a deeply personal strength.
I believe I have psychic abilities. I recall when I was a child at about 5 years old. You know, I grew up very poor, and I dreamt a number. And my grandmother was like, ‘We are going to play that number.’ We used to call it playing the numbers, and my entire family won based on that number.
Did she foresee how “The View” would become the train wreck TV that it is today? If so, she may be the real deal …
‘Chainsaw’ chatter
Leatherface is ready for his close-up. Again.
A mad bidding war for the “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” franchise is over, and newbie director Curry Barker (“Obsession”) will do the honors for A24 films.
But why?
The 1974 original is a classic for all the right reasons. It’s raw and shocking, and it reinvented horror in ways that are still reverberating today. It’s the original nightmare fuel, complete with an odd vocal cameo by John Larroquette. (And he was paid in pot. Literally.) Except we haven’t had many quality “Massacre” films since then.
Eight films. Only one could be considered a keeper, the unjustly attacked 2003 reboot starring Jessica Biel. The rest have modest reasons to recommend them, at best, but only for horror junkies.
Will the ninth film since the original hit the jackpot? Barker directed the no-budget horror film “Milk & Serial,” a creepy affair that became his calling card. “Obsession,” brimming with positive prerelease buzz, drops next month.
If not, well, the next reboot is only a few years away …
RELATED: Billionaire Bruce blasts ‘rich men’ in latest concert rant
Allen J. Schaben/ullstein bild/Getty Images
Cho chooses violence
Projection is a terrible drug.
The left routinely tells us who they are by projecting their darkest impulses on their ideological foes. And Margaret Cho is example A, B, and C.
Maybe D.
The far-left comic raged against all things Trump in a new interview. She didn’t stop there.
I am a Democrat, but I also feel like there’s this weird attachment to decorum and taking the high road, and none of that is gonna work. We need somebody, we need a feral, bloodthirsty, violent Democrat. We just need somebody who is willing to put them all in prison — do the right thing and put them all in prison.
Taking the high road? Apparently, Cho was struck in the head around 2017 and just woke up from a nearly decade-long coma. We wish her well in her recovery …
Rock ‘n’ roll swindle
The Boss missed out on that hometown discount.
Bruce Springsteen’s anti-Trump tour is getting all sorts of fawning press for all the obvious reasons. It could be partly why a 76-year-old rocker embraces his far-left shtick in the first place. He knew the legacy media would have his back.
Either way, a new review of his recent New Jersey concert hit the brakes on the media love fest.
Hard.
NJ.com’s review blasted Springsteen for a show “poisoned by hypocrisy.”
The blue-collar troubadour now charges exorbitant amounts for his tickets — up to $2,900 retail for the best seats in Newark Monday; prices he agreed to despite fan backlash. He’s selling No Kings-branded flags for $90 in the arena concourse.
The site leans to the left, but the Boss is so blatantly two-faced even his fellow liberals couldn’t ignore it: His glory days are far behind him.
Schumer rushes to defend the SPLC after it was EXPOSED for apparently funding racist extremism
The Justice Department announced on Tuesday that a grand jury in Alabama returned an indictment charging the Southern Poverty Law Center with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
Democrats are by now no doubt accustomed to hearing that many of the activists driving their agenda on the left are crooked; however, the SPLC is not merely accused of corruption.
‘It should send a chill down the spine of every American.’
Rather, it has been credibly accused of bankrolling leaders and organizers in the very extremist groups it claimed to be fighting — including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, the American Front, United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America, and the National Alliance — as well as having a hand in the deadly 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” stated acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Despite this alleged betrayal of donors and fellow travelers alike, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Democrat operatives have rallied to the hate racket’s defense.
Schumer said Wednesday on the floor of the U.S. Senate that the “deeply disturbing charges” brought against the SPLC “should send a chill down the spine of every American who cares about free expression and the rule of law in the Justice Department. It should send a chill down the spine of every American who cares about civil liberties and the fight against violent extremism.”
RELATED: History of violence: How the SPLC’s demonization racket helped set the stage for at least 1 shooting
L-R: Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post/Getty Images; Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty Images
Contrary to Schumer’s suggestion, Americans keen on fighting violent extremism might be delighted to learn that the Justice Department has targeted an alleged financial crutch holding up violent bigots across the country.
The indictment against the SPLC alleges that between 2014 and 2023, the organization — which raked in over $106.47 million in contributions in fiscal year 2024 alone — “secretly funneled more than $3 million in SPLC funds to [field sources] who were associated with various violent extremist groups.”
“Let’s be clear what this case is … really about,” said Schumer. “It has nothing to do with alleged wire fraud or with the Southern Poverty Law Center somehow working in coordination with the KKK. That’s ridiculous on its face. It doesn’t pass the laugh test.”
‘This is core to counter-extremism work.’
Schumer claimed that the case against the SPLC is ultimately about President Donald Trump turning the DOJ into the “Department of Vengeance — his own attack dog.”
The deeply unpopular Democrat suggested further that this case demonstrates that the administration is targeting opponents of “white supremacy” and “turning what America is all about inside out.”
Schumer was hardly the only Democrat associate to dismiss the possibility that the SPLC was keeping the illusion of formidable hatred alive in order to continue bilking deep-pocketed donors.
RELATED: SPLC indictment BOMBSHELL: Charlottesville violence allegedly was a leftist-funded ‘false flag’
Acting AG Todd Blanche. Mandel NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
Norman Eisen, a Democrat operative who served as special counsel to former President Barack Obama, suggested in a joint statement with Richard Painter — former associate counsel to former President George W. Bush — and Virginia Canter — former associate counsel to former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — that the SPLC wasn’t bankrolling its purported foes but rather “paying informants to expose and prevent violence by the KKK, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups.”
“This is core to counter-extremism work, and it’s exactly what the DOJ and FBI should be doing — not attacking legendary civil rights organizations,” wrote the trio.
“SPLC is ideologically opposed to hate groups and hate crimes. We stand with SPLC and will support them in every way.”
Maya Wiley, CEO of the D.C.-based liberal organization Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, characterized the effort to hold the SPLC to account as retaliation over the liberal hate racket’s alleged work protecting people from hatred.
“What is happening to civil rights organizations right now is the most coordinated assault on our sector since COINTELPRO,” said Wiley.
“In order to have absolute power, [the Trump administration] must dismantle our rights. And that’s why they’re coming after us.”
‘They have made no secret of who they want to protect.’
“The Southern Poverty Law Center has spent decades doing that work, and we stand with them,” added Wiley, who previously served as counsel to Democrat New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The American Constitution Society, a liberal activist group that has received funding from the Tides Nexus and George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, joined the gaslighting campaign, framing the indictment as an attack by the administration motivated by a difference of opinion on policy and politics.
“This is a clear abuse of power,” stated the ACS. “The American Constitution Society stands in solidarity with SPLC and all of our partners working to uphold the rule of law, strengthen our democratic legitimacy, and realize the promise of equality for all.”
SPLC CEO Bryan Fair said in a video statement this week, “For 55 years, the Southern Poverty Law Center has stood as a beacon of hope, fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multiracial democracy where we can all live and thrive.”
“We are therefore unsurprised to be the latest organization targeted by this administration,” continued Fair. “They have made no secret of who they want to protect and who they want to destroy.”
Fair suggested that the field sources referred to in the indictment were “paid confidential informants” tasked with gathering “credible intelligence on extremely violent groups.” He said the SPLC no longer works with such informants.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
