“Who the f*ck do you think you are?” Couldn’t have said it better myself. Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno’s blunt cross-examination of Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday captured the seething frustration still felt by millions of Americans six years after COVID-19’s onslaught. The pandemic response — marked by shifting guidance, suppressed debate, cover-ups, draconian mandates, and outright lying — was shaped largely by Fauci and the public-health apparatus he steered. The human cost was staggering and incalculable. Suicides and overdoses skyrocketed amid forced isolation. Children suffered massive learning loss and stunted development from prolonged school closures. People were forced off empty public beaches at gunpoint. Small-business owners who tried to keep outdoor gyms open were arrested. Anyone who dared question the orthodoxy — herd immunity, the virus’s origins, mask efficacy, alternative treatments, or vaccine injuries — was systematically silenced, deplatformed, ostracized, or fired. But never mind the lives and businesses destroyed. Barbra Streisand was calling Fauci. The mainstream media now insists this is all ancient history and that we should declare a “pandemic amnesty.” All shall be forgiven? Not so fast. Fauci’s constant deception and role in facilitating high-risk gain-of-function research created grave and lasting national-security consequences. They offer adversaries a clear blueprint: Western institutions can be pressured into self-censorship and delayed accountability when the stakes are highest. Fauci oversaw the funding of dangerous coronavirus research in China through EcoHealth Alliance grants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology — work conducted in labs that did not meet American biosafety standards. He then repeatedly denied that this constituted gain-of-function research. The mainstream press, Democrat politicians, and talking heads quickly branded anyone who raised questions about the virus’s origins as a conspiracy theorist or worse, a racist. So, what’s to stop an adversary or terrorist group from using a future Fauci wannabe to divert taxpayer dollars into creating or enhancing a pathogen capable of killing Americans, crushing the economy, and psychologically maiming a generation of children? Well, the national security risks run deeper than a single possible lab incident. Outsourcing high-risk pathogen research to a communist geopolitical rival is absurd on its face. Adding insult to injury, Fauci’s National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted and funded research that enhances the transmissibility of a virus with diminished safety standards, limited transparency, and reported CCP military connections. Knowledge, techniques, and materials could be retained, replicated, or redirected by a communist government that views the United States as its chief rival. Accidental release was just one danger – intentional exploitation or proliferation was another. The House Select Subcommittee has described NIH procedures for this category of research as deficient and a direct threat to public health and national security. This is a signal, if not a blueprint, to every hostile actor that American safeguards can easily be gamed. The suppression of the lab-leak theory itself gamed our national security. By helping shape and amplify the early narrative that a laboratory origin was a fringe conspiracy, Fauci and allied institutions slowed serious investigation into Chinese facilities, reduced pressure for transparency from Beijing, and stifled U.S. intelligence assessments. In the event of a future biological attack or lab accident, our adversaries will employ the same playbook: protect the preferred narrative first and scapegoat anyone who questions it — evading accountability and stonewalling any proper investigation. Of course, Fauci’s lying and deception collapsed trust, breeding yet another national-security liability. A country that no longer trusts its public-health authorities or scientific institutions will be inherently slower to respond to the next biological or chemical outbreak. Too, we will be far more susceptible to foreign disinformation campaigns that will exploit that distrust to create chaos and do more harm. America’s adversaries watched the world’s foremost superpower voluntarily inflict trillions in economic damage, a generational setback in education, and untold social fractures at the whims of a fame-hungry government bureaucrat. If we don’t digest the damage and hold those who inflicted it accountable, it won’t be long before an American adversary reengineers the calamity. The reckoning is long overdue. *** Tricia McLaughlin served as the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. Follow her on X: @TriciaOhio

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson has two children with his second cousin — longtime partner Lana Pelletier — according to genealogical records first reported by journalist Steve Robinson.  Jackson, a former Maine Senate president, became the Democrats’ nominee after the party’s previous candidate, Graham Platner, withdrew from the race amid rape allegations, forcing Democrats to replace their Senate standard-bearer in one of the nation’s most closely watched contests. Jackson now faces incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in a race viewed as critical to the battle for Senate control. According to genealogical records, Jackson and Pelletier share the same great-grandparents, Thomas Pelletier and Edith Thibodeau. Their daughter, Albertine Pelletier, was Jackson’s grandmother, while their son, Louis Pelletier Sr., was Pelletier’s grandfather, making the couple second cousins. Jackson and Pelletier have been together since high school and are the parents — and simultaneously third cousins — of two adult sons. The relationship is legal under Maine law. While state law prohibits marriages between first cousins without additional statutory requirements, it places no restrictions on second cousins marrying or having children. Genetic experts generally consider second-cousin relationships as presenting no meaningful increase in the risk of inherited disorders compared with the general population. Throughout his political career, Jackson has generally referred to Pelletier as his “partner.” The couple has never legally married, although some older official biographies referred to Pelletier as Jackson’s wife.  Jackson has built his political image around his upbringing in the rural St. John Valley, frequently describing himself as a fifth-generation logger from Allagash before rising through organized labor and Democratic politics to become president of the Maine Senate. The revelation comes as Jackson prepares for a high-profile general election against Collins, one of the Senate’s most vulnerable Republican incumbents. National Democrats view the race as a key pickup opportunity as they attempt to regain control of the Senate. Neither Jackson’s campaign nor Pelletier has publicly addressed the genealogical reporting.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that negotiators have his reached what he described as a “historic agreement” aimed at ending Hamas’ control of Gaza, though the deal still awaits final approval from the terrorist group. “Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY.” Axios reported Thursday that U.S. officials and the Board of Peace believe Hamas could formally sign the agreement within days after agreeing to its terms during negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey. However, the outlet noted that Israeli officials and Western diplomats remain skeptical that Hamas will ultimately follow through with its commitments. According to Trump, the deal would pave the way for Gaza to be governed by a new Palestinian government working alongside the Board of Peace while ensuring Israel “will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks.” The president said the agreement would be implemented in phases as Hamas and other armed groups surrender their weapons, after which Israeli forces would withdraw and an international stabilization force would help a new Palestinian police force maintain security. Under the reported framework, Hamas would surrender both heavy and light weapons over six to eight months, disclose the locations of tunnels and weapons depots, and allow a new Palestinian government to gradually assume control of Gaza. Israeli withdrawals would occur only after areas are independently verified as demilitarized, per the Jerusalem Post. Trump thanked Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey for their mediation efforts and praised his negotiating team, declaring that “the threat that emerged from Gaza on October 7 will NOT be allowed to rebuild.” The negotiations remain ongoing, and officials caution that talks could still collapse before a final agreement is signed.  

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Thursday that she will skip next month’s Michigan Democratic Party convention because she fears being harassed, adding another flashpoint to a party increasingly divided over Israel and antisemitism during a bitter U.S. Senate primary. Speaking during a roundtable discussion with Jewish leaders and community members, Nessel said she no longer feels safe attending the party’s August 29 convention in Lansing after what she described as repeated harassment. “I feel like my presence isn’t going to be welcome. I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying,” Nessel said. “And I believe that if I go, that is what will happen because it’s been happening to me.” Nessel also criticized Democratic Party leadership for failing to adequately respond to concerns she said she had repeatedly raised about individuals who have targeted her, warning that antisemitism on the political Left has become a growing problem within the party. “I will speak as a member of the Democratic Party here in Michigan, that some things have changed,” Nessel said. “This cannot continue, and the fact of the matter is, we have to be able to be a society where we can have intelligent discourse and debate about ideas without people being threatened, and certainly without people carrying out those threats.” Her comments come as Michigan Democrats are engaged in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate primaries, with the party’s ideological divide over Israel increasingly spilling into public view. Left-wing candidate Abdul El-Sayed has embraced some of the Democratic Party’s most vocal anti-Israel activists during the campaign, including campaigning with far-Left political streamer Hasan Piker. Third Way, a center-left think tank, condemned the partnership, calling Piker “anti-American, anti-women, anti-western and antisemitic” and arguing he should be “pushed to the fringe, not welcomed onto the stage.” El-Sayed dismissed the criticism in an interview with Michigan Advance, portraying it as an attack from establishment Democrats and “corporate-funded think tanks.” Former Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow has also acknowledged antisemitism within the Democratic Party, recounting an incident at the Democratic National Convention in which, she said, an attendee shouted an antisemitic slur at her Jewish husband while he was walking with their five-year-old daughter. “There is,” McMorrow replied when asked whether antisemitism was a problem within the party. “That is terrifying,” she added. El-Sayed, by contrast, argued that antisemitism and Islamophobia both stem from “the scourge of white supremacy” before pivoting to criticism of U.S. support for Israel. “We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” El-Sayed said. “It should not mean that we allow our money to subsidize apartheid and genocide.” Responding to Nessel’s decision not to attend the convention, Michigan Democratic Party spokesman Derrick Honeyman said the party remains committed to ensuring the gathering is safe for all attendees. “We reject antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hateful conduct,” Honeyman said. “We are working diligently with stakeholders, elected officials, and party membership to prepare for our August convention and look forward to welcoming Michigan Democrats to the Lansing Center on August 29.”

Live cockroaches and spiders. A preserved fetal pig. A bloody Halloween mask. A funeral wreath. A book about surviving the death of one’s spouse. These items were all sent to the home of journalists David and Ina Steiner by executives of one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms. The packages were an attempt to scare them into silence and to stop reporting on the e-commerce company’s business practices. The Steiners sued, and after over a decade in the courts, they have won their case. On Tuesday, eBay agreed to pay the Massachusetts couple nearly $50 million after former employees terrorized the bloggers in a 2019 harassment campaign. Since 2012, Ina Steiner, with her husband David’s help, has hosted the newsletter eCommerce Bytes, unveiling to readers important updates about services such as Amazon and eBay. She has been critical of many of eBay’s corporate decisions, reporting in 2019 on issues such as former eBay CEO Devin Wenig earning 152 times more than normal employees. In response, eBay employees reportedly became angered by the Steiners’ reporting and conspired to “intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them,” Fox News reports. Some employees named in the lawsuit were former CEO Devin Wenig, former Chief Communications Officer Steve Wymer, and former Senior Vice President Wendy Jones. Along with sending anonymous packages with disturbing contents, employees sent pornographic magazines addressed to David Steiner to a neighbor’s home in an attempt to smear the image of the couple in their community. The Steiners also received a host of threatening direct messages online. The lawsuit even alleged that eBay employees tried to plant a GPS tracking device on the couple’s vehicle. In the settlement, the Steiners are slated to receive $48.7 million in compensation. This comprises $46.15 million from eBay itself, $2 million from Wenig, $500,000 from Jones, and $50,000 from Wymer. The company will finance $6 million in donations to various nonprofits, and Wenig will pay $1 million to a charity committed to protecting First Amendment rights on Ina Steiner’s behalf. eBay has posted a statement disavowing the actions of its former executives and employees. “What the Steiners were subjected to by former eBay employees in 2019 was wrong, reprehensible, and should never have happened,” eBay said in a statement. “We condemn, in the strongest terms possible, the employees who perpetrated and pled guilty to criminal charges for the misconduct against Ina and David Steiner. We also acknowledge the unprofessional tone in internal communications demonstrated, to different degrees and number, by Mr. Wenig, Mr. Wymer, and Ms. Jones.” “We continue to extend our deepest apologies to the Steiners,” eBay added. “This agreement is consistent with our commitment to fairly compensate the Steiners and fulfills our efforts to make things right.” The couple posted about their win on their eCommerce Bytes website and shared the testimony of their lawyer Chris Murphy. “This case was always about more than obtaining financial recovery,” Murphy said in the statement. “From the beginning, our clients wanted to uncover the truth, protect journalists and publishers, hold those responsible accountable, deter future corporate misconduct, and help ensure others would never have to endure what they experienced.” “We believe this resolution sends a clear message that corporations and their executives cannot engage in this type of misconduct without facing significant consequences,” Murphy added. The Steiners are featured in the documentary “Whatever It Takes: Inside the eBay Scandal,” where they share their experiences being victims of the harassment campaign.