Not since “Avengers: Endgame” have theatergoers been this happy. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” just had the biggest opening weekend in box office history, beating out the Avengers finale with $360 million in sales. Audiences love it, and it’s proving that the age of superhero movies isn’t over; just the stupid ones.  It’s not hard to see why the movie has been so successful. Despite becoming the third Spider-Man actor in the span of just 15 years, Tom Holland stands on his own, exuding a boyish charm and an innocence without naivete that his predecessors never mastered (all due respect to Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield). “Spider-Man” also manages a few cameos (Black Widow, Hulk) that make the story more dynamic rather than feeling like Marvel product placement. And if you haven’t yet seen Holland’s previous appearances in “Captain America: Civil War,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” you can watch this one anyway without getting lost. Audiences will reward good storytelling, and “Brand New Day” hits Spider-Man’s sweet spot: sometimes light and funny, sometimes exploring deeper themes of isolation and belonging. After the death of his aunt, Peter Parker has spent four years crime-fighting alone. In “No Way Home,” his secret identity was revealed, so in order to protect the ones he loves — his girlfriend, MJ, and his best friend, Ned — he asked for Doctor Strange to wipe the entire world’s memory of Peter. Now his only personal connection is to an NYPD detective who chastises him for not even knowing the names of her children. These days, he’s all business.  But when government facilities start being attacked by a telepath who can jump into people’s minds to control them, danger finds Peter’s friends anyway, and he realizes that his secluded life is hurting more than just himself.  Every good superhero film needs a compelling villain, and Jean Grey (played by Sadie Sink) delivers. She’s no Green Goblin or Doc Ock, but her powers are terrifying, and her anxieties existential. Producer Amy Pascal suggested that Jean Grey’s character represents much of Gen Z.  “We picked Jean [Grey] because [director] Destin [Daniel Cretton] came in and said, ‘If you guys want to do a movie that is about the way people feel isolated, even more today than ever, because of our technology and everything else — and not just young people, but everybody, but it has afflicted young people so much — if we can do a movie that is about how reaching out and making a connection to someone is the most important thing that you can do, then I understand how to do this movie,’” she told Deadline. Peter’s own struggle with hermit-hood ends when MJ (Zendaya) reprimands him for wiping her memory and staying aloof, not giving her the choice to decide for herself whether she wants to be a part of his life. Peter may have good intentions for his solitude, and even though he can boast that he’s fighting crime bosses and mechanical scorpions, he finds that the results of his isolation are the same as they would be for any of us: He loses sight of who he is and what he can offer the world. To quote the Good Book, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” Near the end of the film, Peter delivers a key line that came from Holland’s ad-libbing. Speaking of a day spent shooting scenes at Aunt May’s grave, director Destin Daniel Cretton said Holland “came up to me and said, ‘I’m just going to try some dialogue.’ I said, ‘Great.’ So we mic’d him up, and he squatted down, gave the flowers to Aunt May, and said the lines that ended up in the movie.” “At the time, I didn’t think much of it,” Cretton continued. “I was just letting him improvise. But as soon as he said, ‘You’d be happy to know that I’ve decided I’m not going to do this alone anymore,’ that statement became the north star of the entire movie. Now it feels obvious that’s where the movie was always headed, but at the time we shot it, we didn’t really have that simple core idea yet. We worked backward from that point and realized, ‘That’s where we’re going.’ To me, that’s the entire movie right there.” Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has the peculiar winsomeness needed to experience great personal tragedy and still believe in the goodness and sanctity of life. No more jaded superheroes, please. Our heroes should inspire us, and that’s exactly what this Spider-Man does. *** This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

Newly released emails show that Dr. Anthony Fauci, while serving as a top member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, pressured Dr. Deborah Birx to back his play and conspired to get Dr. Scott Atlas ousted from the team. In a series of emails shared by economic historian Phil Magness on Monday, Fauci spoke with other officials like Birx and then-NIH Director Francis Collins about how to get rid of Atlas and how they could best coordinate their efforts to discredit the “Great Barrington Declaration” — which made the case against broad lockdowns and advocated for achieving herd immunity by providing “focused protection” for vulnerable populations — and its authors. The exchange began on October 11, 2020, when Fauci shared an article from the far-left publication “The Nation” with Collins. The article, written by epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves, framed the ideas of herd immunity and focused protection as “deadly delusions.” On October 14, Gonsalves responded to both Collins and Fauci in an email with a subject line that read, “Thank You For Your Frank Comments on Herd Immunity (Larry Kramer Would Be Proud).” Further correspondence from that same day showed Fauci coordinating with Gonsalves, Birx complaining about Atlas, and Fauci bragging to Gonsalves about how he was working to undermine Atlas at the White House. “I am trying to get this jerk shut down by working from within the White House,” Fauci said of Atlas. “They promise they will handle it and nothing happens. I will keep trying.” “I’m just glad it’s in the open who has been undermining Tony and I at the White House and who was manipulating the data,” Birx replied. “We are pushing back very hard.” In another October 14 email, Fauci compared proponents of the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) to “AIDS denialists” — a move that Magness found ironic since Fauci himself had spread false information about AIDS in the 1980s, saying that it could be transmitted through casual contact. Gonsalves continued to complain about  GBD advocates in yet another email from October 14, saying, “Don’t even get me started. Martin Kulldorff, Sunetra Gupta, and Jay Bhattacharya (with who I am part of a grant, BTW), can suck it. I have never been so ashamed of my community of epidemiologists/decision-scientists.” On October 15, Fauci emailed Birx directly to relay a conversation he’d had with presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, saying that he’d been lobbying the White House adviser to help him get rid of Atlas. “I really laid it on him but he still does not completely understand how dangerous this guy is. He is still in the realm of ‘differences of opinion,'” Fauci wrote, pressing Birx to follow up and drive the point home with Kushner. “You have got to speak with Jared and confirm what I said that this guy is killing people. I likened him to the AIDS denialists of the 1980s.” The thread concludes with an email sent by Fauci to Birx on October 16, 2020, in which he tells her what to say since he will not be present at task force meetings that day. “Over the past week I have come out very strongly publicly against the ‘Great Barrington Declaration.’ Scott Atlas may try to counter this. Please speak out for me,” Fauci directed, asserting that Atlas was also likely to deny the possibility that COVID-19 could cause residual effects. “This is all part of his theme that infections do not bother healthy people. Please speak out when he tries to play these things down.” Fauci was supposed to testify on Capitol Hill last week, but spent the entirety of his time responding to questions — from queries about the origins of the pandemic to the color of his tie — by invoking his Fifth Amendment rights.

Jews were the targets in 70% of all hate crimes recorded in New York City last month, according to NYPD data released Monday. Of the 33 confirmed hate crimes citywide in July, 23 were antisemitic. That figure is 53% higher than the 15 antisemitic incidents logged in July 2025. Jews have been targeted more than every other group combined every month for the past several years. In July, the imbalance was sharper than usual. Since Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office on January 1, overall hate crimes in the city are up 9.4% compared with the same stretch last year, rising from 329 to 360. Confirmed anti-Jewish hate crimes stand at 205 so far in 2026, an 8.5% increase from the 189 recorded during the same period in 2025. That works out to one antisemitic hate crime every 25 hours on average. Jews make up roughly 10% of New York City’s population, yet 57% of all hate crimes recorded this year have targeted Jews, which is nearly identical to the share last year before Mamdani entered office. Hate crimes against Asians, black people, and white people declined this year. Incidents targeting Hispanic people and Muslims rose, according to the NYPD. Among the July cases: a Jewish man was stabbed with a screwdriver on the Upper West Side; an Asian man who is not Jewish was also injured in that attack. In Brooklyn, an assailant shoved a 64-year-old Jewish man to the ground while shouting antisemitic slurs. In Queens, a suspect threw bags of motor oil and feces at two synagogues. Mamdani addressed the numbers at a Monday press conference, saying, “The work to uproot antisemitism out of this city is one that will continue until we see hate crimes come to an end in the city.” City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who is Jewish and has pushed efforts against antisemitism in city government, said she remains “deeply concerned and very troubled by the unacceptable spike in all hate crimes, particularly driven by those targeting Jewish New Yorkers.” Major crimes such as shootings, murders, robberies, and assaults are generally down in the city. The rise in hate crimes presents a challenge for Mamdani, who took office promising to combat hatred and has increased funding for hate crimes prevention. New York has the largest Jewish population of any city outside of Israel. Jewish leaders have repeatedly warned that the mayor’s anti-Israel rhetoric risks fueling more antisemitism. Last month, several prominent Jewish leaders and groups criticized a video in which Mamdani called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal,” while noting that as mayor he lacked the power to arrest him during any visit to New York. A global report covering 2025 found that year was the deadliest for antisemitic violence since 1994, with 20 people killed in attacks across seven countries that together hold more than 90% of the Jewish population outside Israel. More than 23,000 antisemitic incidents were documented in those countries alone.

Texas has long been one of the Republican Party’s strongest states, particularly in the Trump era. But with just three months until Election Day, the GOP is confronting an uncomfortable reality: one of its safest Senate seats is suddenly looking competitive. Three public polls released in the last week show Democratic state Rep. James Talarico narrowly leading Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, raising concerns that a bruising Republican primary and lingering questions about Paxton’s personal controversies may have left the GOP nominee vulnerable in November. A Fox News poll released last week found Talarico leading Paxton 51% to 48% among registered voters. A Texas Public Opinion Research (TPOR) survey of likely voters found Talarico ahead 45% to 40%, while the latest survey from the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center showed Talarico leading 47% to 45%. While all three results fall within or near the polls’ margins of error, the consistency of the findings has forced Republicans to confront a difficult reality: Paxton is not beginning the general election with the overwhelming advantage traditionally enjoyed by Republican nominees in Texas. President Donald Trump carried Texas by nearly 14 percentage points in 2024, but Paxton has struggled to replicate the strength of the broader Republican coalition, particularly among independents and some factions of the GOP electorate. The central challenge for Paxton is not simply convincing undecided voters to choose him, it is repairing the fractures created during a bitter Republican primary against longtime Sen. John Cornyn. Paxton defeated Cornyn after receiving Trump’s endorsement, but the contest exposed a deep divide inside the Texas Republican Party. Cornyn, a longtime Senate leader with strong support among establishment Republicans and major donors, was defeated despite millions of dollars in outside spending aimed at stopping Paxton. That division has carried into the general election. Several prominent Republican donors who supported Cornyn have been slow to fully embrace Paxton’s campaign, creating concerns among Republicans that their nominee may lack the financial resources necessary to define Talarico before Democrats can define him first. Talarico, meanwhile, has built a significant fundraising operation, raising tens of millions of dollars as he attempts to become the first Democrat in more than three decades to win statewide office in Texas. The polling suggests that Paxton’s personal image remains one of his biggest liabilities. The Fox News survey found 59% of Texas voters are concerned Paxton lacks the character necessary to serve in the Senate, compared with 47% who believe Talarico is too extreme. Even among Republicans, 36% expressed concerns about Paxton’s character. The TPOR poll found Paxton with the worst favorability rating of any major figure tested, with 33% viewing him favorably and 46% unfavorably. Talarico, meanwhile, held a net positive rating, with 43% favorable and 31% unfavorable. The Barbara Jordan survey showed a similar dynamic, with 39% of likely voters viewing Paxton favorably compared with 57% who viewed him negatively. Talarico was more evenly rated, with 46% favorable and 47% unfavorable. Still, Paxton’s supporters argue his personal numbers are less important than the ideological contrast between the two candidates. The Fox News poll found roughly eight in 10 supporters of both candidates said their vote was primarily about where the candidates stand on issues rather than their personal qualities. Republicans have already begun attacking Talarico over his past statements and positions on issues including transgender policy, immigration, religion, and healthcare.  The challenge, however, is that Talarico enters the general election with some advantages of his own. The TPOR poll found voters trusted Talarico more than Paxton on the issue dominating many voters’ concerns: affordability. 44% of respondents said the cost of living was among their top priorities heading into 2026, and voters trusted Talarico over Paxton by nine points when asked who they trusted more to lower costs and improve Texans’ financial situations. The Democratic candidate has also performed strongly among independents. The TPOR survey found Talarico leading Paxton among independent voters 43% to 23%, while the Barbara Jordan poll showed Talarico ahead among independents 63% to 23%. The Fox News poll also found signs of an enthusiasm advantage for Democrats, with Democratic voters more likely than Republicans to describe themselves as highly motivated and highly interested in the midterms. The demographic breakdowns have similarly raised concerns for Republicans. Texas Republicans have historically relied on overwhelming margins among rural white voters to offset Democratic strength in urban areas and minority communities. But the latest surveys suggest Paxton’s advantage among white voters is significantly smaller than recent Republican nominees. The Barbara Jordan poll found Paxton leading among white voters by 14 points, 53% to 39%. That compares with Trump’s 33-point advantage among white voters in Texas in the 2024 election.  The same survey found Talarico leading among Hispanic voters by 19 points, 57% to 38%, while Fox News found Talarico ahead among Hispanic voters by 18 points. The shift among Hispanic voters is particularly significant because Texas Republicans had hopes that gains could be made with the demographic after Trump won Hispanic voters in Texas narrowly in 2024. Despite the warning signs, Republicans remain confident the race can be stabilized. Republicans have controlled every statewide office for more than three decades, and the Fox News poll found the Republican Party holding a higher favorability rating than the Democratic Party statewide. For Republicans, the path forward is clear but difficult: unite the party, rebuild donor support, and convince voters that Talarico represents a Democratic agenda they do not want in Washington. For Democrats, the challenge is equally clear: overcome decades of Republican dominance and prove that Texas has become competitive enough for a statewide breakthrough. Texas is still a Republican state. But for the first time in years, Republicans are entering a Senate race there facing a question that once seemed impossible: whether their hold on the Lone Star State is beginning to weaken.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, clearing a major hurdle in his bid to become the nation’s permanent attorney general after senators voted along party lines, 12-10, to send his nomination to the full Senate. The committee vote came after weeks of scrutiny over Blanche’s tenure as acting attorney general and his previous role as President Donald Trump’s personal defense attorney. Senate Republicans are now expected to move toward a confirmation vote before lawmakers leave Washington for the August recess. A Senate Republican source told The Daily Wire that leadership’s goal is to hold a confirmation vote before senators depart Washington later this week. The nomination drew heightened attention in recent weeks as several Republican senators sought additional assurances from Blanche on issues ranging from the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation to the administration’s abandoned “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” Republican Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and John Cornyn (R-TX), who had previously withheld their support while negotiating with the Justice Department over the fund, ultimately voted to advance Blanche after receiving written commitments that the department would formally rescind the Anti-Weaponization Fund. Tillis had also pressed Blanche to meet personally with victims connected to Jeffrey Epstein and work with lawmakers to ensure the controversial fund could not be revived. Cornyn said the agreement provided the assurances he had been seeking. “They’ve been consistent about their assertion on behalf of the United States of America that the weaponization fund is dead, and of course I expect them to live up to that in any future litigation,” Cornyn said. “Given this agreement with Mr. Blanche, I expect the department to live up to this in future litigation, and I will vote to advance him out of the committee today.” Cornyn also argued that confirming a permanent attorney general would provide stability for the Justice Department. Democrats remained unanimously opposed to Blanche’s nomination, arguing he would be unwilling to act independently from President Donald Trump. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said Blanche had failed to demonstrate he would be willing to stand up to the president when necessary. “Throughout the decades since the Watergate crisis, both parties have consistently recognized the importance of an attorney general who can and will stand up to the president and say no, and serve as an attorney general in defense of the Constitution, not just the agenda of any one president,” Coons said. “Will acting Attorney General Blanche meet that standard? We have clear evidence he will not.” Coons also argued that Blanche’s agreement to eliminate the Anti-Weaponization Fund was insufficient, saying nothing would prevent him from reinstating it after confirmation. The committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), focused much of his criticism on the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Durbin accused Blanche of overseeing efforts to review the files for references to Trump and criticized the department’s release of documents containing identifying information about Epstein survivors while, he argued, shielding powerful associates.  “Mr. Blanche refused to tell me who gave this order, but former Attorney General Bondi made it clear, saying Blanche was in charge of the Epstein files,” Durbin said. Durbin also criticized Blanche’s recent meeting with Epstein survivors, calling it a “box-checking exercise” and accusing him of refusing to pursue investigative leads suggested by the victims. Blanche has consistently defended the department’s handling of the Epstein investigation, arguing the Justice Department has been transparent and remains committed to prosecuting anyone found to have committed crimes connected to Epstein. Earlier in the confirmation process, Blanche told lawmakers: “We have been extraordinarily transparent. There are no closed investigations. If we learn today, if we learn next week, if we learn next month that there’s an individual who we can investigate, indict, and prosecute out of the Epstein files, you better believe that we will.” Republicans also questioned Blanche during his confirmation process on issues including mail-order abortion litigation and the Justice Department’s review of the D.C. Five case involving five aborted babies recovered from a Washington abortion clinic in 2022. Earlier this month, more than 50 Republican lawmakers urged Blanche to investigate whether the babies were victims of illegal partial-birth abortions or infanticide. The Justice Department has since said it is reviewing the matter and will investigate any credible allegations of criminal conduct. President Trump strongly backed Blanche’s nomination throughout the confirmation process, praising his performance as acting attorney general. “Todd has done a PHENOMENAL job,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He is tough, brilliant, and 100% LOYAL to our Constitution, and the American People.”