'Democrats nationally nervous'

'The man ain't playing'

'The federal government understands and respects the importance'

This is his first television drama since 'The Sopranos'

Abigail Spanberger wants to be the next governor of Virginia but bristles at being asked about the Democrat team that she is campaigning with. She complained on Katie Couric’s online show, “The fact that I have to spend even a moment’s time talking about somebody else’s text message from years ago rather than what I want to do as governor, is something that I am deeply unhappy about.” >>> Sign up for our Virginia email newsletter She was referring to Democrat attorney general candidate Jay Jones, whose recently leaked 2022 text messages show him fantasizing about shooting a Republican politician and his children being killed. Good governors know that they have to be ready to drop the agenda and discuss critical current events, for example, when a hurricane hits, or, as former Republican Gov. Jim Gilmore found out, a horrific terrorist attack occurs in your state. Or when someone running alongside you for the state’s top law enforcer fantasizes about committing political violence. You can’t go on a news show and complain that it distracted from your agenda—that’s the job. A campaign agenda is handy tool to help voters get an idea of the kinds of things you will try to do during your term. Spanberger’s agenda includes her “Growing Virginia Plan” that will, according to her campaign, expand workforce development (government subsidies), increase business investment (government subsidies), and enhance trade opportunities (government subsidies). But a campaign agenda doesn’t address how well you will handle the big issues that can often take a governor by surprise. Part of the job of being a governor is being able to handle the unexpected, because when you’re governor, there’s a lot of it. Campaigns aren’t just about your agenda. They can also be about finding out who displays the temperament to be “gubernatorial.” When a critical situation arises that needs addressing, do you handle it, or do you complain that it distracts from your agenda and pretty much avoid doing anything of substance about it? If you watched the recent gubernatorial debate, you already know the answer. The post Spanberger Doesn’t Want to Address Distractions. But That’s Part of the Job. appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A Republican congressman from Ohio is seeking to win the next battle over America’s energy supply before it starts.  In legislation introduced this week, Rep. Troy Balderson, R-Ohio, is seeking to codify Trump administration efforts at providing Americans with abundant energy by defining the terms “affordable,” “reliable,” and “clean” as they relate to energy in federal law. In short, his Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security Act aims to keep safe and affordable energy sources, such as natural gas and nuclear power, available for American citizens and businesses alike. “With my legislation, Congress can advance President Trump’s ‘all-of-the-above‘ energy agenda, powering the rollout of [artificial intelligence] and the next generation of American innovation. This bill delivers on Republicans’ promise to put American energy first and restore regulatory sanity to Washington,” the Ohio congressman told The Daily Signal. BaldersonEnergyBill_031_xmlDownload Balderson’s bill also requires the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency to provide a report to Congress and the public about their policies and regulations “relating to affordable energy, reliable energy, and clean energy.” Those agencies would also provide reports to Congress and the public about the incorporation of the bill’s definitions of affordable, reliable, or clean energy into their work. Such an effort would prevent a future presidential administration less sympathetic to Americans’ energy concerns from imposing arbitrary and burdensome restrictions on the energy supply. The legislation comes after President Donald Trump has sought to undo some of the predecessor Biden administration’s energy policies, including by declaring a national energy emergency. Trump has promised to “bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again—right to the top—and export American energy all over the world.” That declaration prompted fierce pushback, with some Senate Democrats seeking to overrule it with legislation of their own. That effort ultimately failed, as did California’s attempted freeze on the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars by 2035, which the Senate ultimately voted to block. The president has also sought to stop the harmful effects of wind turbines on ocean animals by canceling federal funding supportive of offshore wind turbines. “The American people saw firsthand under the last administration how regulations could be weaponized to target certain groups and industries,” said Balderson, who chairs the House Energy Action Team and is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “President Biden’s entire energy platform was focused on shutting down American oil and gas while propping up the so-called green energy sector with taxpayer-funded subsidies after taxpayer-funded subsidies to support unrealistic pipe dreams,” he added. In order to become law, Balderson’s bill would likely need to garner some bipartisan support in the Senate to clear the 60-vote threshold posed by a potential filibuster. The post Ohio Lawmaker Offers Bill to Codify Trump’s Energy Policies appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Democrats' War On Civility

Yuck! Kamala Harris Using Breast Cancer to Raise Money for Herself and Planned Parenthood

On Tuesday morning, MSNBC host Chris Jansing devoted a segment of her eponymous show to highlighting Chicago residents "standing up to" immigration agents who recently searched for an escaped prisoner in their neighborhood. She also had on a left-leaning professor from Columbia Law School to encourage Americans to verbally confront ICE agents while they are trying to make arrests. Jansing introduced the segment: Some new and dramatic examples of Americans standing up to masked ICE agents who are conducting immigration manhunts in their own backyards. The latest, the Chicago suburbs. These photos from the Chicago Tribune show residents confronting federal agents who were chasing people through their neighborhoods, including backyards, and loading them into unmarked vehicles. She then brought aboard the Chicago Tribune's Olivia Olander and Columbia Law School's Elora Mukherjee as guests. Olander recalled a woman in the Chicago suburbs who ran across border patrol agents in her yard who were trying to find an escaped detainee. She recounted: She -- I think understandably -- is alarmed by this. She starts asking a few questions, and they tell her that they're looking for someone who escaped detention in their area. She -- they also tell her that this person left a jacket on their -- on their fence. She gets very angry because she knows that that is not the case. That jacket has already been there. So she calls them out on what she sees as a lie, starts yelling at them for being in her backyard without any sort of permission. Jansing followed up by asking if the woman's children -- who are 17 and 20 years old -- were affected: "And, her children, they're not little kids, but I wonder if she talked to you about the impact that this had on them?" Olander described them as alarmed by knowing that border agents had been in their yard, even though they did not see them: Yeah, and I actually was able to talk to them a little bit, too. They were very, very -- they were also, you know, angry, concerned, sort of bewildered -- I would say even more so than those qualities -- just bewildered that this had happened to them. They -- I don't think they saw the agents when they were in their backyard, but just to know that this happened right under them basically. No one on the panel seemed to have any concern about whether the escaped prisoner might be a danger if he was trying to avoid being recaptured. Jansing then went to Mukkerjee and asked her if there is any legal risk for Americans who want to confront immigration agents, leading the liberal professor to encourage such liberal activism by bystanders: It's important for American citizens to cross party lines to be upstanders in this very difficult time. So if Americans are seeing encounters with masked agents who are carrying out arrests and detentions, it is totally find to speak out using your voice. You can take recordings. I do not encourage anyone to interfere with an arrest. That could lead to charges against a person. And it's important to speak out to try and protect our neighbors and our community members. After claiming that most illegal aliens being arrested by ICE are not criminals, she added: "So it is appropriate -- it is right for the American people to speak out when they're seeing injustice -- in this case, literally in their backyards." Jansing followed up by asking if such actions make a difference, leading Mukherjee to suggest that President Donald Trump is abusing his power in cracking down on immigration: It absolutely makes a difference, and Americans across party lines are increasingly expressing that the Trump ICE crackdown has gone too far. We're seeing children -- we're seeing our neighbors -- we're seeing valued employees all being rounded up and taken to detention not for having convicted any criminal offenses, but simply because the executive branch is pushing the bounds of its authority well past the breaking point of the checks and balances system that's been set up in our U.S. Constitution. Transcript follows: MSNBC's Chris Jansing Reports October 21, 2025 1:13 p.m. Eastern CHRIS JANSING: Some new and dramatic examples of Americans standing up to masked ICE agents who are conducting immigration manhunts in their own backyards. The latest, the Chicago suburbs. These photos from the Chicago Tribune show residents confronting federal agents who were chasing people through their neighborhoods, including backyards, and loading them into unmarked vehicles. Joining us now with her reporting, Chicago Tribune's Olivia Olander. Also with us, Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. Good to have both of you here. Olivia, I know -- and I was struck by your story. You spoke with a mother in Mount Prospect. She came home, she finds ICE agents in her backyard, her kids are home. Walk us through what she told you. OLIVIA OLANDER, CHICAGO TRIBUNE: Yeah, Chris, thanks for having me. That's exactly right. This mother, 49-year-old mother of three comes home from a workout with her husband. As she's approaching her home, she sees agents that, I believe, were border patrol agents it looked like from the markings that we were able to see coming out of her backyard like around a chain-link fence. They're in masks, they're in camo sort of uniforms. She -- I think understandably -- is alarmed by this. She starts asking a few questions, and they tell her that they're looking for someone who escaped detention in their area. She -- they also tell her that this person left a jacket on their -- on their fence. She gets very angry because she knows that that is not the case. That jacket has already been there. So she calls them out on what she sees as a lie, starts yelling at them for being in her backyard without any sort of permission. JANSING: Yeah, and, her children, they're not little kids, but I wonder if she talked to you about the impact that this had on them? OLANDER: Yeah, and I actually was able to talk to them a little bit, too. They were very, very -- they were also, you know, angry, concerned, sort of bewildered -- I would say even more so than those qualities -- just bewildered that this had happened to them. They -- I don't think they saw the agents when they were in their backyard, but just to know that this happened right under them basically. And it was just a very strange sensation for them to have, and, yeah, they're 17 and 20, so definitely old enough to know what's going on and to understand what this means, and, yeah, they were very confused as, I think, a lot of neighbors were to have these agents going into backyards and, as far as we could tell, after about 90 minutes to two hours, not actually finding the person that they said they were going after and eventually leaving the area. JANSING: And we see, Elora, some of these pictures that people are taping of what they're seeing. We know -- in the case of the mom who spoke to Olivia -- she, you know, asked questions, and she wanted to know what was going on, and she was upset, but is there any legal risk to these residents engaging with agents directly? ELORA MUKHERJEE, COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL IMMIGRANTS RIGHTS CLINIC: It's important for American citizens to cross party lines to be upstanders in this very difficult time. So if Americans are seeing encounters with masked agents who are carrying out arrests and detentions, it is totally find to speak out using your voice. You can take recordings. I do not encourage anyone to interfere with an arrest. That could lead to charges against a person. And it's important to speak out to try and protect our neighbors and our community members. Overwhelmingly, since January of this year, the people who have been arrested and detained by ICE do not have criminal records according to data that was made available last month. In September, about 43,000 individuals are currently in ICE detention facilities having no criminal convictions, no criminal charges against them at all. That accounts for more than 71 percent of those in ICE custody, and thousands of others are there due to minor violations such as traffic offenses. So it is appropriate -- it is right for the American people to speak out when they're seeing injustice -- in this case, literally in their backyards. JANSING: So I want to give you another example, Elora, if I can, that also happened in that area. Dozens of residents were so outraged by the protest restrictions that are in place at that now well-known Broadview ICE facility that they actually shut down their local council meeting. Take a listen to this. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: We are calling for an end to the violence. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Know what else is shameful? Limiting our freedom of speech. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: You can beat us to death -- we're not going to stop. JANSING: "We're not going to stop." I just wonder what you're seeing elsewhere across the country, whether directly speaking to agents, going to meetings, protesting. To what extent are you seeing Americans take action? And does it make a difference? MUKHERJEE: It absolutely makes a difference, and Americans across party lines are increasingly expressing that the Trump ICE crackdown has gone too far. We're seeing children -- we're seeing our neighbors -- we're seeing valued employees all being rounded up and taken to detention not for having convicted any criminal offenses, but simply because the executive branch is pushing the bounds of its authority well past the breaking point of the checks and balances system that's been set up in our U.S. Constitution. And it matters that thousands and thousands of Americans across party lines were out protesting over the weekend. It matters that, at the local levels, people are speaking out and saying, "We don't want ICE in our communities -- wants ICE to get out of our backyards." All of this is building momentum toward the midterm elections and the upcoming elections in two weeks where we have races at the local and state levels. JANSING: Elora, thank you so much for coming on the show. Olivia, some great reporting. I really was -- felt your story was compelling. Thank you for coming on as well.

New York Times reporter Jeremy Peters continued the paper’s recent habit of pitying some of the worst people in the world, often on the front page of the paper. If it’s not the ghouls who reacted with glee to Charlie Kirk’s assassination, it’s the Hamas sympathizers on college campuses who are shocked to find that harassing Jewish students and spouting eliminationist rhetoric may not have been the best career move. Thursday’s front-page headline deck: “Pro-Palestinian Activists Lament the Steep Cost -- Worried That Backlash Could Doom Future Political Dissent.” Harry Campbell was a few weeks from graduating in the spring of 2024 when he decided to join hundreds of demonstrators at the encampments at Washington University in St. Louis. He wanted to support the Palestinians suffering under Israel’s bombardment of Gaza — a cause that he and other students linked to the global struggle for the oppressed. "Boisterous" is certainly one way to describe the ugly slogans and threatening nature of many of the campus occupiers. But some of them recalled the boisterous protests on campuses and in the streets — and the often overwhelming backlash — with a certain ruefulness, saying that they had absorbed sobering lessons about power and politics. More Americans have come to agree with the activists about Israel’s war conduct. But some of those protesters worry the blowback has been so severe — and the criticism against them so resonant — that the American belief in the concept of civil disobedience to achieve political ends has been eroded. In interviews with a dozen activists and academics across the country, they described a pro-Palestinian movement that is chastened, wary and worried about the future of political dissent. If they still demonstrate, most continue to wear masks to conceal their identities, fearing they might jeopardize their degrees or hiring prospects. They described feeling anxious and somewhat powerless. Most did not want to be named. …. …. For a time, the Gaza protests seemed to have the ingredients to grow into the next mass political movement for young Americans. The cause — which adherents saw as a struggle between a marginalized and dispossessed people and an oppressive global power — connected with university students, many of whom were already drifting to the left and had experienced their political awakenings during the racial reckoning in the summer of 2020. Many of them, in fact, started calling the Palestinian suffering “the moral issue of our time.” There was a single dissenting paragraph that soft-pedaled the often-disgusting acts of the protesters. At the same time, the pro-Palestinian protests troubled many Americans. The organizers proved unable to rein in occasional acts of violence and, at times, seemed indifferent to complaints from Jewish students that some chants and other acts felt antisemitic. With the Trump administration slashing federal funds from universities it deemed too lenient, college administrators moved quickly to crack down. That's understating things. Pro-Hamas protesters took over campus buildings, threatened students trying to get to class, and at least one university, UCLA, established a Jew-exclusion zone with assistance from the university administration itself. Before letting Tyler Coward of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression cry about a “chilling effect” on campus, Peters even defended the gross statements made after the killing of Charlie Kirk as merely Kirk being “criticized.” Older leaders of the pro-Palestinian movement said the current political climate of fear had made it much harder to speak out today. After the protests erupted on campuses, a group of federal judges declared they would not hire law clerks from Columbia University because of the way it handled campus demonstrations prompted by Israel’s war in Gaza.... Actions have consequences. Who knew? The pro-Israel watchdog group Honest Reporting mocked Peters’ pathetic piece on X, reminding everyone how Jewish students at Cooper Union in New York City were forced to barricade themselves in a library as mobs screamed “Free Palestine” (an incident predictably downplayed by the Times), and that progressive campuses were overrun with jihadist symbols and slogans. Yet the Times continues to paint the Hamas-helpers as the victims.