The Senate passed President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” on Tuesday morning, but only after Senators spent hours negotiating changes to the near-1,000 page sweeping budget bill.  Senate GOP holdouts, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, were pushing for amendments to Medicaid provisions and clean energy tax […]

For this year’s Independence Day it seems fewer Democrats will be celebrating. A recently released Gallup poll revealed a disturbing trend. The percentage of Americans who say they are proud of their country has dropped to a historic low. “A record-low 58% of U.S. adults say they are ‘extremely’ (41%) or ‘very’ (17%) proud to be an American, down nine percentage points from last year and five points below the prior low from 2020,” Gallup said of the poll. Some liberal journalists tried to spin this as an indictment of President Donald Trump. Trump loves to play Lee Greenwood's patriotic song with the lyrics "proud to be an American." But on Trump's watch, fewer people are proud to be American than ever recorded. Just 58% describe themselves that way, down from 67% last year, per @Gallup https://t.co/KPbnmErwKZ— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 1, 2025 However, as we shall see when digging into the poll numbers, the dip in American pride is more an indictment of Trump’s critics. The 41% of respondents who said they were “extremely proud” to be American was roughly the same as a previous low point for American pride in 2022. This suggests that those who were extremely proud to be Americans haven’t wavered much from their previous position. It’s a sharp contrast to 20 years ago. “In January 2001, when Gallup first asked Americans how proud they were, 87% said they were extremely or very proud,” Gallup said. “After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the figure increased to 90%, and it held at that level or higher between 2002 and 2004.” Most noteworthy of all is the sharp partisan divide of the poll response. “Democrats are mostly responsible for the drop in U.S. pride this year, with 36% saying they are extremely or very proud, down from 62% a year ago,” Gallup said. “This is only the second time Democrats’ pride has fallen below the majority level, along with a 42% reading in 2020, the last year of the first Trump administration.” Republican responses about being very or extremely proud to be American, by contrast, have dipped only slightly since 2001. The lowest the Republican combined pride number dipped to was 84% in 2022. That number is only one percentage point lower than the Democrat highest point of pride in 2013 of 85%, just after the second term reelection of President Barack Obama. The poll highlights a wide values difference between the Right and Left in America, if it wasn’t already obvious. For the Right, pride in country is a core idea. It’s less malleable and less contingent on the party in power or the policies of the government. Republican numbers were not only steady with different Democrat presidents but with dramatically different Republican ones in Trump and President George W. Bush. For Democrats, pride is increasingly more conditional on whether or not they are in power. Now that the elite institutions they captured and controlled are waning in influence they’ve abandoned pride in country en masse. 36% of Democrats say they are extremely or very proud to be an American.This is only the second time Democrats’ pride has fallen below the majority level, along with a 42% reading in 2020, the last year of the first Trump administration. pic.twitter.com/9TS8KMcvse— Gallup (@Gallup) June 30, 2025 Like how former first lady Michelle Obama announced after her husband was elected president that it was the first time in her adult life she was “proud” of her country, it seems many modern liberals connect their love of America to the winds of political change. This quote by influential liberal Baby Boomer playwright Eve Ensler, who now goes by “V,” luridly described the non-existent dystopian America that she and many Democrats can’t stand. “In this authoritarian and suffocating climate where being an American feels like a curse, where just breathing here feels like complicity with genocide, psychotic imperialism, misogyny and endless racism, it is hard to move, let alone imagine what one can do to transform this horror to good,” she wrote in the Guardian. No surprise that she was profoundly inspired by the profoundly ridiculous “No Kings” protests. The irony that she was writing this in a British publication was clearly lost on “V.” Every generation of Democrats has successively less pride in America than the previous ones. “As might be expected given the partisan trends, Democrats are largely responsible for declining U.S. pride within each generation,” Gallup said. “Comparing data from the past 10 years with the prior 15 years, pride among Democrats in each birth cohort has declined by at least 10 points, with larger drops of 21 points for Gen X Democrats and 32 points for millennial Democrats.” Younger independents and Republicans have less pride in America, but the numbers are far less pronounced than with Democrats. This reality is having a profound impact on U.S. politics. It should be no surprise, given these attitudes, that we are seeing the rise of socialist, post-national Democrats like Zohran Mamdani in New York. The Democrat base isn’t interested in moderation or reconciliation. They want resistance and sanctimony. They want to let out a primal scream of rage at the wicked country that rejected them. They take pride in Pride, not in the United States. They won’t be happy until America is wholly transformed, and their movement has seen itself through, wherever it may take us. Truth be told, this is a terrible trend in American life. For some Americans, every day is Independence Day. For others, every day is a time to feel shame about this country’s past. The answer to this divide is not in moderation. If your patriotism is contingent on who is in the White House, the problem is with you. Our answer is in reaffirming and planting a flag in a culture of deeper, informed patriotism based on gratitude and rejecting the politics of narcissism and grievance. The post Poll Reveals Democrat Pride in America Contingent on When They Have Power appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio took to the State Department substack on Tuesday to ring the death knell of USAID. “This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end,” Rubio proclaimed. “Under the Trump administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests. As of July 1st, USAID will officially cease to implement foreign assistance. Foreign assistance programs that align with administration policies—and which advance American interests—will be administered by the State Department, where they will be delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency.” Rubio’s article announcing the end of USAID, titled “Making Foreign Aid Great Again,” represents the culmination of the Trump administration’s effort to bring USAID, and its constellation of NGOs and client states, to heel. In the post, the secretary dispatches with the Left’s claims that the Trump administration is heartless for holding USAID accountable for its litany of failures in detail. After Rubio’s announcement, a senior State Department official told The Daily Signal that “today the State Department, at the direction of Secretary Rubio, has launched a new chapter of America First foreign assistance that will be focused on prioritizing the core interests of the United States above all else.” Nevertheless, Rubio assures skeptics that effective, results oriented foreign aid programs will continue under the supervision of the State Department, but those results will focus on furthering America’s interests, rather than the interests of the contracting class of NGO middlemen: “We will not apologize for recognizing America’s longstanding commitment to life-saving humanitarian aid and promotion of economic development abroad must be in furtherance of an America First foreign policy.” The Trump administration’s focus on dismantling USAID came after President Donald Trump issued a series of executive orders in the early days of his administration to review foreign aid and DEI policies across the government. When it became clear to the administration that USAID was refusing to implement the president’s agenda, the Trump administration looked to dismantle USAID and have its core functions absorbed by the State Department. The administration’s review of USAID contracts and funding found egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars, such as $50 million for condoms in Gaza, $1.5 million for DEI in Serbian workplaces, and $1 million to help disabled people in Tajikistan become climate leaders. The Trump administration notified Congress of its detailed plans to dissolve USAID in March and of its plan to broadly restructure the State Department in May.  Rubio’s article outlines what can only be called a patronage system erected by USAID for globalist elites running these NGOs—completely funded by the U.S. taxpayer. “Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War,” Rubio wrote. “Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown.” While so-called liberals claim that reforming how the U.S. distributed foreign aid is a massive forfeiture of soft power, Rubio goes to the data to prove that “the countries that benefit the most from our generosity usually fail to reciprocate.” He uses countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa as examples. Though countries in sub-Saharan Africa have received more than $150 billion in U.S. aid since 1991, Rubio points out these countries vote against the U.S. in the U.N. more than 70 percent of the time. In all but one country in the Middle East and North Africa—which have received almost $90 billion in aid since 1991—China is viewed more favorably than the United States. Such failures are unsurprising. In previous decades, policymakers in Washington infected with a globalist mindset made U.S. aid culturally conditioned and economically inefficient. A new port would hoist a pride flag; agricultural assistance would be weighed against the availability of abortion; access to emergency medication would be considered with “equity” and “inclusion.” “USAID viewed its constituency as the United Nations, multinational NGOs, and the broader global community—not the U.S. taxpayers who funded its budget or the president they elected to represent their interests on the world stage,” Rubio claimed. “USAID marketed its programs as a charity, rather than instruments of American foreign policy intended to advance our national interests. Too often, these programs promoted anti-American ideals and groups, from global ‘DEI,’ censorship and regime change operations, to NGOs and international organizations in league with Communist China and other geopolitical adversaries.” “That ends today,” Rubio continued, “and where there was once a rainbow of unidentifiable logos on life-saving aid, there will now be one recognizable symbol: the American flag. Recipients deserve to know the assistance provided to them is not a handout from an unknown NGO, but an investment from the American people.” The senior State Department official added, “For far too long America’s foreign aid program did more to fund NGOs than it did to advance America’s own interests. Under the Trump administration, that era of fiscal unaccountability and lack of oversight is officially over.” The post ‘America First Foreign Assistance’: Rubio Rings the Death Knell of USAID appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Virginia School Fails History: Never Go the Full Hitler

Is the 'Alligator Alcatraz' Hype in Bad Taste?

O, Donie, where art thou?! That was the question worth asking Monday night when CNN’s The Lead had a new report about “Hate in America” in light of the deadly anti-Semitic attack in Colorado and deadly shootings of Minnesota state Democrats and host Jake Tapper brought out correspondent Tom Foreman instead of CNN’s supposed extremism expert Donie O’Sullivan. Back in April, O’Sullivan infamously flirted with Taylor Lorenz on a park bench as part of an insane special with its thesis claiming there’s no real “extremism” on the left. Foreman said the motivations of those who commit political violence are often “murky,” but at least he didn’t make a fool of himself.     “A frightening trend, violence has become more and more common as a tool for extremists in the United States, seemingly trying to make some sort of political point, however sick, twisted or misguided. Just last month, as you’ll recall, two Israeli embassy staffers were shot and killed here in the nation’s capital outside the Jewish Museum by a man yelling, free Palestine,” Tapper began, adding Foreman took “a look...at the disturbing rise of political violence or terrorism in America.” Foreman led off with recent anti-Semitic attacks in Colorado and Washington D.C. and the nut who killed a Minnesota state representative, her husband, and dog (and left another and their spouse hurt) (click “expand”): FOREMAN: Authorities say an 82-year-old woman has died after that attack on pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado by a man reportedly yelling, free Palestine, raising the grim toll of political violence. In recent weeks, two lawmakers and their spouses were shot in Minnesota, one couple killed.  FBI MINNEAPOLIS FIELD OFFICE’s ALVIN WINSTON: This was a targeted attack against individuals who answered the call to public service. FOREMAN: A man in Memphis was charged after allegedly trying to kidnap that city’s mayor. And in Washington, D.C. — ELIAS RODRIGUEZ: Free, free Palestine. FOREMAN: — police say, this man gunned down this young couple outside a Jewish museum. Sarah Milgrim said she saw Nazi graffiti on her Kansas high school years back, sparking early fears. SARAH MILGRIM [on 02/24/17]: You know, I worry about going to my synagogue and now I have to worry about safety at school and that shouldn’t be a thing. Foreman made one major change from O’Sullivan’s tomfoolery with this admission: “Analysts note opposition anger flared sharply in 2017 ahead of the first inauguration of Donald Trump.” Sure, he then brought up January 6, 2021, but it was bookended by mentions of the 2024 assassination attempts against Trump. Still, no mentions of the Alexandria ballfield shooting in 2017 by a Rachel Maddow and Bernie Sanders fan or the 2012 attack on the Family Research Council. University of Chicago professor Robert Pape then weighed in: “You have to go back 50 years to the 1960s to find anything like these violent protests and political assassinations. This is really quite disturbing.” Foreman built on Pape’s soundbite with threats filed by the U.S. Capitol Police having skyrocketed from nearly 4,000 in 2017 to nearly 9,500 last year. Foreman then went off the reservation with the claim that “[t]he reasons for such violence are often murky” and lamented that, “[w]hen trouble broke out around protest in Los Angeles, some on the left blamed it on Trump’s harsh anti-immigrant tactics while some on the right insisted” Antifa and other leftists were behind it. “[S]till others, including the governor of Pennsylvania whose home was firebombed, are taking a broader view,” he continued. Back live with Tapper, Foreman tried to blame Donald Trump’s “language” while at the same time claiming there’s no firm reason for what’s been happening: Of course, plenty of critics are looking at the language of Donald Trump from his first term, his second term, and his campaign, that his language alone speaks an awful lot of enemies and people who have to be fought and people who are traitorous, in his mind, they wonder if that’s a catalyst for all of this happening. Whatever the cause, Jake, when you try to look back at the number of political violent incidents we have had in the past eight or ten years, it really is unlike anything that I have seen in my career, and I’ve been doing this for a lot of decades right now. And the question is, how do we get to an end of it when a lot of people say this is about a culture clash where people are giving up on talking to each other and saying, I will prove it with violence. To see the relevant CNN transcript from June 30, click here.

President Donald Trump's administration arrested two more Chinese nationals on Friday as part of its efforts to crack down on the espionage activities of the Chinese Communist Party.The FBI arrested Yuance Chen, an Oregon resident, and Liren Lai, who traveled to Texas on a tourist visa in April, the Department of Justice announced.'The individuals charged were acting on behalf of a hostile foreign intelligence service — part of the Chinese Communist Party's broader effort to infiltrate and undermine our institutions.'According to the DOJ, the two allegedly acted as agents for the CCP's Ministry of State Security by collecting intelligence about U.S. Navy military members and bases. Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated, "This case underscores the Chinese government's sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within."RELATED: From Wuhan to Michigan: Feds nab ANOTHER Chinese scholar in alleged bio-material smuggling plot Photo by Sebastian Barros/NurPhoto via Getty Images"The Justice Department will not stand by while hostile nations embed spies in our country — we will expose foreign operatives, hold their agents to account, and protect the American people from covert threats to our national security," she added.The two men are also accused of attempting to recruit service members to carry out similar covert tasks for the MSS, having allegedly visited naval installations in Washington and California in 2022 and 2023. The DOJ claimed that during those visits, Chen took photographs of a bulletin board that contained the names and programs of recruits, most of whom identified their hometown as China. That photo was allegedly sent to an MSS intelligence officer.Chen and Lai allegedly facilitated a $10,000 "dead drop" payment on behalf of the MSS. The men were accused of coordinating with others in the U.S. to leave a backpack with the cash at a locker in Livermore, California. A criminal complaint stated that Lai recruited Chen to work for the Chinese intelligence organization in 2021.The Naval Criminal Investigative Service assisted with the FBI's Friday arrest of Chen and Lai.The men face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. RELATED: Agroterrorism plot? Chinese nationals arrested for smuggling potential bioweapon into US: FBI Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty ImagesFBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital, "Today's arrests reflect the FBI's unwavering commitment to protecting our national security and safeguarding the integrity of our military.""The individuals charged were acting on behalf of a hostile foreign intelligence service — part of the Chinese Communist Party's broader effort to infiltrate and undermine our institutions," Patel continued. "Thanks to outstanding coordination with our partners, including NCIS, we disrupted those efforts and sent a clear message: The United States will not tolerate espionage on American soil. Our counterintelligence operations remain focused, vigilant, and relentless."In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration would begin aggressively revoking student visas for Chinese nationals with connections to the CCP or those "studying in critical fields" to clamp down on unchecked espionage.Since Rubio's announcement, several Chinese nationals have been arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle biomaterial into the U.S. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Hollywood star Jason Bateman criticized supporters of President Donald Trump and faced a lot of immediate backlash on social media.Bateman said that many of the president's supporters would face the brunt of the negative effects from Trump's policies, but he said that he understood why many were so dissatisfied with the system.'The people who are least equipped to bear what the Trump administration is going to yield are a lot of the folks that voted for him. And that’s really frickin’ sad.'"I don’t want to ignore it. We are all neighbors; we all share this country together. I want to understand it,” Bateman said in an interview with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace. “And I know that there’s genuine dissatisfaction with their standing in life or the system and whatnot. And so that’s legit. I’m sensitive to that, and I respect that.”He went on to claim that many on the right are insulated from reality by the news sources they choose. “It is ubiquitous. You have to make a real effort to stay insulated from the facts and common sense. It’s everywhere, except on Fox, or Breitbart, or whatever the hell the spots are," he added."Whatever section there is that is kind of doing it just to ‘stick it to the libs,’ it’s not schadenfreude. But I am curious to see what they’re going to do when eggs keep going up and gas keeps going up. Again, I’m not wishing harm on anyone, but it’s tragic," Bateman said elsewhere in the interview.“I think the people who are least equipped to bear what the Trump administration is going to yield are a lot of the folks that voted for him,” Bateman said. “And that’s really frickin’ sad, ya know?”RELATED: Ben Stiller, Jason Bateman, John Stamos top list of celebrities on latest Zoom call fundraiser for Kamala Harris Many on social media did not appreciate the criticism from the actor, and some said they would avoid his films and shows."Yet another actor is added to my 'never again will I watch you in any show, movie or event' list. Jason Bateman said GOP has no facts or common sense. Like these self-serving elites have any clue about anything. ... They live enriched lives w/little or no connection to every day real people," read one popular response."I enjoyed Jason Bateman movies before he trashed Trump and supporters. Going forward, I, family and friends, will never pay for his productions again. Pass it along," said another user on social media."The irony that Jason Bateman is talking down about Trump supporters to one of the biggest liars/frauds on MSNBC is not lost on me. My God," read another reply.Bateman had called on former President Joe Biden to use the emergency broadcast system to alert Americans to vote in the 2024 election in a bizarre rant in November.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Accused Minnesota assassin Vance Luther Boelter will likely find it much more difficult to complain about lack of sleep due to alleged poor jail conditions when he faces a federal magistrate judge for a rescheduled preliminary hearing July 3.Boelter was granted a six-day continuance on June 27 after he complained about alleged deplorable jail conditions and an inability to sleep for nearly two weeks.‘He was resting peacefully, with his eyes closed.’The sheriff of the jail where Boelter is being held fired back at the facility’s most infamous resident, saying security video showed Boelter with his eyes closed “resting peacefully” for more than seven hours the night before his last court hearing.“He is not in a hotel. He’s in jail, where a person belongs when they commit the heinous crimes he is accused of committing,” said Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott. “Lights are on 24-7 and need to be so correctional officers doing welfare checks can see that the inmates are OK.”Sherburne County operates a 732-bed jail in Elk River, Minn., about 40 miles from the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in St. Paul.The jail houses federal pretrial detainees under a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service. The facility holds an average of 500 federal detainees and inmates per day for the marshals, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and other agencies.RELATED: ‘The face of evil’: What do we know about accused assassin Vance Luther Boelter? The public filed past the caskets of murdered Democratic House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, her husband, Mark Hortman, and an urn with the remains of their slain dog at the Minnesota state Capitol June 27, 2025.Photo by Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesAt the hearing, Boelter complained that the lights were on day and night. The loud sound of clanking doors and the smell of feces from a nearby cell made it difficult to sleep, he said. There was only a mat to sleep on with no pillow, he told the judge.“His cell is spotless clean and so is his mattress, which has a pillow sewn into it,” Brott said. “Every day he is offered access to the phone and the shower. He has not missed a meal since his arrival.”Boelter waived his right to have a preliminary hearing within 14 days of his June 16 initial appearance. The July 3 hearing will serve as a preliminary hearing and a detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko.Brott said after Boelter returned to the jail from his June 27 hearing, “jail personnel checked live security camera footage of the alleged assassin’s cell and he was resting peacefully, with his eyes closed.”Boelter’s complaints about jail conditions and alleged insomnia came on the same day that the couple he is accused of murdering were lying in state a mile away at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul.‘All three of us were lined up at gunpoint.’Thousands of Minnesotans filed past the caskets of Democratic House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and the urn with the remains of their beloved golden retriever, Gilbert.Brott said it was “offensive and disgusting” that Boelter stood before a judge complaining about jail conditions while long lines of people waited to pay their respects to his alleged victims at the Capitol.The Hortmans were laid to rest after a June 28 funeral Mass attended by more than 1,500 people at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.Boelter is charged in federal court with the stalking and assassination of the Hortmans at around 3:30 a.m. June 14 at the couple’s home in Brooklyn Park, Minn.Boelter was dressed as a police officer, driving a Ford SUV painted like a police vehicle with emergency lights flashing, the FBI said. Boelter visited the homes of four Democratic lawmakers that night “with the intent to kill them,” acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said.RELATED: Vance Boelter’s wife speaks out for first time since June 14 shooting rampage Vance Luther Boelter is charged with the assassination of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband and the wounding of a state senator and his wife.Photos by FBI/Alpha News/Hennepin County Sheriff via Getty Images Boelter is also charged with the attempted killing of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, who were shot repeatedly at the front door of their home in Champlin, Minn., about 90 minutes earlier.The Hoffmans, who watched the Hortman funeral on livestream, expressed their “profound sadness” over the deaths.“We all watched the service; it was heartbreakingly beautiful,” the Hoffmans said in a statement. “Our hearts are with the Hortman family in this time of immense grief.”The Hoffmans were shot a total of 17 times as they tried to push the suspect out of the front door of their home. Their adult daughter, Hope, managed to shut and lock the door on him and call 911 after her parents were shot.“All three of us were lined up at gunpoint,” the Hoffmans’ statement said. “We’re continuing to recover from physical injuries and emotional trauma from this senseless act of violence. All of us are now in stable condition but face a long road ahead.“Hope’s bruises from the attack continue to heal,” the statement said. “We’re so grateful she happened to be at our house that night. There’s no doubt her call to 911 saved the lives of others.”After allegedly shooting the Hoffmans, Boelter visited the home of state Rep. Kristin Bahner (DFL-Maple Grove), but she and her family were not home, the FBI said. Mourners embrace after the funeral Mass of slain Democratic House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis June 28, 2025.Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty ImagesBoelter then parked his vehicle down the block from the home of state Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope), but was apparently scared off after a New Hope police squad briefly pulled up next to his vehicle before that officer drove away to check on the senator, police said.Officers from the Brooklyn Park Police Department who pulled up to the Hortman home reportedly spotted Boelter on the front porch. When the officers exited their vehicle, Boelter apparently opened fire on them. The officers returned fire, Thompson said.Boelter “rushed into the house through the front door, firing into it,” Thompson said. “He repeatedly fired into the house and when he entered, he murdered Representative Hortman and her husband, Mark.”Police say they found a “hit list” in Boelter’s vehicle with the names of more than 50 Democratic public officials from Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Texas.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

These bowls, plates, and pots still had their designs intact, thanks to a one-of-a-kind technique in which they were coated in a protective layer of raw clay. The post Divers Exploring A 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck In Turkey Just Found Ceramics Still Stacked As They Were When The Vessel Went Down appeared first on All That's Interesting.