Senator Marsha Blackburn (TN) introduced a bill on Thursday that would make President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization permanent, barring massing reform.  The bill would block taxpayer dollars from either funding WHO programs or American membership in the organization unless the organization took significant steps to demonstrate independence from China and root out leftist ideology. Blackburn’s fellow Republican Senators John Barrasso (WY), Rick Scott (FL), and Ted Cruz joined Blackburn in putting the legislation forward. “The World Health Organization has long been a puppet for the Chinese Communist Party, grossly mismanaging the COVID pandemic and taking over a billion dollars of U.S. funding without advancing our interests,” Blackburn told The Daily Wire. “We must support President Trump’s actions to hold the WHO accountable by ensuring any future president who wants to rejoin meets concrete conditions of improvement.” The bill would codify Trump’s day one executive order withdrawing the United States from the organization, citing WHO handling of COVID and demands for “onerous” and unfair payments.  Under certain conditions, the legislation said that it would be possible for the United States to rejoin WHO. These conditions include the WHO adopting reforms to ensure that humanitarian aid is not politicized, demonstrate independence from the Chinese Communist Party, grant observer status to Taiwan, and end funding or promotion of things like abortion, climate change, and sex-change procedures.  Another condition would stipulate that humanitarian aid and medical supplies could not be diverted to Iran, Syria, and North Korea.  “American tax dollars cannot be used to fund the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) and World Health Organization’s (WHO) cover-up of the COVID-19 pandemic. The mismanagement, failed transparency, and lack of independence at the WHO is inexcusable,” Barrasso told The Daily Wire. “Our bill ensures that not one penny of taxpayer money is spent rejoining the WHO if serious reforms aren’t made to prevent another failed pandemic response.” A companion version has been introduced in the House by Republican Representatives Jodey Arrington (TX), Ron Estes (KS), Greg Steube (FL), and Anna Paulina Luna (FL). When Trump issued the executive order last month to pull America out of WHO, he said that the country was paying too much to be a member of the United Nations-backed organization in comparison to other countries like China.  “So we paid $500 million to World Health when I was here and I terminated it,” Trump said, adding that it “seemed a little unfair” because China was paying around $39 million to the organization.  Trump ended American participation in WHO back in 2020, but that decision was later reversed by Joe Biden. 

Luigi Mangione, who is currently awaiting trial for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has asked that his fans stop sending him so many photos. The 26-year-old graduate of the University of Pennsylvania issued the request after being inundated with unsolicited pictures sent to him at a federal jail in Brooklyn where he is currently being held.  “Luigi is allowed to receive photos via Shutterfly and FreePrints in accordance with mail procedures while in custody,” a statement on the FAQ page of his legal defense information website says.  “Due to the volume of photos, they could take longer than usual to be screened and shared. Luigi appreciates the photos that are sent and kindly asks that people send no more than five photos at a time. Please note that every photo that is received is screened and reviewed by law enforcement.” The FAQ page previously had a statement asking fans to stop sending Mangione books. Last Friday, the Ivy League graduate appeared for a pretrial hearing in New York Criminal Court, which attracted dozens of his supporters to the courthouse. Despite the serious nature of his charges, Mangione has accumulated a large fan base, especially among leftists who are unhappy with the U.S. healthcare system. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of murder. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. No trial date has been set. He is also facing federal charges, which could result in the death penalty, but a federal grand jury has not yet indicted him. His next date in federal court is in mid-March, per ABC News. Mangione released his first public statement earlier this month and mentioned the amount of fan mail he’s received since being arrested. “I am overwhelmed by – and grateful for – everyone who has written me to share their stories and express their support,” the statement from Mangione read. “Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions, as mail has flooded MDC from across the country, and around the globe.” He added, “While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters, please know that I read every one that I receive. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to write. I look forward to hearing more in the future.” Thompson, a husband and father of two children, was killed by a masked assassin who was caught on video firing multiple shots into the UnitedHealthcare CEO before fleeing the scene. Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the murder.

Actor Gary Sinise says that his new veteran-focused film, “Brothers After War,” was made in part to forge a connection between the military and “the average American.” Sinise is an executive producer on the project, teaming up with filmmaker and director Jake Rademacher. A synopsis of the film says: “Jake Rademacher reconnects with his brothers and elite Soldiers and Marines he embedded with during the Iraq War. Intercutting footage past and present, he leads us on an insightful, humorous, and moving journey as we watch warfighters explore loss, meaning, and hope on their path from warfighter to veteran.” Rademacher and Sinise sat down with Morning Wire for an interview about the film, which will be released in full on Saturday. The director said one of his goals was to present the service members as “three-dimensional” characters with both flaws and virtues. “Oftentimes when you see documentaries, people cherrypick sad stories. They’re not really in the community, somebody’s kind of doing their drive by film about it,” Rademacher said. “I’ve got to actually spend a day with these people,” he continued. “I’ve got to embed in their life. Now I embedded with them in the foxholes… I got to jump out of an airplane with them or go scuba diving, or get weapons training, which I did all of that.” The filmmaker said he wanted to show that the subjects of the documentary are “highly functioning people” who are “still carrying some of the invisible wounds of war.” “They still have some work to do. And, and I’ll show their vulnerability, but I also want to show their strength,” he said. “That’s the power of the movie. It makes tough subjects easier to talk about.” Sinise referenced his iconic role playing Lieutenant Dan in the classic “Forrest Gump.” He said the “good thing” about that fictional story is that it can represent healing, which is possible for veterans going through a tough time. “The good thing about [Lieutenant Dan’s] story is that it’s a happy ending at the end, right? You’ve got a guy who goes off to war. He’s serving during a time of conflict in our own country about whether he should have even been in the war or not. He has to isolate,” Sinise said. “He drowns himself in alcohol and disappears, but then, thankfully, at the end of that story, he’s standing up again. He’s making peace and he’s moving on. …That’s the story that we want for every single person who goes and serves in the military and comes home from war and defends our country. We want them to be okay. We want them to move on.” “We want [veterans] to know that there’s a way to share their stories,” Sinise said of the documentary project during an interview with Newsmax. “Their stories are important. And I think by seeing this film and seeing the veterans in this film sharing their stories on camera for the world to see, it’s going to be very, very encouraging for somebody who may just need to talk about something but hasn’t been able to do it.” “There’s a big disconnect between the average American who doesn’t have a relationship to anybody in the military and our military, the people that actually serve our country,” the actor said. “So maybe ‘Brothers After War’ can help bridge that disconnect. That’s what we hope.” The 69-year-old star founded the Gary Sinise Foundation in 2011 and has been advocating for veterans ever since through outreach, visiting service members and veterans around the world, and calling attention to issues that matter to them. He also helped fund this new documentary and partnered with Regal Cinema to make a record donation ($150,000) to entertainment nonprofit Vet Tix so free tickets to the film are available.  “Brothers After War” hits theaters on Friday, February 28. Participating theaters can be found on the film’s official website. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), speaking of the need to cut the fraud, waste, and abuse out of Medicaid, made clear that people who took advantage of the system would be found. Johnson spoke with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, who asked if people would lose their Medicaid coverage due to the Trump administration’s effort to cut spending from the federal government payroll. “The White House has made a commitment,” Johnson stated. “The President said over and over and over we’re not going to touch Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. We’ve made the same commitment.” “Now, that said, what we are going to do is go into those programs, and carve out the fraud, waste and abuse, and find efficiencies,” he continued. “Couple of examples. There’s about $50 billion estimated that are lost every year in Medicaid just in fraud alone. No one is for that. We’ve got to make sure we eliminate it. We have the algorithms now to do that. We have advanced technology to find it. We need to ID, provide identification for people who are Medicaid recipients, to make sure they are not illegal aliens. That’s another big carve-out that we will make, to save a lot of money.” Johnson stated that Democrats were lying when they said the GOP was going to cut Medicaid, prompting Collins to ask, “You say Democrats are lying, when they say you’re going to cut Medicaid. The plan that you passed does instruct the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in cuts, right? And so how do they get $880 billion in cuts from that committee, without touching Medicaid?” “Because E&C actually has the broadest jurisdiction of any committee in Congress,” Johnson replied. “It covers everything. Energy and Commerce, the name indicates how broad the jurisdiction is. I challenge you, or anybody on your staff, do a word search for ‘Medicaid’ on the resolution that we passed last night. You will not find it. That is not part of this equation, OK? We’re talking about finding efficiencies in every program, but not cutting benefits for people who rightly deserve that.” “Working requirements — work requirements for Medicaid, that is something that is public opinion polls almost 90 percent,” he asserted. “You don’t want able-bodied workers on a program that is intended, for example, for single mothers with two small children [who are] just trying to make it. That’s what Medicaid is for. Not for 29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games.” “We’re going to find those guys, and we’re going to send them back to work. That’s what everybody supports. That’s what the Republicans are for. And by the way, we find dignity in our work. That’s going to be good for everybody,” he concluded. Medicaid is for single mothers with small children who are just trying to make it. It's not for 29-year-old males sitting on their couch playing video games.  We're going to find those guys, and we will SEND them back to work! pic.twitter.com/3n0egvEkxO — Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) February 27, 2025

Elissa Slotkin, the first-term Democratic senator from Michigan, will deliver her party’s response to President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress next Tuesday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) described Slotkin as “a rising star” in the Democratic Party, announcing on Thursday that the Michigan senator “will layout [sic] the fight to tackle the deep challenges we face and chart a path forward.” Slotkin narrowly won the 2024 Senate election in Michigan, a state that went for Trump over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. The Democrat served six years in the House before running for former Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s seat last year. “I’m looking forward to speaking directly to the American people next week. The public expects leaders to level with them on what’s actually happening in our country,” Slotkin said. “From our economic security to our national security, we’ve got to chart a way forward that improves people’s lives in the country we all love, I look forward to laying that out. Tune in.” The Democrats’ selection of Slotkin for the response puts forward a new voice for a party that is desperately seeking ways to resonate with Americans after Republicans won the White House, Senate, and House in 2024. Slotkin has pushed for Democrats to move away from “identity politics” and “focus on the things that keep people up at night,” which she said are “their pocketbooks and their kids.” “I personally think that identity politics needs to go the way of the dodo,” she said two weeks after her election victory in November. “We gotta stay away … we don’t need to obsess about identity politics,” she added. “And by the way, this last election demonstrated very clearly that they don’t stand up.” Slotkin, however, criticized Trump’s plans to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in military recruitment and fire generals who pushed DEI policies. During her first weeks in the Senate, Slotkin has joined Democrats in raging against the Trump administration’s cuts to federal spending and argued that billionaires, such as Trump’s senior adviser Elon Musk, are “leading around this administration by the nose.”

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference on Thursday that the state is looking into legal options after notorious influencer Andrew Tate — who is accused of sex trafficking, rape, and other criminal activity in Romania — had travel sanctions lifted and traveled to Florida with his brother. Tate and his brother, Tristan, arrived in Fort Lauderdale on a private jet on Thursday, according to their spokesperson. “Our attorney general, James Uthmeier, is looking into what state hooks and jurisdiction we may have to be able to deal with this,” DeSantis said at a press conference. “But the reality is no, Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct.” “I don’t know how it came to this,” he added. “We were not involved. We were not notified. I found out through the media.” Uthmeier said he directed his office to “work with our state law enforcement partners to conduct a preliminary inquiry into these individuals.” “Florida has zero tolerance for human trafficking and violence against women,” he said. “If any of these alleged crimes trigger Florida jurisdiction, we will hold them accountable.” WATCH: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) says that Andrew Tate is not welcome in his state: “Our attorney general, James Uthmeier, is looking into what state hooks and jurisdiction we may have to be able to deal with this. But the reality is no, Florida is not a place where you’re… pic.twitter.com/Y2Ofi2Oo46 — Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) February 27, 2025 The Tate brothers had been banned from leaving Romania after they were arrested in 2022 on charges of “rape, human trafficking, money laundering and starting an organized crime group,” CNN reported. They have denied any wrongdoing. Romanian prosecutors said they only lifted the travel restrictions on the two brothers while “all other obligations remain in effect, including the requirement to appear before judicial authorities whenever summoned.” During a press conference on Thursday, President Donald Trump said he had no knowledge of the travel restrictions being lifted after several reports said the Trump administration pushed Romania to do so. Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro addressed the issue of Andrew Tate during an episode of his show last month. Anyone who wants to talk with Andrew Tate should talk with him. Obviously. It’s a free country! The REAL PROBLEM is so many cheerleading and applauding a self-professed pornographer who opposes the most basic standards of virtue. pic.twitter.com/6z2QwXrkaj — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 13, 2025

Michelle Trachtenberg died at age 39 on February 26. Her death came as quite a shock to those who knew her and loved her. Michelle began her career in Hollywood at a very young age. Her first credited role came in 1993 on Nickelodeon’s Clarissa Explains It All. She continued acting for more than 20 years. Michelle Trachtenberg starred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Sarah Michelle Gellar from 2000 to 2003 as Buffy’s sister, Dawn.  Her former costar took to social media to share her grief in the wake of Michelle’s death. Sarah Michelle’s post to Michelle Trachtenberg was both haunting and heartbreaking. “Michelle, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. The hardest thing in this world, is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live… for you,” she wrote. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sarah Michelle (@sarahmgellar) Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Message For Michelle Trachtenberg Was A Nod To Their “Buffy” Days Sarah Michelle’s post paid tribute to her Buffy dying to save her sister Dawn’s life at the end of season five. She also shared several pictures of the on-screen sisters together. Her words meant so much to Buffy fans who had a hard time believing Michelle died. One wrote, “RIP Michelle. I am sorry for the whole team’s loss; this one is very hard to accept.” “We all know how much you loved her, I’m so sorry for your loss. Sending you love, rest in peace Michelle,” a fan agreed. Another wrote, “Man, I’m so freaking sorry for your loss!! I still can’t believe it! Sending all my love and prayers!” This isn’t the first death in the Buffy family. Sarah Michelle Gellar also lost costar Shannen Dougherty, less than a year before Michelle Trachtenberg’s death. A fan shared, “I’m so sorry for yet another loss. She loved you.” A cause of death has not been revealed. This story’s featured image is by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic via Getty. The post Sarah Michelle Gellar Pens Absolutely Heartbreaking Tribute To “Buffy” Costar Michelle Trachtenberg appeared first on InspireMore.

When these neighborhood kids play outside, they never forget to invite the most popular member of their group — who just happens to be a dog! Wynn the golden retriever loves it when her friends drop by and ask her to play (with her owner’s permission, of course). Mom caught the sweetest footage on her doorbell camera of one of the neighbor children coming over to see if the dog was available. Before anyone could even get a word out, Wynn was rushing outside to greet the boy! In the absolutely adorable clip, it was pretty clear that this kid was already best friends with the golden retriever. Wynn was so happy to see him, she almost didn’t know what to do about it. Her tail was wagging like crazy as she started spinning in circles. In no time, the two buddies were scampering off into the snow-covered front yard for some playtime. @goldenwynn Doorbell captures neighborhood kids stopping by to invite Wynn to go play in snow #goldenretriever #dogsoftiktok #fyp #petsoftiktok #dogsoftiktokviral #pets #dogsoftiktokviral #goldens ♬ original sound – Wynn the golden “POV: When the neighborhood kids treat your dog like one of the friend group,” Wynn’s owner wrote over the video. Over a million people have watched this precious footage on social media. Commenters thought the neighbor boy’s friendship with the golden retriever was too cute! However, one user had a very important question. “Any video of them playing together? I bet it’s the sweetest thing ever,” they wrote. Screengrab from TikTok Thankfully, Mom’s doorbell camera did manage to capture a heart-melting clip of the dog playing with the neighborhood kids in the front yard. At that point, two more children had joined the group. Everyone seemed to have the best time running around in the snow together, even though it looks like Wynn may have been playing fetch with one of their hats. @goldenwynn Replying to @Alicia Antieau she has a whole friend group and they treat her like she is just like them. ♬ original sound – Wynn the golden This dog is definitely just one of the kids as far as these neighborhood children are concerned! You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post “When The Neighborhood Kids Treat Your Dog Like One Of The Friend Group” appeared first on InspireMore.

After a heartbreaking loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, many wondered what the future would hold for the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. Rumors of Travis Kelce’s retirement swirled for months, but he was reluctant to give a firm decision. There are two camps when it comes to Travis’ future plans. Some think it’s time to hang up the cleats and move on. Maybe get married and start a family, wink wink. Others think Travis needs to play another season and see how it goes. It looks like he finally has a decision. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Travis Kelce (@killatrav) Travis Kelce Shared His Plans Pat McAfee Well, sort of. Pat read a text on the air that Travis reportedly sent him. He said he’s “coming back for sure.” Travis added that he was “Going to try and get to the best shape I’ve been this offseason and get back to the mountaintop.” Travis Kelce seemed to push retirement out of his mind to prove himself in 2026. He reportedly told Pat, “I got a real bad taste in my mouth with how I played in that last game and how I got the guys ready for battle. I can’t go out like that”!!! Fans flocked to Pat’s Instagram to chime in on Travis Kelce’s retirement plans. This person hopes to see a Super Bowl rematch. ” I can’t wait for the rematch with the Eagles in regular season. Go Birds.” A fan shared, “So glad he is going back. He needs to refocus and give 200% next season and go out strong…. No regrets. And with that, GO BIRDS!” Another wrote, “Well, you have a really good relationship with Travis why wouldn’t he directly contact you and come onto the podcast and announce it instead of going through the “” source? Try to get him on your podcast and have him announce it that way everybody knows for sure because we heard it straight from Travis instead of all of these podcast people saying he’s coming back. He’s coming back with no acknowledgment from Travis yet at all, I want him to come back if that’s what he wants to do. I also like legitimate confirmation of things.” This story’s featured image is by Tammy Ljungblad/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images. The post Travis Kelce Finally Announces Retirement Plans appeared first on InspireMore.

'[He] can sound like a high school history teacher'