CBS’s Stephen Colbert wrapped up his week of live reactions to the Republican National Convention early Friday morning by decrying the whole thing as “deeply, psychotically weird” because the party is trying to dismiss Donald Trump’s legal controversies as no big deal. Colbert would also welcome Sen. Bernie Sanders to The Late Show to claim that Trump is a threat to democracy because Elon Musk plans to give a Trump super PAC a lot of money and because Trump wants to drill for oil. During his opening monologue, Colbert lamented, “But the thing is none of this is normal. It's deeply, psychotically weird that this is happening at all. Less than four years ago, this man incited an attack on the U.S. Capitol in order to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our nation's history. Then he was impeached again.”     Rolling right along, Colbert continued, “Then he was indicted a lot. Then found liable for sexual assault and convicted of 34 felonies. And the Republicans are desperate for voters to forget all of that. Also, he's not currently the president, so it's weird that he spoke in front of a Zoom background of the White House.” If Republicans are not receptive to liberal concerns about the end of democracy, perhaps it is because the boy has cried wolf because later in the show, Colbert asked Sanders: Speaking of which, Elon Musk, your buddy Elon, said he would not be giving money to either candidate back in March but last week he said is going to give $45 million a month to a Trump Super PAC between now and the election, $180 million. If you would do whatever billionaires tell you, that money could be yours, Bernie. Have you thought about it? Sanders retorted, “Stephen, I haven't, but thanks for telling me. I'll take that into consideration, all right. But you raise a really important question. In a sense we should thank Musk for making this issue so obvious. What we have in America now is a corrupt political system. That’s it. We do not really live in a democracy. We live in a semi-democracy. You have the right to vote, but a billionaire out there has the right to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to further his or her aims.  For Sanders, oil drilling also represents a threat to democracy, “And what Musk has done and other billionaires are doing, falling into line behind Trump because they know they're going to give massive tax breaks if you're in the fossil fuel industry, you're going to ‘drill, baby, drill.’” Hyping President Joe Biden instead, Sanders added, “But there are billionaires who also support Biden. But to Biden's credit, Biden understands that we have to overturn this disastrous Supreme Court decision on Citizens United.” If Colbert wants people to take his Doomsday prophecies about the end of democracy seriously, perhaps equating democracy’s demise with fossil fuels isn’t the best idea. Here is a transcript for the July 19 show: CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 7/19/2024 12:52 AM ET STEPHEN COLBERT: But the thing is none of this is normal. It's deeply, psychotically weird that this is happening at all. Less than four years ago, this man incited an attack on the U.S. Capitol in order to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in our nation's history. Then he was impeached again. Then he was indicted a lot. Then found liable for sexual assault and convicted of 34 felonies. And the Republicans are desperate for voters to forget all of that. Also, he's not currently the president, so it's weird that he spoke in front of a Zoom background of the White House. … COLBERT: Speaking of which, Elon Musk, your buddy Elon, said he would not be giving money to either candidate back in March but last week he said is going to give $45 million a month to a Trump Super PAC between now and the election, $180 million. If you would do whatever billionaires tell you, that money could be yours, Bernie. Have you thought about it? BERNIE SANDERS: Stephen, I haven't, but thanks for telling me. I'll take that into consideration, all right. But you raise a really important question. In a sense we should thank Musk for making this issue so obvious. What we have in America now is a corrupt political system. That’s it. We do not really live in a democracy. We live in a semi-democracy. You have the right to vote, but a billionaire out there has the right to contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to further his or her aims.  And what Musk has done and other billionaires are doing, falling into line behind Trump because they know they're going to give massive tax breaks if you're in the fossil fuel industry, you're going to “drill, baby, drill.” This is a good reason to support Trump. But there are billionaires who also support Biden. But to Biden's credit, Biden understands that we have to overturn this disastrous Supreme Court decision on Citizens United.  

Milwaukee, Wis. — Former President Donald Trump only named his campaign opponent a single time during his Thursday-night nomination acceptance speech. In fact, President Joe Biden barely appeared at all in any of the dozen-plus speeches given on the final night of the Republican National Convention. The decision makes sense on the surface. Trump might not even be running against Biden in November. In the hours before Trump spoke, rumors swirled about the president’s imminent withdrawal as the Biden and Obama camps shot anonymous quotes and “confirmed” plans back and forth through reporters. It’s easy for a party in opposition to fall into this sort of rut, but a serious failure for the party in power to do so. But the decision reveals something deeper, too. Can you imagine Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris or Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) giving an hour-plus speech with hardly a mention of Donald Trump? Or even a six-minute talk? In case anyone missed it, Biden canceled his Monday address commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act out of respect for the deadly assassination attempt on Trump. If he couldn’t use the occasion to bash Donald Trump, it wasn’t even worth the event. Some commemoration. Even aside from being unable to keep Trump’s name out of his mouth, Joe Biden would struggle to articulate a platform or a plan for the next four years that wasn’t largely focused on reacting against the opposition. It’s easy for a party in opposition to fall into this sort of rut, but a serious failure for the party in power to do so. Today, they have little to offer besides attacks. Compare that to the Republican Party. I watched the 2012 and 2016 Republican conventions tucked into the shadows of the nosebleeds with Tucker Carlson and other Daily Caller staff. You’d hear occasional applause and a few laughs, but there was no chance he would have accepted an offer to speak on the main stage. And the change wasn’t in Tucker, who in the years since has somehow become even less willing to do things he doesn’t want to do. The change is in the Republican Party, and it is apparent in the elevation of one of the very few senators who actually believes (and legislates) the populist-conservative agenda. The Grand Old Party has become the party of ideas. And that’s a good thing. That doesn’t mean it will stick. Gov. Ronald Reagan forced a conservative takeover of the party in 1980. The day his vice president succeeded him in office was nicknamed “the night of long knives” for the number of conservative staff dismissed from their jobs. For the next three dozen years, the party would cling to power, counting on conservative votes and using Reagan’s name in every speech — but following a very different policy. The selection of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) is a strong guard against this but no sure thing. The coming battle is a battle of ideas. The Republican Party of Trump and Vance is winning right now. But it will be a hard fight to come. Blaze News: Trump haters outraged that he has reportedly become more serene and spiritual Blaze News: Why longtime Trump critic Steve Deace just put a Trump sign in his front yard – 'The shooting crystallized something for me.' Blaze News: Joy Reid goes on paranoid rant suggesting Trump was not actually shot and Secret Service helped him stage 'iconic photo' Sign up for Bedford’s newsletterSign up to get Blaze Media senior politics editor Christopher Bedford's newsletter.

During an election debate this week, the mayor of San Francisco announced a plan to crack down on homeless encampments that may include criminal charges for violators, claiming that the era of "compassion" on the issue was over.On Thursday, five candidates for mayor of San Francisco, including incumbent Mayor London Breed, gathered at the San Francisco Firefighters Union Hall on Newhall Street to discuss a range of topics including restoring firefighters fired for refusing vaccine mandates, revitalizing downtown, crime, and, of course, the homelessness problem that has plagued the city for more than a decade.'After six years, you don’t have a plan. You have a track record.'Recent Supreme Court decision Grants Pass v. Johnson granted municipalities more flexibility to clear up homeless encampments, ruling that banning people from sleeping or camping in public spaces such as streets and parks did not violate the Constitution. The decision partially overrules a local injunction imposed in late 2022 that prevents Bay Area authorities from enforcing anti-camping laws.Mark Farrell, a former mayor who is running for the role again, accused Breed of dragging her heels on addressing the homelessness problem in light of the SCOTUS decision. "The Grants Pass decision was three weeks ago and tent encampments are growing," Farrell claimed at the debate on Thursday.Farrell then gestured to the crowd of firefighters in attendance, pledging to take swift action to clear up the problem once and for all so that "every day you can deal with fighting fires and not dealing with tent encampments." "You have to be aggressive."Breed seemed to agree, claiming that the so-called "compassionate" approach has not worked. "We have had to move from a compassionate city to a city of accountability, and I have been leading the efforts to ensure that we are addressing this issue differently than we have before," she said."We are going to be very aggressive and assertive in moving encampments which may even include criminal penalties," she continued."We will continue to lead with services, but we also can't continue to allow people to do what they want on the streets of San Francisco, especially when we have a place for them to go," Breed added."The problem is not going to be solved by building more housing. Thank goodness for the Supreme Court decision."Though her statements at the debate mark what the Daily Mail described as "a change in tack" regarding homelessness, they were rather light on substance, offering few specifics about how the encampments would be moved and what kinds of "criminal penalties" might be assessed.However, Breed did claim that the new policy would be implemented sometime next month. A statement from city attorney spokesperson Alex Barrett-Shorter explained that the new approach "will help us address our most challenging encampments, where services are often refused and re-encampment is common."Still, Farrell indicated that Breed, who has been in office since winning a special-election race in 2018, has had enough time to fix the problem. "After six years, you don’t have a plan. You have a track record," he quipped.Breed is in a tough battle to keep her seat. Mission Local doubted that she will receive a sole endorsement from the firefighters' union this time around like she did in 2018, and at least one poll published last month suggested that Farrell was well ahead of her in ranked-choice voting.The results of the firefighters' union vote regarding mayoral endorsements, held immediately following the debate, will be released at a meeting in early August.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

"Multiple employees" of the largest housing provider for unaccompanied minors illegally crossing the U.S. southern border allegedly committed various forms of sexual abuse on children in their care, all while the nonprofit's leadership turned a blind eye, a new lawsuit from the Department of Justice claims.On Thursday, the DOJ announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Southwest Key Programs Inc., claiming that by either facilitating or ignoring the abuse, the nonprofit had violated the Fair Housing Act.Both employees also reportedly threatened to harm or even kill the children or their families if they reported the abuse. Perhaps equally as abhorrent, other staff members at the shelters allegedly knew about the attacks and failed to report them.Southwest Key runs a total of 29 shelters for unaccompanied migrant minors, 17 in Texas, 10 in Arizona, and two in California. In all, Southwest Key can provide housing for 6,350 children.Since at least 2015, some of the nonprofit's employees have allegedly engaged in heinous acts of sexual abuse, including "sexual contact and inappropriate touching, solicitation of sex acts, solicitation of nude photos, entreaties for inappropriate relationships and sexual comments," the DOJ press release claimed.Thus far, at least two such employees have been criminally charged. A male working at the Casa Franklin shelter in El Paso, Texas, allegedly touched the "private area" of three girls between ages 5 and 11. Another employee from a Southwest Key facility in Tucson, Arizona, allegedly brought an 11-year-old boy to a hotel and paid him to perform sex acts for several days.Both employees also reportedly threatened to harm or even kill the children or their families if they reported the abuse. Perhaps equally as abhorrent, other staff members at the shelters allegedly knew about the abuse and failed to report it."Southwest Key took insufficient action to prevent sexual harassment of the children in its care, failed to consistently follow federal requirements for preventing, detecting and reporting abuse including sexual harassment, failed to take appropriate or sufficient action to protect the children in its care and discouraged children from disclosing sexual harassment in violation of federal requirements," the press release stated.Southwest Key receives funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As of May 31, nearly 7,800 children are in the care of HHS-funded facilities, though how many of those children are in Southwest Key shelters is unclear.The AP reached out to Southwest Key for comment, as did Blaze News. We did not receive a response.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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A large Roman venue hosting horse-drawn chariot races in antiquity has been found in northern Spain at the Iruña-Veleia site. Situated 10 kilometers from Vitoria-Gasteiz, it was found to contain a Roman circus measuring 280 meters (approximately 920 feet) in length, capable of seating around 5,000 spectators! This finding, revealed by the excavation leaders using remote sensing techniques, highlighted the outlines of the stands and the circus. Iruña-Veleia: Roman Circus Town? The discovery suggests that Iruña-Veleia was more significant than previously believed. This announcement was made by Basque institutions and Arkikus archaeology company leaders, brothers Iker and Javier Ordoño, who first identified signs of the circus in 2020 using aerial photographs and helped by their color blindness, reports Arkikus, who’re carrying out the investigation. The researchers explained that:  “It gives an idea of the importance that Iruña-Veleia had. Not just anyone had a circus like this, with 280 meters it's like having three soccer fields lined up one behind the other.” The discovery was enabled through "surface remote sensing of the site via historical and modern aerial photographs, LiDAR laser scanner mapping, and drone images." Read moreSection: NewsHistory & ArchaeologyAncient PlacesEuropeRead Later 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed British government ministers on Friday, a rare appearance by a foreign leader at a cabinet meeting that new Prime Minister Keir Starmer hopes will underline London's support for Kyiv. A day after hosting a forum of European...

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability released a bipartisan statement calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear before the panel to answer questions about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.