Hamas has agreed to release 10 hostages as part of ongoing ceasefire talks, the terror group said in a statement on Wednesday. The statement did not say when the release would take place or which hostages may be freed as negotiations over a possible ceasefire continue. The terror group said that it continues to act “seriously and in a positive spirit with the mediators in order to overcome the obstacles,” according to The Times of Israel. The statement from Hamas identified several points of disagreement between the terror group and Israeli negotiators, including the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and “genuine guarantees for a permanent ceasefire,” according to Reuters. The list of unresolved issues has apparently grown since U.S. foreign envoy Steve Witkoff said earlier this week that the number of sticking points between the two sides had shrunk to just one. “We’re in proximity talks now, and we had four issues, and now we’re down to one after two days of proximity talks. So, we are hopeful that by the end of this week, we will have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire,” Witkoff said Tuesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington this week in part to discuss the situation in Gaza with President Donald Trump. Trump hinted Wednesday that ceasefire negotiations are “close.” “We want to have a ceasefire,” said the president. “We want to have peace. We want to get the hostages back. And I think we’re close to doing it.” Netanyahu told reporters that while both he and Trump want a ceasefire, there are some non-negotiable items that must be a part of any deal. “President Trump wants a deal, but not at any price. I want a deal, but not at any price,” said the prime minister. “Israel has security requirements and other requirements, and we’re working together to try to achieve it.” Israel has repeatedly said that no ceasefire deal can be agreed to that leaves Hamas in place in the Gaza Strip. That war aim has remained unchanged since Israeli forces invaded Gaza following the terror group’s October 7 terror attack that killed roughly 1,200 people. Hamas militants and Gazans who joined the attack abducted about 250 others as hostages.

In a TikTok video posted on Tuesday, an argument erupted among airplane passengers when a woman attempted to skip ahead in the exit line. The woman, who is a lawyer, first said “shut your mouth” to a passenger after he complained that she hadn’t waited her turn.  “You’re all whining for no reason. Just get up when you want to — just deal with it, people, my God,” she drawled, rolling her eyes as other passengers jumped in to condemn her.  “You’re just a Karen and that’s just the way it is,” said one man before beginning to chant: “Karen! Karen!”  “You guys are so funny!” the woman mocked. “You’re the Karens about it because you’re the ones — you’re the ones who are making noise.” Eventually, a baby began crying in the background as the argument grew more heated. “Why don’t you all shut up? It’s not affecting any of you!” the woman retorted over disgruntled voices.  She soon noticed the camera recording her, then sarcastically asked the person behind it if he had her permission to record, falling into a common stereotype of so-called “Karen” behavior.  “It’s public,” one man answered calmly. “Shut the f**k up!” the woman exclaimed.  After the passengers protested her use of the “f-bomb,” she pointed to a man behind her and said, “given your accent I can tell you’ve said the f-bomb.”  A woman in a pink jacket then stepped in. “We’re not doing that,” she declared. “You can be a jerk … you’re not going to insult someone because of an accent.” A boy beside her grinned as though he were witnessing something exotic and accused the attorney of being a “racist.” “Do you even know what the word racist means?” she asked. “You’re white. Maybe it’s xenophobic if you’re talking about accents.”  The baby in the background continued to cry, and the video ended when the woman told another passenger she would meet him with her bar card after they got off the plane. The now-viral TikTok had racked up nearly 15,000 likes by Wednesday. 

A new poll shows Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani holding a commanding 10-point lead in New York City’s mayoral race this week, with incumbent Mayor Eric Adams trailing in fourth place. The Slingshot Strategies poll, conducted between July 2-6, showed socialist Mamdani capturing 35% of registered voters, with former Governor Andrew Cuomo at 25%, Republican Curtis Sliwa at 14%, and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams trailing with just 11%. Adams faces an uphill battle with a dismal 28% approval rating and 62% disapproval. By contrast, Mamdani enjoys a net favorable rating of +4 (40% favorable vs. 36% unfavorable), while even the scandal-plagued Andrew Cuomo outperforms Adams, with 44% viewing him favorably and 46% unfavorably. Other polls have found similar results, including a pro-Adams poll that still showed Mamdani leading with 41%, followed by Cuomo at 26%, Adams at 16%, and Sliwa at 10%. Adams’ support has collapsed even among his traditional base, with only 16% of black respondents saying they would back the mayor in the general election, compared to 35% for Mamdani and 32% for Cuomo, according to the poll. The current contest represents a significant fracturing of Democratic power, with incumbent Mayor Adams – who campaigned as a moderate, pro-police Democrat – now being challenged from both the far-Left in Mamdani and the establishment wing in Cuomo. While Mamdani’s 35% support is far from a majority, Slingshot founding partner Evan Roth Smith emphasized to the New York Post that the electoral math looks increasingly difficult for Adams. “The problem is the ballot is set. And the strongest Mamdani alternative in this poll is Andrew Cuomo, who just lost to him decisively in the Democratic primary,” Smith noted. “And the Mamdani alternative that seems to have the most momentum as a fresh alternative is Eric Adams, who’s polling barely in the double digits and seems to have lost credibility everywhere in the election.” Adams has faced widespread dissatisfaction with his administration, which has faced multiple federal investigations and criticism over the handling of the migrant crisis and public safety issues. Despite being a Democrat, Adams performs best among Republican voters, receiving 26% support compared to Mamdani’s 7%, although Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa leads that demographic with 43%. “There’s simply not enough Republican support for someone who is a sitting Democratic mayor of New York,” Smith added. “So it’s really, really difficult when someone is polling at 11% and the ballot isn’t changing to see what the path to victory is.” Mamdani, a 33-year-old Assemblyman from Queens, has positioned himself as an unapologetic socialist. He has advocated for rent control, increasing taxes on the wealthy, and reallocating police funding to social services – policies that have raised concerns among moderate Democrats and the business community. “You have a large number of largely white, largely outer borough homeowners who are not necessarily Democrats, who are skeptical of Mamdani,” Smith explained. “The problem is getting those voters together behind either Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams seems to still be a pretty tall order, and becomes even more difficult since they’re both in the race.” Cuomo and Adams have engaged in public feuding, with each calling for the other to drop out to consolidate opposition against Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary with 56% to Cuomo’s 44% in the final round of ranked-choice voting. Adams’ campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro dismissed the poll in a statement to the New York Post, saying, “just weeks ago, Andrew Cuomo was ahead in multiple polls and then went on to lose the primary by double digits.” “The latest Slingshot poll is just another example of how out-of-touch and unreliable political polling has become,” he said.

Pro-life diaper company EveryLife is mobilizing to help families in Texas who suffered devastating losses in the historic floods. Anyone can purchase a “Buy For a Cause” bundle from EveryLife — a month’s supply of diapers and wipes costs $49.99, and all bundles will be given directly to “families in dire need due to the Texas floods,” EveryLife said on its website. “We are praying for miracles in Texas,” Sarah Gabel Seifert, President and Co-Founder of EveryLife, said in a statement to The Daily Wire. “The devastation families are facing is unimaginable — yet in the midst of such tremendous loss, we’ve witnessed something remarkable: an overwhelming outpouring of generosity and prayers,” she said. “Through our Buy For a Cause program, we’re putting diapers and wipes directly into the hands of parents who have lost everything,” Seifert said, adding that it was “an honor” to work with “the American people and our on-the-ground partners to meet these urgent needs — and to remind Texas families that they are not alone.” The diaper company’s boots-on-the-ground partners, Operation Blessing, CityServe, and Convoy of Hope, are “working tirelessly to ensure these essential items reach families impacted by any means necessary,” EveryLife said. At least 107 people have died in the massive floods that hit Texas on July 4. Many families with small children were displaced from their homes and are still in need of basic essentials like diapers and wipes. Rescue efforts for survivors are still ongoing. “We are blown away by the generosity of our community already,” Seifert told Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro Wednesday morning. “We have already seen over 420,000 wipes donated, as well as over 294,000 diapers — and I feel like we’re just getting started.” President and Co-Founder @SarahGabelSeif details the work @everylife is doing to provide essentials to families in Texas pic.twitter.com/W6NzrECJfD — The Ben Shapiro Show (@BenShapiroShow) July 9, 2025 EveryLife was launched in 2023 by PublicSq., an online marketplace that works to help “freedom-loving Americans” find businesses that align with their values and brands itself as a conservative alternative to Amazon. The pro-life diaper company also supports pro-life organizations, donating diapers and wipes to crisis pregnancy centers. EveryLife is growing quickly and now delivers diapers in all 50 states, the company said. When the company launched, EveryLife released an ad calling out progressive companies for embracing anti-life values, such as saying they would cover the travel expenses for their female employees’ abortions. “While so many companies are promoting what is wrong, we choose to celebrate what is right — life,” the ad’s narrator said. “Every miracle from God, boy and girl, black, tan, and white, planned and unplanned, gifted and special.” Earlier this year, EveryLife also launched a prayer campaign along with prominent Christian leaders for couples hoping to have children, called “Praying for More Babies in 2025.” You can purchase a Buy For A Cause bundle from EveryLife here.

'May be a stain on Biden'

'Why was that such a failure?'

Valle testified that he was surrounded and acted in self defense

The MMA fighter sustained significant injuries

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. We’ve talked in the past a lot about the unfortunate turn to the hard Left that Democrats have made. But in the last week, it’s become surreal. We had this minor official—a Democratic official—Sade Perkins, and she posted that she was almost happy that we lost over a hundred people, the majority of them children, in this flash flood in Texas. She said they were “all white,” and therefore, they were discriminatory. I’ve never seen anything like it. And then, people weighed in. And they had some atrocious comments. A pediatrician was almost gloating. And they had a variety of mechanisms to show how grotesque and ghoulish they were. One group of people said, “It was global warming. You people in Texas”—where, by the way, there’s more, I think, there’s more wind turbines and solar than almost anywhere—”you people denied global warming. This was caused by global warming. And therefore, you got your just desserts.” It was not caused by global warming. It was a once-in-a-century flash flood of a magnitude no one had seen in a hundred years. And then there were other people who said, “You supported the Department of Government Efficiency cuts, so you got what you deserved.” And in her case, she said, “You’re white people.” So, it’s very, very, very disturbing. At the same time, we’ve had now two organized assassination attempts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who are just following the law. Remember what they’re doing. Apparently, in the mind of the Left, it was a moral thing to break the law and let 12 million people—without vaccinations, without audits, without criminal background checks—come into the United States. But it is an amoral thing to enforce the law and restore the rule of law, and ask people, who came in illegally, to please return. But in that conundrum, we’ve had now 10 people arrested. And they were kind of Antifa types. I’m not saying they were Antifa. But they were dressed in black. They had radios. They had semi-automatic weapons. They had body armor. They were young, mostly white kids that looked like they were children of the middle class. And they shot an ICE agent in the neck. And they had a gun battle. And then, this was following an earlier assassination attempt. Now, you think that the Democratic Party would be worried. But we’ve got even more disturbing reports that Democratic Congress people said, “Well, what are we supposed to do? We meet with our constituents and they’re telling us that one of us should be shot. I don’t mean shot by punishment. They’re urging us to use violence and be willing to be shot by others to promote a radical agenda.” And I don’t know if that’s true because they won’t report any circumstances that would substantiate that. But basically, the congressional Democrats are saying, “I don’t know what I can do. These people are pushing us to the radical edge.” And then you saw House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, didn’t you? He was posing with a bat like he was going to club people, in opposition to the “Big, Beautiful Bill.” I could go on with all of these examples. But I mean, this is an age in which people tried to kill President Donald Trump twice. And we know what happened to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and other congressional personnel. And so, we’re getting a Luigi Mangione, etc. The attacks on Jewish people in Washington, D.C. We’re getting to the point now, the Left is entering the era of sedition, insurrection. We had Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass go to a park and confront ICE agents who were federal law enforcement people, obeying and enforcing, and trying to restore the legitimacy of federal law, which surpasses municipal and state law, remember? And she said, “You’ve got to get out of my city.” This is insurrection. Why is it happening? We’ve said in the past that part of it is that the Democratic agenda nobody wanted, there were 80/20, 70/30 issues, and as a result of that, they lost the Congress, they lost the White House, they lost, of course, in most cases, the Supreme Court. So, they don’t have any power. So, they’re frustrated. But I think, even more importantly, in the first administration, Donald Trump addressed symptoms of the progressive project: Let’s restore deterrence. Let’s try to deal with the border. Let’s try to stop crime. Let’s cut taxes. But he didn’t have time or the knowledge or the constituencies. And he was working with a hostile Congress to address the root causes of those symptoms. This time he’s saying, “This lunacy, it’s caused by certain institutions: foundations, universities, the Democratic Party, public broadcasting, the media.” And so, what he’s doing is he’s going after blue-stocking, left-wing law firms. He’s going after the endowment and taxing university endowments. He’s looking at grants on federal—grant surcharges gouging the federal government on university grants. He’s dealing with countries that are openly promoting open borders. So, he’s dealing with the symptoms. And the Left is saying, “Oh my gosh, we have no institutional power. And now the way that we exercise power without having legislative or executive influence is institutions, foundations, media, K-12, universities. And Donald Trump is starting to address our left-wing monopoly and dominance of those institutions. And if he were to be successful, we would collapse, dissipate, disintegrate. So, we’re going to go take to the streets and we’re going to use violence and we’re going to do anything possible to stop this Donald Trump counterrevolution.” It’s going to be very dangerous times. We’ve got to be very careful about what everybody says and not escalate the situation. But it’s mostly, now, coming from a frustrated and impotent Left. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Sedition, Insurrection, and the Democrats’ Desperate Strategy appeared first on The Daily Signal.

President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress are at a fork in the road as they decide on how to proceed with regard to a Ukraine-Russia war that appears to have no end in sight. President Donald Trump on Tuesday was questioned on reports that arms shipments from the Department of Defense to Ukraine had been cut off. He affirmed that he intended to send Ukraine more weapons, a few months after he began to pursue peace efforts in the conflict. “We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to,” he said. “[The Ukrainians] have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. They’re getting hit very hard. We’re going to have to send more weapons, defensive weapons primarily.” At the Cabinet meeting, he also accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of not pursuing peace, as strikes on Ukraine have continued despite peace talks.  “We’re not happy with Putin. I’m not happy with Putin, I can tell you that much right now. Because he’s killing a lot of people … . We get a lot of bulls–t thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.” The war is still raging, with Russia launching hundreds of drones in an attack on the Kyiv region of Ukraine that went into Wednesday. President Trump on Russian President Vladimir Putin: “We get a lot of bullsh*t thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.” “I’m looking at [sanctions].” pic.twitter.com/xc1lfwjg13— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) July 8, 2025 The Senate currently has a bill before it to introduce aggressive sanctions against Putin. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he wished to move ahead with the measure. “I hope that we can get it on the floor before the August recess. We are working with the administration, with the House, to try and get it in a form where it’s ready,” Thune said.  Given the fact that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also supports the bill, it might have a veto-proof majority if Trump were to oppose it. However, Thune, who has been a team player since his election as Senate and GOP leader, is waiting on bringing the bill to the floor until Trump gives his thumbs up. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who determines the voting schedule on the Senate floor hopes to impose sanctions on Russia and its allies who fund the invasion of Ukraine through energy purchases within the next 2 weeks. https://t.co/rj0QucHbvQ pic.twitter.com/p9YWo5BAOh— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) July 9, 2025 “In my view, the sooner we can execute on that, the better. But I also understand that in order for this to work, it’s got to be something that the White House, the House, our colleagues are all bought in to,” the South Dakota lawmaker said. Trump agrees. At the Cabinet meeting Tuesday, he would not make a final decision on the sanctions package, but suggested it was at his discretion. “It’s an optional bill,” he said. “It’s totally at my option. They pass it totally at my option and to terminate totally at my option. And I’m looking at it very strongly.” The post Trump Hits Fork in Road on Russia-Ukraine War appeared first on The Daily Signal.