On Friday, Fox News reported that the Federal Communications Commission was launching an investigation into ABC’s The View following the appearance of Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico (TX). The agency cited an alleged violation of the equal time statute that mandated the broadcast networks' non-news shows to allow all legally-filed political candidates to have equal time on their shows. The show also recently hosted Talarico’s primary opponent Representative Jasmine Crockett (TX) on January 6. NewsBusters crunched the numbers and found that The View gave Talarico one segment of airtime that was just under 10 minutes (9:47) long. Meanwhile, they gifted Crockett a total of three segments that totaled over 17 minutes (17:39). As NewsBusters had previously noted in our reporting of The View’s legal notes, and more recent lack thereof, the show liked to thinks of itself as just the editorial pages of the metaphorical newspaper that would be ABC News.   The View's first guest political guest of 2026 is far-left Democrat Jasmine Crockett (D-TX). Whoopi suggests it's "not going to be a problem" for her to win her Senate race in Texas. pic.twitter.com/w2W1ZK5lAo — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 6, 2026   This would make the show exempt from the “statutory equal opportunities requirement” the FCC announced it wanted to enforce last month. But the FCC didn’t seem to be buying what The View was selling. As Fox News reported, the FCC seemed to consider the interview portion of the show (for both daytime talk and late-night shows) a distinct product separate from their so-called “Hot Topics” discussions: There has been a longstanding "bona fide" exception for news programming that wouldn't require equal time for an opposing candidate, but the FCC now says it "has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late-night or daytime television talk show program on the air presently would qualify for the 'bona fide' news exemption." ABC's parent company, Disney, never made an equal-time filing to the FCC regarding Talarico's recent appearance, which would implicitly indicate to the FCC that Disney believes "The View" is bona fide news and would be exempt from the policy, the source said. And as NewsBusters reported in December with our study of The View’s political discussions with guests (a 128:2 disparity in favor of Democrats), the then-announced interview with Crockett was her third appearance on the show in less than a year. The View clearly had a preferred candidate in the Democratic primary, but moderator Whoopi Goldberg did praise the Democratic side of the Texas ballot for Senate. “So you guys, you and Jasmine, you are in it. And I think regardless of who wins this particular way -- race, Texas will be better for it,” she boasted to Talarico. If the FCC was able to enforce equal time for the candidates in that race, The View would reluctantly have to invite Republican Senator John Cornyn (TX) and the more obscure Democratic opponent Ahmad Hassan.   The View endorses the Democratic side of the ballot for the Texas senate seat: WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So you guys, you and Jasmine, you are in it. And I think regardless of who wins this particular way -- race, Texas will be better for it. pic.twitter.com/3laG0QmX3z — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 2, 2026

During Thursday’s Morning Joe interview with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), host Joe Scarborough teamed up with the senator to call ICE “secret police,” along with comparisons of ICE actions to the Ku Klux Klan. Of course, he was “not comparing anything to anything,” but “just saying.” The SAVE Act, a bill focused on election integrity and Voter ID, was a main topic of conversation with the senator. Jonathan Lemire's question noted the high favorability of Voter ID among voters, including democrats. Schumer responded by referring to the SAVE Act as “Jim Crow 2.0”: It's Jim Crow 2.0 and I called it Jim Crow 2.0, and the right wing went nuts all over the internet. That's because they know it's true. What they're trying to do here is the same thing that was done in the south for decades, to prevent people of color from voting.     After stating they will “debate” Voter ID “later (they never did), Scarborough then asked Schumer about ICE and DHS funding, while referring to ICE as secret police: (...) With all the health care cuts that are hurting working Americans, middle class Americans. With all the cuts that are hurting people in Rural America, is there any way you can claw back some of those funds? And instead of giving it to secret - a secret police force (...) At the end of the interview, Scarborough brought up the anniversary of the imprisonment of the klansman that killed civil rights activist Medgar Evers in the 60s: And while you're here, I just feel I should just say this in front of you and everybody else that today in 1994, Medgar Evers, the klansman that killed Medgar Evers, was found guilty of murder and and faced life imprisonment. He died in prison 31 years after he shot Medgar Evers dead in his driveway while his children were inside.” Scarborough then decided to connect the Evers assassination in a seeming comparison to recent ICE shootings in Minnesota: For those who believe they can act with impunity today, and I am not comparing anything to anything. I am just saying, and, Senator, I'm sure you can confirm this. I mean, the wheels of justice do grind slowly at times, but they do move forward. And people should not feel like they can act with impunity in the streets of America and gun down Americans and not ultimately face justice.” Schumer responded: “That you're so right, Joe, but we have to fight for it every step of the way, particularly with these new dark forces that have come about in America and who really don't believe in democracy, elections, justice, or rule of law. We have to fight.” While Scarborough insisted, “I am not comparing anything to anything,” it sure seemed moments in the interview tried to relate everything back to the Jim Crow South or the Ku Klux Klan, from both Schumer and Scarborough. The watering down of terms and historically horrible groups was in constant continuation on Morning Joe and other liberal “news” shows. The comparisons were dangerous for politics and law enforcement, and continue echoes of “no cops, no KKK, no fascist USA.” The transcript is below. Click to expand: MS NOW’s Morning Joe February 5, 2026 08:14:15 AM Eastern (…) JONATHAN LEMIRE: So, Leader Schumer, this talk about election security has revived discussions of the SAVE Act, which you have said you oppose. Proponents of it say that it's, you know, to have ID, you have to prove U.S. Citizenship to be able to vote. Some of the claims they make, to be clear, are overstated. We know there's not widespread election fraud. But polling does suggest there's a new Pew Research poll that 95 percent of Republicans, but also 71 percent of Democrats, like this idea. So why do you not? SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER: It's Jim Crow 2.0 and I called it Jim Crow 2.0, and the right wing went nuts all over the internet. That's because they know it's true. What they're trying to do here is the same thing that was done in the south for decades, to prevent people of color from voting. For instance, if you can't - if you change - you're a woman who got married and changed your last name, you won't be able to show ID and you'll be discriminated against. If you can't find a birth certificate or a proper ID, you'll be discriminated against. This is vicious and nasty. And I said to our Republican colleagues, it will not pass the Senate. You will not get a single democratic vote in the Senate. We're not reviving Jim Crow all over the country. And when the American people hear what exactly it is doing and what its intent is doing, they're going to be against it as well. JOE SCARBOROUGH: Well, we'll debate that later, certainly about Voter ID, but right now I want to stick with the issue at hand. And that has to do with ICE and DHS. Even if you cut off the funding, And this is a concern that Mika has brought up a good bit, even if you're able to cut off their funding, They have such a massive budget from this past year. I'm curious, with all the health care cuts that are hurting working Americans, middle class Americans. With all the cuts that are hurting people in Rural America, is there any way you can claw back some of those funds? And instead of giving it to secret - a secret police force, you can get it back to farmers and people in rural - in upstate New York and the middle of Kansas and give them some health care relief? SCHUMER: Yeah. What the American - the American people are seeing just what you say, Joe. They want money for health care, and they don't want money going to these rogue police forces all across the country. What we can do and what we proposed in the, what Hakeem Jeffries and I came out with, is very simple. The restrictions that we want to put on ICE that I mentioned apply not just to the new money that they're trying to get, and we don't want them to have without any restrictions, without restrictions, but will apply to all the old money as well. So the idea of no masks, the idea of coordinating with your local police team, the idea of being allowed to sue will apply to the old money as well, and greatly restrict it. SCARBOROUGH: Alright. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, thank you so much. And while you're here, I just feel I should just say this in front of you and everybody else that today in 1994, Medgar Evers - the klansman that killed Medgar Evers, was found guilty of murder and and faced life imprisonment. He died in prison 31 years after he shot Medgar Evers dead in his driveway while his children were inside.  For those who believe they can act with impunity today, and I am not comparing anything to anything. I am just saying, and, Senator, I'm sure you can confirm this. I mean, the wheels of justice do grind slowly at times, but they do move forward. And people should not feel like they can act with impunity in the streets of America and gun down Americans and not ultimately face justice. SCHUMER: That you're so right, Joe, but we have to fight for it every step of the way, particularly with these new dark forces that have come about in America and who really don't believe in democracy, elections, justice, or rule of law. We have to fight. But you are right, there is justice if you fight, fight, fight, even if it takes too long to get there. SCARBOROUGH: Alright, thank you so much for being with us Senator. We greatly appreciate it.

Nearly a year has passed and the stock market catastrophe that CNN was predicting was just on the horizon because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs still never materialized. CNN Business Executive Editor David Goldman tried to stoke the fires of doom in April 2025 by crying about an impending “great depression” in the stock market. “We’re suddenly talking about the Great Depression when discussing Trump’s stock market,” read Goldman’s sensationalistic headline. He further snorted that “Trump’s stock market is throwing off some jaw-dropping statistics. How extraordinary? We’re now making comparisons to the Great Depression.” Fast forward to February 2026, and CNN published the following headline: “Stocks hit historic milestone as Dow crosses 50,000 points for first time ever.” Oof!  CNN markets reporter John Towfighi summarized that “[t]he Dow’s ascent is emblematic of the stock market’s persistent rise despite recent tumultuous geopolitical events,” indicating a bull market running into its fourth year. But according to Goldman’s spin last  April, “Trump has a long way to bounce back to avoid history.” My goodness! Talk about setting yourself for total embarrassment.  SORRY, PANICANS: The Dow Jones Industrial Average just surpassed 50,000 for the first time in history

111,620 California borrowers suspected of committing $8.6 billion of pandemic-era fraud have been suspended by the U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced Friday. “I’m here in San Diego, standing at an address that is registered to 14 businesses that took $2 million in pandemic-era loans Those loans haven’t been paid back,” Administrator Loeffler says in a social media video reporting the suspensions. “But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Loeffler adds: “Today, the SBA is announcing we’re suspending 112,000 California borrowers who took potentially upwards of $9 billion. “We’re going to continue to work with our federal partners to ensure accountability for COVID-era fraud that the Biden Administration tried to sweep under the rug.” Suspended borrowers are prohibited from executing new small business and disaster loans and are not eligible for other SBA programs such as federal contracting in the 8(a) Business Development Program. The suspended borrowers obtained the money via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) program, both of which helped businesses stay afloat and continue to keep their workers employed during the COVID-19 crisis. “This staggering number represents the most significant crack-down on those who defrauded pandemic programs, and it illuminates the scale of corruption that the Biden Administration tolerated for years,” Loeffler says. “We’re not looking the other way. We’re prosecuting. There’s going to be more to come,” Loeffler promises in her video. “Just like Minnesota, California is another state whose socialist welfare policies have invited fraud,” Loeffler explains. In Minnesota, SBA suspended 6,900 borrowers associated with 7,900 potentially fraudulent PPP and EIDL loans worth approximately $400 million. The suspensions in California and Minnesota are part of SBA’s state-by-state initiative to crack down on $200 billion of suspected pandemic-era fraud it says went unaddressed during the Biden Administration. The goal is not only to punish those who defrauded American taxpayers, but also to recoup the stolen funds. “Under this Administration, any fraudster who broke the law will no longer get a free pass. All they’ll get is a free trip to jail,” SBA’s Loeffler warns.

It may seem that it’s impossible to get anything done in Washington these days. Nevertheless, the free spirit of Americans cannot be suppressed. Americans are voting with their feet. Per the Census Bureau’s just released annual report on population growth and migration in the U.S., Americans are packing up and moving from anti-growth blue states to pro-growth red states. Top five in population growth from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025: South Carolina, Idaho, North Carolina, Delaware, Tennessee. Top five in population loss: New York, Hawaii, Alaska, District of Columbia, California. Seven of the 10 top growth states voted for Donald Trump in 2024. Of the top 10 states losing population over the 12-month period, nine of the 10 voted for Kamala Harris in 2024. Those many Americans who still understand that freedom is the magic elixir that drives growth and prosperity are exiting blue states, leaving them to stew in their left-wing, socialist, low-growth and low-opportunity juices. Americans for Tax Reform breaks it down further. Comparing economic conditions in the states that gained population to those that lost: the marginal tax rate in population-losing states is on average 24.5% higher than in the population-gaining states; the average state and local tax collection in the population-losing states is 61% higher than in those gaining population; the average corporate tax rate in population-losing states is 44% higher than in those gaining population; and 60% of population-gaining states are right-to-work states -- states that prohibit paying union dues as a condition for employment -- compared to only 10% of population-losing states that are right-to-work.      The Brennan Center has analyzed what the implications of this trend, if it continues on its current track, will mean regarding distribution of congressional seats after the 2030 census. The biggest gainers: Texas plus four seats and Florida plus three. The biggest loser: California minus four. The Brennan Center looks at what the change will be by region in 2030 compared with 2020. The South would pick up nine seats, Northeast would lose four, Midwest and Plains states down three, Mountain states up three, and West down five. The Wall Street Journal estimates that this translates into a gain of 10 seats in states that voted for Trump in 2024. The U-Haul Growth Index, published once per year and released earlier this month, reporting results for 2025, shows essentially the identical picture. U-Haul summarizes transactions for the year -- some 2.5 million -- reporting net in-migrations and out-migrations for all states. Top five states for in-migration in 2025 were Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina. Per U-Haul, “Seven of the top ten growth states currently feature Republican governors, and nine of those states went red in the last presidential election.” States with the most people leaving are California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. Per U-Haul, “Nine of the bottom 10 growth states feature Democrat governors, and seven of those states went blue in the last presidential election.” Americans for Tax Reform also notes that nine of the top 10 growth states in the U-Haul Growth Index are right-to-work states. Among the bottom 10, none are right-to-work states -- all are dominated by union control. The New York Times reports that, per New York City’s Economic Development Corporation, in the second quarter of 2025, 8,400 businesses closed compared with 3,500 that opened. New York’s new socialist mayor wants to tax corporations and wealthy New Yorkers to finance the city’s $12 billion budget deficit. Can there be any question what the result will be for the No. 1 population-losing state in the country? How about California’s 5% billionaire wealth tax proposal? Punishing success is a great formula for losing the successful. Tesla, Oracle, Hewlett Packard, Charles Schwab and Palantir Technologies are among the marquee corporations that have bid farewell to California. Want to know what Americans think? Watch their feet. Star Parker is founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Her recent book, “What Is the CURE for America?” is available now.