Trump-Backed ed Gallrein defeats Rep. Thomas Massie in GOP primary

PBS.org:

Ed Gallrein, a Republican candidate backed by President Donald Trump, defeated Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie in GOP primary Tuesday. The result showed the president's persisting influence over GOP voters, adding to a growing number of Trump-backed primary challengers to defeat Republican lawmakers who angered him in his second term. 

 

Massie, who has served in Congress since 2012, fell into Trump's crosshairs in part by pushing for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and denouncing the war in Iran. 

 

Gallrein, a former Navy Seal who avoided making public appearances on the campaign trail, ran on his military service and loyalty to the president. He accused Massie of forsaking Trump and the party. Gallrein is expected to win the general election in the deeply red district.

Massie’s made three major missteps that damaged his standing across the political spectrum and earned him his loss last night. First, he reportedly alienated many Trump supporters by aggressively promoting unproven Epstein-related conspiracy claims that he ultimately failed to substantiate, creating the impression that he was chasing social media attention and inadvertently aiding Democrats rather than focusing on verified facts. Second, he lost credibility with some non-Trump conservatives and independents who had previously admired his principled positions but were uncomfortable with his perceived alignment with figures viewed as anti-Semitic extremists. Finally, he underestimated how Republican voters in Kentucky would react to his lack of concern about the Epstein files during Joe Biden’s presidency, as well as his willingness to work alongside Democratic lawmakers such as Ro Khanna, which they saw as being driven more by personal animus toward President Trump than advancing conservative priorities.

RELATED: The Best ‘Chilling Effect’ Yet

Luigi Mangione Fangirls Unapologetically Celebrate CEO’s Assassination: ‘F—k Brian Thompson’

NYPost.com:

Their Luigimania earned them a pass. A trio of bloodthirsty fans of accused assassin Luigi Mangione — who were granted press passes by City Hall — spouted vile hate and unapologetic calls for political violence from a Manhattan courthouse steps Monday. 

 

Mangione fangirls Abril Rios, Ashley Rojas and Lena Weissbrot proudly showed off the passes they received for their respective Substacks documenting Mangione’s upcoming trial for the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. But the “reporters” made no bones about supporting Mangione’s alleged vendetta to strike fear into the hearts of healthcare executives such as Thompson. 

 

“F—k Brian Thompson,” Rojas said. “That’s all I want to say. F—k Brian Thompson. F—k his mom.” Weissbort chimed in with an even more reprehensible response. “His children are better off without him,” she said. “They need to learn to not be like their dad. And enjoy the blood money, kids. “He’s responsible for more deaths than Osama bin Laden, and I remember Americans celebrating when Osama bin Laden was killed. It’s not like we don’t understand heroic violence, or, like, when violence is good.”

Depraved. Sick. Downright evil. Any one of those words — or all three — fits these so-called Luigi Mangione “fangirls” openly celebrating the cold-blooded murder of a husband and father. No decent human being would applaud an act like this, and the fact that some of these women hold press credentials makes their behavior even more disturbing. Protest healthcare policies, lobby for reform, run for office, or support causes you believe in — that’s how civilized people push for change. But the moment you celebrate political violence or murder because it targets someone you dislike, you cross a moral line. Violence should never be the answer, and anyone cheering it on reveals something deeply rotten about their character.

RELATED: Judge allows key evidence in Luigi Mangione’s New York murder trial

Democrat Colorado Governor Commutes Trump Ally Tina Peters' Prison Sentence for Voting Machine Tampering

CBSNews.com:

Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Friday announced he is commuting the sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who was facing more than eight years in state prison for allowing unauthorized access to voting machines following the 2020 presidential election. 

 

Polis' decision — which was swiftly condemned by other Colorado Democrats — follows months of pressure from President Trump to release Peters, who has promoted Mr. Trump's false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. The president had threatened "harsh measures" if Colorado did not free Peters from prison. 

 

The governor told CBS News Colorado's Karen Morfitt in an interview he decided to commute Peters' sentence because her long prison term was "very unusual for a first-time nonviolent offender." Polis also said he agreed with an appellate court ruling last month that found the judge who sentenced Peters had put too much weight on her beliefs about election fraud, which are a form of protected speech. "She has crazy viewpoints, conspiratorial viewpoints that are not accurate, not true. But that is not a crime in our country or in our state," Polis said, adding that Peters apologized and "I think as a state, we need to move past this."

The framing from the msm regarding Peters, that she was an '2020 election denier' and THAT was the reason she got locked up was made to mislead voters. In fact, Peters was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison for a 2021 election security breach. And while the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld former Mesa County clerk Peters’ convictions, the panel sharply criticized how District Court Judge Matthew Barrett handled her sentencing. Hell, even the Associated Press, noted concerns during January arguments that Barrett had overstepped by allowing Peters’ political views and protected speech to influence her punishment. The appeals judges suggested the sentence exceeded what the crimes warranted and implied Peters was penalized for expressing constitutionally protected beliefs. However, the court ruled it lacked authority to order her release, stating such relief must instead be pursued through a habeas corpus petition in the original sentencing court. And then, surprisingly enough Polis stepped in, commuted her sentence and now Peters (a now 71yo women with no criminal record beforehand) will be out in June.

RELATED: Democratic governor under fire over clemency for 2020 election denier

Racist Streamer ‘Chud the Builder’ Faces Attempted Murder Charge, Bond Set at $1.25 Million

CNN.com:

A livestreamer known for posting videos with racist content online appeared in court Friday morning on charges including attempted murder after he shot a man outside a Tennessee courthouse, according to authorities. Dalton Eatherly – who goes by “Chud the Builder” online – got into an argument with another man, identified by Montgomery County officials as Joshua Fox, outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville Wednesday afternoon, according to an arrest warrant. 

 

Eatherly, 28, turned his body “in a bladed stance” toward Fox and reached for a firearm in his jacket pocket, after which a “physical altercation” happened, the warrant said. Eatherly fired his weapon and Fox was struck multiple times, according to the document. 

 

The livestreamer now faces additional charges including employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said.

Well, ain't karma a bitch: a racist, content creator finally gets his just due thanks to an an atempted murder charge and a $1.25M bond that could keep him in prison for at least 25 years. And to think there are some far-Right a-holes and coons like Jason Whitlock defending this guy...too bad for them that karma doesn't discriminate.

RELATED: Everything we know about controversial Tennessee live-streamer 'Chud the Builder'

CIA Whistleblower James Erdman says Anthony Fauci Influenced COVID Origins Intelligence Probe in Alleged Lab Leak Cover-Up

NYPost.com:

A CIA whistleblower appeared publicly for the first time Wednesday to testify to a Senate panel that Dr. Anthony Fauci improperly “influenced” intelligence analyses about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic — to downplay findings that it most likely resulted from a laboratory accident in China. 

 

Special operations officer James Erdman III delivered his testimony about the wide-ranging “cover-up” after being subpoenaed by the Senate Homeland Security Committee — and against his own agency’s wishes. 

 

“Dr. Fauci’s role in the cover-up was intentional,” Erdman testified, saying the then-director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) meddled in COVID origins analyses by providing “a conflicted list of curated subject matter experts, public health officials and scientists” to the US Intelligence Community (IC). Those included several scientists who joined a February 2020 teleconference that ultimately produced a widely-discredited scientific paper, “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,” downplaying the lab leak theory.

The real scandal surrounding COVID’s origins was not direct CIA involvement in creating the virus, but rather the willingness of powerful bureaucracies to protect themselves and suppress scrutiny. Fauci and allied officials pressured agencies to downplay the lab-leak theory in order to conceal their own potential responsibility, despite the enormous consequences of the cover-up. This effort fueled censorship, political smears, public misinformation, and policies that damaged education, small businesses, and global economies while enriching major corporations. In other words, Fauci used his influence over billions in research funding to shape science, reward allies, and support risky research connected to the pandemic’s likely source.

RELATED: COVID Consequences Coming?

Kouri Richins Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole for the Murder of Her Husband

NYTimes.com:

A Utah mother of three, who wrote a children’s book about grief after murdering her husband, received a sentence of life in prison without parole on Wednesday. 

 

Kouri Richins, 36, also faced convictions and consecutive sentences on four other charges — attempted murder, two counts of falsifying insurance claims and one count of forgery. 

 

“A person convicted of those things is simply too dangerous to ever be free,” Judge Richard Mrazik said. Prosecutors had argued that Ms. Richins had poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, in 2022 to inherit more than $4 million from him and receive about $2 million from life insurance policies that she had opened without his knowledge.

Nice to see a just sentence for murder as the judge cited the severity and calculated nature of the crime as reasons why Richins should never be free again. Of course, this dastardly evil woman will appeal, but for now the world is a better place with Richins locked up.

RELATED: Kouri Richins Had Family Members Post 'Gay Dating Profile' Of Lead Detective Online After Arrest: Prosecutors

Zohran Mamdani Lies About Erasing NYC's Budget Deficit

ABC7NY.com:

Facing deficits exceeding $12 billion, among the largest since the Great Recession, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Tuesday that his administration had balanced the budget thanks to a combination of state support, new revenue, and belt-tightening. 

 

Mamdani positioned the first budget of his administration, $124.7 billion for Fiscal Year 2027, as a major shift away from austerity while maintaining fiscal stability. 

 

The plan closes significant budget gaps without raising property taxes, cutting services, or tapping into reserve funds - moves the administration says protect working-class New Yorkers.

Zohran Mamdani “eliminating” a $12 billion budget deficit in New York City is an outright lie. New York City has been legally required to pass balanced budgets every year since the 1975 Financial Emergency Act, meaning every mayor from Rudy Giuliani to Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams also 'balanced budgets'. Indeed, Adams left a projected FY27 gap of about $4.69 billion, while Mamdani’s team added roughly $8 billion in previously underreported expenses, including shelter operations, rental assistance, special education reimbursements, and NYPD overtime — then labeled the total as an inherited deficit. This “solution” came from temporary state aid provided by Kathy Hochul, rather than long-term fiscal reform, making the fix unsustainable.

RELATED: Mamdani’s Opponents Raise More Than $1 Million to Fight His Agenda

Suspect in New York City Subway Shove Death was Released from Psych Hold Hours Before

ABC7NY.com:

The man charged with murder in the fatal shoving of a 76-year-old man at a Chelsea subway station was released from psychiatric hold mere hours earlier, police say. 

 

Police say their suspect, 32-year-old Rhamell Burke, came up behind the victim, 76-year-old Ross Falzone, and pushed him down the 18th Street station stairs just after 9:30 p.m. on Thursday. 

 

Officers found Falzone unconscious and unresponsive. Officials say he suffered a traumatic brain injury, a fractured spine and a fractured rib and was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital just before 3 a.m. on Friday. Police say the shoving appeared to be unprovoked, and the death is being investigated as a homicide.

Unbelieveable. But the death of 76-year-old retired teacher Ross Falzone is yet another grim example of what happens when soft-on-crime policies, ideological naïveté, and misplaced “suicidal empathy” are allowed to override basic public safety. Indeed, the man accused of killing Falzone, repeat offender Rhamell Burke, already had a long history of arrests involving assault and other crimes, yet he continued cycling through a system more concerned with protecting criminals than protecting innocent people. Even more disturbing, a black woman Burke allegedly attacked weeks earlier admitted she declined to cooperate with prosecutors because she “didn’t want to put another black man in jail”: a tragic illustration of how racial guilt and activist-driven thinking can cloud moral judgment. Within weeks, Burke allegedly escalated from subway harassment to lethal violence, pushing an elderly man to his death only hours after being released from psychiatric evaluation. it's cases like this that fuel growing frustration with progressive criminal justice policies that repeatedly prioritize offenders, excuses, and social theories over law, order, and the safety of ordinary people.

RELATED: Everything Wrong With Criminal Justice Is Wrapped Up in This One Case

Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down Democrats’ Redrawn US House Maps

APNews.com:

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, delivering another major setback to the party in a nationwide battle against Republicans for an edge in this year’s midterm elections. 

 

The court ruled 4-3 that the state’s Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot to authorize mid-decade redistricting. Voters narrowly approved the amendment on April 21, but the court’s ruling renders the vote’s result meaningless. 

 

Writing for the majority, Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote that the legislature submitted the proposed constitutional amendment to voters “in an unprecedented manner.” “This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” he wrote.

Putting aside the giddiness that Democrats and the mainstream media showed when this redistricting plan first passed on the Virginia ballot last week, there’s also a sense of political karma at play here. After all, newly elected Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger (who presented herself to voters on the campaign trail as a “moderate Democrat” despite governing from the far left) knowingly violated the Virginia Constitution in an effort to disenfranchise millions of Republican voters in her state. An obnoxious and deceitful plan designed to do whatever it took to help Democrats retake the House in November. Instead, thanks to this ruling, the Constitution prevailed, and Spanberger gets handed a deeply humiliating defeat..

RELATED: Democrats Killed Themselves With the Virginia Redistricting Ploy

New York Times Sued for Discriminating Against White Man Passed Over for Promotion

APNews.com:

A federal civil rights agency filed a discrimination lawsuit Tuesday against the New York Times, claiming that the news organization passed over a white male employee for a promotion in favor of a lesser qualified woman to meet its diversity goals. The New York Times called the lawsuit politically motivated and said it would defend itself “vigorously.” 

 

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of a New York Times editor who lodged a complaint after he didn’t get the role of deputy real estate editor in 2025, alleging gender and racial discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex, race, national origin or religion. 

 

The EEOC claimed the news organization’s publicly stated goals of increasing the number of women and people of color in its leadership ranks influenced the decision to exclude the white male applicant for a final round of interviews, while advancing three women and a Black man.

Of course, there’s tremendous irony here considering that DEI policies have often been criticized for disproportionately benefiting white women. Either way, while white men still largely dominate corporate promotions and board seats, it’s often white men (like this guy) lower on the corporate ladder who end up feeling the greatest impact. That said, the most practical solution would obviously be a performance-based meritocracy, though whether corporations will ever fully embrace that approach remains to be seen.

RELATED: More on the EEOC Lawsuit Against the NY Times