Melania gives Congress private deadline as she works around Trump's team: report

First lady Melania Trump gave Congress a private deadline to pass her signature foster care bill, and she is pursuing it largely outside the usual White House channels, according to a new report in Politico. At a bipartisan roundtable with the House Ways and Means Committee in April, the first lady publicly called foster care legislation a "moral imperative." Then, behind closed doors, she set a target, Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) told the outlet: "I want this on Donald's desk by the August recess." The Fostering the Future Act, which expands housing, education and workforce help for young people aging out of foster care, passed the House unanimously.The Senate has not moved it out of committee, and lawmakers are set to leave Washington around Aug. 10. At a White House picnic the day the House passed the bill, both Trumps urged the Senate to hurry. "Hopefully, it will quickly pass in the Senate," the president said. He has not publicly pressed senators since.The deadline reflects a first lady who increasingly operates on her own track. Her office, not the State Department, has led her effort to reunite children displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war, negotiating directly with Moscow and Kyiv, the White House said. She has also shown a willingness to diverge from the administration's message. She broke with the White House on Epstein, calling for survivors to testify as the president's team tried to move past the scandal, and last week put her own spin on a Supreme Court ruling her husband celebrated, voicing support for the LGBTQIA+ community.A recent book recounted how she resisted Trump's overhaul of the White House grounds and lost.

Unnerved ex-officials uncork stark analogy as Trump spy chief cleans house on 'deep state'

President Donald Trump's controversial new intelligence chief is clearing house, and career officers warn the man swinging the axe doesn't know what he's cutting.Bill Pulte, Trump's loyal acting director of national intelligence, began notifying dozens of intelligence officials of their terminations Thursday, part of a downsizing Trump ordered when he installed Pulte at the office two weeks ago, MS NOW reported Friday. An intelligence official, who spoke anonymously citing fear of reprisal, told the outlet that leadership is targeting workers it believes are "deep state" and accused them of failing to hand up a complete picture of available intelligence.But former officials aren't buying his rationale. Several told MS NOW they had never heard of intelligence officers withholding information from their superiors. "The premise is absurd," one said. Another questioned how Pulte, who ran the federal housing agency and has no intelligence background, could reach such a conclusion within days of arriving.“I have a real question of how he would know this. This isn’t a guy who is familiar with intelligence,” a former official told the outlet. “How is he going to get to the bottom of this and rely on any information with a matter of fidelity? It would be like me taking over a hospital and firing dozens of surgeons in a matter of days.”The cuts follow Pulte's earlier removal of six political appointees who served under his predecessor, Tulsi Gabbard. His arrival has drawn alarm across party lines: he took the post without ever holding a security clearance, and he can stay in the acting role past November's midterms under federal vacancy rules. Critics note his office doesn't collect intelligence of its own, relying instead on the CIA, the NSA and more than a dozen other agencies to supply it.Democrats and some Republicans fear the purge is less about efficiency than about clearing out analysts who might resist Trump's election claims. The ODNI says it is providing "elite, apolitical intelligence that keeps America safe."

Vance: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez will lead Democrat presidential race in 2028

Vice President JD Vance predicts that Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, best known as AOC, could be the front runner for the Democrats’ 2028 presidential nomination.

Congress Can Still Ban Birthright Citizenship. Here’s How.

The Supreme Court has committed a grievous moral and legal error in Trump v. Barbara, the landmark case on birthright...

Trump threw a party for himself — and nobody came

If you’re feeling that the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States has been hijacked by a narcissistic, political hack, you’re not alone. Instead of a joyous event for all Americans, our holiday has been plagued by vicious attacks on those who haven’t drunk the Make America Great Again Kool-Aid. And the results are proof positive that we, the people, are not going for it.Not one bit.One of the primary “celebrations” was the Great American State Fair held on the National Mall this week. Supposedly showcasing the history of the 50 states, a whopping 20 states decided to skip the event entirely. Not because they’re not proud of their state or didn’t want to tell the wonderful tales about the vast diversity and beauty of this place we call home, but because President Donald Trump turned it into a political rally for himself instead of a birthday party for all Americans.Most of the musicians and entertainers who were booked cancelled as it morphed into a staged event for Trump. Those few that didn’t cancel had very sparse crowds sprinkled over the lawn in one of the most embarrassing displays of just how historically unpopular our current president and his attempts to divide, not unite, Americans are with the populace.Despite Trump claiming a crowd of 45,000 people, about 1,000 showed up. Of course this is totally in line with his self-aggrandizing exaggerations across the board since he lives in a fantasy world where he is worshipped and adored.But the stunning failure of the Great American State Fair isn’t alone in demonstrating the fact that Americans have grown very tired of this particular reality TV show clown. Consider these events of the last week:The Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s executive order attempting to overturn the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship. It’s not where we came from, it’s where we are; and those born here are Americans. The president’s former attorney, Ty Cobb, reflecting on the financial declaration showing the president and his sons have garnered more than a billion dollars from sketchy crypto sources called it “the greatest onslaught of corruption in the history of mankind” adding “he creates policies that can only enrich himself and his family, is something that I think the average American should be staggered by.”A federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order that the U.S. Postal Service could not deliver mail ballots in states that had not surrendered their voter role information to the federal government, thus halting one of his most obvious and odious attempts to rig the coming elections in which his MAGA allies are predicted to lose badly. Even the Social Security Administration’s latest list of popular baby names puts “Donald” at its lowest point since the 1880s.The takeaway is clear — Americans are not happy that our nation’s birthday has been hijacked and degraded. We are not happy with being intentionally divided instead of united in celebration of our history. We are not happy that those who fought and died to establish this nation — and all those who have struggled to keep democracy alive since then — have been shoved to the side by a gilded grifter.Trump is not who we are as Americans and Montanans. We are the nation of “all men are created equal” and on this 250th celebration of our founding the great challenge is to live up to that promise, to be the united, not the divided, states — and to continue to forcefully reject these self-serving, despicable efforts to drive us apart.

Time for Congress To Make the Right To Carry a National Right

J.D. Vance Hates Milton Friedman

Socialism is ascendant within both political parties.

California city council members voted out in a landslide refuse to leave office

Elected officials in California are carrying on with business as usual, even after their constituents voted overwhelmingly to send them packing.An election was held on April 28 in the California city of Avenal in Kings County, where the mayor, Alvaro Preciado, and three city council members — Leticia Gamez, David Reynosa, and Pablo Hernandez — were recalled with at least 76% of voters backing the ouster in each case. The Kings County Registrar of Voters certified the recall election.'I’ve never seen a city so deflated.'The driving force behind this electoral housecleaning — which the council members unsuccessfully attempted to stop with a lawsuit in April — was principally voter concerns about transparency and the council's previous decision to cease contracting with the county fire department.Preciado, Gamez, and Hernandez voted on June 11 to reject the will of the electorate and remain in office. They even approved a new city budget despite recall advocates producing a restraining order, reported the SF Chronicle.Those officials clinging to power, including Reynosa, maintain that the recall election was conducted unlawfully by Kings County and without the council's authorization.Preciado told the SF Chronicle last month that he was staying in office until a judge decides on the recall's legality.California Democrat Attorney General Robert Bonta cleared the way for legal action against the recalled officials on June 11.RELATED: Gov. Pritzker says he's one of the good billionaires, not the ones vilified by socialists In his opinion, Bonta noted that "if the Relators are correct on the merits, then the Defendants are not lawfully occupying office. It would not be in the public interest to permit elected officials to disregard election results."Days after Bonta granted the recall campaigners' application for leave to sue in quo warranto, residents served Preciado and the other recalled officials a lawsuit and an earful at an Avenal city council meeting.Dalila Barajas, a resident of Avenal who is one of the recall proponents, told KGPE-TV, "It just seems that the more meetings they have, the more money that they're spending illegally, the more our citizens are getting frustrated and the more we're asking for them to step down."While Bonta cleared lawsuits against the recall officials, King County District 2 Supervisor Richard Valle criticized the state attorney general for his apparent disinterest in the scandal, telling KMPH-TV on Wednesday, "I believe that if these were MAGA republicans who were refusing to leave office, someone in California would have done something about that.""We were hoping he would take some action," added Valle."I’ve never seen a city so deflated in my time of being around in public service. The people feel like nobody’s coming to help," added the King County supervisor. "Why is it being allowed to take place here in the state of California, in the county of Kings, in the city of Avenal? It’s embarrassing."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!