NATO Leaders Will Meet for Key Summit in Turkey After Trump Puts Freeloading Allies on Blast

Stop slacking, allies. The post NATO Leaders Will Meet for Key Summit in Turkey After Trump Puts Freeloading Allies on Blast appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Hegseth reportedly pulled plug on troop cuts in europe

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth reportedly pulled the plug on plans to reduce U.S. troop counts in Europe, The Wall Street Journal reported. Hegseth’s plans were cancelled […]

Most Supreme Court rulings are secretive votes with little justification

The Supreme Court is deciding more consequential rulings than ever before in secret

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!

Seattle’s Socialist Mayor Urges Transgender ‘Refugees’ to Come to Her City for Taxpayer Funded Surgeries

Katie Wilson, the Democratic Socialist (communist) mayor of Seattle, wants transgender 'refugees' to come to her city, where taxpayers will be forced to fund their surgeries. The post Seattle’s Socialist Mayor Urges Transgender ‘Refugees’ to Come to Her City for Taxpayer Funded Surgeries appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A Reflection on Being at Independence Hall for the Independence Vote Anniversary

Lone NYC Council Dem to vote against Mamdani’s $126B budget rips mayor for lack of ‘equity’

Bronx Councilwoman Althea Stevens blasted the democratic socialist mayor over what she called a lack of "equity" in his first budget -- accusing him of not allotting enough cash for her district, which faces high rates of poverty and gun violence.

Trump puts allies on notice: AI power comes first

President Trump is redefining what it means to be a U.S. ally in the AI era.Why it matters: For the White House, it's now about how partners can help the U.S. win the AI race.For decades, shared values and security interests have underpinned alliances with Europe and other partners around the world. Under Trump, that's no longer enough.As AI becomes central to economic and military power, frontier AI models, chips and infrastructure are turning into new instruments of American influence.Driving the news: The Trump administration is blocking allies from accessing the world's most powerful models, playing it close to the vest and criticizing Europe for not having its own robust AI industry.With export controls on Fable and Mythos lifted on Tuesday, Anthropic and the Trump administration are continuing Project Glasswing efforts, which the company previously said would give access to Mythos to 150 more organizations across more than 15 countries.Fable is also back.Commerce retains the power to pull back access when it deems appropriate. "The problem we have is that we are leading everybody by a lot," Trump said in a recent interview with "The Axios Show." "Europe has to be very careful. They're losing their way entrepreneurially."Trump pointed to the U.K. not tapping into energy sources in the North Sea because of environmental concerns: "It's crazy." Between the lines: The Trump administration's AI restrictions are part of a broader transactional approach to alliances.Catch up quick: Vice President JD Vance's speech last year at the Paris AI Summit set the stage for a confrontational relationship with the European Union.The U.S. was quick to rebuke the EU's focus on safety over innovation with Trump entering his second term laser-focused on deregulation. But the president now finds himself behind an ad hoc licensing regime that's creating its own regulatory uncertainty, both domestically and abroad.OpenAI's GPT-5.6 was forced into a staggered rollout last month due to government concerns.What they're saying: European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier on Wednesday said the bloc is looking forward to "intensifying" discussions with Anthropic to gain access to Mythos through Project Glasswing and that, in the meantime, it has access to GPT-5.5-Cyber.The EU has a delegation in the U.S. to determine the scope of a future tech dialogue, the frequency of meetings and the level at which they'll be held.The dialogue is expected to include frontier AI models, chip supply chains and cybersecurity."But we have one clear line," Regnier said, "which is that our sovereign legislation is not up for negotiation."Omran Sharaf, the United Arab Emirates' assistant foreign minister for advanced science and technology, told Axios "it's very important that trusted partners and strategic partners are included in the process."That way it is "synchronized and we're applying similar standards in controlling such technologies, rather than having something that gets imposed."The big picture: AI is changing what the White House wants in its alliances.Just last week, the EU and several European governments signed onto Pax Silica, the U.S.-led effort to secure AI supply chains and critical minerals, even as the White House restricts their access to frontier AI models.For the U.S., Europe is all of the above: a restraint, an indispensable partner and a competitor.The administration is simultaneously rejecting Europe's AI rules, inking deals with the region to secure supply chains and blocking access to cutting-edge technology.The bottom line: With the most advanced AI, allies will have to adjust to being considered trusted U.S. partners only in some cases."The conclusion that governments are coming to is: We'll be part of Pax Silica, yes. We'll work with the U.S. ecosystem where we can. We'll build around what we can't," A.J. Bhadelia, Cohere's head of global government affairs and external affairs, told Axios.