‘Not in our DNA’: Iran says U.S. claims about negotiations are ‘fabricated’

Trump: 'We are in very deep talks with Iran. If they don't work out, we will go back to very strong military action'

Ahead of Anthony Fauci Testimony to Senate, Rand Paul Releases Files Outlining Serious Manipulation of COVID-19 Information

Dr Anthony Fauci the White House Chief Medical Advisor during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak under Biden, and head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022, has been subpoenaed to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee this Wednesday, July 29, about his role and activity during the […] The post Ahead of Anthony Fauci Testimony to Senate, Rand Paul Releases Files Outlining Serious Manipulation of COVID-19 Information appeared first on The Last Refuge.

Is President Trump Now Losing Patience With Iran?

Senate Republican committed 'political malpractice' on CBS' Face the Nation: conservative

A conservative economic expert warned Monday that a Republican lawmaker worth millions had made a mistake after a CBS interview.Jessica Riedl, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and budget policy expert who has worked on four different presidential campaigns, described why Sen. John Kennedy's (R-LA) message on "Face the Nation" could backfire for the Republican Party with midterms looming."Americans aren't even willing to pay for causes they believe in and that directly benefit them (trust me, I'm a federal budget expert)," Riedl wrote on X. "Telling them to pay significantly for causes that most don't even care about (and right before an election!) is political malpractice."During the interview, Kennedy — who is worth an estimated $21 million — had claimed that Americans need to hang on, despite rising cost of living and the rapid increase of energy costs in the fallout over the Iran war."If we can stand the pain of the rising cost of energy, we need to stay the course — at least for a few more months," Kennedy said.Political commentators and critics pointed out Kennedy's comments."It would probably be easier for people to accept the pain if wages rose above the cost of inflation and all of these higher prices. but in one of the richest countries in the world, apparently that's not a thing anyone cares about doing for Americans," Beth Bourdon, criminal defense attorney and writer, posted on X."'Kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys.' We need some fresh faces in the Senate," progressive commentator and veteran Mason wrote on X."No!! Why are we paying the electricity bills of data centers? Why are we paying for the water? Why are we paying for a stupid a-- war that wasn’t planned for properly? Why are we even at war? We can’t pay for everything!! The well is running dry!!!!!!!" X user LizzyR, who self-describes as "fact-checking, for voters," wrote."Translation: Republicans will do nothing to reign [SIC] in Trump. Gas prices will continue to rise. More Americans will die and Trump with [SIC] continue to waste billion [SIC] of dollars a week in a failed war with Iran," political and media consultant Marty Taylor, executive director of New Blue USA PAC, wrote on X.Americans aren't even willing to pay for causes they believe in and that directly benefit them (trust me, I'm a federal budget expert).Telling them to pay significantly for causes that most don't even care about (and right before an election!) is political malpractice. https://t.co/G4z00EC1nv— Jessica Riedl 🧀 🇺🇦 (@JessicaBRiedl) July 27, 2026

Tim Walz’s wife endorses Angie Craig for Senate as outgoing governor stays mum

Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) has still not weighed in on the Minnesota Democratic Senate primary race with an endorsement, but on Monday, his wife did. Minnesota’s first lady, Gwen Walz, backed Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) in her race against Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D-MN) to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by retiring Sen. Tina […]

'Warning sign' for GOP as Trump deed turns his 'own base' against midterm lifeline

President Donald Trump's voters are foreshadowing a midterm calamity for Republicans after their election lifeline was rejected by his base.A new Politico poll conducted in July by the independent firm Public First found nearly half of Americans cannot explain the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — Trump's signature tax law.Those who can explain it are far more likely to say it helped the wealthy, not them, reporter Bernie Becker found."And in a notable warning sign for Republicans, only around a quarter of people who voted for President Donald Trump believe the working class got substantial breaks from the tax law, signaling how low public opinion is of the bill among their own base," Becker wrote.It amounts to "a frustrating situation for top Republicans," Becker reported. They rushed to finish the law by mid-2025 and have since tried to rebrand it as the "Working Families Tax Cuts.""It also hasn't helped that Trump himself rarely discusses a law that he helped name," Becker reported, even as Cabinet members travel the country promoting its contents.One in three Americans said the megabill hurt their bottom line, the poll found. More than half said billionaires should pay much more in taxes, the poll also found.More than 40 percent of voters making over $100,000 a year said they had gotten help from the law — more than twice the rate of those making less, according to the poll.Republicans faced a "similar problem in 2018," Becker noted — "voters rejected Trump and his policies," and Democrats reclaimed the House."The best time for successfully framing and reinforcing the benefits of the One Big Beautiful Bill were in the initial three months after it passed," Kevin Madden, a longtime GOP communications strategist, told Politico. "It's just a challenge in this crowded issue environment to re-engage on legislation from last year."The poll found 57 percent of Americans say the conflict with Iran has made things more expensive for them, adding to the headwinds Republicans face before November.

McConnell out of hospital, still not 'medically cleared' to return to Senate

Mitch McConnell continues rehabilitation with multiple daily physical therapy sessions after his June fall, but childhood polio complicates his mobility.

John Oliver returns with searing quip: 'Graham died and Mitch McConnell...maybe didn't?'

John Oliver returned from a weeks-long vacation Sunday night and opened his show with a brutal bit questioning whether Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is still alive.The "Last Week Tonight" host used the cold open to run through headlines he'd missed, sliding the Kentucky senator's monthlong hospitalization in between a parasitic outbreak and the death of a Senate colleague."We are back, and we missed a lot over the last few weeks. A parasitic infection has caused explosive diarrhea across the country. Lindsey Graham died, and Mitch McConnell...maybe didn't," Oliver quipped, displaying a hospital-room photo of the 84-year-old senator seated next to his wife, Elaine Chao.The dig comes after McConnell collapsed at his Washington, D.C. home on June 14, and an EMS dispatch recording that later became public showed responders had been called there for "cardiac arrest" and performed CPR before transporting him. His office withheld key details on the episode for weeks. On July 12, staffers finally released the hospital photograph alongside a written statement in which McConnell conspicuously ruled out a laundry list of diagnoses."I didn't have a heart attack or a stroke. I don't have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital," McConnell wrote. "While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I've also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia."A McConnell spokesperson later told The Washington Post that the senator "continues to improve in rehab."Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has said even he can't get information out of the senator's team. "I haven't heard a thing. Not an email, not a letter, not a call, not a video... absolutely nothing," the Democratic governor told SiriusXM earlier this month, adding that he'd received two calls from separate agencies suggesting McConnell had died.Beshear urged the senator's office to "call into a news station for 5 minutes or put out a short video" to end what he called concerning speculation.The stonewalling is being managed by McConnell's longtime chief of staff, Terry Carmack, whose taxpayer-funded salary rose to $226,849.94 in fiscal year 2026. Graham's funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at Washington National Cathedral. McConnell's office has not said whether he will attend.