5+ hour, 4+ min ago (238+ words) As a casual purveyor of youth culture, I recently became aware of the allegations leveled against the right-wing influencer Candace Owens. Some have accused her of concocting a bogus conspiracy involving Turning Point USA, the president of France, the alleged first "lady" of France, the French Foreign Legion, and a multinational assassination squad that includes at least one Jew. According to Owens, the details of the plot were relayed to her by a "high-ranking employee of the French government" who verified their identity with "concrete proof." She deemed the information "credible enough" to broadcast in a viral social media post before informing the White House and U.S. law enforcement agencies, who may or may not be involved in the plot. That all sounds pretty straightforward. Meanwhile, the people accusing Owens of lying have yet to produce any concrete proof of their…...

7+ hour, 13+ min ago (434+ words) Failed Wisconsin Senate candidate Mandela Barnes (D.) announced a bid for governor even though he faces pushback from prominent Wisconsin Democrats and the state's oldest black newspaper. Barnes, the state's former lieutenant governor, joins a crowded Democratic primary and "is not expected to clear the primary field," as happened in his 2022 Senate primary, Politico reported Tuesday. His once-promising 2022 Senate campaign against incumbent Republican Ron Johnson left many state Democrats bitter after he underperformed Democratic governor Tony Evers. In October, the Democratic-leaning editorial board of the state's longest-running black newspaper blasted Barnes for considering a gubernatorial run. "That Senate seat was ours to win," the editors of the Milwaukee Courier wrote. Barnes "had the national support. He had the resources. He had the attention. And still'he came up short." Other prominent Wisconsin Democrats are expressing disapproval of Barnes's bid, according to the…...

8+ hour, 55+ min ago (411+ words) Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani tapped a convicted felon who served seven years for a string of armed robberies targeting New York City taxi drivers to advise him on the "criminal legal system." Mysonne Linen, a rapper-turned-social justice activist, will serve on Mamdani's "criminal legal system committee," 1 of 17 committees that Mamdani created to help transition into his administration. Mamdani said the appointees "will be tasked with not only making personnel recommendations but policy recommendations." Linen declined a one-year plea deal offer and was convicted in July 1999 on weapons possession and felony robbery charges. The conviction came weeks before Linen was slated to appear on a rap album with hip hop heavyweights Busta Rhymes and L.L. Cool J. It is unclear why Mamdani selected Linen, though the former rapper recently said he has met Mamdani "a few times." Linen cofounded the activist group Until Freedom…...

18+ hour, 3+ min ago (256+ words) Less than a year after opening a Qatari bureau underwritten by the sheikhs in Doha, CNN will co-sponsor a Qatari government confab next week featuring a slew of Israel-bashing Arab officials and spokesmen for America's enemies. CNN's sponsorship of the forum comes as the left-wing network plants its flag in Qatar. It announced an expansion to the Hamas-friendly Gulf monarchy in February, establishing an office in Doha's Media City, where Qatar has provided tens of millions of dollars to incentivize media companies to establish operations there. CNN did not respond to a request regarding the cost of sponsoring the Doha Forum. CNN has not labeled the show "sponsored content," even as Qatar provides funds to build a "purpose-built studio with custom workspaces, designed to enable dynamic content creation and collaborative, spontaneous work among the team," as CNN described its Doha…...

1+ day, 5+ hour ago (503+ words) Cory Booker married a female woman over the weekend, closing the book on idle speculation about a man often described as "the Leonardo DiCaprio of American politics." The Democratic senator from New Jersey wed his recently acquired fianc'e, Alexis Lewis, at an intimate ceremony in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. The move satisfies a major public relations need for Booker and arrives with exquisite timing as he prepares to launch his 2028 presidential campaign. The post Cory Booker Obtains Female Wife in Boost to 2028 White House Bid appeared first on . The happy couple shared exclusive details about their relationship and "private" wedding ceremony with the New York Times. Booker, 56, and Lewis, 38, reportedly met in May 2024, several weeks after the senator pre-launched his White House bid with a record-breaking (and utterly pointless) filibuster that went viral on Bluesky. Most Democrats celebrated Booker's stunt…...

1+ day, 18+ hour ago (694+ words) The New Venture Fund (NVF), a behemoth left-wing dark money charity, wired $2.3 million last year to the law firm that dozens of Democratic prosecutors have contracted to spearhead high-stakes climate litigation against oil companies, according to its latest tax filings. At the same time, it bankrolled a group that advises judges on how to handle those cases. Since its founding in 2016, Sher Edling has received more than $16 million from the NVF-sponsored fund and has simultaneously taken up lawsuits against the oil industry on behalf of at least nine Democrat-run states and more than a dozen Democrat-run cities, which are collectively home to a quarter of the U.S. population. The lawsuits accuse oil companies of causing global warming, deceiving the public about the harms of fossil fuels, and, therefore, bearing responsibility for damages stemming from extreme weather events. As the case pended…...

1+ day, 18+ hour ago (328+ words) The Harvard University student who faced criminal charges for assaulting an Israeli classmate during an anti-Israel "die-in" protest, Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, has a new job: He is a teaching fellow at" Harvard. Tettey-Tamaklo, who was removed from his position as a proctor overseeing freshmen in the wake of the incident, began work as a "Graduate Teaching Fellow" at Harvard in August, according to his LinkedIn profile. He says he works to "advise faculty on curriculum design." As that legal process played out, the Trump administration demanded Harvard expel Tettey-Tamaklo over the assault. Instead, Harvard hired him. Throughout the ordeal, the school never disciplined Tettey-Tamaklo or his compadre, Ibrahim Bharmal, and refused to cooperate with prosecutors in the case. It's unclear in which school Tettey-Tamaklo is serving as a teaching fellow; his LinkedIn profile only says the job is a "full-time" and…...

2+ day, 3+ hour ago (182+ words) Democrat Tim Walz may have been Minnesota's governor when a group of mostly Somali migrants in the state stole more than $1 billion in taxpayer funds, but he's blaming President Donald Trump for failing to stop the scheme. "Dozens of people of East African descent have been charged, convicted, and sentenced for stealing more than $1 billion in taxpayer money from government programs during COVID," NBC News's Kristen Welker told Walz on Meet the Press on Sunday. "Do you take responsibility for failing to stop this fraud in your state?" "Well, certainly I take responsibility for putting people in jail," Walz said before pointing to Trump. "This president has cut a lot of inspector generals [sic]," he added. "He's cut programs that could help us tackle this on [sic]. That's Donald Trump: deflect, demonize, come up with no solutions. He's not going…...

2+ day, 18+ hour ago (231+ words) John Fetterman moved to Braddock, Pa., in the winter of 2000-01 at age 31 as a community youth worker, and now, 25 years later, still lives there. Like Sherrod and Mants, and unlike Barack Obama, Fetterman stayed. Finally, in late February, Fetterman was admitted to D.C.s Walter Reed Hospital, where he remained in the Traumatic Brain Injury Unit for more than 40 days. "I will always be in recovery, both from depression and the stroke," with moderate permanent hearing loss and dependent upon his pacemaker to ensure his continuing heartbeat. To call Unfettered robustly and indeed relentlessly self-critical risks understatement. "I am not collegial, and as a senator, you need to be to get anything real done," Fetterman admits, although he has bonded with young Alabama Republican Katie Britt and Vermont Democrat Peter Welch, who is older than Fettermans dad. Unfettered recounts a hugely…...

2+ day, 18+ hour ago (160+ words) Barack and Michelle Obama have been criticized for trading their activist roots for a post-presidency focused on celebrity networking and voracious wealth accumulation. In an effort to dismiss her critics, Michelle has published a $50 coffee table book about fashion. As Michelle recently explained on her book tour, we really don't deserve her. That's why she'll even run for president. "I'm like, don't even look at me about running because you all are lying. You're not ready for a woman. You are not. So don't waste my time," she said. "We got a lot of growing up to do, and there's still, sadly, a lot of men who do not feel like they can be led by a woman." Republicans can only hope she means it. With an appealing and inclusive message like that, she'd be a shoo-in. The Look by…...