Category: Breaking

New York Post Sen. Joe Manchin is considering challenging Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential ticket, according to a report Sunday. Manchin — a longtime moderate West Virginia Democrat who turned independent this year — is weighing whether to return to the Democratic Party and make a run for the White House, sources close to his office told CNN. The 76-year-old called for Biden to drop out of the race Sunday morning just hours before Biden, 81, announced his withdrawal. READ THE FULL STORY

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The New York Post Former President Barack Obama didn’t endorse Kamala Harris — saying Democrats would pick an unnamed “outstanding nominee” in his first statement on President Biden stepping aside from the party’s ticket. “We will be navigating uncharted waters in the days ahead,” said Obama, 62. “But I have extraordinary confidence that the leaders of our party will be able to create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges.” Some Democrats fear that Harris, the 59-year-old vice president, could further diminish the party’s chances against former President Donald Trump, 78, in the Nov. 5 election. READ THE FULL STORY      

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Breitbart Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made headlines with his recent comments about former President Donald Trump, calling him a “badass” and praising his resilience while also addressing the role of political content on Facebook in the upcoming election. Bloomberg reports that in a recent interview, Meta (formerly Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his thoughts on former President Donald Trump’s response to being shot, describing it as “badass” and “inspiring.” Zuckerberg’s comments, made during a discussion for “The Circuit with Emily Chang,” have drawn attention to the complex relationship between Silicon Valley leaders and political figures. Zuckerberg specifically referred to Trump’s actions after being shot, stating, “Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life.” He further elaborated on the emotional impact of such resilience, saying, “On some level as an American, it’s like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that’s why a lot of people like the guy.” READ THE FULL STORY                   

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New York Post Failed Donald Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks’ final online search before the Pennsylvania rally shooting last weekend was for pornography, according to a report. Crooks’ last search was found when the FBI gained access to the 20-year-old’s encrypted Samsung phone, a senior law enforcement official told the Daily Beast. Initial attempts to bust into the Android device at the Pittsburgh field office failed, and the phone had to be flown to Quantico for agents to take a look at it, the source explained. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Axios A Russian court on Friday convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage charges and sentenced him to 16 years in prison, multiple outlets reported. Gershkovich, the newspaper and the U.S. government denounced the charges and the trial as a “sham.” The verdict could pave the way for an eventual prisoner swap to free Gershkovich, who the U.S. has deemed “wrongfully detained.” The Kremlin previously said that a verdict in the case is necessary before an exchange could occur. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Washington Examiner Former Sen. Ben Sasse will step down from his post as the president of the University of Florida effective July 31 to spend more time with family amid concerns over his wife’s health. Sasse has served in the role for roughly a year and a half, and he took over in February 2023 after vacating his Senate seat the month prior. He was appointed as the university’s 13th president in November 2022 by a unanimous vote from the institution’s board of trustees. “My wife Melissa’s recent epilepsy diagnosis and a new batch of memory issues have been hard, but we’re facing it together,” Sasse said in a Thursday night statement announcing his decision. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Washington Examiner Former President Barack Obama told allies that President Joe Biden should reevaluate the viability of his candidacy, according to a new report. Obama reportedly told his allies in recent days that Biden’s chances of reelection are greatly diminished, and he should reevaluate his candidacy altogether in light of tanking poll numbers and dissent from Congressional Democrats, according to multiple people briefed on his thinking who spoke with the Washington Post. However, publicly, he has maintained that the final decision is Biden’s to make and that his influence over Biden’s decision-making isn’t decisive. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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New York Post Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign account paid a polling firm nearly $68,000 earlier this year to test his popularity as he plots a political comeback — including eyeing a run for New York City mayor Cuomo, the former three-term governor who resigned in disgrace in August 2021 amid a slew of sexual misconduct claims that he denies, paid the firm Expedition Strategies $67,739 on January 20. The purpose? “Polling costs,” the Friends of Andrew Cuomo campaign committee said in its semi-annual report filed with the state Board of Elections. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Axios The Biden administration will forgive $1.2 billion in student debt for another 35,000 public service workers, the Department of Education announced on Thursday. The Biden administration’s latest round of debt relief brings the total loan forgiveness it has approved to $168.5 billion for 4.76 million borrowers. The Education Department said that the relief was made possible via its work to overhaul the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. READ THE FULL STORY 

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Axios Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Wednesday joined the ranks of Democratic members of Congress calling for President Biden to exit the 2024 presidential race. Schiff is the most high-profile elected Democrat to call for Biden’s withdrawal and the first to do so publicly since former President Trump was shot in an assassination attempt on Saturday. “While the choice to withdraw from the campaign is President Biden’s alone, I believe it is time for him to pass the torch,” Schiff said in a statement, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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Breitbart Chicago’s leftist Mayor Brandon Johnson expressed a desire on Tuesday to eliminate the statue of President George Washington that sits in the hallway outside his City Hall office. But now that plan seems to be on hold. Early on Tuesday, word reached the press Johnson intended to remove the statue which was dedicated back in 1984 and sits outside his fifth floor offices. The removal plan was initially said to be merely part of Johnson’s attempt to make “updates to some areas in and around City Hall,” according to Mayoral spokesman Ronnie Reese, the Chicago Tribune reported. READ THE FULL STORY               

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Washington Examiner  The Democratic National Committee will move forward with a virtual roll call to establish President Joe Biden as the party’s presidential nominee in early August, according to a letter sent to committee members on Wednesday that was obtained by the Washington Examiner. It’s not entirely clear what day the roll call will take place, but DNC officials say it will occur after Aug. 1 but before Aug. 7, which was originally Ohio’s filing deadline that threatened to keep Biden off the 2024 ballot before it was extended by state leaders. The date comes as some reports suggested the DNC would begin early voting as soon as next week despite calls from inside the Democratic Party for Biden to step aside. “None of this will be rushed. Unlike our nation’s other major political party, our rules are set in public meetings, anchored in the Party’s charter and its traditions,” the letter states. “That will continue in the 2024 cycle, as it must with so much at stake.” READ THE FULL STORY                   

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The Independent  The father of the gunman who shot Donald Trump called police after the rally shooting, worried that his son and a firearm were missing, according to reports. Matthew Crooks realized his 20-year-old son, Thomas Matthew Crooks, and an AR-style rifle were missing shortly after shots were fired at the former president at a campaign rally on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. Three senior law enforcement officials told NBC News that the father then called police. Law enforcement officials then went to the home where Crooks lived with his parents in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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New York Post A knife-wielding homeless man who allegedly “heard voices” was shot dead outside the Republican National Convention Tuesday. A witness at the scene told The Post that the man was swinging two steak knives at police near the GOP event’s headquarters — just two hours before the nation’s leading party members were slated to take the stage. Witnesses reported watching the victim run away from security when he was fatally “shot in the back.” At least eight gunshots were heard. READ THE FULL STORY               

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The New York Post US authorities were warned about a potential assassination plot against former President Donald Trump by Iran weeks before the deadly shooting at Saturday’s rally — underscoring concerns about the level of protection that the presidential candidate was given, according to a report. Although there is no known connection between Thomas Matthew Crooks and the Iranian republic — considered a rogue state by the US government — advance knowledge of such a threat appears wildly out of alignment with Trump’s level of protection at the Butler, Pa., rally. The Trump campaign declined to address the outlet’s inquiry whether it was aware of the threat, but the Secret Service has “added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. READ THE FULL STORY      

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Axios   Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) was found guilty on Tuesday of federal bribery charges accusing him of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in bribes in exchange for wielding his influence to benefit foreign governments and a trio of businessmen, per multiple outlets. Menendez — who filed to run for re-election last month — now faces possible expulsion from the Senate as well as decades in prison. Menendez was found guilty on all 16 felony counts to which he had pleaded not guilty. READ THE FULL STORY                         

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The Associated Press Former White House trade advisor Peter Navarro, who is currently in jail on contempt of Congress charges, is expected to speak at next week’s Republican National Convention just hours after his release. That’s according to two people familiar with the event’s schedule who spoke on condition of anonymity to share details before they were formally announced. Navarro is set to be released from a Miami prison on Wednesday, July 17, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ online database of current inmates. That would give him just enough time to board a plane and make it to Milwaukee before the convention wraps Thursday. He was found guilty in September of contempt of Congress charges for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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NOTUS As President Joe Biden tries to talk with Democratic lawmakers and relieve their concerns, a virtual meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Friday appears to have caused more problems than it solved. For starters, Biden showed up an hour late to the Zoom call, according to a source familiar with the meeting, and it didn’t get much better from there. Organizers of the Zoom meeting had said only two members were allowed to ask questions — Reps. Sylvia Garcia and Lou Correa — but Biden opened the floor up to more questions, the source familiar with the call told NOTUS. At least the president tried to open up the meeting to more questions. READ THE FULL STORY      

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NBC Montana A new poll shows the majority of black and Latino swing state voters believe public schools are failing their kids. This comes as the National Education Association President Rebecca Pringle is facing backlash after a speech in Philadelphia, where critics say she went off the rails in a desperate attempt to showcase how educators want to control the minds of America’s children. Some of those same critics say the teachers union should be focused on winning a passing grade for America’s education system, especially with parents. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Washington Examiner President Joe Biden announced that Israel and Hamas are making progress in ceasefire negotiations but acknowledged there are more hurdles for the parties to clear. Specifically, he declared on Thursday during his highly anticipated press conference following the NATO summit that the two sides had “agreed” to the “framework” of the proposal he laid out back on May 31. “There are still gaps to close, but we’re making progress, the trend is positive, and I’m determined to get this deal done and bring an end to this war, which should end now,” he added. The president then reiterated that sentiment on X on Friday, saying that there “is still work to do … but that framework is now agreed to by both Israel and Hamas.” READ THE FULL STORY                           

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Breitbart A recent study conducted by the FTC and international consumer protection networks has uncovered alarming statistics on the prevalence of “dark patterns” in subscription-based websites and apps. Dark Patterns are a collection of manipulative design techniques created by Silicon Valley to make it difficult to separate yourself from subscription services. TechCrunch reports that in an era where digital subscriptions have become increasingly common, consumers are facing a hidden threat: manipulative design techniques known as “dark patterns.” A comprehensive study released on Thursday by the FTC in collaboration with two international consumer protection networks, has shed light on the pervasive use of these deceptive practices in the digital subscription industry. The study, which analyzed 642 websites and apps offering subscription services, revealed that an overwhelming majority – nearly 76 percent – employed at least one dark pattern. More alarmingly, almost 67 percent of the examined platforms utilized multiple dark patterns, raising serious concerns about consumer protection in the digital marketplace. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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New York Times   Some major Democratic donors have told the largest pro-Biden super PAC, Future Forward, that pledges worth roughly $90 million are now on hold if President Biden remains atop the ticket, according to two people who have been briefed on the conversations. The frozen contributions include multiple eight-figure commitments, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation. The decision to withhold such enormous sums of money is one of the most concrete examples of the fallout from Mr. Biden’s poor debate performance at the end of June. Future Forward declined to comment on any conversations with donors or the amounts of any pledged money being withheld. A Future Forward adviser would say only that the group expected contributors who had paused donations to return once the current uncertainty about the ticket was resolved. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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Axios House Democrats are poised to issue a flood of new statements urging Joe Biden to exit the 2024 race regardless of what happens at the president’s NATO press conference, more than half a dozen lawmakers tell Axios. While some House Democrats view the press conference as a key hurdle for Biden to clear, “many have” already decided to urge Biden to withdraw, one lawmaker said. Others are “getting closer” to that decision, the lawmaker added. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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Fox News A White House official told The Atlantic that President Biden making a public gaffe at the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., might be fatal to his campaign.  “This is a terrible thing to say,” an anonymous White House official told The Atlantic in a story published Wednesday. “But that might be the only thing that could force him out at this point, while there’s still time to rewrite the ending.” Biden’s performance at the NATO summit this week has come under increased scrutiny amid concerns about the president’s cognitive health and ability to serve.  READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Washington Examiner U.S. Army personnel at Fort Liberty in North Carolina were given a training seminar in which certain prominent anti-abortion groups were labeled as “terrorist groups,” according to information leaked from within the base. Images circulating on social media and confirmed by Fort Liberty Garrison Public Affairs Office for the Washington Examiner showed a presentation to soldiers manning access control points at the base that characterized the National Right to Life Committee and Operation Rescue as terrorist groups. The presentation slide, photographed by an anonymous person in the briefing room on Wednesday and published on social media by a pseudonymous account, highlights common tactics used by anti-abortion activists as potentially dangerous, including “demonstrations and protest,” “truth display,” “picketing,” and sidewalk counseling.  READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Breitbart Former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, the host of War Room and the former executive chairman of Breitbart News currently serving a four-month sentence in Danbury federal prison in Connecticut, is speaking out from behind bars in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News conducted via email for the first time since he was incarcerated just over a week ago. Bannon, who agreed to do this emailed question-and-answer with Breitbart News from prison, answered several questions, including most importantly his reaction to the fact that Democrats as a party are now sticking with President Joe Biden as their nominee after Biden’s disastrous debate performance. In the past day, top Democrats from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to the chairs of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as well as “Squad” leaders Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), have made clear Biden is their guy and nothing is changing at the top of the ticket of their party. Bannon, in comments sure to further inflame tensions on the left, says that means for supporters of former President Donald Trump that “we got the candidate we want” on the other side. That being said, Bannon argues that despite…

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Fox News Several top campaign advisers for President Biden will join Senate Democrats for a meeting on Thursday at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) as lawmakers continue to reveal their concerns about Biden as a candidate.  Senior Biden advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, and Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon are attending the special meeting off the Capitol campus, a source familiar confirmed to Fox News Digital. The Senate Democrat caucus met for a regularly scheduled lunch on Tuesday, where Biden’s debate performance and what it means for his candidacy were discussed. READ THE FULL STORY          

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New York Post  President Biden was seen by neurologist Dr. Kevin Cannard, who specializes in Parkinson’s disease, at the White House on Jan. 17, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre admitted late Tuesday — hours after telling reporters the opposite at her regular briefing. The clarification came just a day after Jean-Pierre scolded a journalist who grilled her over providing misleading information about whether Biden, 81, had been medically evaluated after his catastrophic June 27 debate performance, which triggered Democratic calls for him to step aside. “Because the date was not mentioned in the question, I want to be clear that the Jan. 17 meeting between [presidential physician] Dr. [Kevin] O’Connor and Dr. Cannard was for the president’s physical,” Jean-Pierre told the Associated Press, whose reporter had asked Jean-Pierre about Cannard’s meeting with O’Connor, which was first reported by The Post this past Saturday. READ THE FULL STORY                     

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Axios A bipartisan group of senators reached a deal Wednesday on legislation to ban stock trading by members of Congress, setting the bill up for action in the Senate later this month. The agreement breathes new life into the push to ban stock trading by lawmakers, which is supported broadly by voters but has stumbled on Capitol Hill. Members of both the House and the Senate trade stocks at a high rate, raising questions about ethics. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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New York Post A New York-based neurologist who specializes in treating Parkinson’s disease suggested Monday that President Biden is exhibiting “classic features of neurodegeneration” as speculation swirls about his political future. Dr. Tom Pitts made his assessment based on Biden’s public appearances, while the White House faced questions about why another Parkinson’s expert visited the executive mansion eight times in an eight-month stretch last year and early this year. “I could have diagnosed him from across the mall,” Pitts told NBC News Now’s “Top Story with Tom Llamas.” READ THE FULL STORY                                     

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KXLY Idaho Governor Brad Little and Secretary of State Phil McGrane took executive action Tuesday to prevent non-U.S. citizens from voting in elections.  The ONLY CITIZENS WILL VOTE Act was signed by the governor and will have the Secretary of State monitor and review voter registration and voter rolls to ensure non-citizens are not voting.  Important to note the United States Constitution ratified in 1788 already ensures only U.S. citizens can vote.  READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Axios The judge presiding over former President Trump’s classified documents case in Florida pushed back some of the deadlines in the case on Saturday to allow for further briefing.  Judge Aileen Cannon’s order follows the 6-3 Supreme Court opinion allowing presidential immunity for official acts conducted as president. It’s an opinion that Trump has used to throw a wrench in prosecutors’ plans although the SCOTUS decision on July 1 failed to clarify whether his alleged conduct on Jan. 6 was protected. READ THE FULL STORY                            

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Breitbart There were no air marshals around to shield passengers from a violent man on a United Airlines flight in March 2023 because they are being deployed to the southern border, a police advocate says. The New York Post spoke with Sonya LaBosco, a retired supervisory federal air marshal with the Air Marshal National Council, the outlet said on Friday. According to LaBosco’s X profile, she is also a law enforcement advocate. According to LaBosco, major flights are in danger because the federal government has been shipping air marshals to the border for deployments that last about 21 days. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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The Associated Press  Hamas has given its initial approval of a U.S.-backed proposal for a phased cease-fire deal in Gaza, dropping a key demand that Israel commit up front to a complete end to the war, a Hamas official and an Egyptian official said Saturday. The apparent compromise by the militant group, which controlled Gaza before triggering the war with an Oct. 7 attack on Israel, could deliver the first pause in fighting since November and set the stage for further talks on ending a devastating nine months of fighting. But all sides cautioned that a deal is still not guaranteed. Inside Gaza, the Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 16 people and wounded at least 50 others in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Children were among the dead and wounded. Israel’s military said it was looking into the report. READ THE FULL STORY           

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Catholic News Agency  The Vatican has officially excommunicated Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith announced Friday. Viganò was found guilty of the canonical crime, or delict, of schism, or the refusal to submit to the pope or the communion of the Church, at the conclusion of the Vatican’s extrajudicial penal process on July 4. The Vatican’s doctrine office announced the “latae sententiae” excommunication (automatic excommunication) on July 5, citing Viganò’s “public statements manifesting his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the Church subject to him, and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council.” READ THE FULL STORY 

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NBC Montana Private employers added 150,000 jobs in June, according to the ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday. And ADP, which bases its report on payroll data of client companies, showed annual pay was up 4.9%. “Job growth has been solid, but not broad-based,” Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, said in a news release. “Had it not been for a rebound in hiring in leisure and hospitality, June would have been a downbeat month.” READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Breitbart It is growing more costly to enjoy a celebratory meal on Independence Day in President Joe Biden’s (D) economy. In an email Wednesday, RNC Research pointed to the fact Americans will see the “most expensive Independence Day on Record” this year. “After the Biden White House attempted to brag about the price of an Independence Day barbeque going down by $0.16 in 2021, the same meal has since increased by $11.72 since then,” the email read, citing the American Farm Bureau Federation. READ THE FULL STORY                             

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New York Post Former first lady Michelle Obama is the leading candidate to take on former President Trump in 2024, according to a new poll conducted after last week’s presidential debate. A Reuters/Ipsos poll asked respondents who they would like to see take on Trump on the general election ballot amid calls to replace the current nominee, and President Biden was bested by both the former first lady and his own vice president. When respondents were asked who they would vote for in a race against Trump, the poll found that Obama was the only Democrat to secure enough votes to beat the former president on the general election ballot. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Washington Examiner Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) is affirming her support for President Joe Biden in posts on X while pushing her own Hybrid PAC, Fight Like Hell. Several social media posts, made on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, all implied support for the president while linking the governor’s fundraising PAC, not the Democratic National Committee or the Biden reelection effort. The PAC describes itself as “a nationwide movement led by [Whitmer] to defend working people and protect our most fundamental rights.” It says its goal is to “focus the next two years on supporting President Biden and Vice President Harris’ re-election campaign, as well as helping Democrats flip the House and hold the Senate and ensuring our voice is heard in Washington.” READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Breitbart A recent investigation by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has uncovered a disturbing trend in AI development, where images of children are being used to train artificial intelligence models without consent, potentially exposing them to significant privacy and safety risks. Ars Technica reports that Human Rights Watch researcher Hye Jung Han has discovered that popular AI datasets, such as LAION-5B, contain links to hundreds of photos of Australian children. These images, scraped from various online sources, are being used to train AI models without the knowledge or consent of the children or their families. The implications of this discovery are far-reaching and raise serious concerns about the privacy and safety of minors in the digital age. Han’s investigation, which examined less than 0.0001 percent of the 5.85 billion images in the LAION-5B dataset, identified 190 photos of children from all of Australia’s states and territories. This sample size suggests that the actual number of affected children could be significantly higher. The dataset includes images spanning the entirety of childhood, making it possible for AI image generators to create realistic deepfakes of real Australian children. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Axios The national average gas price for the Independence Day weekend is expected to be the lowest holiday price since 2021 but prices have been rising in recent weeks with record travel demand. Nearly 71 million people will travel during the holiday week with a record 60.6 million people traveling by car, according to AAA’s holiday forecast. The percentage of people traveling by car is up 4.8% from last year when 57.8 million people traveled by car, AAA said. READ THE FULL STORY                 

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The New York Times President Biden’s family is urging him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite last week’s disastrous debate performance, even as some members of his clan privately expressed exasperation at how he was prepared for the event by his staff, people close to the situation said on Sunday. Mr. Biden huddled with his wife, children and grandchildren at Camp David while he tried to figure out how to tamp down Democratic anxiety. While his relatives are acutely aware of how poorly he did against former President Donald J. Trump, they argued that he could still show the country that he is capable of serving for another four years. Mr. Biden has also been soliciting ideas from advisers about how to proceed, and his staff has been discussing whether he should hold a news conference or sit for interviews to defend himself to change the narrative, but nothing has been decided yet. READ THE FULL STORY    

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Catholic News Agency  In the midst of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, the patriarchs and leaders of ancient Christian churches in Jerusalem have signed a joint document in which they denounce that four Israeli municipalities have sought to levy municipal taxes on church properties in violation of “centuries” of historical agreements. The church leaders, including Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, and Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, custos of the Holy Land, accuse local authorities of launching a “coordinated attack” against the Christian presence in the Holy Land. “We believe these efforts represent a coordinated attack on the Christian presence in the Holy Land. At this time when the entire world, and in particular the Christian world, is constantly following the events in Israel, we find ourselves once again faced with an attempt by the authorities to expel the Christian presence from the Holy Land,” the leaders stated in a letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has been quoted in various media such as The Times of Israel, Asia News, and UCA News. READ THE FULL STORY       

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Fox News The first presidential debate of 2024 left many Americans and even some traditional Democratic allies wondering about President Biden’s mental fitness for office based on what appeared to be his unclear train of thought at times and his raspy voice on Thursday night. The White House responded to these concerns, claiming that the president, who is 81, was fighting a cold, but some doctors said they perceive the health issues go beyond the sniffles — with one noting that “it is an issue of fitness, not of age.” Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida neurosurgeon who specializes in cognitive function, told Fox News Digital on Friday about his concerns.  READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Washington Examiner After federal judges in Kansas and Missouri sided in favor of Republican attorneys general by blocking parts of President Joe Biden’s student loan repayment program, the Department of Education announced it is freezing monthly student loan payments and interests of 3 million borrowers. The Saving on a Valuable Education plan, better known as SAVE, determines a borrowers’ monthly payment based on their earnings and family size. There are more than 8 million people signed up for the plan and 4.5 million of them qualify for $0 monthly payments because of their low earnings.   On July 1, the Department of Education was going to implement payment reductions, with many borrowers seeing their payments being cut in half. That measure was blocked by Kansas U.S. District Judge Daniel D. Crabtree. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Breitbart Former President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden in Nevada, according to an American Impact Research/Fabrizio Lee/AARP poll. The overall survey shows Trump leading Biden in what has been a blue state in presidential elections since 2008. Trump leads Biden in the state with a three-point advantage, garnering 48 percent support to Biden’s 45 percent support. When third-party candidates are added to the mix, including independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s lead over Biden jumps another four points, giving him a seven-point advantage over the incumbent. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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The Hill In his first public comments since President Biden took to the debate stage last night, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the president failed to clearly articulate his achievements or vision for the future. “I have to also be very honest with you and tell you that I think the president was not terribly articulate to say the least, and he was not focused,” Sanders said of Thursday’s debate, at a rally in Stevens Point, Wis. “He did not defend a very strong record.”    Sanders’s rally is part of a weeklong campaign swing in the Badger State. The Daily Cardinal, the University of Wisconsin’s student paper, provided audio of the Stevens Point event. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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New York Post A Haitian migrant accused of raping a 15-year-old at a Massachusetts shelter has been released on bail — despite a request from federal immigration officials to keep him in jail. Cory Alvarez, who had been held without bail since his March arrest, was freed on a measly $500 bail on Tuesday after the Plymouth County Superior Court ignored a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to keep the suspect in custody, the Boston Herald reported. Alvarez was released following a dangerousness hearing, a spokesperson with the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office told The Post Friday. READ THE FULL STORY                  

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Washington Examiner Fifty percent of independents think the Democratic Party should nominate someone other than President Joe Biden to have the best chance of winning in November, according to a Friday YouGov survey that was conducted after the first presidential debate. Just 21% of independents said Biden was the best option, while 29% said they were not sure.  By contrast, 39% of independents said the Republican Party should nominate former President Donald Trump to have the best chance of winning, with just 37% saying the party should nominate someone else and 24% being unsure. READ THE FULL STORY                   

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Washington Examiner Forget all those stories about chaos during former President Donald Trump’s administration and, equally, those about President Joe Biden being a better chief executive than former President Ronald Reagan. Because just out is a new survey from Gallup giving Trump the edge on who is considered more presidential. In a poll that is overall deflating to Biden’s hopes for a second term, Trump wins when people are asked who has the better “presidential personality and leadership qualities.” READ THE FULL STORY                   

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