Author: patriotsheart

(Note: Thank you for supporting businesses like the one presenting a sponsored message below and working with them through the links below which benefits Gateway Pundit. We appreciate your support!)

A 28-year-old technician at Russia’s Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute is dead, nearly 200 people are under medical observation, and five hospitals in the region have reportedly been slammed shut for quarantine, while the Kremlin’s health agency insists this is nothing but “pneumonia of unknown origin.”

The White House is now monitoring the suspected outbreak of pneumonic plague, according to Axios:

“Pneumonic plague is the most dangerous form of plague and can spread between people through respiratory droplets. Without treatment, it is nearly always fatal, but antibiotics can be highly effective when started quickly.”

The Moscow Times identified the dead woman as Darya Shipilova, a laboratory worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East. She was hospitalized in Shelekhov on September 29 with severe pneumonia, placed on a ventilator, and died on October 1, overnight into October 2, by some accounts.

What set off the alarm: Shipilova told medical staff she had accidentally broken a test tube of live Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, while handling samples on September 25. That is four days before she was admitted, DW reported.

It is far too early to know, but Dr. Peter McCullough, Chief Scientific Officer of The Wellness Company, raised one of the most frightening possibilities: the bacteria could have been bioengineered. He warned that:

“if the Russians have manipulated the bacteria to have other features making culture identification difficult or resistant to antibiotics, then this case could be ‘patient zero’ for another deadly biolab leak.”

The next pandemic could be just one accidentally dropped test tube away.

And when the next bug reaches your town, it won’t wait for business hours. It shows up at 2 a.m., when you wake up shivering under two blankets with a fever you can feel behind your eyes. The pharmacy has a handwritten “closed” sign taped to the glass. The medicine cabinet holds half a bottle of Tylenol. The urgent care is wall-to-wall with coughing strangers. And the ER means hours in a plastic chair and a bill that lands weeks later.

This Isn’t the 1300s. We Have Treatments.

The Black Death killed more than 50 million people in Europe in the 1300s, according to the World Health Organization. WHO calls pneumonic plague “the most virulent form of plague.” Untreated, it can kill within 18 to 24 hours, but common antibiotics can cure it if given early. The CDC’s plague guidance lists several, and one is a name most Americans already know:

Doxycycline.

The CDC lists doxycycline as a first-line treatment for bubonic plague and a first-line pill for people exposed to plague, like close contacts of a pneumonic case. Pneumonic plague itself is a medical emergency that needs a doctor right away.

What you can control is having the right prescriptions in the house, with a doctor’s guidance, before trouble starts. A prescription kit takes about two to three weeks to reach your door, so the time to order is while you’re healthy.

Don’t Wait Until You Are Sick

The time to stock up on prescriptions is when you’re healthy. The Wellness Company’s Medical Emergency Kit puts eight prescription medications in one case, including 60 capsules of doxycycline, along with ivermectin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, a Z-Pak and more. It comes with an Emergency Medication Guidebook written by The Wellness Company’s Chief Medical Board, the group of doctors Dr. McCullough helped found.

The kit is $299.99 with free shipping. Compare that with one ER visit: an average of $2,453, with $646 out of the patient’s own pocket even on employer insurance.

It’s prescription-only, so you won’t find it in any store or pharmacy. Here’s how it works: after checkout, you fill out a brief medical history form, and a licensed provider reviews it and calls you if a consultation is needed. After approval, a licensed U.S. pharmacy fills the prescriptions and ships them to your door.  The company says to expect your kit in about two to three weeks after your form and consultation are complete. (Must be 18 or older; not available in Maryland.)

So start that clock now, not the night the fever starts.

The Wellness Company Medical Emergency Kit includes:

• Doxycycline Hyclate 100 mg – 60 capsules

• Ivermectin 12mg – 25 compounded capsules

• Amoxicillin-Clavulanate (generic Augmentin) 875/125 mg – 28 tablets

• Azithromycin (generic Z-Pak) 250 mg – 12 tablets

• Metronidazole (generic Flagyl) 500 mg – 30 tablets

• Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole (generic Bactrim) 800/160 mg – 28 tablets

• Fluconazole (generic Diflucan) 150 mg – 2 tablets

• Ondansetron (generic Zofran) 4mg – 6 tablets

• 1 Emergency Medication Guidebook written by the Chief Medical Board for safe use.

What people say after they actually needed their kit:

“I had found a tick on me 2 weeks before I was leaving the country for a 10-day trip. I decided to bring the emergency kit with me. It’s a good thing I did. The 2nd night of the trip I noticed a bulls-eye rash starting to form where the tick had been. Sure enough the kit had doxycycline in it! It truly helped as I could have easily lost a day of the trip trying to find medical care.” – Diane P.

“I’ve only used the antibiotics once since I received this and it was very convenient. A sinus infection hit me on a Friday evening and I knew if I went to the urgent care on the weekend it was going to be a longer drive there and back and an extended wait. I read the instructions that came with the kit, followed them, and by the time Monday rolled around I was on the road to recovery. I ordered replacement antibiotics and received them in a timely manner” – Michael O.

“Excellent. Had to use the azithromiacin (generic z-pack) in January due to sinus infection from severe cold and lingering cough. Was so thankful to have the kit on hand! I was able to avoid an over 2 hour wait in local urgent care facility that was completely packed with very sick people. Have told many people about this resource. Thank you for offering this protection to me and my family. Peace of mind is a blessing.” – Cheryl W.

Click here to order The Wellness Company’s Medical Emergency Kit while you’re healthy.

Note: The information provided on this website is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice or used as a substitute for professional healthcare guidance. It is your responsibility to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines regarding the purchase, possession, and use of prescription medications.

The post The Plague? 200 People Under Observation – A Reminder That the Next Pandemic Is Just One Accident Away appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s disturbing social media post on the third anniversary was not disgusting enough.  He closed the somber day out by eating dinner at a Palestinian restaurant known for its openly genocidal menu.

The Gateway Pundit reported that Mamdani began the day by posting a few short sentences about the Hamas terrorist attacks on civilians before spending the majority of his post defending Hamas’ actions and being critical of Israel.

On the third anniversary of the deadliest attack on Jews since World War II and the Holocaust, Mamdani could not spare a single message for the victims without attacking Israel.

In the evening, he chose to dine at Ayat Hinds Hall, a Palestinian restaurant chain criticized for its “openly genocidal” rhetoric against Jews.

The New York Post reports that the eatery made headlines just weeks after the slaughter, rape, and kidnapping of civilians when its menu featured the genocidal message ‘From the River to the Sea’ which calls for the complete eradication of Israel.

In Dec. 2023, the Middle Eastern eatery made headlines when its menu was blasted by critics for being “openly genocidal” despite owners Abdul Elenani and Ayat Masoud insisting they were not calling for the eradication of Israel.

“From the river to the sea” is deemed an antisemitic call for the destruction of the Jewish state by the Anti-Defamation League, and is a favorite chant for anti-Israel activists.

Elenani told the Post at the time that the slogan had been on the menu for months before the Oct. 7 attacks and that since then he had been receiving daily death threats.

But Mamdani’s anti-Israel behavior on a solemn and tragic day isn’t enough for Jew-haters.  They want more.

When Mamdani dared to attend a memorial for October 7, crazed leftist anti-Israel protesters repeatedly chanted the word ‘traitor’ at him.

WOW! Crazed Anti-Israel Protesters in NYC Chant ‘Traitor’ at Mayor Mamdani and He Does NOT Look Happy (VIDEO)

The post On Oct. 7 Anniversary NYC Mayor Mamdani Dines at Palestinian Restaurant Boasting ‘Openly Genocidal’ Menu appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The price of Brent crude oil, a key international benchmark, spiked Thursday to over $105 per barrel following reports that President Donald Trump could soon restart active hostilities against Iran.

The Atlantic reported Wednesday that the White House “has asked the Pentagon to develop strike options against Iranian targets that could be exercised ahead of the midterms” in November. NBC News also reported that the Trump administration is mulling large-scale military operations.

Trump said at a campaign rally on Wednesday that he doesn’t really want a peace deal with Iran.

Oil prices have hovered around $100 a barrel over the past week even as oil exports out of the Middle East have neared pre-war levels. Some experts say stubbornly elevated prices reflect a risk premium of transiting the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has escalated attacks in recent weeks.

The Yemeni Houthis claimed on Thursday to have again hit Saudi Arabia’s main airport in Riyadh.

The post Iran War Day 223: Oil Prices Spike as Trump Mulls Imminent Attack appeared first on The American Conservative.

Treat Caitlin Clark like a dog and see what happens.

The ratings for the WNBA playoffs are in and it is worse than we thought. The ridiculous woke league lost 45% of its viewership since Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever were eliminated.

The league brass, the players, the coaches hate Clark for being the face of the league after years of being lost in the wilderness and propped up by the NBA. The WNBA elites wanted a different star to take the country by storm.  But it was the basketball sensation from Iowa who lifted the sport into something worth watching. It was Clark who brought in millions in revenue, filled stadiums, set merchandise records, etc.  And for some reason they hated her for it.

It was a bad look for “girl power.” We all witnessed what that really means – assaults on the court, beatings, stompings, injuries, and nasty jealous comments by the WNBA staff.

Clark and the Fever were eliminated in a best of three series against the Las Vegas Aces in a contest that set the record for the most lop-sided officiating in league history.

The Indiana Fever vs. Aces series had a free throw differential of +31 for the Aces.

This is the LARGEST FT differential in a 3-game series in WNBA history

In case you were looking for more evidence (as if we need it) that this thing was rigged.

— Ryan Loves Ball (@ryanlovesball) October 2, 2026

The wokest league in professional sports, the WNBA, did not follow its own rules and sit Las Vegas Aces star Aja Wilson out for the final playoff series game despite the fact that Wilson CLEARLY violated the league rules when she went after a Fever fan in the stands in Tuesday night’s game.

Aja Wilson later played victim after she lost her sh*t and went after a fan for pointing at her!

Now the numbers are out and it’s worse than we thought.

The WNBA lost 78% of viewers after Caitlin Clark was eliminated.

Now look at the NBA ratings:

In the past four years, when the playoffs went from eight teams to four teams, the results were much different.

The 2022 and 2023 Conference Semifinals averaged 4.907M and 5.667M viewers respectively. The Conference Finals series averaged 6.70M and 6.98M in 2022, and 7.90M and 7.42M in 2023; weighting by the number of games gives the combined averages above. Sports Media Watch

There are also reports that the league lost over 70% of its viewership. We have not confirmed that number at this time.

The post WHOA! WNBA Viewership Drops 45% After Caitlin Clark Is Eliminated from Playoffs in Referee Rigged Scam appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Screwball Democrat James Talarico left Texas and has not been seen in the Lone Star State since he went missing…  And, now his campaign is caught in even more lies about his disappearance!

Wackadoodle Democrat James Talarico has not been seen in Texas for 11 days!

Talarico went to New York to raise money from angry Robert DeNiro and Zohran Mamdani supporters and has not been seen in the Lone Star State since then.

Republican savior and Talarico opponent, Ken Paxton, noticed his opponent for governor of Texas was missing.

Ken Paxton wrote: “WATCH: James Talarico has been missing for 11 days. He was last seen in Texas on September 26th. While his campaign continues to lie to Texans, he is nowhere to be seen.”

WATCH: James Talarico has been missing for 11 days.

He was last seen in Texas on September 26th. While his campaign continues to lie to Texans, he is nowhere to be seen. https://t.co/O83BjlmVSl

— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) October 7, 2026

Talarico also raised money from the gay Human Rights Campaign while in New York.

Maybe James is recruiting more Marxists?

And now the campaign cannot even keep up with its lies.

Conservatarian Snarknado on X posted a screengrab she took yesterday from a Dallas Morning News (DMN) article. The far left DMN originally reported:

“Talarico disclosed his illness Sept. 29 at a virtual forum sponsored by the United States Hispanic Business Council.”

But, 12 hours later, the Dallas Morning News had changed their report:

“Talarico disclosed his illness Sept. 30 at a virtual forum sponsored by the United States Hispanic Council.”

Here is Snarknado’s tweet:

Hey, @dallasnews , why didn’t you disclose this stealth edit in your article about Talarico being diagnosed with the flu?

I took these two screenshot about 12 hours apart.

The first was taken last night. The second was taken this morning.

You changed the date in your second paragraph from the 29th to the 30th.

What’s going on? https://t.co/X82Ivz8X4C

— Snarknado (@ZannSuz) October 7, 2026

Then there’s this…

There was also a fundraiser for Talarico in New York City on September 30 at the Phoenix Bar, a queer bar.

The MATO Manifesto wrote about it.

So the campaign lied again??

@KenPaxtonTX Sept 30th
https://t.co/67G82k1CBM

— JacisMom (@7jv4sz3_hope) October 7, 2026

It is unclear whether James Talarico attended the event at this time. But the soft Democrat has not been seen for 11 days.

The post Breaking: Talarico Campaign Caught in a Major Lie on Top of a Major Lie – Campaign Can’t Get Their Lines Straight on His NY Donor Dinners appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Democrat congressional candidate Bernadette Greene-Placentia, who is running in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, says she was out fixing a campaign sign at 2 AM when she was hit in the back of the head and fell unconscious.

Greene-Placentia said she awoke with her pants down and one of her attackers still assaulting her, according to an interview with the Phoenix New Times.

Then, according to Greene-Placentia, her assaulter called her a “democratic b*tch, not a very good f*ck.”

According to USA Today, Greene-Placentia reported the assault on Aug. 31, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office confirmed, and went public with what happened in an interview with the New Times on Oct. 7.

Greene-Placentia, a former long-haul trucker, is allegedly known for an anti-ICE campaign song. It doesn’t sound like border security is her thing.

The weird song has 801 views, so maybe she is not so famous as the campaign claims.



Greene-Placentia waited 17 days to report the alleged brutal crime to police. She says she told her husband about the alleged attack three days later.

Greene-Placentia is running against conservative stalwart Rep. Abe Hamadeh. She says Bidenomics ruined her career as a long-haul truck driver. But she’s running as a Democrat.

Hamedeh’s campaign released a statement calling on authorities to investigate the serious accusations.

Rob Schmitt from Newsmax said this: “No clue what to make of this.”

No clue what to make of this. A Democrat running for Congress in Arizona says she was fixing a broken campaign sign at 2am when she was raped by an unknown assailant who called her a “democratic bitch” and she waited til 4-wks before the election to say anything because she felt embarrassed.

— Rob Schmitt (@SchmittNYC) October 7, 2026

Here is a timeline according to Grok:

Around 2 a.m., Friday, August 14, 2026: Greene-Placentia says she stopped her silver Jeep Grand Cherokee (engine running, hatch open) in a parking lot near 99th Avenue and Bell Road in Sun City to repair a damaged campaign sign, a late-night routine she had followed that summer. She says she walked only a few yards before being struck on the head and losing consciousness.

She says she woke face-down with one leg out of her jean capris, a man on top of her pulling his penis out of her, and heard something she later filled in as roughly “Democratic bitch, not a very good fuck,” though she said she was not sure of the exact words.

A second man (described as wearing black boots) approached and nudged her leg; she says she kicked at him and heard “Not even worth it” before both left. She does not clearly remember dressing, closing the Jeep, driving home, or getting into bed. She reported vaginal bleeding for three days afterward, bruises (including finger-sized marks), and possible concussion symptoms; she did not seek immediate medical care.

August 14–16: Campaign manager Isaiah Lopez and her husband, Alex Placentia, described her as “missing in action” for about two days at her in-district Sun City apartment. Placentia said phone calls found her repeatedly in the bath and nauseous, and that going two days without seeing her was unusual.

Landlord Annarose Lily said she saw Greene-Placentia looking unsteady outside the apartment a day or two later; Greene-Placentia did not tell her the full account until days afterward.

Sunday, August 16: A volunteer drove her to a canvassing event in Chandler. Lopez and communications director Craig Beckman said she had a severe headache and appeared abnormal; they pulled her aside in her Jeep, where she told them she had been raped by two men while fixing signs and had limited memory.

Monday, August 17: She told her husband. The same day she spoke by phone for about 45 minutes with Greg Freeman (a political acquaintance and secretary of the state Democratic Party), who said she seemed unsettled and ashamed and asked him to keep it confidential.

Early September: She told state Rep. Stephanie Simacek over coffee.

August 31, 2026: She reported the assault by phone to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, more than two weeks after the alleged attack. Deputies/sergeants interviewed her at the Sun City apartment the next day. MCSO has confirmed the August 31 report and an open investigation, and has declined further comment.

August 27, 2026: She participated in an Arizona Clean Elections debate for the district (after the alleged assault, before the public report).

October 7, 2026: Phoenix New Times published the account. She said she initially wanted to forget it out of embarrassment but later decided to speak because of her campaign messaging about fighting for Arizonans, including sexual-assault survivors. Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly publicly expressed support after the story appeared.

You can watch Greene-Placentia’s interview with ABC15 Arizona here.

The post Hmmm… Democrat Congressional Candidate Claims She Was Raped at 2AM While Fixing a Campaign Sign in a Parking Lot and Was Called a “Democratic B*tch” — Then Waited 17 Days to Report the Alleged Assault appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Just days before Americans head to the polls, another city council meeting has become the center of controversy over a Satanic invocation, this time in Battle Ground, Washington.

The controversy unfolded at the Battle Ground City Council’s October 5 meeting, where a representative associated with The Satanic Temple delivered an opening invocation that rejected traditional religious beliefs and concluded with a declaration praising Satan.

The moment came as the city implemented its policy allowing members of the public to deliver religious or philosophical invocations before council proceedings.

A woman with a buzzcut and a demonic shirt named Bast, a representative from the Satanic Temple, delivered the city’s opening “prayer.”

The Satanic Temple speaker said:

“This invocation today was inspired by the seven tenets, or ethical principles, of The Satanic Temple. Thank you. A non-theistic organization that believes in compassion, empathy, justice, autonomy, freedom of speech, scientifically based beliefs, accountability, and wisdom.

Let us begin.

Let us never bow our heads or bend the knee in obeisance to any faith from the past that is based on ignorant, bigoted savagery.”

She closed with: “Hail Satan, the archetype or symbol of the bringer of knowledge, and hail thyself.”

The clip spread on Thursday after The Vigilant Fox posted the city video.

WATCH:

Another one: On Monday night, October 5, Battle Ground, Washington City Council opened its regular meeting under a policy it adopted in August, and the first speaker to take the slot was from the Satanic Temple.

Bast from the Satanic Temple: “Hail Satan, the archetype or symbol of the bringer of knowledge, and hail thyself.” https://t.co/Newjb6s3xO

— The Gateway Pundit (@gatewaypundit) October 8, 2026

This is the predictable end of a policy the council wrote for itself. On August 3, Battle Ground voted 5–1 for Resolution 26-04, opening a slot of up to three minutes before the Pledge on a first-come, first-served basis, once a year per speaker, open to every faith “or lack thereof.”

Councilor Jeanie Kuypers was the only no vote. Councilor Shane Bowman was absent. The Reflector quoted Mayor Overholser afterward: there would be “literally no filter,” and the city wanted to “lower the barriers to allow whoever wants to bring an invocation to bring an invocation.”

They got what they ordered. Local reporter Dominick Bonny noted that the Satanic prayer opened the first meeting held under the new rule.

This latest controversy comes immediately after another Satanic invocation sparked outrage in Ottumwa, Iowa.

As The Gateway Pundit reported Wednesday, the Ottumwa City Council opened its October 6 meeting with an invocation addressed to a “dark father.”

The speaker, identified as Matthew Dalbey, concluded with the words “Hail Satan.”

But the Iowa meeting did not end without objections.

A man identified as Rick demanded that city leaders reverse what he considered a curse placed on the community.

Mayor Ben Foote subsequently called for 30 seconds of silence for prayer or reflection, despite an objection from Councilwoman Cara Galloway, who insisted the meeting proceed with its scheduled business.

The post ANOTHER ONE: Satanic Temple Opens Battle Ground, Washington City Council Meeting with Prayer Praising SATAN appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Far left MSNOW recently put together a focus group of Jewish Democrats in Michigan and nearly all of them explained that they could not bring themselves to vote for far left Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

One man, who indicated that he has an adult daughter who is trans, claimed that his daughter would be ‘oppressed’ under Mike Rogers, which is so stupid. Most of the people however, are deeply concerned about the rise of antisemitism in America. Do they realize that it’s all coming from the left?

One woman says that her daughter in college has to hide the fact that she is Jewish, and then indicates that she will be voting for Rogers.

Transcript by Real Clear Politics:

VOTER #1: I have a transgender daughter who is 30. And I’m Jewish. And Israel is incredibly important to me. But a vote from Mike Rogers is a vote for my kid being oppressed. Correct. And her rights being taken away.

VOTER #2: It’s like Sophie’s Choice. Quite honestly, you know, I love some of the things he’s talked about. I think it’s a little idealistic and a little extreme. And I’m a little concerned. But I, you know, my big block is… It just comes down to this whole thing with Israel. And I do worry about everything.

VOTER #3: I have daughters. I cannot do that. On one hand, I’m like, okay, well, the choice is clear. But then all of a sudden it’s like, I can’t vote for Abdul. Because, once again, he’s going against something that’s innately me.

VOTER #4: If El-Sayed wasn’t on the ballot, you’d probably have the highest percentage of straight-ticket Democratic votes in this state’s history. Simply because the Democrats are just, they’re frothing at the gums to vote anything anti-Trump.

VOTER #5: My daughter goes to University of Detroit Mercy. She’s in her second year of law school, and she has to hide being Jewish. And it’s a hard thing to say when October 7th came. Horrible for her. Lots of tears. I may go to Mike Rogers. Sorry, guys.

Watch this to the very end:

Elise Jordan chats with Oakland County(MI) Jewish Democrats for MS NOW

“It’s like Sophie’s Choice”

“My big block is it just comes down to this whole thing with Israel”

“We’d love for him to make a definitive statement, just say: I would like everyone to know I support Israel”… pic.twitter.com/Bo19Ik1gBk

— Clipping Wings (@ClippingWings) October 6, 2026

This is not a good sign for El-Sayed’s campaign.

When Democrats are talking about voting Republican in Michigan, maybe the polls are all wrong again.

The post WATCH: Jewish Democrats in Michigan Explain Why They Can’t Bring Themselves to Vote for Abdul El-Sayed (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Keith Ellison recently appeared with far left podcaster Dean Obeidallah and suggested that Trump and Republicans will try to ‘steal’ the 2026 midterm elections. He then talks about how the left has to be ready to ‘take the streets’ if this happens.

This is not some random, left wing activist saying this. He is the attorney general of the state of Minnesota.

Consider this a warning and a preview. If Democrats completely bomb in the midterms – and they very well could – people on the left are going to lose their minds and we will be likely to see rioting in certain locations.

Partial transcript by the Western Lensman:

Keith Ellison says Republicans mean to cheat in the midterms, and people should be “ready to protest, take to the streets.”

“Don’t act like, oh, they couldn’t mean that. They mean it…So be ready to get your dukes up.”

“I’m one who believes in peaceful protest, First Amendment.”

“But if they try to take our vote away, we should absolutely be in the street. And I’ll be right out there with everybody else.”

So the sitting Minnesota AG is casting doubts on the legitimacy of the election before a vote is counted and warning about firing up street mobilization in response.

Watch the video below:

Keith Ellison says Republicans mean to cheat in the midterms, and people should be “ready to protest, take to the streets.”

“Don’t act like, oh, they couldn’t mean that. They mean it…So be ready to get your dukes up.”

“I’m one who believes in peaceful protest, First… pic.twitter.com/syKcpJ6iJg

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) October 7, 2026

On a related note, Ellison is also fighting to keep his job in Minnesota.

CBS News reported:

Ellison says his office is a major force in battling the Trump Administration. Ellison has filed more than 73 lawsuits against the president, keeping $7.3 billion flowing into Minnesota. The lawsuits include challenges to Operation Metro Surge, for evidence in the Renee Good and Alex Pretti killings, against SNAP and Medicaid cuts, against clean energy cuts, against cutting the Department of Education, against cuts in medical research, for transgender rights and against the Trump tariffs.

Schutz has criticized these lawsuits as “theater.”

“Every lawsuit that we file has to pass two criteria,” Ellison said. “One, it has to affect Minnesota, and then two, it has to hurt Minnesotans, and it has to be illegal. Obviously it has to be illegal. That is why we file these cases.”

Schutz has said that Ellison’s claim that, as attorney general, he can help keep prices for consumers low is, “simply preposterous.”

Ellison doesn’t represent Minnesota.

He represents the radical left.

The post Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison Suggests Trump Will Try to Steal Midterms, Tells Leftists to be Ready to ‘Take the Streets’ (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Foreign Affairs

Bring U.S. Forces Home—From Around the World

If assets are under threat even in the UK, it’s time to wind down America’s global presence.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

President Donald Trump imagines himself to be the most powerful person in world history. And he has increasingly sought to act the part internationally. Yet his party faces a daunting midterm election, and he nears true lame duck status while finding it increasingly difficult to impose his will upon the rest of the globe.

Despite Trump’s protestations of greatness, he is turning ever more nations against his administration. Despite commanding the world’s strongest military, he has been unable to force an isolated middling power, Iran, to submit to his will. America’s Asian and European allies have rebuffed his attempt to conscript their navies to do what U.S. forces cannot, open the Strait of Hormuz. 

Even more extraordinary has been his inability to protect Washington’s international basing network, upon which the Pentagon’s global reach depends. Shockingly, the administration appeared to be almost helpless as Iran wreaked devastation on America’s Mideast installations and the Persian Gulf states where they are located. The U.S. no longer can support Gulf naval operations from its naval base in Bahrain, but instead must rely on Diego Garcia, some 2,600 miles away from the critical waterway. The administration is assessing the future of its Mideast facilities, and Washington’s military presence almost certainly will shrink dramatically.

Now, it turns out, Washington does not trust its ability to protect its military forces even in the United Kingdom. The Washington Post reports the administration “has removed all of its bombers from Royal Air Force Fairford, a base that authorities in the United Kingdom called the target of a suspected terror plot.” Removed as in returned the planes back to America. “While operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time, we can acknowledge now that all U.S. bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have re-deployed to their home stations in the United States,” announced the Pentagon.

No doubt, the military must be vigilant in protecting personnel and equipment from threats, especially those assessed as significant and imminent. Yet who imagined that the Pentagon would believe itself unable to protect aircraft based in the UK from Iran? What if America was battling Russia—would the administration also withdraw its bombers from the UK? Withdraw all planes from all Europe? Empty its bases in Asia and the Middle East as well? After all, if Washington cannot protect aircraft in the UK from Iran, how can it defend personnel and equipment from Russia? Or China? Or a potpourri of rising powers?

The problem will only worsen, as noted elsewhere in the Post: “The growing vulnerability of U.S. bases because of the proliferation of cheap drones and missiles—which will only get worse with the spread of artificial intelligence guidance—has no easy solution.” One of Washington’s presumed greatest strengths—its hundreds of bases in foreign countries—is becoming a significant weakness. And the most powerful man in the world, despite commanding the most powerful military in the world, faces increasing limitations.

The president, as well as other leading policymakers in Washington, should treat the threat to America’s overextended military as an opportunity. Time is long past for retrenchment, winding down a global presence that no longer serves serious, let alone vital, American interests.

The original Donald Trump appeared to believe that “America First” was more than a popular political slogan. Well before being elected in 2016, he complained about European cheap-riding on Americans for defense. During his first term, he threatened to pull out U.S. troops and even quit NATO. He similarly questioned Washington’s defense of South Korea, which enjoys a GDP 70 times and population twice that of its northern antagonist.

But he quickly went astray, treating U.S. personnel and equipment as a coercive tool to extort government payments, trade preferences, and economic investment from allied nations. During his first term he demanded that Seoul increase host-nation support for stationing U.S. troops in South Korea tenfold to $10 billion annually, an effort abandoned by his successor. More recently, he has pressed the Republic of Korea to offer far-reaching trade and investment concessions, efforts leading to complaints that he has turned the alliance into a “transactional relationship” characterized by “extortion.” 

Trump has done much the same to Japan and Europe. Indeed, he redistributed U.S. troops among NATO states rather than bring them back to America, and he ostentatiously used Washington’s commitment to Europe’s defense as leverage to win the European Union’s acceptance of a trade deal bad for most Americans as well as Europeans. Continental leaders acknowledge that they are paying more to preserve the American people’s defense subsidy. In the opinion of Thorsten Benner of Berlin’s Global Public Policy Institute, the U.S.–EU trade deal is a “direct function of Europe’s weakness on the security front, that it cannot provide for its own military security and that it failed to invest, for 20 years, in its own security.” 

If Trump truly believed in America First, he would have been working to expeditiously transfer responsibility for the continent’s defense to the Europeans. But he now has a second chance to transform American foreign policy based on American security. He should begin a gradual global force withdrawal. Doing so could plausibly be framed as a sign of strength, not weakness: The U.S. is the most secure great power ever. 

The U.S. began as a coalition of independent colonies 250 years ago, a weak commercial republic in a world of avaricious empires. Its geography became a key defense, with weak neighbors north and south and fish east and west. Although Americans warred against native peoples as the new republic expanded westward, Washington mostly avoided the seemingly endless European conflicts until the 20th century. It was security at home that allowed Americans to eventually intervene in foreign battles with little security relevance—wars of choice, not necessity.

America’s entry into the First World War was sheer madness, a reflection of President Woodrow Wilson’s extraordinary sanctimony, egoism, and ambition. It was this conflict, and its unbalanced outcome resulting from U.S. intervention, which led to the Second World War, a bitter battle between totalitarian powers much harder for the U.S. to avoid. Although in retrospect the Soviet Union’s Cold War ambitions appear more limited than believed at the time, the desire to shield war-ravaged states from potential Soviet coercion and aggression was understandable. Even then, U.S. officials originally insisted that the American military presence be limited in scope, ambition, and duration. Once the Cold War ended, any serious case for what amounted to a quasi-empire that reached virtually every region of the globe collapsed. 

Unfortunately, the Blob, as the foreign policy establishment has been called, resisted change, preferring to concoct new justifications to maintain outdated international strategies and military deployments. Out of that effort came President George W. Bush’s “what we say goes” doctrine. Trump, in term one, did damage to the Blob’s ideology but failed to unwind America’s global presence. Then, both Presidents Joe Biden and Trump declared that they were “running the world.” And they were, it turns out—into the ground.

Trump continues to demand that the world obey him. Yet his pretense of omnipotence is imploding. Uncle Sam has fiscal feet of clay, racing toward budgetary collapse. Now the president has been forced to admit that he can’t defend American military assets in the UK, let alone in the Middle East. 

Instead of leaving American military personnel at risk around the world, he should begin bringing them home. Starting now.

The post Bring U.S. Forces Home—From Around the World appeared first on The American Conservative.