Tex's Place

By Matt Margolis Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) torched Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in an impromptu interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, and boy, Sanders didn't take it well. The blowup is over Michigan's Senate primary , where Democrat voters look poised to hand their nomination to Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic Socialist who has spent months running to the left of nearly everyone else in the race. His chief rival, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), is clearly the more electable option, but El-Sayed looks like he’s going to win. A recent poll shows Republican Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) beating El-Sayed by 10 points in a general election matchup. Swap in Stevens against Rogers, and the race is a dead heat, within the margin of error. Sanders , of course, has thrown his weight behind El-Sayed, and Fetterman thinks that is a mistake. In fact, he said so bluntly to Raju in a rather scathing attack on Sanders. He brought up Sanders' lack of regret for propping up Graham Platner , even after...

The Trust Fund doesn't exist. It went away almost nine decades ago. (Shutterstock) By Alicia H. Munnell When thinking about how to fix Social Security, it is important to understand the reasons for the shortfall. If current benefits simply cost more than what today’s workers are paying, then the right action is to reduce benefits or raise payroll taxes. However, the cost of the shortfall lies elsewhere: the Missing Trust Fund. If Social Security were financed as a funded 401(k), it would require a combined employer-employee contribution of 11.7 percent of earnings to duplicate Social Security’s benefits at age 65 for the average earner (see Figure 1). Interestingly, this required contribution is very close to the 10.6-percent tax that employees and employers currently pay for Social Security retirement benefits. But Social Security is not financed like a 401(k) plan. Instead, it operates on a pay-as-you-go basis. That is, Social Security contributions are not investe...

By Ward Clark The Alien Terrorist Removal Court has been in place for 30 years and has been unused in all that time. Leave it to the Trump administration to fire this process up and use it to get, to put it mildly, undesirable people out of our country. Case in point: An Afghan alien who helped her son plot and fund a scheme to conduct mass shootings at polling places on Election Day, 2024. Her son is now in prison and will be deported after his sentence. Now, Nazira Haji Zada, who has been living in Fort Worth, Texas, has been arrested and will be repatriated to Afghanistan . Department of Justice Files First Case in U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court to Deport Afghan Alien Who Supported Her Family’s Plans for Election-Day Shooting “Congress created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court three decades ago to remove from the United States alien terrorists… pic.twitter.com/NPaO1BRInH — U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) July 30, 2026 The DOJ post reads: Department of Justice...

By AG News Staff Elon Musk is reviving his political operation to help Republicans defend their congressional majorities in an election year that has grown increasingly competitive. Musk is reactivating America PAC, the super PAC that spent more than $260 million helping elect President Donald Trump in 2024, according to people familiar with the plans. The group will focus on door-knocking, digital advertising and direct mail to turn out conservative voters, including many who typically skip midterm elections. Musk’s representatives have not disclosed a specific dollar figure for the 2026 effort, but given his 2024 spending, which made him the largest individual political donor in a single election cycle in American history, Republican operatives expect a substantial commitment. The renewed investment gives the GOP a formidable new asset heading into November. GOP super PACs and committees already hold more than a $300 million cash advantage over their Democratic counter...

By Ben Smith New York is demanding emissions data from ethanol and biodiesel plants hundreds of miles outside its borders, plants that may have no idea their fuel ever crossed into the Empire State. Iowa and Missouri are fighting back in federal court. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway renewed their case Wednesday in a joint op-ed , putting the constitutional principle plainly: "One state's authority ends where another state's sovereignty begins." Bird and Hanaway argue New York's greenhouse gas reporting rule can reach producers in their states simply because that fuel is later sold in New York, even when the producer never sold it there directly. Iowa, Missouri, and the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce filed suit May 14 in federal court in Missouri. They're targeting the two New York officials responsible for enforcing the rule: Attorney General Letitia James and Department of Environmental Con...

By Ben Smith Two outgoing Republican senators managed to do Wednesday what Democrats could not: stop President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general before his confirmation reached the Senate floor. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who lost his Republican primary after Trump backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who is not seeking reelection, withheld support for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) then postponed Thursday's committee vote because Blanche lacked sufficient support to advance. Neither Cornyn nor Tillis will be back for the next Congress. Both are now using the final months of their terms to hold Trump's nominee hostage over wording in the administration's settlement of the president's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. That settlement was a direct response to contractor Charles Littlejohn's theft of Trump's confidential tax records, which he han...

By David Manney Kirk Bangstad has spent years turning Minocqua Brewing Company into a political megaphone. In January, the brewery promised free beer on the day an unnamed target died. Later posts made clear President Donald Trump was the target. Fox News : On Jan. 22, the Minocqua Brewing Company appeared to suggest it would give free beer to patrons if Trump was killed, and while not explicitly using his name, posted on Facebook , "Free beer, all day long the day he dies." The post continued, "Show us this post when it happens in a few months and we’ll make good on that promise." The post was updated to say, "we meant the Madison Taproom because that’s open all year, if he dies in the summer, then it’s gonna be the Minocqua Taproom." In reply to comment on the post, the company also did not refer to Trump by name but said that the post hinted at a high-profile figure when asked whether the timeline for the deal could be moved up earlier. "Well...

It does not fire missiles, but Qatar wields extensive influence that endangers Israel by funding, propaganda and its ties with terrorist organizations. Experts warn Qatar poses a strategic threat. By Shachar Kleiman This week, the question of Israel's relationship with Qatar resurfaced. For years, the Gulf emirate has pursued a hostile policy that undermines Jerusalem's standing in the West, fuels hatred toward Israel and even supports its most brutal enemies. At the same time, senior officials, retired Israel Defense Forces officers and Israeli businesspeople have not hesitated to work with the Qataris when it suited their interests. Qatar experts who spoke with Israel Hayom painted a troubling picture of the network of ties between Jerusalem and Doha, but stressed that Israel needed a coherent and consistent policy. Improvised measures and populist declarations would only cause harm. "Qatar's reputation around the world has genuinely been tarnished,...

A screenshot of video released by US Central Command on July 29, 2026, shows a strike on a target in Iran. (X screenshot) By By ToI Staff, Jacob Magid and Agencies US Central Command carried out “a heavy wave of strikes” on dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran, it said early Thursday, a day after the Iranian military force targeted American troops in the region with ballistic missiles. CENTCOM described the strikes as “a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East.” The targets hit in the strikes included command centers, facilities for missiles and drones, and other military and surveillance sites, aiming to “further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf countries,” it said. The US attacks began at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday (0000 GMT on Thursday) and ended at 10 p.m. ET (0200 GMT on Thursday), according to CENTCOM. Iran’s Fars ne...

By Libby Emmons In a filing, Utah County prosecutors have urged Judge Tony Graf to bring Tyler Robinson to trial for the murder of Charlie Kirk following a week's long preliminary hearing where evidence was presented to prove probable cause of his guilt. "This ie likely as straight-forward a bindover decision as this Court will ever see," prosecutors write in the 28-page filing.  "After admitting to several friends, including his roommate and romantic partner, that he assassinated Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025, in front of approximately 3000 eyewitnesses, Defendant surrendered to law enforcement for that crime," prosecutors continue. During the preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented these pieces of evidence as well as others showing the strength of their case linking Robinson to Kirk's murder. Confessions were presented as well as testimony from that roommate and romantic partner Lance Twiggs. "DNA testing, su...