Democrats promise to shutdown the government. They look forward to it. it would probably be an improvement
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5508947-looming-government-shutdown-threat/
Democrats say shutdown necessary to send ‘message’ to Trump

Democratic senators say that unless Republicans scrap their plan to advance a “clean” seven-week continuing resolution, they don’t see any option other than defeating it as a way to send a “message” to President Trump.

Doing so would almost certainly trigger a government shutdown, something Democrats avoided earlier this year but is increasingly looking inevitable this fall.

Democratic senators, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the looming shutdown has been the chief topic of discussion in recent caucus meetings.

They said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), who took enormous heat from his left flank after voting for a GOP funding bill earlier this year, has not laid out any plan B to avert a shutdown before the Sept. 30 deadline.

“Donald Trump gave us the middle finger, there is no alternative,” said one Democratic senator, who requested anonymity to discuss caucus strategy.

A second Democratic senator said a brief shutdown would give Democrats a “win,” even if it doesn’t result in any concrete policy concessions from Republicans. This Democrat said doing so would send a “message” to Trump that the White House can’t continue to steamroll Congress.

“Without some accommodation, some compromise, I think there probably will be a shutdown for a period of time."

The second senator said they would not vote for the stopgap measure funding the government through Nov. 21, which House Republicans plan to pass.

“I hate a shutdown anyway, we don’t have any choice. We can’t go along with what they’re doing,” the senator said. “We should use every lever we have, and this is one of the very few levers where we can actually push [Trump].”

Trump was FBI informant against Epstein: US House Speaker Mike Johnson
https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/trump-was-fbi-informant-against-epstein-us-house-speaker-mike-johnson-125090600075_1.html
While Johnson sought to clarify Trump's stance, the president himself has dismissed calls for greater transparency in the Epstein case, describing the demand for more disclosures as a 'Democrat hoax

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday (local time) defended US President Donald Trump after he called the bipartisan push to release all files related to Jeffrey Epstein's federal investigation a "Democrat hoax."

The remarks came as survivors of Epstein's sexual abuse continue urging Congress to support legislation compelling the Department of Justice to release the documents. Pressure has been mounting in Washington over calls for full disclosure of Epstein's network and the government's handling of the case.

Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Johnson claimed that Trump has been an FBI informant for decades, dating back to when Epstein was associated with Trump's Mar-A-Lago club. White House is yet to repond on the claims.

"He's [Trump] is not saying that what Epstein did is a hoax, it's a terrible, unspeakable evil, he believes that himself. When he first heard the rumour, he kicked him out of Mar-A-Lago. He was an FBI informant trying to take this down. The president knows and has great sympathy for the women who have suffered these unspeakable harms. It's detestable to him; he and I have spoken about this, as recently as 24 hours ago," Johnson told reporters.

While Johnson sought to clarify Trump's stance, the president himself has dismissed calls for greater transparency in the Epstein case, describing the demand for more disclosures as a "Democrat hoax," CNN reported.

The people who wanted you fired for saying that Rittenhouse shouldn't have to let himself get murdered by terrorists, and the same people who say that Charlie Kirk deserved to be murdered just for disagreeing with woke college leftists, are now getting a taste of cancel culture.

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/teachers-across-the-u-s-get-suspended-or-fired-over-posts-linked-to-charlie-kirk/2025/09

Teachers Across the U.S. Get Suspended or Fired Over Posts Linked to Charlie Kirk

In the two days since conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated, social media reactions have ranged from the sorrowful—grief, condemnation, and offering prayers—to the crassest expressions of celebration from online critics.

Teachers have been among those who are alleged to have posted controversial and inflammatory comments about Kirk—prompting widespread doxxing, disciplinary actions in several states, and warnings from state officials to educators about inappropriate online statements.

The resulting firestorm has raised questions of teachers’ online speech rights and responsibilities during emotionally charged and politically divisive events.

Kirk, 31, a co-founder and executive director of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, was shot Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University and died later that day. A close ally of President Donald Trump, Kirk is credited with bringing conservatism to younger generations—his “prove me wrong” debates with college students about politics often went viral on social media platforms and helped him build a massive following. Kirk also had a history of making inflammatory comments about marginalized groups

https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/mexico-drugs-cartel-oseguera-trump-586f0cec?st=PCGcVC&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
From a heavily guarded mountain hideout in the heart of the Sierra Madre, 59-year-old Nemesio “Mencho” Oseguera reigns as the new drug king of Mexico, aided in his ascendance by America’s resurging love of cocaine and the Trump administration’s escalating war on fentanyl.

Oseguera spent decades building his Jalisco New Generation Cartel into a transnational criminal organization fierce enough to forge a new underworld order in Mexico, displacing the Sinaloa cartel, torn by warring factions, as the world’s biggest drug pusher.

The Sinaloans, Mexico’s top fentanyl traffickers, got caught in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, which promised to eradicate the synthetic opioid. The crackdown has left an open field for Jalisco and its lucrative cocaine trade, elevating Oseguera to No. 1.

“‘Mencho’ is the most powerful drug trafficker operating in the world,” said Derek Maltz, who served this year as interim chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “What is happening now is a pivot to much more cocaine distribution in America.”

Cocaine sold in the U.S. is cheaper and as pure as ever for retail buyers. Consumption in the western U.S. has increased 154% since 2019 and is up 19% during the same period in the eastern part of the country, according to the drug-testing company Millennium Health. In contrast, fentanyl use in the U.S. began to drop in mid-2023 and has been declining since, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For new users, cocaine doesn’t carry the stigma of fentanyl addiction. Middle-class addicts and the tragic spectacle of homeless crack-cocaine users in the 1990s helped put a lid on America’s last cocaine epidemic.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/fbi-director-kash-patel-congressional-hearing-kirk/3987952/

Hours after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, FBI Director Kash Patel declared online that “the subject” in the killing was in custody. The shooter was not. The two men who had been detained were quickly released, and Utah officials acknowledged that the gunman remained at large.

The false assurance was more than a slip. It spotlighted the high-stakes uncertainty surrounding Patel’s leadership of the bureau when its credibility — and his own — are under extraordinary pressure.

Patel now approaches congressional oversight hearings this coming week facing not just questions about that investigation but broader doubts about whether he can stabilize a federal law enforcement agency fragmented by political fights and internal upheaval.

Democrats are poised to press Patel on a purge of senior executives that has prompted a lawsuit, his pursuit of President Donald Trump’s grievances long after the Russia investigation ended, and a realignment of resources that has prioritized the fight against illegal immigration and street crime even though the agency has for decades been defined by its work on complicated threats like counterintelligence and public corruption.

https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-russia-china-disinformation-putin-trump-bce0174644351c70811ae4a847ffa767

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia moved to amplify online conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk’s killing just hours after it happened, seeding social media with the frightening claim that America is slipping into civil war.

Chinese and pro-Iranian groups also spread disinformation about the shooting, with those loyal to Iran’s interests backing antisemitic conspiracy theories while bots linked to Beijing claimed that Kirk’s death shows that the United States is violent, polarized and dysfunctional.

America’s adversaries have long used fake social media accounts, online bots and disinformation to depict the U.S. as a dangerous country beset with extremism and gun violence. Kirk’s killing has provided another opportunity for those overseas eager to shape public understanding while inflaming political polarization.

“Charlie Kirk’s Death and the Coming Civil War,” tweeted Russian ultranationalist Alexander Dugin, whose influence earned him the moniker “ Putin’s brain,” referring to Russia’s president. Pro-Russian bots blamed Democrats and predicted more violence. Russian state media published English-language articles with headlines claiming a conspiracy orchestrated by shadowy forces: “Was Charlie Kirk’s Killer a Pro?”

“We’ve seen multiple Russian campaigns attempting to exploit” Kirk’s killing, said Joseph Bodnar, senior research manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. In many cases, the campaigns aren’t adding new claims but are recycling ones that emerged from American users. “They’re picking up domestic actors and amplifying them.”

In each case, those spreading the disinformation have tailored it for their own ends. Chinese propaganda has focused on the violent nature of Kirk’s death, painting the U.S. as a nation of violent gun owners and political extremists.

>Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A24gLV9E5wU

https://nypost.com/2025/09/08/us-news/two-people-killed-in-fast-moving-fire-that-tore-through-nyc-home/

> FDNY paramedic’s dad found chained, killed in Queens house fire with wife — as video shows mystery man entering home

> The elderly parents of an FDNY paramedic were terrorized for up to five hours and murdered before their Queens home was torched Monday — with police now looking for a career criminal suspected of the gruesome slayings.

> The body of 77-year-old Frank Thomas Olton was found tied up in the basement of the Bellerose home, while his wife, Maureen Olton, 78, was stabbed multiple times on the first floor before the house was set on fire, police and sources said Tuesday.

> Cops have now launched a manhunt for the suspected killer, 42-year-old Jamel McGriff, an ex-con on parole and registered sex offender with a long list of violent crimes.

> NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said McGriff, who she described as “armed and dangerous,” was caught on surveillance video leaving the Bellerose home shortly after 3 p.m. Monday — almost five hours after he went inside.

> Authorities were still investigating the horrors that unfolded inside during that time.

> The suspect had earlier knocked on other doors in the neighborhood asking to charge his cell phone but was turned away before Frank Olton was seen on surveillance footage apparently allowing him in his backyard around 10:18 a.m., authorities said. The footage showed the owner apparently letting his killer in the rear door, according to cops.

> When the maniac left hours later, he was carrying a paper bag and one dark color bag, cops said.

https://www.axios.com/2025/09/16/kash-patel-hearing-epstein-trafficking
FBI Director Kash Patel said Tuesday that the bureau has "no credible information" that sex offender Jeffrey Epstein trafficked young women to other individuals beside himself.

The big picture: Bipartisan demands for transparency in the disgraced financier's case have plagued the Trump administration and Hill lawmakers for months following the FBI and Justice Department's conclusion that there was no incriminating list of Epstein's clients.

Driving the news: Patel, appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, said there is, "no credible information, none" that Epstein "trafficked to other individuals."

If there was such evidence, Patel emphasized, "I would bring the case yesterday."
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) pressed the director, questioning if Epstein trafficked women to "no one," to which Patel replied, "for the information that we have."

Catch up quick: In a memo obtained by Axios in July, the DOJ and FBI stated that there was no "credible evidence" that Epstein blackmailed prominent figures, nor was there any information on which an investigation into "uncharged third parties" should be based.

It also concluded that Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while being held in a Manhattan prison.