“The View” host Sunny Hostin said on Thursday that she was hesitant to make comments on other people’s marriages — largely because she did not like the idea of others commenting on her marriage — but then proceeded to do so anyway, because the marriage in question is between former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump. Hostin, along with her cohosts on the ABC midday talk show, were responding to an interview Melania Trump gave on Fox News to promote her upcoming memoir — and the conversation, naturally, had turned to her husband and his current bid for a second term in the White House. Whoopi Goldberg opened the segment with a clip from the interview with “Fox & Friends” anchor Ainsley Earhardt, pausing several times to snicker as cohost Joy Behar claimed that the interview should have had “a laugh track.” “I have to say, I was surprised when she mentioned his sense of humor …” Goldberg snarked, turning to the table and asking whether anyone believed Melania could move the needle by entering the conversation ahead of the November election. Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here! Hostin answered first, raving about second gentleman Doug Emhoff and saying that the way he talked about Vice President Kamala Harris made it clear that they had a loving relationship: “He is behind her 100%.” WATCH: @NickFondacaro  Sunny Hostin proclaims "I'm reluctant to comment on other people's marriages because I don't want anybody to comment on mine," but then proceeds to suggest they're two horrible peas in a horrible pod.Behar claims Melania "turned the rose garden into a cemetery." pic.twitter.com/mx5BjPmwh8 — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 26, 2024 Hostin then pivoted to the Trumps, prefacing her comments about their marriage by saying, “I’m reluctant to comment on other people’s marriages because I don’t want anybody to comment on mine.” She proceeded to do exactly that regardless, arguing that the only way they could stay married for nearly two decades was if they had some things in common — and in her mind, that necessarily meant that Melania was aligned with the things she hated about the former president. “These two are like similar people,” she said, and Behar complained that Melania had “turned the rose garden into a cemetery.” Hostin also commented on another famous marriage just over a week earlier, claiming that Brittany Mahomes must not have been read in on how interracial marriages work if she was in favor of any of Trump’s policies.

The Biden-Harris administration is set to surpass $1 trillion in inflation-adjusted improper payments, according to a new watchdog report. That puts the administration on track to break the record for the highest amount of improper payments in a single presidential term, Open The Books found. Improper payments, which are “made by the government to the wrong person, in the wrong amount, or for the wrong reason,” are forms of wasteful government spending that include underpayments, overpayments, administrative errors, and in some cases, fraud. “Leadership occasionally pays lip service to tamping down improper payments, but it’s obvious: the more we spend, the more mistakes get made,” a spokesman for Open The Books explained. “We need to have greater accountability for mitigating the losses and give Congress the tools to troubleshoot the problem.” Open The Books’ analysis found that over $764 billion in improper payments — $800 billion when adjusted for inflation — has been expended by the Biden-Harris administration in the first three fiscal years. That means taxpayer funds have been wasted at a rate of $7,500 per second — $450,000 every minute. The administration is now on track to surpass a whopping $1 trillion in improper payments before the end of President Joe Biden’s term in January, which would mark a new record. Almost a quarter trillion dollars in improper payments, $235 billion, were recorded during the 2023 fiscal year alone. Various government programs and agencies are responsible for the payments, with Medicare and Medicaid collectively accounting for $101.5 billion on the erroneous spending last year. The figure accounts for 43 percent of last year’s improper payments. COVID programs continue to burden the taxpayer, with $66.4 billion in improper payments stemming from the Department of Labor’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program and the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection program. About $295 million in retirement payments from the Office of Personnel Management went to deceased people, while $171 million was paid to prisoners, Open The Books found. The Internal Revenue Service gave out faulty tax credits in the amount of $25 billion, with $546 million going to families who claimed they have more children than they actually do. Meanwhile, about 29 percent of federal overpayments, or $51 billion, have been recovered from 2023 so far. “We fund the Pentagon for a full year on less than what the Biden administration is on track to have misspent,” a spokesman for Open the Books told The Daily Wire. “How much lost taxpayer money would finally embarrass leadership into action?” The situation could be worse than the numbers suggest. The Government Accountability Office says that the improper payments figures likely do not include the full impact of fraud. “Improper payment estimates may not fully incorporate fraud that involves sophisticated fraud schemes, collusion, document falsification, or false statements,” the office concluded in a February 2024 report. Improper payments have plagued the federal government for years, with Open The Books reporting a startling $2.9 trillion in improper payments made from 2004 to 2022 adjusted for inflation. Now, the government watchdog says the sum has surpassed $3 trillion. A bipartisan proposal to curtail wasteful spending, the Improper Payments Transparency Act, would require federal agencies with over $100 million in spending to provide more thorough reporting on improper expenditures and track such payments over a three-year period to determine their trajectory.

It’s looking increasingly likely that dock workers on the East Coast will launch a massive strike Tuesday, shuttering 36 ports along the East and Gulf Coasts. If that happens, Americans could experience supply chain disruptions through election day and well into the holiday season. About three quarters of banana imports to the U.S. arrive at ports that would be affected by a strike, according to the chairman of Michigan State University’s department of supply chain management. Coffee and cocoa imports would also be affected, as would pharmaceutical imports — a third of which are routed through the port in Charleston, South Carolina. Contract negotiations between port ownership and the International Longshoremen’s Association, which represents more than 85,000 dock workers, broke down over the summer, and the two sides remain in a stalemate over both wages and automating port operations. A strike of this size would cause wide-ranging supply chain issues that could impact consumers past Election Day and well into the holiday season. The National Tree Company, which sells artificial Christmas trees and other decorations, has rushed to import goods early to beat the strike, but expects to see 15% of its goods stranded if a port strike happens. A strike would delay some $32.8 billion in clothing imports, and just over $23 billion of furniture imports. In the year that ended June 30, about $37.8 billion in vehicle imports passed through the ports that would be shut down, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Baltimore’s port sees the most car shipments of any port in the country. Peter Kopke, who has been importing fruit at his family’s company Kopke Fruit since 1958, warned that Americans would see prices “rise sharply” if the strike happens. “Right now there’s million of boxes of citrus fruit as well as bananas and others that are going to be caught in the strike,” Kopke said on Fox Business. “And if the strike lasts for any length of time, the fruit will deteriorate, and those business that employ thousands of employees will have to stop because they’re going to lose millions of dollars. So it’s a very, very serious thing, especially for perishables. “This is something that is quite different since 50 or 60 years ago because now the international commerce is a tremendous part of our economy,” he said. “You have 45,000 workers affecting 350 million people.” The strike could also disrupt American exports, of beef, cotton, and poultry. About 70% of all poultry exports and more than a quarter of all egg exports leave via East and Gulf Coast ports, according to customs data and the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. Nearly half of all pork exports set to travel by ship, about 45%, and 30% of all beef exports were shipped out of the affected ports from January through July, a U.S. Meat Export Federation spokesperson told Reuters. Supply chain shortages could cause prices to rise just as families are trying to recover from the nearly 20% spike in prices since before the pandemic. Inflation is one of the most important issues to voters this presidential election, which has Vice President Kamala Harris locked in a tight race against former president Donald Trump less than six weeks out from Election Day. About 76% of voters say inflation is a major factor in their choice for president, an August CBS poll showed. Over half of voters favor Trump on the economy, compared with 46% who favor Harris, a Fox News poll found. Harris has struggled to say how she would lower prices. She has acknowledged that “the bills add up” and promised that “building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.” However, many of her proposals would require congressional approval, and the campaign has not offered many details about how to pay for expensive proposals like a free $25,000 down payment for first-time home buyers.

An 89-year-old woman gave powerful testimony about her experience in a Communist death camp Thursday morning as she was sentenced to three years probation over her FACE Act conviction for a peaceful protest in Tennessee in March 2021.  Eva Edl spoke at her sentencing hearing of how her Christian faith and childhood experience in a Yugoslavian concentration camp inspired her to pro-life activism. She was convicted in April of violating the FACE Act, a Clinton-era law that made it a crime to sit or stand in front of the doors of an abortion facility.  “I have been rescuing babies since 1988,” Edl told federal Judge Chip Frensley in a court filled with dozens of supporters. “What I’m doing is for the love of Jesus alone, no other benefit.” Edl was charged by the Biden-Harris administration for her participation in a protest in a hallway outside the Carafem Health Center Clinic in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. During the sit-in, Edl sang hymns, prayed, and urged women not to get abortions.  “I’ve paid the price,” Edl said of her pro-life work. “It hurts deeply when you do what God says and you’re totally misunderstood.”  Holding up a well-worn Bible in the courtroom, Edl said, “I believe in this book,” saying she took it as her guide. Edl referenced the Book of Genesis, saying that “human life is made in the image of God.”  Edl also spoke of her own experience as a child “when I was declared to be inhuman.”  When she was 9 years old, Edl and her family were imprisoned by Communist dictator Josip Tito because they were ethnic Germans. She said that she and her family were crammed into cattle cars and forced into camps to die.  “I wish Christians or caring people would have stood on the tracks,” to stop the train that was taking her family away, she said. Edl survived her imprisonment and moved to the United States, where she became involved in the pro-life movement.  Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here! Justice Department lawyer Kyle Boynton pushed for Edl to get three years probation, saying that the case was not about her faith or political views, but about “compliance” with federal law. Edl’s lawyer asked for just one year of probation, pointing to “devotion to her faith” and peaceful nature.  Edl was eligible for a prison sentence of up to six months for her conviction.  Frensley said that while he acknowledged Edl’s beliefs, she had engaged in a “clear violation of the law.” He said that following religious beliefs doesn’t excuse violations of federal law.  Prior to sentencing, Edl gathered with supporters outside the courthouse to sing hymns like “It is Well with My Soul.” She told the group that all she wanted for the day “is for the Lord to speak through me.”  Another protester who was with Edl at Carafem is set to be sentenced Thursday afternoon. 

'Asset managers should prioritize helping Americans'

'He was obtaining these donations from what they call straw donations'

'This should've never made it as far as it did'

'He lied so much'

'The questions surrounding the origins of the documents and how they came to our attention were more newsworthy'

'Fails to align with American values and interests'