Excerpts satire Read an Excerpt From MJ Wassmer’s Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend Vacation Checklist: Pack swim trunks. Apply sunscreen. Survive the apocalypse? By MJ Wassmer | Published on July 10, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend, a satirical science fiction novel by MJ Wassmer—publishing with Sourcebooks Landmark on August 6th. Professional underachiever Dan Foster is finally taking a vacation. Sure, his life has been average at best, and yeah, he’s never quite lived up to his potential. But after a few Miller Lites in paradise with his girlfriend, Mara, things are starting to look up.Then the sun explodes.With the island resort suddenly plunged into darkness (he really should’ve sprung for the travel insurance), Dan’s holiday goes from bad to worse when elite guests stage a coup and commandeer supplies. As temperatures drop and class tensions rise, revolution begins to brew on the island, and Dan accidentally becomes a beacon of hope for the surviving vacationers. But when one six-person plane is discovered that could get them back to the mainland, Dan realizes he has a choice to make.Does he escape the island with Mara? Or does he stay and fight to become the most unlikely hero of the end of the world? Bang, bang, bang. Oh, God. The door. Dan distinctly remembered placing the DO NOT DISTURB placard on the handle before succumbing to his blackout. Maybe it’d stop. Maybe if he just rolled over, nuzzled his head into this…ooh, newly discovered pillow divot, very nice… maybe whatever it was would go awa— Bang, bang, bang. “Dan! Dan, it’s Alan Ferris. From next door. We’ve got a situation out here, partner.” Mara was stirring now, groaning. Dan liked Alan very much, but he hated everyone before a certain hour, and—he poked open one eye—it wasn’t even light out. Who bangs on someone’s door before the— Oh. Right. He begrudgingly spun from under the covers and into a pair of resort-branded slippers. The room continued to spin after he stopped. He slammed his eyes shut and clutched the mattress for dear life. A hangover. That’s perfect. Just once, Dan said to God, can I not experience the consequences of my own actions. “Ugh,” Mara said, now fully awake. “Why do you smell like sushi.” Dan sniffed his pits. “Took a dip last night.” “Last night? After we went to bed?” “Yeah, I—” Bang, bang, bang. “Dan! It’s Alan! The guy from the bar last night. The one you opened up to about how you’ve been feeling kind of—” Buy the Book Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend MJ Wassmer Buy Book Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend MJ Wassmer Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget In a flash, Dan rolled across the bed, over Mara’s legs, and unlatched the door. Yup, there was Alan. Handsome as ever, clear eyes. He stood beside his partner, Charles, a chubby, pale man in a bright Hawaiian shirt and yellow shorts cuffed at the thigh. It was comforting to know that, without the sun, Charles’s wardrobe existed as a source of light. Alan looked Dan over. “Oh. You’re not dressed.” “He is not,” Charles said, each syllable basted in Southern twang. He had a softness about him, like a favorite armchair come to life. Mara, wrapped in a robe, joined Dan at the door. “Hello.” She smiled. How did her hellos always sound so kind? Her voice was warm like it was preheated overnight. “Why, hello,” Charles said. “This is Alan,” Dan said, his voice a tire atop gravel. “And this—” “I’m Charles Ferris, an absolute pleasure.” Charles stuck out his hand, Dan and Mara took it. “I’m Mara. Nice to meet you, Alan and Charles.” Charles waved his hand. “Oh, we know you, Ms. Tropic of C Lira two-piece in Mama Africa print.” Dan didn’t know what any of those words meant when strung together in that particular order, but Mara was astonished. A devilish grin spilled over Charles’s face. “I’m a big fan of her stuff.” “It’s all so cute!” Mara said. “But so—” “Expensive!” they said together. “I wasn’t even sure if I should splurge on it, Charles, but I haven’t taken a vacation in so long, and I just loved the, you know, twist rope, so I thought—” “What time is it?” Dan asked Alan. “Just after seven.” This personally offended Dan. “Okay. Wow. I don’t discuss bikinis until at least eight, so if you fellas don’t mind.” He began to shut the door, but Alan’s forearm didn’t budge. “Dan, there’s a situation.” His eyes did that serious thing again, and Charles quieted down too, looked at his boat shoes like, Oh, right, we’re not here to chat swimwear. “Yeah,” Dan said. “The sun. I remember.” “Building A took all the food overnight.” “What?” Mara said. Yeah. What? Dan stepped outside in his boxers, between Alan and Charles, and peered over the railing at Building A. There was a crowd gathered just past the pools—he hesitated to call it a mob, but it hummed with the collective unease characteristic of mobs—and it was growing by the second. Armed guards stood at the entrances of Building A’s breezeways, pistols strapped at their waists, shaking their heads, holding out their palms. Not only is there a security force, there’s an armed security force? Alan joined Dan at the railing. “Must’ve been after we went to bed. Charles and I were looking for grub this morning—a lot of people were—and there’s nothing. The fuckers paid off the guards and most of the staff members. Stole all the supplies from the restaurants, the main kitchen, the bars. Infirmary. Pallets of shit. They’ve got it all.” “We’re sure?” Dan asked. “Julio told us. I guess they couldn’t buy him.” Three doors down, a sweaty man in a cabana hat hurriedly exited his room, his rolling suitcase skipping along the cement walkway. Where was he possibly planning to go? Alan shook his head. “People are panicked.” Dan hugged himself and squeezed back inside. It was already cooler than yesterday. Not cold, not yet, but low sixties? Christ, it was really happening. “They paid the guards?” Mara asked. She tossed Dan a T-shirt from his suitcase and then a pair of sweatpants he wore around the house when he didn’t care what he looked like. Mara called them his fart pants. “Well, you know they’ve got deep pockets over there,” Charles said, having invited himself in. “We sat next to a couple from Building A at dinner the other night, right, Alan? And she had a Chanel bag. The Maxi Flap. Oh, and it was real, I could tell. But she got it with the tweed? Like, if you have five grand to spend on a bag like that, you’re really gonna get tweed, honey?” Guests in Building A—they didn’t even call them guests, they called them visitants—could afford Chanel Maxi Flaps in tweed or silk or mongoose skin or any other type of fabric, because Building A was designed for upper society. They also enjoyed upgraded amenities, an exclusive restaurant named after some Aztec goddess, a premier cigar lounge, butler service, first choice of cabanas on the shoreline. Their balconies were larger, their drinks stronger, and rumor had it their elevators were faster, the bastards. Simon Cowell was supposedly staying in Building A. Dan hadn’t seen him, but a drunk man at the Sola swim-up bar swore that he had. Said his boobs weren’t as big as they appeared on TV. By the time Dan, Mara, and their neighbors joined the crowd amassing outside Building A, tensions were rising. Tiki torches plucked from the beach were lit and shaking overhead. Empty airplane bottles of liquor shattered against the stucco. Residents of Buildings B and C shouted up at the balconies, demanded explanation, breakfast. Guards pointed their pistols into the crowd now, which marked the first time Dan had ever been in the sights of a gun without Nerf printed on the side. Mara became part of the resistance almost instantly, chanting, “Dude, dude, where’s our food?” which was kind of catchy, and Charles soon joined. As they forced their way toward the center of the increasingly irritated crowd, Dan spotted a familiar figure and grabbed his shoulder. Julio. The kid had a lousy memory for good tippers, but maybe he could do something about all this. “Julio! What the hell’s going on?” Dan’s question was almost completely drowned out. “They took the food!” Julio replied, and Dan wasn’t sure what else he was expecting. Where was Brody? Had he really lost control of everything this quickly? And big picture here: If their small Bahamian island had already collapsed into anarchy, what did that mean for back home? Memphis would burn. Mara tossed a hair tie at Building A, like that would do anything but get hair in her eyes, and then she turned to Julio. “How’d they do it?” “The resort has a series of underground tunnels for workers!” he said. “The bastards paid off the guards, most of the staff and transported the supplies underground overnight!” He spit on the ground, which was so tightly packed with sandaled feet that Dan was sure it never reached cement. Mara said, “Tunnels?” and then she lost her balance when a man brandishing a luggage rack above his head bumped into them. Dan steadied her. A few other unbribed staff members weaved through the mob—Dan was officially calling it that, a mob—and were conversing with Julio now, and one of them held a megaphone in his hand. Julio nodded and turned back. “We need someone to address the crowd!” Okay, Dan thought. Go ahead. Alan and Charles reappeared. Alan pointed Julio toward a wrought-iron table. “Get up there and demand they release the fucking food!” Julio nodded. He wrung his wrist. He was sweating, but not from body heat. He looked faint. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Charles said. He leaned in and whispered to Dan. “If I don’t eat by eight, I am a zombie.” Julio pushed the megaphone into Alan’s chest. “I can’t! I have… terrible stage fright! My heart starts pounding and I get lightheaded, and my throat clogs up!” This was Brody Sheridan’s job. Where was he? Alan shrugged, like, fuck it, but as he climbed onto the table, Charles seized his collar and yanked him back into the masses. “Honey, I love you, but you ain’t the man for this.” Charles squeezed Alan’s shoulder and turned to Mara. “He’ll get hot-headed. Cuss. If he had negotiated with Patty Hearst’s captors, honey, her head would’ve come home in a Kroger sack. Come on, Alan, you know it.” Alan’s face conveyed that yes, he knew it. He held the mega-phone out to Charles, who pushed it away. “Oh, hell no. Uh-uh.” Mara snatched the megaphone, and now it was against Dan’s chest. “Danny should do it,” she said, and she smiled at him in that way that made him believe he could do anything. And for the briefest of seconds he thought, Yeah, you know, I kicked ass in my public speaking course in college, and that was a lot more pressure because the topic was wage gaps in the public sector and the room was full of women’s studies majors. Maybe I could— He shook free of her gaze and put his hands up. “I can’t. I’m not—I’m not the guy.” “He was a political science major,” Mara said to Alan and Charles. “And he writes so well. It’s his talent. You should hear him talk when he’s drunk. He can talk.” “Oh, I know,” Alan said. He nodded at Dan, and Charles smiled, and Dan felt the group come to a consensus without him, and his hangover was suddenly worse. He wanted to go back to his room and draw the shades, sleep this whole nightmare away. Draw the shades from what? “Time to be the guy,” Alan said, and he hoisted Dan onto the wrought-iron table as effortlessly as he would a kitten. The mob saw Dan, megaphone in hand, and there was a hush. The last thrown chair landed somewhere with a clatter. Then came applause, Dan’s heart keeping pace with each clap. You stupid assholes, he thought. I just happened to be standing near the table. He raised the megaphone to his lips—why was it so heavy?—but before he pressed the button, the crowd did an about-face. Brody Sheridan had appeared on one of the top balconies of Building A, had a megaphone of his own, and was shirtless for some reason. People booed, others hissed—Dan had never heard people hiss in real life—before Brody was able to calm them down. “Wow,” Brody said, and his tone was way too sarcastic right off the bat. “Angry much?” It was impressive, really. Brody might’ve said the single worst thing you can say to a hungry group of people whose star had blown up less than twenty-four hours ago. The guy with the luggage rack hurled it, and then people took off their flip-flops and threw those too. The guards got aggressive with their guns, dimpling the chests of people nearest the breezeway. This was on the brink of becoming ugly. Brody and Dan locked eyes for a moment, and Dan glared at him, but then Brody dodged a Yeezy slide. Whoever threw that must’ve been super pissed because those are expensive. “Okay, okay, whoa. Point made. I just want to, ah, explain everything. First of all, obviously everyone here is gonna have food to eat. I mean, it’s not like we’re douchebags or something. We’re making breakfast right now.” That probably should’ve been his opener. The guests who still had their flip-flops slid them back on. “But, like—” He gulped. His Adam’s apple was more of an Adam’s pineapple. “You should know I put Building A in charge. So okay, they’re going to decide how things go from now on. They’re rich, and so obviously they’re supersmart, and we need to make sure their needs are met first, and then—” The flip-flops again took flight. But something was different this time, Brody had run out of chances. No more stuttering, no more explanations, the crowd wanted blood. Brody dipped out of sight, clearly sensing his head might soon be perched atop something even skinnier than his body. Dan watched from above as Julio and the other unbought members of the staff, now near the front of the crowd, charged. There was screaming, like the screaming yesterday on the beach, and the mob moved as one, a battering ram against the breezeway of Building A, and Dan snatched Mara’s wrist and pulled her up onto the table to avoid being trampled. A sharp crack pierced the black morning air—Dan had played enough Call of Duty in his time to know it came from a rifle—and the forward march abruptly halted. The screaming changed octaves, from disgust to anguish, and Mara buried her face into Dan’s chest. Dan located the guard who fired the bullet, some big son of a bitch who was immediately insulated by his colleagues. Their faces were stricken, like, oh, shit, what just happened, but their pistols remained rigid. Dan nearly puked up last night’s rum when he saw that the man who had been shot was dressed in white. Julio. His shirt was now red and becoming redder, and the crowd surfed him backward because forward clearly wasn’t an option. He ended up somewhere by Alan and Charles, and Mara hopped from the table before Dan could stop her, leading a small group who placed Julio in a lounge chair and carried him off. Dan’s face felt wobbly, his legs were flushed. No, wait. Reverse that. His systems weren’t working, the wires were crossed. He was in bed ten minutes ago. Did he just see a man—a kid—actually get shot? Over breakfast? Yesterday morning Mara was carrying pool towels. Now she was carrying a pool boy with a hole in his chest. Earth would freeze in a week. Humans wouldn’t make it that long. Excerpted from Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend, copyright © 2024 by MJ Wassmer. The post Read an Excerpt From MJ Wassmer’s <i>Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend</i> appeared first on Reactor.

House Judiciary Reveals Scope of Conspiracy to Silence Conservatives--It's HUGE

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June has been labeled by the radical left as “Pride Month,” but Big Tech seemed most prideful for its censorship of free speech. Google, Meta, X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, TikTok and Amazon all targeted free speech this past month and silenced users posting on a range of topics. Paying apparent homage to the radical left’s perverse labeling of June as “Pride Month,” multiple platforms cracked down on groups critical of the LGBTQ agenda. Big Tech also continued to engage in election interference, both in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, anti-free speech tech companies are still determined to suppress COVID-19 information online. And not to be outdone, Google labeled content critical of Islamic extremism as “hate speech.”  Below are the nine worst examples of Big Tech censorship in June recorded in MRC Free Speech America’s exclusive CensorTrack database. 1) X censored Trump War Room account during the CNN 2024 presidential debate. X users reported that @TrumpWarRoom, the account affiliated with the GOP nominee, was censored during the first 2024 presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. “Caution: This account is temporarily restricted. You're seeing this warning because there has been some unusual activity from this account,” read a screenshot of the X warning message. Amanda Head, host of the Furthermore Podcast, also posted on X, “18-19mins into this first presidential #debate former President Donald Trump’s very active 'war room' account is ‘temporarily restricted’ while Biden’s HQ account is up and running without issue.” The warning was quickly removed but X provided no explanation of the election-interfering censorship. 2) Google suppressed former president Donald Trump’s presidential campaign website prior to the June 2024 debate in Atlanta. An MRC study found that two days before the CNN presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Google buried Trump’s campaign website in its search results. When MRC Free Speech America searched for each of the seven presidential candidates' names and the words “presidential race 2024,” Google buried Trump’s website and placed Biden as the top search result.  In contrast, the search engine placed each of the other candidates in the top three results except for Trump and Constitution Party candidate Randall Terry, who like Trump is pro-life. When researchers conducted queries for “republican party presidential campaign websites” and “democratic party presidential campaign websites,” Google also put Trump’s campaign website at 39th result while Biden’s appeared at the top.  3) Google censored anti-globalist UK political party the month before major 2024 election. On June 22, Reform UK Party leader and political candidate Nigel Farage tweeted, “ELECTION INTERFERENCE ALERT Big Tech giant @Google has BLOCKED our Ad Accounts. They are trying to stop the Reform message.” Google restored the account later that day, according to Farage, who did not note if Google had provided an explanation. MRC Vice President for Free Speech Dan Schneider commented on the incident, saying, “Google's reach is truly global, including how it meddles in elections.” 4) Instagram engaged in Pride Month censorship against biological facts. Meta’s Instagram suspended U.K. charity Sex Matters on June 3 allegedly for violating “community guidelines, according to Reddux.” The charity – which argues for biologically-based policies about sex and “gender” – attempted to appeal the censorship but Instagram immediately rejected their request, reportedly telling Sex Matters that the account was “permanently disabled.”  5) Reddit banned the anti-child-transitioning LGBTQ group Gays Against Groomers (GAG). Gays Against Groomers announced the news in a June 25 X post. “BREAKING: The Gays Against Groomers subreddit, which we moderated, has just been banned by @Reddit,” the group wrote. “More big tech homophobia on display! There was no ‘hate’ whatsoever. Wanting to protect children from being sexualized and butchered is not hate speech.” The group included a screenshot from Reddit that read, “r/GaysAgainstGroomers has been banned from Reddit[.] This community was banned for violating Reddit’s rule against promoting hate.” GAG noted that has been banned on 15 platforms and that Reddit allows subreddits glorifying incest and rape. 6) TikTok went after a women’s clothing brand for catering to women. The communist Chinese government-tied TikTok bannedwomen’s clothing brand XX-XY Athletics’ advertising account after the clothing company released an ad arguing that women shouldn’t have to compete against biological males. The clothing brand also urged female athletes to take a stand in the ad. “If you know that it isn't fair or safe to allow males to compete in girls' sports because it's, well, obvious,” the narrator said, “Stand up … You're not a bigot.” TikTok declared the ad “offensive" and notified XX-XY that the brand would be “permanently suspended”  from advertising on the platform. “Our review indicates that your advertising content may violate TikTok's advertising policies by featuring offensive content,” TikTok's notice read. XX-XY's CEO Jennifer Sey, in an exclusive interview with MRC Free Speech America, stated, “TikTok is denying my brand the ability to reach the close to 50% of people under the age of 30 who spend time on TikTok. They have thrown up a significant barrier to reaching the population of women under 30, a primary target for us. But, I’m not giving up.” 7) Google banned PragerU from the App Store for a documentary on Islamic extremism. Google reportedly accusedPragerU of “hate speech” on June 7 for its recent documentary warning about radical Islam. “After a recent review, we found that your app PragerU [redacted] is not compliant with one or more of our Developer Program Policies,” screenshots of Google’s message asserted. “Your app contains content related to the following violations: Content or speech asserting that a protected group is inhuman, inferior or worthy of being hated,” the notice added, according to a screenshot. The documentary, titled “Dear Infidels,” provided an opportunity for victims of radical Islam to share their stories.  8) Amazon enforced the left’s preferred narrative on COVID-19. Dr. Steven Greer announced in a blog that Amazon had removed his book “Tony's Virus,” from Amazon Marketplace three whole years after the book was first published. The book critiqued former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci and his Covid policies. Greer quoted Amazon’s email in his blog: “During a review, we found your book(s) contain content (text and/or images) that’s widely available on the web, which is considered 'disappointing content' for our customers. We do not allow content that disappoints our customers or creates a poor shopping experience. As a result, we have removed the books from sale on Amazon.” Greer disputed Amazon’s description. 9) Google-owned YouTube also enforced the left’s preferred narrative on COVID-19. YouTube suspended and issued a strike against Matt Christiansen for posting a video link discussing a new study. The study argued that the rise of excess deaths in recent years could be caused by COVID-19 vaccines. Matt's original video remains on the platform but YouTube added a COVID-19 vaccine disclaimer label. The platform cited its policy on “medical misinformation.” Christiansen said he was merely referencing peer-reviewed scientific studies. “YouTube's gonna call me anti-science when we've got peer-reviewed scientific journal publication that they say is unspeakable on their platform,” he said on his podcast.  Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency and an equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

In addition to circling the wagons for President Biden earlier in the week, ABC’s The View spent part of Wednesday’s episode defending Vice President Kamala Harris from former President Trump’s jokes about her inappropriate laughing fits. According to co-host Joy Behar, such criticism was indicative of a man uncomfortable with Harris’s comedic mastery and that he was bad in bed. After playing a soundbite of Trump ripping “Laughin’ Kamala,” Behar exclaimed: “Ugh. He's so stupid!” She proceeded to rant how making funning fun of Harris’s (and Hillary Clinton’s) “cackling” was “sexist.” Behar’s rambling quickly expanded to all men who criticized Harris’s inappropriate laughing fits. According to her, they had a “fear” of “funny women”: What really ticks me off about him though is this “Laughing Kamala” remark. It's such a sexist remark because a guy I was with over the weekend, a friend of mine. They said, “Kamala's laugh annoys me.” Remember they said that about Hillary's laugh, that she was cackling. And men, you know, they don't like a funny woman. They're afraid if you laugh or you make a joke, that maybe you'll do that when they're in bed with you. It's like this fear. This fear of women's laughing and comedy. “Interesting. That's very good psychotherapy,” staunchly racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin (the descendant of slave owners) commended. “You're on fire today,” faux-conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin declared. Ironically, if they were right, Trump seemingly didn’t fear The View. Over two years ago, Behar led the cast in pitching a series of jokes about Republicans for Biden to use at the White House Correspondents Dinner that year, but even with an audience filled with their liberal fans, all the jokes bombed.     Further on Wednesday, according to Hostin, Trump’s quips about “Laughin’ Kamala” were a sign that he was afraid of the her and the Democratic ticket: HOSTIN: Let's face it, the reason he brings up Kamala, the vice president, is because he's afraid of her. Because he knows what a strong candidate she is. BEHAR: Yes, you smell fear when he comes up with a name for somebody. HOSTIN: He understands how her popularity rating is going up, he understands how her approval rating is going up, and he understands as part of the Biden/Harris team that is going to be very difficult for him. In reality, Harris had dropped out of the 2020 Democratic Party primary long before the Iowa caucuses, which didn’t corroborate Hostin’s claim that she was as “strong candidate.” “But I think that we have sort of distorted what this election is really about,” Hostin bloviated. “And Whoopi has mentioned it many times. This is about saving democracy; Joe ran on trying to restore the soul of this country. This is really about making sure that we have a democracy to live in.” In the following segment, moderator Whoopi Goldberg obliged Hostin’s praise by proclaiming, “There's a lot at risk” this election cycle. “You know? And young people, old people, doesn't matter. Your American citizenship is at risk. Your rights as a citizen are at risk!” she shouted without evidence. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View July 10, 2024 11:03:28 a.m. Eastern (…) DONALD TRUMP: Laughin' Kamala. [Cuts back to live] JOY BEHAR: Ugh. He's so stupid! WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So the question is: is Biden's performances like this going to help silence doubters? I mean, nothing -- when people doubt, they just -- they doubt. But and my question is: why is you-know-who still get a pass for these kind of insane rants? What is – BEHAR: Cause his side doesn't care, that's why. Our side cares. There's a conversation going on right now with Biden about Biden and his cognitive abilities, and their side doesn't care if he has no cognitive abilities, apparently. Because all they want to do is retain power and keep him in office. What really ticks me off about him though is this “Laughing Kamala” remark. It's such a sexist remark because a guy I was with over the weekend, a friend of mine. They said, “Kamala's laugh annoys me.” Remember they said that about Hillary's laugh, that she was cackling. And men, you know, they don't like a funny woman. They're afraid if you laugh or you make a joke, that maybe you'll do that when they're in bed with you. It's like this fear. This fear of women's laughing and comedy. SUNNY HOSTIN: Interesting. BEHAR: Yes. HOSTIN: That's very good psychotherapy. BEHAR: And what was that reference to the Washington Monument. Looks very much like a penis to me. ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: You're on fire today. BEHAR: Just saying. HOSTIN: I think it's interesting. Let's face it, the reason he brings up Kamala, the vice president, is because he's afraid of her. Because he knows what a strong candidate she is. BEHAR: Yes, you smell fear when he comes up with a name for somebody. HOSTIN: He understands how her popularity rating is going up, he understands how her approval rating is going up, and he understands as part of the Biden/Harris team that is going to be very difficult for him. But I think that we have sort of distorted what this election is really about. And Whoopi has mentioned it many times. This is about saving democracy; Joe ran on trying to restore the soul of this country. This is really about making sure that we have a democracy to live in. (…) 11:17:15 a.m. Eastern GOLDBERG: I'm going to jump in here because there's a lot at risk. There's a lot at risk. You know? And young people, old people, doesn't matter. Your American citizenship is at risk. Your rights as a citizen are at risk! [Applause] All those women who can get pregnant who might get pregnant who want something, your rights are at risk. All those men who maybe feel like this is my lover, this is my husband, this is my man, your rights are at risk. Doesn't matter your age, your color. This is risk time! So if you sit back and say, “Well, you know, they just don't get it.” It's going to be your behind. It’s going to be your behind. (…)

MSNBC’s Joy Reid may be a flaming progressive who says outrageous things on a nightly basis, but she is also simply not that smart. On Tuesday’s edition of The ReidOut, she attacked the New York Times for demanding that Democrats urge President Joe Biden to step aside because the Times never called on former President Donald Trump to resign. The problem for Reid: The Times wants Biden to go because it believes Biden staying in the race makes beating Trump more difficult. Reid reported, “In the meantime, the president is trying to turn the page, telling donors, quote ‘We’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye’ unquote. Which is easier said than done, when stories about Biden’s age and calls for him to step down are all over the news, especially in the New York Times, whose editorial board today, again, called on Biden to step aside and urged the Democratic leadership to publicly demand that he leave the race.”     A not very joyful Reid continued, “Important to note here, that the New York Times, has never called on Trump to step aside or for his resignation, not when his administration was tearing migrant babies from their mothers’ arms, or when he suggested people inject bleach into their bodies to combat a raging pandemic, or when he incited a violent insurrection at the nation’s capital with the goal of overturning an election, so he could just stay in office forever.” In the original op-ed, the editorial board made it clear that if Biden won’t listen to them, they will still endorse him anyway because they hate Trump that much. The second sentence of the latest op-ed from the board reads, “Donald Trump’s candidacy for a second term poses a grave threat to American democracy.” The next claims, “Mr. Biden, instead of campaigning vigorously to disprove doubts and demonstrate that he can beat Mr. Trump, has maintained a scripted and controlled schedule of public appearances. “ None of the Democrats or members of the liberal commentariat calling for Biden to step aside because they are worried about his ability to run the country. They're worried he’ll lose. Yet, Joy Reid has such a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that she thinks that the Times worrying about Biden’s ability to beat Trump means it is hypocritical in favor of Trump. Here is a transcript for the July 9 show: MSNBC The ReidOut 7/9/2024 7:33 PM ET JOY REID: In the meantime, the president is trying to turn the page, telling donors, quote “We’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye” unquote. Which is easier said than done, when stories about Biden’s age and calls for him to step down are all over the news, especially in the New York Times, whose editorial board today, again, called on Biden to step aside and urged the Democratic leadership to publicly demand that he leave the race. Important to note here, that the New York Times, has never called on Trump to step aside or for his resignation, not when his administration was tearing migrant babies from their mothers’ arms or when he suggested people inject bleach into their bodies to combat a raging pandemic or when he incited a violent insurrection at the nation’s capital with the goal of overturning an election, so he could just stay in office forever.  

President Joe Biden has fended off calls to step down from the presidential race by pointing to support from congressional Democrats, but as this week has worn on, more and more members who say they still support him at the top of the ticket sound far from enthusiastic.Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on Tuesday, "I am fully behind him as our nominee until he's not our nominee. ...There are serious concerns that have been raised."'Weakening a weakened nominee seems like a losing strategy for a presidential election.'Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) simply said, "We're ridin' with Biden. We're ridin' with Biden," when he was swarmed by reporters and peppered with questions when leaving a meeting with Democratic lawmakers.When pressed by MSNBC on Wednesday on whether she wants Biden to remain in the race, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, "I want him to do whatever he decides to do, and that's the way it is. Whatever he decides, we go with."Pelosi got defensive with her answer when she returned to Capitol Hill after an ABC News reporter continued to ask her in the hallway if she supports Biden staying in the race."Am I speaking English to you? I’m not going to be making any statements about any of that right now in the hallway," she told the reporter.Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) issued a statement on Monday that criticized Democrats who had publicly said they do not want Biden to be the party's nominee, claiming, "Weakening a weakened nominee seems like a losing strategy for a presidential election."But by Wednesday, Torres slightly changed his tune with another statement that called for a "serious reckoning with the down-ballot effect of whomever we nominate. What matters is not how we feel but what the numbers tell us."Biden has remained defiant in the face of the lukewarm support and open revolt within the party and party donors. Biden has said he will stay in the race because he believes he is the best chance to defeat former President Donald Trump, going so far as to dare anyone else to challenge him during the Democratic convention in August.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called on President Joe Biden's Cabinet to consider invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Biden from office.Passed after John F. Kennedy's assassination, the 25th Amendment outlines the important process of presidential succession and what happens when the president is incapacitated and left unable to carry out his duties.'There's a time to every purpose under Heaven — desperate times call for desperate measures.'Section 4 reads:Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.On Tuesday, Johnson said he believes most Americans would agree that Biden's Cabinet should strongly consider invoking the 25th Amendment against their boss."In good conscience, if I were in the Biden Cabinet, I would be wrestling with that question because I would know what we all know now, that Joe Biden is not up to the task, and it's a dangerous situation," Johnson said."There's a time to every purpose under Heaven — desperate times call for desperate measures. I think the 25th Amendment is appropriate here," he continued. "We all know that the House doesn't have the authority to do that; it's the vice president of the United States that has to initiate that process," he explained. "We don't have any involvement unless there's a disagreement between the president and what the vice president and the Cabinet decide."His perspective aside, Johnson added that he is "under no illusion" that Vice President Kamala Harris or the Cabinet will actually invoke the 25th Amendment.The fact that few people are discussing the 25th Amendment in this situation is interesting.Not only was the 25th Amendment repeatedly weaponized when Donald Trump was president, but the fact that a significant number of Americans — including Democrats — think Biden should not run for re-election raises an important question: If Biden can't be president for four more years, how is he qualified for the job right now?No matter the case, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen confirmed on Tuesday that Biden's Cabinet is not considering using the 25th Amendment.Still, House Republicans could pass a resolution calling on Harris to act, much as Democrats did to then-Vice President Mike Pence after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. It's not clear, however, whether Johnson plans to take the symbolic action.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

UFC contender and former champion Sean Strickland has accused popular fighter Khamzat Chimaev of scamming his fans using a cryptocurrency coin.Chimaev, a popular fighter known for dominating performances, was entrenched in accusations of a cryptocurrency scam using a coin called Smash.The allegations, according to BJPenn.com, were that Chimaev performed a pump-and-dump scheme and came away with more than $1 million.In similar cases, content creators or celebrities use their reach to promote a particular cryptocurrency that they own a large percentage of, and when fans and followers purchase shares of the coin, the person — usually the celebrity or his team — sells a large amount of the currency at a much higher value than when he purchased it.'I've been offered a ton of money to do this same exact thing.'Reputable outlet CoinMarketCap reported that a well-known investigator in the space revealed that developers had purchased over 70% of the coin's supply."Using timing analysis confirms 71% insider and dev team wallets are directly linked as they were funded by same address on Ethereum."Market trading statistics showed that the value of the coin increased about sixfold on June 8, 2024.Chimaev's manager reportedly denied any connection to the coin after accusations started pouring in."I was approached by a group claiming to be fans of my client Khamzat Chimaev. They wanted to record a short video promoting their launch. So I agreed to that, nothing more, nothing less. Maybe I was misled. Khamzat wasn't involved and know[s] just as little as you do. So the news is really unpleasant and I’m seeking an explanation from those responsible. My apologies to Khamzat and all others of you affected by this, if I could have done anything differently. Thank you for your understanding, I'll keep you updated."Chimaev indeed recorded a short video promoting the coin in question.Following the manager's statements, a man claiming to be involved in the crypto team for the Smash coin clarified that he never spoke directly to Chimaev but admitted to the team owning 80% of the coin's supply.The video was posted on Chimaev's X page.“Regarding the supply, yes, we sniped 80%of the supply, and we still own almost 80% of the supply. We did not sell, we were not the cause of the major downfall that happened in the token," he claimed. "Everything is public, you can track all wallets. There is no scam that has been happening. It's simply people that bought early that sold very late and took profits, and not us. Neither is it Khamzat's team nor us who caused that."About 12 hours after the video was posted, UFC contender Strickland began accusing his fellow fighter of scamming fans."I've been offered a ton of money to do this same exact thing...... Crazy man you're rich and still try to scam your fans," he wrote."That was 100 percent to scam his fans," Strickland continued. "How do I know this?!? I was just approached to do this same thing... [integrity] you either have it or you don't. Yall shouldn't let this vanish in a news cycle. Absolutely wrong." — (@) Chimaev has yet to directly respond to the accusations.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Carjacking victims repeatedly are told to simply surrender their vehicles to the perps — and certainly don't resist or fight back. Those who witness carjackings in progress? The vast majority are going to stay out of harm's way and not intervene.But every now and then, everyday folks go against conventional wisdom — and they fight back and fight for others.'We are proud of these two citizens for their heroic action, for helping our officers make the arrest, and for keeping our community safe.'Just last month, video showed an Amazon delivery driver beating up an alleged wannabe carjacker who punched his female coworker in the face, the New York Post reported. The paper said the suspect suddenly attacked the 23-year-old female Amazon driver when she was stuck in traffic near one of the company’s warehouses in Jamaica, Queens. The suspect — identified as 29-year-old Kevon Wilson — allegedly punched the female Amazon driver repeatedly, dragged her from the van, and then jumped into the driver’s seat, the Post noted, citing police sources.But the victim grabbed the keys out of the ignition as her male coworker entered the fray and was seen on video repeatedly punching the suspect in the middle of the road, the paper said. When the mini-brawl ended, the suspect actually got back into the driver's seat of the Amazon delivery van, the paper added.Wilson later was arrested for robbery and assault, the Post said, adding that sources indicate he's been cuffed numerous times, including for a May 2020 assault, and he also has an open bench warrant for a traffic violation. Wilson had his bond set at $7,500 following his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court, the paper said, adding that he's scheduled back in court next Tuesday. Amazon told the Post the company is investigating the incident.The following are 10 other times when everyday people stood up to violent carjackers and thwarted their plans.Pair of citizens help capture career criminal; wild police bodycam video shows one of them thwart crook's carjacking attemptPolice in Ocala, Florida, said on the morning of Oct. 24, 2023, 39-year-old Michael Prouty forced his way into a woman's home in the Villages and stole her purse, cell phone, and car from the garage. Prouty later was driving the stolen car in Ocala, fled from police who spotted him, crashed into several vehicles — which left multiple people injured — and ran off. Police said "heroic citizen" Tom Episcopo grabbed Prouty, who got away but was slowed down. Police said Prouty then tried to carjack a woman while she was in a Starbucks drive-thru, but another "heroic citizen," Shane Spicer, intervened and tried to pull Prouty out of the vehicle. Bodycam video shows Spicer running after and grabbing and holding Prouty, after which officers took over and arrested him.Prouty was facing multiple charges, including fleeing and eluding and attempted carjacking, police said, adding that Prouty also was involved in an early-morning robbery of an Ocala 7-Eleven hours before the home invasion. Police added that Prouty was sent to prison in 2017 after being charged with burglary and robbery and was released in July 2022, after which he committed more felony crimes in Miami-Dade County. Police said Prouty returned to prison and was again released in February 2023. Police said he was turned over to Miami-Dade jail and bonded out in March 2023.Police formally recognized Episcopo and Spicer on Feb. 13 for their actions. “We are proud of these two citizens for their heroic action, for helping our officers make the arrest, and for keeping our community safe," Ocala Police Chief Mike Balken said at the time of the incident.Philly public bus driver hailed as 'Batman' for barreling toward carjackers who were trying to take woman's vehicle while he was on his route, scaring them awayChris DeShields, a bus driver for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, was driving north on Frankford Avenue in the city's Fishtown neighborhood not long before midnight on Jan. 25, 2023, when he said he saw a trio of 20-something males surrounding a young woman they’d forced out of a car, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, adding that one of them snatched her keys.DeShields was carrying five passengers at the time, the paper said, citing Chris Valentin, chief bus operations officer for the agency. But DeShields wasn't about to let the crooks get away with it. The Inquirer said DeShields veered the bus toward the trio, leaned on the horn, flashed the blinkers, and shouted out the windows.“They had masks on, but you could see their eyes popping wide open,” DeShields, who's been driving buses for 17 years, told the paper. “Like, ‘What do we do now?’” With a 30,000-pound bus heading toward them, the Inquirer reported that the trio ran off.DeShields told the paper he exited the bus to ask people in a bar to watch the woman until she was able to get help — and then he got back inside and continued his route “to get my passengers home.”DeShields — who at the time was 38 and worked a 4:30 p.m. to 2:05 a.m. shift — added to the Inquirer that he "caught hell in the depot the next day. My coworkers were laughing and teasing me, saying, ‘We heard you were Batman.’”“If you were raised a certain way, and you’ve got a bit of heart, you’re going to get involved with certain things," DeShields also told the paper. "I’ve got a soon-to-be wife and my sister — I would love somebody to help them if they get in a jam.”Chick-fil-A worker rushes from restaurant to rescue woman, baby from armed carjacker — and tackles, subdues suspectA woman was getting a baby out of her vehicle near a Chick-fil-A in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, on Sept. 14, 2022, when a male armed with a stick confronted her and allegedly demanded her keys. The victim cried out as the male wrenched her keys from her waistband and climbed inside her vehicle — and that's when Mykel Gordon took action, Okaloosa County Sheriff's deputies said.Gordon, a Chick-fil-A employee, heard the victim's cries for help, tackled the suspect, and subdued the male despite taking a punch to the face. Others soon aided Gordon's efforts. The sheriff's office said 43-year-old William Branch of DeFuniak Springs — who reportedly was involved in another incident before the carjacking attempt — was charged with carjacking with a weapon and battery.Matthew Sexton, operator of the Chick-fil-A, told CNN he was grateful for "amazing team member Mykel Gordon, who so selflessly jumped in to intervene and help our guests" and "couldn't be prouder of his incredible act of care."You can view cellphone video of the incident here.Lyft driver with concealed carry license opens fire on carjacking duo — one of them armed — and sends them both to hospitalA Lyft driver in Philadelphia who's licensed to carry a firearm thwarted an armed carjacking on the afternoon of Jan. 3, 2022, by shooting and wounding two suspects as they tried to steal his vehicle.The 38-year-old rideshare driver was transporting a female passenger when he was rear-ended twice by a Honda Accord on the 4200 block of Parkside Avenue in West Philadelphia, WTXF-TV reported.After being hit a second time, the Lyft driver exited his 2011 Infiniti sedan to confront the two males in the car behind him who, according to police, were in their 20s. That's when one male allegedly exited the trailing car and pointed a gun at the Lyft driver, demanding possession of his vehicle.The Lyft driver got his passenger out of the vehicle before the carjacker sat in the driver's seat — but once the suspect did so, the Lyft driver opened fire, striking the suspect in the chest. Fox New said the getaway driver then tried to run over the Lyft driver — but the Lyft driver shot him, too. Both suspects reportedly drove the vehicles from the scene in opposite directions, but neither made it more than a few blocks. Philadelphia police took the suspects to a hospital shortly afterward. The Lyft driver wasn't hurt. Cops reportedly recovered all the weapons from the scene, and the identities of those involved weren't immediately disclosed.Trio of crooks try carjacking man when witnesses say another person pulls gun, opens fire, and hits 1 suspect; the other 2 flee Three people tried carjacking a man in Dallas in late 2022 when another person pulled a gun, opened fire, and hit one of the suspects, KXAS-TV reported, adding that the other two suspects ran off.Witnesses dining in Odelay near the Dallas North Tollway and Lovers Lane told the station the victim had just left the restaurant around 6:30 p.m. Dec. 30 when the incident unfolded. Witnesses added to KXAS that another person, whom police haven’t identified, shot one of the suspects. That suspect was taken to a local hospital while the other two fled, KXAS reported, adding that no one else was hurt.Many customers couldn’t return to their cars that night, as Odelay’s parking lot became a crime scene and police continued to search for evidence, the station said.Witness Thomas Gleason told KXAS he heard “six, eight, maybe 10" shots, adding that "it was not one or two. It was a number of them. Immediately, everyone just started to scatter like they would in a gunshot situation.” Gleason, who has a permit to carry, added to the station that he pulled his gun but didn't have to fire it.Pair of karate instructors reportedly thwart alleged armed carjacking in broad daylightAmid an apparent carjacking attempt in Oakland last summer, KTVU-TV said a pair of instructors from a karate studio across the street jumped into action.Fox News said the incident unfolded at 2:45 p.m. Aug. 14 on Piedmont Avenue. KTVU obtained surveillance video from a plant nursery showing the victim exiting his car — and two masked, hooded assailants exiting another vehicle and taking the victim's keys. But then two Good Samaritans ran toward the scene and started smashing the windows of the assailants' car with sticks — one of them shattered the windshield. That apparently was a signal that the would-be carjackers were in the wrong place, and they were seen quickly getting back into their vehicle, which sped away. The victim's car was spared.'You come here bullying people on my f***ing street!' Young black man reportedly defends elderly Asian man from violent carjackingIn October 2022, a video was posted on the Instagram account Black and Asian Souls Unite showing a black man using a handgun allegedly to protect an Asian man from a carjacking. The black man with the gun is seen shoving another black man down a sidewalk; the video does not show the alleged carjacking itself."Get the f*** off my street!" the Good Samaritan with the gun shouts at the other unidentified man. "You come around here bullying people on my f***ing street, [N-word]?""F***ing picking on an old-ass Asian man," the man concludes as the alleged would-be carjacker continues to walk away.In the beginning of the video, the Good Samaritan fires a warning shot, likely to show the other man how serious he is. The Good Samaritan also can be seen tossing back what appear to be keys to the alleged victim, who responds, "Thank you."Viewers said the video shows the "true allyship" of the black and Asian communities in the greater Los Angeles area. Carl Samson of NextShark — an outlet that describes itself as "a leading source covering Asian and Asian American news" — reported that the video was given to an LAPD volunteer, but it's unclear whether law enforcement investigated.Passerby armed with hammer intervenes in attempted carjacking; cops arrest suspectA passerby armed with a hammer intervened in an attempted carjacking earlier this year in Naugatuck, Connecticut, Patch reported, citing police.Cops said in a news release that Guy Guery, 23, tried to steal a vehicle while a person was inside it by Fulling Mills Deli on Prospect Street around 5:30 p.m. Feb. 25, the outlet reported, adding that investigating officers determined that a passerby armed with a hammer intervened.Guery fled on foot through a nearby wooded area, after which cops found and arrested him, police told Patch. Guery was charged with attempted carjacking by robbery, second-degree reckless endangerment, and interfering with officer/resisting arrest, the outlet reported, adding that Guery was held on a $500,000 bond and arraigned in court the next morning. Guery also had several outstanding warrants for failure to appear in court for which he was charged, Patch said, citing police.Citizen helps off-duty Border Patrol agent pull would-be carjacker from vehicle belonging to local church pastorA citizen helped an off-duty Border Patrol agent prevent a 24-year-old male from carjacking a local church pastor in Westmorland — a California city near the Mexican border.Suspect Antonio Mendoza sustained undisclosed minor injuries when the pair pulled him from the vehicle and a scuffle ensued around 12:50 p.m. July 25, 2021, the Calexico Chronicle reported, citing Westmorland Police Chief Perry Monita. The suspect allegedly was in possession of a knife at the time of his arrest but reportedly did not brandish it during the incident, Monita added to the Chronicle.Mendoza was treated and released at a local hospital before being booked into Imperial County jail, Monita told the paper, adding that Mendoza was charged with carjacking, making criminal threats, and making criminal threats to an officer.The chief told the Chronicle that Mendoza allegedly assaulted the church pastor, but the victim wasn't injured — nor were the citizen or the Border Patrol agent who intervened. The paper said the victim is a pastor at Westmorland Apostolic.Woman turns the tables on carjackers in lethal fashion, fatally shooting one of them with his own gunA woman told detectives she picked up a friend on their way to a Friendsgiving on Nov. 19, 2022, and they parked in North Las Vegas to wait because they were too early, KVVU-TV reported. She noticed a vehicle approaching them fast; then the driver parked directly in front of her car, blocking it, the station said, citing arrest report documents.The woman told detectives two black males exited the vehicle with guns pointed at her and her friend, the station said, adding that one of the males opened the driver’s-side door, grabbed her by the shirt, and yanked her out of the car. One of the males got into the driver’s seat but couldn't drive away, presumably because he didn't know a button needed to be pushed, the station said, adding that the male then placed the gun in his lap. The woman, who told her friend to run away, grabbed the gun and ran, the station said.The male tackled her from behind, and she shot him, the station said, adding that a second suspect started shooting at her, after which the woman ran to a house and hid in a side yard. Officers found a dead adult male in the street bleeding from his head, the station said. Police determined the woman acted in self-defense.KTLA-TV reported that police arrested 18-year-old Jaylin Morrison on Dec. 2, saying he was one of the would-be carjackers. The station, citing records, said he faced charges of second-degree kidnapping, attempted robbery, burglary, and conspiracy to commit robbery, all with a deadly weapon. Days later police arrested two additional suspects — Jaylyn Mays and Derico Jackson, both 19, KLAS-TV reported. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!