Searchable News & Info From Reliable Online Sources.
- LA Mayoral Candidate Ditches ‘Defund the Police’ Stance on CNN After Rival S...
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman (D) told CNN on Saturday she no longer believed it was necessary to “defund the police,” despite her calls to do so in the past. The democratic socialist candidate — who is battling incumbent Karen Bass (D) and former reality star Spencer Pratt (D) to become LA’s next mayor — was asked by anchor Jessica Dean to explain her “position change,” after Dean noted Raman had called for defunding the police in 2020. “Well, I think we need to be able to respond to calls for help. Public safety is incredibly important, and our police force has shrunk significantly,” Raman explained. “And I think we absolutely need to be able to ensure that when someone calls for help in this city, that the city is able to respond in a timely fashion and that they’re able to offer the help that we need.” “So you no longer believe in defunding police?” Dean asked her a moment later. “No,” Raman said. “And what caused you to change your mind?” Dean followed up. “I think we need to be able to ensure that the city can respond to calls for service, and we have to make sure that we are able to respond to calls for help around public safety issues,” Raman said. “And I think in order to do that at this moment with our response system, we need to be able to maintain the size of our police force.” Raman’s answer comes after she started shifting away from her “defund the police” stance earlier this year, announcing two days after she started her campaign in February that she wanted to maintain current LAPD employment levels. Pratt bashed Raman for it soon after, saying LA was sick of politicians who “bend over for whatever is convenient at that moment.” “Nithya Raman is a perfect example,” Pratt said in a video posted to X. “When defunding the police was trendy with her base, she leaned in. When activists demanded it, she rolled with the mob. Now that families are less safe and too afraid to walk around their own neighborhoods, suddenly she’s against it. How is anyone supposed to trust her? So Nithya Raman wants to both defund the police AND add more police? Will the real shady slim please stand up? pic.twitter.com/yG1uHZ7DaP — Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) February 13, 2026 … [TheTopNews] Read More.6 hours ago - ‘American Version of Apartheid’: MS NOW Analyst Bashes Trump’s ‘Economic...MS NOW political analyst Basil Smikle vented the recent redistricting battles won by the Republican Party — coupled with President Donald Trump’s “economic attack” on Black Americans — has the United States on the verge of looking like Apartheid Era South Africa. Smikle shared his take on The Weekend: Primetime on Saturday. The panel was discussing the Supreme Court’s ruling that race-based gerrymandering violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act, as well as the Virginia Supreme Court ruling on Friday that the state’s new congressional map was an illegal gerrymander; the map would have given Democrats an advantage in 10 out of 11 districts. Co-host Catherine Rampell worried that even if Dems “win big” in the 2026 midterms, “we may be… walking into a world in which basically we are enshrining potential minority rule going forward, where one side can win 55% of the vote and still lose.” Smikle said the issue is even more “stark” than that. He said the recent court decisions show “intentionality” by Republicans “to make sure Obama did not have coattails.” “When we think about what’s next for Democrats on this issue of voting rights and redistricting… I get nervous, because there isn’t a lot of room left, right, to be able to, to, fix this,” he added. Smikle then said the court decisions add to moves that Trump has made that hurt Black Americans. He pointed to Trump reclassifying “certain jobs” where there are a lot of Black women, “making it difficult to get student loans,” and hundreds of thousands of Black women losing their government jobs as obvious signs the president is targeting Black citizens. “There’s also an economic, you know, an economic attack on African Americans here,” he said. “So when you put those two things together, to me, it says you’re trying to centralize — through our entire federal bureaucracy and have it trickled down to the states — the restriction of black civic engagement and economic empowerment,” Smikle continued. “That to me rings very true to, you know, an American version of apartheid that is not easily unshakable in in the near term.” He shared his two cents after fellow guest, Hofstra Law Professor James Sample, is a “disaster for our democracy” — even though it is “probably right” from a legal standpoint. Watch above via MS NOW.The post ‘American Version of Apartheid’: MS NOW Analyst Bashes Trump’s… [TheTopNews] Read More.8 hours ago
- Bill Maher Rips CNN — Which Airs His Show — for Not Focusing Enough on the N... Bill Maher lamented CNN isn’t the same channel he fell in love with back in the day, with the Real Time host arguing the original cable news network is now littered with a bunch of talking head opinion shows, rather than just focusing on reporting the news. Maher shared his criticism of modern-day CNN during the “Overtime” segment of his show on Friday night. “I am a fan of CNN, but I agree. It’s too much opinion,” Maher said.”I would rather just — when CNN was first out there, you could just always count on to turn it on and you would just get the story.” Guest and former DNC Chair Donna Brazile agreed, saying CNN needs to simply “hit the news, hit the facts.” “Get the news, that’s what I want,” Maher added. He did not bash any CNN pundits or shows in particular. His remarks stand out, considering CNN broadcasts the latest episode of Real Time every Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. Both HBO and CNN are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which is currently being sold to Paramount Skydance for $110 billion. Maher got onto the topic a moment after Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) complained the media business has “all become slop.” The senator pointed to Marjorie Taylor Greene — who quit her job in Congress earlier this year following her feud with President Donald Trump — and Tucker Carlson suddenly being celebrated in the press for their anti-Trump views. Rep. Dan Cranshaw (R-TX) later told Maher that media companies “won’t make money” by only sticking to the news. “We all know that,” he said. Maher — the son of an NBC Radio reporter — said that shouldn’t be the prime objective. “News organizations shouldn’t be making money to begin with. They didn’t used to.” CNN just finished third again in the cable news battle in April, when it was trailing MS NOW and getting lapped by Fox News. On the bright side, CNN pulled just under 1 million viewers in prime time, which was a major increase from the approximately 600,000 it averaged the year prior. Watch above via YouTube.The post Bill Maher Rips CNN — Which Airs His Show — for Not Focusing Enough on the News: ‘Too Much Opinion’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.9 hours ago
- Gut Punch: Trump Trashes JB Pritzker With ‘Jumbo Sized’ Pic of Governor Devo...
(Photos via Mark Schiefelbein for AP and Donald Trump on Truth Social) President Donald Trump mocked Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Saturday by posting a cartoonish picture of the Democrat gorging on a “jumbo sized” bucket of fried chicken, nachos, and a massive chili dog. The seemingly AI-generated image was posted on Truth Social. It showed a rotund Pritzker about to chow down on a cheeseburger in his right hand, while a fat slice of pepperoni pizza is waiting in his left hand. In front of Pritzker is a table filled with fattening treats, including a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, a massive ice cream sundae, and what looks like a big challah bread. The cartoon Pritzker is donning a red apron that is splattered with stains on it, making him look like a real slob. “JB is too busy to keep Chicago safe!” the meme is captioned. Get a load of it below: The caption seems to refer to the Trump-Pritzker feud from last year, where the governor was critical of Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Pritzker compared Trump’s ICE raids to Adolf Hitler rounding up Jews and other minorities in Nazi Germany. “This is how authoritarian regimes do it. They create these kind of fake ideas that there’s an enemy out there and it could be sitting next to you at one of these tables. So just somebody sitting at your table that you don’t like might be one of those enemies,” Pritzker said last fall. “So let’s round them up, let’s make sure they are the subjects of the laws that we’re passing, because we don’t like who they are. That is what authoritarian regimes do.” More recently, Pritzker told Politico last week that Trump has set the “tone” for political violence in America and made it seem “okay.” That remark came 10 days after Trump was targeted in another assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Trump’s post on Saturday was not the first time he has made fun of Pritzker for his weight. The president last year blasted him for being a “big, fat slob” who wasn’t doing enough to combat crime.The post Gut Punch: Trump Trashes JB Pritzker With ‘Jumbo Sized’ Pic of Governor Devouring Pizza and Nachos first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.9 hours ago - Ben Shapiro Takes Shot at Tucker Carlson, Vows Daily Wire Won’t ‘Clickwhore ...
(Photo Credits: Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson on YouTube) Ben Shapiro took a few not-so-veiled shots at Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens while addressing the recent layoffs that hit The Daily Wire, the right-wing media outlet he co-founded and continues to make shows for. Shapiro told The Washington Post on Saturday he would rather fail doing it his way than pushing some of the content Carlson and Owens are now known for. “While much of the rest of the ‘conservative movement’ decided it was a good idea to clickwhore by embracing radical Islam, theorizing about the evils of Winston Churchill, extolling the wonders of Russian supermarkets, and mocking the widow of Charlie Kirk … we decided not to do those things,” Shapiro said. “If that’s a strategic business failure, then I guess we can live with that.” He was obviously referring to Carlson on a few points there, including him bashing Churchill and a report where the ex-Fox News star giddily praised a loaf of bread at a Russian market. More recently, Megyn Kelly told Carlson last week he has been getting more Muslim viewers because he goes against the “Israel First Crowd” who demand pundits “hate Muslims.” As for Owens, she has peddled several conspiracy theories about the murder of Charlie Kirk. The WaPo story comes after The Daily Wire layoffs earlier this month; a company spokesperson told WaPo it cut 13% of its staff and had more than 200 remaining employees. The report said the Nashville-based outlet made some bets on kids content that did not pay off, and that Shapiro’s show has seen a 70% drop in views since December 2024. It also noted Shapiro has remained a vocal supporter of Israel, which has set him apart from other talking heads, including Carlson. Despite the recent issues, Shapiro said his company is “not going anywhere.”The post Ben Shapiro Takes Shot at Tucker Carlson, Vows Daily Wire Won’t ‘Clickwhore by Embracing Radical Islam’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.10 hours ago - CNN’s Abby Phillip Rejects Conservative Guest’s ‘Clarification’ of Her P...CNN’s Abby Phillip rejected a “clarification” from a guest over a statement Phillip said she never made on the show. On Saturday’s Table for Five, the panel discussed the ongoing war with Iran and National Review writer Noah Rothman attempted to clear up the notion that U.S. allies have been “frustrated” with President Donald Trump’s handling of the war and operations of the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply moves through. “As a matter of clarification, something that was said earlier, Abby, was that the Gulf partners, including Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Oman were frustrated with the war and wanted it to stop,” Rothman said. “That’s — I didn’t. Nobody said that,” Phillip said, jumping in. As Rothman continued, Phillip stopped him to make her point clear. “Nobody said that,” she said. “Well, let’s say what actually happened then,” Rothman replied. “Just to be clear, don’t dispute something that nobody said at this table,” Phillip said. She continued: All I said was that particular mission to reopen the Strait when Iran attacked its regional partners, it caused them to say, this particular operation is not well thought out, it’s putting us in danger, and Trump stopped it. Rothman explained: The Wall Street Journal reported that… when [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] Dan Caine said that this did not — when they struck the UAE and Oman — that this did not rise to the level of a ceasefire agreement, stopping the ceasefire, the protest from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia was that you’re not going to defend us when we get attacked by Iran, and we’re going to show you why you need to. Subsequently, 24 hours later, they reversed that, unspecified assurances from the United States, and the threat clearing operation emerged once again and was a go once again, it wasn’t that they were saying, stop. They were saying, go. “No, no,” Phillip clarified. “What I’m saying is that is that the threat from Iran is what caused the president to stop his operation. He stopped the operation to clear the Strait.” Watch above via CNN.The post CNN’s Abby Phillip Rejects Conservative Guest’s ‘Clarification’ of Her Point: ‘Don’t Dispute Something Nobody Said at This Table’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.11 hours ago
The Searchable USWebDaily.com and TheTopNews NewsBank Helps You Be Better Informed, Faster! Spread The Word.
