DNC chair under pressure again after flipping on releasing autopsy
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin is facing increased scrutiny from his party, including calls to resign, after he changed his months-long stance and released the party’s long-awaited autopsy on its 2024 election loss. After months of refusing to release the report, which was meant to be an analysis of how and why former Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 presidential election, Martin flipped and released the report Thursday. Martin claimed he initially believed that putting out the report would be a distraction but then said that not releasing the report became “an even bigger distraction.” Critics within his own party argued the report released Thursday was far from comprehensive. DEMOCRATS RELEASE 2024 ELECTION AUTOPSY THAT CHAIR SAYS ‘DOES NOT MEET MY STANDARDS’ “I think it’s pretty unbelievable that Gaza would not be mentioned once in the autopsy report,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told reporters Thursday. “I think it was very clearly a major dynamic and a major thread that was happening in 2024, regardless of how one feels about that issue, the fact that it’s not even addressed, I think, is a major oversight, and I think that for young people it was a huge part of the environment. I can tell you for myself, as a candidate during that cycle, there’s no way that it was an ignorable issue or totally immaterial. So, I think that you know it’s a real disservice to not speak to that or include or assess that,” she said. Ocasio-Cortez was far from the only congressional critic. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., also criticized the document’s failure to mention Gaza. “One of the reasons we lost was our blank check to Israel and Netanyahu while they committed genocide in Gaza,” he said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. “We must speak and confront hard truths if this party is to win in 2028,” he added. UNITY TESTED: DEMOCRATS FACE OFF OVER ISRAEL AND AIPAC DARK MONEY DURING DNC MEETING Others, like Rep. Mark Veasey, D-Texas, went as far as calling for Martin to resign. “There doesn’t seem to be a plan to turn things around and the clock is ticking,” he told Semafor, adding, “November is literally around the corner… I believe it’s time for him to move on.” Democratic strategist Steve Schale called the report release “an unmitigated s—show,” according to NBC, adding “there’s just no confidence in the competence in the DNC.” Martin himself admitted the report’s inadequacy. “I am not proud of this product; it does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards,” he wrote Thursday, claiming he could not “in good faith put the DNC’s stamp of approval on it.” Entire sections of the report, which was written by Democratic strategist Paul Rivera, according to CNN, were left blank, and the document was reportedly riddled with omissions and factual errors. Aside from omitting any mention of the Gaza conflict splitting party voters, the report also failed to mention former President Joe Biden’s age or Kamala Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. Fox News Digital contacted the DNC for additional comment. Fox News’ Dan Scully contributed to this report.
Dem senators deflect questions on Platner’s scandal-plagued campaign: ‘Not following that race closely’
Democratic senators largely avoided answering questions about Graham Platner, the controversial candidate in Maine looking to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and his many off-color comments that have resurfaced in recent months. Most Democrats told Fox News Digital they aren’t focused on the Maine contest. “I’m not following that race closely,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told Fox News Digital earlier this week when approached about Platner. DEMS SILENT ON PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATE’S NAZI-STYLE TATTOO AFTER KNOCKING HEGSETH FOR CHRISTIAN SYMBOL The comments — and in many cases, silence — from Democratic lawmakers have done little to clarify whether lawmakers see Platner’s past remarks on sexual abuse, race and terror as a meaningful threat to his Senate candidacy. It’s a seat Democrats believe presents a ripe opportunity; a chance to knock off a moderate Republican in a Democratic-leaning state. Should Platner take the nomination, Democrats will have to hope his colorful past won’t turn enough voters away to inadvertently hand Collins a sixth term. Collins, who first took the seat in 1997, last won re-election in 2021 in a 51.0% to 42.4% victory over Democratic challenger Sara Gideon, a state legislator. Among other resurfaced comments, Platner in one Reddit post once blamed rape victims for failing to protect themselves. SCHUMER’S ‘NUMBER ONE TARGET’ SAYS VOTERS WILL SEE HER DEMOCRAT SENATE CHALLENGER AS TOO EXTREME “How about people just take some responsibility for themselves and not so f—ed up when they wind up having sex with someone they don’t mean to?” Platner wrote in 2013. “If you don’t want to be in a compromising situation, act like an adult for f—s sake.” To Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., the story behind those comments isn’t clear. Like Durbin, Booker said his focus has been elsewhere. “I have not been focusing on this race,” Booker said. But he promised to give the matter a closer look. “I am going to do my due diligence and look through the full body of evidence around him. He has a case to make to the voters, not to people like me. And he needs to make it because obviously this election is highly consequential,” Booker said. MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE CITES COMBAT TRAUMA WHEN CONFRONTED ON ‘TERRIBLE’ POSTS ABOUT SEXUAL ASSAULT Still, other senators said the Maine race is the prerogative of voters in the Pine Tree State. “It’s up to Maine,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said. “It’s up to Maine’s people.”
Trump champions bid to nix clock changes by adopting permanent daylight saving time
President Donald Trump is championing the prospect of putting the kibosh on twice-annual clock changes by making daylight saving time permanent. A bill to make daylight saving time permanent has been folded into a larger measure that the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced in a 48-1 vote on Thursday. “Big Vote today (48-1!) in the Energy and Commerce Committee on a Bill including The Sunshine Protection Act, which will be making Daylight Saving Time Permanent! This is so important in that Hundreds of Millions of Dollars are spent every year by people, Cities, and States, being forced to change their Clocks. Many of these Clocks are located in Towers, and the cost of renting, or using, Heavy Equipment to do this twice a year is prohibitive!” Trump wrote in a Thursday Truth Social post. TRUMP SAYS CONGRESS SHOULD PUSH ‘FOR MORE DAYLIGHT AT THE END OF A DAY’ “It’s time that people can stop worrying about the ‘Clock,’ not to mention all of the work and money that is spent on this ridiculous, twice yearly production. It will also be a very nice WIN for the Republican Party. Take it! We are going with the far more popular alternative, Saving Daylight, which gives you a longer, brighter Day — And who can be against that — This is an easy one!” the president declared. Rep. Vern Buchanan’s, R-Fla., office noted in a Thursday press release that “The Sunshine Protection Act was included as a provision within an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute (AINS) to the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act, which was marked up and sent to the House floor by the House Energy and Commerce Committee today.” FLORIDA GOP REP VERN BUCHANAN TO RETIRE, ADDING TO WAVE OF HOUSE EXITS The push is actually bipartisan. “The legislation has 32 bipartisan cosponsors in the House, and Senate companion legislation (S. 29) introduced by Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) has 18 bipartisan cosponsors,” Buchanan’s release noted. The proposal would not compel a state that is not observing daylight saving time to start observing it. In a Truth Social post last year, Trump called for Congress to address the issue. DAYLIGHT SAVINGS: IT’S ABOUT THE SUNLIGHT “The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!” he declared in an April 2025 post.
Mamdani’s Wall Street courtship sparks criticism of anti-billionaire agenda
Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is courting powerful Wall Street leaders after months of attacking wealthy New Yorkers and pushing for higher taxes on corporations. Given New York City’s outsized role in U.S. banking, investing and corporate headquarters, business leaders warn financial instability in the Big Apple could reverberate nationwide. Mamdani’s meetings this week with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon underscored growing concerns that the mayor’s push to tax wealthy individuals and businesses could clash with the financial sector that underpins the city’s economy. And critics tell Fox News Digital that they view the sit-downs as part of a growing contradiction at the center of his economic agenda in the world’s largest business and finance hub. BLUE-STATE TAX BURDEN FUELS AMERICANS FLEEING TO REPUBLICAN-LED SOUTHERN STATES “The Mamdani administration has come to recognize that so much of their agenda depends on having successful businesses and wealth creators in the city,” Manhattan Institute economic policy expert Adam Lehodey told Fox News Digital. “Simply alienating them isn’t going to solve any of New York’s problems,” he added. Lehodey argued the city cannot fund progressive priorities like free childcare and subsidized housing without strong tax revenue and a healthy private sector. He warns that a “tax-the-rich strategy” could worsen the city’s economic challenges because it might discourage investment in New York. “It’s a good thing that he’s meeting with them, but now he needs to follow up and deliver something substantive,” Lehodey said. “The current tax-the-rich strategy is only going to worsen the problems unless he follows up and says, ‘Let’s look at what we can do to make it easier to invest in New York State and New York City.’” Mamdani’s outreach has also extended beyond major banking executives. The socialist mayor recently reached out to Citadel founder Ken Griffin after previously criticizing the billionaire hedge fund manager over his Manhattan penthouse and personal wealth. Mamdani stood outside Griffin’s multimillion-dollar property in the city to tout his proposal for higher taxes on second homes in NYC worth more than $5 million. CHICAGO KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN KEN GRIFFIN TURNS ON A CITY, NOW MAMDANI MAY FIND OUT Citadel told FOX Business that Griffin “welcomes thoughtful, serious conversations about the policies that can grow the city’s economy and create more opportunity for all New Yorkers,” while cautioning that “reckless political theater serves no purpose.” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos supported Griffin when on Wednesday he criticized Mamdani’s rhetoric toward wealthy business leaders. The world’s fourth-richest person accused politicians of using an “age-old technique” of “picking a villain and pointing fingers.” FROM FREE BUSES TO CITY-OWNED GROCERY STORES, HERE ARE MAMDANI’S KEY ECONOMIC PROMISES “It isn’t right… to stand in front of Ken Griffin’s house and act like he is some kind of villain,” Bezos told CNBC. “Ken Griffin isn’t a villain, he hasn’t hurt anybody, he’s not hurting New York, in fact quite the opposite.” While Bezos said debates over raising taxes on top earners are legitimate, he criticized what he described as the “vilification” of wealthy Americans and argued that overspending — not insufficient tax revenue — is the root of the nation’s fiscal problems. The tensions underscore the difficult balancing act facing the mayor of the nation’s financial capital: Wall Street and high-income taxpayers generate a major share of New York City’s tax revenue, even as progressive activists push for a more aggressive redistribution of wealth. Nicole Huyer, a senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, characterized the meetings with Dimon and Solomon as an effort to repair strained ties with New York’s business community after Mamdani’s “tax the rich” campaign rhetoric. She cautioned that policies perceived as hostile to corporations and wealthy taxpayers could accelerate corporate and capital flight from New York, pointing to Griffin’s relocation to Florida as one example. “Jamie Dimon and David Solomon lead two of the nation’s most influential financial institutions and have enormous influence over the financial sector and labor market,” Huyer told Fox News Digital. “If policies drive major firms or wealthy taxpayers out of New York City, the impact on tax revenue, jobs and broader economic activity could be significant.” Huyer added that “pitching class warfare and then pivoting to court Wall Street executives risks appearing politically performative.”
Army cuts helicopters, pushes ‘Amazon for war’ as drone combat reshapes military
Army leaders signaled Wednesday that drone-heavy warfare and recent conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are reshaping the service’s aviation and missile defense strategy, driving new scrutiny of helicopter programs and costly Patriot interceptor systems. The comments come as the Army’s fiscal year 2027 budget request sharply cuts the funding request for helicopter procurement, including reducing Apache funding from roughly $361.7 million to about $1.5 million, Black Hawk funding from about $913 million to roughly $39.3 million and Chinook procurement from roughly $629 million to about $210 million, while increasing investment in drones, autonomy and low-cost battlefield technologies. The transformation push is already extending beyond procurement. The Army previously announced plans to cut roughly 6,500 active-duty aviation positions over fiscal years 2026 and 2027 — including pilots, flight crews and maintainers — as leaders shift resources toward unmanned systems and drone warfare. It remains unclear whether the procurement reductions ultimately will shrink aviation fleet sizes, extend the service life of aging aircraft or delay planned replacement cycles. Army leaders suggested the battlefield lessons driving the changes are already shaping budget decisions, as the service redirects money away from some traditional aviation programs toward drones, autonomy and low-cost mass systems. “Absolutely, as we look across the aviation portfolio … we’re re-looking that,” Assistant Army Secretary Brent Ingraham said during a Pentagon media roundtable Wednesday. Ingraham said the Army is reassessing how traditional manned aircraft fit alongside larger unmanned systems increasingly capable of missions once handled by helicopters. The proposed aviation cuts already have drawn concern on Capitol Hill. During a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing May 12, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., warned that the Army’s budget request included “zero H-64 Apaches, zero Chinook Block IIs and one UH-60 Black Hawk,” arguing the service was divesting critical capabilities before validating replacements. “Your department’s budget request cuts over $5 billion from the industrial base in the aviation sector alone, effectively shutting down all current Army aviation platforms,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, pressed War Secretary Pete Hegseth during a May 12 House Appropriations hearing. “How did the department arrive at the conclusion that reducing procurement for these Army aviation platforms strengthens rather than weakens the aviation industrial base?” Hegseth acknowledged the Pentagon was reconsidering parts of the plan. “There are some very good things in the Army Transformation Initiative, and there are some things that we’ve needed to get another look at,” Hegseth told lawmakers during a House hearing after facing questions about the scale of the aviation cuts. Hegseth said Pentagon leaders were focused on ensuring the Army does not create “aviation capability gaps” as it transitions toward more unmanned systems and next-generation technologies. ‘EYES IN THE SKY’: ARMY DRONE EXPERT EXPLAINS US STRATEGY ON INNOVATION AS GLOBAL CONFLICT LOOMS Army leaders said the rapid spread of cheap drones is forcing the Army to rethink how it buys and fields aircraft, missile defenses and battlefield technology. “We know we don’t want to continue to use a Patriot missile to shoot down a cheap drone,” Ingraham said. “You’ve got to get on the right side of the cost curve.” The concern has become increasingly urgent after the U.S. and its allies burned through large numbers of expensive missile defense interceptors during the Israel-Iran conflict and broader Middle East operations, fueling Pentagon concerns about stockpile depletion and the long-term sustainability of relying on multimillion-dollar defensive systems against cheap drones and missiles. Officials also described a new allied drone and counter-drone procurement marketplace designed to speed foreign military sales and standardize interoperable systems across partner nations. Driscoll compared the effort to “an Amazon for war.” Officials said the marketplace is expected to become available to roughly 25 U.S. allies and partners worldwide, initially focused on drone and counter-drone systems before potentially expanding to additional capabilities and countries. The platform will for now only allow allies to buy U.S. capabilities. US DRAINS CRITICAL MISSILE STOCKPILES IN IRAN WAR AS YEARSLONG REBUILD LOOMS The Army also is launching a rapid competition to develop low-cost interceptors designed to counter drones and cruise missiles without exhausting multimillion-dollar Patriot missile stocks. Ingraham said companies will have roughly 120 days after an upcoming industry event to demonstrate technologies ranging from rocket motors and seekers to fully integrated interceptor concepts. “Even if you don’t have it all on the ground … bring it,” he said. The transformation effort reflects growing concern inside the Pentagon that cheap drones, autonomous systems and mass-produced weapons are rapidly changing the economics and survivability assumptions of modern warfare, particularly after conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East exposed vulnerabilities in traditional armored and aviation-heavy battlefield concepts. Army leaders increasingly suggest future wars will rely less on small numbers of expensive manned platforms and more on large quantities of cheaper, networked and rapidly replaceable systems capable of surviving in drone-saturated battlefields. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll said at the roundtable that the service is attempting to overhaul what leaders view as decades of broken acquisition practices that left the Army too slow to adapt to rapidly changing battlefield conditions. “How do we dig down deep into the system to change the broken processes that have led to so many bad outcomes over the last 30 years?” Driscoll said. Driscoll said the Army had lost Congress’s trust after decades of acquisition failures and budget overruns. “The United States Army had in some ways lost Congress’s trust over the last 30 years that we could do big new projects, keep them on time, keep them on budget,” he said. He later referenced the Army’s now-canceled M10 Booker armored vehicle program as an example of the type of procurement failure leaders are trying to avoid. “When we go to Congress and say, ‘Hey, trust us to develop a new platform. This one will not turn out like the Booker tank,’” Driscoll said. Driscoll argued the Army already is trying to field new capabilities on dramatically accelerated timelines more similar to wartime adaptation cycles seen
Massive SPLC-linked grant under fire as watchdog exposes ties to middle school programs
FIRST ON FOX: A watchdog is sounding the alarm over at least $3.85 million in taxpayer-backed support tied to the Southern Poverty Law Center, including a multimillion-dollar federal grant for a university-led project that it says integrates SPLC’s racial justice curriculum into middle school classrooms. Using the power of public records requests, taxpayer watchdog OpenTheBooks released a report Friday highlighting $1,352,655.07 in taxpayer dollars it said had been paid “directly” to the SPLC from school districts, states, cities, counties, universities and other public entities since fiscal year 2016. OpenTheBooks also found an active National Institutes of Health-backed University of Michigan project grant worth $2.5 million, which materials from the university say integrates the SPLC’s “Learning for Justice” curriculum, previously called “Teaching Tolerance,” into programming for middle school classrooms. The grant’s original Freedom of Information Act-obtained application said researchers would integrate “the Teaching Tolerance curriculum from the Southern Poverty Law Center” into an existing middle school program and test it across six Genesee County, Michigan, middle schools. EXCLUSIVE: SPLC’S ‘FAR-LEFT’ ‘ANTI-RACISM’ CURRICULUM FOUND IN CLASSROOMS AS EARLY AS KINDERGARTEN: WATCHDOG Eighth-grade lesson materials from the SPLC’s curriculum, reviewed by Fox News Digital, directed students to a “map of active hate groups” suggesting “anti-gay” and “radical traditionalist Catholic” organizations are equivalent to the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis and Black-Separatists. Other Learning for Justice youth materials encourage students to see themselves as part of a “movement for justice” and include toolkits for sustained activism. President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told Fox News Digital the program “is no longer being funded” and has been “redesigned” to focus on reducing teen and family violence. However, OpenTheBooks points to University of Michigan’s current project page, which still says the active NIH-backed project integrates SPLC’s Learning for Justice curriculum and lists SPLC as a partner. FOIA-obtained NIH records also show the original grant documents repeatedly described the project as integrating SPLC’s Teaching Tolerance curriculum into the YES program. “Utilizing taxpayer resources to promote harmful, leftwing rhetoric in our education systems is inappropriate, and I support efforts to root out and expose organizations like SPLC,” Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., said in response to the grant funding. “I support the important work of the House Judiciary Committee to expose the nefarious agenda, funding, and tactics of the Southern Poverty Law Center.” The grant scrutiny comes the same week the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “The Southern Poverty Law Center: Manufacturing Hate,” examining what the committee described as SPLC’s role in “distorting civil rights policy” and newly released information that the group allegedly funneled money to extremists it was claiming to combat. The hearing featured testimony from author of “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center” and Daily Signal senior reporter Tyler O’Neil, who told Fox News Digital that “the NIH needs to address parents’ concerns about this grant.” WATCH: WESLEY HUNT FLIPS SCRIPT ON DEMS’ ‘JIM CROW 2.0’ ATTACKS AMID HEATED SPLC RACISM HEARING “The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Learning for Justice project pushes critical race theory and transgender ideology. Meanwhile, the SPLC uses its ‘hate map’ to condemn parental rights groups on the other side of the issue, silencing opposition to its agenda by comparing these groups to the Ku Klux Klan,” O’Neil added. “Federal tax dollars should not promote this divisive program in schools.” University of Michigan’s current project page says the active NIH-backed program integrates SPLC’s Learning for Justice curriculum into a middle-school program aimed at addressing “racism and racial discrimination” and measuring students’ “racist beliefs and behaviors.” Meanwhile, the SPLC’s current Learning for Justice materials frame the program around “educating for liberation,” “racial equity” and the “deconstruction of White supremacy.” Fox News Digital reached out to the University of Michigan, including the grant’s project leader, professor Marc Zimmerman, and Kate Barnes, a communications manager for the university’s Office of the Vice President for Research whose staff bio says she handles media relations for various projects, but did not immediately receive a response. Learning for Justice materials that included curriculum instruction for 8th graders, reviewed by Fox News Digital, categorized “Anti-Gay” and “Radical Traditionalist Catholic” under the same “hate group” banner as the “Ku Klux Klan,” “Neo-Nazi[s]” and “Black Separatist[s].” The same teaching materials directed students to SPLC’s “map of active hate groups,” part of SPLC’s broader hate-group tracking work that the organization has indicated was once supported by its now-disbanded informant program. The Department of Justice alleges that the program secretly funneled donor money to informants inside extremist groups, but SPLC has denied wrongdoing. NEO-NAZIS, ‘SADISTIC’ BIKERS AND CHARLOTTESVILLE ORGANIZER: 5 OF THE MOST SHOCKING SPLC INFORMANTS Other Learning for Justice youth materials reviewed by Fox News Digital encourage students to take part in a “movement for justice” and include resources for nonviolent direct action, public rallies, social media campaigns and community organizing. Materials for grades 6-8 and 9-12 include tasks directing students to write letters to corporate or elected officials calling for action and organizing live social media chats to raise awareness for social justice issues. OpenTheBooks argued the dollar figures they uncovered may understate SPLC’s taxpayer-backed footprint because free classroom resources and teacher-training materials often do not show up in spending databases. “Open the Books only came upon the details of ‘Teaching Tolerance’ and the SPLC curriculum by submitting a FOIA request and waiting ten weeks. That suggests there could be plenty more indirect support for the nonprofit that’s not readily visible to taxpayers,” the watchdog’s report states. “Anecdotal evidence suggests that’s true,” it continues, pointing to a second investigation OpenTheBooks has been working on into the Pentagon’s K-12 public schools, which also turned up SPLC learning materials. A previous Fox News Digital report, citing an investigation by conservative nonprofit Defending Education, found SPLC’s Learning for Justice program had been integrated into K-12 lesson plans and materials in 169 school districts across 42 states and Washington, D.C., including in classrooms as early as
Calcutta High Court upholds West Bengal slaughter restrictions ahead of Eid al-Adha
The Calcutta High Court refused to intervene in West Bengal’s notification restricting animal slaughter ahead of Eid al-Adha.
DU students hold late-night sit-in protest at Women Hostel amid exam-prep; allege ‘forced extortion’; WATCH
Women residents of the University Hostel for Women (UHW) under Delhi University staged a late-night sit-in protest alleging “forced evictions” and “extortion” by the hostel administration, according to a statement issued by the All India Students’ Association (AISA).
In the Permian Basin, AI takes on big oil’s dirty water problem
Facing limited options, oil industry turns to AI to handle wastewater from oil production. Producers discovered other uses to streamline the process.
Pro-Palestinian protesters sue UT Dallas leaders, police officers over alleged punishment
The lawsuit accuses University of Texas at Dallas police officers of using excessive force while arresting students last year.