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Top Dem admits Trump ‘wisely’ made critical demand to NATO allies: ‘Love and hate relationship’

Top Dem admits Trump ‘wisely’ made critical demand to NATO allies: ‘Love and hate relationship’

A top Democratic senator admitted on CBS News that he believes President Donald Trump “wisely” made the critical demand to NATO allies to spend more on defense. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who is in Turkey this week as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation to NATO, spoke with CBS News when an anchor laughingly asked him about Trump’s “strange relationship with NATO over his push for them to spend more on security.” The anchor asked Durbin, “Where does this relationship go from here?” In response, Durbin described Trump’s relationship with NATO as a “back-and-forth, love-and-hate relationship.” He went on to say that “the president has, I think, wisely asked for our NATO allies, there are 32 members of NATO, to spend more of their own money to protect themselves.” “That’s not an unreasonable ask,” he added. TRUMP ENTERS FINAL NATO SUMMIT DAY AS UKRAINE, DEFENSE SPENDING TAKE CENTER STAGE Durbin, who has served in the Senate for nearly 30 years, is the minority whip and ranking member of the influential Judiciary Committee. He is in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, as part of a congressional delegation led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., to the 2026 NATO Summit. Trump is also attending the summit, accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. Durbin did not spend all his time praising the president. Speaking from Ankara, he went on to say that “there have been things that happened during his second presidency which raised the question of our commitment to the future of NATO.” “I believe in it; that’s why I’m here. And I’ve found that of the delegates that are here from all over the region, part of NATO, that they believe, as I do, that we’re a safer world with the NATO alliance. We have been since 1945.” TRUMP BETS ON FORMER NATO TROUBLEMAKER AS TURKEY’S STRATEGIC VALUE SURGES He added that the summit “will be an opportunity for us to convince the president, if we have to, to move forward with this relationship.” Before traveling to Turkey for the summit, Trump vented his frustration about NATO, writing in a social media post that “the United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing: U.S. 999 Billion Dollars, United Kingdom, 90.5 Billion Dollars, France, 66.5 Billion Dollars, Italy, 48.8 Billion Dollars, Poland, 44.3 Billion Dollars. Others, including Germany, are MUCH LOWER. (2014-2025) Ridiculous!” A NATO release stated that the “cut-off date for information used in this report was 3 June 2025” and that “figures for 2024 and 2025 are estimates.” It listed estimated 2025 U.S. defense spending at $980 billion, the United Kingdom’s at $90.508 billion, France’s at $66.531 billion, Italy’s at $48.8 billion and Poland’s at $44.314 billion. TRUMP CALLS OUT NATO AHEAD OF SUMMIT, CALLING IT ‘RIDICULOUS’ FOR US TO PERSIST ON ‘ONE SIDED PATH’ In another post, Trump said it is “ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal. They were not there for us!!!” The president’s comments came after NATO leaders backed a new defense spending benchmark calling on allies to invest 5% of gross domestic product in defense and defense-related expenditures. Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

Leftist California group pushes to add ‘Black English’ to schools’ multilingual education program

Leftist California group pushes to add ‘Black English’ to schools’ multilingual education program

A group of radical left-wing groups in California are pushing for schools to add Black vernacular into a Golden State program that pushes multilingualism for kids. Black Californians United for Early Care and Education (BlackECE) is a “collaborative partnership of organizations committed to advancing language justice for Black children in early childhood education.” Those groups include Californians Together, Catalyst California and Early Edge. A co-founder of the umbrella group said she was teased a kid for “talking white” and doesn’t want Black children, like her son, to feel “shame” for the way they speak. CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL BATTLES NEWSOM’S STATE LAW ORDERING IT TO CHANGE ‘INDIANS’ MASCOT “The workgroup brings together BlackECE, Californians Together, Catalyst California, and Early Edge to challenge harmful language hierarchies and affirm Black English as a legitimate, rule-governed language rooted in Black history, culture, and community,” according to the coalition’s website. BlackECE’s 10-point policy framework also includes reparations. Ashley Williams, a co-founder of the BlackECE, spoke with PBS about the importance of the group’s work. “I don’t want my son to walk into any room and feel like his voice is not valued or his perspective can’t be heard because he’s not saying it in one way or the other,” she told the outlet. “But with that comes a lot of shame and embarrassment because you’re being constantly corrected when you’re still in a moment when you’re just learning language.” “Black English” is a broad term used to describe the way African Americans speak, according to ScienceDirect. The most common defined form of “Black English” is African American Vernacular English [AAVE], characterized as a “systematic dialect spoken by many African Americans, characterized by specific phonological, syntactical, and lexical features, including word-final consonant cluster simplification, invariant ‘be’ for habitual meaning, and multiple negation.” BlackECE insists that the dialect is not slang or broken English, and provides some real life examples of AAVE. “She be working,” is one example listed on the website. “They happy” and “bes’ friend” are among others. “We talk about multilinguals, but we don’t include Black children who may be African-American English speakers,” Xigrid Soto-Boykin, an early childhood language expert at Arizona State University, told PBS. “We completely miss this subgroup of children that could also benefit from their language backgrounds to be sustained, but also to be leveraged for their own learning.” NEW YORK TIMES CALLS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA’S ‘TEST-BLIND’ ADMISSIONS POLICY A ‘TERRIBLE’ MISTAKE California — a state where more than half of children under the age of five live in homes where another language besides English is spoken — implemented a program called “Promoting Equitable Early Learning and Care For Dual Language Learners” in 2020. The program “declares biliteracy as a state goal and strongly promotes multilingual proficiency for all children, beginning in early childhood.” It focuses on policies that “reflect a dramatic shift in public sentiment away from a focus on English only and to a focus that values bilingualism as an asset and a strength.” BlackECE says “Black English” should be added to that California program. Williams recalled being teased for “talking white” by family members, and complained that her teachers were “adamant about proper English,” which she said made her feel insecure. “Really at the heart of this, it’s about affirming our identity and our culture and our humanity and not having to perform as something you’re not just to be accepted in a room,” she reportedly said. “We know that with being deemed multilingual learners, there’s resources, there’s supports, there’s teacher training. And we’re saying, ‘Yes, and we belong in that conversation too.’

Deadly illegal immigrant truck crash exposed failures on the road and at the border: key senator

Deadly illegal immigrant truck crash exposed failures on the road and at the border: key senator

The crash that killed a Pennsylvania state trooper, allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant truck driver, exposed failures at the intersection of highway safety and immigration enforcement, the architect of Pennsylvania’s move-over law said. Michael Bon, a 33-year-old Haitian national who entered the U.S. under former President Joe Biden’s mass parole program, according to the Department of Homeland Security, was arrested after his big rig plowed into Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael Pahira Jr. on Interstate 81. State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Gettysburg, whose district encompasses a large swath of Interstate 81’s heavily truck-trafficked corridor, said his law was meant to prevent tragedies like this, many of which have happened in or near his district. Mastriano said Bon’s immigration status made the tragedy doubly preventable. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCK DRIVER CHARGED IN DEATH OF TROOPER WHO MOVED HOME TO CARE FOR MOM WITH CANCER Mastriano said his move-over law came about in 2019 as one of his first efforts after being elected to the legislature. “I heard from Tom Bricker, a tow truck operator at Abe’s Towing out of Chambersburg,” he said. “He told me all the close calls he’s had, all the friends of his that have been killed or injured by people crashing into the tow trucks … especially on 81, since that goes through our area.” VIRGINIA BUS CRASH THAT KILLED FIVE INVOLVED DRIVER WHO DOESN’T SPEAK ENGLISH, SEAN DUFFY SAYS After Bricker visited Mastriano, tow trucker Tyler Laudenslager was struck and killed on Interstate 81 west of Lebanon, prompting his move-over legislation, which Democratic then-Gov. Tom Wolf signed. Since then, Pennsylvania motorists have been required to move over for tow trucks and other emergency vehicles or slow to a safe speed, something Bon allegedly did not do when he struck Pahira’s cruiser. “Trooper Michael should be alive today, had the federal government enforce their own laws protecting the border, making sure only people coming in legally can be on the roads,” he said, noting the nexus of his law and immigration enforcement policies. ‘GHOSTS’ ON FLORIDA HIGHWAYS: ROADSIDE STINGS SNARE 249 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, OFFICERS WARN MANY MORE HIDING Another Mastriano bill passed in 2022 allows tow trucks to use police-issued blue lights while stopped to get motorists to pay attention. The senator said it came about after meeting with Bricker and other tow truck drivers and learned of a pilot program of the sort in the Midwest. Mastriano said Bon, who had been living in Brockton, Massachusetts, and was issued a CDL by the Bay State’s Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV), drifted out of his lane when he struck Pahira, as the trooper was conducting an unrelated commercial-vehicle inspection south of Frackville. With Massachusetts and Pennsylvania among the states that have faced cases involving CDLs issued to immigrants in the country illegally, Mastriano said states have authority to address motor vehicle policy. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration previously faulted DHS, whose agency maintains the SAVE registry that identifies a noncitizen’s immigration status, which PennDOT uses to determine licensure eligibility. When asked about states like Pennsylvania faulting the federal government in part for the problem, Mastriano said the “finger-pointing” must stop. “Josh Shapiro, please fix this. You have a lot of power here in Pennsylvania, and you’re the governor, and so exercise that power. Ask your secretary of transportation to update records to make sure anyone receiving CDL licenses is somebody who’s here legally and understands the language and can control a vehicle,” he said. “A lot of mistakes were done and people need to be held responsible and to just shift the blame now to the federal government for a state government problem is just wrong,” he said. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania both defended their licensing systems, telling Fox News Digital they relied on the federal SAVE database to verify Bon’s eligibility. “This defendant should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” a Healey administration RMV spokesperson said, echoing the Shapiro administration’s defense of the federal SAVE database and noting it is federally operated. “Every non-U.S. citizen who applies for a commercial learner’s permit or driver’s license in Pennsylvania must provide proof of identity and … lawful presence in the United States, which is verified with the federal SAVE database, administered by [USCIS],” Shapiro spokeswoman Rosie Lapowsky said. Under Massachusetts’ procedure, Bon would have been rejected upon any attempted renewal for 2027, a source familiar with Beacon Hill’s policies said. When asked, as a state lawmaker, what the federal government can do about states where these cases have become common, Mastriano said respecting federalism, the idea that states have semi-autonomy, is important but can make it “tough” to manage. Mastriano pointed to the federal government’s use of highway funding to encourage state compliance with the 55-mph speed limit during the 1970s gasoline crisis. The same strategy could be used today, he suggested. Referring to the Eisenhower Interstate and Defense Highways Act’s inclusion of “defense” concerns, Mastriano said resources could also be allocated by Washington to improve highways based on their linkage between military outposts. In the case of Interstate 81, where Pahira and many others have been killed, he noted that Letterkenny Army Depot in his district, the U.S. Army War College and Tobyhanna Army Depot are located along it, which he said could spur funding for more lanes and better conditions. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER Lapowsky noted PennDOT has paused all issuances of such licenses following a Sept. 29, 2025, federal order. Since Bon’s crash, another illegal immigrant has been arrested after authorities said he struck and killed a motorist changing a flat tire on Interstate 80 in Illinois.

GOP senator accuses NYT of sitting on bombshell allegation to protect Schumer, Dems

GOP senator accuses NYT of sitting on bombshell allegation to protect Schumer, Dems

FIRST ON FOX: A top Senate Republican accused both The New York Times and high-level Senate Democrats of working together to delay publishing allegations against Maine Senate Democratic candidate Graham Platner until they could do maximum damage. Stories and allegations against Platner have been piling up for nearly a year, inflicting incremental damage to his candidacy with each report published. It started with the unearthed footage of him dancing intoxicated, sporting a tattoo of Nazi iconography on his chest last fall, and culminated this week in a bombshell report that Platner allegedly raped his ex-girlfriend, Jenny Racicot. But it was a story from The New York Times in June that sowed deep doubts among Democrats in Washington, D.C., about his candidacy. NEW YORK TIMES UNDER SCRUTINY OVER GRAHAM PLATNER COVERAGE AS ACCUSERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST PAPER Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who chairs the Senate Republicans’ campaign apparatus, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the media outlet of working together to sit on that bombshell story against Platner to buy time to replace him. “We should have seen this information long ago,” Scott said. “But what they’ve done is they’ve made a decision to keep him in the race as long as possible so that they had more time to make the necessary change to try to hold onto that power and, frankly, gain power in Maine.” “Whether or not Chuck Schumer wanted this candidate or not, the fact of the matter is the Democratic Party decided that this was the hill they were all willing to die on,” he continued. KINGMAKER MAMDANI CALLS ON PLATNER TO ‘DROP OUT OF THE RACE’ AFTER RAPE ALLEGATION Scott was referring to The Times report in which multiple women that Platner had relationships with, including Racicot, alleged that he knew about his Nazi tattoo well before reports surfaced that he denied, that he displayed “unsettling behavior” with women and was an intimidating presence with flashes of violence. The Times denied Scott’s claims. “The Senator’s speculation is flatly untrue,” Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander told Fox News Digital. That same story sparks an emergency meeting with Democratic high command, Platner’s top supporters in the Senate and the Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to determine if more damning information was set to come out. SANDERS BREAKS SILENCE ON PLATNER, CALLS ON SCANDAL-PLAGUED PROGRESSIVE TO ‘STEP ASIDE’ A source familiar told Fox News Digital that the DSCC “had no involvement” in the story. Schumer did not respond to a request for comment. Still, Scott contended that the story and alleged collusion were “critical pieces of the puzzle,” particularly in the aftermath of Platner’s latest scandal that has seen his entire base of support among Democratic lawmakers and organizations virtually melt away overnight. And, he charged that their sudden dismissal of Platner was indicative of their desire to beat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to regain power in the upper chamber after months of accepting allegation after allegation. “Those allegations and realities have been real and true the entire time that Democrats knew it,” Scott said. “And what makes it worse is that you say they’re all lining up to get away from him now, but they all lined up to support him earlier.” “And what that tells me is that their primary objective is power over principle, and politics over policy,” he continued. “They are more interested in stealing the power so they can control the public.”