He added that mainstream media was missing the cultural signal. “I think a lot of the mainstream media is actually missing out on this. They don't quite understand it, do they?”

Baris agreed, saying public sentiment in recent years had been defined by frustration and fatigue. “No, they don't. And that's kind of a shocker, isn't it? I mean, even leading up until the '24 election, the country was very, very depressed, right?”

He continued by describing what he sees as a national appetite for competitive, emotionally charged cultural moments. “Americans, I was listening to the segment before, and this is a good idea. Americans like a scrap. They like to scrap. You know, they love an underdog story. It's the story of America.”

Baris also tied that sentiment to broader national events and political branding, referencing upcoming America 250 celebrations and past campaign strategy discussions.

"The country just needs to unplug, it needs a bit of a win," he said. “We have to celebrate this Jack. It's a big deal. And despite what you may be, there's always something people can find out there to complain about when you live on social media.”

Baris concluded by framing the political moment as one of national comparison and messaging strategy heading into the anniversary year. “At the end, we're in a couple of weeks here, we're coming up on a day where all of us can at least celebrate and come together. It's a big deal. It's a big anniversary. And you can at least look back and say, Hey, could have been Kamala Harris.”

According to a report by The Sun, the teen girl was Christmas shopping with a friend when they began speaking to a 21-year-old named Mehrab Safir, whom they had not known prior. He asked that the victim add him on Snapchat, then requested nude photographs on November 28.

Days later, Safi allegedly arranged for a taxi to take the victim home from her Somerset home to Bristol. She was dropped off at an area where Safi was waiting with another suspect, before they got into a taxi and took the girl to a house. 

The victim was then given cigarettes and vodka before she was allegedly raped by Safi and the three other suspects. 

“The prosecution say that they sexually abused a young girl who Mr Safi had met and began grooming only days before the rapes took place,” said prosecutor Ed Hetherington.

“On November 30 last year, Mr Safi and Mr Habibkheil arranged for her to be brought by taxi to meet them in Bristol in the early hours of a Sunday morning,” he said. “Once she arrived, she was taken to a home in St Werburghs and she was very quickly expected to have sex with Mr Safi.”

“She didn’t want to, not yet, but it happened anyway,” he added.

The court found that after she was allegedly raped by Safi, the others “took it in turns to get her alone in a bedroom or in a bed and to have sex with her against her wishes.” She was “plied with alcohol and cigarettes to secure her compliance.”

The alleged attacks reportedly ended when the victim’s mother contacted the police. 

The three adult suspects reportedly fled the UK in December just days after the attack, according to the Telegraph. They fled to France, where they were eventually caught.

The five-year-old girl had been stabbed near a daycare, or crèche, in Dublin’s Parnell Square on November 23, 2023, along with two other young children. The jury was told that 52-year-old Bouchaker had intended to kill the three children when he allegedly stabbed them, targeting their heads, necks, upper bodies, and chests.

When asked by the prosecuting counsel how her daughter is now, she said the little girl, who is now nearly eight, is in a wheelchair, is non-verbal, and can only answer yes or no questions through the use of blinking, per RTE. She said her daughter had just turned five at the time of the attacks.

She said she would normally drop her daughter off at daycare in the morning and would pick her up from school on her way home from work in the city center. The daycare workers would drop her off and collect her from school. The mother told the court that she almost didn’t go into work that day, saying that she had been feeling unwell. 

She described receiving a phone call from the daycare’s owner at 1:45 pm, saying the owner was crying and told her "oh my god, oh my god," before saying her daughter had been stabbed. 

Her daughter was taken to Temple Street hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery on her heart. She suffered blood loss and the mother told the court her daughter had gone without oxygen for 40 minutes, leading to severe brain damage, particularly affecting her motor skills. She said her daughter also suffers from dystonia following the attack. 

Prosecuting counsel Karl Finnegan told the jury that Bouchaker was responsible for the attacks, and that he intended to kill the children. Bouchaker has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder of the three children, as well as assaulting and causing serious harm to a daycare worker, assaulting two other children and a passerby who intervened, and possession of a knife. 

Leading up to the stabbings, the children were being brought to an after school program by daycare staff, the prosecution said, adding that Bouchaker approached the group and began stabbing. Daycare worker Leanne Flynn intervened and was stabbed. 

Bouchaker claimed to gardai that he had been upset over receiving a letter stating his application for social welfare had been refused and that he was not in the right state of mind. He claimed that he had done something bad, but did not mean to kill or harm the children. Finnegan said that Bouchaker has been found fit to stand trial and that there was no suggestion he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the attack.

In the wake of the November 2023 attack, the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) released a piece stating that the attack "is the umpteenth warning that disinformation can have appalling consequences in real life. A shameful script that so many times in the past brought tragedy in Europe was played out again in Dublin a few nights ago: a dramatic news story circulates, disinformation and racism jump on it spreading baseless accusations against an entire minority group, hungry mobs take to the streets and the violence begins."

Protests and riots broke out following the attack, and MMA fighter Conor McGregor spoke out against the attack, saying at the time, "there is grave danger among us in Ireland that should never be here in the first place." 

Footage shown in Southampton Crown Court showed O'Leary walking in the crowd when he spotted a smoke grenade, picked it up and threw it toward police, per the BBC. O'Leary also admitted to resisting a police officer and possession of a samurai sword.

For his part, Bishop was seen in footage wearing a black jumper with the words "boys get sad too" written on the back. He was filmed throwing a traffic cone toward police, according to the BBC.

The June 2 disruption left 11 police officers and a police dog injured as demonstrators hurled projectiles at officers. During sentencing, Judge William Mousley KC said police faced "constant assault" from projectiles and threats throughout the disorder according to reporting done by the BBC.

Bishop and O'Leary's legal representation said that the pair were not ringleaders in the disruption.

"They are not the instigators of this disorder, they are inevitable results of other individuals who seek to harness anger," said Thomas Evans, defending the two men.

The protest followed the release of body camera footage that showed Nowak dying in handcuffs after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, who was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years for murder.

Digwa, 23, killed Nowak by stabbing him with a large knife he claimed to carry because of his Sikh faith. Digwa told police that he was the victim of a racist attack, leading officers to ignore Nowak's requests for medical assistance and arrest him instead. The incident has sparked massive outrage across Britain.

Although the court focused on the actions of those involved in the disorder, the protest itself was driven by widespread public outrage over the treatment of Nowak in his final moments. Questions surrounding the police response continue to draw attention, with the incident prompting calls for greater accountability and transparency from law enforcement.

The opposition that is being framed around Pulte thus far is the same set of enemies that produced some of the greatest members of Trump's current cabinet. Be that FBI Director Kash Patel, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, or Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, familiar opposition from Democrats and RINOs like Senator Mitch McConnell is mounting against Pulte because they know he is a change agent, similar to Tulsi Gabbard. With a city like D.C. that is reeking of a vicious mainstream media, deep state perpetrators, and resistance to the Trump agenda from Republicans and Democrats alike, the DNI needs a steadfast leader who has core conservative and America First virtues.

Pulte, whom Trump already trusts to lead the department temporarily, reflects the current state of affairs in America and in the MAGA movement. Whether it be his career in the private sector with PulteGroup and Pulte Capital, his philanthropic mindset towards veterans and the American people, or his unapologetic attitude in going after militant leftists such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff, or Federal Reserve Board Member Lisa Cook for mortgage fraud, Pulte has never mixed words when it has came to standing up for what is right and calling out what is hurting the men and women of the United States of America.

Institutional consensus has proven to be one of the worst reasons for deciding whether to trust a figure serving in the United States government. If Pulte is good enough for President Trump to stand for his policies, risk-aversions within the DNI, and common sense when it comes to shrinking the department to hyperfocus on the issues that the President sees fit, then he should be good enough for the politicians in the United States Senate who will be left up to confirm him or not.

Many problems in domestic and foreign policy make it necessary for President Trump to appoint a loyalist as the Director of National Intelligence. With an outsider like Pulte, who plans to be an outside force in the department, goals such as FISA abuses, election interference investigations, declassification, accountability, and a cultural overhaul can and will be at the top of the to-do list if Pulte is given permanent status as DNI. Moving the department from a tool for the left that it was pre-second-term Trump to a shield for conservatives is exactly the direction that Pulte will lead it into.

Loyalty is a political virtue that is not talked about or prioritized enough. Trump's selection of Pulte signals trust in the position of Director of National Intelligence. In the era of disloyalty in politics, domestic disruption and division, and a tug-of-war mentality over American political power, our nation has got to have fighters instead of functionaries.

The United States Senate should confirm Bill Pulte as the next Director of National Intelligence to drain the Swamp, promote the Trump agenda, and leave the national intelligence in the arms and at the service of the American people.

A bystander intervened by attacking the man with a hurling stick. He managed to get the attacker off the victim, who was then taken to Royal Victoria Hospital with critical injuries. Others jumped to his aid to wrestle the attacker to the ground. The attack took place in the north of the city, The Daily Mail reports, outside an apartment building on Kinnaird Avenue about 10:30 pm.

The victim was in his 40s and is in critical condition, with wounds to his face, neck and back. The Sudanese man was arrested for attempted murder. He was heard shouting in a foreign language during the attack. An investigation is apparently underway. "This is a deeply concerning assault," said Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson, "and I have declared this a critical incident. We have commenced an investigation to establish a motive."

The Police Service of Northern Ireland issued a statement, saying "A man in his 30s, believed to be Somalian, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a serious assault involving a knife in the Kinnaird Avenue area of north Belfast on Monday night... He remains in police custory. The injured man, aged in his 40s, is in hospital where his condition is described as serious. The attack has left the man with significant injuries to his face, neck and back."

Robinson later criticized "politicians and legacy media" for "trying to downplay the attemped beheading in Northern Ireland last night. The public will be out across the country tonight. You've got ot go Keir Starmer. Policing the Internet as our people are killed and raped!" Starmer has been attempting to crack down on tech companies.

Turns out, to the dismay and frustration of the media and Democrats they represent, the American economy is doing quite well. And this, despite the Iran war spiking gas prices, which is one of the most visible and constant prices Americans see.

The propagandistic narrative is strong and constantly reinforced by the media, spreading like wildfire on social media, which tends to reward the most negative news. Good news just doesn't sell, at digital newsstands or swipey apps. And everyone gets easily stuck in a narrative even when facts intrude. But reality, as usual, is quite different from what is online.

The May jobs report is the latest in a line of strong economic indicators. The experts set expectations for May at 85,000 new jobs. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that 172,000 new jobs were created, more than twice as many as economists expected.

This is the third straight month of strong job growth, which gets an annoyingly short news cycle and not much virality on social media.

But not only were previous months similarly strong; they were later revised upward. Revisions get exactly zippo attention if they happen in a Republican presidency. So here is that data: The number of new jobs in March were adjusted up by 29,000, from 185,000 to 214,000. In April, those numbers were adjusted up a lot more, from 115,000 to 179,000, or 64,000 more jobs. Only a strong economy can knock out these kinds of numbers.

The result of this new jobs haul is that the unemployment rate remains low while job vacancies have increased to the point that there are more job openings than there are people looking for jobs. The BLS reported that job openings increased to 7.6 million, up 4.6 percent from April. This year, job openings increased by 520,000.

But while there are 7.6 million job openings, there are only 7.2 million people looking for jobs. This suggests a strong jobs market. But you'd never know that by consuming the negative nabobs in the media or the social media amplification.

The only area that needs work is inflation, particularly compared to wage growth, which has averaged about 3.5 percent this year, while inflation has ticked up to 3.8 percent. This is entirely due to energy costs, particularly gas prices.

In Trump's first year of this term, 2025, inflation was 2.6 percent, well below wage growth. So Americans were making up ground from the dark Biden years. But gas prices spiking 28 percent this year has driven the inflation rate up. And that is due to Iran.

Which means enough else is in place that, if Iran can be resolved in some way, it can be resolved. Obviously, easier said than done with a duplicitous, terrorist regime that will slaughter its own people for political gain, inflation will drop again, and the American economy will roar.

Yet remember, the last three months of very strong job growth comes entirely during the Iran war period. The foundations are in place, just as they were in the first Trump term until the wild overreaction to the Covid "pandemic" destroyed the economy just in time for the 2020 election.

If Americans vote on kitchen table issues, and they almost always do, and say those are by far the most important this year, then the way forward to greatly improve chances that Trump can retain a supportive Congress for his agenda is to do whatever needs to be done about the Strait of Hormuz. Basically, stabilize global oil flows.

If gas prices return rapidly to pre-Iran levels, kitchen-table voters will look much more favorably on Republicans. Everything else is in place and cranking.

Rod Thomson is a former daily newspaper reporter and columnist, Salem radio host and ABC TV commentator, and current Founder of The Thomson Group, a Florida-based political consulting firm. He has eight children,seven grandchildren, and a rapacious hunger to fight for America on their behalf. Follow him on Twitter at @Rod_Thomson. Email him at rod@thomsonpr.com.