D.C. ROCKED - REPUBLICAN REVEALS TRUTH ON MITCH MCCONNELL
West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito delivered the latest assessment of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recovery Monday.
Capito told reporters that a recent visitor found the longtime Kentucky Republican sharp and focused solely on building his physical strength after more than six weeks away from the Capitol.
Video journalist Nicholas Ballasy approached Capito in a Capitol hallway over the weekend and asked directly: “Do you have any idea what’s going on with McConnell? What his condition is right now? Have you heard an update?”
Capito replied: “I mean, I think, obviously, the public information, the information that I have, is that Senator McConnell is recovering and is, uh, healing, and is in a, uh, rehabilitation hospital. I talked with somebody yesterday who visited him, and said that he’s clear-minded and he just needs to get stronger.”
Pressed on whether she planned to visit the senator herself, Capito said she “might wait until he asks for visitors.”
Capito added, “I think, you know, anyone who’s been in the hospital or in a rehab facility, um, being visited, I think, is a pretty sensitive topic.”
The comments come as McConnell’s office continues to emphasize steady progress.
On Saturday, spokesman David Popp told The Washington Post that “the Senator continues to meet with staff regarding Senate and Kentucky business, including discussions on defense appropriations, foreign policy, the farm bill, constituent services, and constituent federal grant requests.”
Popp added, “As the Senator continues to improve in rehab, we will be sure to keep you updated.”
McConnell, 84, has not appeared publicly since mid-June, fueling wild online speculation that Republican leaders have repeatedly pushed back against.
Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed a lengthy phone conversation with McConnell covering national security issues.
Majority Whip John Barrasso’s office said the two spoke for about 20 minutes and that McConnell “was fully engaged and is eager to get back to the Senate.”
Longtime McConnell ally and commentator Scott Jennings also reported a nearly 20-minute call in which the senator discussed Iran, Ukraine, Maine politics, and Senate history.
Those direct conversations from senior Republicans stand in contrast to those from some more junior colleagues, who have said they have not spoken with him personally.
Capito’s secondhand account from a visitor remains the most recent firsthand-adjacent report available.
The sequence of events began June 14, when McConnell was admitted to a Washington-area hospital after a fall at his home left him briefly unconscious.
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On July 2, his office said he “continues to improve” while working with staff on Kentucky and Senate matters.
Speculation intensified online and in some media outlets, prompting Kentucky’s Democratic governor to demand more transparency publicly.
On July 12, McConnell broke his silence with a detailed personal statement and a photo alongside his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
He explained that childhood polio had left him with lifelong mobility challenges that “haven’t exactly gotten easier to manage with age.”
The fall, he said, left him briefly unconscious but produced no broken bones, concussion, heart attack, stroke, tumors, or hemorrhages.
While hospitalized, he developed a mild case of pneumonia that responded to antibiotics. He had since moved to a rehabilitation center “where I’ll keep regaining my strength.”
A statement from the Office of the Attending Physician confirmed the medical findings and noted that the remainder of his care focused on physical therapy to reduce future fall risk.
McConnell made clear doctors had not yet cleared him to return to the Senate floor but stressed he continued working closely with legislative and constituent staff.
McConnell, who is retiring at the end of his current term in January 2027, has used the episode to underscore his determination to finish the job voters sent him to do
Iran Fired Ballistic Missiles at American Forces — Trump’s Response Was Lit
“They’re going to get a beating.”
That’s what the President of the United States told Fox News Wednesday morning after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a surprise ballistic missile attack on U.S. forces in Jordan Tuesday evening. Well, a version of that, actually.
Every missile was intercepted. Then U.S. and Saudi aircraft struck Iranian proxy infrastructure across eastern Iraq. And now Trump has promised Iran is about to experience something considerably more severe than what it’s received so far.
“We’re going to beat the living daylights out of them,” he told Fox News. He was even more direct in the clip that circulated: “We’re going to beat the f—— s— out of them.”
This is not empty rhetoric. This administration has demonstrated — repeatedly, with documented results — that it means exactly what it says about Iran. Operation Midnight Hammer destroyed their nuclear program. Operation Epic Fury decimated their military and political leadership. Three weeks of daily strikes have followed their ceasefire violations. Bridges and power plants have been explicitly threatened. And now, after a direct ballistic missile attack on American personnel in Jordan, Trump has announced what’s coming next in language that leaves absolutely no room for misinterpretation.
Let’s be clear about what Iran attempted Tuesday. Not a drone attack through a proxy. Not an indirect harassment of commercial shipping. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles from Iranian soil, targeting American military forces directly. They got everything intercepted and a joint U.S.-Saudi strike on their logistics network in Iraq in return. And their response to that outcome was to continue talks about a potential ceasefire.
The ceasefire conversation is the tell. Iran wants relief from the military and economic pressure the Trump administration has applied. They want a deal. But they keep firing between negotiating sessions — testing whether they can extract concessions while simultaneously continuing to attack American forces and American allies. Every previous American administration gave them that option. The Iran deal. The nuclear negotiations. The endless diplomatic engagement that produced nothing while Iran’s centrifuges kept spinning and their proxies kept killing Americans.
Trump’s answer to that model has been consistent since January: no, and here’s what happens if you keep trying it.
Tuesday night, Iran tried it again. They fired ballistic missiles at American forces in Jordan. Every missile was shot down. Their proxy infrastructure in Iraq got destroyed in the same evening. And Wednesday morning, the President of the United States went on Fox News and told them personally what’s coming.
Thirty years of American presidents talked tough about Iran and then negotiated. Trump talks tough about Iran and then bombs them. The IRGC has now received enough evidence to understand the difference.
They’re going to get a beating. He said so.
They should believe him. The track record says they should.
SCOTUS Gives Florida Greenlight To Get Justice Against Child Killer
The U.S. Supreme Court and Florida’s highest court have firmly rejected last-ditch efforts to halt the execution of James Aren Duckett, a former police officer convicted of the brutal 1987 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, clearing the way for the long-delayed delivery of justice.
Duckett, 68, was scheduled for lethal injection at noon on July 28, 2026, at Florida State Prison. Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant in February, initially setting an earlier date that was delayed for additional DNA testing.
The Florida Supreme Court on July 24 denied Duckett’s motion for a stay of execution, affirming a lower court’s rejection of his sixth successive postconviction motion and a second post-warrant request for further DNA testing.
In its ruling, the Florida Supreme Court stated: “We affirm the circuit court’s rulings. We therefore deny Duckett’s motion for a stay of execution.”
The justices noted that prior DNA testing results “did not exonerate Duckett” and that additional claims were procedurally barred.
No rehearing would be considered.
Chief Justice Couriel and Justices Muñiz, Grosshans, Francis, and Sasso concurred.
Duckett’s attorneys then turned to the U.S. Supreme Court, filing an application for a stay of execution (docketed as 26A119) along with a petition for a writ of certiorari.
They argued that the denial of further DNA testing violated due process and claimed “no direct evidence has ever linked Mr. Duckett to the crime,” insisting that untested evidence could demonstrate innocence or reduce his sentence. The filing warned of a potential “wrongful execution.”
The Supreme Court denied the stay applications for both Duckett and fellow death-row inmate Dominick Occhicone on July 28, allowing Florida’s scheduled double execution to proceed.
The denials came after the state responded and the full briefing process was completed.
Duckett was a Mascotte police officer when he was convicted nearly four decades ago of sexually battering and murdering 11-year-old Teresa McAbee.
He has remained on death row for more than 30 years through successive appeals.
After DeSantis signed the warrant, courts granted limited DNA testing; the results proved inconclusive and failed to support claims of innocence.
Subsequent requests for more testing were rejected as time-barred and lacking merit.
One justice described certain postconviction motions as “both time-barred and frivolous, undoubtedly filed only for unreasonably delaying his execution further.”
This case emphasizes the necessity of finality in capital cases involving the most heinous crimes.
Endless successive challenges, even after DNA opportunities have been provided and exhausted without exoneration, risk turning the justice system into a never-ending delay mechanism that denies closure to victims’ families.
Teresa McAbee was a child whose life was stolen in an unimaginable act of violence by someone sworn to protect the public.
After almost 40 years of legal process, the courts have determined that the convictions and sentence stand.
Florida, under Governor DeSantis, has led the nation in carrying out lawful death sentences for the worst offenders.
The state has conducted numerous executions in recent months, reflecting its commitment to enforce the law as written and as upheld by juries and appellate courts.
Denials of stays in Duckett’s case affirm that legitimate claims receive review and dilatory tactics prompt timely accountability.
What happens next is the execution of the sentence lawfully imposed and repeatedly affirmed.
With federal and state courts having rejected further delays, the process moves forward according to the warrant.
Lower federal courts and the Eleventh Circuit also denied related challenges, including those involving simultaneous scheduling with Occhicone.
The denials in Duckett v. Florida and related filings represent the justice system functioning as intended: thorough review followed by enforcement of final judgments.
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For the family of Teresa McAbee and for the principle that the most serious crimes demand the most serious consequences, these rulings deliver long-overdue resolution.
The rule of law requires that after decades of process, sentences for the rape and murder of a child are carried out.
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