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Musk writes op-ed backing far-right German political party
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Tech billionaire Elon Musk penned an op-ed further expressing support for the far-right German political party Alternative for Germany (AfD). In response, the paper’s commentary editor resigned in protest. Musk, a close ally of President-elect Trump, wrote a guest opinion piece in the German Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Axel Springer media group’s flagship news outlet,...
White House: Russia, North Korea treating troops as 'expendable' in conflict with Ukraine
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White House National Security communications adviser John Kirby said Russia was treating North Korean troops as “expendable” by sending them on impractical ground operations in its war against Ukraine. “It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses,” Kirby...
Democrats grapple with 'jarring' lack of diversity in DNC race
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The race for Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair is shaping up to be a field of largely white men — a notable development for a party that has long touted diversity within its ranks. Roughly half a dozen candidates are running to helm the Democratic Party, almost all of them men. Nate Snyder, a former Department of Homeland...
Phillips: Democratic Party is 'totally devoid of leadership'
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Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) criticized his party for being “totally devoid of leadership” and urged his colleagues to listen more to working-class voters around the country. “This party needs a comprehensive turnaround, and conventional wisdom no longer works. A party that consists of multiple silos and campaign committees and outside groups cannot strategically do its...
Costco rebuffs push to eliminate DEI programming
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Costco’s board of directors adamantly urged shareholders to vote against efforts to limit the company’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) after receiving a proposal included in their annual notice to shareholders from the National Center for Public Policy Research to strike “discriminatory practices.” The conservative think tank requested that Costco evaluate and publish...
Massachusetts Democrat suggests Trump’s TikTok support stems from his popularity on the app
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Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) suggested that President-elect Trump's opposition a TikTok ban comes from his popularity on the app and the video-sharing platform lobby’s influence on his inner circle. “With Donald Trump, it’s always some combination of two things, Jim. It’s one, flattery and inflating his ego,” Auchincloss told CNN guest host Jim Sciutto during...
Trump slams Harris's celebrity endorsements, calls Sharpton a ‘con man’
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President-elect Trump fired off a Saturday post on Truth Social accusing Democrats of paying celebrities to publicly endorse Vice President Harris, including MSNBC host Al Sharpton. “Are the Democrats allowed to pay $11,000,000, $2,000,000, and $500,000 to get the ENDORSEMENT of Beyoncé, Oprah, and Reverend Al? I don’t think so,” the former president wrote. “Beyoncé...
Putin apologizes over 'tragic' Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash
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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin apologized to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev over the “tragic” Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash that killed 38 people on board, but stopped short of admitting any responsibility for the incident. Putin apologized to Aliyev “for the fact that the tragic incident occurred in Russian airspace, and once again expressed deep and sincere...
Biden's missed chance to safeguard America's oceans
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President Biden has failed to protect America's ocean ecosystems, despite his professed goal of protecting 30 percent of the nation's oceans by 2030, due to his prioritization of local politics over science, need, and national interest.
US sanctions former Georgia prime minister amid political turmoil
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The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Georgia’s former prime minister and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, accusing him and the ruling party he founded of “undermining” the country’s “democratic and Euro-Atlantic future” to benefit Russia. “Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream’s actions have eroded democratic institutions, enabled human rights abuses, and curbed the exercise of fundamental freedoms in Georgia,”...
America's case for Greenland. It's key to US national security in the Arctic.
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The 1951 Defense of Greenland Agreement provides a legal and historical basis for the United States to assert greater control over Greenland, which is increasingly critical for national security interests due to its strategic location and resources.
Musk calls some MAGA supporters ‘contemptible fools’ as visa row intensifies
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Tech billionaire Elon Musk labeled a section of President-elect Trump supporters as “contemptible fools” as the online debate around visas for highly skilled workers on the right intensifies. A Trump world civil war has been brewing this week as Musk, and his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) partner Vivek Ramaswamy have found themselves on the...
Why Trump is targeting Panama, Greenland, Canada
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President-elect Trump has spent parts of the holiday season vowing to take over the Panama Canal, calling for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark and suggesting Canada could become the 51st state. It all suggests Trump is focused on somehow expanding the U.S. on his watch, though it’s hard to tell how serious it all...
Experts confused but delighted by low rates of teen drug use
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A new study has experts beaming with hope as it shows teen drug use at a record low, but they admit confusion as to why the trend is happening and how to ensure it continues. The annual national Monitoring the Future survey found the use of alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes and e-cigarettes among high schoolers is...
The Memo: Democrats brace for a new Trump presidency
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Democrats are bracing for a new — and, for them, bleak — political era as President-elect Trump prepares to take office for a second term. Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 will be a massive rebuke to Democrats — and not only because it renews the focus on Vice President Harris’s decisive defeat in November. Trump...
American Marc Fogel formally classified as wrongfully detained in Russia
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Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher arrested in Russia on drug charges in 2021, has been formally classified by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained, according to the State Department, as reported by the Associated Press. “The United States has been working to secure Marc Fogel’s release for some time. We have long called for his...
Texas blocks Biden from disposing of border wall materials before Trump takes office
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The Biden administration has been blocked from getting rid of any border wall materials over the next 30 days, passing the materials on for President-elect Trump to use as he chooses, according to a press release from the Texas attorney general office. “We have successfully blocked the Biden Administration from disposing of any further border...
Most Americans partly blame high insurance profits for UnitedHealthcare CEO killing: Poll
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Nearly 7 in 10 Americans think that profits made by health insurance companies had either a great deal or moderate amount of responsibility for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month, a new poll found. Thompson was shot and killed last week outside a midtown Manhattan hotel where UnitedHealth Group was holding its annual...
Greg Gumbel, sports broadcast legend, dies at 78 after cancer battle
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The longtime CBS Sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel, 78, passed away after a battle with cancer, the network announced Friday in a statement from his wife and daughter. “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of our beloved husband and father, Greg Gumbel,” Marcy and Michelle Gumbel wrote. “He passed away peacefully surrounded...
Leon Panetta suggests it's 'pretty clear' Russia 'responsible' for Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash
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Former Secretary of Defense and CIA director Leon Panetta speculated that Russian air defenses may have caused the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan that killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured earlier this week. "When you look at all the preliminary evidence here, I don't think there's any question, but...
Yellen says extraordinary measures to avoid default will begin as soon as Jan. 14
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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen suggested in a letter to Congress on Friday that the department doesn't think the U.S. will need to take "extraordinary measures" on Jan. 2 to avoid defaulting on its obligations, and instead expects that it will reach the new limit between Jan. 14 and 23. "Treasury currently expects to reach the...
Hochul 'outraged' over correctional officers' killing of inmate
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul condemned the "senseless" assault of Robert Brooks, an inmate at the Marcy Correctional Facility, a state prison in Oneida County, which resulted in his death. “Like all New Yorkers, I was outraged and horrified after seeing footage of the senseless killing of Robert Brooks," Hochul said in a statement issued...
Lawmakers, former officials weigh in on TikTok ban as case heads to Supreme Court
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Top lawmakers, First Amendment advocacy groups and President-elect Trump weighed in Friday on a law that could ban TikTok in the U.S., as the Supreme Court prepares to take up the case. The court agreed last week to hear TikTok’s challenge to the law, which requires its China-based parent company ByteDance to divest from the...
Musk and MAGA are fighting over H-1B visas. How do they work?
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Tech mogul Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have faced backlash within President-elect Trump's base after the two signaled their support for the H-1B work visa, a key program to attract international talent that’s been criticized as too complicated and susceptible to abuse. The backlash heightened on the tech billionaire's social platform X within the last...
Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok ban so he can 'negotiate a resolution to save the platform'
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President-elect Trump asked the Supreme Court to delay the deadline for a potential TikTok ban, which is slated for the day before his inauguration. The court has agreed to hear TikTok’s challenge to the potential ban on an expedited schedule, but Trump told the justices that delaying the law until he returns to the White House...
GOP rep on backing Johnson as Speaker: 'I'm going to keep my options open’
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Rep. Scott Perry (Pa.), a former chair of the House Freedom Caucus, is the latest Republican to decline to commit to supporting Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as the House prepares to formally elect a Speaker on Jan. 3, adding uncertainty to the GOP leader’s prospects of retaining his gavel. “Right now, I think that Mike...
Former director of both FBI, CIA cautions against Patel and Gabbard
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The only man to lead both the FBI and CIA spoke out against Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard, two of President-elect Trump’s top intelligence picks, saying both positions require “complete independence from political influence.” William Webster, who led the agencies under both Democratic and Republican presidents, made the comment in a letter to senators, saying...
Second Florida Democratic lawmaker switches to GOP
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A second Democratic Florida legislator has switched parties to the GOP this month, citing her former party’s lack of unified support for Israel. State Rep. Hillary Cassel (R) said in a statement posted on X on Friday that she is not making the decision lightly, but she is joining the Republican Conference because she believes...
MAGA civil war erupts between Musk, critics over H-1B visas
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A Trump World civil war has erupted over visas for highly skilled workers, with the president-elect’s new tech industry allies like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on one side and the anti-immigration MAGA base on the other. The clash is a preview of the challenges in holding the Trump coalition together as his administration executes...
Sanders pens Fox News op-ed slamming political power of billionaires: ‘That is not democracy’
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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) published an op-ed on Fox News, slamming the political power of billionaires in the U.S. and increasing wealth concentration, arguing the country is moving down "the path of oligarchy." Sanders, who in November secured his fourth term in the Senate, wrote that the country is diverging in two opposite directions: the...
More Americans approve of Trump 2.0 transition than first time around: Survey
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Fifty-one percent of Americans approve of the way President-elect Trump has handled his presidential transition, according to a new Gallup survey. It's a slightly higher number than in December 2016, when 48 percent said they felt positive about the Trump transition compared to 48 percent who felt negative. In the new Gallup poll, 44 percent...
Homelessness hit record high this year amid affordable housing shortage
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Homelessness in the U.S. hit the highest level on record this year as the affordable housing crisis intensifies, federal regulators said Friday. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) tallied more than 770,000 people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2024, an 18 percent increase from 2023 that is likely an undercount....
Trump marvels at embrace by CEOs, top tech bosses: 'Everybody wants to be my friend!'
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A smattering of CEOs and top tech company leaders are currying favor with President-elect Trump, who has acknowledged with some awe that people who once went up against him now appear to be embracing the prospects of him becoming president. Top names in the business community have made the trip down to Mar-a-Lago to sit...
Julián Castro: Trump's border czar embodies 'dark heart' of administration's immigration policy
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Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro (D) sharply criticized incoming “border czar” Tom Homan during a Friday appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe," saying a "heart of cruelty" is behind President-elect Trump's strident immigration policies. Homan, who has encouraged undocumented immigrants to "self-deport" out of the U.S., said this week that family detention...
Time to rethink the borders of the Middle East map
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The Middle East is an artificial construct created by British and French diplomats after World War I, and the recent collapse of Syria has led to calls for the region to be divided according to ethnic and religious lines, as the current nation-states are not sustainable.
Bird flu virus in Louisiana patient likely mutated to be more transmissible, CDC says
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A genetic analysis of viral samples from a patient in Louisiana hospitalized with the first severe case of bird flu showed mutations that may result in the virus becoming more transmissible among humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency in its latest update released Thursday said the mutations were not found in...
How Trump changed America’s legal landscape
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President-elect Trump's legal issues dominated his 2024 presidential bid, where courtroom appearances were just as common as rallies and campaign stops. His cases also fundamentally altered America's legal landscape, redefining the law for presidents and opening a Pandora's box of questions that still stand to be litigated. Here’s how Trump’s cases changed the nation’s legal...
Netflix breaks streaming record with Christmas NFL games
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About 24 million people each watched the two NFL games streamed on Netflix on Christmas Day, the company said. The streaming platform showcased the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, with a pre-recorded Mariah Carey song airing ahead of the game, and the Baltimore Ravens versus the Houston Texans with a feature halftime performance...
White House says ‘early indications’ suggest Russian air defenses downed Azerbaijan flight
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The White House said Friday initial signs pointed to Russian air defenses downing a passenger plane that crashed over Kazakhstan and killed 38 people. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the U.S. has "early indications" Russia was responsible but declined to say much more, citing an ongoing investigation. "We have offered...
Trump says Bill Gates asked to visit Mar-a-Lago
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President-elect Trump said Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates asked to visit his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago on Friday night. "Where are you? When are you coming to the 'Center of the Universe,' Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come, tonight," Trump wrote in a Friday morning Truth Social post. "We miss you and x! New Year’s Eve is...