14+ hour, 55+ min ago (297+ words) Bret Baier " a veteran primetime host on Fox News " was apoplectic at President Donald Trump's refusal to concede his 2020 election loss, according to recently released text messages. The Guardian's Jeremy Barr reported Monday on the text messages, which were released as part of voting machine company Smartmatic's lawsuit against the conservative news network. One exchange between Baier and an unnamed recipient was particularly noteworthy in that the broadcaster used profanity to describe his feelings in the wake of then-President-elect Joe Biden's win over Trump. "I am tired. And p. And running out of suits in NYC and there are no f bars open. Or casinos," Baier wrote several days after the election. "I may just tear some Trump campaign spokesperson's head off tomorrow. That speech tonight was heinous. Totally heinous." The speech Baier referred to was likely the Nov. 5, 2020 speech Trump…...

21+ hour, 21+ min ago (595+ words) U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) departs the House floor, following the vote of the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed the bill seeking to release files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 18, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst The victims of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein have found themselves entangled in a war between the Democrats and Republicans as doubts emerge on whether either can be trusted to help them fight against the exploitation of women, writes Edward Helmore inThe Guardian. "Despite the frequent efforts of lawmakers to harness the scandal for political purposes, the victims of Epstein's sex-trafficking operation have been a strong voice in keeping the focus on the impact of sexual abuse and on Epstein's wide circle of allies across all sides of the US political and cultural landscape," Helmore says. That…...

1+ hour, 16+ min ago (473+ words) Mark Kelly aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour prior to a simulated launch countdown in November 2001. The US Department of Defense on Monday announced it was launching an investigation into a Democratic senator who had participating in a video warning active-duty troops to not follow illegal orders given by President Donald Trump. In a social media post, the DoD said it had "received serious allegations of misconduct" against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a retired US Navy captain who was one of several Democrats with backgrounds in national defense to speak out against the president potentially giving unlawful orders that pit the US military against American civilians. As a result of the investigation, the DoD said that Kelly could be recalled to active duty to face potential court-martial proceedings for violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). "All servicemembers are reminded that…...

22+ hour, 24+ min ago (659+ words) The murder of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk was expected to unify the base, but instead, writes Salon's Amanda Marcotte, has triggered infighting and torn it apart. Although media figures and President Donald Trump declared Kirk a "martyr" just minutes after his assassination, and Vice President JD Vance said at his memorial, "this is not a funeral but a revival," "a little more than two months later, the predicted wave of new recruits to the MAGA cause has not manifested," Marcotte says. As Trump's approval ratings decline, people were fired for criticizing Kirk, and "after the public outcry that followed ABC's attempted termination of late show host Jimmy Kimmel for a mild joke related to the shooting, the campaign to use Kirk's death as an excuse to silence dissent largely fizzled out," Marcotte explains. Early on after his death, "there were…...

11+ hour, 46+ min ago (377+ words) Mark Kelly in February 2019, Gage Skidmore President Donald Trump's Department of Defense is now targeting a sitting U.S. Senator, one of six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a video reminding members of the U.S. Armed Forces and the Intelligence Community of their right to refuse to obey an illegal order. U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a retired astronaut and former naval officer, along with the other five said, "threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home." "Our laws are clear," they added. "You can refuse illegal orders." In an official statement on social media, the Department of Defense alleged it has "received serious allegations of misconduct against Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.)." It added, "a thorough review of these allegations has been initiated to determine further actions, which may include recall to active duty for court-martial…...

9+ hour, 34+ min ago (255+ words) The peace plan that President Donald Trump's administration offered to end the ongoing war in Ukraine has been widely criticized for being overly accommodating to Russia. Now, a new report shows that Russia may have been even more intricately involved in its composition than previously known. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the proposal " which Trump administration special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (who is also the president's son-in-law) " relied heavily on input from a "Kremlin insider." Kushner, Witkoff and the Kremlin advisor huddled behind closed doors in multiple "secret meetings" in Miami, Florida, according to the Journal. Dmitriev also specifically called on the Trump administration to engage in multiple economic agreements in the areas of artificial intelligence, energy and other industries. The Journal also reported that the bulk of the plan was written by both Kushner and…...

18+ hour, 14+ min ago (1705+ words) Greg Abbott and Donald Trump Just last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott joined a bipartisan chorus of governors in denouncing a Biden administration plan they said would strip states of powers guaranteed to them under federal law. The plan would have transferred Air National Guard units from six states to the U.S. Space Force, the newly created military branch, stoking concerns about federal overreach and the erosion of governors" control over their own guard forces. Texas wasn"t among the affected states, but Abbott made his opposition unmistakable in an open letter to the president. He called the plan an "intolerable threat that would set a "dangerous precedent." "I strongly oppose any attempt to sideline governors when it comes to their respective National Guards," he wrote. A year later, Abbott helped Donald Trump do just that. He said that he "fully…...

17+ hour, 52+ min ago (424+ words) A Michigan Republican Congresswoman is telling Democrats that bomb threats and public calls for their death are "consequences" they face as a result of their video reminding the military that they don't have to follow unlawful orders. In an interview with CNN on Monday, Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), who also serves as the House Republican Conference Chair, said that bomb threats might be wrong, but Democrats "started it" with their video. McClain said she agreed with Trump, who she claimed "brought attention to the seriousness of the video." "Think of what the Democrat senators are doing," McClain said. "[They're] telling rank-and-file military members that they can obey unlawful orders. You don't need to follow your commander-in-chief."McClain's statement was a misquote of the video: Democrats never said members can "obey unlawful orders." Instead, they said members can "refuse illegal orders....

17+ hour, 40+ min ago (446+ words) When it comes to Graham Platner, I don't have skin in the game. I live in Connecticut, not Maine. The good people of that state will figure out for themselves whether he has the right stuff to be their next Democratic candidate for the US Senate. Indeed, there's a lot to sort through, including the story of his Nazi tattoo. I wish them the best. It's hardly damning. As I said last time I wrote about Platner, there's nothing saying that "a decent man of integrity from a respectable bourgeois background cannot be a champion of the masses. Solidarity against the ruling oligarchy does not require warriors for the working class to be of the working class. After all, Franklin Roosevelt wasn't." More importantly, however, is this: The authenticity that comes from appropriating the culture of the working class seems…...

18+ hour, 3+ min ago (746+ words) Footage of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein at a party at Mar-a-Lago in the 1990s (Image: Screengrab via NBC News) Will Sommer, author of "Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America," writes in The New York Times that though the recent revelations around deceased Jeffrey Epstein should have been a "dream" for conspiracy theorists, their reactions have been "strangely muted" and "dismayed." QAnon, a far-right American political conspiracy theory and movement that claims a cabal in the "deep state" is operating a global child sex trafficking ring and that President Donald Trump is secretly fighting them, has been placed, Sommer says, in a awkward position by Trump's relentless resistance to releasing the Epstein files. "What was harder to explain, for many believers, was why Mr. Trump spent so long resisting the release of the key…...