"NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that the situation with respect to Cuba constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and hereby declare a national emergency with respect to that threat."
US Alone on World Stage
With the approach of the Grammy Awards, there has been a lot of talk about who was nominated for the big awards like album of the year, but there is one musician who racked up several nominations that I haven't heard anyone talk about, but who arguably deserves the spotlight more than several prominent musicians: Jesse Welles.
Welles is a folk artist from Arkansas who earned four nominations this year, including Best Folk Album for "Under the Powerlines" and Best Americana Album for "Middle." Read more
Ukraine and Sweden are discussing the prospect of arming Kyiv with Europe's top air-to-air missile, the Meteor, which a Saab official said would be a "natural content" of a weapon package for Gripen users. Read more
Grindr is testing a new AI subscription tier called "Edge." The pilot prices are steep, ranging from $80 to $200 a week. Other subscription price points being tested include monthly plans for $349.99 and $499.99. Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge often keep their most expensive subscriptions below $100 monthly. Read more
Jeffrey Epstein was trained as a spy under an Israeli Prime Minister, unclassified FBI documents claim. Newly unearthed documents obtained from the FBI and released by the Department of Justice (DoJ) show a classified document discussing Epstein's relationship with "US and allied intelligence services".
A new digital billboard at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco is evoking mixed reactions. It's an ad that shows support for ICE. ... The billboard reads, "Defensive Player of the Year: ICE."
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that California this fall may use its new election map, which is expected to send five more Democrats to Congress. With no dissents, the justices rejected emergency appeals from California Republicans and President Trump's lawyers, who claimed the map was a racial gerrymander to benefit Latinos, not a partisan effort to bolster Democrats. Trump's lawyers supported the California Republicans and filed a Supreme Court brief asserting that "California's recent redistricting is tainted by an unconstitutional racial gerrymander."
A newborn baby has died in New Mexico from a Listeria infection that state health officials say was likely contracted from raw (unpasteurized) milk that the baby's mother drank during pregnancy. Raw milk is promoted by anti-vaccine Health Secretary Kennedy.
A veteran Republican state representative is calling it quits, and it's all President Donald Trump's fault. Ed Clere, who has served in Indiana's House of Representatives for 18 years, told News and Tribune on Friday that he would not seek reelection, saying that the political environment in the state's General Assembly has become "dysfunctional and toxic." "There are many good Republicans, but the Republican Party has lost its way, and I can no longer be a part of it," Clere, 51, told the southern Indiana newspaper. I've always tried to voice and vote my conscience, and at times it has put me at odds with other Republicans at the Statehouse," Clere told News and Tribune. "I think the redistricting debacle last year is an example of toxic Washington politics making their way into Indiana."
Americans agree with Nicki Minaj when it comes to voter id. 83% of favor photo voter id to vote per Pew. This includes 70%+ of Democrats and Republicans, as well as 75%+ of Americans across races.... White, Black, and Latino. It's not controversial.
I am loath to give credit to my friends in the Democratic Party for much, but I will say this about them: They know how and when to circle the wagons to get things done in Congress. I hate this when it's done in practice, like when Senate Democrats passed the Affordable Care Actin 2009 with just 60 votes and no Republican support. Senate Republicans were able to narrowly pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025 with Vice President JD Vance casting a tiebreaking vote. Republicans in Congress must learn from that success and also rip a page from the Democratic playbook and forge ahead with chutzpah to get one more bill passed. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, passed the U.S. House with some bipartisan support and should be brought to the Senate floor.
The Trump administration will draw down 700 federal law enforcement officers from Minnesota on Wednesday, border czar Tom Homan said.
Border czar Tom Homan recently announced that authorities have located more than 145,000 children that had been lost amid the millions of illegal immigrants that poured across the U.S. border under the Biden administration. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Refugee Resettlement at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have been working tirelessly "to locate more than 300,000 unaccompanied alien children that the Biden administration turned over to unvetted sponsors, lost track of, and weren't looking [for]," Homan said in a Jan. 30 post on X. Read more
I know this poll is a couple of years old, but it's results still havent changed. 76% of U.S. adults favor the concept of early voting. Two other election law policies are supported by even more Americans -- requiring photo identification to vote (84%) and providing proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time (83%). Smaller majorities of Americans -- 60% each -- favor automatic voter registration, whereby citizens are registered when they do business with state agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, and sending absentee ballot applications to all eligible voters.
The US Central Command has told NHK that it shot down an Iranian drone that approached the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on the Arabian Sea.
Mike Johnson put on his theologian hat and broke down scripture for the Vicar of Christ. So you want me to give you a theological dissertation? All right. I tell you what. I'll post it on my website later today, but let me give you a quick summary," Johnson responded before launching into a soliloquy insisting that the Bible says "assimilation is expected and anticipated and proper." "When someone comes into your country, comes into your nation, they do not have the right to change its laws or to change a society. They're expected to assimilate. We haven't had a lot of that going on," he said.
