North Carolina is prepared to partner with the Trump administration to scrub alleged noncitizens from its voter rolls " an unnecessary effort that will almost certainly create more problems than it solves. The North Carolina State Board of Elections has proposed a set of rules outlining the use of government records and databases, most notably the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, to flag and remove "presumptive noncitizens" from the state's voter rolls. The board is currently negotiating a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to feed potentially millions of voters at a time into SAVE in search of noncitizens, The News & Observer previously reported.
Two vessels heading for energy-starved Cuba carrying Russian oil and fuel are due to arrive as early as next week in defiance of US President Donald Trump's energy embargo, according to maritime intelligence companies.
Job creation in the US has slowed to essentially zero, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday as the Fed released its latest economic projections, which included slightly higher economic growth than previously projected and little change to the unemployment rate.
Trump says no more attacks will be made by Israel' on Iran's South Pars gas field Trump has criticised the Israeli raid on Iran's South Pars field, which prompted Tehran's attacks on energy sites across the Gulf. In a statement on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: "Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran. A relatively small section of the whole has been hit. "The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen. Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar's LNG Gas facility. NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field." Read more
Iran wildly attacked their neighbors energy sites. Read more
The lawsuit was filed by several Adams County sheriff's deputies after a raid on the rapper's house and a song he wrote afterward called "Lemon Pound Cake. The song's video used surveillance footage from the raid. The jury ruled in favor of Afroman and against the deputies on Wednesday. Read more
As if wearing a campaign hat through a dignified transfer ceremony wasn't bad enough, Donald Trump is using an image from the ceremony to solicit funds. Trump sent an email through a fundraising PAC that shows Trump wearing the hat he sells as the coffin of a soldier who died in Trump's illegal war with Iran passes in front of him.
The US central bank has voted to hold interest rates steady again, as a spike in oil prices since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran raises economic uncertainty and threatens to drive up inflation. The decision, which was widely expected, left the Federal Reserve's key interest rate in the range of 3.5%-3.75%, where it has stood since December. Read more
Episcopalian pastor Rev. Stephanie L. Remington was suspended by her superiors in Kansas after they learned she reportedly worked as Jeffrey Epstein's administrative assistant and temporary property manager of his private island, Little Saint James, from August 2018 to May 2019, just before his July arrest for sex trafficking.
Sky Pilot and Epstein Assistant
The Trump administration on Tuesday widened its efforts to stamp out Medicaid fraud, at least in its fifth state this year, calling on Florida officials to share information on how they identify, prevent, and address bad actors in their state program. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA, had previously sent similar requests to New York, Minnesota, Maine, and California in what has been a growing, Trump administration-wide initiative to crack down on fraud, waste, and abuse.
A video on social media shows the dancing robot knocking over tableware, smashing plates, and sending chopsticks flying. An orange apron the robot is wearing reads "I'm good" in big letters across the front, perfectly adding to the chaotic scene. Staffers at the restaurant were forced to intervene. One employee can be seen holding the robot by the scruff of its neck while navigating her phone, presumably searching the bot's app for controls. In the end, it took three workers to restrain the robot, who were all forced to duck periodically to avoid being smacked by its waving and sauce-covered hands. Read more
Why the battle for Iran and Ukraine is coming for us all
Ruling in the case of a Black pastor who was arrested while watering his neighbor's flowers, the Alabama Supreme Court said police can demand to see identification during a stop if they are dissatisfied with a person's verbal answers. Justices issued the 6-3 decision last week after a federal judge presiding over a lawsuit about Michael Jennings' 2022 arrest asked the court to clarify whether officers can demand to see a person's identification under the state's "stop-and-identify" law. The minister was arrested when he declined to show Childersburg police identification.
While there are many political and policy victories Trump supporters can point to after his first year back in office, there are also questions about what might have been. A lingering one is often uttered in the form of a sigh: "What the hell happened to DOGE?" Elon Musk first suggested the Department of Government Efficiency to Trump during the 2024 campaign. A government agency specifically tasked with downsizing bloated federal agencies and rooting out fraud was politically popular, and signing an executive order establishing the agency was one of Trump's first actions upon being sworn in
Gavin Newsom is raising alarms on climate change again"and getting basic facts wrong. The California governor vows to sue the federal government over the Trump administration's repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency's 2009 "endangerment finding," the main legal basis under the Clean Air Act for mandating reductions in carbon-dioxide emissions. Mr. Newsom claims the reversal will trigger "more deadly wildfires" and "more extreme heat deaths." Age-adjusted heat-related death risk in California has risen modestly in recent decades"enough to account for 90 additional annual deaths likely linked to higher temperatures. But he omits the other side: Warming has helped reduce age-adjusted cold-related deaths by more than 5,000 a year. Citing only the tiny heat increase while ignoring the large decrease in cold-related deaths is misleading.
Last month, Illinois U.S. Senate candidate Juliana Stratton (the state's progressive lieutenant governor) ran an ad with a not-so-subtle message regarding our president: "F--- Trump." Stratton herself doesn't say this, but she lets multiple other people say it for her. The crude campaign stunt got me thinking: Is this really what Democratic voters want? (That primary election is March 17, as I write this, so it's TBD if her messaging worked.) There's a growing disconnect in America. As our political parties move further to their respective extremes, most voters fall somewhere in between. Whether Republican or Democrat, the majority of Americans simply want what's best for their families and for their country. The Democratic Party is having an especially hard time connecting with its constituents, as witnessed by a steady stream of polls showing just how bad off it is.
