RCP Average 2/21 - 3/12
Approve: 42.9
Disapprove: 54.4
Spread: -11.5
A fundraising email from President Donald Trump's political action committee has a provocative pitch: using an image from Saturday's dignified transfer honoring six fallen US soldiers, it promises access to the president's "private national security briefings." The email, sent by Never Surrender, Inc., promotes what it calls a "National Security Briefing Membership" and urges recipients to "claim your spot" with multiple links to donate, in what it describes as an exclusive group receiving updates about national security threats. Read more
President Donald Trump is replacing Richard Grenell as head of the Kennedy Center, he announced on Friday. Trump posted on Truth Social that Grenell would be replaced by Matt Floca, the arts center's current vice president of facilities operations. Grenell's tenure as interim president of the Kennedy Center since February 2025 has been marked by tumult, plagued by high-profile performance cancellations, protests, declining ticket sales and financial strain as he sought to execute the president's vision for the arts center. Read more
Connecticut Democrats are sounding the alarm over what they say are Republican-led efforts to subvert the electoral process. Two bill proposals being considered in the state legislature would usher in changes to the state's election laws, including provisions to allow absentee ballots to be submitted over the internet, prevent federal immigrations agents from being within 250 feet of polling places and banning guns from voting areas.
SACRAMENTO, Calif " Sacramento County law enforcement is again criticizing the elderly parole process after the Board of Parole Hearings granted parole for a convicted child molester after serving 27 years of his over 355-year sentence. Gregory Vogelsang, 57, was sentenced to prison for almost 30 counts of kidnapping and sex crimes against multiple children between the ages of 5 and 11 in the 1990s, according to Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho. He was sentenced to 355 years to life in prison. Read more
The suspect in Thursday's attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, has been identified as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali. Grim cited a source familiar with the investigation who said Ghazali was originally from Lebanon and had recently lost family members in an Israeli airstrike there. The source said Ghazali had posted images of his relatives on WhatsApp in the hours before the attack. Read more
Skipping meals, driving and prescriptions are just a few trade-offs that a third of Americans say they're making to pay for health care. A new poll by West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America found that as millions continue to face higher insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, many people say they are having to cut back on other necessities to afford it.
Marvin Gaye's What's Going On... #1 Album Rolling Stones Top 500 Albums All Time 2023 (thread link)
"Tops' bass singer, watched TV coverage of hundreds of club-wielding cops breaking up the People's Park, a protest hub in Berkeley. Aghast at the violence, Benson began to write a song with Motown lyricist Al Cleveland, trying to capture the confusion and pain of the times.
He knew he had something big in his nascent version of "What's Going On," but the rest of the Four Tops weren't interested, and Benson's efforts to get Joan Baez to record it didn't work out, either.
(more on the genesis of this song at the thread link)
The Pentagon is moving a Marine expeditionary unit and more warships to the Middle East, as Iran steps up its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved a request from Centcom for an element of an amphibious ready group and attached Marine expeditionary unit, typically consisting of several warships and 5,000 Marines and sailors, according to three U.S. officials.
A top federal judge in Washington on Friday blocked Justice Department subpoenas to the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors after determining the government "produced essentially zero evidence" to support a criminal investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, according to an unsealed court opinion.
The House Oversight Committee has asked one of the prison guards on duty when Jeffrey Epstein died to appear March 26 for a transcribed interview.
The two guards on duty were accused of sleeping on the job and browsing the internet instead of making their required rounds.
Epstein's cell was 15 feet from the guards when he was found dead by suicide in August 2019.
Noel was later charged with falsifying reports, but the charges were dismissed in 2022.
Elements from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli have been ordered to the Middle East, according to the U.S. official, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.
US issues up to $10 million reward for information on Mojtaba Khamenei, Larijani The US Department of State's Rewards for Justice programme has called for information on "Iranian terrorist leaders", including Mojtaba Khamenei. The State Department set the reward at up to $10m and said information could make people eligible for "relocation". Read more
Florida AG James Uthmeier threatened the state will take action if Mayor Jane Castor (D) continues to enforce "sanctuary policies" on the Tampa Police Department.
Just Another Corrupt AG from Florida Like Pam Bondi
A woman in the US had her life upended after she was wrongly imprisoned for six months in jail over a bank fraud case. Angela Lipps, 50, from Tennessee, was slapped with criminal charges last year when police jailed and later flew her to North Dakota after facial recognition showed she was the main suspect in an organised bank fraud case. Despite having never been to North Dakota or stepped on an aeroplane in her life, Lipps was apprehended and thrown behind bars. Lipps was babysitting her four young children when a team of US Marshals took her away at gunpoint, according to a report in the Grand Forks Herald. She was booked into her county jail in Tennessee as a fugitive from justice from North Dakota. After sitting in the Tennessee jail for four months, she was charged with four counts of unauthorised use of personal identifying information and four counts of theft in North Dakota.
The US is relocating parts of a missile defence system installed in South Korea to the Middle East, according to officials cited by the Washington Post and South Korean news outlets. The reported move comes 12 days into the US-Israeli war against Iran, and follows reports suggesting Iran had destroyed a key radar used by the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, system in Jordan. Read more
