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Numerous firsts: The candidates that made history in the 2026 midterm elections
www.nbcwashington.com

... There were cheers and happy tears at election parties from New Mexico to Georgia late Tuesday once it became clear voters had elected the country's first Black female governor, the first Native American female governor, the first Native female senator and the first openly gay male U.S. senator.

By early Wednesday, the first Muslim U.S. senator was also added to the list of barrier-breaking milestones.

The astonishing blue wave also means the United States will likely have its first-ever Black speaker of the House.

Most of these firsts are Democrats, but the GOP has also broken some new ground. ...


Related ...

'Killing children': Bill Gates rips Elon Musk over aid cuts to poor nations (May 2025)
www.business-standard.com

...

Bill Gates slams Elon Musk over USAID shutdown

Gates, who recently announced that the Gates Foundation will wind down operations by 2045, told The Financial Times that Musk's actions could have deadly consequences.

"The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one," Gates said, blaming Musk for acting "through ignorance".

...


More from the article ...

... After slashing funding for programs that documented atrocities and protected human rights abroad, President Donald Trump's State Department is now granting one of its first new human rights awards to a controversial South African organization that promotes the disputed notion that white farmers are a violently targeted, persecuted group, according to multiple sources knowledgeable about the funding.

The group expected to receive the nearly $1 million award, AfriForum, is a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of Afrikaners, a subset of South Africa's white population. The organization says its members, who have a "God-given calling," fight for Afrikaner interests and self-governance. The money will be used to "document hateful rhetoric and violent acts" against Afrikaners and other minority populations in the country.

The new award comes from a State Department bureau tasked with promoting democracy and human rights internationally. Until last year, those funds were mainly spent in poor and authoritarian nations -- to fight corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, or combat child exploitation and sexual abuse in Afghanistan. Since Trump returned to office, his appointees have transformed the bureau, gutting its staff, canceling programs and reorienting some of its funding toward conservative causes in Europe.

Samuel Samson, who was appointed as a deputy assistant secretary to the State Department bureau by Trump, has claimed the U.S. has a "civilizational" connection to Afrikaners, who descend primarily from Dutch migrants and predominantly speak Afrikaans. Samson, who has met with far-right leaders in Europe since joining the administration last year, has framed the U.S. government's financial support for Afrikaners as grounded in "a common heritage, a common culture, a common way of life, shared history and ultimately a common anthropology." ...


Related ...

Fox News suffers ratings drop on bleak election night for Republicans
www.theguardian.com

... On a midterm election night that was a huge disappointment for Republicans, with Democrats taking control of the US House and Senate, the country's most prominent conservative television network seemingly felt the brunt of viewer disillusionment with Donald Trump and his party, according to final audience numbers released on Thursday.

The Fox News channel, which often leads among all news networks in viewership on election nights, fell behind two top broadcasters on Tuesday.

According to ratings dating from the Nielsen firm, the network averaged 4.3 million total viewers between 8 and 11pm, behind broadcast networks NBC (6.7 million viewers) and ABC (5.2 million viewers), though it edged out fellow cable networks CNN (4.1 million viewers) and MS Now (3.7 million viewers).

Fox News handedly defeat CBS News, which attracted just 2.8 million viewers. CNN performed better in the 25-to-54 age demographic prized by advertisers, besting Fox News, MS Now and CBS. ...


An apt metaphor of Trump's new reality

Cracks emerge in Trump's Reflecting Pool - hours after he stood in front and told Americans about his great renovation

President Donald Trump's newly-renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was showing signs of cracking and peeling again - just hours after he declared the troubled project a success.

On Monday, Trump stood in front of the historic Washington, D.C., landmark to deliver a closing midterm election message and used the opportunity to celebrate the completion of a second round of renovations. He called the work "a complete job and we're very proud of it."

Shortly after his speech wrapped up, Washington Post reporters walking the perimeter of the reopened Reflecting Pool spotted several areas where the new coating appeared to be cracking or peeling.

THE LINCOLN PROJECT: POST-ELECTION TOWN HALL (2026)

www.youtube.com

Too bad so many Republicans became Trump Cultists, these actual Conservatives never did.

Here's another actual Conservative, and confessed former Elitist, with one of the better short talks on the politics of Elitism I've ever heard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSa52TR9tCA

"Still, most MAGA influencers proved not quite ready to criticize Trump directly, which led them to spin bizarre theories about what could have really resonated with independent voters.

As an example, podcaster Liz Wheeler said Republicans would have won if only the Justice Department had arrested more deep-state operatives from the Biden administration.

Surely that would've saved Kansas!

AMONG ALL THE HORRIBLE developments for Republicans that took place Tuesday night, perhaps the most alarming for online MAGA was the collapse of Texas Republican candidates.

The state has been a bastion of the modern conservative movement, not just reliably red and with leadership willing to gerrymander the ---- out of congressional lines, but also the right's favorite contrast to hedonistic California.

So when it became clear that Democrats were romping there, it led to an onslaught of white identity politics that could make the movement even more radioactive to voters. Like Johnson, personalities at the Blaze blamed nonwhite voters for sabotaging the Texas GOP."

;;

After seeing some racist graffiti, LBJ remarked to Bill Moyers that:

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

... in condemnation of politicians who did just that.

"Late that night in a hotel room, Johnson explained to his young staffer (and future press secretary) Bill Moyers exactly how he believed Southern elites weaponized racial bigotry to divide the working class and maintain political and economic dominance. Moyers later recounted the conversation in a 1988 article..."

www.google.com

Above, a photo taken in Jaffa, a mixed Jewish-Arab neighborhood in Tel Aviv, Israel.
During the on-going Nakba, the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) have now killed 74,615 human beings in the Gaza Strip, maiming and wounding another 175,899. The Lancet UK contends the number of murdered Palestinians exceeds 75,000. In the past 48 hours alone, the serial killers of the Middle East -- the IDF -- butchered another six unarmed Palestinians while wounding another 27. The total number of Palestinians slaughtered since the one-way ceasefire of 11 Oct 2025 is 1,599 and 5,774 wounded.

These Palestinians wanted to live too.

The IDF, serial killers of the Middle East, like psychopathic cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer:


"FUNNY"

... Republican allies and strategists called for Trump to shake up his White House personnel ...

Marco Rubio Might Quit Trump Admin to Launch 2028 Presidency Bid After GOP Midterm Rout: Report
www.ibtimes.com

... Secretary of State Marco Rubio might soon quit the Trump administration to launch a bid for the presidency in 2028, especially after the party's rout in the midterms on Tuesday, according to a new report.

British outlet The Independent cited insiders in the U.S. and the UK who have increasing expectations for Rubio to leave the government, with one saying he needs to "distance himself from the Iran war and pin that one on Trump."

"It makes complete sense for him to step down and leave the administration," the source added, claiming that Rubio is the "leading candidate at the moment" and ahead of Vice President JD Vance. ...


Related ...

OpenAI Is Changing Its Tune on Data Centers Following Electoral Wipeout
gizmodo.com

... Following a blue wave that put Democrats in control of the next Congress and demonstrated Americans' discontent with the AI buildout, OpenAI is rolling out new commitments governing how it develops data centers.

The company behind ChatGPT announced Thursday that it will limit the controversial practice of using nondisclosure agreements with public officials and cover the electricity and energy infrastructure costs of future data centers it owns and operates.

The promises are part of OpenAI's new National Community Compact, a framework outlining how the company plans to work with locals in places where it builds data centers. The framework also includes pledges to be more transparent about construction plans and noise levels, develop water-use plans tailored to each community, and invest in local services such as childcare, education, healthcare, and transportation. ...


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