SpaceX founder had publicly blamed president for chaos over restrictions, but sources say he initiated them
Musk pushed Trump to slow Starlink in Ukraine, weakening air defenses as Russian drones attacked cities " The Telegraph
The restrictions reportedly forced some Ukrainian drone missions to be called off and made it harder to intercept Russian jet-powered drones attacking cities.
MAGA activists are pushing for President Trump to resort to extraordinary measures " including martial law " if they believe the midterm elections are "rigged."
Why it matters: Some of the proposals go far beyond Trump's legal authority " and there's no evidence that the elections will be rigged. But people in this orbit have close access to the president.
Music at link is Anthony Braxton, "To Composer John Cage." Read more
A Russia-US deal on supplies of Russian diesel can pave the way for further economic cooperation between the two countries, Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev said on Wednesday, adding that Moscow would overcome any sanctions-related difficulties to ensure the fuel was delivered.
Two Americans were "severely" beaten Thursday and Friday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and outrage poured in as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee remained silent on the matter. Heidi Levine, a veteran journalist and photographer for The Washington Post, was "severely" beaten Friday, the Post reported, while "wearing a protective vest clearly marked PRESS on front and back." She was "kicked repeatedly" after being knocked to the ground, and "stripped of her cameras and phone" by Israeli settlers. "I just got back actually two days ago from three weeks in Ukraine," Levine said from a hospital bed, video shared by independent journalist Jasper Nathaniel showed. "I've been covering this conflict here for over three decades, and this is the second time that I've been brutally attacked " 15 years ago I was also attacked in front of the [Israeli] army." Read more
One remark in particular, O'Donnell argued, was "the stupidest statement a wartime president could ever make." Trump this week claimed that his war on Iran "will end very soon." "It's going to end very soon, as soon as I want it to end, it will end," said the president.
President Donald Trump took a shifting tone on the midterms on Wednesday, pointing out that even if Republicans lose control of the House, Senate, or both, he would remain the U.S. commander-in-chief. "I'm here whether we win this or not," he told reporters in Arizona and Montana. The shift in tone came just two days after he urged supporters in Alaska to "pretend" it was him on the ballot, a campaign message he has repeated often in recent weeks, as forecasts have shifted to favor Democrats to gain control of both chambers. Republican candidates have been put on the defensive as Democrats have surged in polling and Trump has seen his approval rating consistently slope downward. GOP leaders have redirected money to once-thought-safe House districts and Senate races in an attempt to limit losses.
Two women this week sued former GOP Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and two others " including a former state legislator " in federal court and accused the men of engaging in an alleged sex trafficking scheme during a time when Gaetz was still in Congress. The lawsuit, which seeks damages from Gaetz and other defendants, was filed in Orlando by two women who were in their early 20s when they first met Gaetz. The women are not named in the lawsuit. The details mirror allegations that were at the center of a House Ethics Committee probe that found Gaetz had sex with a minor, solicited prostitutes and used illegal drugs.
Turkish police raided the Istanbul headquarters of an important pro-opposition television station on Wednesdazy, the day that jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was set to start his defense against corruption charges.
Today's tale comes from Justin Henkel, the CISO of IT monitoring and service company SolarWinds. Henkel previously worked in IT security for the Air Force and one day in the early 2000s saw a practice that just wouldn't fly today. Before USB drives became popular, burning CDs with mission data was the modus operandi, and those discs were put in both unclassified and classified systems.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris Kamala Harris GOP shrinks ambition despite bashing polls Harris tells Keke Palmer she's undecided on 2028 run Harris to hit campaign trail for Democrats in Mississippi, New Hampshire, more More(Kamala Harris) on Wednesday said the Biden administration should have responded sooner to the Israeli government's "horrific conduct" in the Gaza war. Read more
The top 1% of Americans pay 40% of all federal income taxes. The top 10% pay 70%. The Bottom 50% pay 3%. Still think the rich arent paying their fair share?
Five years ago, parents across the country were angry and frustrated. Schools had remained closed or offered only limited in-person instruction long after evidence of the damage to children was impossible to ignore. Mask mandates dragged on. Parents were discovering that schools had embraced radical ideas about race and gender that would have been unthinkable just a few years earlier. So they did what Americans are supposed to do in a representative democracy. They showed up at public meetings, stood at the podium, asked questions, demanded answers and challenged policies they believed were harming children.
The soft bigotry of low expectations strikes again. In New York, the City Council is moving to get rid of tests for specialized schools because whites and Asians outperform blacks and Latinos.
The conspiracy theory that James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, recently went to Ohio to receive treatment for mental health issues began after he stopped making campaign appearances at the beginning of October. Several readers asked us about these claims, which they saw on social media. Talarico and a campaign spokesperson have said that he was at his Austin, Texas, home, recuperating from the flu at the time. And the New York Times said it verified that Talarico was at his house by reviewing time-stamped camera images from Talarico's home security system that was provided by his campaign. Read more
Katie Zacharia's tenure as White House press secretary got off to a rough start Tuesday, when she made her briefing-room debut.
The 41-year-old conservative commentator turned top Trump official began her appearance by reading from a script that lavished praise on President Donald Trump. She then took questions from three reporters before fleeing the room.
Her entire appearance at the podium barely lasted 14 minutes, during which she stumbled through her prepared remarks and called on reporters from a list. Read more
