The Trump administration's assignment of military lawyers to help the Department of Justice prosecute civilians for offenses unrelated to the military cannot be prevented by a court as it does not violate federal law, a Minnesota judge ruled on Friday.
The reporter who helped put Jeffrey Epstein behind bars has revealed why she thinks that Ghislaine Maxwell will eventually get a pardon.
Julie K. Brown, the award-winning Miami Herald reporter who unraveled the massive Epstein story, thinks Maxwell will be "successful" in securing some form of reprieve"whether a commutation or a pardon"for her close involvement in her onetime boyfriend's years-long scheme to sexually exploit and abuse young girls.
Which you may not appreciate if you're not a 'Star Wars' fan...
A suspected Ukrainian drone strike has damaged a luxury high-rise building in central Moscow, just days before the city is due to host a major military parade marking the end of WWII. Images and videos from the scene showed damage across multiple floors of the residential Mosfilm Tower due to the overnight strike, as well as likely drone debris on the street below. It is rare for a Ukrainian drone to strike a target in the heart of the well-defended Russian capital. Mosfilm Tower is about 3km from the Russian defence ministry building and 7km from the Kremlin and Red Square, where the 9 May parade is due to take place.
Glenneda Zuiderveld is a Republican state senator and member of a far-right bloc that was pushing for strict immigration laws. Idaho's dairy industry, which powers the economy of the Magic Valley region anchored by Twin Falls, depends on foreign-born labor and fiercely opposed the measures. (No paywall) Read more
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has awarded a contract to a private security company that has faced accusations of "torture" and "enforced disappearance" to assist in tracking down undocumented immigrant children who arrived in the US alone, a contracting document shows. ICE has stepped up its work so much in pursuing these minors in the US that it has contracted out some of its mission to a third party to put "boots on the ground" and locate immigrant children previously released from US government custody. The agency characterizes the work of tracing immigrant children who reached the US without authorization and were released into communities while they go through immigration court proceedings as "safety and wellness checks". ICE says it wants to confirm the children's location, school enrollment and overall wellness, including checking for signs of abuse or trafficking, according to the contracting document.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to meetings with Pentagon staffers as his inner circle grows tighter, according to a report. The move comes as Hegseth has faced increased criticism and ousted more than two dozen Pentagon officials in recent weeks. It also comes as Hegseth leads the nation's efforts in the Iran war and constantly promotes the success the U.S. has had in its attacks. Hegseth has now grown increasingly isolated within the Pentagon, according to The Guardian.
A fully closed Strait of Hormuz was long seen as unthinkable " and unmanageable if it happened " based on past modeling and interviews with energy experts. Why it matters: That conventional wisdom underscores just how unprecedented today's closure is " and how little playbook exists for what could come next. The intrigue: In at least two major exercises assessing potential oil disruptions " one in 2007 and another in 2022 " energy experts considered a full shutdown of the strait but ultimately didn't model it in their planning. In both cases, they judged it either too unlikely or too large in scale to meaningfully plan around. "The idea was laughed out of the room," said Sam Ori, who worked on the 2007 exercise at the nonprofit SAFE. "The view was that it just wasn't credible and would be seen as alarmist."
A rodent-borne illness is suspected of causing an outbreak aboard a cruise ship that has killed three people and sickened others. Studies indicate hantaviruses have been around for centuries, with outbreaks documented in Asia and Europe. In the Eastern Hemisphere, it has been linked with hemorrhagic fever and kidney failure. It wasn't until the early 1990s that a previously unknown group of hantaviruses emerged in the southwestern United States as the cause of an acute respiratory disease now known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is now bringing his wife to meetings with Pentagon staffers as his inner circle grows tighter, according to a report.
The barefoot shoe is here.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) secretly helped state treasurer Stacy Garrity (R) in her 2024 re-election bid against her Democratic Party challenger Erin McClelland (D) because she had previously questioned whether Shapiro would be an appropriate 2024 VPOTUS running mate for Kamala Harris (D). Stacy Garrity, an "election denier" with an "extreme MAGA agenda," is who "Democrat" Josh Shapiro, who may run for POTUS in 2028, boosted over his fellow Democrat.
Disgraced ex-NYS Gov Andrew "Judas Iscariot" Cuomo also betrayed the Democratic Party by running (and badly losing) as an independent against Muslim Zohran Mamdani (D) in the 2025 NYC Mayoral Race
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) destroyed a convent belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters, a Greek Catholic religious order, in what was described as a "deliberate act" and part of a broader pattern of systematic damage to homes in southern Lebanon aimed at preventing displaced civilians from returning.
IDF Committing Unspeakable Ecological Carnage in Southern Lebanon
At least 10 people were taken to hospital after a shooting at a lake party near Oklahoma City Sunday night, police said. No suspects are in custody, but there is no reason to believe there is an ongoing threat to the public, Emily Ward, a spokesperson for the Edmond Police Department, told CNN. Officers responded around 9 p.m. CT to reports of gunfire at a party at Arcadia Lake, Ward said. Ten victims were transported by emergency medical services to hospitals across the Oklahoma City metro area, she said, adding the victims were in "various conditions."
Saturday Night Live's Aziz Ansari humiliated FBI Director Kashyap Pramod Vinod Patel when he portrayed him in a press conference at the White House:
Purdue Pharma officially ended operations Friday, a year after the Sackler family reached a $7.4 billion settlement with a coalition of state attorneys general for the company's inescapable role in fueling America's devastating opioid crisis.
"America's Most Hated Family?"
