Californicated: Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold won $188,000 in prize money for the game. His tax bill from Democrat-run California will be $202,000.
A GOP senator is suddenly furious about the Epstein files after initially saying that she "didn't care" about the late pedophile's crimes. Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis, 71, told reporter Pablo Manriquez that she now understands why his crimes are a "big deal" after reviewing unredacted Epstein files on Monday. "I've not been one of the members who has glommed on to this as an issue," said Lummis. "I've sort of intentionally deferred to others to find out about it. But 9-year-old victims ... wow." "Initially, my reaction to all this was, I don't care. I don't see what the big deal is.' But now I see what the big deal is," she added. "The members of Congress who were pushing this were not wrong." Read more
Khanna named, US businessman Leslie Wexner of Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch and Bath & Body Works fame; Emirati businessman Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem; and Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov, and Nicola Caputo.
" Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein paid Ohio State University's head of gynecology quarterly payments of thousands of dollars, Department of Justice files show. Read more
The U.S. government added $696 billion to the national debt over the past four months, borrowing $94 billion in the month of January alone, the Congressional Budget Office reports. The number further heightens the risk that America will experience some kind of financial crisis unless deficits are tamed, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Maya MacGuineas warned. "If we continue to borrow at this rate, it leaves us on the path to another year of a $1.8 trillion or higher deficit," MacGuineas stated Monday. "If these estimates aren't alarming enough, the national debt continues to climb toward record levels " equaling about the size of the entire U.S. economy today." Read more
Amid Rock the Country's lineup disruptions this week - with artists including Shinedown, Ludacris, Morgan Wade and Carter Faith making exits - the festival's July 25-26 weekend in Anderson, S.C., is no longer on the schedule. The South Carolina stop originally announced as part of an eight-city trek has been removed from Rock the Country's website. Billboard reached out to a representative for Rock the Country for comment. Shinedown, who pulled out of the festival on Feb. 6, was one of the acts booked to perform at the South Carolina dates. The band opted to drop out after receiving backlash from fans for participating in the festival. Read more
A British woman who was shot dead by her father while visiting his home in Texas had argued with him about US President Donald Trump earlier that day, an inquest has heard. Lucy Harrison, from Warrington in Cheshire, was shot in the chest on 10 January 2025 in Prosper, near Dallas. Police in the town investigated the 23-year-old's death as possible manslaughter but no criminal case was brought against Kris Harrison after a grand jury in Collin County declined to indict him. An inquest into Lucy Harrison's death opened earlier at Cheshire Coroner's Court, where her boyfriend Sam Littler described the "big argument" about Trump, who was preparing to be inaugurated for his second term of office.
If you needed an example of the disconnect between legacy media and the country at large, look no further than "Melania." The new documentary on Melania Trump follows the first lady in the 20 days leading up to the 2025 presidential inauguration " and her second stint calling the White House home. The critics HATE it, giving it a lousy score of just 10%, according to Rotten Tomatoes (compare that with the 93% score critics gave the 2020 documentary "Becoming" about former first lady Michelle Obama). Yet, the Americans heading to the theater to watch "Melania" have a vastly different takeaway. They've given it a score of 99%. This discrepancy has broken the film rating site's 27-year record.
Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX) thanked God for "getting us a new president" in Donald Trump, who has saved this nation from "apostasy, blasphemy, taking our children down the path of homosexuality and perversion."
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Submarine manufacturer General Dynamics Electric Boat is reportedly preparing to hire 8,000 employees this year, a recruitment goal that is significantly higher than hiring levels in recent years.
Donald Trump has cast himself as Republicans' chief messenger on the cost of living in an election year, but a Reuters review of his speeches shows a president repeatedly declaring inflation beaten while rarely acknowledging the strain many Americans say they still feel.
Everyone's wringing their hands about the latest rounds of corporate layoffs. But no one is talking about the real reason these people are being laid off.
USSECSTATE Marco Rubio Addressing Employees at Foggy Bottom
The FBI warned US Border Patrol agents working along the US-Mexico border to maintain a heightened sense of awareness because the leaders of a notorious Mexican drug cartel ordered members to shoot at federal agents from across the border.
Mexican Drug Cartels
Bill Carns, former chairman of the Nye County Republican Central Committee, was arrested on Saturday, Jan. 31. He faces five charges, including creating or distributing child pornography, using the internet to control explicit images of someone under the age of 16, as well as gun-related charges, including possessing a sawed-off shotgun, possession of a dangerous weapon, and having a firearm without a serial number. "I've known him for about four years, and it's devastating," said Pahrump resident Edward Bevilacqua. "These are horrific allegations." "I can't believe the sheriff would do something to this gravity without evidence, without going through the procedures, and I think the charges speak for themselves," said Leo Blundo, current chairman of the Nye County Republican Party.
