A measles outbreak that began in South Carolina at the start of October is showing no signs of slowing as officials on Tuesday reported 27 new cases since Friday. Those cases bring the outbreak total to 111.
President Donald Trump's administration wants the International Criminal Court to amend its founding document to ensure it does not investigate the Republican president and his top officials, a Trump administration official said, threatening new U.S. sanctions on the court if it did not.
Donald Trump Jr. says his father's unpredictability is forcing people to be intellectually honest. read more
Commodity farmers should know by the end of December exactly how much they will receive in economic aid from the Trump administration from the $12 billion package that should be distributed by the end of February, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Monday. read more
Republicans haven't lost a statewide race in Texas in more than 30 years, but Democrats are hoping a "blue wave" in the midterms could help them end that streak. read more
Related ...
Norovirus spreading in CT, experts say: 'For 3 days you're really in trouble:'
www.msn.com
... Norovirus is now spiking in Connecticut and across the country, and while that's nothing new for early winter, a new, more contagious variant is causing infectious disease specialists to take notice.
A norovirus variant called GII.17 was identified in 2022. Though it was slow to spread at first, it has become the dominant strain in the U.S.
"I wouldn't wish this norovirus on anyone really, because for those three days, you're really in trouble," said John Nwangwu, a professor of public health at Southern Connecticut State University.
Norovirus is a gastrointestinal disease, transmitted through surfaces. Symptoms that usually last about three days rarely result in death, but the vomiting and diarrhea the virus causes can dangerously dehydrate a patient.
The CDC does track norovirus in 14 states, though Connecticut is not one of them. National data shows norovirus spiking now in pockets around the country, with those spikes expected to increase as the winter wears on. ...
Stanford University runs a wastewater disease surveillance program, to which local wastewater treatment plants send samples for testing. One of those treatment centers is in Stamford, and according to that data, norovirus is spreading fast in Connecticut, with an "upward trend in the last 21 days." ...
More info about the flyover ...
In defiant flyover, US F-18 fighter jets enter Venezuelan airspace for 40 minutes
www.stripes.com
... Two U.S. F-18 fighter jets flying in tandem entered Venezuelan airspace around noon Tuesday, circling over the Gulf of Venezuela in the latest show of force against the regime of Nicols Maduro.
The flyover -- carried out despite the Venezuelan regime's possession of a number of Russian-made anti-aircraft batteries -- took place less than 100 miles northeast of Maracaibo, Venezuela's second-largest city. Thousands of Venezuelans tracked the aircraft online through specialized tracking websites, watching as the jets traced a bow-tie-shaped pattern over the gulf.
The fighters remained inside Venezuelan airspace for at least 40 minutes at an altitude of roughly 25,000 feet before heading north and leaving the area.
The U.S. fighter jets flew between two key regions for Venezuela's energy sector, Zulia and Falcon states. Lake Maracaibo, whose 5,000 square miles make it of the largest fresh bodies of water on the continent, is the cradle of reserves of some 150 billion barrels of crude oil. ...
Related ...
US forces seize oil tanker off Venezuela coast
www.theguardian.com
... Move is major escalation of US pressure campaign against South American country's dictator, Nicols Maduro.
US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, in a major escalation of Donald Trump's four-month pressure campaign against the South American country's dictator, Nicols Maduro.
The US president confirmed the operation on Wednesday, telling reporters: "We've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela - a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually. And other things are happening so you will be seeing that later and you will be talking about that later with other people."
Two US officials told Reuters the operation was led by the US Coast Guard, but did not name the tanker or say specifically where the interception happened. A senior Trump administration official told Bloomberg that the US had conducted a "judicial enforcement action on a stateless vessel" that was last docked in Venezuela. ...
Meanwhile ...
Key voting bloc boosts Obamacare to highest approval ever as Congress battles over soaring costs: poll
www.foxnews.com
... The steep partisan divide in Congress over the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, reflects a similar rift among the public -- except for when it comes to independents.
Despite the program's climbing costs, 63% of respondents with no party affiliation hold a positive view of Obamacare, according to polling released by Gallup on Monday. It's a finding that's helped drive the program's overall approval to new heights even as lawmakers struggle to find answers on making it more fiscally sustainable. ...
OK, another gruesome crime enabled by those trying to get the trgets t ive up the access codes to their crypto fortune.
Not the first and, likely, not the last.
What we know about the NYC crypto kidnapping and torture case (June 2025)
abcnews.go.com
@@47 ... Consider it a cameo appearance. ...
Oh, I do.
But I still have to ask ... for what purpose?
Whoa ...
Trump Calls ABC's Rachel Scott 'the Most Obnoxious Reporter' in the White House for Asking About Pentagon Scandal
people.com
... President Donald Trump's attacks on female journalists in the White House press corps continued on Monday, Dec. 8.
The president held a roundtable in the Cabinet Room to begin the week, sharing an update on a long-awaited farm aid package. At the end of the planned remarks, he took questions from the press, including from ABC News' Rachel Scott.
Inquiring about the controversial recent military strike on a Venezuelan boat that was said to be carrying illegal drugs, Scott asked if the Trump administration planned to release the full video of the attack.
For the past several days, Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have faced criticism over allegations that a second strike aimed at killing two survivors while they floated in the ocean could be classified as a war crime if it was ordered with the sole purpose of killing defenseless men.
"Are you committed to releasing the full video?" Scott, 32, asked.
Trump, 79, grew irritated by her question. "Didn't I just tell you that?" he fired back.
"You are the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place," the president continued. "Let me just tell you, you are an obnoxious-- a terrible reporter. And it's always the same thing with you. I told you." ...
Another view ...