@#3 ... Iran closes Strait of Hormuz again despite orange chomo's ceasefire deal ...

Defense Sec Hegseth's "Mission Accomplished" moment?

VP Vance continues on his Make Putin Great Again tour of Hungary.

More from the article ...

... Vance said the Trump administration had made "significant progress" in its efforts to broker a halt to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and an accord between Kyiv and Moscow, but conceded it had been "the hardest war to solve."

"In some ways we thought it would be the easiest, but it has been the hardest," Vance said.

He criticized European leaders while praising Orban, arguably the NATO leader who has retained the closest ties to Moscow during the war, for their behavior amid the diplomatic impasse.

"We've been disappointed by a lot of political leadership in Europe because they don't seem particularly interested in solving this particular conflict," he said.

European governments, meanwhile, counter that while they want to bring the conflict to an end, it should be what they call a just peace and not amount to an enforced partial Ukrainian capitulation. ...

... The story quickly fizzled. And instead of receiving a Pulitzer, the Blaze was forced to backtrack. It retracted its story on December 4. As for Baker, he was fired on Wednesday morning, as the publication faces the possibility of a massive libel judgment over the story. ...

Quelle surprise.

Will the Democrats be able to maintain the momentum going into November?

@#5 ... What WAS a surprise was the 25% drop in the winning margin. ...

Yup.

Another view ...

Related ...

More from the article ...

... Peer pressure isn't what it used to be -- a new study has found more teens feel pressured to be online than they do to smoke, vape, ditch class and even drink.

The poll of 2,000 American children aged 11 to 17 found 44% feel peer pressure to be online or on social media. That's compared to other vices, such as smoking and vaping (31%), ditching class (28%), drinking alcohol (24%), shoplifting (13%) and vandalism (8%).

The top platforms kids said they have felt pressured to be on are TikTok (44%), Instagram (39%), Facebook (37%), Snapchat (35%), YouTube (34%) and Roblox (24%).

Over half (56%) said they've felt left out by friends and peers because they weren't in the same online groups or social media platforms as them. And 36% frequently worry about how many likes, comments, views or reactions they receive on their social posts.

Over a third (37%) admit phones and social media posts frequently cause arguments within their friend groups. ...

(back when AI was just a name for drum machines and synthesizers ...)

@#3 ... Which, by my count, is now the 23rd time in my life a government has searched for "waste, fraud, and abuse", and come up underwhelmed. ...

Yep.

There's also that ~voter fraud~ thing.

Which is not anywhere near as wide-spread as Pres Trump asserts.

From what I've seen, those who have been prosecuted for voter fraud seem to tend towards the GOP.

imo, PM Netanyahu has gone too far.

He seems to be faced with a decision of continuing the atrocities of his war, or face a trial for other less than honorable activities.

@#11 ... A doctor from MS NOW? ...

I agree. That source raises questions.

That aside, I have seen his commentaries during the COVID pandemic, and those commentaries seemed to be more concerned about the health of Americans than politics.

But I do want to note that in the current health environment where the leader of health in the United States is anti-vaccine, yeah, a doctor providing health opinions may be easily elasticized.

Related?

Pres Trump has had issues with SNL for years.

For example ...

More from the article ...

... Since returning to the White House in 2025, President Donald Trump has ramped up immigration detention, with private contractors operating much of the required infrastructure " and reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts after making significant contributions to the president's political operations.

Federal contracting data shows that a small group of private prison operators, charter airlines and security contractors dominated ICE's largest contracts in 2025. Two private prison companies, the GEO Group and CoreCivic received $2.1 billion and $653.5 million in total obligations, respectively, while charter aviation companies including CSI Aviation ($1.1 billion) and Classic Air Charter ($800.2 million) also secured major contracts. Transportation contractor MVM Inc., which moves unaccompanied migrant children and families to detention facilities, received $1.1 billion.

Several of those companies and their executives have contributed to committees affiliated with Trump, according to Federal Election Commission and OpenSecrets data.

- - - The GEO Group PAC, the company's employee-funded political action committee, contributed $1 million to a pro-Trump super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., in 2024.

- - - GEO Group and CoreCivic each donated $500,000 to Trump's 2025 inaugural committee.

- - - GEO Group founder George Zoley and CEO Brian Evans each contributed $11,600 to Trump's joint fundraising committee, the Save America PAC.

- - - Allen Weh, CEO of CSI Aviation, contributed a total of $20,700 to Trump's campaign committee in the 2016, 2018, and 2024 election cycles.

In the first five months of fiscal 2026, CSI Aviation and GEO Group continue to dominate ICE contracting, each holding more than $1 billion in total obligated contracts.

Frank Baumgartner, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said many Americans are unaware of how much the agency spends on immigration enforcement " and how costly that system has become for taxpayers. ...

@#9 ... This situation is going to take a forceful act of Congress. . . and soon! ...

Yeah, do you really expect this Congress to act? When they are adjourned for a couple of weeks?

Along those lines, the Cabinet can also vote to set him aside, but do you really think his Cabinet of toadies would do that?

Has the United States moved into a Oval-Office-Uber-Alles position?

The numbers look similar to Pres Trump's claims of voter fraud.

Lots of bluster, but little substantiation.

More from the article ...

... Only U.S. citizens and some lawfully present immigrants are eligible for Medicaid, which covers health care costs for people with low incomes and disabilities, and the closely related Children's Health Insurance Program. Both programs are administered by states.

Spokespeople from Pennsylvania's and Colorado's Medicaid agencies said, as of March, the states had found no one who needed to be terminated from Medicaid. That was after checking a combined 79,000 names.

Texas has reviewed records of more than 28,000 Medicaid enrollees at the Trump administration's request and terminated coverage for 77 of them, according to Jennifer Ruffcorn, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Human Services.

Ohio has checked 65,000 Medicaid enrollees, of which 260 people were disenrolled from the program, said Stephanie O'Grady, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Medicaid.

In Utah, 42 of the 8,000 enrollees identified by the Trump administration had their Medicaid coverage terminated, said Becky Wickstrom, a spokesperson for the state's Department of Workforce Services. ...

... A popular conservative social media figure ...

Interesting the replies and the repliers the topic garners.

Is the GOP denying the right of military members abroad to vote?

@#8 ... And Obama:

"Trump Takes Credit For Taking Out Bin Laden" ...

Under Pres Obama, there was an agreement reached that involved the US, the EU, China and Russia.

What was that multi-lateral agreement about?

Iran's nuclear capability and international monitoring to assure that Iran stayed within the agreement.

Pres Trump, in his first term tore up that multi-national agreement because, well, fmr Pres obama.

Now, will Pres Trump's meanderings in Iran result in a similar multi-national agreement, one that involves the EU, China and Russia?