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Stephen A. Smith has challenged President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to a debate over DEI policies after an article about color-barrier-breaking MLB legend Jackie Robinson was removed from a Defense Department website. On Thursday’s edition of his ESPN show First Take, Smith took Hegseth to task after the Department of Defense (DOD) removed an article about Robinson’s military service from its website. The article on Robinson was not targeted by DOD; instead, it was one of several scrubbed as part of the effort to purge diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) content from government websites....

During portions of an interview with NPR aired on Monday’s broadcast of “Morning Edition,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated that the border is more secure than it was at the end of the last year before the pandemic, but the Biden administration didn’t succeed “in communicating to the American people successfully the challenges of migration at a historic level since World War II.” Mayorkas said, “The border right now is more secure than it was at the end of 2019, the last year before the pandemic struck.” And that the number of people crossing the border has been lower...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Wednesday congratulated President-elect Trump on his projected win in the 2024 presidential election. “Ann and I extend congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump and to Vice President-elect J.D. Vance,” Romney said in a post on the social platform X. “Congratulations, as well, to the new members of the U.S. Senate and House,” he added. “The people have spoken. It is now up to these leaders to thoughtfully chart the course ahead, as it is not without challenges. May God bless our great United States.” Trump secured another four years in the White House on Wednesday, defeating...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) acknowledged “there are serious challenges in the world” like the tensions in the Middle East and the port strike, but “many of these challenges are as a result of Donald Trump’s policies and things he set in motion and we need serious people right now to address that.” Host Neil Cavuto asked, [relevant exchange begins around 1:00] “[T]his message coming today about, now you have a port strike going on, you’ve got this turbulence in the Middle East again, that seems to be a constant,...

Even though the petition deadlines for minor party and independent presidential candidates have not yet passed in most states, already eight minor party and independent presidential candidates are facing challenges to their ballot access. This is the highest number of such candidates in history. “Challenge” means an outside individual or group initiated an administrative action or a lawsuit to keep someone off the ballot. It does not mean that the state election office itself kept a candidate off the ballot. Generally, when challenges are mounted to a minor party or independent presidential candidate, only one such candidate is the target,...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is challenging former President Trump to release a plan for ending the ongoing war with Russia. “If Trump knows how to finish this war, he should tell us today,” Zelensky said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Wednesday. “If there are risks to Ukrainian independence, if we lose statehood — we want to be ready for this, we want to know.” Zelensky said in the interview that he was “potentially ready” to meet with Trump to hear his proposal, according to Bloomberg. Trump has repeatedly claimed that he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine in just...

President Biden said he is willing to debate former President Donald Trump twice ahead of the election — but only if Trump agrees to his strict terms. “Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020, and now he wants to debate me again,” Biden said in the fiery video released Wednesday. “Well, make my day, pal,” Biden, 81, added. The Biden camp, however, rejected allowing the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates to run the face-offs, despite it having done so since 1988, a letter obtained by the New York Times revealed. Instead of the commission debates on Sept. 16,...

For four years now, either as a physical virus or as a looming threat, the COVID-causing pathogen SARS-CoV-2 has been the elephant in every room—sometimes confronted and sometimes ignored but always present. While once we dreamed of eradicating COVID, now much of society has resigned itself to SARS-CoV-2’s constant presence—a surrender that would once have been unthinkable. Worldwide, there were more than 11,000 reported deaths from COVID between mid-December 2023 and mid-January 2024, and more than half of those deaths occurred in the U.S. In that same time frame, nearly one million cases were reported to the World Health Organization...

Embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), accused of accepting gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for influence, is fighting to suppress evidence from search warrants executed by the government, including the warrant that led to the seizure of hundreds of thousands in cash and gold bars from his residence. This comes as Menendez told the Washington Post that he thinks that if he beats the three felony charges laid out against him in a September indictment quickly enough, he could win reelection to his Senate seat, though he has not formally launched a bid to...

On Saturday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” Biden 2024 Campaign Co-Chair Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) stated that maybe as a result of the Hunter Biden hearings “we will all learn a little more about how we ought to conduct ourselves when we are faced with these kinds of challenges. That’s what being a public servant is all about, that’s what the President of the United States is all about, is showing the country how we should act and react in time[s] of crises.”

On Monday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged that we do need to have a fiscally responsible path, especially since “the higher interest rate environment does pose additional challenges” but we don’t need offsets for Israel and Ukraine spending since they are emergency spending. After Yellen pushed for the aid package proposed by the Biden administration for Israel and Ukraine, co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked, “[W]e are having our debt and deficit go up and up and up and up and up. We had Stan Druckenmiller on our program recently. He said, we are spending like...

A Catholic priest and a nun were taking a rare afternoon off and enjoying a round of golf. The priest stepped up to the first tee and took a mighty swing. He missed the ball entirely and said "Shoot, I missed." The good Sister told him to watch his language. On his next swing, he missed again. "Shoot, I missed." "Father, I'm not going to play with you if you keep swearing," the nun said tartly.. The priest promised to do better and the round continued. On the 4th tee, he misses again. The usual comment followed. Sister is really...

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan speaks at an annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher) Outgoing Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said managing the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2015 riots in Baltimore and his cancer diagnosis were the greatest challenges he faced during his time as governor. Hogan met with the Washington, D.C.-based Fox affiliate FOX 5 for an interview to reflect on his time as governor as his second term comes to an end, saying the pandemic was probably the “toughest” challenge he faced. But he said handling the violence...

Parents say the app’s algorithm showed their children deadly challenges TikTok is facing multiple lawsuits from parents who say their children died of strangulation attempting the “blackout challenge,” after the app showed them videos of other people trying it. One suit filed against the company in June alleges that at least seven specific children died last year while attempting the challenge, which the complaint says “encourages users to choke themselves with belts, purse strings, or anything similar until passing out.” All the children who reportedly died were under 15 years old. We’re not going to get into the distressing details...

MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski on Wednesday reacted to actor Matthew McConaughey’s White House press briefing the night before, in which he pushed for a series of gun control proposals. Brzezinski said that McConaughey’s remarks cut her to the “core” and suggested that Republicans who were reluctant to change gun laws should “go to the front lines here in America and actually show that you have some bravery.”

A little African penguin named Rosie is making a big impact on children with special needs. Veterinarians at Arizona's Odysea Aquarium first noticed Rosie's skeletal abnormalities when she was hatched in 2019. "We knew very early in Rosie's development that she was a little bit different," Jessica Peranteau, director of animal control and education at Odysea Aquarium, told KNXV. "Penguins are able to sit up on their own when they get ready to start to walk, but Rosie was not showing us she could do that on her own. So we decided as a team we needed to give her...

From September 30, 2021 presentation by Clint [redacted] Email: [Redacted] Disclaimer: comments by Clint [redacted] recorded here, should be viewed like something you would hear at a seminar. Since we have not yet hired Clint to represent us, his guidance is not specific legal advice to you individually or this group. Clint’s initial message to us – about challenging mandates -- was a bitter pill, but it does clarify some things and help us focus on the things that matter. The more important discussion covered was how to successfully acquire an exemption, especially a religious one. EEOC and Legal Challenges...

Four months into her time as vice president, Kamala Harris is still finding her footing in the role. Harris is seen as a major reason why President Biden won the White House, and she’s considered an heir apparent for the Democratic nomination in 2024 or 2028. But she has struggled to break through as she juggles an evolving portfolio, adapts to a new staff and builds a relationship with Biden, who has a completely different style than her own.

ABC legal analyst Sunny Hostin said on Tuesday’s broadcast of “The View” that President Donald Trump’s legal challenges to the 2020 election were “fake.” According to Hostin, finances were the real motivation behind the challenges.

Whenever someone comes on TV introduced as a "national expert on American election law," change the channel, because no such person exists.  We have 50 very different sets of state laws that govern elections and just as many sets of courts with different ideas on how they work. Each state has to be considered by itself, taking into account what a contest or recount there might actually entail. For example, Michigan has unique law that excludes precincts with mistaken paperwork from official recount totals.  These are not necessarily fraudulent, but often the work of sloppy, inept officials who give out ballots without...