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The oil industry is warning the Trump administration that a Hormuz-sized hole in the world’s petroleum market is steadily draining inventories to levels that are likely to send global energy prices surging in the next several weeks, according to four executives. Industry executives have flagged the issue to senior White House officials and Cabinet members in recent weeks as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing dialogue with the U.S. energy industry, the people said. The warnings came as recently as late last month as data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and other sources began showing that fuel makers were...

Ukrainian soldiers are racing against time to achieve a breakthrough in the southeast before the rainy and cold weather kicks in and worsens fighting conditions, which could happen as soon as next month. The counteroffensive is unlikely to end just because of poor weather, but it is expected to complicate the fighting and slow down operations. Ukraine is stressing the weather will not impact the overall military operation, but some analysts expect the war could soon shift into a new phase. Mathieu Boulegue, a nonresident senior fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy...

Republican Congressman Tom Kean Jr has not been seen in Washington or his New Jersey hometown for months, but he is expected to easily win his party's backing for re-election on Tuesday, after a recent endorsement from President Donald Trump. "Tom Kean has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election," Trump wrote on social media, adding, "HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!" Kean is running unopposed so has not needed to campaign with voters. But US media report he also has not been in Congress, and has missed more than 100 votes. He was last seen on 5 March. His...

“You need Chevron, I need Chevron.” That’s the message from Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Xavier Becerra, who’s making waves by breaking with the left on one of California’s most ambitious climate policies — as he refuses to fully back the state’s plan to phase out new gas-powered vehicle sales by 2035. The former Health and Human Services secretary, who leads polling ahead of the June 2 primary to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, stopped short of endorsing the state’s target to ban new gas and hybrid vehicle purchases starting in 2035. “California should transition from gas-powered vehicles when it makes sense —...

A new UC Berkeley-Los Angeles Times poll shows Democrat Xavier Becerra leading with 25%, followed by Republican Steve Hilton at 21% and billionaire progressive Tom Steyer close behind at 19%.

Across California, progressives enter the June 2 primaries with rare chances to score major wins. In the governor’s race, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer is running as a progressive class traitor. He enjoys the monetary resources necessary to challenge the party establishment-backed Xavier Becerra, a veteran congressman who was secretary of Health and Human Services under the Biden administration. In Los Angeles, City Councilwoman Nithya Raman is an insurgent attempting to unseat Karen Bass, the embattled incumbent mayor endorsed by Kamala Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Yet progressives are undermining their own prospects. California’s top-two “jungle primaries,” in which...

Graham Platner exchanged sexually explicit texts with multiple women while married to his wife, Amy Gertner, his campaign confirmed to POLITICO on Saturday, the latest scandal he has faced since launching his Maine Senate campaign last year.In a statement, Gertner slammed a former friend for spreading “malicious gossip” in the wake of a Wall Street Journal report that she had informed her husband’s campaign of the texts in late August.“I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend,” she said. “In the months since, I have had to watch as she spread malicious gossip to...

New York City has long been a place of extremes. During the Gilded Age (about 1870 to 1900), the contrast in the way the wealthy and the poor lived in New York was drastic... Photograph of William K. Vanderbilt’s home on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, where the lavish costume ball was held in 1883.In stark contrast to lavish balls and mansions of the city’s wealthiest citizens, photojournalist Jacob Riis captured the shocking living conditions of New York’s poverty-stricken population in How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York (1890). His photographs reveal...

Well, I gave him a chance, offering my services.I was willing to give the young novice a primer on what a mayor can and can’t do, and let him know City Hall is a reality show like no other he’s been on. But Spencer Pratt didn’t call me in response to my column last week.I did, however, hear from a slew of his most ardent supporters.Steven C. had this to say: “You’re a left-wing idiot, and … it’s time for you to retire. You’re a joke!!! You always have been!!! God bless Spencer Pratt and the 45th and 47th President...

SummaryNew law in effect from December allows descendants of Canadians beyond first generation to claim citizenship Nearly half of new approvals are Americans, Canada's immigration agency says Americans' interest in Canadian citizenship partly fueled by US political divisions, lawyers ​say TORONTO, May 30 (Reuters) - While U.S.-Canadian relations have frayed under U.S. President Donald Trump, data on ‌Canadian citizenship approvals under recently widened rules suggests many Americans would welcome the chance to become Canadian. Under the new rules, which allow more descendants of Canadians to claim citizenship compared with just first-generation descendants previously, approvals for proof of citizenship by descent...

Former reality TV star and Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt rebuffed a potential endorsement from President Donald Trump, telling NBC News on Thursday, “I don’t need anyone’s endorsement but mothers’. That’s who’s getting me elected.” Pratt, who has focused his insurgent campaign against Mayor Karen Bass on calling for better wildfire management and combating homelessness, added that he’s chosen not to comment on Trump or national politics on principle throughout his campaign. “My race is a local race. I don’t care what’s going on in the, in the national politics, in other states. I am running for a local...

Federal income tax experts tell POLITICO money from the DOJ's Judgment Fund, which the new $1.8 billion program is drawing on, is generally taxable.President Donald Trump isn’t supposed to directly profit from the dismissal of his lawsuit against the IRS.And yet, he could still owe taxes on the money going to set up a central feature of that deal — the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”Some tax practitioners say the way that the fund, which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced May 18, is structured likely makes it an income tax liability for the president, potentially costing hundreds of millions of...

***New research has revealed that one in five boys aged 12-16 is either in or knows of a boy their age who is in a romantic relationship with an AI companion. A report carried out by men’s organisation Male Allies UK and published last month spoke with more than 1,000 boys aged 12-16 in focus groups *** The findings make stark reading: eight in 10 boys (85 per cent) have had a conversation with a chatbot, with 43 per cent saying they talk to bots so they can ask questions without feeling embarrassed. More than a quarter (26 per cent)...

The best hope for ending a poorly planned war, which started with scant consultation with Congress or the American people, may be an unsatisfactory peace that leaves critical issues to be resolved later and deepens Washington strife. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said a deal to halt the conflict he chose against Iran is imminent and very close. Each time, his predictions turned out to be wishful thinking or a misreading of Iran’s true intentions. So it’s no surprise his latest claims that a framework agreement with Tehran is near have been met with skepticism and confusion — nor that...

Washington’s war hawks are molting down over President Trump’s outreach to Iran. Senator Ted Cruz says that he is “concerned.” Senator Roger Wicker fears a “disaster.” Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo deemed a preliminary agreement with Iran “not remotely America First.” Trump and his advisors are having none of it. Responding to Pompeo, White House communications director Steve Cheung observed that “he should shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals.” Trump, who angered Senate Republicans earlier this week by proposing a $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6 victims and by endorsing Ken Paxton...

The D.C. establishment is showing its true colors in their latest swampy move. Senate Republicans are considering adding eligibility restrictions to the new “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as part of the ongoing reconciliation bill process. As part of the settlement agreement in “President Donald J. Trump v. Internal Revenue Service,” the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the formation of “The Anti-Weaponization Fund,” funding it with approximately $1.776 billion from the federal Judgment Fund. This agreement was formed in place of Trump or his family receiving any of the $10 billion in restitution they sought through the original lawsuit. FLASH: DOJ expands...

Democrats won an unexpected victory Tuesday when legislation to halt the Iran war cleared an initial hurdle in the Senate — a vote that strengthens their hand in the increasingly fractious debate over the conflict. Critics of the military operation took advantage of a shorthanded Republican conference — three GOP senators missed the vote — resulting in a 50-47 decision to force debate on a rebuke of President Donald Trump. War opponents gained another GOP defector in Sen. Bill Cassidy. The Louisiana Republican, who voted to convict President Donald Trump in the wake of his second impeachment over the Jan....

https://archive.ph/CHQ6i President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed a new effort to reach a deal with Iran in a difficult call on Tuesday, three sources said, with one source saying Netanyahu's "hair was on fire" after the call. Why it matters: A revised peace memo was drafted by Qatar and Pakistan with input from the other regional mediators to try to bridge the gaps between the U.S. and Iran, the sources said. It comes with Trump vacillating over ordering a massive strike on Iran and holding out for a deal. Netanyahu is highly skeptical about the negotiations and...

Liberal podcast star Jennifer Welch branded President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement a “Nazi-style cult” during the Monday’s edition of her show. Welch ranted that MAGA supporters are fake Americans who need to be placed in a special historical category, much like citizens of the Third Reich. “We cannot let them besmirch the name the United States of America. Let it be MAGA. Much like when you think of Germany, you don’t associate modern-day Germany as being Nazis. You don’t associate that,” Welch said on I’ve Had It. “So we need to separate ourselves from this Nazi-style cult,...

The Trump administration is considering tripling the amount some immigrants are fined if they miss court hearings and are later deported. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the amount immigrants currently pay is not enough to cover the cost of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents locating, detaining and deporting them. The proposed change comes amid a sharp rise in people failing to appear for immigration court hearings, which experts say is a result of multiple factors, including fear of detention. "The move to 18K for in absentia orders, where it is not clear if the recipient...