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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon released a priority-shifting National Defense Strategy late Friday that chastised U.S. allies to take control of their own security and reasserted the Trump administration’s focus on dominance in the Western Hemisphere above a longtime goal of countering China.The 34-page document, the first since 2022, was highly political for a military blueprint, criticizing partners from Europe to Asia for relying on previous U.S. administrations to subsidize their defense. It called for “a sharp shift — in approach, focus, and tone.” That translated to a blunt assessment that allies would take on more of the burden countering...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota activist who was charged for her role in an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a church released her own video of her arrest Friday after the White House posted a manipulated image online.The White House on Thursday posted a picture on its X page of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong crying with her hands behind her back as she was escorted by a blurred person wearing a badge. The photo was captioned in all caps: “Arrested far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.”A photo posted by Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem’s...

President Donald Trump marked his first year back in office by presiding over a meandering, nearly two-hour-long press briefing to recount his accomplishments, repeating many false claims he made throughout 2025. Among the topics about which he continued to spread falsehoods were the 2020 election, foreign policy, the economy and energy. Here’s a closer look at the facts. 2020 election TRUMP, referencing former President Joe Biden: “... a man that didn’t win the election, by the way, it’s a rigged election. Everybody knows that now. THE FACTS: This is a blatant falsehood that has been disproven many times over… International...

As 79-year-old US President Donald Trump enters the second year of his second term, questions about his physical and cognitive health are a recurring topic amid viral images, defiant responses from the White House and a lack of medical disclosure. The debate echoes earlier controversies around the health of US leaders – and raises uncomfortable questions about transparency and power. Let’s be clear: we have no idea what his health condition is. All we can really assess is what we see,” presidential historian Barbara Perry says. “And what we witness is an almost octogenarian man who keeps nodding off at...

Vocal Trump supporters are demonizing Renee Good, her partner and their allies, with some even using an acronym: AWFUL, or Affluent White Female Urban Liberal. In the days since a federal agent killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, Republican officials and conservative commentators have called the 37-year-old white woman “very violent,” a “deranged lunatic woman” and a “domestic terrorist.” Some right-wing influencers have latched onto a different word — or rather an acronym: Ms. Good, they have said, was AWFUL. “An AWFUL (Affluent White Female Urban Liberal) is dead after running her car into an ICE agent who opened fire on...

In what could prove to be a pivotal election year for the Republicans, with the midterms holding much influence, President Donald Trump arguably needs the support of his own party now more than ever. Especially as he is facing loud calls for impeachment from the Democratic Party on account of his Venezuela operation... Yet there is currently a split forming, as some prominent Republican lawmakers are publicly disagreeing with Trump regarding his renewed annexation threats against Greenland in the wake of the Venezuela intervention. In a series of inflammatory remarks labeled as “utterly unacceptable” by Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen,...

... Mr. Romney’s lead idea is to eliminate the income limit on the Social Security payroll tax. He imagines that a huge 12.4% hike to the marginal rate on an essential cohort of the striving will have a “relatively small impact on economic growth.” Moreover, this whopping increase in social-insurance premiums wouldn’t come with better coverage. Mr. Romney would largely sever the link between Social Security contributions and benefits. We think these changes are poor policy—and we also note that they aren’t taxes on the rich but on salarymen. Mr. Romney dismisses the doomed-from-the-get-go DOGE effort to end the deficit...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order suspending U.S. support for 66 organizations, agencies and commissions, including those affiliated with the United Nations, as the country further retreats from global cooperation.The targets are primarily U.N.-related groups that focus on climate, labor and other issues that the Trump administration has criticized for catering to “woke” initiatives.The decision to withdraw comes as ongoing U.S. military efforts and threats have rattled allies and adversaries alike, including the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and indications of U.S. intention to take over Greenland.On Wednesday morning, the Trump administration seized two Venezuela-linked sanctioned...

Kyle Rittenhouse - who shot three people during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin - offered to travel to Minnesota amid unrest after ICE fatally shot a woman. 'After thinking about it, should I travel across the state line to Minnesota?', Rittenhouse asked in a tweet to his 76,000 followers on X. Five years ago, a 17-year-old Rittenhouse decided to travel from his home in Illinois to Kenosha during Black Lives Matter protests that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was armed with an AR-15-style rifle at a riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he shot three people and killed two....

Leaders of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private agency that has steered federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country, voted Monday to dissolve the organization that was created in 1967. CPB had been winding down since Congress acted last summer to defund its operations at the encouragement of President Donald Trump. Its board of directors chose Monday to shutter CPB completely instead of keeping it in existence as a shell. “CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving,...

As the U.S. military escalates its posture around Venezuela—with naval deployments in the Caribbean, B-52 overflights, lethal strikes on alleged drug boats, and confirmed CIA covert operations—advocates of regime change are reviving a dangerous analogy. Many have pointed to the United States’ 1989 invasion of Panama and toppling of dictator Manuel Noriega as proof that swift, surgical operations can get the job done. In private conversations with several current and former U.S. officials, they have nodded toward this parallel. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who just last month was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has appealed to the United...

A politically charged YouTube video thrust a group of Somali-owned day cares in Minnesota into an uncomfortable spotlight this week, accusing the owners of defrauding the state and unleashing a torrent of threats against them. A lawyer who represents one of the operators of Minnesota Best Childcare Center in Minneapolis, which was featured in the 43-minute video, said his Somali clients have received hundreds of death threats since the video went viral late late last week. “Everybody is very scared right now of being targeted,” attorney Jason Steck said Dec. 31. “Nobody wants to stick their head up. Nobody wants...

Gen Z right-wing influencers like Nick Fuentes have suggested they may not support Vice President JD Vance if he becomes the Republican presidential nominee in 2028 and have praised California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Why It Matters The 2028 election is years away, but talk about who could run for higher office has already begun. Vance is viewed as the frontrunner on the Republican side. The Democratic primary is likely to be more competitive if current polling stands, and Newsom is viewed as a leading candidate. He has cast himself as a staunch rival of the Trump administration. The...

A $6,000 deduction is now law for some older Americans who receive Social Security benefits, a centerpiece of a major new bill signed by President Donald Trump. Promoted as historic relief, the reality is more complex, less generous, and comes with a significant long-term price tag that could undermine the very system it purports to help.

Although there is much to lament in the unconstitutional and illegal policies of the Trump administration, not enough has been said about its lack of compassion and basic human decency. How does it change us as a nation to witness countless acts of cruelty by our government? How does it change how we talk in our society to see a president refer to other nations as “shithole” countries or to tell a female reporter, “quiet, piggy”?

Key Points * Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he is “deeply upset” over Trump’s appointment of a U.S. special envoy to Greenland. * Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. needs the resource-rich Greenland for security reasons. * Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen said: “Greenland belong to Greenlanders, and the U.S. should not take over Greenland.” ************************************************************************************ Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said Monday he will summon the U.S. ambassador to Denmark for a conversation about President Donald Trump’s appointment of a special envoy to Greenland. “I’m deeply upset about the appointment and the statement, which I...

John Stossel interviews James Lindsay, famous for fighting wokeness on the left. Lindsay is vigorously investigating wokeness on the right, mostly but not limited to those following the ideas of Nick Fuentes. ---- A new section of the right is foolishly bashing liberty … and even embracing Marxist ideas. That's why some call them the "woke right."

Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds denounced the wing of his party he claims is threatening to “co-opt the conservative movement” during a speech at a Miami-Dade GOP fundraiser this week, after an anti-immigration candidate started teasing a primary run against him in Florida’s gubernatorial race. “Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, there is this strain going on on the right — they’re calling it the ‘woke right,’” U.S. Rep. Donalds said Tuesday. “There’s some strain going on that’s now saying, ‘Not just no illegal immigration, but no legal immigration.’” His comments during the annual Miami Dade GOP Lincoln Day Dinner...

Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will nominate right-wing lesbian Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce as the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, a role that doesn’t require Senate confirmation. In a January 3 Truth Social post, Trump described Bruce as “a highly respected political analyst” who “after being a liberal activist in the 1990s, saw the lies and fraud of the Radical Left, and quickly became one of the strongest Conservative voices on Radio and Television.”

As his presidential campaign sputtered, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., could sound like a candidate unstuck in time. In June, he spent days responding to a dismissive comment from Barack Obama questioning his commitment to racial justice, saying America was a “land of opportunity, not a land of oppression.” In September, he rolled out an “empower parents” plan by explaining that children “need the ABCs, not CRT.” Wherever he campaigned, he invoked his race and biography as the ultimate rebuke to race-obsessed progressives fixated on a “culture of grievance” instead of personal achievement: “My life disproves their lie.” Republican primary voters,...