Top Items:
Patricia Zengerle / Reuters:
Hegseth says he would have ordered second strike on Caribbean vessel — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Saturday that he backs a September 2 decision to launch a second strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean. — “I fully support that strike,” Hegseth …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, KDFX-TV, The American Conservative and Associated Press
RELATED:
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Scoop: Democrats call Trump's bluff on releasing boat strike video … - “We look forward to your prompt response and release of this footage to the public, as has already been promised by President Trump,” the lawmakers, led by Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter to Hegseth that was obtained by Axios.
Discussion:
Newsweek, Joe.My.God. and Salon
David Klepper / Associated Press:
Hegseth defends strikes on alleged cartel boats, says Trump can order use of force ‘as he sees fit’ — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended strikes on alleged drug cartel boats during remarks Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, saying President Donald Trump has the power …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, One America News Network, NewsMax.com and Fox News
Joseph Gedeon / The Guardian:
Pressure grows on ‘reckless’ Hegseth as twin scandals engulf Pentagon chief
Discussion:
The Independent
Gil Duran / The Nerd Reich:
Joe Lonsdale Calls For Public Hangings — Joe Lonsdale, a billionaire member of the “PayPal Mafia” who is also a co-founder of Palantir, wants a return to draconian punishment and public executions in the United States. — Wrote Lonsdale on X yesterday:
Discussion:
New Republic
Miami Herald:
Exclusive: Woman detained by feds in Keys says she was following agents' orders — The woman in medical scrubs who was forcibly yanked from her car while on her way to work in Key Largo, screaming she was a U.S. citizen, said Friday she had obeyed the federal agents' commands to roll …
Mark Sherman / Associated Press:
The Supreme Court weighs another step in favor of broad presidential power sought by Trump — Chief Justice John Roberts has led the Supreme Court 's conservative majority on a steady march of increasing the power of the presidency, starting well before Donald Trump's time in the White House.
Discussion:
HuffPost, Balkinization, GV Wire, Federal News Network, NewsMax.com, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, Bloomberg and KDFX-TV
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New York Times:
The Supreme Court Is Failing at Its Most Important Job — In early November, a conservative Supreme Court justice showed a cleareyed understanding of the threat that President Trump poses to the constitutional order. During an oral argument in a case involving tariffs that Mr. Trump unilaterally imposed …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit, The Hill, France 24, IJR and SCOTUSblog
Emma Smith / BBC:
President Trump wins inaugural Fifa Peace Prize — United States President Donald Trump received the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize before the draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup. — The award has been introduced this year by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, designated for a person who has …
Ben Munster / Politico:
Musk threatens ‘response’ against individuals who imposed €120M X penalty — The tech billionaire blasted “EU woke Stasi commissars” in posts on his social media platform, X. — Elon Musk slammed the EU after it slapped a fine on his social media platform X for violating transparency rules …
Discussion:
Reuters, New York Sun, The Post Millennial, Fox Business, IJR, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, NewsMax.com, nltimes.nl, Deseret News, NBC News, The National Pulse, Mother Jones, The Register, MS NOW, NPR, Gizmodo, Ars Technica, Washington Post, Bloomberg, CBS News, The Daily Signal, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, New York Times, The Hill, Euro Weekly News, TheJournal.ie, Associated Press, The Verge, Politico and Axios, more at Techmeme »
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Ben Munster / Politico:
Top US official says EU regulation ‘undermines’ NATO ties
Top US official says EU regulation ‘undermines’ NATO ties
Discussion:
NewsMax.com
Kathleen Wong / USA Today:
National parks cut free entry for MLK Day, add Trump's birthday — In 2026, Americans will get free admission to national parks on President Donald Trump's birthday but no longer on Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, according to the National Park Service website.
Discussion:
NPR, OutsideTheBeltway, The Independent, CBS News, twitchy.com, TMZ.com, MS NOW and Raw Story
RELATED:
Alexandra Marquez / NBC News:
Trump administration alters national parks' free-entry days, cutting MLK Day and Juneteenth
Trump administration alters national parks' free-entry days, cutting MLK Day and Juneteenth
Discussion:
Associated Press, Mock Paper Scissors and Axios
Axios:
How Trump flipped America's race conversation — President Trump's Cabinet applauded him this week after he described Somali immigrants as “garbage” who “contribute nothing. He unapologetically condemned an entire community, with no fear of political backlash.
Discussion:
Raw Story
Austin Kocher:
A Record 65,735 People in ICE Custody as of November 30 — New ICE detention data came out yesterday, taking us through the last day of November. The total number of people detained on a single day increased to 65,735, up from 65,135 on November 16. Although single-day numbers might exceed …
Adrian Carrasquillo / The Bulwark:
Trump Weighs Moving on From Noem — The DHS secretary has overseen the president's most controversial domestic initiative. But her future is increasingly in doubt. — ∙ Paid — HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY KRISTI NOEM has been at the center of the Trump administration's marquee domestic policy …
Marisa Kabas / The Handbasket:
Giving the gift of independent journalism: a guide — The Handbasket has subscription suggestions for almost everyone on your list. … This year was one of enormous growth for independent media, and The Handbasket has been fortunate enough to be part of it.
Justin Glawe / Public Notice:
Trump follows through on an especially ugly campaign promise — This special Saturday edition of PN is free thanks to paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ — 🛥️ Subscribe to PN 🛥️ — For years, Donald Trump has fantasized about lawlessly executing drug dealers.
Discussion:
Fox News
Rebecca Solnit / The Guardian:
Trump wants to recreate a white America that never existed — The persecution of brown people and mass deportations will not create the white country of far-right fantasy — As Donald Trump deteriorates and his grasp on power fades, he has been lashing out furiously at female journalists …
Fredreka Schouten / CNN:
How the Supreme Court emboldened Democrats in California and elsewhere redrawing US House maps — Supreme Court Congressional news — The Supreme Court's endorsement of how Texas Republicans redrew the state's congressional map is offering hope to California Democrats as they prepare …
Discussion:
Washington Post, NewsMax.com, Politico, Democracy Docket, IJR, New Republic and Washington Examiner
Sasha Polakow-Suransky / Financial Times:
The sorry history of US policy in the Middle East — This administration's transactionalism marks a departure in America's approach to Israel, Palestine and the rest of the region — For decades, US policy in the Middle East has consistently failed to bring regional peace or accomplish …
Ana Swanson / New York Times:
Have Trump's Tariffs Gone as High as They Can Go? Businesses Hope So … Before President Trump's tariffs took effect this year, the Chicken of the Sea factory in Lyons, Ga., was running its production lines full speed, canning enough imported tuna to build up four to six months of inventory in warehouses around the United States.
Jason Linkins / New Republic:
Hey, Does Anyone Want to Talk About Donald Trump's Infirmities? — In case you missed it, President Donald Trump fell asleep on television this week. There he was, in the middle of a meeting with the members of his Cabinet, completely set adrift on memory bliss as the pool cameras rolled, locked on his dozy face.
Naftali Bendavid / Washington Post:
Trump struggles to persuade Americans to ignore affordability issues — A president who has often seemed to float above the laws of politics confronts a new political reality. — Just now … President Donald Trump has said drug prices are falling by as much as 1,500 percent, a mathematical impossibility.
Discussion:
NBC News, The Daily Signal, MS NOW, Raw Story, New Republic, New York Post and Democrats
Lauren Brensel / Politico:
Congress struggles to unite behind a plan for Obamacare … “Some of our folks who are working on this issue are trying to come up with something that unites Senate Republicans,” Thune told POLITICO this week, adding that there are “consultations going on all the time with the White House.”
Discussion:
Breitbart, NewsMax.com, The Atlantic, Washington Times, Fortune, Bloomberg and Raw Story
Paul Kane / Washington Post:
Anger is a defining character trait for both parties, new study shows — Updated Pew research shows Democrats are now at record levels of anger toward government, surpassing previous GOP records. — Just now … For almost 20 years, Americans have grown considerably more angry toward the federal government.
Discussion:
Pew Research Center
Emily Ngo / Politico:
Immigration courts thrown into chaos as Trump administration purges dozens of judges … So far this year, the Trump administration has dismissed at least 98 of the approximately 700 immigration judges who were on the bench, according to the National Association of Immigration Judges …
Discussion:
The Hill
Catherine Kim / Politico:
How Chiropractors Became the Backbone of MAHA … Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has the crowd in thrall when he declares, “Chiropractors are my kind of people.” — It's September 2023, and Kennedy is a long-shot presidential contender at the moment, not yet the most powerful health official in the United States.
Josh Christenson / New York Post:
How Chihuahua-walking, ‘autistic-like’ pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. stumped Biden's FBI for years — The confessed Jan. 6 pipe bomber flummoxed former President Joe Biden's FBI before he was arrested and charged this week with planting the explosives outside the headquarters …
Discussion:
Daily Mail, New York Times, The Hill, American Thinker, Althouse, CBS News, RedState, WUSA, CNN, The Guardian, One America News Network, HotAir, DNYUZ, New York Daily News, WTTG-TV, The Daily Signal, NBC News, PJ Media, Fox News, RealClearPolitics, Reuters and MS NOW
Darlene Superville / Associated Press:
Trump awards medals to the Kennedy Center honorees in an Oval Office ceremony — President Donald Trump on Saturday presented medals to the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees during an event in the Oval Office, hailing the slate of artists he had a hand in choosing as “perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class” ever assembled.
Discussion:
Deadline, NewsMax.com, DNYUZ, Associated Press and The Independent
