Novelist Patricia Highsmith (1921 " 1995), who gave us The Talented Mr. Ripley, neatly summarizes America in this paragraph from Strangers on a Train (1950). This suspense novel was published decades before NYS Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Dummkopf Trumpf to "unconditional discharge" (10 Jan 2025). Here, protagonist Guy Haines reveals to his fiance Anne his disgust with his soon-to-be ex-wife Miriam (p. 44): She's everything that should be loathed ... .Sometimes I think I hate everything in the world. No decency, no conscience. She's what people mean when they say America never grows up. America rewards the corrupt ... .. This excerpt explains how abolitionist John Brown could be caught, tried, sentenced, and executed, all within an astonishing 45 days (18 Oct - 2 Dec 1859), yet treasonous Jefferson Davis could outlive A. Lincoln unscathed by 24 years or how Jeffrey Epstein or Senile Satan could get away with their evil for so long: Corruption in America.
NPR Business: The U.S. economy grew faster in the summer compared to the spring, driven by consumer spending as well as investments in AI. Gross domestic product, which broadly measures economic activity, grew at an annual rate of 3.4% July through September, according to a report from the Commerce Department released Thursday. The previous quarter GDP grew at a 2.2% annual pace. A big driver for GDP growth in the third quarter was the strong investments from AI companies, which continue to build out data centers and spend big money in developing the technology. Meanwhile, consumer spending was another of the big drivers of GDP growth, led in part by higher-income Americans who are better able to withstand stubbornly high inflation. Read more
JACKSON, Tenn. -- A federal judge has ordered Austin Elrod, 30, of Somerville, Tennessee, to surrender his hunting license for 5 years and to pay a total of $60,000 for an illegal deer hunting operation, according to West Tennessee U.S. District Attorney, D. Michael Dunavant. An investigation by several law enforcement agencies revealed that Elrod was guiding white-tailed deer hunts in the Fayette County area without the required guiding license. The guided hunts were advertised on Facebook and resulted in the illegal harvesting of seven deer throughout the 2021 and 2022 hunting seasons. Elrod's clients included out-of-state hunters from Georgia. One of these hunters was Thomas Boswell, 39, of Barnesville, Georgia. Boswell participated in the guided hunts without a Tennessee hunting license and was responsible for the illegal harvesting of five of the deer. The harvested deer would then be transported to Georgia. Read more
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has accused a newly ousted three-star general of leaking sensitive information to the media just hours after officials confirmed his removal from a top military planning post. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia as head of strategy, plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a defense official said late Wednesday. Typically, the general in the position and their staff are responsible for generating and coordinating military plans for both the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the president. Read more
U.S. Supreme Court justices turned down a request to pause an agreement between Texas and the Department of Justice that removed a Biden-era rule allowing immigration judges to suspend some deportation proceedings.
A record 33 members have been expelled from China's Communist Party as it concluded a major annual political gathering, which had the most empty seats ever seen.
Sixteen of the 33 members expelled are from the military, according to a communique issued on Thursday, which marked the end of the four-day closed-door gathering held at a hotel in Beijing.
The latest expulsions bring the total number of members removed under Xi's third term to a record 51, up from 35 and five in his first and second terms respectively.
Beyond the plenum, China's top anti-corruption watchdog reported that 680,000 people across the party apparatus have been disciplined in the first nine months of this year.
CNN polling across four key Senate races in the final days of the midterm campaign finds Democrats well-positioned in Michigan and Texas, with no clear leader in the races in Maine or Kansas.
The four states tell the story of a midterm playing field that has shifted in unexpected ways, leaving Democrats hopeful that they'll be able to take control of the Senate after next Tuesday's elections.
That prospect largely seemed out of reach earlier this year, and it remains far from a done deal.
But with President Donald Trump's ratings underwater even in states he won easily in 2024, territory that was once staunchly Republican now appears to be up for grabs.
With Russia's invasion of Ukraine straining on state finances, President Vladimir Putin is reaching for cash to fund his government and the war, squeezing tax revenue from an economy that's increasingly skewed toward the military -- while civilian needs take a back seat.
One of President Donald Trump's "Front Row Joe" superfans has been indicted on 10 felony charges related to alleged possession of child sexual abuse material. A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Adam Radogna, 37, owner of Adamo's Italian Restaurant in Brook Park, Ohio, on Wednesday for allegedly possessing dozens of files containing child sexual abuse material, reported WEWS-TV. He faces two counts of illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance and seven counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor or impaired person, all second-degree felonies, along with one fifth-degree felony count of possessing criminal tools.
President Donald Trump claimed last week that people living near a Louisiana data center were paid $10,000. But a local TV station has found that no such payment exists. Trump brought up the supposed checks in a Monday interview with Fox2 Detroit's Roop Raj, responding to a question about a proposed data center moratorium in Michigan. "We had a community in Louisiana, and they were really opposed," he said. "All of a sudden, they got paid $10,000. Everyone living in the community got a check for $10,000, and everybody loved it." Read more
Donald Trump has called Barack Obama "not a smart guy" as he himself smarts at the former president's pinpoint mockery of his White House decor. Obama, 65, joked about the 80-year-old president's obsession with gaudy renovations during a campaign stop in Cleveland on the weekend. "What's up with the gold?" Obama asked. "He's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory, just gold everywhere." Read more
The U.S. national debt reached 100% of gross domestic product for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, hitting the triple-digit mark for the first time since 1946.
The New York Times article describes Trump's private dining room, which is located just off the Oval Office at the White House, where he watches television and makes phone calls. The publication says most of the space in the dining room is taken up by "printed-out news articles and documents," presumably Harp's handiwork. It goes on to reveal that an area of the room has been allotted to Harp and that she now uses the space to work when she is "not seated behind the president at his desk."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's alleged girlfriend, Tracy Duhon, a religious influencer from Louisiana, has largely been kept from public view during his campaign for U.S. Senate. Until recently, the primary public glimpses of the pair came as they jetted off on vacation to Europe and appeared celebrating New Year's Eve with U.S. fugitives in Dubai. However, a Tuesday report by the New York Times reveals more details about the couple, including Duhon's registration as a Democrat in her home state of Louisiana. Unlike in Texas, voters register by party in the Pelican State.
Republican state Sen. Terry Williams of Rutland pleaded not guilty to a domestic assault charge Wednesday. In a packed courtroom, family watched on as Williams, 74, faced a judge, charged with one count of domestic assault. According to court documents, Williams hit his adult daughter in the face during an argument at his home in Poultney on Monday night. She has been living there with him since July. The victim told police Williams said, "I should have punched you 40 years ago," and then hit her with an open fist. Her face was scratched.
Flvio Bolsonaro declared himself the "true president" of Brazil after losing last Sunday's presidential election and fleeing to the United States. After landing on a private jet with his family in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday morning, the far-right senator published the claim in a letter " even though his own party has recognised the legitimate victory of Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, as have all of Brazil's institutions, and international observers who monitored and endorsed the vote. Brazil's three main newspapers " Folha de S.Paulo, O Globo and O Estado de S.Paulo " all described Bolsonaro's declaration as "coup-mongering".
