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Epstein survivors accuse 'condescending' Todd Blanche of gaslighting in meeting held as part of his AG bid

(The Independent) A survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation said that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche behaved in a “condescending” manner during his meeting with her and other survivors. The meeting came as Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) made meeting with Epstein survivors a prerequisite for his vote to confirm Blanche, the deputy attorney general and President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney. Lara Blume McGee described the meeting to The Independent in a text message on Thursday evening. “Today, Epstein survivors confronted Todd Blanche — and he treated it like a perfunctory audition for votes, not accountability,” Blume McGee said.

Dulcinea

In primetime speech, Trump doesn't provide evidence for illegal voting

(NPR) President Trump, who for years has sowed doubt about the security of American elections, raised claims on Thursday that the country's voting systems are vulnerable to being "rigged and stolen," without providing new evidence of a single fraudulent vote cast in any election. In a 25-minute primetime address from the White House's East Room that included many baseless claims, Trump said he was declassifying intelligence documents that he said reveal "shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure." However, many of the documents the White House posted online during the speech did not appear to fully support sweeping claims the president made.

justaprogressive

Trump's Election Security Speech: A Good Night for Putin

(Mother Jones/David Corn) On Thursday night, after days of buildup, Donald Trump delivered a speech on election security in which he suggested US elections were threatened by China. As Trump assailed US elections as totally rigged and lacking credibility—without offering any evidence of this—he fixated on Beijing. But he provided no proof of Chinese interference with US elections or of any voter fraud. And, perhaps more significantly, he left out a big piece of the picture: Russia. In 2020 the major culprit in terms of election meddling was not China, but Moscow. Who says so? Trump’s own intelligence community.

BumRushDaShow

Speaker Johnson suffers humiliating political defeat, yanks veterans benefits bill

(CNN) Speaker Mike Johnson suffered another humiliating political defeat at the hands of his own party on Thursday when he was forced to abandon plans to pass a veterans benefits bill designed to be one of the GOP’s big legislative wins before the midterms. Just minutes before the bill was slated to come to the floor, Johnson and his team were forced to pull it from the schedule as more than a half-dozen holdouts refused to back the measure.

KS Toronado

Friday's Condensed News Cartoons & Memes

Doodley

Bombshell Poll Reveals Trump�s MAGA Base Crumbling as Midterms Loom

(Daily Beast) President Donald Trump’s approval rating is plummeting, even among his most loyal bloc. A new Washington Post-Ipsos poll spells trouble for the party ahead of the midterms, showing Trump is stuck at 37 percent. Even more damning, though, is that a growing share of his own Republican base is losing enthusiasm for him. A new low of just 15 percent of Americans say they “approve strongly” of Trump, down from 19 percent in February, while 22 percent “approve somewhat.” It marks the first Post-Ipsos poll in which a majority of Trump’s approvers back him only “somewhat” rather than strongly, a sharp reversal from his first term, when roughly two-thirds of his supporters approved strongly.

justaprogressive

A Must Read and Truly Horrifying Story

(TPM/Josh Marshall) The AP has just posted a detailed investigation into the background of David Brouillette, the recently hired ICE agent who shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine. It’s genuinely horrifying on more levels than are easy to describe. Brouillette was hired during ICE’s recent hiring spree, as the agency attempted to rapidly staff up to manage a program of mass deportation. Brouillette has a long history of severe mental illness, a lengthy history of violence against at least two wives as well as his children, stalking, a seemingly endless list of restraining orders, violent threats against other family members and more.

dalton99a

Outrage after ICE agents tackle man at Las Vegas airport

(AP) Video footage of two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tackling a man at the airport in Las Vegas drew public outrage and criticism from elected officials. One video posted on social media showed a man yelling and crying on the ground in Terminal 3 at Harry Reid International Airport on Monday when a man and a masked woman, both in plainclothes, tried to control, handcuff and detain him. When the pair realized they were being filmed, they walked away, leaving the man with a handcuff attached to one arm.

marmar

Pete Hegseth wants to measure your manhood

(Salon) Pete Hegseth has once again decided to humiliate the American military, this time by claiming the troops need more testosterone. But the defense secretary, armed with his perfectly coiffed hair and alleged makeup studio, is ready to restore their manhood. In a video released Wednesday, Hegseth discovered spoke of how “the modern battlefield is brutal and unrelenting” and “demands maximum psychological and mental readiness.” His solution? “High-T,” as he put it.

BumRushDaShow

Andy Burnham is declared leader of Britain's Labour Party, will become prime minister on Monday

(AP) Andy Burnham was officially declared leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, clearing his final hurdle to taking office as prime minister next week. The center-left party announced the result of a leadership contest to replace departing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in which Burnham was the only contender. The announcement was a forgone conclusion after he secured nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons as of Thursday night.

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Appeals court says NJ's AR-15, high-capacity magazine bans violate Second Amendment

5 min ago - 07/17/26 3:11 PM ET A federal appeals court invalidated New Jersey’s ban on “assault” firearms and high-capacity magazines in a 10-5 vote on Friday, ruling that it violates the Second Amendment. The decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Co ... (The Hill)

Trump Admin Warns 4 States Over 250,000 Potential Noncitizens Voting

1 hr ago - Published Jul 17, 2026 at 10:07 AM EDT updated Jul 17, 2026 at 01:52 PM EDT Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin this week sent letters to officials in four states, warning that a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) review identified what t ... (Newsweek)

Obama calls out Vance for his speeches on migrants that ignore the second lady's background

2 hrs ago - Friday 17 July 2026 10:01 EDT Former President Barack Obama took a rare swipe at JD Vance over his statements on immigrants that ignore the second lady’s life story. Speaking with Malcolm Gladwell on his podcast about post-Civil War Reconstruct ... (The Independent)

DHS Secretary Mullin threatens to prosecute election chiefs who refuse voter roll demands

3 hrs ago - By Jacob Knutson July 17, 2026 Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened top election officials in all 50 states and D.C. with criminal charges if they do not comply with the Trump administration’s demands to feed their voter rol ... (the guardian)

Powerful earthquake in Mexico shakes Guatemala and El Salvador

3 hrs ago - "A powerful earthquake in southern Mexico shook nearby countries Guatemala and El Salvador on Friday, with the US Geological Survey measuring its preliminary magnitude as 7.3. The earthquake’s epicenter was located 48 kilometers southwest of Aqu ... (CNN)

Israel's parliament dissolves ahead of Oct. 27 elections

3 hrs ago - Updated 2:32 AM EDT, July 17, 2026 TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s parliament dissolved early Friday after passing a marathon of bills in the last moments of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition. The Knesset, which ... (AP)

Trump says ABC, NBC licenses should be revoked over refusal to air speech on election integrity

4 hrs ago - President Donald Trump lit into ABC and NBC for refusing to interrupt regularly scheduled programming to air his speech Thursday night on election integrity. Trump, who has for years feuded with the country’s most prominent media companies, clai ... (Washington Post)

Hotard drivers say 'We just want what's fair' while holding work stand down in Sulphur

4 hrs ago - By Patrick Deaville Published: Jul. 17, 2026 at 5:03 AM CDT|Updated: 5 hours ago SULPHUR, La. (KPLC) - Some bus drivers with Hotard Coaches in Sulphur are holding a work stand down this morning after they say they tried to bring their concerns to man ... (KPLC)

Thune fumes as Mike Johnson hurls 'risky' political problems in his lap: Insiders

4 hrs ago - July 17, 2026 8:51AM ET House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) are "on completely different planets" as they try to push President Donald Trump's agenda, Laura Weiss and Andrew Desiderio wrote for Punchbowl New ... (Raw Story)

'Laws were broken': multistate effort to stop Paramount's $111bn merger heads to court

5 hrs ago - Fri 17 Jul 2026 07.00 EDT Last modified on Fri 17 Jul 2026 07.01 EDT A last-ditch effort to block the merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) is heading to court as 12 Democratic state attorneys general attempt to stop the $ ... (The Guardian)

US appeals court keeps in place Pentagon's escort policy for journalists

6 hrs ago - July 16, 2026 10:21 PM EDT Updated 3 hours ago WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court sided with President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday in a case brought by The New York Times over the Pentagon's press access rest ... (Reuters)

Document Declassified by Trump Reveals Russia Tried To Help Him Win the 2020 Election

7 hrs ago - Jul 17th, 2026, 12:11 am President Donald Trump addressed the nation on Thursday night in a speech that alleged the country’s election integrity is at risk. During his 26-minute address, he urged viewers to visit the official White House websi ... (MEDIAite)

Potential strike looms after unionized workers, Mount Nittany fail to reach deal Thursday

7 hrs ago - By Bret Pallotto July 17, 2026 6:00 AM Negotiations between Mount Nittany Medical Center and unionized hospital workers ended Thursday without a new labor agreement, leaving the two sides at an impasse less than two weeks before a potential strike. R ... (Centre Daily)

Trump zeroes in on election security. His team has cut thousands of election-focused federal workers.

7 hrs ago - July 16, 2026 / 8:30 PM EDT Election security has been one of President Trump's primary preoccupations for years — lately, he's been pressing Republicans in Congress to pass a voting regulation bill and he delivered a live primetime speech on t ... (CBS News)

Andy Burnham is declared leader of Britain's Labour Party, will become prime minister on Monday

8 hrs ago - Updated 7:15 AM EDT, July 17, 2026 LONDON (AP) — Andy Burnham was officially declared leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, clearing his final hurdle to taking office as prime minister next week. The center-left party announ ... (AP)

United to offer travelers free flight changes to avoid landing at Trump International Airport

8 hrs ago - Fox Business Published July 17, 2026 3:00am EDT United to offer travelers free flight changes to avoid landing at Trump International Airport Travelers can switch to Fort Lauderdale or Miami at no extra charge By Landon Mion FOXBusiness {snip video} ... (Fox Business)

Epstein survivors accuse 'condescending' Todd Blanche of gaslighting in meeting held as part of his AG bid

8 hrs ago - Thursday 16 July 2026 21:48 EDT A survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation said that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche behaved in a “condescending” manner during his meeting with her and other survivors. The meeting c ... (The Independent)

Trump-Appointed Federal Judge Scolds DOJ for Including Fake AI-Generated Case in Pleading

8 hrs ago - Jul 16th, 2026, 7:02 pm Attorneys with the Department of Justice were scolded by a federal judge in an order Thursday for using what appeared to be a fake AI-generated case citation. During President Donald Trump’s second term, the DOJ has expe ... (MEDIAite)

Speaker Johnson suffers humiliating political defeat, yanks veterans benefits bill

9 hrs ago - Updated Jul 16, 2026, 7:26 PM ET PUBLISHED Jul 16, 2026, 4:32 PM ET Speaker Mike Johnson suffered another humiliating political defeat at the hands of his own party on Thursday when he was forced to abandon plans to pass a veterans benefits bill desi ... (CNN Politics)

National Intelligence confirmation hearing highlights continued controversy around the 2020 election

9 hrs ago - Posted 6:17 PM, Jul 16, 2026 If he's confirmed to be the next director of National Intelligence, one of Jay Clayton's roles will be to ensure that Americans are able to vote legally without roadblocks. But during his confirmation hearing, Clayton rep ... (Scripps News)