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Markwayne Mullin Confirmed as Homeland Security Secretary

Mar 24, 2026Center Left

A Cherokee Nation member who has served as Oklahoma’s junior senator, Mr. Mullin will take charge at a pivotal time.

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Top election predictor confirms it: Republicans are in a rough spot

Alternet.org

14 hours ago

Top election predictor confirms it: Republicans are in a rough spot

President Donald Trump is going to be the main issue in the 2026 midterms, but experts disagree as to whether the impending electoral disaster will be experienced by the Republicans or the Democrats. Now an election expert is shedding light on the situation.“It’s a competitive situation in both the Senate and the House,” DDHQ’s chief elections analyst Geoffrey Skelley told The Hill's Julia Mueller on Sunday. He later added that “the big question is: will the Iranian conflict … will people being concerned about that ratcheting up, is that going to create reverberations in things like the generic ballot that signal ‘OK, Democrats’ advantage is growing again’?”Skelley also pointed out that Democrats’ lead increases when there is bad news about Iran and gas prices go up, but shrinks when the conflict subsides and gas prices drop.“The challenge for Republicans is the Iranian conflict is heating up again,” Skelley argued. Mueller reported, “Democrats are favored to win the House but are slight underdogs in the fight for the Senate with 100 days to go before the midterms, according to the latest forecast from Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ).”She added, “Both parties are dealing with headwinds as they head into the home stretch of the high-stakes election.” While Republicans are worried about the Iran war, oil prices and lingering high inflation, Democrats have their own internal issues with which to grapple.“Wins by democratic socialist and antiestablishment candidates in House primaries across the country have sparked concerns from centrists that their party will be characterized as too extreme,” Mueller reported. “It’s a line of attack being emphasized by President Trump and GOP leaders in Washington working to convince voters not to hand power to the Democratic Party.”She continued, “The result is a situation 100 days out that gives both parties reasons to be hopeful and worried.”The polls are similarly concerning for the Democrats.“At this point in the 2018 cycle, when Democrats won big in the so-called blue wave, the generic ballot showed Democrats up by an average of 7 points or 8 points, DDHQ said, which is double the current edge,” Mueller wrote.She added, “With just more than three months until Election Day, the tight forecasts make races like the Michigan Senate fight must-wins for both parties, adding urgency to the handful of toss-up contests that could decide control on Capitol Hill.”The New York Times similarly reported on Democrats’ perceived incompetence on Sunday.“At the center is Ken Martin, the 53-year-old party chairman, who has found himself increasingly isolated, gripped by the fear that he will lose his job and relying on a vanishingly small circle of people he trusts, according to interviews with more than two dozen Democrats, including current and former D.N.C. officials and members,” wrote The New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher and Reid J. Epstein on Sunday. “Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s troubled state of affairs.”Goldmacher and Epstein continued, “Mr. Martin’s fraying nerves are showing. In a pique of frustration in early July, he threw his phone at the desk of a junior aide while upbraiding the person. The phone-tossing incident resulted in a formal complaint to the D.N.C.’s human resources department.”

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First round of August Social Security payments goes out in 17 days

Washington Examiner

18 hours ago

First round of August Social Security payments goes out in 17 days

The first round of August Social Security payments for retirees, now capped at $5,181, will be issued in 17 days. When will payments arrive? Retirees born on or before the 10th of a month will receive this payment on Wednesday, Aug. 12. The second round will go out on Aug. 19 to those born between […]

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‘Trump was entranced’: Staggering security lapses traced back to Trump’s vanity deadline

Raw Story

Yesterday

‘Trump was entranced’: Staggering security lapses traced back to Trump’s vanity deadline

President Donald Trump's insistence that a Qatari-donated jumbo jet be ready to serve as a temporary Air Force One in time for the nation's 250th birthday led to the omission of several key security features found on the current presidential fleet, a New York Times investigation revealed Friday.Trump demanded the retrofitted 747-8 be ready by July 4, compressing what would normally be a multi-year security overhaul into just eight months, according to the Times. Trump personally signed off on the plane's features and security measures, according to people familiar with his role who spoke to the Times on condition of anonymity.“President Trump was entranced,” the Times’ report reads, referencing the president’s deep and personal involvement in the project, which the outlet found he gave “final approval on features and security measures that would be included.”Missing from the retrofitted jet: a lower-level exit door used for high-risk situations, a second auxiliary power unit and the infrared countermeasure system designed to detect and jam incoming missiles, according to public Air Force records and photographs reviewed by the Times.Frank Kendall, who oversaw the Air Force One modernization program as both Pentagon acquisition chief and Air Force secretary under President Joe Biden, said the omissions carry real risk."People need to be aware it has a lot of shortfalls compared to Air Force One; they do add a measure of risk," Kendall said.The Pentagon has also worked to obscure the project's true cost – including from Congress – by drawing funds from a classified nuclear modernization budget known as Sentinel, the Times found. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) accused the administration of using the maneuver to dodge oversight."They have declared this work to be a national security secret that cannot be divulged even to appropriators," Murphy said. "That is absolutely unacceptable."White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the aircraft, calling it "fully mission-ready and safe for presidential travel today."

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Troy Jackson secures Democratic nomination for Maine Senate seat after chaotic primary race

US news | The Guardian

Yesterday

Troy Jackson secures Democratic nomination for Maine Senate seat after chaotic primary race

Progressive former state senate president gains nomination after Graham Platner dropped out over sexual assault allegationsIn a race defined by scandal, withdrawals and a frantic hunt for a replacement candidate, Maine Democrats hit reset on their chaotic Senate primary on Saturday as Troy Jackson officially secured the party’s nomination.He took the stage at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor to rapturous applause, a standing ovation and Noah Kahan’s Northern Attitude blaring over the speakers. “This is the absolute honor of my life,” Jackson said. Continue reading...

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Trump revels in his first WHCA dinner speech despite serious tone and tight security

Washington Examiner

Yesterday

Trump revels in his first WHCA dinner speech despite serious tone and tight security

Washington, D.C., reporters and Trump administration officials gathered for the redo the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Friday evening, sending a defiant message as they came together to celebrate the free press and First Amendment in the wake of the attempted attack on the dinner three months ago. Beltway reporters, pundits, and government officials […]

Center Right

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First round of August Social Security payments goes out in 18 days

Washington Examiner

Yesterday

First round of August Social Security payments goes out in 18 days

The first round of August Social Security payments for retirees, now capped at $5,181, will be issued in 18 days. When will payments arrive? Retirees born on or before the 10th of a month will receive this payment on Wednesday, Aug. 12. The second round will go out on Aug. 19 to those born between […]

Center Right

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White House Correspondents’ Association dinner do-over features enhanced security measures, smaller crowd

Washington Examiner

2 days ago

White House Correspondents’ Association dinner do-over features enhanced security measures, smaller crowd

The White House Correspondents’ Association will hold its rescheduled annual dinner Friday night under significantly tighter security, moving the event from the cavernous Washington Hilton ballroom to the Waldorf Astoria Washington, D.C., where a sharply reduced crowd is expected to gather following April’s shooting. About 2,600 people attended the original April dinner, which was cut […]

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White House Correspondents' Dinner to be scaled down, with scaled-up security

Politics - CBSNews.com

2 days ago

White House Correspondents' Dinner to be scaled down, with scaled-up security

The White House Correspondents' Dinner will have a redo in Washington, D.C., on Friday night, after the original event was interrupted in April when a gunman stormed in. It'll be a scaled-down event with scaled-up security. Nicole Sganga reports.

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Markwayne Mullin Confirmed as Homeland Security Secretary

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Markwayne Mullin Confirmed as Homeland Security Secretary

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