U.S. military making plans to secure Iran's nuclear materials, sources say

USMNT makes World Cup 2026 debut vs. Paraguay — Here’s how to watch for free

The USMNT will open the 2026 World Cup on home soil tonight.

'Hard to top this level of dystopia': Trump admin ripped for plan buried in Obamacare rule

After the Republican Party’s decision to terminate subsidies that had significantly reduced healthcare costs under the Affordable Care Act for 22 million people, the White House is considering a new way to—officials claim—“help” Americans who face massive medical bills, either due to high-deductible plans that don’t cover routine costs or because of emergency expenses.The proposal, though, could just shift “who [the patients] owe the debt to,” as one doctor and researcher told The New York Times, which reported Thursday on the Trump administration’s proposal to allow people to take out loans directly from their health insurance companies when they can’t afford to pay a hospital or doctor’s office out of pocket—and then pay the insurance company back, likely with interest.“Hard to top this level of dystopia,” said one writer in response to the Times report. “Have health insurance through the ACA? The Trump administration is going to turn your health insurer into a loan shark you borrow money from if you can’t afford to pay your portion of medical procedures.”As the newspaper was reported, the provision is buried in a 1,121-page final rule issued last month regarding how the ACA will be regulated next year.The Trump administration is planning to significantly expand the number of Americans who are eligible for high-deductible “catastrophic” health insurance plans that provide no coverage for day-to-day medical expenses.“We note that multiyear and 1-year catastrophic plans may be able to offer relief from the high deductible and maximum annual limitation on cost sharing through other mechanisms,” reads the final rule. “For example, issuers of catastrophic plans could consider financing the deductible by providing enrollees a loan.”Currently, the average annual deductible for people insured under the ACA is nearly $4,000, and about 40% of enrollees this year have “Bronze” plans, which have an out-of-pocket maximum that’s over $10,000 for an individual, likely leaving many people having to pay thousands of dollars in medical expenses despite having coverage.By 2028, as Common Dreams reported earlier this year, catastrophic plans with lower premiums could have deductibles as high as $31,000 for families.The plan to shift more people onto expensive plans that provide less coverage for day-to-day medical care—and to push patients to take out loans from their insurers—comes as about one-third of Americans, even those with insurance, report skipping meals or cutting back on other expenses to afford their medical bills.The Times reported that at least one major health insurer—UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest—is already equipped to start lending patients money to cover unexpected medical bills. The company operates a bank that administers loans to doctors and offers health savings accounts.Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) said the latest proposal from the White House shows that President Donald Trump “is destroying healthcare from all sides.”The advocacy group Protect Our Care said the “suggestion” buried in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ final rule “is not only out of touch, it is cruel—accruing medical debt only adds to families’ financial burdens.”“While working families drown in the high cost of living, the Trump administration’s answer to the healthcare affordability crisis they created is to throw people an anchor made of medical debt and call it relief,” said Leslie Dach, chair of Protect Our Care. “Trump and Republicans had a simple, popular fix sitting right in front of their faces—extending the ACA tax credits—but they killed it anyway, triggering premiums to double, triple, or even quadruple for millions of working families, all to make billionaires and big corporations even richer.”“Americans are being bankrupted by crushing medical debt, and this administration isn’t lifting a finger to help—it’s busy shoveling more people into that hole,” said Dach. “Voters will remember this foolishness at the ballot box in November, just you wait.”Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, which advocates for a universal, single-payer healthcare system for New York state, suggested the proposal makes the latest case for a federal, government-funded healthcare program similar to those in other wealthy countries, which would end the healthcare profit motive by expanding the existing Medicare system to the entire US population.“Letting Americans take out loans to afford healthcare forces Americans deeper into debt and drives up profits for the health insurance industry,” said D’Arrigo. “Abolish the health insurance industry. Demand Medicare for All.”

Head of Palestinian soccer group says he wasn’t granted US visa to attend World Cup

“Everyone will be welcome in Canada, Mexico and the United States for the FIFA World Cup next year. We are working exactly for that,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said last year.

'God help us': Ex-GOP operative warns of 'incandescent' signal America is in decline

Former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt said that Elon Musk — the world's first trillionaire — is "a danger to every single American," in a video on Friday.The Lincoln Project co-founder called the SpaceX leader and Trump administration ally "a Nazi" and raised concerns about his influence on American and worldwide political extremism. Schmidt called Musk a non-state actor, "a nation state all unto himself, and that nation state has managed to take control of the American space program."He warned that this could seriously harm humanity, and specifically Americans."He's an extreme man, and now he's a trillionaire. And that is moral failure of American politics, of the two parties, it is an incandescent signal of the corruption of the age," Schmidt said. "Elon Musk is a most dangerous man." "And don't ever forget that when he delivered this salute in a state of ecstasy, he made himself known for all time, to everybody, for what he is at his core — which is a Nazi — and that is who has become the world's first trillionaire," Schmidt said. "God help us all."

Washington National Opera sues, says Kennedy Center owes it $17M

The Washington National Opera (WNO) filed a lawsuit Thursday, alleging that the Kennedy Center failed to return more than $17 million in donations made to the organization after its split from the venue earlier this year.  The WNO cited the Kennedy Center’s position as a federally chartered entity and its membership in the Smithsonian Institution…

‘Knife’s edge’: US-Mexico relationship teeters as World Cup begins

As the World Cup kicks off, cracks are emerging in Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s carefully tended relationship with President Donald Trump — over trade, cartels and a brewing extradition standoff.

Vice President JD Vance Blasts 'Leaked' Iran Deal, Says Final Agreement Will Lead to Lasting Peace

President Trump Just Blew a Hole in Iran's Alleged Leaked Deal