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Danish PM strikes defiant tone on Greenland in New Year's speech as Trump rehashes annexation plans

(The Independent) The prime minister of Denmark has issued a defiant rebuke to U.S. President Donald Trump in her annual New Year's speech, insisting that it will "stand firm" against his plans to take over Greenland. In a televised message Thursday evening, Mette Frederiksen, of the ruling Social Democrats party, said she was rapidly beefing up the Scandinavian kingdom's military force and strengthening security in the Arctic. Her theme was echoed by King Frederik X's annual New Year's Eve address, who highlighted new military training programs and praised Greenlanders' "strength and pride" in a "turbulent time".

BumRushDaShow

Jack Smith says Trump acknowledged to others that he lost 2020 election

(Reuters) Jack Smith, the former Justice Department special counsel who brought two now-dropped criminal cases against U.S. President Donald Trump, said that the Republican had acknowledged to others that he lost the 2020 election against former President Joe Biden, according to a transcript of a testimony by Smith.

BumRushDaShow

Fore! Trump spent nearly a quarter of 2025 at his golf clubs

(The Independent) President Donald Trump has spent nearly a quarter of his second term at a golf club, according to a tracking website. The 79-year-old has visited golf clubs at least 79 times since taking office on January 20, 2025, or about 22.8 percent of the presidency, according to DidTrumpGolfToday.com. The tracker, which compiles data based on Trump’s public schedule, does not note how many of those days the president actually hit the courses. It also does not include data from December 2025. Since returning to office, Trump’s golf club visits have cost taxpayers an estimated $110,600,000, according to the website.

highplainsdem

Wicked composer says he'd never 'set foot' in Trump-Kennedy Center as he cancels performance over rebrand

(The Independent) Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz has pulled out of a scheduled performance at the Kennedy Center over President Donald Trump’s renaming of the historic venue. Three-time Oscar winner Schwartz, 77, has joined a growing list of artists to boycott the cultural center over Trump’s potentially illegal attempt to rebrand the institution as the Trump-Kennedy Center. Schwartz, who was scheduled to host the Washington National Opera Gala at the Kennedy Center on May 16, told Newsday there was “no way” he would enter the venue now.

KS Toronado

Friday's Condensed News Cartoons

Amaryllis

ICE planning to expand detention by using warehouse-style holding centers near major logistics hubs to speed deportation

(The 50501 Movement) This weekend, the Washington Post reported that ICE is exploring a plan to expand detention by using warehouse-style facilities near major logistics hubs, describing large-scale holding centers designed to speed up deportations. Reuters reported the administration is preparing to expand immigration enforcement in 2026 and that a GOP-backed spending package would provide $170 billion in additional funding through September 2029 for ICE and Border Patrol. This is not simply enforcement; it is industrial scaling.

dalton99a

Tesla loses title as world's biggest electric vehicle maker as sales fall for second year in a row

(AP) Tesla lost its crown as the world’s bestselling electric vehicle maker on Friday as a customer revolt over Elon Musk’s right-wing politics and stiff overseas competition pushed sales down for a second year in a row. Tesla said that it delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, down 9% from a year earlier. Chinese rival BYD, which sold 2.26 million vehicles last year, is now the biggest EV maker.

Dulcinea

Videos released in Epstein files raise fresh questions about jail footage

(CBS News) A recently released cache of surveillance video from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City is raising new questions about the prison cameras at the facility where Jeffrey Epstein died in his cell in 2019. The videos were among a huge cache of materials released on Dec. 23 by the Department of Justice as congressionally mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Rather than clarifying events surrounding Epstein's death, the footage appears to complicate the official narrative, and contradicts some prior statements about the prison's surveillance system.

Eugene

CNN Medical Expert Baffled by Trump's 'Unorthodox' Aspirin Regimen: 'It Makes No Sense'

(Mediaite) CNN Medical Analyst Jonathan Reiner expressed puzzlement at President Donald Trump’s habit of taking aspirin to supposedly make his blood thinner. On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported on Trump’s health, which has recently garnered attention because of the bruises on the president’s hands, as well as his occasional nodding off during public meetings. The president blamed the bruising on his aspirin regimen.

BumRushDaShow

DHS begins slashing FEMA disaster response staff as 2026 begins

(CNN) The Trump administration is abruptly cutting dozens of staff who are at the forefront of disaster response and recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week, according to internal emails obtained by CNN and sources familiar with the plan. On New Year’s Eve, some employees received emails saying their positions “would not be renewed” and “therefore, your services will no longer be needed” after their contracts expire in the first days of January.

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JUST IN: Another Board Member Bails on Heritage Foundation in Wake of Kevin Roberts-Tucker Carlson Controversy

31 min ago - Jan 2nd, 2026, 3:10 pm At least one more Heritage Foundation board member has resigned amid the ongoing unrest within the organization over President Kevin Roberts’s defense of Tucker Carlson, reported The Dispatch’s senior editor Mike War ... (MEDIAite)

U.S. Small Business Administration bans nearly 7,000 Minnesota borrowers from loan programs

36 min ago - WASHINGTON, D.C. (KTTC) – On Thursday, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Kelly Loeffler announced on X that the SBA has banned nearly 7,000 Minnesota borrowers from all SBA loan programs. In Loeffler’s X post, sh ... (KTTC)

'It's our turn': gun-safety advocates are riding a 'seismic' wave to US legislatures

1 hr ago - Fri 2 Jan 2026 08.00 EST Last modified on Fri 2 Jan 2026 08.04 EST A new generation of young political leaders is gaining power in the US by using their personal experience with gun violence to push for reforms they say the US is ready for. Their asc ... (The Guardian)

Grok says safeguard lapses led to images of 'minors in minimal clothing' on X

1 hr ago - Jan 2 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence chatbot Grok said on Friday lapses in safeguards had resulted in "images depicting minors in minimal clothing" on social media platform X and that improvements were being made to prevent this. ... (Reuters)

GOP lawmakers, frustrated with dysfunctional Congress, head for the exits

1 hr ago - 01/02/26 6:00 AM ET GOP lawmakers are fleeing for the exit in droves, with many pointing to a Congress they argue has grown too dysfunctional and a demanding schedule that leaves little time for their families. More than 50 lawmakers in both parties ... (The Hill)

Tesla loses title as world's biggest electric vehicle maker as sales fall for second year in a row

1 hr ago - Updated 2:04 PM EST, January 2, 2026 NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla lost its crown as the world’s bestselling electric vehicle maker on Friday as a customer revolt over Elon Musk’s right-wing politics, expiring U.S. tax breaks for buyers and st ... (AP)

Prominent Jan. 6 defendants plan to march to Capitol to mark 5 years since attack

2 hrs ago - Updated on: January 2, 2026 / 12:47 PM EST / CBS News Washington — The former leader of the far-right group the Proud Boys and other defendants convicted for crimes connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol are set to return to ... (CBS News)

Trump Says He'll 'Probably' Sue Fed Chair Jerome Powell: 'A Very Incompetent Man'

2 hrs ago - President Donald Trump revealed that he will likely sue Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over renovations to two buildings. By David Edwards — January 2, 2026 ................ During a Monday press conference at Mar-a-Lago, a reporter aske ... (crooksandliars.com)

Federal judge says substantial evidence Kristi Noem promoted racist theory to strip immigrants of protected status

2 hrs ago - Jan 2nd, 2026, 11:05 am A California federal judge on New Year's Eve bashed DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for deciding in a "pretextual" way that some 60,000 Honduran, Nepali, and Nicaraguan immigrants should be stripped of Temporary Protected Status (T ... (Law & Crime)

Potential New Year's Eve terror attack thwarted in North Carolina, authorities say

3 hrs ago - A potential New Year's Eve terror attack was thwarted in North Carolina, authorities announced Friday. An 18-year-old suspect is under arrest, and had been planning the attack for about a year, U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson told reporters during a news ... (CBS News)

'We're now intervening': Lawmaker duo to make big move to force Epstein files' release

3 hrs ago - January 2, 2026 9:22AM ET Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) plan to make a major announcement next week regarding a new plan to force the Trump administration to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein, Khanna announced Friday. The Justice ... (Raw Story)

Trump's Motorcade Reportedly Stops At a 'Random' FL Strip Mall So He Could Buy Marble For His Ballroom Project

4 hrs ago - President Donald Trump reportedly ordered his motorcade to stop at a Florida strip mall Friday morning so he could purchase supplies for his $400 million White House ballroom. White House pool reports said the presidential motorcade “arrived at ... (Mediaite)

Iranian officials warn Trump not to cross 'red line' over threats to intervene in protests

4 hrs ago - US president’s posts that US will come to the rescue of protesters prompt warnings of ‘regret-inducing response’ William Christou Fri 2 Jan 2026 08.10 EST ............. In a social media post on Friday, Trump said that if Iran were ... (the guardian)

Man accused of placing pipe bombs near GOP and Democratic headquarters in Washington to remain in jail pending trial

4 hrs ago - Updated Jan 2, 2026, 12:48 PM ET PUBLISHED Jan 2, 2026, 12:34 PM ET The man accused of being the Washington, DC, pipe bomber will remain in jail until he faces trial, a federal judge ruled Friday. The decision to keep Brian Cole Jr., who allegedly pl ... (CNN Politics)

Democrats are ready to campaign on expired Obamacare subsidies

5 hrs ago - 01/02/2026 06:00 AM EST Obamacare subsidies used by more than 20 million expired Thursday. Now Democrats are ready to make them a centerpiece of their midterm campaigns. The lapse of enhanced premium tax credits, first passed as a pandemic-era relief ... (Politico)

French ministers report Grok's sex-related content on the X platform to prosecutors

6 hrs ago - PARIS, Jan 2 (Reuters) - French ministers have reported to prosecutors sexually explicit content generated by Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence chatbot Grok on the X platform, saying in a statement on Friday the "sexual and sexist" content was ... (Reuters)

Trump says U.S. will intervene if Iran kills peaceful protesters as economic unrest spreads

6 hrs ago - Jan. 2, 2026, 5:31 AM EST / Updated Jan. 2, 2026, 5:40 AM EST President Donald Trump vowed Friday to intervene if Iran shoots or violently kills peaceful demonstrators, as economic protests spread and evolved into deadly unrest. If Iran "kills peacef ... (NBC News)

Wicked composer says he'd never 'set foot' in Trump-Kennedy Center as he cancels performance over rebrand

6 hrs ago - Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz has pulled out of a scheduled performance at the Kennedy Center over President Donald Trump’s renaming of the historic venue. Three-time Oscar winner Schwartz, 77, has joined a growing list of artists to boycott ... (The Independent)

Jack Smith says Trump acknowledged to others that he lost 2020 election

7 hrs ago - January 2, 2026 5:15 AM EST Updated 5 hours ago WASHINGTON, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Jack Smith, the former Justice Department special counsel who brought two now-dropped criminal cases against U.S. President Donald Trump, said that the Republican had ackn ... (Reuters)

Exclusive: DHS begins slashing FEMA disaster response staff as 2026 begins

8 hrs ago - PUBLISHED Jan 1, 2026, 11:17 PM ET The Trump administration is abruptly cutting dozens of staff who are at the forefront of disaster response and recovery at the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week, according to internal emails obtained by ... (CNN Politics)