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Democrat wins special state Senate election in Pennsylvania in major upset

(The Hill) Democrat James Malone has won an open Pennsylvania state Senate seat in a major upset in a district that comfortably voted for President Trump in November, Decision Desk HQ projects. Malone, the mayor of East Petersburg, is projected to defeat Republican Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons to represent Senate District 36 for the remainder of former state Sen. Ryan Aument’s (R) term. Parsons was considered likely to win in the conservative-leaning district, which President Trump carried in November with 57 percent of the vote and McCormick won with 56 percent.

LetMyPeopleVote

Democrat wins Pennsylvania special election, handing party control of state House

(The Hill) Democrat Dan Goughnour has won the open Pennsylvania state House seat left vacated by the death of the most recent officeholder, restoring Democrats’ narrow majority in the body, Decision Desk HQ projects. Goughnour, who is a member of the McKeesport school board and a police officer, will win over Republican Chuck Davis, the president of the White Oak Borough Council. The result is not a surprise in the Democratic-leaning House District 35, which voted for former Vice President Harris in November with about 58 percent of the vote.

demmiblue

The Atlantic has now published the Signal texts in response to administration denials

(The Atlantic) On Monday, shortly after we published a story about a massive Trump-administration security breach, a reporter asked the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, why he had shared plans about a forthcoming attack on Yemen on the Signal messaging app. He answered, “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.”

riversedge

Politics NSA warned of vulnerabilities in Signal app a month before Houthi strike chat

(CBS News) The National Security Agency sent out an operational security special bulletin to its employees in February 2025 warning them of vulnerabilities in using the encrypted messaging application Signal, according to internal NSA documents obtained by CBS News. News of the NSA bulletin comes amid the continued fallout from an explosive article published Monday in The Atlantic.

groundloop

Teen member of Musk's Doge staff provided tech support to cybercrime ring, records show

(The Guardian) The best-known member of Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) service team of technologists once provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters. Past reporting had focused on the staffer’s youth – he is 19 – and his chosen nickname of “bigballs,” which became a pop culture punchline. Musk has championed the teen on his social media site X, telling his followers last month: “Big Balls is awesome.”

progree

China Swoops In to Replace Asian USAID Projects Axed by Trump

The US canceled two aid projects in Cambodia in late February -- one to encourage child literacy and another to improve nutrition and development for kids under five. A week later, China's aid agency announced funding for programs to achieve almost identical goals. --snip-- The contracts were terminated on Feb. 26 after President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk launched a sweeping overhaul of US foreign assistance, which included dismantling the US Agency for International Development. --s ...

BumRushDaShow

Melania Trump Could Face Deportation, Maxine Waters Suggests

Published Mar 26, 2025 at 5:27 AM EDT Congresswoman Maxine Waters suggested that Donald Trump should consider deporting his wife, Melania Trump, while criticizing his administration's immigration policies. Why It Matters The president has vowed to remove millions of migrants without legal status from the United States as part of his mass deportation program. What to Know The California Democrat made the remarks about Melania Trump while expressing her opposition to cuts to federal programs ...

BumRushDaShow

Trump Says He Would 'Love' to Defund Broadcasters NPR, PBS

Tue, March 25, 2025 at 3:40 PM EDT (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said he is in favor of defunding National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, casting the outlets as unfavorable to him and a drain on taxpayer money. “I would love to do that,” Trump said Tuesday at the White House, suggesting that there was no longer a need for the public broadcasters. “There’s plenty of coverage. It was from a different age, and they spend more money than any other network of its type ...

BumRushDaShow

Hill Republicans aim to rein in judges but divided on strategy

March 25, 2025 4:23 PM ET Republicans on Capitol Hill are planning ways to push back at the federal judiciary over allegations that activist judges are unfairly targeting the Trump administration. But GOP members are divided about what to do, and their efforts to block action by the courts face significant political and legal hurdles. President Trump's efforts to remake the shape and size of the federal government using Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency and his use of a war-era ...

BumRushDaShow

Trump signs sweeping action overhauling US elections, including requiring proof of citizenship

Updated 6:20 PM EDT, March 25, 2025 NEW YORK (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive action to overhaul elections in the U.S., including requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and demanding that all ballots be received by Election Day. The order says the U.S. has failed "to enforce basic and necessary election protections" and calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute el ...

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D.C. police investigating vandalism to Teslas as possible hate crimes

24 min ago - The trouble began at Union Station, D.C. police said, when someone scrawled, “Ask me about my support of Nazis” across a Tesla’s rear window on March 2. D.C. police say they are investigating the ‘Nazi’ comment, an apparent r ... (Washington Post)

Signal chat group members partied at $1 million-a-plate Mar-a-Lago dinner after Yemen bombings: Report

25 min ago - Wednesday 26 March 2025 01:49 EDT Members of a Trump administration chat group which apparently inadvertently leaked U.S. military operations in Yemen to a journalist reportedly partied with the president at a $1-million-a-seat fundraising dinner at ... (The Independent)

Trump announces 25% tariffs on all cars 'not made in the United States'

50 min ago - Published Wed, Mar 26 2025 12:45 PM EDT Updated 1 Min Ago President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he would impose 25% tariffs on “all cars that are not made in the United States.” Trump on Monday had hinted that the auto tariffs could arr ... (CNBC)

Turkish Student at Tufts University Detained, Video Shows Masked People Handcuffing Her

55 min ago - A lawyer for a Turkish national who is a doctoral student at Tufts University says she has been detained by federal agents without explanation March 26, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. BOSTON (AP) -- A Turkish national who is a doctoral student at Tufts Universit ... (usnews.com)

Mike Waltz Left His Venmo Friends List Public

1 hr ago - A Venmo account under the name “Michael Waltz,” carrying a profile photo of the national security adviser and connected to accounts bearing the names of people closely associated with him, was left open to the public until Wednesday afterno ... (Wired)

CIA director: 'No assessment' US at war with Venezuela amid use of Alien Enemies Act

1 hr ago - 03/26/25 11:48 AM ET CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the agency has “no assessment” that the U.S. is at war with Venezuela, a comment that comes as President Trump has invoked war powers to deport migrants from the country. Rep. Joaquin Ca ... (The Hill)

Federal appeals court maintains temporary block on Trump's use of Alien Enemies Act for deportations

1 hr ago - Federal appeals court maintains temporary block on Trump's use of Alien Enemies Act for deportations By Devan Cole, CNN 3 minute read Updated 4:37 PM EDT, Wed March 26, 2025 A divided federal appeals court has maintained a temporary block on Preside ... (CNN)

Trump asks Supreme Court for OK to cut teacher-training money as part of anti-DEI push

1 hr ago - 03/26/2025 02:07 PM EDT The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training. A federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the cuts, finding they were already affectin ... (Politico/AP)

Senate Majority Leader Pushes Estate Tax Repeal in GOP Bill Talks

2 hrs ago - 2h (Bloomberg) -- Senate Majority Leader John Thune pitched a full repeal of the estate tax Wednesday, setting as a priority the elimination of the levy on the fortunes of some of the wealthiest Americans as Republicans draft a massive economic packa ... (msn/Bloomberg)

EXCLUSIVE: DOD has deployed Signal on government devices overriding their own policy

2 hrs ago - A high level source in DOD has confirmed that they were ordered to approve installation of Signal on government devices by Trump officials last month Ignoring their own protocols A high level information security source inside the Department of Defen ... (F. P. Wellman On Substack)

Federal employees fired over "DEI activities" file complaint

3 hrs ago - 20 mins ago A group of federal employees who were fired for participating in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) activities have filed a complaint to regain their jobs and their back pay. Why it matters: The complaint filed Wednesday before the Mer ... (Axios)

Change in itinerary for US Vice President JD Vance brings cautious relief for Greenland and Denmark

3 hrs ago - Greenland and Denmark appeared cautiously relieved early Wednesday by the news that U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife are changing their itinerary for their visit to Greenland Friday, reducing the likelihood that they will cross paths with re ... (AP)

'The Two Witnesses Lied': Senator Says Leaked Atlantic Texts at 'Huge Classification Level'

3 hrs ago - Mar 26th, 2025, 9:51 am Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) has slapped Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe with a scathing assessment, saying they “lied” under oath while denying classified information was ... (MEDIAite)

South Korea admits to 'mass exporting' children for adoption

4 hrs ago - South Korean governments committed numerous human rights violations over decades in a controversial programme that sent at least 170,000 children and babies abroad for adoption, a landmark inquiry has found. It said the government's lack of oversight ... (BBC)

Judge blocks Iowa law banning books with sex acts from schools

4 hrs ago - 03/26/25 12:20 PM ET A federal judge on Tuesday put a hold on an Iowa law that says schools cannot carry books that depict sex acts. District Judge Stephen Locher placed a temporary block on the ban, saying there were “several dozen unconstitu ... (The Hill)

Trump to announce new auto tariffs Wednesday

4 hrs ago - Published Wed, Mar 26 2025 12:45 PM EDT Updated 7 Min Ago President Donald Trump will announce new tariffs on auto imports Wednesday, the White House said. Trump will unveil the new tariffs during a press conference in the Oval Office at 4 p.m. ET, W ... (CNBC)

U.S. could hit borrowing limit as soon as May, budget office warns

4 hrs ago - The deadline could come as late as September depending on how much tax revenue comes in this spring, the Congressional Budget Office said. The federal government could hit its borrowing limit as soon as May if tax revenue falls short of expectations ... (Washington Post)

4 American soldiers who went missing in Lithuania have died, NATO leader says

4 hrs ago - Updated 12:38 PM CDT, March 26, 2025 WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Wednesday that four U.S. soldiers who went missing while training in Lithuania have died, but that he did not yet know the details. A U.S. official wou ... (AP)

Four US soldiers feared dead near Belarus border in mystery tragedy

5 hrs ago - Four US soldiers have reportedly been found dead in Lithuania after going missing during a training mission. A major search operation was launched after the tracked vehicle they were travelling in disappeared at around 4.45pm yesterday. The Embassy ... (Daily Express)

Judge targeted by Trump is assigned to Signalgate lawsuit

5 hrs ago - U.S. District Judge James Boasberg -- the object of President Donald Trump's fury for blocking his effort to summarily deport Venezuelan nationals using wartime powers -- just got a second crack at the administration's handling of national security: ... (Politico)