Fox News anchor Jesse Watters warned that if Republicans cannot return to power in Texas, the GOP may never win the presidency again.

Watters said during his show Thursday night that Democrats’ sweeping wins in the midterm elections could be a death knell for Republicans’ chances of winning future presidential elections.

Democrats won all statewide elections on the ballot Tuesday, leaving Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as the only remaining GOP statewide official in the Lone Star State.

“They seize Texas and are on pace for the biggest midterm landslide since Watergate,” Watters said. “Now, if Texas stays blue, a Republican will never sniff the White House ever again.”

Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert’s campaign said that it was “investigating some very unusual voting patterns,” as the MAGA congresswoman was on the brink of losing her reelection bid.

As Democrat Eileen Laubacher’s lead over Boebert grew slightly Thursday in the race to represent Colorado’s 4th District, Boebert’s campaign released a statement suggesting foul play. Scott Gessler, the attorney for the campaign, claimed that the votes had been “trending” in Boebert’s favor since election night, “consistently lowering the margin under one percentage point.”

“We are investigating some very unusual voting patterns and expect this election to head to a recount, one way or another,” Gessler continued.

As of Friday morning, Laubacher was still leading Boebert 48.75 percent to 47.94 percent, with 97 percent reporting. The two candidates had a margin of 3,069 votes, more than three times the automatic recount threshold of 921 votes. Boebert’s campaign could still choose to pay for a recount.

US President Donald Trump privately met the Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev after the Russian official appeared with Ukrainian representatives at a White House event organized by First Lady Melania Trump, Reuters reported on November 6.

Trump declined to disclose what he discussed with Dmitriev but indicated that an agreement aimed at ending Russia’s war against Ukraine could emerge soon.

We bring you stories from the ground. Your support keeps our team in the field.

“It’s going to be a big agreement, and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine… I could even say it might involve all of Europe,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

I'm betting an Iron Curtain goes back up.

Compared with looser undergarments, for instance, tighter options were linked to 18 percent higher odds of producing less semen.

Tight undies were also linked to 12 percent higher odds of having fewer motile sperm, 48 percent higher odds of having fewer normally shaped sperm, and 108 percent higher odds of having more sperm with DNA fragmentation or damage.

In a secondary analysis, researchers also found that erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation were more prevalent in the tight underwear group.

"In conclusion, tight underwear was associated with poorer semen quality and a higher prevalence of erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation," the authors write, led by urologist Xue-Chun Hu from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC).

A petition calling on House Democrats not to support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as the next Speaker has hit 500,000 signatures, according to its creator.

It follows the Democrats' dramatic midterm election victory that saw the party flip both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which will lead to a new Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House.

The petition, which labels Jeffries part of the “Democratic establishment,” suggests Democratic leaders are likely to remain under pressure from their party’s left-wing over both personal and policy choices. It was created by Nicole Whitted, an author and Democratic supporting social media creator with over 210,000 followers on TikTok.

For those who don't want to give newsweek a click: https://www.change.org/p/house-democrats-choose-a-new-speaker

BERLIN — Hubert Aiwanger, the leader of a conservative party that has become a mainstay of Bavarian politics and sought to expand its influence across Germany, has been found dead at a Berlin hotel.

The body of Aiwanger, who was Bavaria’s deputy governor and the southern state’s economy minister, was found in his hotel room in the centre of the capital on Wednesday evening, Berlin police and prosecutors said. Prosecutors said that an autopsy carried out Thursday produced no evidence that anyone else was involved in his death.

Nino Mangione, cousin of accused United Healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione, narrowly won re-election to the Baltimore County Council on Tuesday, edging out his Democratic challenger in what is considered one of the county’s purplest districts.

Mangione, a staunch MAGA Republican whose grandfather was a multimillionaire real estate magnate, won the seat representing District 5 with 48.7 percent of the votes, beating Democrat Shawn McIntosh.

The progressive group Indivisible called for Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday to replace Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) as Democratic leader after the party secured control of both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

“Yesterday, voters made it very clear that they want a new generation of Democratic fighters,” the group wrote in a social media post. “We need a leader in the Senate who is capable of leading that fight. It’s time for Senate Democrats to choose new leadership.”

The group cited the Democratic leader’s faltering approval ratings in its Wednesday statement. An NBC News poll conducted at the end of October found only 13 percent of registered voters viewed Schumer’s leadership positively.

“The American people did not elect Democrats by historic margins just to bend the knee and go back to business as usual,” Indivisible said in its statement. “Senate Democrats need to listen to the voters and turn the page on status quo politics.”

The paid opposition running the Democrats will not falter in their supporting of their Republican donors' causes.

Democrat Nancy Lacore, a former Navy admiral fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is projected to flip a Republican-held House seat in South Carolina, likely delivering Democrats a striking victory in a district President Donald Trump won comfortably just two years ago.

Decision Desk HQ projected Lacore would defeat Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District race for the seat held by Republican Representative Nancy Mace, who gave it up to launch an unsuccessful campaign for governor.

Lacore led by more than 3,300 votes, 49.65 percent to 48.64 percent, according to unofficial results. The Associated Press had not called the contest as of Wednesday afternoon.

Please stop! I can only get so aroused.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joins Morning Joe to talk about what comes next after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterms. Jeffries calls the result a “stunning rebuke” of Trump and GOP policies, adding that Democrats now have to deliver on affordability—from groceries and gas to health care—while pursuing accountability by following the facts and the law.

The Alabama State House District 25 results show Montgomery winning 12,456 votes (53.2%) to Rigsby’s 10,929 (46.7%).

Writing after the results, Montgomery urged supporters not to get distracted. “I know the headlines tomorrow are gonna be provocative and catchy, but let’s focus on the most important part of this victory: we showed that a truly grassroots campaign that stands on its policies and its principles has a real shot in Alabama,” she wrote.

Wow. Ala-fucking-bama? Weird times. This is great to see, but I would never have expected to live to see something like this come out of Alabama. My whole life I've had the tought 'at least I'm not in Alabama' rattling around in the back of my head. I'll still have that thought, but it will be a little quieter. Not by much. But, still . . ..

President Donald Trump spent early Tuesday night making desperate phone calls and blasting Fox News before midterm election results came in.

“I have the ultimate power — it’s called ‘veto,’” President Trump told CBS News in a phone interview before polls first began to close in some states. Already, Trump appeared to make excuses for a potentially massive Republican loss.

Trump also called the Financial Times, assuring reporter Edward Lucas that the U.S. has no immediate plans to strike Iran, the Middle East country Trump started a war with in February.

Trump had a particular grudge against Fox News Tuesday night, texting commentator Greg Gutfeld about his disdain for liberal Fox News commentator Jessica Tarlov.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will stop providing $4 billion in aid each year to Israel in 2027 but will sell arms to its closest ally in the Middle East, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.

The Republican president told Fox News Channel during a phone call on Election Day for the midterms that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approached him about the idea and that they have been talking about it for a couple of years.

Trump said Israel doesn’t need the aid and it’s a lot of money for the U.S. to spend. But Trump also said that U.S. aid to Israel has become a Democratic talking point for candidates such as Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

“You can consider it barter. You can consider military aid or cash,” Trump said. “Look, we give them $4 billion of things and money, and they don’t need it. And I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money.”

Isn't it funny how there's never enough money for the US to give its citizenry health insurance, but the US has always been able to give Isreal a blank check?

A Maryland hairdresser who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 after believing his promises to lower living costs said she has since lost her home and car, struggled to pay her credit cards, and watched customers disappear from her business. Now, she bitterly regrets helping return him to the White House, declaring that only the devil could govern with such cruelty.

Celia Salmerón, 58, accused the Trump administration of bringing hardship rather than the financial relief he promised voters. She immigrated from El Salvador as a child, and now runs a hair salon in a working-class Maryland neighbourhood with a large Hispanic population.

'He promised to give us money. But he didn't give us anything. What he gave us this time were problems,' Salmerón recently told a media outlet, adding that she had been unable to keep up with her debts and had lost almost everything she worked to build.

'Ever since Trump came in, I have been bankrupt. I have lost everything: my house, my car. I can't pay my credit cards,' she said.

Trans journalist Erin Reed called Douthat’s interview “hostile” and noted that El-Sayed previously stood up for trans rights when asked in August by Fox News’ Jesse Watters whether he supports “sex changes for minors.” El- Sayed replied, “The government shouldn’t tell you what kind of health care you should have, and if you’re a minor, that’s between you and your doctor and your parents.”

In September, a state university student asked about his position on gender-affirming care. El-Sayed answered, “I don’t think the government gets to have a say about what health care is provided in what circumstances and why.”

Reed also praised El-Sayed for remaining steadfastly committed to trans rights at a time when other Democratic politicians have adopted right-wing framing, saying they oppose government-funded surgeries for trans kids (something that almost never occurs) and “biological men in women’s sports” (an inaccurate and insulting reference to trans girls and women athletes who want to play on sports teams matching their gender identity).

“El-Sayed’s race will be one of the most important to watch on election night,” Reed wrote. “If he can win a highly contested seat despite the anti-transgender Republican money spent against him and the attacks from the right-leaning wing of his own party, it will be a clear case that embracing anti-trans views is not required to win swing states and swing districts across the United States.”

On his campaign website, under the heading “Healthcare Freedom for Women and LGBTQ+ Americans,” El-Sayed wrote, “Healthcare decisions should be made by a patient (and their parents if they are a minor) and their doctor–no one else. That includes reproductive and gender-affirming care…. I oppose any effort to criminalize certain medications and the use of lawfare or funding cuts to stop healthcare providers from providing full-spectrum healthcare that meet all the needs of their diverse communities.”

From the article:

DONALD TRUMP’S DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE likes to present a tough-on-crime image. But how far it goes to cultivate that image has been a recurring source of controversy. It’s not just the prosecution of political opponents and the greenlighting of immigration crackdowns that largely dispense with due process. It’s also in the rhetoric—which often veers into the disturbing and the bizarre.

Last week, one of the department’s top prosecutors argued that, in the pursuit of cracking down on criminals, eugenics could be a useful tool.

The prosecutor in question was Ellis Boyle, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Boyle was appearing on a local conservative livestream, NC Chats, to discuss—among other things—the administration’s investigation of Rep. Ilhan Omar, as well as the indictments of a handful of noncitizens for having allegedly voted illegally in the 2024 elections in North Carolina. Eventually, however, the conversation turned to crime, the supposed enabling of it by liberals, and how frustrating it is to see violent criminals get off on an insanity defense.

"I think there’s a big component—if you took out [the] 5 percent of the population that’s bad and removed them from society, so they don’t create mayhem and create, you know, babies with the gene pool of more bad, then I think, in two, maybe three generations, think of how great this population would be."

“But,” he finished, “that’s something that takes willpower.”

“That’s very biblical,” Clark said. “I like it.”

“Praise the Lord,” Boyle replied.

A Republican candidate running to unseat a Democratic incumbent in the state Legislature is facing charges for exposing himself to a child walking to her bus stop earlier this month.

Authorities charged Andre Stafford, running for Georgia House District 42 in Smyrna, with one felony count of child molestation and one count of public indecency.

Reached by phone, Stafford said he was innocent, but would not comment further about the accusations or his campaign for state House.

Authorities arrested Stafford on Thursday. Records show Stafford was released on Saturday on a $27,720 bond.

According to an arrest report, Stafford is accused of telling a girl she was pretty before exposing himself and driving away from a bus stop early on Oct. 15. The report did not give the age of the alleged victim.

What is it with Republicans and sexual indecency? Something about being rich and powerful must make people not see other people as anything other than sec toys.

Donald Trump is accused of raping a former Miss Switzerland in a report probing the president’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein released by House of Representatives Democrats this week.

Beatrice Keul, a retired model and beauty pageant contestant, told the House Judiciary Committee about an incident alleged to have taken place at New York’s Plaza Hotel in 1993. The report, released a week ahead of the midterm elections, also summarizes previously reported allegations from four other women against Trump.

The White House has strongly denied all of the reports’ claims, accusing “crazed” Democrats of “a desperate attempt to distract Americans” and insisting that the president has been “fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein.”

Keul previously claimed in October 2024 that Trump had sexually assaulted her at a beauty pageant staged at the Plaza Hotel, which Trump then owned.

"The president may have raped someone, but we need to double down on the made up rape threat that transgender people pose to women!"

-Republicans, demonstrably.

*Edit:

House Judiciary Committee Democrats on Monday released an unsigned staff report laying out what they call “the case against Donald Trump emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ’s desperate efforts to cover it up,” with those Democrats now calling for an independent special counsel to investigate the president as well as what they describe as Attorney General Todd Blanche’s conflicts of interest and the Justice Department’s reluctance to share relevant evidence with state and foreign law enforcement.

“The women who survived Epstein deserve to be heard,” the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a statement. “Congress must have the complete files required by law, and an independent special counsel must investigate Epstein’s co-conspirators and DOJ’s cover-up and ensure that state and foreign prosecutors have the evidence they need to pursue justice.”

The more than 50-page report alleges that Trump was “an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of young women in the mid-to-late 1990s.” Although it also contains at least one entirely new allegation against the president, it provides no direct evidence other than the woman’s own conversations with Judiciary Committee staff.

He raped children, but the cult doesn't care. They like rapding children as evidenced by how many Republicans and church people keep getting caught raping children.

*Edit: fixed a typo.

President Trump called on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to “IMMEDIATELY resign” and accused her of using a fake name in a Truth Social post on Thursday evening.

“Please inform the Speaker of the House of Representatives, James Michael Johnson, that the Dumocrat Party has just conceded her seat,” Trump wrote. “Ilhan Nur Said Elmi, her real name, has openly admitted to FRAUD, and she will not be legally allowed to be a Member of this August Body from this point forth.”

In a Wednesday court filing a week after federal agents conducted a search warrant of Omar’s home in Washington, D.C., federal prosecutors referred to the Minnesota Democrat as “Congresswoman Ilhan Nur Said Elmi” without explanation.

Omar’s ex-husband is named Ahmed Nur Said Elmi. Several far-right commentators have accused the lawmaker of marrying her brother, claiming they had the same last name — a conspiracy theory she has forcefully denied.

I think tRump should resign because of all the children he raped, but neither of us will get what we want—him because he doesn't understand what a maiden name is, and I because of him buying that chair.