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Live Midterm Countdown: The Fight for Congress
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Ray Hartmann

Stories By Ray Hartmann

Trump’s shutdown golf trip pushes taxpayer tab soaring to staggering new heights
MSN

Trump’s shutdown golf trip pushes taxpayer tab soaring to staggering new heights

Donald Trump isn't about to let the impending hunger of millions of Americans impede his golf game.

The Huffington Post reported that the president "marked the first full month of the ongoing government shutdown Friday by blaming it all on Democrats and taking a $3.4 million golf trip to Florida, bringing the total that taxpayers have spent on his hobby to $60.7 million since he retook the presidency in January."

The report also teed up this eye-popping scorecard....

MAGA attorney general smacked with major court loss

MAGA attorney general smacked with major court loss

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was flatly rejected by a New York state judge Friday in his first-of-a-kind effort to override another state's healthcare shield laws, The New York Times reported.

Paxton had sought "to compel a New York court to enforce an order by a Texas judge in a case filed last year against a New York doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a patient in Texas," the Times reported. "The order levied a $113,000 penalty on the physician, Dr. Margaret Carpenter, and barred her from continuing to send abortion medication to Texas."

Paxton was rebuffed earlier this year by Taylor Bruck, the acting county clerk of Ulster County, New York, who refused to accept Paxton’s legal filing, citing the shield law....

Staggering number of judges hammer Trump’s immigration agenda: analysis

Staggering number of judges hammer Trump’s immigration agenda: analysis

More than 100 federal judges have handed down more than 200 rulings against the Trump administration’s effort "to systematically detain immigrants facing possible deportation," according to an analysis by Politico.

That effort against immigrants has "appeared to violate their rights or was just flatly illegal," the report said. "The onslaught of legal rejections has come in hundreds of individual cases, typically filed on an emergency basis after ICE’s targets are arrested at courthouses or check-ins with immigration officers."

Politico reported that an overwhelming swath of judges has rejected the Trump DOJ's core contention that “President Trump and Secretary Noem are now enforcing this law as it was actually written to keep America safe." It cited the sweeping range of judges who had rejected that premise.
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Trump set to give first interview to CBS since Paramount deal: report

Trump set to give first interview to CBS since Paramount deal: report

CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell will interview Donald Trump this afternoon in Florida — his first with the network since its parent company, Paramount, paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit from Trump stemming from the 2024 presidential campaign, Semafor reported today.

"It will mark the president’s first time sitting down with the network since the lawsuit over the editing of an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 election," the report said. "Despite serious legal doubts about whether Trump’s argument would succeed in court, Paramount opted instead to pay Trump $16 million to settle."

Critics widely criticized that deal as extortion and "the lawsuit roiled CBS News, contributing to significant personnel changes," Raw Story reported. Executive producer Bill Owens resigned in April, saying he "would not be allowed" to make independent journalistic decisions....

Trump rallies for state's entire GOP ticket — except the woman at the top

Trump rallies for state's entire GOP ticket — except the woman at the top

President Donald Trump appeared at a tele-rally Thursday to support "the entire Virginia Republican ticket," in next Tuesday's much-watched general election, Fox News reported Friday. But there was a big asterisk.

It seems that Trump has never gotten around to endorsing the woman at the top of the ticket, state Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP nominee facing off for governor against former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger. A Roanoke College poll reported Thursday that Spanberger holds a commanding 51-to-41 advantage on the eve of the election — the same margin an Emerson College found earlier in October.

Earle-Sears is vying to replace term-limited Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who shared the spotlight with Trump at the tele-rally.
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