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There were rumblings about this for a while, but it looks like the Trump TikTok deal is done, and it’s somehow the worst of all possible outcomes, amazingly making all of the biggest criticisms about TikTok significantly worse. Quite an accomplishment.

The Chinese government has signed off on the deal, which involves offloading a large chunk of TikTok to billionaire right wing Trump ally Larry Ellison (fresh off his acquisition of CBS), the private equity firm Silver Lake (which has broad global investments in Chinese and Israeli hyper-surveillance), and MGX (Abu Dhabi’s state investment firm), while still somehow having large investment involvement by the Chinese.

It wasn’t subtle that the goal was always for Trump’s buddies to just basically steal a big ownership chunk of a Chinese short form video company that U.S. tech companies couldn’t out innovate. Offloading the company to his friends at Oracle and Walmart was Trump’s stated goal during the first administration, only thwarted because he lost the 2020 election. Everything else was decorative.

Some members of the Kennedy family and several lawmakers expressed opposition to the move and questioned its legality.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington donned a new name — the Trump-Kennedy Center — on the exterior of the building Friday, just a day after Donald Trump's hand-picked board voted to change the arts institution's name.

The move came despite concerns about the legality of the shift and objections from members of the Kennedy family and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle after the center announced that its board on Thursday voted unanimously to approve the name change.

Legal experts told NBC News earlier this year that the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administration-era statutes governing the creation of the Kennedy Center had enshrined the original name in legislation. They added that a new law passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by the president would be needed to change the name.

Children’s Health Defense using familiar playbook to defend health secretary as it downplays dangers of disease and exaggerate risks of vaccines, public health experts say

The non-profit group that Robert F Kennedy Jr built into a giant of the anti-vaccine movement is defending its old boss even as the US health secretary presides over the worst year for measles in more than 30 years.

Three people have died and 1,958 people have been reported infected with measles in the US this year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In South Carolina, 224 people are in quarantine amid an outbreak that has sickened 144 people. Most are unvaccinated children.

Children’s Health Defense, or CHD, which Kennedy led from 2015 to 2024, produces a daily stream of articles and videos stoking fear about vaccines and falsely suggesting that the risks associated with vaccine-preventable diseases are exaggerated.

Exclusive: federal document reveals children arriving as undocumented immigrants being threatened with detention

Border officials are pressuring unaccompanied children who arrive in the US as undocumented immigrants to quickly agree to return to their countries of origin, even if they express fear for their safety there – or else face “prolonged” detention and other consequences, a federal government document reveals.

The document, which emerged as an attachment in a court filing made by immigration attorneys, is understood to be presented or read to children within the first few days of them entering the US while they are still in the custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), before they can see any relatives in the US.

The document is termed an “advisal” and was attached as exhibit A at the bottom of a court filing by advocates. It says: “If you choose to seek a hearing with an immigration judge or indicate a fear of returning to your country you can expect the following: you will be detained in the custody of the United States Government for a prolonged period of time.” It goes on to say that the child’s sponsor – usually a family member residing in the US who will care for the child – “may be arrested, prosecuted and deported” if they do not have legal status, or prosecuted “for aiding your illegal entry”, and adds that if the child turns 18 in government custody they “will be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] for removal (deportation) …”

A potential deal to fund large swaths of the federal government, including the departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, collapsed Thursday night after Colorado senators demanded that Congress stop Trump’s efforts to dismantle a key climate agency.

A Democratic senator involved in the negotiations over passing a five-bill package of appropriations bills before Christmas said Trump’s attempt to break up a premier weather and climate center based in Boulder, Colo., was like a “stick of dynamite” that exploded any chance of a bipartisan breakthrough on spending.

Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet (D) and John Hickenlooper (D) objected to moving forward with the so-called minibus spending package that, if enacted into law, would result in 85 percent to 90 percent of the federal government being funding through September 2026.

The Department of Justice will not be releasing all of its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein by Friday’s deadline, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday morning.

In an interview with Fox News, Blanche said the department would “release several hundred thousand documents today.”

But he acknowledged Friday’s release would not encompass all of the DOJ’s documents for the investigation into the late financier.

Donald Trump has been graded "F" on his handling of the economy, according to a new poll.

According to a survey by Emerson College, 36 percent of people gave the president an "F" grade on the economy. This 36 represented the largest proportion of respondents and far outstripped those who gave Trump an "A" grade on this policy area.

Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales was arrested on Sunday. ICE won’t release her despite extensive documentation of her citizenship, her attorneys told HuffPost.

A Maryland woman has spent days in immigration detention despite being a U.S. citizen with a valid birth certificate and other documentation

documents ICE claims aren't authentic, her attorneys told HuffPost Thursday. 

Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, 22, was born in Maryland and spent time in Mexico before coming back to the United States, Victoria Slatton, one of the attorneys working on her case, told HuffPost in a phone call Thursday. Slatton has worked to draw attention to Diaz Morales' case, including in several TikTok videos.

Shirley Elvirita, Diaz Morales' 17-year-old sister, told HuffPost over the phone Thursday night that she, her sister and their father were doing laundry in Baltimore on Sunday, and afterwards, the sisters went to pick up some Taco Bell. After getting back on the road, Shirley recalled, they were surrounded by several vehicles filled with law enforcement personnel, who pulled them over. Officers ignored Shirley's questions and took her sister "forcefully" into one of the vans. They told Shirley they would let her go -- but not her sister.

Thursday wasn’t a great day for Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R), but his unforced error made it worse.

His state’s Republican-led Senate ignored the furious decrees of Donald Trump to adopt a new congressional map that would eliminate two House seats currently held by Democrats. Instead, 31 of Indiana’s 50 state senators voted against the new map, including a majority of Republicans.

Braun apparently wasn’t happy at being called out by his fearless leader, so he took to social media to express disappointment “that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity to protect Hoosiers with fair maps and to reject the leadership of President Trump.”

“Your knee pads are in the mail. Xoxo,” Newsom responded, a reference to an October post of his promising to send knee pads to all CEOs, universities and GOP officials bending the knee to Trump.

Study finds dropping an expletive can raise confidence and help people push harder during physically demanding tasks

It may not be in keeping with the festive spirit, but if you find yourself dropping the F-word while wrestling a Christmas tree up a flight of stairs, scientists say you could be on to something. A study has found that swearing can enhance physical performance by lowering inhibitions and pushing the brain into a “flow state”.

“In many situations, people hold themselves back – consciously or unconsciously – from using their full strength,” said Dr Richard Stephens, a psychologist at Keele University who led the research. “Swearing is an easily available way to help yourself feel focused, confident and less distracted, and go for it a little more.”

Previous research found that swearing could increase strength and pain tolerance in tests where participants repeated swearwords while pushing themselves to the limit, such as cycling at maximum effort or holding a hand in icy water. Researchers initially hypothesised that swearing triggered a “fight or flight” response but found no supporting evidence, such as an increased heart rate.

The evidence suppression hearing in the case against accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione concluded Thursday after the defense signaled it would call no witnesses.

The nine-day hearing will determine what evidence will be used against Mangione when he goes on trial on charges of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk last year.

The defense has argued the officers violated Mangione's constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure because they lacked a warrant when they searched his backpack after Mangione was apprehended in a Pennsylvania McDonald's five days after the shooting.

US president has been blatant in his appointment of relatives, close friends and big donors – almost none of whom have diplomatic experience

When your goal is to “help Europe correct its current trajectory” because it is “weak”, “decaying” and facing “civilisational erasure”, your choice of highly trained operatives for the mission is plainly of paramount importance.

In Donald Trump’s case they include: a former burger magnate; his eldest son’s former fiancee; the owner of the Houston Rockets basketball team; a producer of Broadway musicals; PayPal’s co-founder; and a convicted felon who is also his son-in-law’s father.

A new cohort of US ambassadors has in recent months been appointed to Europe’s capitals – and did not take long to raise eyebrows. They are “basically all relatives, close friends or big givers [donors]”, said one EU diplomat, who asked not to be named. “That’s always been the US tradition, but it’s never been quite this blatant. These are like MAGA disciples.”