MicroWave

Summary

The Biden administration has lifted a de facto ban on American military contractors working in Ukraine to help maintain U.S.-provided weapons like F-16 fighter jets and Patriot air defense systems.

This policy shift allows the Pentagon to hire American companies for on-the-ground support, aiming to speed up repairs and keep Ukrainian military equipment operational.

Contractors will be positioned far from front lines and will focus solely on equipment maintenance.

The plan’s future is uncertain under incoming President Donald Trump, who has pledged to quickly end the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Summary

Donald Trump’s allies, including Elon Musk and John Paulson, are advocating sudden, unspecified spending cuts, likely targeting healthcare and social programs if Trump wins.

Despite strong economic performance under Biden, Trump’s agenda could double the national debt, raising taxes for most Americans while benefitting the wealthy. His policies may cut essential programs, lowering living standards in the short term.

Trump’s campaign has been a bait-and-switch, promising economic restoration while hiding the dire consequences of his proposals.

Summary

Evangelical Christians have fallen prey to the temptations offered by Donald Trump, similar to those faced by Jesus in the desert. Trump has offered evangelicals wealth, protection, and power, leading them away from the teachings of Jesus and closer to the path set forth by the devil. The evangelical church has submitted to Trump, moving further from the values of serving the poor, healing the sick, and loving neighbors.

Summary

Newt Gingrich blasted a Julia Roberts-led ad encouraging women to vote privately, calling it a sign of the sick values he attributes to Democrats. In a heated exchange with Sean Hannity, he accused the party of promoting dishonesty and moral decay in America, suggesting this reflects a broader erosion of societal integrity. Gingrich, who faced his own scandals, cited Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s recent split from the Democrats as further proof of disillusionment with what he sees as their corrupt influence.

Trump stiffed the southwestern city to the tune of half a million, complicating his return to New Mexico

Former President Donald Trump had a hard time finding a spot for his Halloween rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico rally, as unpaid bills came back to haunt his campaign.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the campaign’s original plans to use the Albuquerque Convention Center were dashed, due in part to an unpaid bill of nearly $445,000 from a 2019 rally.

“If you’re not going to pay your bills, we’re just not going to entertain you using city facilities, and that’s the way it should be,” Albuquerque mayor Tim Keller told the outlet.

Summary:

Amid rising early voting numbers from women in battleground states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania—where they make up 55% of ballots cast—some conservative voices are panicking. Right-wing commentators are sounding the alarm, fearing that even MAGA-supporting husbands’ wives might be casting secret ballots for Kamala Harris.

Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, has put it starkly: “If men stay at home, Kamala is president. It’s that simple.” Jesse Watters of Fox News has even equated a wife secretly voting for Harris to “having an affair.”

Investigators in Oregon searching for the person responsible for three fires at ballot drop boxes in the past few weeks – which damaged hundreds of ballots – believe “it is very possible the suspect intends to continue the attacks,” a police spokesperson said Wednesday.

Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Mike Benner described the suspect as a White man between 30 and 40 years old, who is balding or has very short hair. The man has a medium to thin build, he said.

Fires were set at three ballot boxes in the area in the past three weeks. Officials have identified 488 damaged ballots that were retrieved from a burned ballot box in Vancouver, Washington, and 345 of those voters already requested new ballots, according to election officials. Elections staff will mail another 143 replacement ballots to voters Thursday, officials said on X.

They're minors and he used their pictures without their parents' permission, seemingly calling them "boys in girls' sports."

Republican Ted Cruz’s desperate search for trans targets in a hateful series of anti-trans attack ads directed at his Democratic opponent Colin Allred has landed the two-term Texas senator in hot water with the parents of two cisgender girls and their high school.

The teens appear in at least two fear-mongering ads attacking both the trans community and Allred, picturing them alongside former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and CeCé Telfer, a Jamaican-born sprinter and the first out trans woman to win an NCAA title.

Fake AI-generated videos have been spreading lies about the vice presidential candidate.

A Kremlin-backed propaganda network is allegedly behind a disinformation campaign targeting Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, spreading false rumors that he sexually assaulted former students, according to WIRED.

Various experts allege that the network Storm-1516 is behind these efforts. This network is tied to many false claims, including one that alleged Kamala Harris committed a hit-and-run in 2011.

Melanie Barton-Gauss, a retired teacher from Florida, traveled to the City of Brotherly Love just weeks before the presidential election to spread her message of political conversion. "After Jan. 6, I did what in my family is considered unthinkable: I left the Republican Party and joined the Democrat[ic] Party. And I left the church."

Barton-Gauss is part of a bus tour across the key battleground state hosted by Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT). The group teamed up with The Bulwark, a political outlet founded by Never Trump Republicans, for a series of podcast tapings and other events highlighting Republicans and former Republicans supporting Vice President Kamala Harris. Targeting lifelong members of the GOP who harbor doubts about another Donald Trump term is a central strategy of the Harris campaign. RVAT's organizers believe there are just enough of these right-leaning voters to push dead-heat swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin over the top for Democrats.

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Aid to several communities impacted by Hurricane Helene was temporarily paused in parts of North Carolina over the weekend due to reports of threats against Federal Emergency Management Agency responders, amid a backdrop of misinformation about responses to recent storms.

Some FEMA operations were paused in Ashe County out of an abundance of caution Sunday, Ashe County Sheriff B. Phil Howell said on Facebook. This includes in-person applications for aid in at least two locations “due to threats occurring in some counties,” according to the county’s emergency management office. That assistance is expected to resume Monday.

Then-President Donald Trump’s claims in 2018 that the FBI would have full leeway to investigate sexual assault allegations about his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, appeared to confuse the agency, according to internal communications cited in a Senate Democrat’s new report.

The investigation into the allegations – which Kavanaugh has vehemently denied – was sought after an emotional hearing with his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, prompted some crucial senators to balk at confirming the nominee.

The White House, however, instructed the FBI to only interview 10 witnesses, according to the report. The FBI was also not given authority to seek out other witnesses who might have corroborating information, nor did it have permission to go beyond the specific subject areas outlined by the White House for questioning the witnesses.

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