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2+ min ago (239+ words) Allie Stuckey at the River Center Theatre for the Performing Arts in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on October 27, 2025 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr) When former President George W. Bush described himself as a "compassionate conservative" during his eight years in the White House, some far-fight pundits objected to the "compassionate" part. Bush, they argued, was hurting conservatism when he called himself "compassionate," and they believed the right needed to purge itself of "compassion sickness." The term "compassion sickness" isn't as popular in right-wing media as it was during the 2000s, but the concept is alive and well. Tesla/SpaceX/X.com leader Elon Musk considers "suicidal empathy" a major threat to the United States' wellbeing. That term is closely identified with Musk. But in an article published on December 1, Salon's Amanda Marcotte stresses that the far right's use of "empathy" as an insult originated with evangelical…...

7+ min ago (458+ words) On Wednesday, Dec. 3, in'Olivier v. City of Brandon, Mississippi, the Supreme Court will consider whether individuals can challenge a law as unconstitutional and seek to protect themselves from its future enforcement if they've previously been punished for violating the law.' This mission brought Olivier and others to an amphitheater in Brandon, Mississippi, several times in 2018 and 2019. In late 2019, however, after city leaders determined that demonstrations outside the venue were creating "hardships" for law enforcement officers, Brandon enacted an ordinance that requires protesters and other demonstrators to stand within a designated protest area. In June 2021, Olivier entered a no contest plea " that is, he did not admit guilt, but he did not dispute the charges and accepted the punishment. "He was found guilty and received a fine, a suspended sentence of ten days' imprisonment, and a year's unsupervised probation," according to the…...

8+ min ago (396+ words) White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday responded to questions about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's alleged order to fire on boat strike survivors a second time. Her comments appear to try and absolve Hegseth of direct responsibility, prompting a flood of reactions, with one commentator saying it was "not making this any better." On Monday, Leavitt was pressed on the report and claimed that Hegseth had given a directive to Admiral Frank M. Bradley, who then ordered the second strike. This appeared to confirm that the strike occurred and was undertaken deliberately, despite a prior comment from Pentagon press secretary Sean Parnell claiming that the "entire narrative was false." "With respect to the strikes in question on Sept. 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes," Leavitt said. "Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law,…...

8+ min ago (235+ words) President Donald Trump has escalated the pressure against Indiana Republicans for defying his will on redistricting, and lawmakers in the Hoosier State are increasingly facing terroristic threats " but it only seems to be strengthening their resolve to stand firm, said a reporter covering the issue. "They seem to be holding fast," said Politico's Adam Wren in a post to X on Monday. "A lot could change in 6 days, of course, but all of the body language and public comments point toward a hardening of senate republicans" position against this." Trump and his allies have demanded that Indiana Republicans rig their congressional map with a mid-decade redraw to delete the Democratic districts centered in Indianapolis and Gary, giving the GOP all nine seats " part of a wave of new gerrymanders that includes redraws in Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina. But despite…...

15+ min ago (353+ words) Consumers inside a shopping mall in 2013 (Creative Commons) Consumers reportedly placed fewer orders on Black Friday, yet another indication that consumer confidence is down. Despite the decrease, sales hit record highs, thanks in part to inflation and increased use of credit, including "Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) programs. But the White House sees "good news" in the numbers. "Although U.S. consumers spent more this Black Friday compared to last year," Reuters reported, "price increases hampered online demand, according to Salesforce, with shoppers purchasing fewer items at checkout compared to last year." Newsweek, citing data from Salesforce published by Forbes, reported that "order volume fell by about 1 percent year over year, while average selling prices were up 7 percent'indicating that much of the growth was caused by inflation rather than any uptick in shopping enthusiasm." Overall, the "underlying details about spending patterns suggest…...

19+ min ago (514+ words) I've been quoted on the record as being a Grinch, though I am sentimental about the holidays in my own way. This, among other sentimentalities, feels like a core conceit of my nature " I am a lot of things, avoidant among them, but I am also a closet softie. My friends would tell you closet isn't quite the word for this. Helen says I'm sweeter, it turns out, than the average bear. When I finally got to close myself in a room, alone, over this last holiday, it was different than the one I had once used. That one had been painted the last color of blue in the sky, and I had laid there awake at night terrified of the ghost in the hall, of my own betraying thoughts of a different kind of life. In that different room,…...

19+ min ago (349+ words) People from a former Harvard president to a noted linguist were mentioned Much has been made of convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's alleged ties to President Donald Trump, but Trump is only one of numerous people with connections to Epstein. The latest revelations, courtesy of a massive batch of Epstein's emails released by the House Oversight Committee, show that many famous public figures had significant ties to Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019. While these communications do not necessarily prove guilt, they have raised more questions as the Epstein scandal continues to brew. Notably, all of these email exchanges "took place years after Epstein became a registered sex offender in 2008," said USA Today. Another politically adjacent name who moved to the private sector, Kathryn Ruemmler was White House general counsel during the Obama administration before taking a job as…...

21+ min ago (804+ words) White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday slammed the media while explaining why the White House launched a new website to combat "fake news." The post "Are You Kidding Me?" Karoline Leavitt Hammers Media After White House Launches Site to Combat "Fake News" first appeared on Mediaite. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday slammed the media while explaining why the White House launched a new website to combat "fake news." Days earlier, the White House unveiled a new page calling out what it calls "Media Offenders." At the top of the page, which will presumably be updated weekly, there is a section dedicated to the "Media Offender of the Week." At the time of writing, the section had three outlets listed: The Boston Globe, CBS News, and The Independent. Further down the page, the reporters behind these…...

21+ min ago (345+ words) Fuller told us, "Well, we're working on a Season 3, and the whole cast wants to come back. And, we've got a whole story. We're trying to do another season this year." "For starters, this is amazing news. Seeing Lee Pace back as Ned the Piemaker would be absolutely thrilling. It's wild to think about how many different TV shows have had a revival over the last five years and we've had to wait this long for Pushing Daisies to reemerge." Pushing Daisies had another moment in the sun in 2020. While we were all inside, the cast and crew of the show decided to tweet along with the fans during a rewatch. Maybe we can expect some of these developments to come about in a possible season 3? If so, go ahead and count us in before they shoot a frame of…...

24+ min ago (524+ words) Inset: Sierra H. Lindberg (Alachua County Sheriff's Office). Background: UF Plaza in Gainesville, where the alleged attack took place (Google Maps). An 18-year-old Florida woman has been arrested after she allegedly attacked two women in the bathroom of a college bar before punching an employee who was escorting her off the property. Sierra Halton Lindberg was taken into custody last month and charged with three counts of assault, records show. The alleged pair of violent outbursts resulted in two separate police reports. According to the first probable cause affidavit, the altercations took place shortly after midnight on Nov. 1 at UF Plaza, a shopping center near the University of Florida that is home to several college bars. The first victim of the initial alleged attack told police she was in one of the bathroom stalls when Lindberg "came in, grabbed [her] by…...