Add North Carolina to the list of Republican-controlled states that will redraw their congressional maps to help rig the 2026 midterm elections for the GOP. State Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican, said on Monday that he is calling the Republican-controlled legislature back into session next week to pass the new map, which could steal another U.S. House seat from Democrats. «Earlier today [state House Speaker Destin Hall] and I agreed to return to Raleigh to back up [President Donald Trump] by redrawing our Congressional map in North Carolina to block blue state Democrats like [California Gov. Gavin Newsom] who want to take control of Congress from Republicans,» Berger wrote in a post on X. Of course, California is trying to redraw its maps only because Republicans in Texas heeded Trump's demand to redraw the Lone Star State's congressional map to squeeze out as many as five Democrats from the state's U.S. House delegation. California voters will decide whether to approve a ballot measure in November that would suspend the state’s independent redistricting commission and allow the Democratic-controlled legislature to redraw its districts to negate Texas’ partisan gerrymander. Polls show the referendum is on track to succeed. The North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh, shown in 2024. North Carolina, for its part, already has one of the most skewed GOP gerrymanders in the country.  Trump carried the state by just 3 percentage points in 2024, yet Republicans hold 10 of the state's 14 U.S. House seats. In 2024, Democrats broke the GOP's gerrymandered state legislative supermajority. However, even that won't matter if the legislature does redraw its maps, since the governor does not have the power to veto the new district lines. The new map can pass with a simple majority in the legislature. Democratic Gov. Josh Stein slammed Republicans for trying to rig the map to even further benefit GOP candidates. “The General Assembly works for North Carolina, not Donald Trump,« Stein said in a statement. »The Republican leadership in the General Assembly has failed to pass a budget, failed to pay our teachers and law enforcement what they deserve, and failed to fully fund Medicaid. Now they are failing you, the voters. These shameless politicians are abusing their power to take away yours. I will always fight for you because the voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.” Newsom, whom Berger called out in his X post about the redraw, also condemned North Carolina Republicans for their redistricting effort. “The pathetic legislative leaders of North Carolina haven’t even passed a budget. And what are they busy doing? Rigging the next election for Trump,” Newsom wrote in a post on X. “Their priorities are clear—bend the knee to Trump, screw over North Carolina. Remember that.” If North Carolina passes a new map, it would become the latest GOP-controlled state to abruptly redraw its lines in order to squeeze out more seats for Republicans—an effort to prevent Democrats from taking control of the House in the 2026 midterms. Texas, Missouri, and Utah already redrew their districts to benefit Republicans.  Meanwhile, Ohio Republicans are expected to pass a new map before the end of November. Kansas Republicans are also gearing up to try to redraw their House district lines, as are Republicans in Indiana, Florida, and Nebraska.

Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills officially launched her campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins on Tuesday, with a video highlighting her opposition to President Donald Trump, who she characterized as a “bully.” x x YouTube Video In the campaign video, Mills highlighted her comment of “see you in court” to Trump at a February meeting in the White House. The statement was in response to Trump attempting to berate Mills for opposing his administration’s attempt to ban transgender children from participating in school sports. Trump attempted to withhold federal funding from Maine over the issue but in April a federal judge ordered the Department of Agriculture to pay out the money to the state. Related | ‘See you in court’: Governor refuses to bow to Trump’s bigoted ban “We stood up to Trump and stopped him from cutting the school lunch program for Maine kids,” Mills says in her ad, before going on to criticize Collins for letting “bullies like Trump have their way.” Collins has long presented herself as a moderate representing Maine’s mix of Democratic and Republican voters but has often allied herself with the right wing. She declined to vote to remove Trump from office in 2020 despite the House majority agreeing that he had committed high crimes. Collins also voted to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh, whose vote led to the eventual repeal of Roe v. Wade and the loss of abortion rights for millions of Americans. Mills is not alone in challenging Collins. Oyster farmer Graham Platner is also running for the Democratic Party’s Senate nomination and has attracted the support of Sen. Bernie Sanders. A Zenith Research poll of Maine voters conducted Oct.7-10 found both Mills and Platner polling ahead of Collins, with Platner ahead by 14 and Mills up 8. In Morning Consult’s tracking poll of governors around the country, Mills was the most unpopular Democratic governor—but her approval rating of 49% to 46% disapproval is leagues ahead of Collins, who has a 38% approval rating and 54% disapproval. Maine is traditionally considered a Democratic-leaning state and former Vice President Kamala Harris won it in the 2024 election. Collins has been one of the top targets of the Democratic Party and the party’s Senate campaign arm, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, has been criticizing Collins for siding with her fellow Republicans to shut down the federal government. “Collins is shutting down the government instead of working to address the health care crisis she helped create, and in 2026 Mainers will hold her accountable at the ballot box,” DSCC spokesperson Maeve Coyle said in a September statement.

A cartoon by Clay Bennett. Related | Trump kisses yet another dictator’s ass at cringey ‘peace summit’

After spending the past few weeks blaming Democrats' rhetoric for the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, GOP leaders are now spouting their own dangerous rhetoric against thousands of people who plan to protest against President Donald Trump on Saturday. The Republican House speaker, House majority leader, and House majority whip are all falsely demonizing Americans who plan to show up to the hundreds of «No Kings» rallies across the country. «We call it the 'hate America' rally because you'll see the hate for America all over this thing when they show up,» House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said Tuesday morning on Fox Business. «The rumor is that [Democratic lawmakers] can't end this shutdown beforehand because this small but very violent and vocal group is the only one that's happy about this.» x x YouTube Video House Majority Leader Steve Scalise made similar comments during a House Republican news conference on Tuesday, also calling the “No Kings” protest a “‘hate America’ rally.” They follow House Speaker Mike Johnson, who made almost identical comments last week in an appearance on Fox News, saying that Democrats will not vote to fund the government until after the rally is over. “The theory we have right now—they have a ‘hate America’ rally that's scheduled for Oct. 18 on the National Mall. It's all the pro-Hamas wing and the antifa people—they're all coming out. Some of the House Democrats are selling T-shirts for the event. And it's being told to us that they won't be able to reopen the government until after that rally, because they can't face their rabid base,” Johnson said. “I mean, this is serious business.« x x YouTube Video Even Trump administration officials are getting in on the hate-filled lies, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy saying recently that the “No Kings” rallies will be filled with “antifa” and “paid protesters.” x x YouTube Video Of course, the “No Kings” rallies have nothing to do with hating America. Instead, they’re being held by Americans who are appalled at Trump’s trampling of the Constitution to consolidate his power and carry out his hateful agenda, which is hurting the most vulnerable among us.  George Conway, ex-husband of former White House aide Kellyanne Conway, recently cut an ad to gin up interest in the rallies, saying that authoritarianism is a “cancer” and that the “symptoms are here today.” “Masked agents grabbing people off the streets, the government threatening and prosecuting political opponents, attacks on free speech, soldiers in our cities—we thought it couldn’t happen here,” Conway says in the ad. “Other places, sure. Italy in the ‘20s, where fascism was born. Chile, Russia, Venezuela, Hungary, and now the disease is growing, the cancer metastasizing in America now.” Conway goes on to say that the “cure” is Americans standing up to voice their opposition at the “No Kings” rallies to “show them you’re not afraid.” x x YouTube Video In fact, all it takes to see through Republicans’ lies about the rallies is to look at images from past “No Kings” rallies. In June, thousands of regular Americans peacefully gathered, holding signs and chanting to protest Trump and the GOP’s agenda. Those rallies served as counterprogramming to Trump’s wasteful and embarrassing military parade, which took place on his birthday.  Still, Republicans’ inflammatory lies could inspire right-wing extremists to carry out attacks. The night before the »No Kings« rallies in June, a Trump supporter went on a shooting spree in Minnesota, leaving a top state Democrat and her husband dead as well as a Democratic state senator and his wife injured. As for the upcoming “No Kings” rallies, organizers say they are undeterred by Republicans’ attacks. Organizers told HuffPost on Tuesday that there are now 2,500 events planned in all 50 states »organized by average Americans across personal, political, and geographic demographics." But Republican efforts to blame the shutdown on Democrats and the “No Kings” rallies are a desperate attempt to find a new narrative to blame Democrats, since their current lies haven’t been working. “No, Speaker Johnson: The No Kings Rally on October 18 is not a ‘hate America’ rally. Quite the contrary,” progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote in a post on X. “It’s a rally of millions of people who believe in American freedom and are not going to allow you and President Trump to turn us into an authoritarian country.”

Conspiracy theorist and Trump superfan Alex Jones suffered another setback on Tuesday after the conservative-majority Supreme Court denied his appeal of the $1.4 billion defamation judgement against him after he promoted debunked falsehoods about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. Jones was sued after families and members of law enforcement were harassed by listeners of Jones’ Infowars, where he claimed that the shooting was a staged event with crisis actors. They were awarded after testifying about the severe emotional distress caused by Jones’ defamation. Bill Sherlach, husband of Mary, one of the Sandy Hook School shooting victims, speaks to the media after the defamation trial against Alex Jones in October 2022.  “We look forward to enforcing the jury’s historic verdict and making Jones and Infowars pay for what they have done,” Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the families, said in a statement. Jones’ lawyers unsuccessfully argued that his defamatory lies were protected by the First Amendment. While seeking relief in the Supreme Court, Jones has also been meeting with the Trump administration. After Jones met with Pardon Attorney Ed Martin, he sent a letter in September to former FBI Special Agent William Aldenberg. Martin’s letter—featuring Department of Justice letterhead—essentially accused Aldenberg of pursuing legal action against Jones with the help of Democrats. Martin later retracted his letter. The Supreme Court decision is just more bad news for Jones this year. His longtime collaborator Owen Shroyer left Infowars in September, alleging that Jones pressured him to ease up on criticism of President Donald Trump. In response, Jones had a meltdown on air, describing Shroyer as a “backstabber” and a “snake.” At the same time, Jones has been complaining about Trump mishandling the Epstein files scandal. Jones was among the most vocal on the right echoing Trump’s claims that the Epstein files would reveal sinister secrets about the global elite. But now that Trump is refusing to release the files, Jones has lashed out, calling Trump’s stonewalling “just crazy.” Jones has spent decades pushing lies about nearly every event in world history, without concern for the harm done to innocent people. Now he’s on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars—and he can’t even rely on the pro-Trump Supreme Court to help him out.

Germany’s Nord Stream sabotage investigation runs counter to NATO and Warsaw’s interests, according to Poland’s national security chief Read Full Article at RT.com

Moscow could double deliveries to its Asian neighbor by the 2030s, shutting out US exports, Bloomberg has warned Read Full Article at RT.com

Hungary has received 5 billion cubic meters of gas under long-term contracts with Gazprom, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said Read Full Article at RT.com

The government is revising growth and inflation forecasts, Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov has said Read Full Article at RT.com

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The Acer Aspire 14 AI Copilot+ PC packs modern specs, long battery life, and a clean design. It’s currently available for $628 on Amazon, with a 10% discount.

The Trump administration axed a proposal that would have forced airlines to pay cash for delays or cancellations that were the carrier's fault.

Since we all have a relationship with the Sun, it is important to learn about how it impacts our lives. NASA’s Heliophysics Education Activation Team (HEAT) teaches people of all ages about the Sun, covering everything from how to safely view an eclipse to how to mitigate the effects of geomagnetic storms.

A supermoon, and meteor showers from the Draconids and Orionids A supermoon takes over the sky, the Draconid meteor shower peeks through, and the Orionid meteor shower shines bright. Skywatching Highlights Transcript What’s Up for October? A Supermoon takes over, the Draconid meteor shower peeks through, and the Orionid meteors sparkle across the night sky. […]

NASA, along with leaders from global space agencies and government representatives worldwide, convened on Monday to further the implementation of the Artemis Accords — practical principles designed to guide the responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The meeting was held during the 76th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) taking place in Sydney. In opening […]

NASA and Blue Origin are reopening media accreditation for the launch of the agency’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission. The twin ESCAPADE spacecraft will study the solar wind’s interaction with Mars, providing insight into the planet’s real-time response to space weather and how solar activity drives atmospheric escape. This will be […]

by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific September 2025 marks ten years since the first direct detection of gravitational waves as predicted by Albert Einstein’s 1916 theory of General Relativity. These invisible ripples in space were first directly detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Traveling at the speed of light […]

A 2025 satellite photo shows a particularly complex section of the Yarlung Zangbo River as it twists its way through the Tibetan Plateau. This part of the «braided» waterway has experienced drastic visual changes over recent decades, which could soon be accentuated by climate change.

This year's edition drew an impressive 1,160 submissions across 34 countries and five continents. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Blink and You’d Miss the Moments Topping This Year’s Pure Street Photography Awards appeared first on Colossal.

In a world this absurd and disastrous, do we gravitate toward cynicism or levity? Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article In ‘The Party is Over,’ Murmure Confronts the Absurd Spectacle of the End Times appeared first on Colossal.

A broken pencil, outdated forms, and tattered bits of fabric are prime materials for Ricci's elaborate, small-scale worlds. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Armed with Scraps, Lydia Ricci Builds a World of Messy Miniatures appeared first on Colossal.

Experience magic in Gillings' misty and mysterious woodlands. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Charming Flights of Fancy Fill Vanessa Gillings’ Imaginative Illustrations appeared first on Colossal.

Something strange is going on with Madgwick's dilapidated facades and uncanny shrubbery. Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Sinister Skies Set the Scene for Derelict Buildings in Lee Madgwick’s Surreal Paintings appeared first on Colossal.

Are you feeling «muy bien?» Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article A Quirky and Joyous Social Movement Builds in Xinobi’s Music Video for ‘Strides’ appeared first on Colossal.

There's a new name at the top of the NFL MVP oddsboard, as well as an NFC South QB who's surging. Here's the latest.

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Juncos Hollinger Racing has made it official, signing Rinus VeeKay for the 2026 IndyCar season. It's a team he is already familiar with, driving a Juncos-prepared car to the 2018 Pro Mazda championship, as well as second in the 2019 Indy NXT (then Indy Lights) championship.At the beginning of September, the Dutchman revealed that he wouldn't be returning to Dale Coyne Racing after one year ...Keep reading