Supreme Court case could wipe out all Democratic-held seats in some deep-red Southern states

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.

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

Sber CEO Herman Gref has called for deeper interest rate cuts to spur recovery and avert a recession Read Full Article at RT.com

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.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague watches as Robert Schmidle Pitts Aerobatics perform, Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, during the Joint Base Andrews Air Show at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George's County, Maryland. Hague spent 171 days aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 72.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), the agency’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. The missions will each focus on different effects of the solar wind — the continuous stream of particles emitted by the Sun — and space weather — the changing conditions in space driven by the Sun — from their origins at the Sun to their farthest reaches billions of miles away at the edge of our solar system.

This stunning Earth image taken from the International Space Station looks at a large lake in eastern Kazakhstan with golden sunglint: Lake Balkhash. It is one of the largest lakes in Asia and is the 15th largest lake in the world.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the nebula LMC N44C.

During its close flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io on December 30, 2023, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured some of the most detailed imagery ever of Io’s volcanic surface. This image is the NASA Science Image of the Month for October 2025.

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.

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.

When long-time Penn State head coach James Franklin was fired this past weekend, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule was one of the first names to be mentioned on all of the hot lists. And with good reason. 

Through the first six weeks of the season, wide receiver George Pickens looks like the Dallas Cowboys' best offseason addition.  

Schwarber is coming off the best season of his career, which will serve him well heading into free agency.

With the month of September in the books, both the top college prospects and 2026 NFL draft order are coming into focus. Here's a look at our latest first-round NFL mock draft as of October 13, 2025.

The 2025-26 New York Rangers season began with a lot of excitement due to the arrival of two-time Stanley Cup champion head coach Mike Sullivan. Things have not been off to a smooth start however. 

Speaking with Motorsport.com's Matt Weaver, Alex Palou offered a candid look into his incredible career as an IndyCar driver. In 2025, he earned his fourth IndyCar title in the last five years, and became an Indy 500 legend.Palou discussed a variety of topics throughout the 15-minute interview, including when he chose to become a race car driver, his first crash, overcoming a fear of ovals ...Keep reading