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ARG Poll: Trump Approval 35% to 63% Disapproval

(Newsweek) President Donald Trump has recorded the lowest approval rating of his second term, according to new polling from the American Research Group (ARG), which shows the president’s standing with the public continuing a long downward slide. The latest survey finds Trump at 35 percent approval and 63 percent disapproval, yielding a net approval of –28 points—his worst recorded by ARG since the Republican's return to office. The findings also show that just 32 percent of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy, while 64 percent disapprove.

Coldwater

Trump threatens pollsters after New York Times survey shows sagging disapproval

(Politico) President Donald Trump threatened legal consequences for The New York Times after a poll released by the outlet found that independent voters have soured on his leadership at the one-year mark of his second term. Just 34 percent of independent voters told the New York Times/Siena poll that they approve of the president’s job performance. Fifty-two percent of independents told the Times that they believe the country is worse off than it was last year before Trump took office

BumRushDaShow

Kash Patel used meeting after Charlie Kirk's assassination to plot agency's social media posting plan, agents say

(The Independent) FBI Director Kash Patel reportedly prioritized planning social media posts for himself, former Deputy Dan Bongino and the Salt Lake City field office in the moments after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, as senior executives and field offices were trying to brief officials on the situation. Recounting the moments after Kirk, a right-wing political activist, was killed in Utah, a senior FBI executive told the New York Times that a “super emotional” Patel got on a conference call and “berated” the special agent in charge of the field office before planning social media posts.

bigtree

Vance says he'll look into "accusations" of racial profiling (that Trump DOJ asked SCOTUS to allow)

(KARE-TV) Vance stopped in Minneapolis Thursday to meet with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and spoke about their immigration operations. When pressed about the accusations made by local law enforcement surrounding racial profiling, Vance said he would look into it when he returns to Washington, D.C., but then shifted the focus to local law enforcement and their failure to cooperate with the federal operations. "It's something that we take very seriously. We will take accusations of racial profiling back to Washington — we'll certainly look into them when they come up — but this is not a group that's going around and looking for people who violated the law based on skin color, they're looking for people who violated the actual law."

Mr. Sparkle

House Narrowly Passes ICE Funding Bill With Democratic Support After Jeffries Declined To Whip Against It

(Mediaite) A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security narrowly passed the House on Thursday, 220-207. Seven Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the measure, which ensures that DHS and its agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be funded through the end of September. ICE will receive $10 billion for the fiscal year.

KS Toronado

Friday's Condensed News Cartoons

BumRushDaShow

Starmer accuses Trump of diminishing sacrifice of Nato troops in Afghanistan

(The Guardian) Keir Starmer has accused Donald Trump of “diminishing” the sacrifice of fallen British soldiers by claiming that those who fought in Afghanistan avoided the frontlines, as the US president faced a fierce backlash from all sides of the UK political spectrum as well as the families of veterans. Trump’s suggestion that Nato troops stayed “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan has resurfaced questions about his own avoidance of military service in Vietnam.

BumRushDaShow

White House posts an altered photo of Minnesota protester's arrest to make it look like she was crying

(CBS News) The White House posted a photo on social media that was digitally altered to make it look like a protester was sobbing as she was arrested in connection with a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a Minnesota church. A photo of Nekima Levy Armstrong's arrest — showing Armstrong with a neutral expression — was first posted on X by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem Thursday morning. The image the White House posted appears the same except Armstrong's altered facial expression shows her distressed, with tears running down her face.

Dulcinea

Takeaways from Jack Smith on his case against Trump, 'so many witnesses' and the threats ahead

(AP) Former special counsel Jack Smith testified Thursday about his investigation of President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, detailing how the defeated president “sought to prey” on his supporters and “looked for ways to stay in power,” culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. “Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan. 6, it was foreseeable to him, and that he sought to exploit the violence,” Smith testified.

babylonsister

U.S. Formally Withdraws from World Health Organization

(Political Wire) “The United States formally withdrew from the World Health Organization on Thursday, making good on an executive order that President Trump issued on his first day in office pledging to leave the international organization that coordinates global responses to public health threats,” the New York Times reports.

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Latest Breaking News

Trump administration weighs naval blockade to halt Cuban oil imports

20 min ago - 01/23/2026 02:12 PM EST Updated: 01/23/2026 02:31 PM EST The Trump administration is weighing new tactics to drive regime change in Cuba, including imposing a total blockade on oil imports to the Caribbean country, three people familiar with the plan ... (Politico)

Grammy winner Rene Fleming cancels Kennedy Center appearances

27 min ago - Grammy Award-winning opera singer Renée Fleming will no longer participate in a pair of symphony performances at the Kennedy Center this spring, according to a message on the center’s website. Fleming was scheduled to appear with the Nati ... (The Hill)

Prosecutors allege gang members tried to kill Indiana judge to derail domestic abuse trial

32 min ago - Members of a motorcycle club and a street gang worked together in an attempt to kill an Indiana judge in hopes of derailing a domestic abuse case against one of their own, prosecutors alleged Friday, hours after police announced they had arrested fiv ... (AP News)

Minnesota judges continue to reject arrest warrants in ICE protests

48 min ago - Jan. 23, 2026, 6:00 AM EST Federal judges in Minnesota have several times in recent weeks rejected arrest warrants for people protesting a surge of immigration officers in that state, finding that federal agents do not have sufficient evidence that p ... (MS NOW)

TikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users. Here Are the 3 Biggest Changes

49 min ago - Now that it’s under US-based ownership, TikTok potentially collects more detailed information about its users, including precise location data. A spokesperson for TikTok USDS declined to comment. -snip- TikTok’s change in location tracking ... (Wired)

U.K., including Prince Harry, voices outrage at Trump's Afghanistan remarks

1 hr ago - U.K., including Prince Harry, voices outrage at Trump’s Afghanistan remarks President Donald Trump’s inaccurate belittling of the British role in Afghanistan recalled previous occasions when he has insulted injured or fallen soldiers. Janua ... (Washington Post)

Trump's FBI director 'wanted to go to Premier League game instead of meeting MI5'

1 hr ago - Friday 23 January 2026 10:14 EST FBI director Kash Patel reportedly wanted to go to Premier League football matches instead of attending office-based meetings with international allies, including the UK’s MI5 director. A senior FBI executive tol ... (The Independent)

US completes withdrawal from World Health Organization

1 hr ago - The U.S. has finalized its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, one year after President Donald Trump announced America was ending its 78-year-old commitment, federal officials said Thursday. [....] The U.S. owes about $280 million to the g ... (AP News)

Judge rules Trump admin. must keep funding child care subsidies in 5 states for now

2 hrs ago - A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must keep federal funds flowing to child care subsidies and other social service programs in five Democratic-controlled states* — at least for now. ... (AP)

Researchers say Russian government hackers were behind attempted Poland power outage

2 hrs ago - A failed December effort to bring down parts of Poland’s energy grid was the work of Russian government hackers known for causing past energy disruptions, according to a security research firm that investigated the incident. Last week, Polish E ... (TechCrunch)

Clergy arrested, businesses shutter as Minnesotans protest Trump's surge in immigration agents

2 hrs ago - Local police arrested dozens of clergy members who sang hymns and prayed as they knelt on a road at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport as part of a day of protests and walkouts on Friday against U.S. President Donald Trump's deployment of t ... (Reuters)

Judge warns administration against changing immigration status of students who sued over free speech

2 hrs ago - January 23, 2026, 11:22 AM A federal judge in Boston has ruled that academics and students who were part of a lawsuit alleging an "unconstitutional conspiracy" by the Trump administration to target them for their pro-Palestinian activism may seek imm ... (ABC News)

FEMA halts disaster worker cuts as massive winter storm threatens millions of Americans

3 hrs ago - by ALEXX ALTMAN-DEVILBISS Fri, January 23, 2026 at 8:55 AM Updated Fri, January 23, 2026 at 9:46 AM WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) informed staff on Thursday that disaster worker terminations would be halte ... (wset.com)

Rejecting Decades of Science, Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Other Shots Should Be Optional

3 hrs ago - Jan. 23, 2026, 11:51 a.m. ET Offering a startlingly candid view into the philosophy guiding vaccine recommendations under the Trump administration, the leader of the federal panel that recommends vaccines for Americans said shots against polio and me ... (New York Times)

Vance's message in Minneapolis: Local officials must cooperate with the immigration crackdown

3 hrs ago - By MICHELLE L. PRICE, JULIE CARR SMYTH and STEVE PEOPLES Updated 5:27 PM CST, January 22, 2026 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Insisting that he was in Minnesota to calm tensions, Vice President JD Vance on Thursday blamed “far-left people” and sta ... (AP)

Marco Rubio personally signed off on arrests of pro-Palestine students, documents show

4 hrs ago - Friday 23 January 2026 12:05 EST Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally approved the arrest and removal of five international student activists for their Palestinian advocacy and writings against the war in Gaza, according to government documents ... (The Independent)

The Trump administration admits even more ways DOGE accessed sensitive personal data

6 hrs ago - January 23, 20265:00 AM ET For much of the last year, staffers who were initially part of the Department of Government Efficiency effort improperly accessed and shared sensitive personal data on millions of Americans. The Trump administration hasn't ... (NPR)

More than half the US threatened with ice, snow and cold in massive winter storm

7 hrs ago - By EMILIE MEGNIEN, JEFFREY COLLINS and JAMIE STENGLE Updated 9:53 AM CST, January 23, 2026 DALLAS (AP) — It was too cold for school in Chicago and other Midwestern cities Friday as a huge, dayslong winter storm began to crank up that could bring ... (AP)

Nuclear reactor owned by Fukushima plant operator to shut down again hours after restart

7 hrs ago - Jan. 22, 2026, 11:54 PM EST TOKYO — A reactor at the world’s largest nuclear power plant that restarted for the first time since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster is being shut down again due to a glitch that occurred hours after the unit ... (NBC News/AP)

Microsoft Gave FBI Keys To Unlock Encrypted Data, Exposing Major Privacy Flaw

8 hrs ago - DAILY COVER Microsoft Gave FBI Keys To Unlock Encrypted Data, Exposing Major Privacy Flaw The tech giant said it receives around 20 requests for BitLocker keys a year and will provide them to governments in response to valid court orders. But compani ... (Forbes)