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Senate GOP blocks push for legal action over Epstein law

(Roll Call) Senate Republican leadership blocked a Democrat-backed measure Thursday that would direct the chamber to take legal action over the Justice Department’s much-criticized handling of the Jeffrey Epstein documents. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, on the floor, criticized the Trump administration’s response to the law Congress passed last year that required the release of documents tied to the deceased sex offender. The New York Democrat said millions of pages of documents that have not been released could contain financial records, letters, emails and the names of conspirators.

RandySF

House Republicans prepare full-court press for voting restrictions

(Politico) The House is set to vote next week on a once-obscure elections bill that has now become a household name among hard-right activists and a major rallying point for an otherwise divided GOP. The SAVE America Act, aimed at tightening voter registration standards, has a difficult path to enactment despite a no-holds-barred pressure campaign from the likes of President Donald Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk. But amid growing fears that their party is not doing enough to address Americans’ key concerns — rising prices chief among them — House GOP leaders and key senators have chosen to put the election security push at the center of their agenda.

babylonsister

Democrats Smell Blood in the Water

(Political Wire) Rachel Bade: “If it wasn’t clear before, it’s crystal clear now: Democrats are feeling their power when it comes to ICE enforcement and the looming Department of Homeland Security funding deadline. Republicans, meanwhile, face a no-win situation: Hold the line and eat the blowback from a shutdown — or cave and torch their own base. Consider this: In the past 48 hours, President Donald Trump has extended an olive branch to the left on immigration enforcement ... But instead of returning the good-faith gesture, Democrats have hardened their position.”

sheshe2

Trump posts images of Michelle and Barack Obama as monkeys on Truth Social

(Mueller She Wrote) "Trump has posted on Truth Social about 65 times in the last 90 minutes, including a video he posted at 8:44 PM PT describing election fraud lies that shows racist AI images of Michelle and Barack Obama as monkeys at the end. I’ve confirmed this is real and watched it myself."

KS Toronado

Friday's Condensed News Cartoons

question everything

Twin Cities tow truck driver returns abandoned vehicles to families after ICE arrests

(CBS News) Juan Leon had only been running his tow truck business, Leo's Towing, for a few months when he noticed a pattern that kept repeating itself. Cars were being left behind across the Twin Cities metro area – parked on streets, in parking lots, sometimes for days at a time. The owners were gone, and in many cases, they had been arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Seeing there was a need for someone to help out, help clear the streets and get the people back their vehicles. So we stepped up and started doing it," Leon said.

BumRushDaShow

Ohio's GOP governor: Ending TPS for Haitians would be 'blow to the economy'

(The Hill) Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) defended Haitians under temporary protected status (TPS) who reside in his state, three days after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from revoking such status from hundreds of thousands of migrants from the Caribbean country. “If they lose temporary protected status and they no longer can work and the companies can’t employ them, that’s a blow to the economy, that’s a blow to the state,” DeWine told host Dana Bash Thursday on CNN’s “Inside Politics.”

RandySF

Virginia Democrats release long-awaited 10-1 congressional map

(Virginia Mercury) After weeks of buildup and a missed self-imposed Jan. 30 deadline, Virginia Democrats on Thursday evening finally released their long-awaited revised congressional map, proposing an aggressive 10–1 configuration that would tilt 10 of the state’s 11 U.S. House districts toward their party. The proposed congressional map leaves several of Virginia’s largest districts visually intact while concentrating most of its changes in Northern and central Virginia.

BumRushDaShow

Florida push for mid-decade redistricting draws its first lawsuit

(Politico) Florida’s bid to reshape its congressional map — which still hasn’t happened yet — drew its first lawsuit Thursday with the help of a group aligned with Democrats. Two Floridians, with backing from the National Redistricting Foundation, filed a lawsuit Thursday that contends Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Cord Byrd lacked the legal authority to alter election laws after the governor called an April special session on mid-decade redistricting.

RandySF

IN-01: Indiana House GOP candidate withdraws from race, citing state's failure to redistrict

(The Hill) An Indiana Republican running for a competitive House seat announced Thursday that she would be withdrawing from the race, citing the competitive nature of the district and the state’s failure to redistrict ahead of November. “Indiana’s legislature sadly chose not to redistrict Indiana congressional map to counter Democrats’ egregious gerrymandering and their counting of illegal immigrants in the census,” former Indiana Public Safety Secretary Jennifer-Ruth Green said in a statement one day before the state’s filing deadline.

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Republican Candidate Drops Out After Redistricting Blocked: 'Difficult Seat'

29 min ago - Published Feb 06, 2026 at 03:56 AM EST updated Feb 06, 2026 at 03:57 AM EST A Republican congressional candidate in Indiana has dropped out of the race, amid what she described as “egregious gerrymandering,” describing the seat she had hope ... (Newsweek)

Rape allegation against ex-Barclays CEO Jes Staley was raised in US Epstein investigation

1 hr ago - Thu 5 Feb 2026 13.29 EST Last modified on Fri 6 Feb 2026 03.25 EST US prosecutors reviewed allegations of rape and bodily harm against the former Barclays boss and former JP Morgan banker Jes Staley, according to newly unsealed files linked to the ch ... (The Guardian)

Man pardoned in U.S. Capitol riot pleads guilty to threatening Hakeem Jeffries

1 hr ago - February 5, 2026, 10:01 PM CLINTON, N.Y. -- A New York man accused of threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pleaded guilty Thursday, a year after President Donald Trump pardoned him for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. ... (ABC News/AP)

Donald Trump prompts fury after posting racist video about Barack and Michelle Obama - US politics live

1 hr ago - Donald Trump went on a massive social media spree overnight that included posting on Truth Social an election conspiracy video that ended with a clip depicting former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as monkeys. The racist ... (The Gyardian)

'An impossibility': Negotiations to reform ICE sputter as shutdown looms for DHS

2 hrs ago - Feb. 5, 2026, 8:01 PM EST WASHINGTON — Congress is struggling to make progress in negotiations to avoid a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security next week, leaving the two parties squabbling as the House and the Senate left town for a l ... (NBC News)

Ohio's GOP governor: Ending TPS for Haitians would be 'blow to the economy'

2 hrs ago - 12h Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) defended Haitians under temporary protected status (TPS) who reside in his state, three days after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from revoking such status from hundreds of thousands of migrants from th ... (msn/The Hill)

Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn jumps into Maryland House race:Tell Donald Trump I'm coming back to the Capitol

3 hrs ago - February 5, 2026, 7:24 PM Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn is running for Congress in Maryland's 5th Congressional District. Dunn rose to national prominence for his testimony in congressional hearings about defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. ... (ABC News)

LaMonte McLemore, Founding Member Of The 5th Dimension, Dies At 90

3 hrs ago - Feb 5, 2026, 06:57 PM EST Singer LaMonte McLemore, a founding member of vocal group The 5th Dimension, whose smooth pop and soul sounds with a touch of psychedelia brought them big hits in the 1960s and '70s, has died. He was 90. McLemore died Tuesd ... (Huff Post/AP)

"Tsunami" of immigration detention cases strains U.S. Attorney's offices across America

4 hrs ago - Updated on: February 5, 2026 / 6:27 PM EST As immigration sweeps and detentions have expanded in Minnesota and around the country, the work of justifying those detentions is overwhelming federal prosecutors, who are being forced to sideline a range o ... (CBS News)

Trump cuts funds for EVs, health in blue states

4 hrs ago - 02/05/26 6:02 PM ET The Trump administration is rescinding a total of $1.5 billion in health and transportation funds from multiple blue states, a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) confirmed Thursday. The OMB dire ... (The Hill)

Florida push for mid-decade redistricting draws its first lawsuit

4 hrs ago - 02/05/2026 05:36 PM EST TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida’s bid to reshape its congressional map — which still hasn’t happened yet — drew its first lawsuit Thursday with the help of a group aligned with Democrats. Two Floridian ... (Politico)

Mark Warner Warns Trump Planning a 'Coordinated Effort to try to Interfere' in the Midterms

5 hrs ago - Feb 5th, 2026, 5:30 pm Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, sounded the alarm on Thursday about President Donald Trump’s recent statements urging Republicans to “take over” elections from the ... (MEDIAite)

Cuban president says he's willing to talk to U.S. but preparing a 'defense plan' as fuel crisis worsens

5 hrs ago - Feb. 5, 2026, 5:00 PM EST HAVANA — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said the government is preparing for severe fuel shortages as he denounced the Trump administration's measures that have cut oil supplies to the island. “It is repr ... (NBC News)

Trump has no 'formal plans' to deploy ICE at polling sites, White House says

6 hrs ago - February 5, 2026 4:47 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has not discussed "formal plans" to deploy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling sites at November's midterm elections, the Wh ... (Reuters)

Senate GOP blocks push for legal action over Epstein law

6 hrs ago - Posted February 5, 2026 at 4:22pm Senate Republican leadership blocked a Democrat-backed measure Thursday that would direct the chamber to take legal action over the Justice Department’s much-criticized handling of the Jeffrey Epstein documents. ... (Roll Call)

Judge who helped immigrant evade arrest says ICE agents violated 'longstanding privilege' barring civil arrests at court

7 hrs ago - Feb 5th, 2026, 3:58 pm ICE agents "violated a longstanding privilege" barring civil arrests from happening in courthouses when they tried to arrest an undocumented immigrant that Hannah Dugan -- the former Wisconsin judge who was found guilty last y ... (Law & Crime)

Trump offered to unfreeze funding for NYC tunnel if Dulles airport, train station renamed for him, source says

9 hrs ago - By David Shepardson WASHINGTON, Feb 5 - U.S. President Donald Trump offered last month to drop his hold on funding for a key $16 billion New York Hudson River tunnel project in exchange for Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer supporting the renaming of ... (Reuters)

Sarpy County beer distributors on strike; company aims to 'crush' union, Teamsters says

10 hrs ago - Updated: 9:15 PM CST Feb 5, 2026 Aaron Hegarty SARPY COUNTY, Neb. — Employees of Premier-Midwest Beer and Beverage have been picketing around the clock since their union contract expired on Monday, Teamsters Local 554 tells KETV. The union's pri ... (KETV)

U.S. asks American citizens to 'leave Iran now' ahead of high-stakes talks with Tehran

10 hrs ago - The U.S. Virtual Embassy in Iran issued a security alert early Friday urging American citizens to “leave Iran now” and prepare departure plans that don’t rely on U.S. government assistance. The notice comes ahead of U.S. and Iran’ ... (CNBC)

DHS has requested expedited deportation proceedings against family of Liam Conejo Ramos

11 hrs ago - February 5, 2026 8:10 PM The federal government has filed a motion seeking to end asylum claims for the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, according to the lawyer representing the family. The 5-year-old returned home this week after he was detained with hi ... (MPRNews)