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Doug Goldstein, the former longtime manager of Guns N’ Roses, who saw the hard rock group through the heights of commercial success and chaotic periods of rock ‘n’ roll excess, has died. He was 65. His death was announced by Brandon Weissler, host of the Guns N’ Roses-focused podcast Appetite for Distortion but he didn’t […]

Ready for a ‘Sabrina’ surprise?!? Here’s Caroline Rhea stirring the pot on our Comedy Crawl night out! Check it out … comedian, actor, and pro BMX rider, Rick Thorne hosted TMZ’s Comedy Crawl last Friday … leading a birthday group’s night out…

In January, Paigelynne Gonyea posted about the immigration surge in Minneapolis. This week, she was visited by ICE officials who claimed one of her posts had doxxed a federal agent.

(Image credit: Gracious Golden via Facebook/Screenshot by NPR)

Los noruegos tuvieron la oportunidad de acortar distancias, pero el arquero del AC Milan respondió a la altura.

This is an adapted excerpt from the June 25 episode of “The 11th Hour with Ali Velshi.”

There’s a moment in every relationship where the people who have been covering for you stop covering for you. Not because they had a change of heart, but because the math changed. And when it comes to Donald Trump and the Republican Party, we may be there.

On Thursday we learned the inflation rate rose to 4.1%. These are May numbers, meaning they don’t yet capture June’s gas prices, which the Iran war pushed higher. That means the number next month may be worse. 

No one needs to know this number; Americans feel it every time they fill up their tank, buy groceries or pay their rent. That is what moves voters in November, and the party responsible right now is the Republican Party — because they control everything.

Against that backdrop, what is Trump focused on? Not prices. Not the economy. But a voter suppression bill.

Before we get to that, we must understand what is happening to the Republican Party right now, because it isn’t just one thing, it is a pattern.

Within the last week, Tucker Carlson and former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene both renounced the Republican Party, citing the Iran war as a betrayal of “America First” values. Populist podcasters who helped build the MAGA media machine, like Theo Von, Tim Dillon and Candace Owens, have turned fiercely critical of the administration.

Then there’s the Jeffrey Epstein issue. Four Republicans in the House called themselves “the Bravehearts” and forced the release of the Epstein files — documents Trump didn’t want released, but ones the American public had been promised. 

Of those four Republicans, only one will return to Congress next session. In May, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky lost the most expensive House primary in American history, with more than $34 million spent against him. Earlier this year, Greene resigned from Congress. South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace didn’t run for re-election and just lost her gubernatorial race after Trump withheld his endorsement. That means Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado is the only one likely to remain in Congress next year.

That is the context for this moment: a president using the full force of his political machine to punish members of his own party who ask inconvenient questions, while the economy worsens and the party he is supposed to be leading heads into the most consequential midterm of his presidency without a single kitchen table win to show for it.

Republicans needed something to take home to voters before November — and they almost had it in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the most comprehensive housing legislation in decades. It would increase the supply of homes, bring down costs and restrict the large institutional investors who have been buying up single-family homes and pricing ordinary Americans out of their own neighborhoods. 

It passed both chambers with overwhelming bipartisan support, margins large enough to override a presidential veto: 166 Republican representatives voted for it, and 42 Republican senators voted for it. 

They did so because they understood what their constituents understand: that you can’t afford to rent, you can’t afford to buy and nobody in Washington has done anything about it.

Play

Ex-State Dept. official slams SAVE Act: ‘It’s a voter suppression bill’

June 24, 2026 / 08:17

This was their answer. It was their evidence that they showed up. Then Trump set it on fire. The president now says he won’t sign the legislation until the Senate passes the SAVE America Act.

Let’s be precise about what that bill actually is, because the housing bill and this voting bill are two entirely different things, and it matters that you understand both. 

The SAVE America Act would require every American to show documentary proof of citizenship — a passport or a birth certificate, not a driver’s license, not a military ID — just to register to vote. The Senate has voted on it and it failed, 48-50. Republicans didn’t even have a simple majority, let alone the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

The Republican senators who voted “no” weren’t doing it to protect Democratic voters. They had their own reasons. 

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky wrote that the bill would allow a future president to carry out a complete federal takeover of American elections. Sen Lisa Murkowski of Alaska called it unconstitutional and noted that 20% of her state’s population isn’t on the road system, meaning some of her constituents would need to buy a plane ticket just to register to vote. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina called the whole effort “goofy,” not because he opposes voter ID, but because every hour spent on a bill that can’t pass is an hour not spent on something that could actually help Republicans before November.

Those are the reasons the Senate won’t move, and when lawmakers refused to budge before leaving for a 17-day recess, frustration in the House boiled over. A group of conservatives led by Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has now frozen the House floor entirely — no votes, no legislation. Nothing moves until the Senate comes back and passes a bill it has already rejected.

So this is where we are: The House is frozen, the Senate is on vacation, the housing bill is unsigned, inflation is rising, gas prices are up, and the members of Trump’s own party who dared to ask inconvenient questions have been systematically removed from Congress.

Now, let’s be honest about what this voting bill actually is. The premise is false; noncitizen voting essentially does not exist. Utah examined 2 million registered voters and found one confirmed noncitizen registration and zero instances of noncitizen voting. 

The architecture is suppression, built to make registration harder for people without passports or matching birth certificates, who are disproportionately Democrats. And the execution is incompetent, because the states with the lowest passport ownership in America are red states. You cannot write a bill restricting voting to people with passports and then pretend you didn’t just disenfranchise rural Republicans in Mississippi and West Virginia. McConnell and Murkowski will tell you it may not even survive a constitutional challenge.

This is not a stupid bill based on a false premise. It’s a cynical bill based on a false premise that turned out to also be a stupid bill. It is not about election integrity. It’s about Trump’s lack of integrity and his desperation.

If Republicans lose the House in November, Trump faces impeachment. The SAVE Act is his insurance policy. He is blocking a bill that helps Americans afford homes to force a bill that could disenfranchise his own voters, to protect himself from a Congress that is running out of patience with him.

Republicans are swimming for the lifeboat, and Trump keeps pulling it farther away. The president’s grip on this party has always rested on one calculation: that crossing him costs more than covering for him. But right now, that calculation is changing.

Allison Detzel contributed.

The post Republicans are swimming for a midterms lifeboat. Trump keeps pulling it further away. appeared first on MS NOW.

The United States struck Iran on Friday in response to Iran’s reported attack on a cargo ship crossing the Strait of Hormuz a day earlier, U.S. Central Command announced Friday afternoon.

In a post on X, CENTCOM said U.S. aircraft “struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites.”

CENTCOM characterized the Thursday attack as “unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping” and said it violated the ceasefire.

“Furthermore, Iran’s dangerous behavior undermined freedom of navigation as commerce increasingly flows through the vital international trade corridor,” CENTCOM added.

In response to a request for comment on the strikes, a White House spokesperson referred MS NOW to the CENTCOM post.

The strikes came hours after President Donald Trump on Friday accused Iran of striking a cargo ship crossing the Strait of Hormuz, calling the attack a “foolish violation” of the countries’ ceasefire agreement in a Truth Social post.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) states, in part, that Iran will use “its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels.” Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, insisted on Friday that Iran ultimately controls passage through the strait, writing in a post on X, “safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, with ambiguous arrangements, parallel routes, or decision-making outside of Iran’s considerations as the coastal state, cannot be guaranteed.”

In the Truth Social post earlier Friday, Trump said Iran shot “at least four One Way Attack Drones” at ships crossing the strait, a key oil route, and that one of the drones “solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship.”

“Damage was done, but the Ship was able to proceed on its way. We knocked down three other Drones,” Trump wrote. “Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our Ceasefire Agreement.”

Trump did not specify when and which ships he was referring to, though he made the statement after the British military said Thursday that a ship was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman. CENTCOM said Friday the Singaporean ship, called Ever Lovely, was exiting the strait along the Omani coast at the time of the attack.

Trump also did not initially say what, if any, action he planned to take in response to the alleged ceasefire violation. But when a reporter asked later Friday at the White House if Iran would face any consequences for violating the ceasefire, Trump said, “You’ll see.” Responding to a question on whether the ceasefire is still intact, Trump declined to say.

“I don’t like the fact that they took a shot yesterday, actually four,” the president said. “We knocked down three at a ship, not an allied ship, but a ship, a very expensive ship, and it was fine, but it took a little beating. They shouldn’t be doing that, so you’ll find out.”

A U.S. official granted anonymity to discuss internal assessments told MS NOW on Thursday that the White House would determine whether the attack constituted a violation of MOU. That official also said Iran was behind the attack.

Following the Thursday attack, Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, said the organization was pausing its evacuation plan of more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the strait “in order to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for the ships on our evacuation list and all those in the region.”

Julia Jester contributed reporting.

This story has been updated to include additional comments from Trump and news of the U.S. strikes on Iran on Friday afternoon.

The post U.S. strikes Iran after Trump calls Iranian strike on cargo ship ‘foolish violation’ of ceasefire appeared first on MS NOW.

Nearly 100 groups focused on digital or kids safety are calling on House leaders to reject the latest version of a kids onine safety package, dubbed the KIDS Act, which could hit the House floor as early as next Monday under a fast-tracked process. The groups, in the letter sent Friday, said they are concerned…

A controversial proposal to tax California’s billionaire class and use the money to fund social welfare programs will officially appear on the state’s November ballot, teeing up a battle between the union backing the wealth tax and the powerful players who have sought to kill it.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a likely 2028 presidential contender, who has long opposed tax hikes on California’s ultrawealthy, is just one of a host of powerful forces in the Golden State who oppose the plan. The state’s richest residents, many of whom are in Silicon Valley, have spent millions on campaigns designed to erode voter support for the ballot measure.

But the measure prevailed. The tax well surpassed the state’s voter signature requirement for ballot proposals on June 18 and was solidified on the November ballot late Thursday evening after Newsom failed to strike a deal with the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Workers West, the labor union behind the measure, before the state’s finalization deadline.

“This is not how we should set California’s budget priorities,” Newsom wrote in an article on his Substack on Friday morning. “We can’t let a single advocacy organization, however well-intentioned, write the state’s tax code on its own terms.”

How the proposed billionaire tax works

The tax-the-rich approach has long been a pipe dream for progressive Democrats, but it has gained more traction since President Donald Trump signed his marquee tax and spending package into law last year. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act slashed federal spending on Medicaid, cut billions from Affordable Care Act marketplace subsidies and shifted the lion’s share of nutrition assistance program funding onto individual states.

The measure aims to generate $100 billion in revenue by levying a one-time tax of 5% on billionaires in California. That money would be used across the state to offset the impact of the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to federal healthcare and nutrition assistance programs.

The union notes that 90% of the money would be used to sustain local hospitals, clinics and nursing homes that could otherwise face closure amid Medicaid funding cuts. The other 10% would be directed toward public education and state food assistance programs, according to the proposal. The funds would be accumulated and dispersed over multiple years.

Progressives in Washington, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., have celebrated the California measure. But in a state like this, where politics are interwoven with an income tax system that relies on high earners and the tech economy, the reality is far more complicated.

Some labor unions oppose the tax

A host of labor unions and healthcare advocacy groups that typically align with SEIU-UHW have released statements opposing the group’s billionaire tax proposal. At issue is not whether the ultrawealthy should be taxed, it’s how.

The groups, which include the California Medical Association and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California along with teachers and trade unions, have argued that the tax is a short-term fix that could lead to more budget volatility in the long run.

“California’s health care system cannot be built on temporary revenue spikes or uncertain funding streams. Patients, providers, and health care programs need reliable, sustainable funding, not a short-term fiscal fix that could ultimately reduce overall state revenues and make future budget shortfalls more severe,” the CMA board of trustees wrote in a statement denouncing the wealth tax.

The coalitions have also argued that the SEIU-UHW proposal doesn’t provide enough assurance that the tax revenue would actually benefit the state’s most vulnerable populations.

There are fears billionaires will leave the state

Newsom argued that a state-level wealth tax would drive billionaires out of California and lead to less income tax revenue in the long run. The state’s budget already relies heavily on income and capital gains taxes collected from high earners, which are used to fund public education and social services.

“There is nothing for housing, nothing for childcare, nothing for public safety workers who must answer 911 calls, and nothing for our public universities that have powered California’s economy for a decade,” Newsom said of the billionaire tax proposal.

Then there are the billionaires themselves. Silicon Valley’s biggest names have spent months funneling millions into killing the proposal, including Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and Chris Larsen, co-founder of the crypto company Ripple.

The New York Times reported in December that Thiel, who owns a personal investment firm in Los Angles, was considering other states to move his firm to.

Palmer Luckey, Oculus founder and co-founder of defense technology startup Anduril, said the tax would force “founders like me to sell huge chunks of our companies to pay for fraud, waste, and political favors for the organizations pushing this ballot initiative.”

But not all billionaires have rejected the initiative. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang spoke alongside Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., in support of the congressman’s “Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act” bill.

Huang even encouraged his peers to move to the state, saying at a Stanford University event in April, “I say to everybody, ‘Move to California, don’t leave.’ It’s the highest taxes in the world, but it’s OK.”

Newsom has offered an alternative plan

Newsom laid out his counterproposal, which came as a detailed plan for imposing a national billionaires tax and amending tax code loopholes, on Friday.

“A true minimum tax on billionaires — a modern Buffett Rule — that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay,” Newsom wrote.

The 2028 contender’s proposal included the establishment of a national public equity fund, the money for which would come in the form of artificial intelligence stakes for all Americans. It focused on addressing tax loopholes that allow the top 1% of earners to avoid paying income tax by borrowing against their stock portfolios and writing off charitable donations.

“When 10% of the people in this country own two-thirds of the wealth, when we have minted the first trillionaire in human history, and yet your wages have stagnated, and your healthcare costs have skyrocketed, something is fundamentally broken,” Newsom wrote.

“Over the decades, the American economy has been engineered for the very top, a story as old as time: Money buys influence, and influence rewrites the rules. Those rewritten rules funnel even more wealth to the few. Under this weight, democracy itself starts to buckle.”

The post What to know about California’s billionaire tax measure appeared first on MS NOW.

From breezy skirts to statement dresses, the street style scene at men’s fashion week delivered. Shop the best looks from Milan and Paris.

Ben Duckett has lost “five or six” kilograms since the Ashes – this is how he reaped the rewards with a century for England in the third Test against New Zealand.

The “American Idol” veteran recalled trying “to be funny,” only to realize Ripa was not amused.