After grossing over $690M during its theatrical run, 20th Century Studios’ The Devil Wears Prada 2 has set a record on streaming. The film has surpassed Deadpool & Wolverine with the biggest live-action movie premiere on Disney+ and Hulu, having notched 15.2 million global views in its first five days of availability. Following. up a […]
Source: Deadline.
This famous stand-up comedian is as hot as she is funny … which is great because she jokes about sex all the time. She slays on the stage … but this comic is also a brilliant writer-producer who co-created the sitcom “2 Broke Girls” — and was…
From TMZ.
Ursula von der Leyen has called for action ahead of an urgent EU interior ministers meeting to discuss the issue.
Source: BBC.
This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.
Welcome to The Logoff: It’s clearer than ever that President Donald Trump has no way out on Iran.
What’s happening? Over the weekend, Trump posted to social media that he had agreed to “hold off any attack” on Iran because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.” The deal, he said, would include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a nebulous “end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”
That should all sound fairly familiar, since it’s essentially what the US and Iran agreed to — and subsequently abandoned — in June. As of Monday morning, though, Trump had already pivoted, accusing Iran of being “unbelievably duplicitous” in negotiating.
“This is a last chance for them to sign a good document,” he told reporters in the Oval Office Monday afternoon, threatening “decapitation” — essentially the same warning he issued in April.
What’s the context? Since the collapse of the June “memorandum of understanding” between the US and Iran, which ended the immediate conflict and set out a path for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, the two countries have resumed hostilities, if not full-scale war. In July, three more US servicemembers were killed in Iranian attacks.
The strait also remains largely closed, with only a handful of vessels per day passing through.
Why does this matter? The Logoff has tried to steer clear of blow-by-blow coverage of the Iran war, because this kind of reversal happens a lot: Trump is constantly blustering, promising a deal, threatening massive retaliation, backing down, and doing it all over again.
This latest episode, more than five months into the war and tidily compressed into just a few days, is little different. We’re writing about it anyway because it’s a good reminder of what has emerged as the essential fact of the war: Trump may have started the conflict, but he doesn’t seem to have any real plan in place to end it — and the longer things drag on, the greater the risk to the US troops fighting it.
Vox’s Unexplainable podcast is tackling the “holy grail of sensory biology” — magnetoreception, which lets birds navigate using Earth’s magnetic field — this week with some help from author and journalist Ed Yong. You can listen here, and I also recommend Yong’s newsletter, which regularly features some spectacular bird photos.
Thanks for reading, have a great evening, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!
Source: Vox.
From The Hill
Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Monday urged American universities to outline their commitments to a set of Trump administration priorities by the end of this year. In an open letter to university presidents and board members, McMahon lamented that higher education institutions, in her view, have “drifted from the principles that built up so much…
The widow of PC Andrew Harper says it is “disgusting” her husband’s killers remain eligible for the scheme in England and Wales.
Source: BBC.
When Markwayne Mullin succeeded Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in March, he was expected to be less spotlight-seeking than his predecessor, but no less dedicated to Trump’s deportation policies. As a freshman senator from Oklahoma, Mullin had defended the federal immigration agent who reportedly killed 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis, opposed birthright citizenship and called for shutting down airports in “sanctuary cities.” President Donald Trump called him a “MAGA warrior.”
Yet this MAGA warrior apparently isn’t good enough for MAGA die-hards. They’re furious and calling for his ouster over comments he made Saturday at a National Governors Association meeting in which he drew a distinction between legal and illegal immigration, and also suggested immigration reform would be a good idea in the long term because it’s needed to help the economy grow.
These pundits and activists seem to be angry that Mullin dares suggest any immigration into the country is acceptable.
“If we’re looking to grow our economy, we need more permanent solutions on [work visas], because this narrative that it steals American jobs is true in some industries, it’s not true for all industries,” Mullin said in one of the comments that drew the MAGAsphere’s ire. He added, “It is America. We want to take care of Americans first. It’s our economy, it’s our homeland, but there’s a way to utilize labor where we’re not having the participation rate we need to, and we can plug those holes.”
Right-wing conspiracy theorist and media personality Laura Loomer slammed Mullin — whom she called “Markwayne Muslim” in an attempt to use “Muslim” as a slur — saying he was excited to give “millions of illegal aliens mass amnesty.” (Mullin neither used that phrase nor specified that his idea of reform entailed widespread amnesty.) Fox News host Tomi Lahren said, “Markewayne [sic] wants to appease liberal media and big labor.” Conservative activist Robby Starbuck accused Mullin of projecting “weakness” and called for him to be replaced.
After the blowback began, on Saturday, Mullin posted on X what appeared to be a defensive clarification of his comments: “NO amnesty for illegal aliens. Ever. We are a nation of laws. If you are illegally present in the United States of America— you will be detained and deported. Period.” But the statement seemed to do little to put out the firestorm.
Former Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino — who exemplified the showboating of Noem’s DHS — objected to Mullin treating legal immigration as acceptable in any form. “He proudly announces nearly 900,000 naturalizations in 12 months (95% third world immigrants), then lectures us about the legal process,” Bovino wrote on X. “He celebrates your replacement as long as it’s done legally, without mentioning that 80% of legal immigrants will vote Democrat.” Bovino’s invocation of “replacement” references the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory. And while immigrant voters do lean Democratic, his number is not accurate.
As Politico notes, Trump’s deportation machine is still going at full speed: Under Mullin, “nearly every metric — including removals, arrests, detention population — is up, with several at record or near-record levels for this administration.” And yet MAGA is piling on him anyway, showing the depth of their anti-immigrant fanaticism.
These pundits and activists seem to be angry that Mullin dares suggest any immigration into the country is acceptable and — to at least some extent — economically beneficial to anyone but immigrants themselves. Mullin, of course, is right. Robust immigration is essential for the economic growth of affluent countries, whose birth rates are generally on the decline. But he’s forbidden from speaking the truth, lest he violate the dictates of the white nationalist ethos of MAGA activists.
For now, the Trump administration has not indicated that it has lost trust in Mullin, but given Trump’s fixation on satisfying his base, competence won’t keep Mullin safe. Given that deportations are continuing at an aggressive pace, one wonders if MAGA critics really just crave the theatrics of cruelty and domination that Noem excelled at, with her photo shoots at a notorious El Salvador megaprison and her championing of Alligator Alcatraz detention center in the Florida Everglades.
Bovino is presumably disappointed by the downturn in street fights and federal immigration agents acting like a militant occupying force in American cities. Perhaps Mullin just needs to be overtly sadistic to gain their trust.
The post Why MAGA is turning on Trump’s DHS chief appeared first on MS NOW.
From MS Now.
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” was released over the weekend, and an audience in one particular theater got an extra release with their movie … when a fart forced them to evacuate the screening! Here’s what went down — or up, depending on who you…
From TMZ.
Linda Blair allegedly had hundreds of dogs on her property Friday when cops showed up over possible animal neglect and code violations — and while she says it’s all good and the pups are “fine,” neighbors say there’s a major problem. Here’s the…
From TMZ.
Today’s edition of quick hits.
* How many times have we seen this happen? “U.S. President Donald Trump says he will order American forces to hold off on new strikes against Iran, claiming Mideast allies have reached the parameters of a deal to end the 5-month old war.”
* On a related note: “Iran denied that any negotiations were being held or planned. The contradictory statements suggest there is little prospect for a diplomatic resolution to the war anytime soon.”
* Ebola: “The last outbreak in Congo, which began in 2018, took more than 10 months to reach the same death toll. Health officials and experts say the crisis is being driven by a combination of cuts to global aid, conflict in the region and a surge in misinformation that has fueled distrust about the existence and severity of the disease, allowing the virus to spread faster than response efforts can contain it.”
* Washington wildfires: “Wildfires in the Spokane, Wash., region have not yet been contained as of Monday, since the fires began over the weekend. … The fires, which began Saturday, have forced the evacuation of roughly 65,000 people in the Spokane area, officials said Monday.”
* Cyclosporiasis outbreak: “Two people have died from cyclosporiasis in Michigan, the state’s health department said on Monday, marking the first fatalities in one of the largest foodborne illness outbreaks in recent U.S. history.”
* Keep an eye on the policy to stabilize the yen: “The United States and Japan last week carried out a rare coordinated intervention in foreign exchange markets to stabilize the rapidly weakening yen, marking the first joint operation of its kind in more than a decade.”
* Why did this take so long? “Jay Clayton was sworn in Monday as the U.S. director of national intelligence, cementing the senior federal prosecutor’s control over the nation’s sprawling intelligence apparatus as the Iran war intensifies and the country hurdles toward November’s midterm elections.”
* The House will still need to pass this before Sept. 30: “Senate appropriators announced a bipartisan deal Sunday to fund the government into early December, while temporarily blocking a contested Trump administration rule that critics say would politicize the awarding of federal grants. The draft continuing resolution, unveiled Sunday afternoon, would extend current funding through Dec. 11 — a week later than House Republicans proposed in their recent stopgap measure.”
* Donald Trump said Sunday that he’s still prepared to punish Canada over wildfire smoke.
* In related news: “Travel by Canadians to the United States fell 25 percent in 2025, Canadian government data shows, as President Donald Trump returned to the White House and Canadians opted to spend their vacation dollars elsewhere. Canadians made 29.1 million trips to the United States in 2025, down from 39 million in 2024. Their travel spending declined by $2.3 billion in the United States while climbing $2.5 billion overseas.”
* Best wishes for a speedy recovery: “Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur was hospitalized following a hit-and-run car crash in her home state of Ohio on Sunday morning, according to the Toledo Police Department.”
See you tomorrow.
The post Monday’s Mini-Report, 8.3.26 appeared first on MS NOW.
From MS Now.
Six steps and 15 products: Here’s how Vogue’s senior beauty editor takes an Everything Shower.
Source: Vogue
For a brief moment late last week, it looked like acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s bid to get the word “acting” removed from his job title was in serious trouble. But that moment appears to have passed, as two key Republican senators just signalled that they will vote to move his nomination forward.
Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) halted Blanche’s nomination because of concerns about a $1.8 billion slush fund that Blanche helped create as the Justice Department’s acting leader, as well as some objections to a collusive deal between President Donald Trump and the IRS that could have shut down tax investigations into Trump, his family, and his businesses. Both senators announced on Monday that they will no longer block the nomination.
Though these two senators, both of whom are retiring in January, did extract some minor concessions from the Justice Department in return for their votes, they objected to only a small fraction of Blanche’s efforts to transform DOJ’s lawyers into Trump’s personal advocates and enforcers. The fact that Blanche is likely to be confirmed, despite his sycophancy towards Trump, suggests that any meaningful guardrails on a weaponized Justice Department have ceased to exist.
Cornyn and Tillis both currently serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee. That committee, where Republicans currently have a two-vote majority, was originally scheduled to vote on Blanche’s nomination Thursday — but that vote would have failed if Cornyn and Tillis rejected the nominee. And, now, it’s likely to go ahead.
Cornyn and Tillis’ objections to Blanche were quite narrow in scope. They demanded a written order from Blanche “terminating the anti-weaponization fund,” a reference to the $1.8 billion slush fund that could be paid out to Trump’s allies, including participants in the January 6 attack on the US capitol. Blanche originally established this fund in a May 18 order. On Sunday night, he tweeted out a new document terminating his May 18th order.
Cornyn also objected to the breadth of settlement between Trump and the IRS — which could be read to permanently cut off that agency’s power to audit Trump, his companies, or many members of his family — but only sought to narrow this settlement’s scope.
For the most part, however, the two senators did not object to Blanche’s broader efforts to weaponize the Justice Department against people who’ve displeased Trump, including the use of law enforcement to cow Trump’s critics. As both DAG and as acting AG Blanche oversaw several highly dubious prosecutions brought against Trump’s perceived enemies and prominent Democrats.
A video introduced in federal court, for example, indicated that Blanche personally instructed law enforcement officers to arrest Newark’s Democratic Mayor Ras Baraka — an arrest that led a federal magistrate judge to scold DOJ for “using the immense power of the government to pursue weak cases or to make examples without sufficient cause.” Under Blanche’s oversight, the DOJ’s also brought flimsy charges against individuals like FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who investigated Trump for potential wrongdoing. (One minor exception: Tillis did previously pressure Blanche to drop an investigation into former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.)
So, while Cornyn and Tillis did successfully push Blanche to make some small concessions in order to secure their votes in the Judiciary Committee, neither senator appeared interested in a confrontation over Trump and Blanche’s broader efforts to transform the Department of Justice into a revenge-seeking agency. And now, it appears likely that Blanche will be confirmed — and that those efforts will continue.
Earlier this year, Trump, the Trump Organization, and Trump’s two oldest sons sued the IRS, claiming that it failed to prevent a contractor from leaking some of Trump’s tax documents. The president originally demanded a $10 billion payout from the federal government, and the lawsuit triggered widespread concerns about a conflict of interest, because Trump was both the plaintiff and the chief executive of the government he sued.
On May 18, a little over a month after Blanche became the federal government’s top lawyer, Trump (and the other plaintiffs) entered into a “settlement agreement” that did not include a $10 billion payday for Trump but that did include several provisions favorable to Trump, his family, and his companies.
Among other things, the settlement announced the creation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which would distribute money to an unknown group of people who claim they were unfairly targeted by previous administrations based on decisions by five individuals appointed by Blanche. It also included a provision claiming that the IRS (and potentially other federal agencies) is “FOREVER BARRED” from pursuing any claims that “have been or could have been asserted by Plaintiffs” — open-ended language which sparked fears that a wide range of potential investigations into Trump, his family, or his companies could be shut down forever.
In response to Cornyn and Tillis’s objections to this settlement, Blanche tweeted out a brief order on Monday, stating that his own May 18 order establishing the Anti-Weaponization Fund “is rescinded and shall have no force or effect.” According to Tillis, DOJ also “acknowledged in a binding written order that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit.”
So, Blanche walked back the specific order that he signed to establish the $1.8 billion slush fund, but he did not repudiate the part of the settlement that immunizes Trump, his two oldest sons, and the Trump Organization from many tax investigations. According to Tillis, DOJ merely said that this part of the settlement does not apply to parties (including federal agencies) that were not parties to Trump’s original lawsuit.
Though this deal appeared to have been enough to secure Cornyn and Tillis’s votes, and most likely to ensure Blanche’s confirmation in a Republican Senate, it is unlikely to placate Democrats. As Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) tweeted Tuesday morning, Blanche’s new order “doesn’t prevent payouts to violent insurrectionists in the future,” and it “leaves in place a tax-immunity deal that could help Trump skip taxes on the $2.3 billion he made last year.”
And the question of whether the DOJ may bring politically motivated charges against figures like Baraka, former FBI Director James Comey, or New York Attorney General Letitia James appeared to not even be part of the deal struck between Blanche, Cornyn, and Tillis.
In fairness, one reason why the two senators exacted such meager concessions may be because they didn’t have a very strong hand to play against Trump. Because Blanche is currently the Senate-confirmed deputy attorney general, he can remain head of the Justice Department, in an acting role, for as long as Trump is president. Indeed, when negotiations between Blanche and the two senators appeared to hit an impasse late last week, Trump threatened to “keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill” if Cornyn and Tillis wouldn’t support Blanche.
But that doesn’t change the fact that Blanche’s concessions are thin gruel. His statement on the slush fund merely confirms that “there is no Fund” right now. And, under the terms of the apparent deal reached with Cornyn and Tillis, Trump, his sons, and his primary business still gain broad immunity from a wide range of tax investigations.
So, while Cornyn and Tillis may have given Trump and Blanche a brief scare, they never put up much real resistance to Trump’s nominee.
Source: Vox.
