LOADING ERROR LOADING“Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver on Sunday delivered a damning deep dive into Donald Trump’s gutting of USAID — the United States Agency for International Development — during his second term. These cuts “have cost lives,” said Oliver, slamming House Republicans who celebrated the demise of USAID by posting memes on social media as “jibjabbed fucks.”AdvertisementAt one point, Oliver also torched Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) Concluding, Oliver urged people not to forget what had been done to USAID. “I know the Trump administration’s constantly spitting out disasters. “And this government decided to retract those miracles on purpose.

US crude oil prices soared to nearly $120 per barrel late Sunday before settling at roughly $95 Monday afternoon. Earlier in the session, US crude oil settled higher by 4.26%, to $94.77 per barrel, paring gains after climbing to nearly $120 per barrel late Sunday. Oil prices mark their daily settle price at 2:30 p.m., while stocks close at 4 p.m. US crude oil was down 8.76% from its 2:30 p.m. settle price, to $86.47 per barrel, as of 4 p.m. It was a day of enormous moves in the oil market: US crude oil prices surged as much as 31%, or $28.50, Sunday night before coming off their high and paring gains Monday.

Trump installed Russia apologist Tulsi Gabbard as his Director of National Intelligence, much to the glee of Russian state media. When recently asked by a reporter about the Epstein files, Trump said in part: “It’s just a Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax.” Again, “hoax.” The word he uses for when something is true. Russia, Russia, Russia. Epstein once took a model to Trump Tower, where she says Trump groped her while laughing with Epstein. Here, we have links with Russia, girls from Russia, money from Russia, people from Russia, deals and transactions with Russia, contacts with people with Russian intelligence, news reports exploring contacts with Russia, and an official investigation from the government of Poland into an Epstein-Russia connection.

Trump’s approach to leading the nation in war is in keeping with his precedent-smashing style of politics. “Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip,” Ben Stiller posted on X on Friday. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who identify with Trump’s MAGA movement were far more likely than those who don’t identify as MAGA to back Trump’s policy. Among MAGA Republicans, 54 percent said they supported continued strikes compared with 13 percent who said Trump should stop. MAGA Republicans were the exception on that question, as well, with 75 percent saying he had offered a clear explanation.

The administration has lifted restrictions imposed during last year’s reductions and created job classifications that make it easier to hire employees aligned with the president’s priorities — and fire those who aren’t. “President Trump was given a clear mandate to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government. The Trump administration fired, laid off or accepted buyouts from more than 387,000 employees since the president’s inauguration. At the Social Security Administration, employees in IT, policy and other offices were reassigned to answer phones and handle customer inquiries as call volumes surged. The future of the federal workforce, and whether DOGE is viewed as a success or a misstep, is playing out on the campaign trail, with Democrats working to capitalize on the fallout.

GOP leaders had to ask him to stick around for a few more hours or they’d fail a vote. “We have to watch every single flight to make sure every single member gets on that flight,” one person in GOP leadership told CNN. ‘Real leverage’With every vote tight, any Republican threatening to defect can now get an audience with GOP leaders — and sometimes Trump. Last July, as House GOP leaders prepared for final passage of Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill, GOP leaders watched flight after flight get canceled. The Colorado Democrat campaigned for remote voting privileges for new parents — but GOP leaders opposed it and ultimately blocked the effort.

Oil prices whipped from nearly $120 per barrel, their highest since 2022, back toward $90. If oil prices stay very high for very long, households’ budgets already stretched by high inflation could break under the pressure. AdvertisementTrump’s comments came after he said late Sunday that high oil prices at the moment were worth the cost. Worries about high inflation and oil prices are pushing upward on Treasury yields, and the 10-year yield briefly rose above 4.20% early Monday. Yields then slid late in the day when oil prices eased.

Last year, President Donald Trump shocked many people when he instructed the government to resume nuclear testing “on an equal basis” with China and Russia. This statement seemed to suggest that our adversaries were actively testing nuclear weapons, despite the fact that the United States has not tested one since 1992. Some went so far as to suggest that China and Russia weren’t testing nuclear weapons at all and that if the United States resumed nuclear testing, it would simply trigger its adversaries to do likewise. China, meanwhile, denied carrying out any kind of nuclear testing and called upon the United States to forgo its plan. As such, the United States and its allies should be very concerned about Chinese intentions.

President Donald Trump said last week that he wasn’t too concerned about gas prices going up as the conflict in Iran escalates. “We figured oil prices would go up, which they will. But there is no such thing as true “energy independence” in a globalized oil market, where oil prices anywhere impact oil prices everywhere. Back home, gas prices in the U.S. saw their steepest single-day rise last week since 2022, which came after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia was a major energy supplier for much of Western Europe, which led to bipartisan concern in the U.S. that Russia could use its energy dominance to coerce Western Europe during its invasion of Ukraine.

The Trump logic seems to run as follows: There are, broadly speaking, only two possible outcomes of the U.S.-Israeli air campaign. The overthrow of Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000 — the delayed reaction to a U.S.-led air campaign — is arguably the exception that proves the rule. The air campaign is intended to destroy the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s navy, air force, air defenses, missile capabilities and nuclear weapons program. Even if new leaders arise out of the old Islamic regime, they will have far less power to harm their neighbors or the United States. Stressing that America was only at war with those countries’ evil leaders, the president felt responsible to assist their people.

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HuffPost Headlines 3-9Fox fumbles and admits their mistake, gunfire outside Rihanna’s house and Stephen Colbert once again takes aim at Paramount & CBS — just some of the stories HuffPost is following today.

Veteran Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of northern San Diego County, an incessant thorn in the backside of President Obama, has called it quits. And two Republican congressional incumbents find themselves in a political death match in a newly crafted district straddling Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. AdvertisementIn a neighboring Orange County district, Republican Reps. Young Kim and Ken Calvert are going to battle for control of the region’s only safe Republican seat post-Proposition 50. Republican “primary voters are looking for how to distinguish between two of the same flavor,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican political strategist. “Republican voters are going to like both of them, so how do you make that judgment?

But Trump on Friday said that the United States wouldn’t end the war until Iran surrenders unconditionally. Gas pricesAmericans have been fed up with the high cost of living, but one saving grace has been that gas prices have stayed relatively low. Gas prices surged after the US and Israel attacked Iran and the Strait of Hormuz was effectively shut down. Higher gas prices could have an outsized effect on Americans’ perceptions about their finances. Higher prices could hurt consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the US economy.

Jenzen-Jones, the director of Armament Research Services, said the apparent Tomahawk strike gives weight to the likelihood that the U.S. also hit the school. The Post verified the video by comparing the landmarks in the video with those visible in Google Earth and Google Maps. The distinctive sign and gate of the Shaheed Absalan Specialist Clinic next to the school is visible in the video. Each Tomahawk missile is around 3,000 pounds, according to experts. Walls separate the primary school for girls from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Naval Forces compound, which was targeted with multiple strikes, satellite imagery shows.