You Don’t Need Baby Laundry DetergentAccording to Wirecutter’s laundry expert Andrea Barnes, dedicated baby detergents are “expensive and unnecessary.”December 19, 2025

New signage was installed Friday at Washington, DC’s performing arts center on Friday to include President Donald Trump’s name. The building, known as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, has been renamed by the trustees to the Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. A new sign reads "The Donald Trump And The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on Friday, December 19, 2025. The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted in what they say was a unanimous decision to rename the facility “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts”. Workers begin adjusting the name of the “John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts" on December 19, 2025 in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump came to North Carolina on Friday to talk about the economy. Trump did periodically discuss the economy in his 90-minute speech, which he called a “quick little stop” in Rocky Mount on the way to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays. “I don’t know, beating Hillary was fun,” he said to roars. Friday’s rally was the latest in a roadshow of sorts that White House advisers have planned for Trump to hone his message on bringing down prices. Yet as is so often the case, the intended content of Trump’s speech was a target that didn’t always find an arrow.

At the end of the convoy is a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle. My name is — ” ♫ He’s the Border Patrol chief who’s become a key figure and social media fixture in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and slick video campaign. “On behalf of the men and women of the United States Border Patrol, it’s time to turn and burn. This isn’t the type of policing, or setting, they said, that Border Patrol agents typically handle. Put the [expletive] guns away, dude.” At the other car wash in Maywood, no Xpress workers or customers are detained.

The Justice Department’s partial release of its files related to Jeffrey Epstein on Friday marked a moment of triumph for Epstein survivor Maria Farmer and her sister Annie, who have said for years that Maria had filed one of the first complaints against Epstein in the 1990s. An FBI document released Friday included a 1996 description of a criminal complaint against Epstein related to child pornography. “Epstein stole the photos and negatives and is believed to have sold the pictures to potential buyers,” the document reads. She said Friday evening that she is looking for more information from the files, including what the authorities did in response to Farmer’s complaint, when and why. Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement AdvertisementIn a statement provided by the law firm representing Maria Farmer, the Epstein accuser said the FBI had “failed” her and other victims over the years.

Putin maintains stance on Russia-Ukraine conflictRussian President Vladimir Putin held his annual marathon press conference, which lasted more than four hours. He signaled that Russia may be open to a negotiated end to the conflict with Ukraine, saying Russia was “ready and willing to end this conflict peacefully,” but also made it clear that military operations would continue for as long as the Kremlin deems necessary. CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen was in the room and reports on what he heard.

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Multiple killed in central Taipei knife attackAn attacker went on a rampage in central Taipei Friday night, throwing smoke bombs in a train station and stabbing people with a knife in a busy shopping area. Local authorities say the attacker killed three and injured five before he fell from a building and died when being chased by police.

LOADING ERROR LOADINGMore than a year after going public with his Stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis, James Van Der Beek is looking to his future with optimism. On Friday, Van Der Beek gave an emotional interview to NBC’s “Today” in which he addressed fans’ concerns over his appearance at a “Dawson’s Creek” reunion event that took place in September. In his “Today” chat, Van Der Beek said his dramatic weight loss was “not cancer-related,” but acknowledged that his overall health had impacted his experience with the virus. “Although, with cancer, everything’s like, ‘Why don’t we super-size that stomach virus?’”AdvertisementWatch a clip of James Van Der Beek on “Today” below. "The biggest change I'd say would be this journey of self-love," James Van Der Beek said about how his life had changed since his Stage 3 cancer diagnosis.

I still think bachata is underrated. – Underrated 100 percent. Why haven’t we been invited just to perform in Saturday Night Live? – But why has bachata not had its moment in that way that you’re asking for it? Ultimately, you know, – Yeah, that’s fair.

This speech that he gave yesterday was a lame-duck speech. -So quack quack quack. I mean, it’s the kind of almost impotent thing that presidents on their last legs do. And so the thing — I mean, the thing that’s interesting to think about, interesting, ominous, I don’t know, is that there’s still three more years of this. And I think they’re going to try to do the latter, and I just don’t think that that’s sustainable for another year, politically or otherwise.

LOADING ERROR LOADINGWASHINGTON (AP) — The livestream of a YouTube content creator talking about investments mysteriously appeared to take over a White House website, raising questions about whether the site was hacked. The livestream appeared for at least eight minutes late Thursday on whitehouse.gov/live, where the White House usually streams live video of the president speaking. AdvertisementIt’s unclear if the website was breached or the video was linked accidentally by someone in the government. The White House said in a statement that it was “aware and looking into what happened.”The video that appeared on the government-run website featured some of a more than two-hour livestream from Matt Farley, who posts as @RealMattMoney, as he answered financial questions. AdvertisementFILE - The White House is reflected in a puddle, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington.

“Parents and teachers let students use calculators for math tests, so why not let students use generative AI (GenAI) to write essays? And one of those truths is that AI is not directly comparable to a calculator. Totally Different Skill SetsBy performing different functions, calculators and GenAI can take over for different types of human skill sets. Totally Different OutcomesRelatedly, it’s difficult to think of reasons why calculators might pose significant concerns for human spirituality, psychology, morality, and relationality. Instead, GenAI harnesses a totally different system to process totally different information for totally different uses, affecting totally different skill sets and leading to totally different outcomes than calculators do.

But CNN, now 45 years old, is in a precarious situation as two huge media conglomerates vie for ownership of its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery. and a University of Pennsylvania media policy professor. That arrangement could set up CNN and the others for another sale. The prominent critic of big tech’s dominance of major media platforms wrote recently that anti-trust laws should prohibit both deals. In the world of media ownership, bigger isn’t better.

Through its facial matching technology, TSA claims it can more efficiently and conveniently verify that the person in front of an agent is the person shown on their identification. Theoretically, there should be visible signage that notifies travelers they can proceed through airport security without doing the facial scan. Many travelers may not know this but you can exercise the right to opt of this tool's face scan. Saira Hussain, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, declines the face scan every time she travels. AdvertisementYou can simply decline by stating to an agent that you do not want your photo taken and want to opt out of a face scan.