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Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth was confirmed as Defense Secretary Friday night on a narrow vote in the U.S. Senate, a victory for President Donald Trump despite disturbing allegations about Hegseth’s conduct and questions about his fitness for the job.

Hegseth’s appointment was secured in a late-night vote only when Vice President J.D. Vance stepped in to break the tie after three Senate Republicans voted against him. Hegseth has been accused of sexual assault and of having a history of alcohol abuse. His candidacy seemed in doubt earlier in the week when another person came forward with allegations that Hegseth had been abusive to his former wife.

Hegseth was co-host of Fox News’ “Fox & Friends Weekend” daytime show from 2017 until late last year when he stepped down after Trump nominated him to oversee the nation’s military. He previously served in the National Guard and...

Joseph Lieberman, the longtime U.S. senator from Connecticut who became the first Jewish candidate of a major party when Al Gore selected him as his running mate in the 2000 election, has died at the age of 82.

Marc E. Kasowitz of law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, where Lieberman took a position as Senior Counsel for more than a decade after serving 24 years in the Senate, confirmed his death in a statement to Rolling Stone. “We are profoundly saddened at the passing of our firm’s senior counsel Senator Joe Lieberman,...

In his battle against Ron DeSantis for the 2024 nomination, Donald Trump and his allies believe they’ve found a new weapon in their effort to bury the Florida governor.

His name is Vivek Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old “anti-woke” entrepreneur and one of the longshot 2024 Republican contenders who vows to be even Trumpier than Trump.

The explanation for the former president’s interest in Ramaswamy’s campaign is simple: The insurgent candidate has spent much of his run for office trashing Trump’s top rival, DeSantis. As Ramaswamy’s poll numbers and...

Elizabeth Holmes may owe Rupert Murdoch $125 million, but he may not have much luck getting much of his money back.

A federal judge ordered Holmes on Tuesday to pay $452 million to investors she duped to build her hoax blood-testing business. Among the investors she bilked was Murdoch, who was one of Theranos’ largest investors. Holmes, however, has indicated she’s essentially broke.

Murdoch bought roughly 7.3 million shares of Theranos at $17 a share, according to court filings.

In a ruling ordering restitution, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila found that investors’ losses are tied to Holmes’ fraud. “For each of these investors, the Court identified specific reliable evidence indicating that they were induced to invest in Theranos by Defendants’ misrepresentations as part of the fraud conspiracy,” he wrote.

Natalie Ravitz, chief of staff to Murdoch in 2014 to 2015 and manager of his personal investments, testified to the Securities and Exchange Commission that...

American democracy faces multiple threats – not from external forces as during the Cold War, but from within. A former president unwilling to acknowledge his defeat at the polls, conspiracy theories (unsupported by evidence) about a “stolen” election. Voter suppression. Minority rule.

Amid all these worrisome signs, there is a spark of hope – America’s young people. A lot of them are deeply invested in our democratic form of government, to judge from the new documentary The Youth Governor. The film directed by brothers Jaron and Matthew Halmy shows California teenagers getting first-hand experience in electoral politics, not to mention the legislative process and the judicial system. These Golden State high schoolers take part in the annual Youth and Government simulation capped by the election of a “youth governor.” But the program, supported by YMCAs, is by no means limited to California.

“It’s in 42 states,” Matthew Halmy noted at a...

Dawn Porter and Nicole Newnham’s four-part docuseries “37 Words,” debuting June 21 on ESPN, celebrates the 50th anniversary of Title IX while also exploring the current struggle to maintain and evolve the 1972 law that forbids discrimination based on gender.

Prior to 1972, gender discrimination was commonplace in education and athletics. Physical activity for girls and women was cast as unfeminine, and while schools poured money and other resources into programs for male students, budding female athletes were left to fend for themselves. That all changed when Congress passed Title IX – a 37-word amendment — on June 23 that year.

“37 Words” marks the latest piece of programming in ESPN’s month-long “Fifty/50” initiative to commemorate the landmark federal civil-rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any educational institution that receives federal funding. Billie Jean King, Mia Hamm, Ann Meyers Drysdale, Barack Obama and Gloria Steinem are among the bold-faced names in the docuseries. Porter executive produced...

For former President Donald Trump, last Saturday was the culmination of a yearslong effort to secure a strong foothold in the Michigan Republican Party. Meshawn Maddock, his sherpa in the state handpicked co-chair of the party, presided over a nominating convention that saw two of his endorsees — Kristina Karamo and Matt DePerno, both believers in the conspiracy theory that stole the state from Trump — win the party’s support in their bids for, respectively, secretary of state and attorney general.

Then, the establishment did something it really hasn’t done elsewhere: It fought back.

On last Friday’s 10th episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race 14,” the Top 8 queens competed in the legendary Snatch Game challenge, but instead of entering “Drag Race” herstory with show’s best impersonations, they delivered series’ worst. After Michelle Visage‘s investigation during judges’ critiques, it was determined that seven of the eight were guilty in the death of Snatch Game. DeJa Skye as Lil Jon was the only performance they liked, leaving the rest as a bottom seven set to compete in this week’s Lipsync Lalaparuza Smackdown. Since the judges couldn’t decide which queen killed Snatch Game, we asked You to decide. Scroll down for the complete poll results, which are led by Jasmine Kennedie as Betsy DeVos and Jorgeous as Ilana Glazer.

When it came to the queens’ plans this season, RuPaul Charles was actually excited about most of their choices for celebrity impersonation. Knowing how...

Each week on “The Pit Stop,” Monét X Change runs down the tricks and trades of the newest episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” with a guest host. Following Friday’s tenth episode, season 6 champ Bianca Del Rio sits down to admit that as a queen who never had to lipsync on her season that she was actually terrified she’d have to, and then gets Monét to admit her attraction to Jorgeous. Watch the full episode above via the official RuPaul’s Drag Race channel on YouTube.

In their recap, Monét and Bianca say what we’ve heard say before — that while double shantays are annoying to the audience, every queen in the game should simply be happy they didn’t go home. In that regard, they don’t understand Daya Betty being upset Jasmine Kennedie is still around or that DeJa Skye is worried about getting her first win. As...

In episode 9 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 14, the queens took to the stage in their own version of RuPaul’s DragCon, providing panel discussions on all things “Menzeses.” Bosco owned the stage in her moderator realness and earned her second challenge of the win. On the bottom, we were all treated to an anticipated showdown between Jorgeous and Jasmine Kennedie in a Lipsync for Your Life that resulted in a “double shantay.”

This week, the top eight step into celebrity skins for the iconic impersonation challenge, “Snatch Game.” Read below for our recap of episode 10 to see which queens enter Drag Race herstory with memorable performances and which ones fail to snatch our attention.

The eight remaining queens are: Angeria Paris VanMicheals, Bosco, Daya Betty, DeJa Skye, Jasmine Kennedie, Jorgeous, Lady Camden, and Willow Pill.

The Jasmine vs. Jorgeous lipsync was something everyone was looking forward to after seeing both...

That Snatch Game was...a disaster. What happened on RuPaul's Drag Race Season 14 Episode 10 has never happened in Drag Race Herstory.

Never in the mainline series. Not during RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars or the Holi-Slay special. And not during any of the international Drag Race seasons.

In the wise words of Tatianna, the queens made some "Choices!"

Much of "Snatch Game" could best be described as bad choices.

The outfits during the Mini Challenge, the performances during Snatch Game, and even the looks on the runway fell flat. RuPaul's Drag Race Season 14 had been a strong season up until this moment.

The queens are all highly skilled performers, so it's shocking to see a car crash of this magnitude hit across the board.

Willow Pill joked during RuPaul's Drag Race Season 14 Episode 9 that there would eventually be a challenge where the queens would all bomb in. Well, it seems like we found that challenge.

Watching one queen bomb during Snatch Game is painful enough, but all of the queens at once? Dear God, the horror.

Unfortunately, that was the reality facing viewers during Friday’s Drag Race, which will go down in herstory as one of the franchise’s most memorable episodes… for all the wrong reasons.

More from TVLineDrag Race Gives Us the Lip Sync Battle 'We Have Been Waiting For' All SeasonRuPaul's Drag Race Recap: Was the Right Girl Cut From The Group?Drag Race Recap: An Untucked Catfight Leads to a Claws-Out Lip Sync Battle

How does one even begin to dissect this nightmare?...

Steve Mnuchin and Mike Pompeo discussed a plan to remove Trump from office after the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to Jonathan Karl’s new book Betrayal, which chronicles the final days of the former president’s time in office.

Then-Treasury Secretary Mnuchin reportedly called then-Secretary of State Pompeo on the evening of Jan. 6 to suggest using the 25th Amendment, which outlines the protocols for how to replace the president or vice president in the event of their death, removal from office, resignation, or incapacitation. “I learned that Mnuchin had several conversations about the 25th Amendment and,...

Documentary filmmaker Dawn Porter considers Title IX, anti-gender discrimination legislation passed by Congress in 1972, as “one of the most misunderstood civil rights laws” and is setting out to change that with “Fifty/50,” a four-part ESPN docuseries that she is executive producing and co-directing.

On Oct. 19, she is slated to unveil a first look at “Fifty/50” during a conversation with fellow executive producer Allison Glock and Hannah Storm at the espnW: Women + Sports Summit in La Jolla, Calif.

“Fifty/50,” which she is co-directing with Nicole Newnham (“Crip Camp), celebrates the 50th anniversary of Title IX while also exploring the current struggle to maintain and evolve the 1972 law that forbids discrimination based on gender.

Prior to 1972, gender discrimination was commonplace in education and athletics. Physical activity for girls and women was cast as unfeminine, and while schools poured money and other resources into programs for male students, budding female athletes were left to fend for themselves.

Kate McKinnon is one of six creative leaders in comedy honored for Variety‘s 2021 Power of Women. For more, click here.

Kate McKinnon is exceedingly uninhibited, unselfconscious and brazen in her spot-on, wacky impressions of everyone from Robert Durst, Betsy DeVos and Justin Bieber to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Jeff Sessions and Rudy Giuliani. It makes it somewhat surprising that the Emmy-winning “Saturday Night Live” star is quite the opposite offstage.

“People are often confused when they meet me because I’m soft-spoken and pensive. I am extraordinarily introverted,” says McKinnon.

The comedian actually began speaking in character voices at age 10 to relieve her social anxiety. “I found I was more easily able to communicate with people doing a funny voice,” she says, conceding, “I found it was a way to share joy and to bring a sense of fun and community in a way that I had trouble doing just in my own voice.

Hulu’s “The Dropout” will be going ahead without Kate McKinnon, who was set to star in and executive produce the story of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her dramatic fall from grace.

The limited drama series will now look to cast a new actor to play the entrepreneur before the planned summer production start.

The series is based on ABC Radio and ABC News’ podcast about the disgraced inventor, who dropped out of Stanford to found Theranos. The company invented the Edison machine, a diagnostic tool that promised an easy way to test for 200 diseases. But the machine didn’t work as she claimed, though she lured wealthy investors including Betsy DeVos and Rupert Murdoch.

The company was at one time valued at $9 billion, and Theranos became one of the richest women in the world before being indicted by a federal jury in 2018 on nine counts of wire fraud...

Hope Hicks, one of President Trump’s longtime advisers and former Fox. Corp. communications chief, has departed the White House, according to CNN. Her last day was reportedly Tuesday.

Reports of her pending exit first emerged on Jan. 8. Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs, citing sources familiar with the matter, noted that Hicks had told colleagues the upcoming exit did not stem from the violent insurrection by pro-Trump extremists at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, but as part of a previously planned departure, given the end of Trump’s term after losing his bid for re-election.

Hicks did not respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

After departing her post at the White House – for the first time – as communications director in 2018, Hicks had a brief, year-long foray in Hollywood circles, moving to Los Angeles and joining Fox Corp. as executive vice president and chief communications officer in early 2019. She boarded...

Numerous Americans including politicians and Hollywood figures called for President Trump’s removal from office, citing impeachment or the 25th amendment, as his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

Late night hosts Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert echoed the calls of accountability in their respective monologues on Thursday night. During his “A Closer Look” segment, Meyers said if justice isn’t served, Wednesday’s fatal storming by the politically-motivated mob, could very well happen again.

“It’s gonna happen again, that’s why people responsible for this should be held accountable from the top down,” Meyers said. “They should be removed from the White House and expelled from Congress.”

The Late Night with Seth Meyers host additionally targeted swing state senators who proceeded to object President-elect Joe Biden’s win, despite the attempted insurrection that left four dead.

He called out Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley for supporting the President,...

Updated, 6:40 Pm: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned Thursday, becoming to second member of Donald Trump’s Cabinet to quit in the wake of Wednesday chaos at the U.S. Capitol.

Here is DeVos’ resignation latter to Trump:

“We should be highlighting and celebrating your Administration’s many accomplishments on behalf of the American people. Instead, we are left to clean up the mess cause by violent protestors overrunning the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to undermine the people’s business. That behavior was unconscionable for our country. There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.

“Impressionable children are watching all of this and they are learning from us. I believe we each have a moral obligation to exercise good judgement and model the behavior we hope they would emulate. They must know from us that America...

Donald Trump is tapping a series of donors, supporters and other figures to fill spots on the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

On Tuesday, the White House said that the president intended to appoint Elaine Chao, his secretary of transportation, to the board. Also announced was Lynn Friess, who with her husband, conservative activist and donor Foster Friess runs a family philanthropic foundation; Douglas Manchester, the San Diego real estate developer whose nomination to be the ambassador to the Bahamas was dropped amid reports of an alleged pay for play scheme; Hannah Buchan, founder of an asset management fund whose husband Duke is the U.S. ambassador to Spain; and philanthropist Catherine Reynolds.

The board of trustees includes three dozen members appointed by the president to six-year terms. Trump’s appointees have included Jon Voight, Lee Greenwood, Mike Huckabee and Andrea Wynn.

Washington, Dec 8 (Ians) The US Office of Special Counsel (Osc) has accused White House trade adviser Peter Navarro of having violating the Hatch Act and urged President Donald Trump to take "appropriate disciplinary action", such as a fine or removal from office, the media reported.

The Hatch Act, a US federal law enacted in 1939, prohibits federal executive branch employees from using their official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election, Xinhua news agency reported.

Under the relevant statute, the punishments for a Hatch Act violation can include removal from office, a reduction in grade, debarment from federal employment for up to five years, suspension or reprimand.

In a report to Trump on Monday, the Osc said: "From May 26 through October 19, 2020, during at least six media interviews where he appeared in his official capacity as Assistant to the President and Director of...

Updated with video: Joe Biden won the election, Bill Maher declared Friday, although you wouldn’t know it watching network anchors obsess about tens of votes in counties from four remaining states where the former VP is ahead and over the top in electoral votes.

“The networks are still too chickensh*t to call it,” said the host of HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher.

“No matter who you voted for, we can be proud that we live in the third most democratic country in North America,” said Maher, slamming the President’s performance last night claiming Michigan and calling votes that eroded his lead illegal. “He’s throwing a tantrum … He doesn’t like that for the first time he’s on...

Last month, as infernos raged across the West Coast and President Trump countered scientific consensus on climate change, saying, “I don’t think science knows, actually,” Americans of various persuasions got a glimpse of the apocalypse. For many on the left, the fires presented Armageddon in microcosm, proof of the destructive, ongoing processes that imperil humans and the planet alike. For many on the right, however, the fires were a different sort of sign, and Trump’s comment was a dog whistle reassuring those in the know that science would...

Campaigning requires compassion. The same goes for governance. Neither Donald Trump nor anyone in his orbit have yet come to this realization, surviving instead on their stale brand of Fox News testosterone. Sure, that message still can draw a lot of (white) people on a frigid weekday evening, especially if you can bus them in yourself. But Trump also needs to have a plan to get them home, and, well? There’s the rub.

For more than an hour after his Tuesday-night rally ended on the tarmac at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield,...

Washington — The disinformation operation was christened “Project Clintonson.” It brought together two notorious figures in Republican political circles, Blackwater founder Erik Prince and Trump adviser Roger Stone. Their objective couldn’t have been more explicit.

“We do not need to make major gains among African American voters,” said a 13-page proposal for Project Clintonson that Prince sent to unnamed donors a week before Election Day 2016. “We merely need to dampen turn out [sic] and make it difficult for the Black Democratic elected officials in Hillary’s pocket to turn out Black voters at Obama-like levels.

“The Simpsons” is taking aim at Donald Trump’s presidency for the show’s 31st installment of its series of Halloween episodes.

Variety revealed the long-running cartoon’s latest political bit, from the upcoming episode “Treehouse of Horror Xxxi,” on Tuesday. The new scene shows Homer at a polling location, confident in all of his voting decisions sans the presidential vote. A mask-clad Lisa then barges into Homer’s voting booth to ask him if he has forgotten all of the happenings over the last four years. A list of many of the president’s controversial actions and remarks, ranging from calling Mexicans rapists to referring to Apple CEO Tim Cook as Tim Apple, flashes over the screen.

“The Simpsons” has long done bits about American politics — the show generated headlines when fans realized that it joked about a Trump presidency in an episode from 2000 — and has offered plenty of...

There’s nothing scarier than the 2020 election, which makes it the perfect opener for this year’s edition of “The Simpsons” Halloween-themed “Treehouse of Horror.”

Variety has an exclusive first look at the 31st installment, which opens on Election Day 2020. Marge calls Homer to remind him to vote, and he gets to the polling station just in time — where he seems decided in just about every position (including Amazon Alexa for Governor) except for the presidential race.

That’s when a flummoxed Lisa can’t believe that, after everything that has happened these past four years, her father is still undecided.

A helpful scroll then lists just a fraction of some of the things that Donald Trump has done that makes him unfit for president.

Here is that list:

Made it okay to shoot hibernating bears

Put children in cages

Called Mexicans rapists

Imitated disabled reporter

Looks lousy in a...

Seth Meyers returned with a new episode of “Late Night” Monday after taking the last two weeks off, and he brought with him a fresh 14-minute edition of “A Closer Look.” In it, he railed against Republicans for their unyielding quest to force the country’s children to risk their lives by attending school in person next month while coronavirus continues to rage.

“Many countries have also reopened their schools thanks to their success in suppressing the virus. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., the president wants to force teachers and students back in the classrooms as the outbreak worsens, without sufficient health and safety protocols in place, because he thinks it’ll help the economy and thus his reelection,” Meyers said.

Then “Late Night” played a clip of Trump declaring: “We have to open our schools. Open our schools. Stop this nonsense. We open our schools. Germany, Norway, so many countries right now,...

Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent Austin Beutner said Monday that when the 2020-21 academic year starts August 18 it will not be with students at school facilities, owing to concerns about the recent spike in coronavirus cases in the city and across much of the country.

The decision came after city’s teachers union last week called for district campuses to remain closed and online learning to continue when the school year begins. The Utla union also issued a report that indicated reopening will be difficult at any time in the near future.

“We made the decision to close school facilities before there was any occurrence of the virus at our schools, and this proved to be the right call,” Buetner said today in a press release announcing the decision. “Science was our guide then, and it will continue to be. Unfortunately, Covid-19 continues to spread in the Los Angeles...

“The View” co-hosts Joy Behar and Meghan McCain argued Monday after Behar laughed at comments from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos about kids returning to school.

“You’re laughing, Joy, but it’s quite serious,” said conservative McCain, who is in favor of children returning to school as a means of alleviating the pressure on single parents and essential workers who are currently home-schooling on top of their other duties amid the ongoing pandemic.

“I think that everyone from Betsy DeVos on down, Republicans, Democrats — as far as I’m concerned, vote everybody out on both sides from the ground up because I’m so sick of our paying taxpayer dollars to come up with absolute jack five months in for the children of America,” McCain said.

Behar explained her laughter was at DeVos, specifically.

“She sucks,” Behar said. “So according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 1.5 million teachers are at greater...

While the Trump administration continues its full-court press on schools to re-open, they sent out Betsy DeVos to defend an indefensible cause. Either that or the education secretary did not do her homework prior to her appearance on Sunday morning.

CNN’s Dana Bash continuously pressed DeVos on basic questions about students, teachers, and parents’ safety from the virus and whether schools should closely follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines.

Although the interview extended past 20 minutes, it was clear DeVos had only a few talking points in her quiver,...

With about a month to go until the start of the new school year, the battle lines are being drawn over whether Us students will return to campuses or continue online schooling.

The stakes being anted include federal and state funding, health and safety issues, and union rules and compliance. None of the potential winners in this war are clear to parents, many of them facing child care and transportation issues dependent on knowing what will happen.

Meanwhile, new cases of coronavirus continue to rise. CNN reported Sunday that three Arizona teachers who shared a classroom were infected with coronavirus despite following strict safety protocols, and one has died.

Us Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said on Fox News Sunday that she intends to have students back in classrooms this fall.

“Parents are expecting that this fall their kids are going to have a full-time experience with their learning, and we...

Verses 14 through 16 in Matthew 5 follow Jesus’ proclamation of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden,” it begins. “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

A beacon can...

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has continued the practice of garnishing the wages of student loan borrowers who are in default, according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday.

The suit, brought by a New York woman on behalf of about 285,000 borrowers, claims that DeVos and her department have not halted collection practices even though the secretary made an official announcement, on March 25, stating that the seizure of wages and tax refunds will automatically stop. Devos also promised a refund of approximately $1.8 billion of all wages seized since March 13.

In the late March announcement the secretary wrote,...

In 2018 and 2019, booking Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was a top priority for both producers and anchors at Fox News Channel, so much so that one Fox News producer sought to reassure DeVos' press secretary that host Maria Bartiromo would go easy on the secretary if she sat for an interview, which she did six days later.

On Nov. 21, 2018, the producer wrote: "Ps remember any question she doesn't feel comfortable answering — she can choose to not answer and pivot the topic — and Maria is seasoned enough to understand and move on. ... So ...

Washington — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has already pledged that, if elected president, she would erase student-loan debt for the vast majority of the 45 million borrowers in America. On Tuesday, she went one step further, saying she would use executive authority to begin wiping out student debt on the first day of a Warren presidency.

She appears to be the first 2020 presidential candidate to have a day-one plan to use presidential executive authority on student-debt relief. In all, borrowers currently hold more than $1.5 trillion in student-loan debt in this country, a...

“You are the most unpopular person in our government,” Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) told Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday. DeVos appeared before the House Education and Labor committee to defend a student debt policy and Wilson had some strong words for the secretary.

Under the Obama administration the “borrower’s defense” policy was put in place so students who fell victim to fraud from for-profit institutions would receive full financial relief. But under President Donald Trump, DeVos has adjusted the way the policy works. Now victims of fraud...

School shootings happen with such regularity in America now that they barely get reported, or if they are reported, they are swiftly forgotten.

That has not been the case with the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which happened on Valentine’s Day of 2018, because some of the survivors — notably David Hogg and Emma González — led protests and put themselves forward to the media as the faces of a new generation who were not going to settle for “thoughts and prayers” for a day.

“After Parkland” is a documentary that follows several of the survivors of the shooting. Filmmakers Jake Lefferman and Emily Taguchi were given access to Hogg and his family, but González is only seen at a rally in Washington, D.C. where she reads out all 17 of the victim’s names. She says something personal about all of them before stopping and remaining silent for six minutes,...

Washington — Thursday, November 7 was a fateful day for the courts in America.

By an 86-2 margin, the U.S. Senate approved William Nardini to a lifetime appointment on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals — Trump’s 45th appointment of an appeals-court judge. On the same day, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved another judicial nominee of Trump’s, Steven Menashi, an ally of Stephen Miller and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos with a history of inflammatory statements about Islam, Lgbt people, and race. Menashi’s nomination now goes to the Senate floor where...

In 2007, the U.S. government made a bold promise: Graduates who chose to dedicate a decade of their lives to public service rather than chase more lucrative job opportunities would, at the end of those ten years, have the remainder of their student debt wiped away. But in 2018, when the first crop of teachers, nurses, police officers and other public service workers completed the term and began asking for the debt forgiveness they’d been promised, 99 percent of them had their applications denied.

In an attempt to fix the problem, Congress...

Welcome back from the long weekend. If you’re just now tuning back into the news, there’s a lot to catch up on.

Here are five of the biggest stories you might’ve missed over the Labor Day weekend.

At least five people are dead as Hurricane Dorian pummels the Bahamas

The Category 3 hurricane pummeled the Bahamas over the weekend as it traced a northeastern path several hundred miles off the Atlantic Coast. Dorian’s winds reached as high as 180 miles an hour, and the hurricane was labeled a Category 5 storm.

Kate McKinnon, a consummate political impersonator, took Marianne Williamson as her latest subject on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” following Thursday night’s Democratic debate.

“Gosh, I wish there was an ‘SNL’ show this week,” said McKinnon, of the missed opportunity to skewer the debates on the sketch show. Meyers pointed out that time might be running out for McKinnon to poke fun at Williamson, who had some of the debate’s oddest utterances. “She might not make it to the fall,” said Meyers. “The window for Marianne Williamson impressions might be closing fast.”

Channeling the self help guru turned presidential candidate, McKinnon laid out the plan — or anti-plan — for America. “I’ve heard a lot of plans here tonight. And if we think plans are going to beat Donald Trump, we got another thing coming,” she began.

“My plan is to gather all the sage in America and burn it.

Figures associated with President Trump have been charged with everything from lying to the government to violating federal campaign finance law to just about every financial crime imaginable. Add trafficking child pornography to the list.

George Nader, a Middle East fixer who advised the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates and whose connections to Trump drew the attention of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, was apprehended on Monday and indicted on federal child pornography charges. According to federal prosecutors, he was arrested upon landing at John F. Kennedy Airport in...

Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced Silicon Valley entrepreneur once touted as the next Steve Jobs, will be portrayed in two upcoming fictionalized projects, one starring Jennifer Lawrence and the other with Kate McKinnon.

Lawrence’s big screen dramatization and McKinnon’s Hulu miniseries won’t be out for a while, but no waiting is required to see a nonfiction treatment of the Holmes story—The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley is available right now on HBO on demand. It’s in contention for multiple Emmy nominations.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney directed the documentary, about the Stanford University dropout who launched blood-testing company Theranos and became the youngest self-made female billionaire ever before the enterprise collapsed in a blizzard of fraud allegations. Gibney says he didn’t anticipate how much The Inventor would resonate with viewers.

“The way it broke through kind of surprised me in the sense that now...

According to a report in the New York Times, President Trump’s Justice Department filed expedited requests for information on Friday regarding the war crimes cases of accused servicemen, signaling he is considering pardoning them on or before Memorial Day.

One of the service members Trump is looking to pardon is Navy Seal Chief Edward Gallagher, who is accused of shooting and killing an unarmed Muslim girl and elderly man from a sniper position and unloading machine gun fire “indiscriminately” into neighborhoods, according to the Times. He also allegedly killed...

Samantha Bee spoke with California Senator and 2020 presidential hopeful Kamala Harris about her plan to improve pay among public school teachers on Full Frontal Wednesday.

As Harris noted, teachers make, on average, 11 percent less than similarly college educated professionals, and the meager wages are causing people to leave the profession in droves. Additionally, many teachers are often forced to pay for school supplies out of their own pocket due to rampant underfunding.

“Let’s pay them their value and let’s recognize that they are doing some of the most noble,...

Washington — Elizabeth Warren may be best known for her public flaying of inept financial executives and aggressive policy ideas aimed at the banking industry, but the Massachusetts senator is setting the pace among the 2020 contenders when it comes to education.

On Monday, Warren pledged that, if elected president, her secretary of education would be a former public school teacher “who is committed to public education.”

In an email blast, she said that Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s current education secretary and a long-time advocate of charter schools and foe of teachers unions,...

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been taking heat this week for cutting funding from the Special Olympics in its budget proposal this year, but a department official familiar with the process who spoke with CNN said it was the White House Office of Management and Budget that insisted on revoking funding, not DeVos.

DeVos, though, was the one who had to appear before Congress and defend the decision by the government to cut the $18 million in funding for the event, only to have President Donald Trump restore it two days later.

Jamaal Charles is thrilled Donald Trump won't let Betsy DeVos cut $18 Million from Special Olympics ... telling TMZ Sports competing in them when he was younger changed his life. The Kansas City Chiefs legend was diagnosed with a learning disability at a young age ... and used track and field at Special Olympics events to help him get through tough times. In fact, the running back -- who's the all-time NFL leader in yards per carry -- says,...

11:59 Am Pt -- We just got Congressman Joseph Kennedy III -- whose family Started the Special Olympics -- and he echos Big Show's feelings on DeVos' proposed budget cuts.  "It's a terrible idea. It's a horrible policy ... it's never gonna happen," Rep. Kennedy told us out in D.C. "And, I don't know why this administration continues to try to pick the fight with some of the most vulnerable people in our country." Kennedy adds,...