Trump responds to California wildfires by threatening to cut federal aid

As California continues to suffer from a number of wildfires, President Donald Trump has made a vague threat to cut federal aid to the state’s fire recovery efforts.

Amid high winds and dry weather, the fires have spread so rapidly that California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency last week to mobilize resources to fight the blazes. Californians have been experiencing historic blackouts and mandatory evacuations. Hundreds of people have lost their homes, and more than 10,000 acres have burned.

Rather than address those hit with tragedy, Trump criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom Sunday morning for doing a …

The whistleblower offers written testimony to House Republicans

The whistleblower who first brought concerns about President Donald Trump’s interactions with Ukraine to light has said he is willing to directly respond to Republican questions, according to his lawyer.

That lawyer, Mark Zaid, told CBS News he informed Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) — who is the ranking Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee — on Saturday the whistleblower had volunteered to answer Republicans’ questions of him in writing under oath and penalty of perjury.

Trump and other Republicans have called for the testimony of the whistleblower for some time, and have intensified that request in recent weeks. Nunes, …

At a UFC event, Trump receives second round of boos in a week

President Donald Trump faced boos for the second time in a week when he met a crowd at a UFC match in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Trump, who has long been a fan and supporter of the UFC, traveled to New York City on Saturday with his sons Donald Jr. and Eric along with Republican lawmakers Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Peter King, and Mark Meadows.

Trump’s appearance was intended to be a homecoming of sorts: when UFC was banned in some states and lost access to venues, he provided the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City to keep the sport …

Elizabeth Warren can’t escape the  Medicare-for-all funding debate — even on SNL

The debate over the cost of Medicare-for-all took a new turn this week when Sen. Elizabeth Warren released her plan for paying for the policy.

Warren had been under pressure for some time to explain how she would fund the switch to single payer health care; at the October presidential debate, her rival Mayor Pete Buttigieg attacked her by saying, “Your signature is to have a plan for everything, except this.”

That is no longer the case, and Saturday Night Live offered its take on the plan in a cold open that had Warren wondering why other candidates haven’t …

Trump said the new border wall was “impenetrable.” Smugglers are sawing through it.

President Donald Trump promised a wall on the border would radically change undocumented immigration and customs enforcement. But it turns out newly built sections of the president’s wall aren’t as sturdy as he promised: Smugglers have been using a commercial saw to cut through it, according to the Washington Post.

Smuggling people and goods into the US is a profitable industry for criminal organizations, which is why they are motivated to innovate when it comes to breaching barriers. Of late, smugglers have reportedly been cutting through the wall — which is made of steel bollards that are partially filled …

2020 Democrats enter the final phase of their Iowa campaigns at the state’s largest political event

With three months to go until the Iowa caucuses, Democratic presidential candidates offered voters impassioned pitches about their proposals and their ability to beat Donald Trump at the Liberty and Justice Celebration dinner Friday.

The dinner — historically the largest gathering of voters in Iowa — marked the beginning of a final push to the caucuses at a moment when support for a number of candidates has seen major shifts.

For those who have benefitted from those changes, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the evening provided an opportunity to solidify that momentum; and for …

The brutal mirror: what the psychedelic drug ayahuasca showed me about my life

When I finally puked on the fourth night, I felt an odd sense of pride.

Inside the loud, stuffy ceremony room, people were laughing, crying, chanting, gyrating, and, yes, vomiting, around me. When my time finally comes, I think: Just aim for the bucket and keep your ass above your head like the shaman told you.

I try to wipe my face but can’t grab the tissue paper because it melts every time I reach for it. Nearby, a man starts to scream. I can’t make out what he’s saying on account of the shaman singing beautiful Colombian songs in …

Trump stumps for himself during a Mississippi rally for a tight governor’s race

When President Donald Trump appeared at a Tupelo, Mississippi rally Friday held to energize voters for the state’s Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves — who is facing a tight race for governor against Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood on November 5 — it didn’t take long for the president to start stumping for himself instead.

In his first rally since the House of Representatives’ Thursday vote on the impeachment inquiry, the president did find some time to ask voters to support Reeves, who he brought onstage, but spent the majority of his address attacking lawmakers, the press, and political …

16 movies to watch for in November, from Charlie’s Angels to Mister Rogers

The November movie schedule is crowded with pleasures: There’s a tiny indie, several huge franchise blockbusters, documentaries, comedies, biopics, and a lot more. There’s a hotly anticipated movie about Mr. Rogers and a Christmas-y romcom. Some of this month’s movies are en route to the Oscars; others just want to make you laugh a lot. But it’s an exciting lineup nonetheless.

So when you’re planning your November movie viewing, be sure to save room for these 16 standouts.

Light From Light (November 1)

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It’s extraordinarily tricky to describe Light from Light, which is both about ghosts and …

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This week in impeachment news

  • The latest testimony from the House’s impeachment investigation into President Trump: the White House didn’t just place Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president into a secure system — a senior White House lawyer directed everyone not to talk about it. [Politico / Natasha Bertrand]
  • That came from Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council member. Trump’s supporters