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[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Russia has reportedly deployed its Tu-214PU "Doomsday aircraft" airborne command aircraft to Tehran.

A Russian Tu-214PU aircraft landed in Tehran on Monday morning. According to flight-tracking data reported by the Times of India, the plane is operated by the "Russia" Special Flight Detachment and is one of the country's most heavily protected airborne command post aircraft.

No official comments were given.

📹: NewsX World

[Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project @OCCRP]

The EU and Britain have unmasked a specialized Russian intelligence unit behind a decade of cyber-espionage, revealing a foiled winter plot to cut power to 500,000 people and exposing the Kremlin’s deep ties to criminal hacking syndicates.

https://t.co/LDJ5oevTSF

[Thomas P (TOM) Logan 🇯🇵 🇺🇸 @TokyoTom2020]

What a declining simpleton …. he has caused a major ruckus here in Tokyo with this kind of careless talk and has zero credibility… An average Japanese poster on Yahoo! News Japan just suggested Americans take out the trash in the midterms and punish him strongly to which there are now 30,000 likes in the span of a half day.

[CSPAN @cspan]

Here's the 2010 exchange.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): "I just asked you where you're at on Christmas."

Kagan: "Like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant."

[CSPAN @cspan]

Justice Elena Kagan on her 2010 confirmation hearing: "Many people have talked about how funny Senator Graham was...What I remember about that hearing was that somehow Senator Graham made me look funny, which is a harder thing entirely, by asking me what I had done on Christmas...many people said to me afterwards that exchange with Senator Graham was the moment my confirmation was sealed."

Full video here: https://t.co/RQiJVbOpGv

[IRGC @IRGC_Press]

🚨 BREAKING — The IRGC Navy has reportedly fired anti-ship missiles toward U.S. warships in the Gulf of Oman — a major escalation and a direct warning to Washington. The message is unmistakable: any presence in our waters will be treated as a threat, and we are ready to respond. 🇮🇷🇺🇸💥⚓️🔥

[The Steady State @steadystate2025]

The Steady State applauds the Bar of the City of New York for its powerful and principled opposition to the nomination of Todd Blanche as Attorney General of the United States. At a moment when the independence of the Department of Justice and the integrity of the legal profession face extraordinary strain, the City Bar has reaffirmed the fundamental proposition that the nation’s chief law enforcement officer must demonstrate an unwavering commitment to the rule of law, fidelity to ethical obligations, and respect for the constitutional separation of powers. The timing of the City Bar’s letter could not be more significant. Today, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a blistering opinion in the so-called “slush fund” litigation, concluding that the lawsuit was pursued for an improper purpose and describing an effort to manipulate the judicial process in order to secure judicial approval for an arrangement that the court found fundamentally incompatible with the Constitution and the role of the federal judiciary. In doing so, Judge Williams sharply criticized the conduct of the parties and counsel, including Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and ordered that her opinion be transmitted to the appropriate bar authorities while referring one attorney for disciplinary proceedings. These developments underscore precisely why the Senate must scrutinize Mr. Blanche’s nomination with the utmost care. The Attorney General is entrusted not merely with enforcing the law, but with safeguarding public confidence that justice will be administered impartially, honestly, and in accordance with the Constitution. When a federal judge concludes that the judicial process itself has been misused to advance an improper objective, the concerns raised by the legal profession are no longer abstract—they become immediate, concrete, and impossible to ignore. The City Bar has performed an important public service by speaking clearly and unequivocally at this critical moment, and its warning deserves the careful attention of every United States Senator before casting a vote on this nomination.
#Blanche #ICE #DOJ #Democracy

[Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen]

Aujourd’hui sur les Champs-Élysées, nous célébrons la liberté, héritage chéri de la France.

Nous le savons ; il n’y pas de liberté sans défense.

Pas de paix durable sans force de la préserver.

Je remercie la France pour son engagement.

Car l'armée française fait la force de l’Europe.

Et protège la liberté de notre Union tout entière.

[Ed Krassenstein @EdKrassen]

Democratic Socialists like @aoc and @NYCMayor do not believe what Democratic Socialist countries throughout the world do. In fact it’s a stupid name for the party.

They aren’t socialists. They believe in social democracy similar to Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. These countries are capitalists. They just realize that income disparity can’t keep getting greater without society helping those who can’t afford healthcare, childcare and retirement.

They should rename themselves “social democrats.”

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Justice Kagan: "The reason I think it's probably not appropriate, at least not now, to call it the 'shadow docket' is because we have done a better job in the recent past of where appropriate -- and it's not always appropriate -- of explaining ourselves, at least to a moderate degree."

[Joyce Alene @JoyceWhiteVance]

Judge Kathleen Williams didn't just reject Trump's $1.776 billion "slush fund" deal—she dismantled it, step by careful step. It's one of the most consequential opinions of the year, and every page matters. I break down why. https://t.co/yBDKGjaPmd

[IRGC @IRGC_Press]

IRGC Navy Commander Brigadier General Ali Azmaei:
"By the grace of God, the IRGC has launched a heavy barrage of ballistic and cruise missiles toward all commercial ships and oil tankers currently in the Strait of Hormuz." A decisive move to assert control and send a clear message to any vessel operating without authorization. 🇮🇷⚓️🔥💥🚢

[Freedom of the Press Foundation @FreedomofPress]

Journalist @KatiePhang says she could only sue the DOJ over the Epstein Files Transparency Act after going independent:

“This lawsuit would have never happened by me if I had been still at MSNBC. But ... I don't have a corporate oligarch breathing down my neck right now.”

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

This is not a gray area. Trump is running the government for the private enrichment of his own family, in the open, while the guardrails that used to catch this are dismantled one by one.

Trump’s sons have poured money into more than a dozen defense tech companies. Most of those bets were placed after their father won a second term. Those same companies have since pulled in billions in government business, and the Pentagon they now depend on answers to the man whose last name they share.

Either we end the corruption or the corruption ends us. There is no version where we look away and the country stays intact. 

Where is the outrage from my Republican colleagues? The ones who spent years lecturing this country about corruption and the swamp. Wake up!
https://t.co/jzVDi9iCV0

[The Nobel Prize @NobelPrize]

“I was born and raised in Amman, Jordan to a refugee family. We were ten kids plus our parents. We lived in a humble home. We didn’t have the usual conveniences of running water or electricity. In addition to that, we shared the space with our livestock that we lived off. So, I would say it was not an easy childhood. And my parents worked very hard to send us to these nice, strong schools.”

In our official interview, Omar Yaghi – chemistry laureate and son of Palestinian refugees – described his childhood. He was a quiet yet diligent student who became captivated by chemistry at an early age. Recognising his son's potential, his father gave him the entirety of their savings at 15 and pushed him to continue his studies in the United States. Yaghi told us, "I’m sure this is a story that repeats itself in many families where the parents are absolutely dedicated to their children’s education, because education is the gateway to better life and potentially happiness."

It's safe to say that his parent's dedication and Yaghi's personal work ethic paid off. He was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Susumu Kitagawa and Richard Robson "for the development of metal-organic frameworks."

Learn more about Yaghi's journey to the Nobel Prize by watching our interview: https://t.co/4GYxM1WAvC

[Scott MacFarlane @MacFarlaneNews]

EXCLUSIVE: On Eve of Confirmation Hearing, Senate Democrats Demand Todd Blanche Meet with Epstein Survivors

https://t.co/5C6uS0vgsL

[Charles M. Blow @CharlesMBlow]

This was my first time meeting @isaiahrmartin , and the first thing I said to him was that as black man of a certain age, I swell with pride with I see young black men like him doing their thing. I wanted to encourage him — not that he needed it — the same way that I would want people to encourage my children, all of whom are older than Isaiah by the way. Lol

Black people must always resist the competition-for-the-only-spot foolishness that the world tries to force on up. I went to Black schools all my life. Our philosophy was different: you rise, I rise, we rise together. The world said there was limited space for black faces and black voices; we simply made more. We encourages, fought for and cheered each other.

Isaiah is whip smart and good on tv. He has a bright future ahead of him. And this uncle will be cheering.

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

This is a big deal.

A research scientist at Google DeepMind has broken cover & is calling out Google’s leadership on a deal it’s signed with the US govt that could see its AI used for military & surveillance purposes.

Kudos. So rare to see this. 👊

[House Judiciary Dems @HouseJudiciary]

NEW: RM @RepRaskin, @AOC, and @SenatorLujan introduce legislation to impose a $50 gift ban on Supreme Court Justices, closing a glaring ethics loophole that allows Justices to accept lavish gifts from wealthy individuals with interests before the Court.

[Lisa Rubin @lawofruby]

Robbie Kaplan, Carroll’s lead lawyer, gave this statement to MS NOW: “Three years ago, a unanimous nine-person jury found President Trump liable for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll. Today, we are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment the jury awarded her as a result of that verdict.”