Pope Leo XIV just went viral belting out “L.O.V.E” with Michael Bublé at the Vatican’s Concert with the Poor, a Christmas event where the front rows are filled with homeless and low-income guests. Michael Bublé called it “the greatest night” of his career. The full story is below.

FBI Director Kash Patel: "When you attack our nation's capital, you attack the very being of our way of life. This FBI and this DOJ stand here to tell you we will always refute it and combat it." Donald Trump pardoned over 1,500 rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol...

Todd Blanche is now warning lawyers who criticize Trump's Justice Department: The DOJ's No. 2 official suggested that lawyers might have a harder time winning lenient treatment for corporate clients if they've publicly accused the Trump administration of being lax on white-collar crime.

The cruelty is the point

Docket entry in EDVA shows that a Norfolk grand jury returned a "no true bill" yesterday, Dec. 4. In other words: The grand jury declined to indict someone on felony charges after federal prosecutors presented the case. This is likely the Letitia James case. (H/t to docket watcher Ethan Lee)

On left: President Trump Statement Sept. 2, 2025: "The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in international waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States." On right: (Under penalty of law) military leaders told Congress headed to Suriname.

At the beginning of the drone war in the early 2000s, people fretted that the fact it was on the screen, you weren’t looking at a human being through a rifle sight, would end up making troops completely desensitized to the fact that they were killing people. Anyways, they watched them for 41 min.

The fact that four hostile drones tried to hit Zelenskyy’s plane & it’s barely a blip in the news cycle should terrify everyone. We’ve been dragged so deep into the chaos era that an attempted strike on a world leader doesn’t even break through. When this becomes normal, the world is in real danger.

“Three weeks ago your father killed my brother.” A Ukrainian journalist confronted Vladimir Putin’s alleged daughter, Yelizaveta Krivonogikh, in Paris.

It's a bit surprising that Pete Hegseth asked for two shots when he usually asks for four or five.

👇👇

this clip encapsulates so much of what has been wrong about MSM Trump coverage for the past decade -- treating Trump's lies and bigotry as a valid "side" of a debate instead of calling it out, because calling it out makes it seem as though you're biased

MORE Breaking on MS NOW: Pete Hegseth refused an interview request for the Pentagon Inspector General's investigation into Signalgate, according to two sources who read and were briefed on report. Hegseth would not turn over his phone, a source who read the report told MS NOW.

I refuse to give that greedheaded libertarian space in my head as a hero. But the sonofabitch has been consistent on extrajudicial killings by presidents since al-Awlaki and if he keeps this up, I going to be really pissed off at whatever measure of grudging respect I'll have to supply.

Also, most importantly: It was an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of the United States.

Why are we focusing on the 2nd strike? Please give me justification for the first strike. And don’t forget the survivors we took into custody and released without charges a few weeks ago.

Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them.

Breaking on MS NOW: The Signalgate report contradicts Pete Hegseth's claims he did nothing wrong. It shows he "violated policy by using a non-approved device," a source who read the report says. Hegseth failed to preserve records. The report says he put the operations and service people at risk.

The interesting thing about the TN-07 vote is that Van Epps doesn’t seem like a terrible candidate—the 15 point swing in favor of Democrats isn’t primarily a candidate effect. If 2026 is anything close to a +15 environment for Democrats, it’s going to be the biggest wave election in a long time.

If blowing up survivors in the water was the right thing to do because they are “narco-terrorists” (trust us, bro) and deserve no quarter, why did we rescue two other survivors in a different strike, fly them home, and let them go free?

The boats also weren't in US jurisdiction. It wasn't possible for them to have violated US law yet. The military is executing people for pre-crimes. With no evidence.

We are not at war with Venezuela, yet. The boats are civilian craft. The U.S. criminal code does not maintain a death penalty for drug smuggling. Due process is required before conviction or sentence. All of the 80 people killed thus far are wanton murders slain under illegal orders. All of them.

I just find it hilarious that his whole cabinet is sloberring praise all over him with ridiculous hyperbole and he is falling asleep while they're doing it. You couldn't write comedy better than this. It's better than VEEP.

Damn, messing up on day one. Pentagon spox confirmed that all strikes in Caribbean are "directed by the President". Congrats.

Only rightwing nutjobs would celebrate starving the poorest people in the country. Just gonna keep saying it... Conservatism is a sociopathic mental disorder.

Trump dozes while Marco Rubio speaks to him directly next to him. Just insane optics.

"Pete didn't know about the second attack having to do with two people." Proposed follow up questions: Oh. Well then, when did Pete know about it, and what did he do about it? When he found out about it, did he know the second attack was in order to kill the shipwrecked?

Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, Navy Adm. Frank Bradley’s reasoning for launching a second strike on a vessel in the Caribbean as two wounded survivors clung on to the boat. “Under normal circumstances, it’d be court-martialed. He’d be relieved of his duties, and he’d be court-martialed."

A most important question on the Sept. 2 double-tap strike is who had "target engagement authority" (TEA). Wall Street Journal: "A Defense Department official ... said Hegseth was the 'target engagement authority,' the key figure who authorized the strike." www.wsj.com/politics/whi...

Hegseth is very transparently blaming a Navy admiral for his own decision. Let this be a lesson for every other military officer: The Trump administration will issue unlawful orders, then blame you for following them.

Imma need everyone who threw a fit over Hunter Biden to keep that same energy about Jared Kushner - who has no government role or oversight - sitting in on this meeting www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Schmitt’s argument is unintentionally revealing. The “color revolutions” were non-violent, pro-democracy political movements aimed at ending autocratic regimes in former Soviet bloc nations. If the Democrats are leading a “color revolution,” then Trump is an autocrat & Schmitt is pro-autocrat.

They attack empathy so that they can espouse sociopathy unopposed. These people are fucking disgusting.

Scoop: They tried to bury this news on Black Friday, but, well... Trump crypto partner Alt5 Sigma told the SEC its auditor quit in Nov. We called the auditor. He resigned in August. That's the second SEC filing with an apparent conflict that Alt5 Sigma has made in recent weeks. 1/

Leavitt: “The president has made it quite clear that if narco terrorists are trafficking illegal drugs toward the United States he has the authority to kill them” [narrator voice]: He did not, in fact, have lawful authority to kill them…

Reporter: You said that that second strike was in full accordance with the law of armed conflict but the Navy's own manual of law of war says that specifically firing on survivors from a wrecked vessel is an example of a war crime that's forbidden under U.S. Law and the law of armed conflict…

In a 3-0 decision, the Court of Appeals rules against the Trump administration on the appointment of Alina Habba as interim US attorney in New Jersey www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

“Should we follow the Geneva Conventions?” Pete Hegseth asked in 2024. It’s almost as if there were signs! bsky.app/profile/anna...

When i lived in IA, it was a purple state. In the last 20 years, IA took a hard right turn and its politics are indistinguishable from Alabama's, complete with abortion ban and regressive taxes. Now they have horrible brain drain and credulously wonder what caused it. tinyurl.com/2fyah23c

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

I thought Senile Satan ended the War on Christmas?

The actual evidence against him included audio tapes, video tapes, ledgers, and witness testimony, including THAT OF HIS OWN BROTHER. The investigation lasted 10 years, including the entirety of Trump's 1st term.

Former US military lawyers speak out: "The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both." Statement on Media Reports of Pentagon “No Quarter” Orders in Caribbean Boat Strikes 1/2

Senator Kelly is correct. Plus a Public Service Announcement: KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1. The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal: "orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."

Not sure who needs to hear this but a US President can not pardon someone being charged for war crimes at The Hague.

“To believe anything about Epstein coming from Trump and his cronies requires a complete suspension of common sense, which is why it’s good to remember that the simplest explanation is often the correct one: they’re lying.” — @justinglawe.bsky.social

After Biden commuted the sentences of 37 men on federal death row last year, the Trump administration is retaliating by sending them to the supermax. Prisoners are locked in cells smaller than a parking space 22-24 hours a day. One prisoner told me he fears he won't make it out alive. My latest: