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NEW YORK (AP) — Twelve states sued to block Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on Monday, arguing that the $81 billion merger would “extinguish competition” in Hollywood and lead to fewer choices for consumers across the U.S.

“Audiences on every sofa and in every movie (theater) seat would feel the impact of this unlawful merger,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the case, said in a news conference from Los Angeles. He said the deal would result in higher prices, fewer movies and TV shows and lower quality of content overall.

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Incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set to add as much as £38 billion to Britain’s already historically high tax bill to fund a progressive handout agenda, analysis from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has warned.

Former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who is all but certain to be installed later this week as the new leader of the Labour Party after the downfall of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, appears set to double down on the high-tax and spend ethos that failed to turn around the British economy.

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(LifeSiteNews) — UK Equalities Minister Olivia Bailey has affirmed that the government’s proposed Conversion Practices bill will not exempt conversations with parents about gender identity or sexuality — and that the consequences for violating the law could be dire.

After successive governments — both Conservative and Labour — promised to ban so-called “conversion therapy,” the Labour government is moving to make good on the commitment. LGBT groups have been thrilled at the expansive approach the government appears to be taking. “Conversion practices are abuse, and the government will deliver the manifesto commitment to bring forward a trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices,” the government’s addendum stated.

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After the shocking Supreme Court ruling on birthright citizenship, a Texas hospital is going viral for advertising childbirth packages for expectant mothers just miles from the U.S. border in Mexico.

“Here in Texas, you have these birth tourism hospitals openly advertising birth packages, and they’re not advertising to Texans,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales explains on “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.”

“They’re not like, ‘Hey, Texans, come to our birth center. We’re really, really gentle.’ They’re actually advertising to Mexicans in Mexico. You have Mission Regional Medical Center; it’s within miles of the border. It’s advertising birth packages on billboards in Mexico,” she continues.

The billboard Gonzales shows is all in Spanish and boasts $3,950 for a natural birth and $5,525 for a C-section. Even more disturbing, the website the billboard pointed Mexicans to was “havemybabyinTEXAS.com.”

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As the Supreme Court made waves with its landmark ruling protecting women’s and girls’ sports, the court also published another landmark ruling that met with little public discussion: Chatrie v. United States.

Chatrie focused on answering the question of whether or not law enforcement accessing Google Location History data constituted a Fourth Amendment search. The court determined that it did, explaining that “[a]n individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in records about his cell phone’s location, and police intrude on that constitutionally protected interest when they demand the information … from a third-party tech company.”

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WASHINGTON, July 13 (Reuters)—The White House plans to bring together utility companies and data center developers to make a voluntary pledge designed to ensure that rapid growth in electricity demand from artificial intelligence does not drive-up power bills for households and businesses, according to three people familiar with the plans.

An event to announce the initiative is expected in the coming weeks, with several companies taking part and vowing to protect current ratepayers from shouldering all the costs of AI expansion. The guest list is still being finalized, the sources said.

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California Assembly members recently peered into the garage of a suburban hobbyist and experienced a collective panic attack. Their legislative response, Assembly Bill 2047, presents itself as a targeted strike against the DIY firearm industry. This classification completely misrepresents the mechanics of the law. The actual mechanism establishes a permanent legal framework in which consumer hardware operates as an automated, inescapable agent of the state.

The statute mandates that every 3D printer sold in California must run mandatory screening software. This system intercepts every digital file, compares the geometric coordinates against a government-maintained database of banned shapes, and shuts down the machine if it detects a forbidden curve. Property law historically recognized a distinct boundary between an object and its purchaser. Under this new system, the state retains ultimate operational veto power over the physical components sitting on your workshop desk, rendering your financial investment and your purchase receipt completely meaningless.

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Rashida Tlaib took an oath to support and defend the Constitution. It is unclear how she took “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” to mean “The political structures that I have to work in, that we are surrounded by, were built on slavery and genocide and oppression,” but I digress. The point, however, remains that if she believes this to be true, then she never intended to uphold her oath. That should be a bigger scandal than it is, so much so that she should be barred from ever holding elected office again. Yet, here we are, as she panders to the DSA over how she will, in fact, tear this country down.

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Almost two years after Future Forward spent record levels of “dark money” in the 2024 election backing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we’re finally getting a partial answer to where the money came from. The money trail leads to a network of little-known nonprofits, Democratic operatives, and politically connected organizations that helped to move hundreds of millions of dollars through the shadows.

New tax filings reviewed by Sludge show how $173 million flowed into Future Forward USA Action, the dark money nonprofit that powered the outside spending operation backing Biden and Harris in the 2024 election. The filings are from three nonprofits that also do not disclose their donors, revealing a previously unknown dark money layer behind one of the most expensive political operations in American history.

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Fidesz has argued that the amendment is an “unprecedented” assault on Hungary’s democratic order, and last week staged a protest in opposition to the changes which drew around 3,000 people but which Orbán did not attend.

On Monday, Orbán posted a photograph of Magyar on Facebook with the subtitle, “Democratic Hungary: 1990-2026” – the period since Hungary transitioned from state socialism. Orbán was traveling to the United States on Monday to attend the final three matches of the World Cup.

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A federal appeals court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to replace informational panels at the slavery exhibit at the President’s House in Philadelphia. The decision is a legal victory for the administration as it moves to restore how the nation’s history is presented at federal historic sites.

The court issued a mandate Friday finalizing its June 18 ruling, allowing the Interior Department to move forward with replacing the exhibit panels at the President’s House, the nation’s first executive mansion, where President George Washington enslaved nine men and women.

The Interior Department sought immediate implementation of the ruling in a motion filed Thursday.

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President Donald Trump has removed the remaining Democrat members of the Election Assistance Commission, leaving the federal election agency without commissioners as his administration pushes to tighten election security ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The move affects the only federal agency devoted solely to election administration.

Trump fired Democratic commissioners Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland on Thursday, according to Votebeat.

Republican Commissioner Christy McCormick was allowed to resign rather than face termination, three sources inside the agency told the outlet.

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Ukraine‘s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he had ​proposed replacing Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

“I am grateful to Yuliia for her clear, steady, and effective work as Prime Minister, ​for ‌her years of productive service on Ukraine’s ⁠team, and I have offered her the opportunity to lead a new ‌and important area of relations with a key partner,” ⁠Zelensky said on X.

“I expect that, together with MPs, we will make the corresponding changes in ​the Government of Ukraine,” he added. Zelensky said ‌the government changes were needed to “ensure the implementation of an updated political strategy”, but gave no further details.

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The Maine Senate race has turned into a disaster for Democrats after more allegations, this time alleging rape, were dropped against Graham Platner yesterday afternoon. While Platner has not dropped out of the race yet and has not indicated what he plans to do, several prominent Democrats have withdrawn their endorsements and called on him to drop out.

That means Democrats have to find someone to run against Republican incumbent Susan Collins. Governor Janet Mills dropped out of the race ages ago, not seeing a path to victory, so it’s unclear if she’d return to try again. But there’s a report that Democrats are looking at Nirva Shah, the former Biden administration CDC Director.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was celebrated by his Senate colleagues and others Sunday morning, after the news of his death Saturday evening.

Graham died after a “brief and sudden illness,” according to a statement from his office, and EMS radios showed reports of cardiac arrest. He had served in Congress for nearly 32 years. He was a U.S. representative from 1995-2003 and was then elected to the Senate, where he had served ever since.

“My heart is heavy this morning to learn of the passing of my friend and colleague, Senator Lindsey Graham,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Sunday morning. “Lindsey’s long and dedicated service in the Air Force and in Congress carried him to far-flung regions of the world. He was a strong advocate for the United States and a strong ally to freedom-loving countries across the globe. He believed in the might of America to achieve good in the world and dedicated his life to advancing that cause.”

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said she was “stunned” to hear the news.

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The U.S., early Sunday morning, launched strikes against Iranian military targets as the Islamic Guard (IRGC) claimed that it has closed the Strait of Hormuz “indefinitely.”

U.S. strikes targeted Iran’s coastal region, destroying naval assets, missile installations, and drone facilities in response to ongoing IRGC attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Central Command (CENTCOM), U.S. forces “completed a third round of strikes this week against Iran, July 11, holding Iranian forces accountable for attacking another commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz.”

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Conspiracy theorists claimed Sen. Mitch McConnell had suffered a heart attack, and some even claimed he was no longer alive and his death was being kept hidden.

But he issued a statement Sunday and provided proof of life — a photo of himself smiling alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, taken from his bed at a rehabilitation facility.

Mr. McConnell, 84,  said he was recovering from a fall and a case of pneumonia and would eventually be returning to work in the Senate.

The June 14 fall left him unconscious, the Kentucky Republican said.

“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages. But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I’ve also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia,” Mr. McConnell said.

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For decades, video games have been a go-to hobby for Alyx Green. But in recent years, Green has felt priced out.

Instead of buying the biggest releases, the Illinois graduate student has opted for cheaper alternatives from smaller studios or turned to board and card games. In some cases, the 31-year-old watches videos of others playing hot games on YouTube in lieu of actually playing.

“The price has been going up,” Green said. “It’s just hard to keep up.”

U.S. consumers have for years grappled with “funflation,” used to describe the sharply higher prices for live experiences like concerts or sporting events that were halted during pandemic lockdowns.

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The lawyer for E. Jean Carroll, the former magazine columnist who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault, is facing scrutiny over outside funding of the case by a left-leaning billionaire.

The National Legal and Policy Center, a watchdog group, filed a bar complaint with the Attorney Grievance Committee of the New York State Supreme Court against Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, alleging she was not transparent about left-leaning billionaire Reid Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, helping bankroll Carroll’s lawsuit.

Tax filings from 2023 for Hoffman’s nonprofit, American Future Republic, show it paid $7 million to Carroll’s lawyers to help cover legal expenses, according to the Capital Research Center, which monitors nonprofits.

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For more than 5,300 years, it lay undisturbed beneath a Stone Age tomb in northern Spain, hidden among the remains of nearly 100 people. When archaeologists finally uncovered the ancient skull, they expected another glimpse into prehistoric life. Instead, they found evidence of something far more extraordinary. Careful examination revealed that the woman had undergone not one but two complex ear surgeries thousands of years before modern medicine existed. Even more astonishing, signs of new bone growth showed she survived both procedures, making the discovery the world’s earliest known physical evidence of ear surgery and rewriting what scientists know about prehistoric healthcare.The skull was unearthed in 2018 from the Dolmen of El Pendón, a large Neolithic burial monument near Reinoso in Spain’s Burgos province. The tomb, which dates back to between 3800 BCE and 3000 BCE, served as a collective burial site for around 100 individuals. Among them was the skull of an elderly woman, believed to have been around 65 years old, whose remains would become the focus of an extraordinary scientific investigation.

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The last few weeks should end any illusion that the United States can improvise its way through frontier AI policy. What we have witnessed was not serious governance. It was vibe policymaking: ad hoc, deal-by-deal reactions with no clear standard, public explanation, or predictable process. The result was not just confusion. It exposed a deeper weakness: the United States has no reliable way to measure frontier AI risk, no agreed process for acting on it, and no institution built to do either.

In early June, Anthropic released Mythos 5 and its restricted consumer version, Fable 5, models that write complex code and find software vulnerabilities with minimal prompting. Days later, the Administration ordered Anthropic to cut off access to all foreign nationals, effective immediately. Unable to verify nationality in real time, Anthropic pulled the models entirely. OpenAI, meanwhile, held back its own GPT-5.6 series at the government’s request.

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said this morning they targeted American ⁠military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, ⁠destroyed radar systems in Oman and ​struck fuel tanks and ammunition depots at Prince Hassan air base in Jordan as part of its retaliatory strikes against the US.

Jordan said a few hours ago that it intercepted and downed four missiles fired from Iranian territory, while Kuwait’s military said it was intercepting “hostile aerial targets” in the country’s airspace.

The strikes marked an escalation in the recent tit-for-tat attacks between the US and Iran as Tehran seeks to assert sovereignty over the strategic strait of Hormuz, which it sees as its biggest leverage in negotiations with Washington.

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Retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) endorsed establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in Michigan’s race to succeed him in the Senate.

Peters backed Stevens over the more progressive candidate Abdul el Sayed in the highly anticipated Aug. 4 Democratic primary for the Michigan Senate seat, putting his thumb on the scale days after the candidates faced off in their first one-on-one debate.

“This is not about rhetoric. It’s about action. She has been a fighter for Michigan. She has been effective in getting things done for the state,” Peters said of Stevens to the Detroit News.

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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich dropped an interesting X/Twitter post early Sunday morning:

Something interesting and unpredictable is happening around the country. In blue states Republicans are doing unusually well…In Minnesota Republican senate candidate Michelle Lafoya is tied at 47 with Democratic Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan. Hard to believe there is a blue wave coming when states like Minnesota and Oregon are in play. The continued rise of the big government socialist-weird values Democrats seems to be turning off a lot of people even in states that have traditionally been very leftwing.