https://apnews.com/article/chile-elections-kast-jara-president-boric-trump-e9ef32b53359f3152ee80d62c106c5f6

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Chile’s ultra-conservative former lawmaker José Antonio Kast secured a stunning victory in the presidential election Sunday, defeating the candidate of the center-left governing coalition and setting the stage for the country’s most right-wing government in 35 years of democracy.

Kast won 58.2% of the votes as Chileans overwhelmingly embraced his pledge to crack down on increased crime, deport hundreds of thousands of immigrants without legal status and revive the sluggish economy of one of Latin America’s most stable and prosperous nations.

His challenger, communist candidate Jeannette Jara, clinched 41.8% of the vote. She called Kast to concede the election and congratulate him on his successful campaign after his lead became irreversible. Kast’s supporters erupted into cheers in the street, shouting his name and honking horns.

Speaking at a public square in downtown Santiago, Chile’s capital, she encouraged her supporters not to be deterred by the outcome. “It is in defeat that we learn the most,” she said.

Kast was declared the winner less than two hours after polls closed. His campaign spokesman, Arturo Squella, struck a solemn tone, saying that the party feels “very responsible for the tremendous challenge of taking charge of the crises that Chile is going through.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-reportedly-says-kyiv-willing-to-drop-nato-membership-accession-demands/

Ukraine is willing to drop demands for NATO accession should the U.S. and Europe offer sufficient security guarantees in ongoing talks on a proposed peace deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was reported to say on Sunday.

“We are talking about bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the United States — namely, Article 5-like guarantees ... as well as security guarantees for us from our European partners and from other countries such as Canada, Japan and others,” Zelenskyy told journalists in a group chat, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Ukraine and European leaders are working on a U.S.-drafted 20-point peace plan that includes territorial concessions to Russia.

Zelenskyy has said that he hasn't heard back from the White House on his proposed revisions to the plan.

Zelenskyy's comments come while German, British and French officials on Sunday are reportedly discussing the proposals to end the Ukraine war, ahead of a meeting on Monday that’s to include the leaders of those countries.

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet with Zelenskyy, who will be received by Merz in Berlin on Monday.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/us/politics/sec-crypto-firms-trump-investigation.html
A cryptocurrency firm run by the billionaire Winklevoss twins was facing a punishing federal lawsuit. After Donald J. Trump returned to the White House, the Securities and Exchange Commission moved to freeze the case.
The S.E.C. had also sued Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, but then dropped the case altogether under the new administration.
And after a yearslong legal fight with Ripple Labs, the new S.E.C. tried to reduce a court-ordered penalty against the crypto firm, seeking to soften the blow of the punishment.
The agency’s pullback from these cases illustrated a wide-ranging transformation in the federal government’s treatment of the crypto industry during President Trump’s second term, a New York Times investigation has found.
It is unheard-of for the agency to retreat from a swath of lawsuits against a single industry. And yet, The Times found that the S.E.C. had eased up on more than 60 percent of the crypto cases that were ongoing when Mr. Trump returned to the White House, moving to pause litigation, lessen penalties or outright dismiss the cases.
The dismissals were particularly unusual, The Times found. Under Mr. Trump, S.E.C. dismissals came at a far higher rate for crypto firms than other cases.
And although the particulars of the crypto lawsuits differed, many of these firms had something in common: financial ties to Mr. Trump, the self-described crypto president.

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https://www.axios.com/2025/12/12/maga-civil-war-candace-owens-trump-policies

MAGA's civil war is draining the movement of its political muscle, leaving it defenseless as the Trump administration revisits policies previously opposed by the base.

Why it matters: MAGA's grassroots strength lies in its ability to rally influencers, politicians and activists behind a hard-charging conservative agenda. That superpower is faltering amid a cascade of bitter personal feuds.

"There's no focus on anything philosophical or even ideological right now," The National Pulse's Raheem Kassam told Axios.
"It's all just a cacophony of grifters tussling over audience and ego. So, corporate America gets to wield power with the admin virtually unencumbered by scrutiny from the base," he added.

Driving the news: Washington advanced a series of policies over the past week that would have triggered significant MAGA backlash at earlier points in the administration.

This time, the reaction was mostly crickets — drowned out by online convulsions over Candace Owens, Turning Point USA, a MAGA podcaster's sexuality, and antisemitism.

Artificial intelligence: President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that aims to gut state laws that regulate AI — a major initiative pushed by the GOP's tech allies.

Backlash from MAGA thought leaders like Steve Bannon and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) helped kill a similar provision in Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" earlier this year. But this time, conservative efforts to influence the sweeping executive order were unsuccessful.

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5646722-trump-cnn-sale-pressure/
CNN is finding itself in a familiar place as its parent company prepares to spin the network off as part of a megamerger: President Trump’s crosshairs.

Trump has indicated publicly and privately he wishes to see CNN operate under new ownership, a scenario that could come to fruition if Paramount, a massive media company increasingly friendly with the president, wins a hostile takeover bid for the cable news network and other assets belonging to Warner Bros. Discovery.

“It’s imperative that CNN be sold,” Trump told reporters at the White House this week. “I think CNN should be sold, because I think the people running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed this sentiment hours later from the West Wing podium, pointing to a testy exchange she had with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins on Thursday as “evidence” the outlet is in need of an editorial overhaul.

The latest line of attack underscores the frosty relationship between Trump and the cable news channel going back years.

CNN took heavy criticism from the right for its aggressive coverage of Trump’s first term and has made attempts to balance its coverage more recently, but it remains one of the president’s top mainstream media punching bags a year into his second administration.

His seizing on the Warner Bros. Discovery sale process is signaling the president sees CNN as vulnerable and is eager to make journalists at the outlet squirm, media and political observers say.

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WALTON COUNTY, Fla (WMBB)- The Walton County Sheriffs Office is responding to claims about a shooting that left one man dead.

On Thursday, WCSO deputies responded to a call about a shooting on Pioneer Drive in Defuniak Springs.

Deputies took 44-year-old Michael Rediker into custody and eventually charged with one count of open murder, battery, and three counts of aggravated battery.

Today gun rights activist Kyle Rittenhouse posted a video on social media outside of the Walton County Jail, where Rediker is being held, claiming that Rediker was attacked and acted in self-defense.

Rittenhouse made headlines in 2020 after he was arrested for shooting and killing two people during a protest. He was eventually acquitted.

WCSO sheriff Michael Adkinson responded to his claims in a rare video.

“I don’t normally take the time to speak to public comments on cases, certainly not open cases. But in this particular situation, a murder that occurred yesterday in walton county, I feel compelled to respond to what I can only call wildly irresponsible I would say motivated by many factors,” said Adkinson.

According to Adkinson, Rediker allegedly entered the victim’s property via tractor, had a physical altercation with the victim’s wife, and then shot the victim in the head.

“He was unarmed. There was no fight between them. There was no assault. There was no attack. And as he is lying, dying on the ground, this suspect, Michael Rediker, stood over him and made some comments for which he is going to answer to in court,” said Adkinson.

The Stand Your Ground Law in Florida generally applies anywhere that you are lawfully present and have a legal right to be at; but Adkinson said that will not apply in this case.

>https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/wcso-responds-kyle-rittenhouse-claims-041056883.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/12/trump-clinton-gates-included-in-epstein-photo-trove-00688628

Photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein tie the late, convicted sex offender to President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, tech billionaire Bill Gates and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

These men and others are featured in the roughly 95,000 photos the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has received from the Epstein estate as part of its ongoing investigation. House Democrats publicly released 19 photos Friday morning.

“It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends,” said the Oversight Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, in a statement. “These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW.”

The White House and other individuals in the photographs beyond Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Justice Department is required to release the full tranche of Epstein-related documents by Dec. 19, per the terms of legislation Congress passed last month.