Canadian prog metal legends Voivod will tour the UK with Midnight and Cryptosis in June

Pink Floyd will reissue their ninth studio album, Wish You Were Here, on various formats on December 12

THE CENTER SQUARE—The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case that could have an effect on the 2026 midterm elections.  The case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, centers around a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after an election as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. The Mississippi law was enacted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifteen other states and the District of Columbia have similar laws that allow domestic mail-in ballots to be received after Election Day, as long as the ballot is postmarked by the date of an election. In Illinois, mail-in ballots can be received up to 14 days after Election Day. The nation’s highest court will decide whether to uphold a ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said ballots must be received by Election Day to be counted. Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, celebrated the court’s decision to take up the mail-in ballot challenge. He said the court’s decision is especially important because it will set a precedent for election law going into the 2026 midterms. “The Supreme Court now has the chance to set the record straight: Federal law clearly says that ballots must be received by Election Day,” Snead told The Center Square. “Despite this, some states continue to allow absentee ballots to pour in days or even weeks late.” “This case gives the Supreme Court the chance to resolve that question once and for all,” Snead said. Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said the case is an attempt to restrict voting rights in states that offer delayed mail-in ballot deadlines. “The DNC will fight like hell in this case for the rights of Mississippians and every other citizen to make sure their voices are heard and their votes are counted,” Martin said. Lawyers for the Republican National Committee argued that federal law sets the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as Election Day. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia filed a brief to the Supreme Court that argued states should have the ability to set rules over the receipt of ballots. The states said mail-in ballot deadlines give voters a greater opportunity to cast their ballots. “States have the constitutional authority to make individualized judgments on how best to receive and count votes in federal elections,” representatives for the state wrote. While most states require mail-in ballots to be postmarked by Election Day to be received, Snead said the practice of postmarking has diminished with prepaid postage. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia use prepaid postage for mail-in ballots. “Most of that prepaid postage isn’t postmarked because the whole point of a postmark is to cancel a stamp,” Snead said. Snead said most states require explicit evidence that a ballot was cast after the date of an election, otherwise they will be counted in vote totals. “You wind up in a situation where somebody could commit fraud and get away with it or somebody could follow the law and still have their ballot thrown out,” Snead said. “We can’t just assume that because we put a rule down on paper that it actually means it’s going to be followed in practice.” The court’s decision to hear Watson v. RNC is particularly relevant because of its implications for the midterm elections. The Purcell principle is a standard that asks courts not to change election rules during the period of time an election takes place or just prior to the beginning of an election. Snead said the court hearing this case does not interfere with the 2026 midterm elections because it will most likely be decided in June or July 2026, months before the general election takes place. “I think that you’d probably be outside the Purcell window for something like this,” Snead said. “This gives [the Supreme Court] freedom to weigh the merits of the argument and come to a conclusion outside the context of a particular or contentious election.” Ultimately, Snead said a decision in the case could give uniformity to election laws instead of having states issue different policies. “What you want to see is that at the end of the voting period, the close of polls on Election Day, you know how many votes have been cast,” Snead said. “The absolute maximum number of ballots should be set when the polls close for all forms of voting.” Originally published by The Center Square The post Supreme Court Case Could Have Major Effect on 2026 Midterms appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Maher Shows How Ignorant and Feckless Liberals Are in Glorious Exchange

Trash pandas are becoming more pet-like.

Once the Schumer Shutdown collapsed by the defection of more compromising Democrats, we're back in a conveniently timed outbreak of Jeffrey Epstein mania, appearing to change the subject away to whatever Democrats wanted to discuss now. Hundreds of network minutes have been spent making hyper-negative noises on how President Trump's interactions with Epstein are the latest exhibit of his evil ways.  MRC Free Speech America VP Dan Schneider and MRCTV host Justine Brooke Murray join the show. The House Oversight Committee, which spent the summer investigating how Biden's White House staff hid his mental decline, was aerobically ignored until it took up the Epstein documents.  This didn't just attract hundreds of minutes of network news coverage this year. It's been a hot topic for late-night comedy in its anti-Trump crusade. NBC's Saturday Night Live was obsessed in its latest episode. It started with a dreadfully done awful satire of the White House briefing. There were three pre-recorded "McGruber" parodies with an Epstein themw. Then their "Weekend Update" fake news was truly fake: “In one of the emails, Epstein's brother asked if Vladimir Putin has a picture of Donald Trump giving oral sex to someone named Bubba. Which was an old nickname for Bill Clinton. So I guess that's one job Trump has created.”  On Sunday, Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming was on with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press, and he changed the subject to another Washington scandal, what they call Arctic Frost. The Biden Justice Department was doing surveillance on the phone records of their Republican adversaries, so that's the latest Zero Seconds story because the elitist media love to pretend the Biden Justice Department was nonpartisan and never stooped to politics.  The Washington Post reported newly released documents appear to show convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein texting with Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands) during a 2019 hearing into Trump, suggesting what questions she should ask. The notorious “Epstein Island” is part of the Virgin Islands, between St. Thomas and St. John. This new story was completely avoided on the network Sunday shows even as they obsessed over Trump and Epstein being too close. We also discussed some sad news on the dating scene these days from Bill Maher's HBO show. A survey found 45% of men 18-24 have never asked a woman out in person, and 63% of men under the age of 30 are not even pursuing a relationship. Are men that afraid of rejection? Are women harder to date because of feminism? What's the role of social media and gaming?  And then there's the troubles brewing in London with the BBC making fake news about Trump's speech to supporters on January 6, in addition to its pro-Hamas bias in Gaza and its very one-sided approach to transgender issues. "Public" broadcasting leans left throughout the Western world.  Enjoy the podcast below.  

Last month, Warner Brothers Discovery put itself up for sale, triggering what could become a bidding war for one of America’s most iconic studios. Days later, reports emerged that Amazon plans to make a run at the company, immediately raising the stakes.Consumers and regulators should treat every Big Tech bidder with skepticism, but Amazon’s interest demands special scrutiny. The world’s largest online retailer has a long record of distorting markets, crushing rivals, and cozying up to foreign adversaries — most notably China. Letting Amazon absorb yet another major media asset would tighten its grip on an entertainment industry already buckling under corporate consolidation.Why would antitrust officials hand Amazon even more power in a sector already suffocating under concentration?Amazon may be a household name, but it is not an America-first company. It bullies smaller retailers, copies their ideas, and funnels profits and supply-chain leverage through China. That behavior undermines the ingenuity and fair competition that built the U.S. economy.Amazon already wields enormous influence over media. Last year, Prime Video topped U.S. streaming charts for the third straight year. Amazon controls a sprawling production studio, reinforced by its 2022 purchase of MGM. It holds high-dollar sports rights, including "Thursday Night Football" and an 11-year deal with the NBA.Amazon doesn’t need Warner Brothers Discovery to survive. It wants the company to force more Americans into its digital universe, dominate an even larger share of the market, and use that dominance to trap users and raise prices. Buying competitors beats out-competing them — a classic monopolist playbook that burdens consumers and smothers innovation.A Warner Brothers takeover would give Amazon exactly what it wants: a massive content library, the third-largest streaming platform, and a lineup of lucrative cable properties. With the deal sealed, Amazon would control more than a third of the streaming video on demand market — roughly 50% more than its nearest rival.Why would antitrust officials hand Amazon even more power in a sector already suffocating under concentration? They likely won’t.FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and the Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Gail Slater, have made clear that they intend to protect small businesses and consumers from predatory corporate behavior.The Trump administration has backed those promises with action. Within nine months of taking office, the FTC forced Amazon to pay $2.5 million for trapping customers in Prime subscriptions. Ferguson’s vow to ensure that “Amazon never does this again” shows that this White House will not give repeat offenders a free pass.RELATED: Stop feeding Big Tech and start feeding Americans again Lexi Critchett/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe regulatory terrain also looks dramatically different from 2022, when Amazon bought MGM — an acquisition the Biden administration should have challenged and likely would challenge today. After that merger, the FTC rewrote its merger and acquisition guidelines to strengthen oversight. President Trump kept those rules and appears ready to use them.Some critics claim Amazon earned goodwill with the administration by contributing to White House renovation projects. That accusation doesn’t survive contact with the facts. Candidate Trump warned about Amazon’s “huge antitrust problem” as early as 2016. The company has grown eightfold since then. Trump hasn’t softened.And Amazon hardly functioned as a friend of the right. The company backed Joe Biden heavily in 2020, donating nearly $2.3 million to his campaign. Biden’s FTC did not treat Amazon kindly either, suing the company for “anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power.” That case remains unresolved.The sale of Warner Brothers Discovery will shape the future of American media — either by giving the company a fighting chance to innovate and compete, or by cementing Big Tech control over what Americans watch, read, and hear. If Amazon tries to tighten that grip, I expect the Trump administration to step in.Let’s hope the sale doesn’t force the administration's hand.

He continues to commemorate the 60th anniversary of his historic album Whipped Cream & Other Delights performing hits like “The Lonely Bull,” “Spanish Flea,” “Taste of Honey” and his vocal smash, “This Guy’s In Love With You.” The post Herb Alpert, 90, Adds 2026 Tour Dates With Reformed Tijuana Brass Band appeared first on Best Classic Bands.

WOOF! Kathy Hochul's Lies About Her Record Are ALMOST as Awful as Her Magazine Cover Photo

Twitter Is Down This Morning