The Israeli military said it carried out a "targeted strike" in Beirut on Friday, as social media video showed smoke rising from the site of an apparent attack in the Lebanese capital. "At this moment, there are no changes in the Home Front Command defensive guidelines," the Israel Defence Forces said in a statement. The White House earlier warned both Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group against "escalation of any kind" following this week's synchronized pager and...

America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday for allegedly concealing government documents in relation to the July 13 assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump. AFL alleges that the DHS and the USSS blocked requests to obtain information about staffing shortages, employment standards and communications between department officials that related to the assassination...

Michael Ciemnoczolowski, a lifelong Democrat, supports stricter gun laws and contributes to Sandy Hook Promise, a gun-violence-prevention nonprofit.  But this summer, the liquor store clerk in Iowa City, Iowa, for the first time in his life bought a gun. Apprehension about street crime, armed right-wing extremists, and “whatever else the world could possibly throw at us,” drove his decision. “Domestic politics have grown increasingly acrimonious,” says Ciemnoczolowski, 43.

Donald Trump became the first president to make a transaction using bitcoin during a stop at a local bar before heading to his New York rally. PubKey co-owner Thomas Pacchia described his encounter with the former president as "surreal," telling "The Bottom Line" that he’s still "processing" Trump’s crypto transaction on Thursday. "It was really cool. It was a bitcoin transaction. It was surreal, we're still processing, I would say. He was incredibly kind and generous with his time. He wanted...

At least 32 people, including two children, were killed and thousands more injured, many seriously, after communication devices, some used by the armed group Hezbollah, dramatically exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday. In the latest round of blasts on Wednesday, exploding walkie-talkies killed 20 and injured at least 450 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry. The explosions occurred in the vicinity of a large crowd that had gathered for the funerals of four...

Gov. Henry McMaster will decide whether to commute Freddie Eugene Owens’s sentence just minutes before the execution is scheduled to begin. Undated photo of Freddie Eugene Owens. Courtesy of the South Carolina Department of Corrections Owens was convicted in 1999 of the murder of Irene Graves during a robbery of a Speedway convenience store in 1997. He filed motions to stay the execution on Aug. 30 and Sept. 5, but the court denied the motions in a Sept. 12 order. Owens then submitted an “...

Kamala Harris does not sit around. She doesn't hope people notice her opponent is a bigot who befriends bigots. She reminds them — posthaste. Less than 24 hours after CNN revealed that the Republican candidate for North Carolina Governor is a self-described Peeping Tom, Black Nazi with a love for “tranny” porn, her campaign put out an ad highlighting Trump extolling the “virtues” of Mark Robinson. The video is below. For DKers who would prefer not to click on a Twitter link, here’s a transcript...

A North Carolina judge has rejected Republicans’ request to bar students and school employees from using digital identification cards to vote. Wake Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory denied on Thursday the temporary restraining order from the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the North Carolina Republican Party, which sought to prevent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s (UNC) students and employees from using digital IDs as a way to comply with the state voter ID law. The...

Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe held an impromptu press briefing Friday to discuss findings from the agency's "mission assurance" investigation into the first attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler County, Pennsylvania. "In today's hyperdynamic threat environment, the mission of the Secret Service is clear: we cannot afford to fail," Rowe said The investigation into the security parameters surrounding the first attempt on Trump's life is "...

The Georgia Election Board ruled Friday that ballots must be hand-counted by local precincts despite concerns from election officials and opposition from some state officials. The Georgia Election Board ruled 3-2 to require ballots to be hand counted — an added layer to the machine count that already takes place. The rule change comes less than 50 days before a critical presidential election in a key swing state.