
Democrats look for lessons in Virginia and New Jersey as a blame game inside the party rages
CNN
If there was a silver lining for Democrats' disastrous Tuesday night, it was learning a year ahead of time just how imperiled their hold on power really is.
Democrats suffered a demoralizing defeat in Virginia, losing all three top statewide offices in a commonwealth that President Joe Biden won by 10 percentage points a year earlier, and are just narrowly hanging on in reliably blue New Jersey, further highlighting the dour national mood aimed at the party. The issues raised by the dismal night were clear: The party had lost some ground in the suburbs and did nothing to stem Republican gains in rural enclaves; failed to recognize the potency of core Republican arguments or produce arguments to negate them; and misjudged the strength of anti-Donald Trump messaging a year removed from the former President's time in office.
What and who to blame for those mistakes, however, has proven more elusive.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.

Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.

As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.









