Edith Olmsted

Michael ShortFederal prosecutors are pushing for a 40-year sentence for the man who was convicted of attacking former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.In a 20-page document filed on Friday, prosecutors pushed for a lengthier stint in prison for defendant David DePape than the 25-year sentence recommended by the U.S. Probation Office. DePape “intended to promote a federal crime of terrorism and therefore, the terrorism enhancement should apply here,” U.S. attorneys wrote. “The violent lessons that the defendant wanted to teach are not permitted in this country, and the sentence that this Court imposes must reflect the nature and circumstances of the offense.”Read more at The Daily Beast.

Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty ImagesAs night descended across the Earth on Friday, a solar storm suffused the skies with a gorgeous display of aurora borealis, and well, it was jaw-dropping.For the first time in 20 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a watch for a “very rare” severe geomagnetic storm, which was upgraded to an extreme G5 storm later on Friday. This is the first G5 storm since 2003, and could effect the power grid, as well as radio communications. Aurora borealis caused by the storm were expected to be visible from Europe, Canada, and several northern U.S. states. On Friday night, they began to appear.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Axel Schmidt/Getty ImagesAround 800 anti-capitalist protesters assembled at Tesla’s Gigafactory plant in Grueneheide, Germany on Friday to oppose its expansion, and the negative environmental impacts of Tesla production. Suffice it to say, CEO Elon Musk wasn’t too happy. “The fight against this car factory is a fight against every car factory,” said Ole Becker, a spokesperson for the organizing group Disrupt, in a press release on the coalition’s website. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty ImagesA group of Republican lawmakers introduced a bill on Wednesday which would send “any person convicted of unlawful activity” at a college or university, to do community service in Gaza for six months.The bill, dubbed the “Antisemitism Community Service Act,” was introduced by Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), and backed by Representatives Jeff Dunch (R-SC) and Randy Weber (R-TX), as part of two bills which take aim at college students.The bill seeks to punish students opposing the U.S.-backed genocide, by sending them to the very place where Israel has used U.S. funds and weapons to kill over 34,700 people, obliterating homes, and displacing nearly two million of Palestinians.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty ImagesToronto police responded to a shooting outside of Drake’s mansion dubbed “The Embassy,” just days after the palatial home was featured on the cover of a diss track by Kendrick Lamar.The shooting, which reportedly took place around 2 a.m. Tuesday according to the Toronto Police, left a male security guard seriously injured. The suspect fled in a vehicle, police said in a post on X.At a press conference on Tuesday morning, Inspector Paul Krawczyk of the Integrated Gun and Gang Task Force said that the victim worked at Drake’s residence and was standing outside of the front gates. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Nic Antaya/Getty ImagesDozens of pro-Palestine student protesters briefly interrupted Saturday’s commencement ceremony at the University of Michigan, according to The New York Times. Students opposing Israel’s deadly military campaign in Gaza, marched toward the stage, shouting “Regents, regents, you can't hide! You are funding genocide!” Other students flashed Israeli flags and caps adorned with the Star of David. Overhead one plane flew by, carrying the message “Divest from Israel now! Free Palestine!” while another flew by with a banner that said, “We stand with Israel. Jewish lives matter.” Read more at The Daily Beast.

HBOBill Maher ripped “Attorney Genial” Merrick Garland a new one during Friday night’s episode of Real Time with Bill Maher for allowing Donald Trump to continually skirt federal prosecution for his alleged crimes. “And finally, new rule: At the top levels of our federal government, giving a guy a job because he got screwed over for another job, isn’t a good reason to give a guy a job. Especially if the job is Attorney General. And especially if it’s during a time when we need a tough AG to catch a real criminal.”Maher was of course talking about Attorney General Garland, “who, spoiler alert, sucks,” according to the talk show host. But Maher didn’t just turn his ire on Garland who he dubbed “Attorney General Barney Fife,” but on the Democrats who appointed him. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty ImagesDrake and Kendrick Lamar drifted ever closer to mutually assured destruction on Friday, as the two rappers went nuclear in a set of dueling diss tracks.The two rappers have been beefing since March, when Lamar hopped onto a Future and Metro Boomin’ track called “Like That,” to push back on Drake and J. Cole’s suggestion that the three of them were in the same league. Since then, the rappers have fired off a volley of diss tracks, slowly escalating from insults to allegations. On Friday, Drake readied his missiles, while Lamar went straight up nuclear.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesElon Musk said he plans to reinstate the X account of white-nationalist activist and all-around problematic podcaster Nick Fuentes.On X on Thursday, Musk caved to a user’s demand to make good on his “promise” and bring Fuentes back to the social media site, from which he has been banned for over a year. It’s unclear what Musk’s “promise” was, but the billionaire has seemingly been determined to bring as many far-right voices espousing dangerous conspiracy theories back to the platform as possible.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesAfter over a month of trying to win GOP support, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) says she is coming for House Speaker Mike Johnson as soon as next week. During a press conference outside of the Capitol on Wednesday morning, the MAGA Republican lawmaker announced that she “absolutely” plans to call for a vote on her motion to vacate Johnson from the speakership next week. “I can’t wait to see Democrats go out and support a Republican speaker and have to go home to their primaries and have to run for Congress again,” she said, according to NBC. Read more at The Daily Beast.