White House Goes Off on Trump Over 11th Hour Shutdown Chaos

The White House released a fiery statement after President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, and billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk successfully blew up a bipartisan package in Congress that would have stopped a government shutdown and funded the government through March. “Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,” a statement from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre read Wednesday. “President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government and they are threatening to do just that—while undermining communities recovering from disasters, farmers and ranchers, and community health centers.” The statement went on to note all the parties at risk if the government were to shut down, including families, veterans, and Social Security recipients. “A deal is a deal,” the statement concluded. “Republicans should keep their word.”

Squirrels in California have added a new dish to their menu: meat. A study at UC Davis revealed that California ground squirrels were hunting, killing and eating voles. Researchers called the animals an “opportunistic omnivore” and said the rodents were more flexible in their diet than they had previously assumed. “We had never seen this behavior before. Squirrels are one of the most familiar animals to people. We see them right outside our windows; we interact with them regularly,” Jennifer E. Smith, a biology professor who leads the long-term squirrels ground project at UW-Eau Claire. “Yet here’s this never-before-encountered-in-science behavior that sheds light on the fact that there’s so much more to learn about the natural history of the world around us.” Voles were the only mammal seen to be hunted by the squirrels during the study. “The researchers said many questions remain unanswered, including how widespread the hunting behavior is among squirrels, whether and how it is passed down from parent to pup, and how it effects ecological processes,” the study read.

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Courteney Cox is set to reprise her iconic role as Gale Weathers for Scream 7. Citing sources familiar with the project, Variety reports that Cox has signed on to appear in the horror franchise’s seventh installment, which is slated to be released on Feb. 27, 2026. Although Cox previously told Variety that she was “not officially signed on” in September, she said that she was still waiting for a final script and was “excited” about Kevin Williamson directing the seventh film. Williamson wrote the script for the first two Scream films, and Scream 7 will mark his debut as a director in the franchise. “You can’t get better than that choice,” Cox told Variety at the time. “It’s going to be fun.” Scream is a slasher franchise that follows the murderous spree of different killers who don a similar ghost mask. Alongside Cox, Isabel May and Mason Gooding are also set to star in the latest installment in the series.

California Gov. Gavin Newson declared a state of emergency in response to the growing number of cases of bird flu in the state, a move he insisted was a preventative measure. “This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to respond quickly to this outbreak,” Newsom said in a statement. The decision comes after a woman in Louisiana was hospitalized with bird flu, the first recorded severe infection. Since the outbreak began in 2022, 61 human cases of bird flu have been recorded, according to the CDC. Over half of those cases, 34, have been in California. No reported cases have been passed from human to human contact. Many of the cases are linked to workers in the dairy and poultry industries, health officials have said. After identifying the first infected herd of cows in August, the virus has been found in 645 dairies in California. Since the outbreak began, more than 100 million birds have been culled in poultry farms to stem the outbreak.

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If you’re the type of person who loves watching grout deep-cleaning videos on Instagram, but hasn’t touched your own on tiles in a decade, this product will bring out your inner cleanfluencer. The fabric steamer, window cleaner tool, and extension wand will have you looking around your home thinking, “What else can I steam?”

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Five years after so-called “murder hornets” were first discovered in the United States, Washington state and federal officials announced that the invasive species has been eradicated from the country. “It is a rare day when the humans actually get to win one against the insects,” said Sven Spichiger, the pest program manager at the Washington State Department of Agriculture. The hornets became a cause for concern because of the threat they pose to other insects, including bees. Their stingers can also penetrate beekeeping suits, with one victim describing the sting “like having red-hot thumbtacks being driven into my flesh.” It’s unknown how murder hornets, officially known as northern giant hornets, first arrived in the Pacific northwest. Officials identified four nests along the Canadian border that the first hornets may have originated from. To eradicate the species, scientists placed tiny trackers on captured hornets to trace them back to their hives, then destroyed them with carbon dioxide and vacuums. Officials warn a re-emergence of the hornets is still possible, especially because they’re not sure how they arrived on the continent—but Wednesday’s news alleviates concerns that the hornets would become a nationwide problem.

The Charlotte Hornets have apologized after giving a PS5 to a 13-year-old fan at a game—then taking it away. After bringing down young fans onto the court during Monday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Hornets mascot, Hugo, gave away Christmas presents for the skit. Hugo, dressed in a Santa Claus outfit, handed the PS5 to the fan named Jack, who was visibly shocked by the gift. His nephew, Alexei Phillips, told WJZY-TV that it was taken away once they went backstage. “Everybody thinks that Jack is going to get this PS5, including all the dancers, all the cheerleaders, everybody basically like, starts congratulating him,” Phillips told the outlet. “Then we get kind of like all the way to the backstage... the guy who kind of found us in the first place, he starts to kind of take it away. And everybody thinks he’s joking because nobody would think he’d be taking the PS5 from the kid.” He was then given a jersey instead. The Hornets responded to the outrage, saying that the skit “included bad decision making and poor communication.” The statement continued: “We will be providing the fan with the PS5 that he should have taken home last night along with a VIP experience to a future game.”

The Tina Fey-produced musical comedy Girls5eva has met its end for a second time, after first getting canceled by its original streamer Peacock. This time, Netflix—once the show’s savior—is ending the series. The show streamed its first two seasons on Peacock before getting the ax, and Netflix picked it up for a third. Starring Busy Phillips, Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Paula Pell, the series followed a ’90s pop group, reunited to make a comeback decades later. Phillips took to Instagram to express her “f---ing heartbreak” at the news, writing in a post, “I am forever grateful for this incredible show and these girls that became my sisters5eva, for Netflix giving us a chance to sing together a little bit longer and for everyone at Universal and Peacock who rooted so hard for our show.” She also thanked “my patron saint Tina Fey.” Bareillies also called the news a “mega, meta heartbreak” via Instagram Stories. The series featured original music by Fey’s husband, Jeff Richmond.

King Charles’ friends are known to be a such loyal customers of the Chelsea department store Fortnum & Mason that one Qatari sheikh once gave him a “Fortnums” carrier bag stuffed full of cash for one of his charities. Now it seems his wife, Queen Camilla, is a loyal customer, too—she was spotted Wednesday doing a spot of Christmas shopping at the luxury shop. Her Majesty picked up a few tins of festive cinnamon and orange black tea, priced at £13.95 each. The queen was spotted by a man who was in the store buying the same tea for his wife. The store has long been proud of its association with royalty and its website boasts that the late Queen Elizabeth II used to do her Christmas shopping in the store, a trip which had to “be arranged months in advance.” The store says that her choices often included “breakfast trays, breakfast sets, garden furniture and hostess trolleys.”

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Young adult Americans are richer than ever before but, according to the Treasury Department, they still feel “an increasing sense of economic fragility.” Research released by the department Wednesday showed that real median wealth for Americans between 25 and 39 climbed to $80,500 in 2022—an increase from $23,750 in 2010, as measured in 2023 dollars. While young American adults have enjoyed a surge in net wealth during the recovery from the pandemic, today’s under-40s are also being hit by a wide array of economic headwinds. The Treasury research points to real non-housing debt almost doubling between 1989 and 2022—fueled by student loan debt—while the costs of housing, healthcare, and childcare have all risen faster than young adults’ incomes. The report also gave a “special mention” to the aging U.S. population which has meant that the young face increasing competition for jobs and housing from “older, wealthier, and more experienced counterparts.” It’s perhaps small wonder that a recent poll found Gen Zers think they need to earn almost $600,000 to consider themselves “financially successful.”

Ryan Reynolds has shocked fans by claiming that his wife, Blake Lively, grew up “very working class.” The Deadpool actor made the comment while speaking to the Hollywood Reporter about the couple’s efforts to keep their children out of the limelight as they grow up. “I try not to impose upon them the difference in their childhood to my childhood or my wife’s childhood. We both grew up very working class,” said Reynolds in the interview last week. Many on the Internet were quick to point out Lively’s upbringing, growing up with a family in the entertainment industry. Both of Lively’s parents spent their careers in Hollywood, according to People. Her mother, Elaine, was an actor and talent manager, while her father, Ernie, was an actor and director. Lively has in the past claimed that she grew up on sets, and was cast in her father’s 1998 film, Sandman. Reynolds, on the other hand, had a different upbringing. His father was a policeman and his mother was a retail sales associate. Fans online expressed their dismay with Reynolds' comment. “Two out of touch celebrities,” wrote one Instagram user commented on a Complex post. “Working class is one of Ryan’s funniest jokes,” wrote another.