The four debates in Maine’s U.S. Senate race, between incumbent Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson, are over. Early voting is underway. And while Jackson survived the quartet of clashes, the race remains as close as ever.

Debate expectations for Jackson were between middling and low. His down-home style was compared to the senator’s highly polished vibe. He had far less experience in high-profile debates. But ultimately Collins and Jackson both effectively delivered their core messages.

As in previous campaigns, Collins tried to claim the mantle of bipartisanship and argue that only she can deliver for Maine. She shared laundry lists of bills she worked on and specific projects helping towns. (Her campaign also focuses on this in ads; I even received a detailed text to my phone claiming credit for “$59 million for the City of Bangor.”)

“Sen. Collins is like an arsonist who helped set the fire and then she wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put it out,” Jackson said in the first debate.

Jackson took both parts of Collins’ case head on. He again noted Collins’ record of backing Trump 96% of the time, contrary to her assertions of bipartisanship. He contended that Collins’ deliverables are woefully insufficient compared to the cuts she has backed. “Sen. Collins is like an arsonist who helped set the fire and then she wants credit for bringing a cup of water to put it out,” he said in the first debate.

Three debates later, Collins herself helped the case against her bipartisan bonafides. A moderator asked her to identify a time when a vote against Republicans changed the outcome. Collins muffed. She cited opposition she organized to Pete Hegseth’s nomination as defense secretary, which failed after one senator, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, changed his mind at the last minute. “So that didn’t change the outcome,” one of the moderators replied.

Jackson’s arsonist comparison was not the only memorable image he conjured. After Collins bragged that she stopped Canadian tariffs on road salt, the Democrat replied, “We can’t eat road salt.” Memes proliferated featuring images of a truck carrying road salt labeled as “Meals on Wheels” and Collins pictured as Marie Antoinette saying, “Let them eat road salt.” A Mainer at the Fryeburg Fair confronted Collins with Jackson’s remark.

Beyond its virality online, Jackson’s remark bore real-world heft. Food prices are up and heating oil prices soared 81% since last year. Often using examples about himself and others, Jackson focused on understanding working people, the necessity of a better healthcare system and fighting oligarchic power. He has also challenged Collins’ contention that he would not be able to help Maine like her.

Democrats have often accused the Maine press of catering to Collins, publicizing stories about her securing money for Maine while not covering her contradictions. This year is different.

None of the aforementioned exchanges got the most national attention, though. The one that grabbed out-of-state headlines arose after a protester with a fake press pass interrupted the last forum to rail against the environmental impact of data centers and corporations’ financial power. Collins quickly and without evidence claimed, “So this is obviously one of Troy’s supporters.”

“Oh, shut up. I don’t even know that kid,” Jackson replied.

“Oh, right,” Collins answered.

In a very close race like this election, any moment can matter. But it is striking that, afterward, many Mainers did not find Jackson’s remark problematic. Journalist Kevin Miller of Maine Public Radio wrote that Jackson’s comment was “more flippant than mean-spirited. The two rivals even seemed to exchange snarky smiles before the debate quickly resumed without future disruption.” On a post-debate panel, reporter Rob Caldwell said that, given the negativity of the campaign, the candidates were “going to get ticked off. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be human. … There are a lot of worse things that they could have said.” Callers to a radio show the following day were divided over whether Jackson was rude or had rightly responded with a Maine “shaddup.”

Jackson’s remark was not what the Bangor Daily News highlighted in its front page after the final debate. Instead, the paper focused on Collins saying, “I think our democracy will be just fine,” while Jackson judged American democracy as “at risk” and observed that “Donald Trump is trying every trick in the book to keep power.”

Democrats have often accused the Maine press of catering to Collins, publicizing stories about her securing money for Maine while not covering her contradictions. This year is different. Jackson’s criticisms of Collins’ conflicting votes are getting coverage, and the press is highlighting pay-for-play corruption allegations and examining the dark-money billionaires disproportionately benefiting Collins.

The two campaigns have not been the same and probably will stay that way. Jackson is holding high-profile events with Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Collins’ most high-profile visitor is former Sen. Joe Manchin. Trump has not come and Collins would not want him. While Jackson uses his events to recruit canvassers and grow his field operation, Collins is helped by canvassers paid by Elon Musk.

Maine voters seem sick of the barrage of ads. Jackson’s grassroots operation and earned media look stronger.

Jackson closed with a “who’s on your side” message — the billionaires or the Maine people. Some ads feature past Collins voters who support Jackson now. Some of these voters cite Collins’ vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Collins is defending her Kavanaugh vote by saying that, despite his track record, she could not know he would overturn Roe v. Wade.

National Republicans’ closing message features sharply negative advertising claiming Jackson bullies women, calling him “a creep” and even attacking his relationship with Lana Pelletier, his longtime partner and the mother of his children. (The Collins campaign asked for the ad to be taken down but critics noted that Collins brought up Jackson’s family in a September interview in Politico and Pelletier has spoken out against the personal attack.)

Maine voters seem sick of the barrage of ads. Jackson’s grassroots operation and earned media look stronger, and Republicans are facing the same headwinds in Maine as elsewhere. But it is never easy to defeat an incumbent and Collins’ brand is strong.

Mainers will have to decide if they want to re-elect Collins, who thinks our republic is not threatened by Trump but brings targeted resources to Maine, or if they pick Jackson, a self-described “working-class guy with a funny accent” who pledges to change policies, lift up all Mainers and protect our constitutional order.

The post Troy Jackson survived his debates with Susan Collins. Here’s what to watch for in the final days. appeared first on MS NOW.

París, 21 oct (Prensa Latina) La crisis en curso en Francia asemeja hoy a un círculo vicioso, donde confluyen justas demandas de la población por el costo de la vida, una situación económica delicada y una explosión social sin una respuesta inmediata.

The post Francia: el circulo vicioso de la crisis first appeared on Noticias Prensa Latina.

El sanchismo siempre es capaz de sorprender en un sentido negativo, incluso en sus últimos estertores. No hay duda de que tiene una capacidad de superarse realmente insólita. El problema es que nunca es para bien, sino para atropellar el Estado de Derecho. Los días pasan y la acampada en Sol sigue. Lo único importante es que el relato avance en su objetivo de intentar manipular a la opinión pública. Se basa en una zafia propaganda, dentro de la estrategia que caracterizaba a los frentes populares que la Unión Soviética trasladó en el periodo de entreguerras, organizados para destruir la democracia e imponer el comunismo. No es ninguna exageración retórica, sino la fría constatación de lo que está sucediendo en estos momentos en Europa y, por supuesto, en España. La estrategia se basa en el populismo. Es decir, en proponer soluciones fáciles a problemas complicados y agitar a la población con reivindicaciones que no tienen límite, porque su objetivo es estrictamente partidista. Dentro del disparate de esta precampaña, el Gobierno socialista comunista ha decidido gobernar a golpe del Real decreto y nos ofrece cada semana un acto propagandístico que han denominado los martes sociales. Es algo que ningún demócrata debería hacer con unas Cortes disueltas y utilizando el subterfugio de la Diputación Permanente del Congreso. Se aprueban medidas que no son urgentes para comprar el voto. No hay que sorprenderse, porque Sánchez llegó al Gobierno comprando a los diputados de Puigdemont con la amnistía. Esto nos retrotrae al caciquismo y el clientelismo de tiempos pasados, donde los diputados compraban los votos directamente con dinero. Se ha optado por la zafiedad; ni siquiera hacen promesas de inversiones en los territorios para intentar orientar el voto, sino simplemente aprueban decretos, cuya constitucionalidad resulta más que cuestionable, incluso para Conde-Pumpido o el mal jurista de Óscar Puente. No existe ningún criterio jurídico aceptable que permita legitimar el uso y abuso de los reales decretos ley por motivos estrictamente electoralistas y partidistas. No es una cuestión de oportunidad política, sino de la indignidad que caracteriza al sanchismo, ya que la única prioridad de esta banda de aventureros es seguir en el poder a cualquier precio. Y como colofón, Ayuso no puede recibir a Milei en Sol, porque está ocupada la plaza por la extrema izquierda.

© EFE

As Donald Trump’s administration bows to Russia in disturbing ways, top MAGA influencers in the “America First” movement are getting in on the Russophilia by increasingly wedding themselves to leaders and nations that are effectively under Vladimir Putin’s thumb.

And a newly announced conference in Serbia is a prime example.

On Monday, the Conservative Political Action Conference revealed plans to hold a convention in Belgrade in November. Other recent CPAC conventions abroad have effectively served as authoritarian pep rallies, and the Serbia gathering seems like it will be no different. CPAC is touting an appearance by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who has earned the moniker “Little Putin” for his deference to the Russian strongman.

Announcing the inaugural CPAC Balkans — Belgrade, Serbia, November 18–21, 2026.

President Aleksandar Vučić will headline our first-ever conference in Southeastern Europe, bringing together conservative leaders from across the region united around sovereignty, faith, family, free… pic.twitter.com/J4OpPU5ryz

— CPAC (@CPAC) October 19, 2026

It’s notable that this convention was announced amid reporting, including from MS NOW’s David Rohde, about former Trump campaign officials’ advocacy on behalf of pro-Putin Serbian nationalists.

Vučić is comparable to Trump in that he is viewed by some as a Putin stooge who has opposed sanctions on Russia and effectively aided the Kremlin’s efforts to destabilize the European Union. And, like Trump, he has been the standard-bearer for an increasingly illiberal political party, one that has sought to manipulate electoral systems in its favor.

Given all of this, it’s no wonder why MAGA world adores Serbia’s current leadership: This is a movement broadly infatuated with authoritarianism. But it’s noteworthy that, much like with Russia, even some conservatives are wary of Serbia’s antidemocratic backsliding.

Ahead of Serbia’s parliamentary elections this weekend, a bipartisan group of seven senators — including Republicans from Iowa, Mississippi and North Carolina — issued a warning about Vučić’s party.

“Unfortunately, both Serbian and international election observers found serious infringements to the integrity of the previous parliamentary elections in 2022. We are now seeing similarly troubling signs ahead of the October 25 vote,” the senators said in a statement. “Reports of unlawful wiretapping of opposition members and attempts to discredit and undermine election observation missions are deeply concerning, and Serbian authorities must ensure a level playing field for all parties and open access to the polls for all citizens.”

It’s telling of the MAGA movement’s broad disdain for democracy that one of its most prominent activist groups is openly choosing to associate with such a party. And it speaks to a movement that seems more obsessed with expanding its influence in foreign lands than addressing the numerous crises their dear leader has created for Americans at home.

The post Republicans are taking CPAC to Serbia as the party bows to Putin appeared first on MS NOW.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to test dangerous anti-vaccine conspiracy theories on African babies appears to be in doubt after U.S.-backed researchers in Guinea-Bissau had their offices raided by government officials.

Kennedy has been a staunch supporter of and has allocated federal funds for a controversial experiment that Dutch scientists have been trying to conduct, denying thousands of babies in Guinea-Bissau doses of the hepatitis B vaccine during their first six weeks after birth. The study has garnered comparisons to the racist Tuskegee experiment, and the controversy around this proposed test has put a spotlight on Kennedy’s history of promoting racist pseudoscience, including a claim that Black people and white people shouldn’t be on the same vaccine schedules.

Last week, officials in Guinea-Bissau challenged claims that the experiment had been approved, and now it appears to have been stopped in its tracks.

The Guardian reported on Tuesday:

Controversial vaccine researchers who have been praised by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, had their offices in Guinea-Bissau raided by judicial police, who seized doses of hepatitis B vaccines, officials said on Facebook. The researchers have been at the heart of an ongoing dispute over research on African newborns, supported by $1.6m from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and matched by the Pershing Square Foundation and the Bluebell Foundation for a total of $3.2m. The police search took place on Monday, involving “investigative procedures aimed at clarifying the circumstances related to the said batch of vaccines”, according to the social media post, which was translated from Portuguese. The announcement noted that seizing the immunizations did not point to “irregularities in the quality, safety, or effectiveness of the vaccines”.

The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.

But the prospects for the study moving forward seem grim, to say the least. In a LinkedIn post, one of the researchers, Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer, said on Wednesday that “it is now clear” that the study “will not move forward,” adding that “we were not given the necessary governmental approval.”

When it comes to its relations with Africa, the Trump administration has taken a fundamentally racist approach, seeking to exploit and strip of the continent of its resources, from precious minerals to health data.

And while the administration has seen successes on that front, officials in Guinea-Bissau seem unwilling to comply.

The post RFK Jr.’s push for anti-vaccine experiment on African babies was never a good idea appeared first on MS NOW.

Cartoon by Amjad Rasmi. (Courtesy of Asharq Al-Awsat)

After living with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis for five years, Emmy Award-winning actress Christina Applegate, who co-hosts the “MeSsy” podcast with actress Jamie Lynn Sigler, has now been told she doesn’t have it. On“MeSsy,” Applegate and Sigler, who was also diagnosed with MS, allow themselves to be “vulnerable about the curveballs that life can throw,” and what bigger curveball is there than the news that the symptoms you’ve been experiencing no longer have an explanation?

Applegate said her physician congratulated her for not having MS. But, as she said on the podcast, “I’m back at square one where I don’t know what’s going on with me.” Now, she said, doctors have to figure out “what has been going on since 2021, why did this happen?”

I was formally diagnosed with relapse-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2014 after a grueling path to a diagnosis. I can only imagine how demoralizing it is for Applegate to be back to “square one.”

MS is an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks its own central nervous system and can lead to significant disabilities. I was formally diagnosed with relapse-remitting MS in 2014 after a grueling path to a diagnosis. I can only imagine how demoralizing it is for Applegate to be back to “square one.” An estimated 20% of people diagnosed with MS do not, in fact, have it. Even more alarming is that many improperly diagnosed MS patients may have received incorrect treatment for decades.

I was initially diagnosed with something not as severe as MS. I was prescribed hormone replacement therapy medication to address a then-unknown ailment, which landed me in an emergency room with heart palpitations. My primary symptoms— a debilitated left foot, a raining sensation inside my head and coldness/numbness of my joints — persisted for 9 months as I cycled in and out of doctor visits.

A second MRI confirmed that the hormone replacement therapy was not working. A lumbar puncture procedure — that is, a spinal tap — showed elevated protein levels in my spinal fluid, identifying MS as the culprit.

The actress Christina Applegate, who received a multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2021, said on Tuesday that she had been unexpectedly plunged back into uncertainty after a doctor told her she didn’t have the neurodegenerative disorder, after all. nyti.ms/4yx4lxY

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2026-10-20T20:30:07.384000Z

After months of uncertainty, I was not thrilled with the results, but at least I had a name for what I was dealing with. The news of Applegate’s misdiagnosis, however, has raised a different set of concerns for me. Now I can’t help but worry that all my co-pays, all my fights with insurance companies to continue my prescription schedule, the excessive bloodwork, the bi-annual MRIs and my research, agony and self-advocacy have been misdirected for a dozen years.

Because if our healthcare system can misdiagnose someone who’s a household name with an illness that affects nearly 3 million people worldwide (including 1 million people in the United States), then those of us with lesser means and visibility can be forgiven for fearing that — despite our past certainty — we might actually be in the throes of an unknown ailment.

Applegate has celebrity and a big platform, and had it not been for her steadfast advocacy, she might still be under the wrong impression that she has MS. But what about the other 20% of misdiagnosed MS patients who may never know they’re misdiagnosed because they do not have the financial or social capital to deepen the investigation into what is actually ailing them? Though Dr. Robert Bermel, the director of the Mellen Center for MS at Cleveland Clinic, told CBS News that the most commonly used treatments wouldn’t hurt a person misdiagnosed with MS, that doesn’t mean such a person won’t worry that they haven’t been made worse off.

Sigler and Applegate were joined on “MeSsy” by Dr. Marwa Kaisey, associate professor with the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center department of neurology, who explained that MS misdiagnoses are so common because there is no single MS test.

Her doctor should have known that telling her that she doesn’t have MS wouldn’t be comforting, that she wouldn’t want to be congratulated, especially since it’s now unclear what she does have.

A patient might be suffering from another autoimmune disorder, such as fibromyalgia, or even migraines, Bermel told CBS. Dr. Josef Gutman, the director of NYU Langone’s Long Island Comprehensive MS Care Center, told the network that the relevant “symptoms are not necessarily specific in a lot of ways. It’s sort of the story, combined with MRI imaging, combined with other markers like spinal fluid, that help us make the MS diagnosis.” Bermel said new MS diagnostic criteria were just published last year, and that those new criteria should help prevent future misdiagnoses.

In Applegate’s case, her doctor should have known that telling her that she doesn’t have MS wouldn’t be comforting, that she wouldn’t want to be congratulated, especially since it’s now unclear what she does have.

Twelve years into my diagnosis, there are occasional relapses when the disease gets more aggressive, and the general fatigue that comes with living with an autoimmune illness, but I have mastered how to manage what I believe is ailing me, and living with MS hasn’t stopped me from achieving many of my dreams as a working artist, or from doing something in 2021 that seemed impossible in 2014: completing a 15-mile hike.

I hope Applegate’s reset does not send her down a futile path for answers. I have come too far to even consider the psychological and emotional toll of going back to square one.

The post Why Christina Applegate’s MS misdiagnosis is so unsettling appeared first on MS NOW.

Ten years ago, ‘Project Fear’ was at the heart of the ‘Remain’ campaign’s inept efforts to persuade Britons not to vote to leave the EU. 

Voting for Brexit, according to David Cameron’s government Doomsday forecasts, would cost every household £4,300 (€5,000) per year from 2030, lead to an immediate recession and mean lower house prices. 

It was a huge mistake. That all the pro-EU camp could say about being members of the club was that it would be very expensive to leave was a jarring admission of failure. And the promised economic apocalypse of instant recession and house price warnings didn’t happen. Most people simply didn’t believe the figures or that the politicians behind them were being honest about them. The result, as we know, is that more than 17m Brits gave the ‘establishment’ – or what they perceived it to be – a big kick up the arse. 

Fast forward to 2026 and newly-minted UK prime minister Andy Burnham has put all options for UK-EU relations – including rejoining – back on the table. 

The UK Treasury, which drew up the prophecies of doom, is now expected to publish a study analysing the potential economic benefits of Britain moving closer to the EU ahead of November’s EU-UK summit.

Personally, I think Brexit and the piecemeal trade and cooperation agreement that governs EU-UK trade has resulted in a small but significant economic hit.

The hope is that the treasury won’t promise milk, honey and gold-paved streets if the UK rejoins the EU or its single market.  

If over-promising increases the speed at which voters get disappointed with governments, the Brexit vote is proof that trying to frighten people is the fastest way to lose an election.  

This article continues, but the full version is available only to EUobserver.com subscribers. Visit account.euobserver.com/membership

No habían pasado ni cinco minutos de su primer acto público en Madrid este miércoles cuando Javier Milei, presidente de Argentina, insultó gravemente al presidente del Gobierno de España. Ante un auditorio de empresarios, políticos y académicos de la órbita de la derecha española, habló del “siniestro socialismo del siglo XXI” y puso como ejemplo del mismo al “impresentable dictador Pedro Sánchez”. Entre el público del Casino de Madrid se oyeron aplausos. Se volvieron a oír cuando dijo que “hay que sacar a los socialistas a patadas”.

Seguir leyendo

Americans could get little relief at the pump while Moscow gets sanctions relief and another opportunity to negotiate directly with Washington on their terms only.  

Americans could get little relief at the pump while Moscow gets sanctions relief and another opportunity to negotiate directly with Washington on their terms only.  

Acton’s enemies have run a political ad in which they enlisted Acton’s own mother, whom she has been estranged from since she was 12, to call her a liar. This is a very disturbing ad, for several reasons.

Acton’s enemies have run a political ad in which they enlisted Acton’s own mother, whom she has been estranged from since she was 12, to call her a liar. This is a very disturbing ad, for several reasons.

US President Donald Trump has begun speaking about Russia in increasingly complimentary terms, signalling a departure from the confrontational rhetoric of earlier stages of his presidency and acknowledging Moscow's strength. Could these diplomatic gestures offer grounds for optimism, or is it too early to expect a lasting change in Washington's approach? Trump returns to the Anchorage understandings Trump continues to shower Russia with praise. After describing it as a great power — unlike Ukraine, as he pointedly remarked — the US president said the Kremlin had taken an "unprecedented” step by unilaterally releasing American mercenary Hubbard as a gesture of respect towards the United States. There is, however, nothing particularly extraordinary about such a move. It is a familiar form of diplomatic goodwill: Moscow is signalling that it is prepared to pursue pragmatic dialogue with Washington, putting the prospect of what Trump once called "hellish sanctions” to one side, at least for the time being. At the same time, Russia is demonstrating a form of strength that, from a Christian perspective, can be expressed through magnanimity.

What will the Senate do with the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025? Likely nothing.

What will the Senate do with the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025? Likely nothing.

This shift is urgently needed.

This shift is urgently needed.

The midterms offer a key moment to fight back, but are candidates up to the task?  

The midterms offer a key moment to fight back, but are candidates up to the task?