Turn Your Rising Home Equity Into Cash You Can Use

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1 year ago

November 11, 2024

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Trump questions if GOP can overcome voters’ ‘psychological’ midterms hurdle

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1 second ago

February 1, 2026

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President Trump is warning of a possible Democratic victory in November’s midterm elections, seemingly lowering expectations for Republican wins well ahead of any voters heading to the ballot box. Trump regularly notes that the party in control of the White House historically tends to lose the midterms…
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Politics

There’s more to the Beckham family fallout than public pettiness

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59 minutes ago

February 1, 2026

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Feb. 1, 2026, 6:00 AM EST

ByRachel Simon

In the days since 26-year-old Brooklyn Beckham posted a lengthy statement on his Instagram Stories criticizing his famous parents David and Victoria for their allegedly “controlling” behavior and “countless lies,” public reaction has ranged from shock to skepticism.

And as the fallout continues from this viral celebrity schism, family, friends and strangers alike have dissected Brooklyn’s claims, with predictably differing opinions. Some of the allegations are impossible (at least for the public) to confirm. Others, such as Victoria’s attention-grabbing dance at her son’s wedding to model Nicola Peltz, involve more potential witnesses. Notably, neither of Brooklyn’s parents have commented directly on the matter. But in a sign that the story has yet to cool down, the BBC has already released a new documentary tackling the biggest claims, asking whether “brand Beckham” can possibly survive the scandal.

There may indeed be truth behind some of Brooklyn’s many passionate accusations, but plenty of people appear to be struggling to feel significant pity for a highly privileged “no baby” whose fame and financial success stem, at least originally, from the family he now publicly condemns. Even the name of Brooklyn’s hot sauce businessCloud 23, is a nod to one of his father’s jersey numbers. This lack of sympathy is likely due to a combination of factors. But there’s something deeper at play here than mere jealousy or pettiness.

Brooklyn clearly feels enough hurt and anger toward his family to cut them out of his life — at least for now. That’s a hugely difficult choice for anyone to make, regardless of their net worth. But Brooklyn’s seeming defensiveness hasn’t helped win over critics. And then there’s the fact that he’s asking for privacy in a post shared with 17 million followers.

Indeed, this sort of lose-lose situation — with its emotional complexity and global response — mirrors that of another royal couple: Prince Harry and Meghan. Although there’s no question — to many — that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex faced injustice at the hands of their fellow nobles, the couple’s complaints over the years have not always been well-received. Between Meghan’s at-times-tone-deaf instincts and Harry’s not-so-necessary awardsthe duo have struggled to shake their reputation as entitled millionaires who keep getting opportunities in business and Hollywood they don’t fully deserve.

This sort of lose-lose situation — with its emotional complexity and global response — mirrors that of another royal couple.

The eldest of the Beckhams’ four children, Brooklyn has cultivated his own eclectic collection of short-lived business ventures. As a teenager, he was hired to work on a Burberry campaign and published an infamous book of photography. In 2022, he rebranded himself as a chef with his very own cooking seriesbut a perceived lack of qualifications — again — and the show’s odd stylings seemed to doom the concept. There was also an ill-advised Uber Eats collaboration.

Undeterred, Brooklyn continues to cook across his social media channels.

The Beckham controversy is also complicated by Brooklyn’s relatively new marriage. His wife Nicola is a billionaire’s daughter and Razzie-nominated actress with her own perceived baggage, fair or not (and a controversial father to boot). The idea that Nicola could have helped drive some sort of wedge between Brooklyn and his mom has added another layer to the family drama.

Just like with Harry and Meghan, it’s obvious that wealth and fame can’t shield you from family tragedy or suffering. Nor does it give random people on the internet extra license to anonymously bully strangers online.

I don’t believe Brooklyn deserves to be vilified, and I truly hope he finds peace. If that means spending time away from his family, who am I — or anyone on the internet — to say otherwise. He’s certainly not the first adult child to find the confidence later in life to draw some much-needed healthy boundaries. Family estrangement is no longer a taboo topic, especially among young adultsand that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life,” Brooklyn wrote in his statement. And that may very well be true. But as the divide between the haves and the have-nots also continues to widen, celebrities who seem to lack self-awareness may find their personal grievances aren’t garnering the same public support they might have even a few years ago. Instead, their problems and familial resentments — no matter how justified — are far more likely to become fuel for a culture increasingly frustrated by the brazen beneficiaries of societal inequality.

Rachel Simon

Rachel Simon is a writer and editor based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the author of “Pickleball for All: Everything but the ‘Kitchen’ Sink.” Her work has been published in The New York Times, Glamour, Vulture, Teen Vogue and more. You can find her at @rsimon113.

Politics

Democrats post early fundraising edge in marquee 2026 Senate races

Published

1 hour ago

February 1, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

One bright spot for Democrats as they face a tough path to taking back the Senate this year: Their candidates are raising a lot of money.

Democrats outraised their GOP counterparts across several of this year’s marquee Senate races heading into 2026, according to new filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Saturday.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, the only Democrat running for reelection in a state Donald Trump won, enters the year with a massive fundraising advantage over any of his GOP rivals in battleground Georgia. Democrats in North Carolina and Ohio also started the year with a major financial edge over their GOP rivals.

But heated Democratic primaries have helped Republicans maintain a cash advantage in a few key states, including Michigan, Maine and Iowa.

Strong fundraising will be critical to Democrats’ efforts to hold all their seats — including several that are open following battleground senators’ retirements — while also flipping four Republican ones.

In a handful of primaries, including the Democratic contests in Michigan and Texas and the Republican lineup in Georgia, fourth-quarter fundraising numbers largely did not show any one candidate majorly distinguishing themselves from the rest.

Here’s a rundown of what the fundraising looked like in key Senate races.

Georgia

Ossoff holds a significant fundraising advantage over his Republican opponents duking it out in the primary. He raised $9.9 million in the final quarter of 2025 and ended the year with $25.5 million in his war chest — numbers that are substantially higher than all of his GOP rivals combined.

Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter brought in the most in the GOP primary, raising $1.7 million and entering 2026 with $4.1 million cash on hand. Ex-football coach Derek Dooley reported raising $1.1 million, while Rep. Mike Collins raised just shy of $825,000. Dooley ended the quarter with $2.1 million left in the bank, while Collins reported having $2.3 million.

While Ossoff holds a massive fundraising advantage, the gap is likely to shrink when the Republican nominee is selected in May and the party, including its donors, coalesces around one candidate.

North Carolina

Democratic former governor Roy Cooper maintains a fundraising advantage in North Carolina over former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley.

Cooper broke fundraising records when he launched his campaign and has continued to bring in large sums, raising $7 million from October through December last year, according to his filings with the FEC — nearly double the $3.8 million Whatley raised during the same period. Cooper entered 2026 with $12.3 million in his campaign coffers, a sizable haul that will be necessary as he prepares for November.

Whatley, who has been endorsed by Trump, ended the fourth quarter with $3.7 million in cash on hand. Both candidates — the likely nominees in the state’s Senate race — bring extensive donor networks from their prior roles, setting up North Carolina to be one of the most expensive contests this cycle.

Operatives in both parties say spending could reach $650 million to $800 million. Democrats are eying the North Carolina seat, left open by the retirement of GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, as one of their best pick up opportunities in November.

Michigan

In Michigan, Democrats are looking to hold retiring Sen. Gary Peters’ seat, but three Democratic front-runners are locked in a tight race, and their fundraising reflects it.

Rep. Haley Stevens holds an early fundraising advantage, raising $2.1 million during the fourth quarter of 2025 and entered the year with roughly $3 million in the bank. Widely seen as the establishment candidate in the contentious primary, Stevens benefits from being able to tap into her existing donor networks, but her opponents are not far behind. State Sen. Mallory McMorrow and physician Abdul El-Sayed each raised roughly $1.7 million and ended the year with around $1.9 million in the bank.

With Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary — later than most states — the Democratic candidates will need to sustain strong fundraising numbers through what is shaping up to be a long and expensive intraparty fight.

Former Rep. Mike Rogers, the frontrunner on the GOP side, raised $1.9 million and ended the fourth quarter with $3.5 million in cash on hand.

Rogers — the candidate most national Republicans have coalesced around — will benefit from being the main GOP candidate while Democrats get through their bruising primary. He also ran for the Senate in 2024, giving him a network of donors to tap into. The GOP is eying Michigan — where Trump won by just over a point in 2024 — as a top pickup opportunity in November.

Maine

Political newcomer and oysterman Graham Platner outraised both Gov. Janet Mills, his main Democratic rival, and incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, who is one of the party’s top targets as the only GOP senator representing a state won by Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.

Platner raised $4.6 million in the fourth quarter compared to $2.2 million for Collins and $2.7 million for Mills, who launched her campaign in mid-October.

But Collins, who has not formally launched her campaign yet, sits on far more cash than both her Democratic rivals, with a little over $8 million in the bank compared to $3.7 million for Platner and $1.3 million for Mills.

Ohio

Former Sen. Sherrod Brown significantly outraised Sen. Jon Husted in the fourth quarter, giving Democrats a boost in their longshot bid to flip the Senate seat in the state that has turned increasingly red. Brown raised $7.3 million, while Husted — appointed last year to fill the seat vacated by JD Vance becoming vice president — raised $1.5 million.

Brown, a prolific fundraiser, began 2026 with $9.9 million in his war chest. He is expected to need deep reserves again, after cryptocurrency-linked groups spent heavily against him during his unsuccessful 2024 reelection bid. Husted started the year with just under $6 million.

New Hampshire

In New Hampshire, Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas continued to comfortably outraise his Republican competition in the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. Pappas brought in $2.3 million in the fourth quarter and ended 2025 with $3.2 million cash on hand.

Former Sen. John Sununu, who was defeated by Shaheen in 2008 and is running with the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, raised $1.3 million and had $1.1 million cash on hand. His Republican primary rival Scott Brown, who briefly represented neighboring Massachusetts in the Senate, raised just $374,000 and had $907,000 in the bank.

Texas

Money is flowing into the Democratic primary in Texas, where Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico both raised over $6 million during the fourth quarter.

Crockett, who launched her Senate campaign in early December, raised $2 million from donors through the end of the month and transferred another $4.5 million from her previous House campaign account. But Talarico, a state representative from Austin, outraised Crockett and ended the year with more money in the bank. He started 2026 with $7.1 million in his war chest, compared to $5.6 million for the Dallas-area representative.

Both candidates outraised the Republican field by a wide margin. On the GOP side, state Attorney General Ken Paxton raked in $1.1 million, while incumbent Sen. John Cornyn raised $1 million for his campaign and another $4.1 million through a joint fundraising committee that has been running TV ads on his behalf. Rep. Wesley Hunt, polling in third in the GOP primary, raised just over $429,000.

Cornyn — whose reelection bid has been endorsed by the NRSC — still maintains a huge cash on hand advantage. He has more than $10 million in the bank between his campaign account and joint fundraising committee, a war chest that could prove pivotal in the final stretch of the March 3 primary — or an extended runoff . He is locked in a neck and neck race with Paxton.

Paxton entered 2026 with $3.7 million in the bank. Hunt had $778,660.

Iowa

Democrats duking it out in Iowa’s Senate primary posted modest fundraising hauls in the fourth quarter. State Rep. Josh Turek raised $677,000, while state Sen. Zach Wahls brought in $741,000. Nathan Sage, the third Democrat viewed as competitive for the nomination, brought in $229,000.

Wahls also entered 2026 with the cash on hand advantage. He had $733,000 left in his war chest, while Turek had just shy of $400,000. Sage had $86,000 in the bank at the start of the year.

Whichever Democrats wins will need serious money to try flipping the seat left open by retiring Sen. Joni Ernst.

Rep. Ashley Hinson brought in $1.6 million and had nearly $5.2 million in the bank at the end of 2025, a substantial fundraising advantage over all of her potential Democratic opponents.