Board: /news/
"/news/ - Current News; is 4chan's board for current news.
/news/ - Current News is a text board for sharing and discussing current news articles. When starting a thread you must include the complete URL of a news article from a credible news site (for instance, a newspaper, news magazine, or a news TV channel). Blogs and editorial articles are not acceptable news sources. News articles must be recent! Nothing older than 48 hours please. Threads older than 48 hours will cease to bump when replied to. Please note that 4chan's global rules are in effect. Blatant trolling and racism is not permitted.
Please note that news, news articles, and current events can also be discussed on /pol/; however /news/ is exclusively for recent news articles, and not general discussions of politics, social phenomenon, or world events.
Please note that although /news/ is a text board, the thread creator is permitted to upload an image to the original post. All replies to the thread, however, are to be strictly text only. Mistakenly deported Salvadoran native Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been brought back to the United States where he will face criminal charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S.
More than two months after the Trump administration admitted it mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia from Maryland to his native El Salvador, a federal grand jury has indicted him for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the United States.
A two-count indictment, which was filed under seal in federal court in Tennessee last month and unsealed Friday, alleges Abrego Garcia, 29, participated in a yearslong conspiracy to haul undocumented migrants from Texas to the interior of the country.
The alleged conspiracy spanned nearly a decade and involved the domestic transport of thousands of noncitizens from Mexico and Central America, including some children, in exchange for thousands of dollars, according to the indictment.
Abrego-Garcia is alleged to have participated in more than 100 such trips, according to the indictment. Among those allegedly transported were members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, sources familiar with the investigation said.
Abrego-Garcia is the only member of the alleged conspiracy charged in the indictment.
>https://abcnews.go.com/US/mistakenly-deported-kilmar-abrego-garcia-back-us-face/story?id=121333122 
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-says-donald-trump-epstein-files-2081653
Elon Musk has dropped what he referred to as "the really big bomb" in his rapidly escalating feud with President Donald Trump.
As the former allies sling mud at each other in the public arena, Musk has made the allegation that Trump "is in the Epstein files."
"That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!" he added in a post on X.
The increasingly personal feud escalated earlier in the week after Musk, who contributed more than $200 million to Trump's presidential campaign, publicly criticized the administration-backed "One Big Beautiful Bill." The proposed legislation aims to extend tax cuts, overhaul immigration enforcement, and repeal consumer incentives for electric vehicles.
Musk condemned the bill as a "disgusting abomination," arguing that it would add trillions to the federal debt.
Trump posted Thursday afternoon that "the easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts." In a follow-up, he said he took away Musk's electric vehicle mandate and claimed, "he just went CRAZY!"
The Epstein files refer to a collection of documents, including court records and flight logs connected to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
There is no evidence that Trump is among the files.
Epstein was known to entertain famous people on his island, Little St. James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
He took his own life at the age of 66 in a jail cell at New York City's Metropolitan Correctional Center in August 2019, before he could stand trial in Manhattan on sex-trafficking charges where he was accused of preying on underage girls as young as 14. Authorities determined he hanged himself. He always denied any wrongdoing. 
The Democrat political consultant who was arrested for voter suppression goes on trial.
Every accusation from the left is an admission. Every single one.
Click on the link "he paid a New Orleans magician and self-described “digital nomad” $150 for the recording" for a discussion of the accused's political affiliation
His defense is that "the (DNC) primary doesn't matter" he's right, the DNC rigs their primaries
https://apnews.com/article/ai-robocalls-biden-kramer-new-hampshire-02de549e5d82bce4cd7622b8bef2d587
Consultant behind AI-generated robocalls mimicking Biden goes on trial in New Hampshire
A political consultant who sent voters artificial intelligence-generated robocalls mimicking former President Joe Biden last year goes on trial Thursday in New Hampshire, where jurors may be asked to consider not just his guilt or innocence but whether the state actually held its first-in-the-nation presidential primary.
Steven Kramer, who faces decades in prison if convicted of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate, has admitted orchestrating a message sent to thousands of voters two days before the Jan. 23, 2024, primary. The message played an AI-generated voice similar to the Democratic president’s that used his phrase “What a bunch of malarkey” and suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting ballots in November.
“It’s important that you save your vote for the November election,” voters were told. “Your votes make a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”
Kramer, who owns a firm specializing in get-out-the-vote projects, has said he wasn’t trying to influence the outcome of the primary election but rather wanted to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of AI when he paid a New Orleans magician and self-described “digital nomad” $150 to create the recording. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/04/us/politics/trump-budget-bill-republicans-tax-cuts.html
Even before House Republicans learned the full price of their tax package on Wednesday, one of the bill’s chief authors, Representative Jason Smith of Missouri, was sowing doubt about the accuracy of the estimate.
“I’m skeptical,” Mr. Smith quipped at an event last month when asked about the coming analysis of the legislation’s cost. “Unless I like the number, I’m against the number.”
In the bitter war over the nation’s fiscal future, President Trump and his Republican allies have united around a new foe: the economists and budget experts who have warned about the costs of the party’s tax ambitions. Republican leaders have set about trying to discredit any hint of unfavorable accounting on their signature legislation as they race to enact it before the president’s self-imposed July 4 deadline.
The latest estimate arrived on Wednesday, projecting that the sprawling bill endorsed by Mr. Trump could add about $2.4 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade.
By then, though, the package of tax, spending and welfare cuts had already ignited an intense wave of political attacks and recriminations. While Republicans scrambled to cast their proposal as fiscally responsible, Wall Street was getting the jitters about the nation’s growing debt burden. The tech executive Elon Musk, having left behind his role seeking to slash government spending for Mr. Trump, savaged the bill again on social media on Wednesday, calling for new legislation to be drafted that “doesn’t massively grow the deficit.” Trump Appoints 22-Year-Old Ex-Gardener and Grocery Store Assistant to Lead U.S. Terror Prevention
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-appoints-22-y-o-ex-gardener-grocery-store-assistant-as-us-homeland-department-terrorist-chief/
The inexperienced 22-year-old reportedly tasked by Donald Trump with tackling U.S. extremism was working as a neighborhood gardener just five years ago and in a grocery store as recently as August 2023, the Daily Beast can reveal.
Thomas Fugate, who graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio just 12 months ago, is currently heading up the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships at the DHS, as first reported by ProPublica Tuesday.
The center, also known as CP3, plays a vital role supporting nationwide efforts to combat terrorism and hate-fueled violence.
But according to the youngster’s LinkedIn page, Fugate has almost no experience in this field—and in 2020 was working as a self-employed ‘Landscape Business Owner.’ Elon Musk told MAGA activist Laura Loomer she should side with him amid his public feud with President Donald tRump on Thursday, as he would live longer than the tRump
Musk fired back, “Without me, tRump would have lost the election"
Loomer shared a screenshot of Musk’s comments and wrote, “It’s heating up. Will be interesting to see what Republican lawmakers do now. I know law makers who are asking if they should side with President tRump or Elon. I’ve been on the hill all day and it’s all anyone is talking about. The most powerful man in the world vs the richest man in the world.”
Musk replied, “Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: tRump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years…”
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump/yikes-elon-musk-tells-laura-loomer-republicans-should-side-with-him-because-trump-will-die-first/ 
Tariffs will reduce deficits by $2.5 trillion over 10 years: CBO
https://thehill.com/business/budget/5332407-trump-tariffs-deficit-reduction-cbo/
Tariffs will reduce deficits by $2.5 trillion over 10 years: CBO
President Trump’s tariffs will take a major bite out of U.S. deficit levels, reducing them by $2.5 trillion over the next decade and shrinking the size of the U.S. economy, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found in a Wednesday analysis.
The deficit reduction is almost exactly the same size as the deficit addition that would result from the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill.” The CBO found that the bill would add $2.4 trillion to deficits through 2034, according to a separate analysis released Wednesday.
The tariffs measured by the CBO are those implemented from Jan. 6 to May 13, which includes the trade truce with China announced May 12.
The CBO included in its calculation a menu of tariffs that Trump has announced since taking office: a 30 percent tariff on imports from China and Hong Kong; 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico that started March 7; 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum from March 12; 25 percent tariffs on most automobile imports starting April 3; 10 percent tariff on imports from most countries that began April 5; and 25 percent tariff on imports of most auto parts, as of May 3.
Trump has said since the start of his term that he would implement tariffs to balance trade with other countries and to try to spur a manufacturing boom in the U.S. He has routinely announced tariffs, then paused them in an effort to strike a trade deal with a particular nation. But several tariffs have stuck and the overall tariff rate is now between 10 percent and 15 percent, the highest level in decades.
The boosted projections for federal revenue will likely raise long-term economic confidence, especially since the bond market has been quaking in recent weeks. Bond yields have popped in response to tariffs and legislation. 
Musk rejoins the group of sane Americans as he calls for a third party to replace the orrupt Democrats and the incompetent Republicans
Democrats seethe, cope and dilate and Republicans threaten deportation
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5335305-musk-floats-idea-of-third-party-amid-feud-with-trump/
Musk floats idea of third party amid feud with Trump
Billionaire Elon Musk seemed to suggest support of a third political party as he escalated a growing fight with President Trump that boiled over Thursday.
“Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle,” Musk wrote in a post on social platform X to his more than 200 million followers on the site, which he owns.
Musk attached a survey to his post that allowed users to vote “yes” or “no” on the idea of a third political party.
The post came hours after Trump expressed “disappointment” with Musk over the billionaire’s criticism of the “big, beautiful bill” the president is trying to push through Congress.
Musk has argued the bill is too large and contains too much wasteful spending, what he called “pork” in an earlier post on X.
After Trump pushed back on Musk’s opposition to the bill on Thursday, the billionaire wrote on X that the president would have lost last fall’s presidential election without him and called him “ungrateful.”
Musk, the richest person on earth, donated millions to Trump’s 2024 campaign, promoted his ideas on X and spoke for him at rallies around the country.
Trump rewarded Musk with unprecedented access to his White House and government, appointing him to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, a job he left last week before the public falling out. 
https://apnews.com/article/whole-foods-ground-beef-e-coli-alert-7d6613b15fd0676b1fbb4b3a0f428cc4
U.S. agriculture officials are warning that ground beef sold at Whole Foods markets nationwide may be contaminated with potentially dangerous E. coli bacteria.
Officials on Tuesday issued a public health alert for 1-pound, vacuum-packed packages of Organic Rancher beef, produced on May 22 and May 23, by NPC Processing Inc., of Shelburne, Vermont. The products have use-by dates of June 19 and June 20.
The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service did not request a recall because the products are no longer available for purchase. However, they may still be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers.
The meat was produced in Australia or Uruguay and processed in the U.S. It was sent to distributors in Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois and Maryland and then to Whole Foods stores nationwide. The problem was discovered when company officials notified FSIS that they had shipped beef products that tested positive for E. coli O157:H7, a type of bacteria that can cause serious illness.
To date, no illnesses linked to the product have been reported, officials said. Consumers who have the product should throw it away or return it to the store.
E. coli bacteria can cause infections with symptoms that include dehydration, diarrhea and cramps. Most people recover within a week, but some people can become severely ill and develop a dangerous kidney condition. Children under age 5 and older adults are most at risk. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/parents-are-charged-son-7-struck-dead-car-accident-rcna210918
The grieving parents of a 7-year-old child who died hours after being hit by a car were charged with involuntary manslaughter after allowing him and his brother, 10, to walk home unaccompanied by an adult from a nearby grocery store.
Jessica Ivey and Samuele Jenkins were charged two days after their son Legend died from injuries caused by being struck by a Jeep on May 27 in Gastonia, a rural town in North Carolina. The 76-year-old driver will not face any charges.
The Food Lion store is two blocks away from their home. The parents said the children were with their mother when they asked to meet their father at the store, and she allowed them to leave, according to The Gaston Gazette. The brothers had to cross the busy, four-lane road, but attempted to go between crosswalks. 
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yg98rl717o
US President Donald Trump says he was "very surprised" and "disappointed" with former ally Elon Musk's criticisms of his centrepiece budget bill.
"Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore," Trump told reporters in the White House on Thursday.
It was the president's most direct criticism yet of Musk's lobbying efforts against the proposals to cut taxes and slash government spending - a plan that has drawn criticism from Musk and some Republicans.
In response, Musk doubled down on X and accused the president of "Such ingratitude", adding: "Without me, Trump would have lost the election".
Musk left his post at the Department of Government Efficiency last week after 129 days on the job, and Trump presented him with a with a golden key during a congratulatory news conference on 30 May.
But in the days since, he has repeatedly criticised Trump's budget bill currently working its way through Congress, calling it a "disgusting abomination" and posting "Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong."
The bill passed the House with the backing of most Republicans, with a handful of representatives from Trump's party and all Democrats opposed.
Speaking to reporters during a news conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday, Trump said: "We are doing things in that bill that are unbelievable.
"I'm very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here," he said. "All of a sudden he had a problem."
"He hasn't said bad about my personally, but I'm sure that will be next."
Put in charge of radically slashing government spending, Musk initiated mass sackings and wholesale elimination of departments such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Doge claims to have saved $180bn, although that number has been disputed, and is well short of Musk's initial aim to cut spending by up to $2 trillion. 
Sauce: https://kyivindependent.com/uk-to-provide-ukraine-with-100-000-drones-by-april-2026/
The United Kingdom pledged on June 4 to supply Ukraine with 100,000 drones by the end of the financial year in April 2026, after saying that unmanned aerial vehicles have changed the way modern wars are fought.
The drone package – valued at £350 million ($473 million) – is part of a broader £4.5 billion military support initiative for Ukraine and marks a tenfold increase from a target of 10,000 in 2024 to 100,000 in 2025, the U.K. government said.
"The UK is stepping up its support for Ukraine by delivering hundreds of thousands more drones this year and completing a major milestone in the delivery of critical artillery ammunition," Defense Secretary John Healey said in a statement.
The increase in drone support is timely, as it follows Ukraine's successful Operation Spiderweb on June 1. As part of the operation, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) smuggled 117 drones into Russian territory, striking four airbases and damaging 41 military aircraft.
In addition to drone deliveries, the U.K. government confirmed the delivery of 140,000 artillery shells to Ukraine since January and will spend an additional £247 million ($334 million) this year to train Ukrainian troops.
"We are learning lessons every day from the battlefield in Ukraine, which British companies are using to develop advanced new drones to help protect Ukraine’s civilians and also strengthen our own national security," Healey said.
On June 2, the U.K. government endorsed an independent Strategic Defense Review that called for a more technologically advanced military to counter emerging threats, including potential Russian aggression. Citing the war in Ukraine, the review emphasized the importance of drones and digital warfare. Does greta thunberg survive her trip to gaza? Your thoughts and predictions please! https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/6/4/madleen-gaza-flotilla-live-greta-thunberg-activists-to-arrive-on-june-7 https://www.yahoo.com/news/stephen-miller-set-sights-targets-160351688.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFICefJrfio3jmqguje2yCv9YYfSHdFbSAETk9dchjTMsTSKy1a18Uaau7dSyOp7pV86S4iJPyJQ5gVV9Z2JhkGSNbDBalzhpDS6YIoqox_LLjzJEMMPWOkZnb-Czn6dRUBbRjPKl6lai1ybuF_C5FEa2KAa9HIpWHylmtCgMbW_&guccounter=1
Federal immigration officials have faced severe criticism from members of the Trump administration, displeased with the number of immigration arrests and deportations, according to the Washington Examiner.
Late last month, a heated discussion arose between White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and several senior officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Trust between the parties is in a downward spiral as top staffers believe the administration is closely watching them regarding how they’re conducting their detentions of unlawful immigrants. Three current and former immigration officials spoke to the Examiner.
“They’ve been threatened, told they’re watching their emails and texts and Signals,” one anonymous official said. “That’s what is horrible about things right now. It’s a fearful environment. Everybody in leadership is afraid. … There’s no morale. Everybody is demoralized.”
The top 50 officials at ICE were informed about an emergency meeting in the nation’s capital a week in advance. The agency confirmed to the Examiner that ICE’s 25 field office directors of Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) and the 25 special agents in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrived in Washington for the meeting on Tuesday, May 20, when Miller scolded them. 
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j76djzgpvo
Elon Musk has hit out at President Donald Trump's signature tax and spending bill, describing it as a "disgusting abomination", in a widening rift between the two.
The tech billionaire posted on X that the bill would add to the US budget deficit and saddle Americans with "crushing" debt.
The budget, which includes huge tax breaks and more defence spending, was passed by the House of Representatives last month and is now being considered by senators.
"Shame on those who voted for it," said Musk, hinting that he may try to unseat the politicians responsible at next year's midterm elections.
The bill has the backing of President Donald Trump and would be the legislative linchpin of his second-term agenda if it passes Congress.
Musk left the administration abruptly last week after 129 days working to cut costs with his team, known as Doge.
The comments mark his first public disagreement with Trump since leaving government, after having previously called the plan "disappointing".
The South African-born tech billionaire's time in the Trump administration came to an end on 31 May, although Trump said that "he will, always, be with us, helping all the way".
In its current form, the bill - which Trump refers to as the "big beautiful bill" - has been estimated to increase the budget deficit - the difference between what the government spends and the revenue it receives - by about $600bn (£444bn) in the next fiscal year.
In a series of posts on X on Tuesday, Musk said that the "outrageous, pork-filled" spending bill will "massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America [sic] citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt".
In American politics "pork" refers to spending on projects in lawmakers' constituencies. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fdas-ai-tool-medical-devices-struggles-simple-tasks-rcna210340
A new Food and Drug Administration AI tool that could speed up reviews and approvals of medical devices such as pacemakers and insulin pumps is struggling with simple tasks, according to two people familiar with it.
The tool — which is still in beta testing — is buggy, doesn’t yet connect to the FDA’s internal systems and has issues when it comes to uploading documents or allowing users to submit questions, the people say. It’s also not currently connected to the internet and can’t access new content, such as recently publishedstudiesor anything behind a paywall.
The artificial intelligence, dubbed internally CDRH-GPT, is intended to help staffers at the agency’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, a division responsible for ensuring the safety of devices implanted in the body as well as essential tools like X-rays and CT scanners.
The division was among those affected by the sweeping mass layoffs at the Department for Health and Human Services earlier this year. While many of the device reviewers were spared, the agency eliminated much of the backend support that enables them to issue approval decisions on time. 
Trump calls for scrapping debt limit
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5332843-trump-calls-for-scrapping-debt-limit/
President Trump doubled down Wednesday on calls to scrap the nation’s debt ceiling, pressing for bipartisan action to abolish it and finding common ground with Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
“I am very pleased to announce that, after all of these years, I agree with Senator Elizabeth Warren on SOMETHING. The Debt Limit should be entirely scrapped to prevent an Economic catastrophe. It is too devastating to be put in the hands of political people that may want to use it despite the horrendous effect it could have on our Country and, indirectly, even the World. As to Senator Warren’s second statement on the $4 Trillion Dollars, I like that also, but it would have to be done over a period of time, as short as possible. Let’s get together, Republican and Democrat, and DO THIS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He shared Warren’s post on the social platform X from Friday, when she agreed with Trump that the debt limit “should be scrapped” and called for a bipartisan bill to “get rid of it forever.”
Warren had posted Trump’s comments in which he noted the progressive senator has long supported abolishing the debt limit in the past. He said he “always agreed with her” on the matter, adding that he hasn’t spoken to her personally about it.
“She wanted to see it terminated, gotten rid of, not being voted on every five years or 10 years, and the reason was because it’s so catastrophic for our country,” Trump said at a Friday press conference, alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk. 
Sauce: https://www.rt.com/russia/618630-latvia-russian-tv-channels-arrest/
Latvian police have arrested a man accused of providing access to banned Russian television channels to more than 400 households across the country, according to local media reports.
The 42-year-old technician is reportedly suspected of setting up a system that bypassed content protection technologies, allowing viewers to watch banned Russian channels that supposedly spread propaganda.
The man allegedly created a scheme to share television signal access cards, enabling multiple households to use a single valid code, Jauns.lv reported on Tuesday. The arrest took place at the end of May following a State Police investigation. If convicted, the suspect could face up to three years in prison, community service, or a fine.
The European Commission barred several Russia-linked media outlets from operating in EU member states after the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, accusing them of spreading propaganda. Sharing content from these outlets is also prohibited under EU law.
Latvia, a former Soviet republic, has ramped up efforts to limit Russian influence, aligning closely with neighbors Estonia and Lithuania. All three Baltic states, which are among Kiev’s strongest backers, have introduced broad restrictions on Russian nationals, including travel bans and mandatory language tests. In February, the Latvian parliament gave initial approval to a draft law that would prohibit citizens of Russia from acquiring real estate in the country. Sauce: https://www.rt.com/news/618620-biden-destroy-russia-lula/
Moscow considers the Ukraine conflict a Western proxy war, a notion recently acknowledged by top US officials
Former US President Joe Biden wanted to see Russia “destroyed” during his time in office, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said in an interview with Le Monde.
The Brazilian leader, who has consistently pushed for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, objected to attempts to single out Moscow as the sole culprit behind the conflict, telling the French newspaper on Tuesday that “Western countries also bear part of the responsibility.”
“Joe Biden, with whom I spoke at length, thought Russia needed to be destroyed,” Lula said, without elaborating when the conversation took place. “And Europe, which for a long time embodied a middle way in the world, has now aligned itself with Washington and is spending billions on rearmament. That worries me. If all we talk about is war, there will never be peace.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-denies-challenges-state-laws-banning-assault-style-weapo-rcna187702
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear two major gun cases challenging a Maryland law that bans assault-style weapons, including the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle that has been used in high-profile mass shootings, and a Rhode Island restriction on large-capacity magazines.
As a result, the two laws remain in effect. Litigation over similar bans across the country is ongoing, and the issue is likely to return to the justices.
Janet Carter, a lawyer at gun control group Everytown Law, welcomed the developments in both cases.
“Courts of appeals across the country have consistently and correctly upheld laws like these — with countless communities safer as a result,” she said in a statement. 
Sauce: https://www.rt.com/news/618604-berlin-court-asylum-seekers/
A Berlin court has barred German border police from rejecting asylum seekers arriving from neighboring EU countries without reviewing their claims. The ruling deals a blow to Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s recent efforts to reduce asylum-related land migration.
Last month, shortly after Merz took office, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt introduced a policy under which undocumented migrants arriving at land borders were to be turned back – unless they are unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, or otherwise vulnerable individuals. The move aimed to fulfill Merz’s campaign promise to curb migration amid heightened public concern following a series of high-profile crimes involving asylum seekers.
On Monday, however, the Berlin Administrative Court ruled against the policy. The decision came in response to a legal challenge brought by three Somali nationals who tried to enter Germany last month but were returned to Poland without any examination of their claims.
The court found Dobrindt’s policy to be unlawful under the Dublin Regulation, which governs how EU member states handle asylum applications. The rules require that asylum seekers apply in the first EU country they enter. If they later apply in another member state, such as Germany, that country can seek to transfer them back to the original state.
In its ruling, the Berlin court emphasized that Germany cannot reject asylum seekers at the border without first checking whether they have submitted a claim, and whether the Dublin rules apply. It noted that while Germany is not obligated to accept all asylum seekers at the border, it also cannot summarily return individuals without reviewing their applications. 
US man charged for framing immigrant in fake plot to kill Trump
Demetric Scott admitted he wrote letters in the name of Ramon Morales-Reyes, who he was charged with assaulting
Robert Mackey
Mon 2 Jun 2025 20.56 EDT
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Prosecutors in Milwaukee have charged a man with four felonies for attempting to frame an undocumented immigrant he is accused of assaulting, by sending forged letters in the immigrant’s name with a threat to kill Donald Trump.
The handwritten, forged letters were mailed to Wisconsin’s attorney general, Milwaukee police and US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (Ice). The story received a flood of media attention and was highlighted by the White House and Trump’s allies, but appears to have been a hoax.
WISN-TV, an ABC affiliate in Milwaukee, reported on Monday that a criminal complaint alleges Demetric Scott admitted to investigators he wrote the letters threatening to kill the president in the name of Ramon Morales-Reyes, whom he was previously charged with assaulting.
Among those who fell for the hoax was Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who released a statement praising immigration officers for arresting Morales-Reyes on 22 May, one day after the forged letter was received by an Ice field intelligence officer.
“Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars,” Noem said in a press release. Her department also released to news agencies an image of the handwritten note in light blue ink, expressing anger over Trump’s deportations and threatening to shoot him in the head with a rifle at a rally. Noem also shared the letter on X along with a photo of Morales-Reyes, and the White House also shared it on its social media accounts.
>https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/02/letter-threatening-trump-fake-plot https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4qg5gzgzxo
$200 Billion dollars of Gates' fortune to be given to Africa... could this be it? Sure there's no way to make $200B fail and just dash this saving grace hail mary of a donation.
Also, I'm sure this is probably to give good pr for something he might've did https://apnews.com/article/boulder-terror-attack-colorado-8af1b11734cbbe75c9945820a9b6684c
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Several people were injured and some may have been set on fire at an outdoor mall in Boulder, Colorado, police said. Police said a man was taken into custody in the attack that the FBI immediately described as a “targeted terror attack.”
Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn told reporters Sunday evening that it was too early to discuss a motive but that witnesses were being interviewed.
“It would be irresponsible for me to speculate on motive this early on,” he said.
The Boulder attack took place at a popular pedestrian mall known for attracting tourists and college students. On Sunday, demonstrators with a volunteer group called Run For Their Lives had gathered to call for the release of hostages who remain in Gaza. The group has multiple chapters across the world that regularly meet to walk to advocate for hostage releases. 
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/campbells-co-says-sales-rise-195559938.html
The Campbell’s Co. said Monday it saw stronger sales of broth and condensed soup in its latest quarter as more Americans cooked their meals at home.
“Consumers continue to cook at home and focus their spending on products that help them stretch their food budgets, and they’re increasingly intentional about their discretionary snack purchases,” Campbell’s President and CEO Mick Beekhuizen said during a conference call with investors.
Beekhuizen said Campbell’s saw the highest level of meals cooked at home since early 2020 in its fiscal third quarter, which ended April 27. Campbell’s noted sales of its broths rose 15% during the quarter while sales of its Rao’s pasta sauces were up 2%.
But Campbell’s said sales of its snacks, including Goldfish crackers and Cape Cod potato chips, fell 4% during the quarter.
Other big companies, including McDonald’s, have also noted that Americans are increasingly eating at home as uncertainty over the economy grows. Grocery prices have also moderated. In 2024, prices for food eaten at home rose 1.2%, while prices for food away from home rose 4.1%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Snack makers like PepsiCo, which makes Frito Lay chips, and General Mills, which makes Bugles chips and Golden Grahams, have also noted lower demand for snacks in recent quarters.
Campbell's net sales rose 4% to $2.5 billion for the fiscal third quarter, which was in line with Wall Street's expectations, according to analysts polled by FactSet. 
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fema-staff-confused-after-head-said-he-was-unaware-us-hurricane-season-sources-2025-06-02/
WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - Staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were left baffled on Monday after the head of the U.S. disaster agency said during a briefing that he had not been aware the country has a hurricane season, according to four sources familiar with the situation.
The U.S. hurricane season officially began on Sunday and lasts through November. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast last week that this year's season is expected to bring as many as 10 hurricanes.
The remark was made by David Richardson, who has led FEMA since early May. It was not clear to staff whether he meant it literally, as a joke, or in some other context.
Richardson said during the briefing that there would be no changes to the agency's disaster response plans despite having told staff to expect a new plan in May, the sources told Reuters.
Richardson's comments come amid widespread concern that the departures of a raft of top FEMA officials, staff cuts and reductions in hurricane preparations will leave the agency ill-prepared for a storm season forecast to be above normal.
Hurricanes kill dozens of people and cost hundreds of millions of dollars annually across a swath of U.S. states every year. The storms have become increasingly more destructive and costly due to the effects of climate change.
FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA's parent agency, did not respond to requests for comment on Richardson's remarks. FEMA has previously said it is prepared for hurricane season.
Richardson's comment purporting ignorance about hurricane season spread among agency staff, spurring confusion and reigniting concern about his lack of familiarity with FEMA's operations, said three sources. 
Everyone laugh at Russia!
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/01/europe/ukraine-drones-russia-airbases-intl
Ukraine has carried out large-scale drone strikes against several air bases deep inside Russia, destroying multiple combat planes, according to the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).
The operation, dubbed “Spiderweb,” comes on the eve of expected peace talks in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine, and involved the most ambitious simultaneous strikes on Russian air bases carried out by Ukraine since the war began.
An SBU source said that Russian bombers were “burning en masse” at four air bases hundreds of miles apart, adding that drones had been launched from trucks inside Russia.
Ukraine planned the operation for more than a year and a half and used 117 drones to carry out the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address on Sunday night.
“The planning, organization, and all the details were perfectly prepared. It can be confidently said that this was an absolutely unique operation,” Zelensky said.
The Trump administration was not given a heads-up about the operation, an administration official told CNN.
More than 40 aircraft were known to have been hit, according to the SBU source, including TU-95 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers and one of Russia’s few remaining A-50 surveillance planes. According to the SBU, the operation caused an estimated $7 billion in damages and hit 34% of Russia’s strategic cruise missile carriers at its main air bases. 
Sauce: https://www.rt.com/news/618579-eu-russia-sanctions-g7-summit/
American lawmakers have been seeking “coordinated” measures with Brussels by mid-June
The EU is unlikely to finalize its next round of Russia sanctions before the G7 summit in Canada later this month, despite calls from US lawmakers for coordinated action, the EUobserver media outlet reported on Tuesday.
US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said he aims to push new sanctions through by mid-June. In a joint statement with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, the two urged the EU and US to curb China and India’s purchases of discounted Russian oil. Graham and Blumenthal visited Kiev together on Friday.
Four EU diplomats earlier told EUobserver that the call to have “sanctions put in place – in coordination with Europe” by the G7 summit in Alberta on June 15-17 is unlikely to be met.
Both senators visited France over the weekend to urge their EU allies to take stronger action. Graham also met EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said the bloc is preparing its 18th package of “hard-biting sanctions” against Moscow. 
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-shares-unfounded-conspiracy-theory-claiming-biden-was-executed-2-rcna210244
President Donald Trump on Saturday night reposted a baseless claim on Truth Social that former President Joe Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced with clones or robots.
The original post, made by an anonymous Truth Social user who often spreads outlandish claims, suggested that Biden was replaced with “clones, doubles” and “robotic engineered soulless mindless entities.”
Trump published a link to the post to his nearly 10 million followers without adding any context or explanation. The original poster’s account has a little more than 5,000 followers.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday explaining why Trump shared the post and whether he believes Biden was executed in 2020.
Trump has frequently taken to sharing misinformation and unproven conspiracy theories over the years. He repeats false claims that he won the 2020 presidential election, which led some of his supporters to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn Biden’s victory. He also claimed — before he backtracked — that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and, during the 2024 campaign, alleged that Haitian immigrants were “eating the pets.” All of those claims were debunked or otherwise proved false.
Trump’s circle, too, has spread conspiracy theories, with some of the top brass in the administration having spread misinformation about vaccines or the so-called deep state. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeated a debunked claim that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine causes autism, and the FBI’s director and deputy director have spread claims that the Biden administration and the “deep state” weaponized the FBI against Trump. 
https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/45413586/trans-athlete-ab-hernandez-wins-girls-calif-high-jump-title
Trans athlete AB Hernandez wins 2 Calif. H.S. jumping events
CLOVIS, Calif. -- A transgender athlete bested the competition Saturday at the California high school track and field championships to take home gold in the girls' high jump and the triple jump at a meet that has stirred controversy and drawn national attention.
AB Hernandez competed under a new rule change that might be the first of its kind nationally by a high school sports governing body.
Hernandez finished the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 7 inches, with no failed attempts. Co-winners Jillene Wetteland and Lelani Laruelle also cleared that height after each logged a failed attempt. The three shared the first-place win, smiling as they stepped together onto the podium.
Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High School, wrapped up the night with a first-place finish in the triple jump, sharing the top spot with Kira Gant Hatcher, who trailed by just over a half-meter.
Earlier in the afternoon, Hernandez placed second in the long jump.
Olympians Marion Jones and Tara Davis-Woodhall previously set state championship records in the long jump in 1993 and 2017, respectively, both surpassing 22 feet. This year's winner, Loren Webster, topped 21 feet, with Hernandez trailing by a few inches.
Webster, a senior from Wilson High School, told the Los Angeles Times that she focused only on her performance and didn't give Hernandez much thought.
"It wasn't any other person I was worried about," Webster said. "I knew what I was capable of. I can't control the uncontrollable." https://apnews.com/article/ice-letter-threatening-trump-21447adfd14eb1a043f95344f9ccb3d5
A claim by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that an immigrant threatened the life of President Donald Trump has begun to unravel.
Noem announced an arrest of a 54-year-old man who was living in the U.S. illegally, saying he had written a letter threatening to kill Trump and would then return to Mexico. The story received a flood of media attention and was highlighted by the White House and Trump’s allies.
But investigators actually believe the man may have been framed so that he would get arrested and be deported from the U.S. before he got a chance to testify in a trial as a victim of assault, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Law enforcement officials believe the man, Ramon Morales Reyes, never wrote a letter that Noem and her department shared with a message written in light blue ink expressing anger over Trump’s deportations and threatening to shoot him in the head with a rifle at a rally. Noem also shared the letter on X along with a photo of Morales Reyes, and the White House also shared it on its social media accounts. The letter was mailed to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office along with the FBI and other agencies, the person said.
As part of the investigation, officials had contacted Morales Reyes and asked for a handwriting sample and concluded his handwriting and the threatening letter didn’t match and that the threat was not credible, the person said. It’s not clear why Homeland Security officials still decided to send a release making that claim. 
https://www.latintimes.com/trump-pushes-debunked-theory-transgender-mice-he-thanks-musk-his-service-584096
In a press briefing on Friday President Donald Trump praised billionaire Elon Musk for his contributions to DOGE, citing a debunked claim that the government had been funding scientific research to make "transgender mice."
Trump referenced $8 million in federal funding supposedly saved by DOGE when the agency halted efforts to make "mice transgender."
"They spent $8 million on making mice transgender, and those are better than many of the others," Trump said. "I could sit here all day and read things just like that, but we have other things to do."
The comments come months after Americans for Medical Progress issued a formal statement clarifying the nature of the research Trump was referring to. According to scientists, the studies in question have nothing to do with gender identity or transitioning animals, but rather investigate how hormones function in development and disease. Many of these studies involve mice models to better understand conditions like endometriosis, infertility, breast cancer, and prostate cancer.
"Misrepresenting this work will hinder our ability to protect our children and weaken progress toward improving the health and well-being of all individuals, regardless of background or belief," the statement said.
The White House posted a rebuttal to fact checkers that remains live on the White House website as Trump continues to amplify the claim. 
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/31/nx-s1-5415939/trump-pardons-drug-kingpins-even-as-he-escalates-the-u-s-drug-war
President Trump has long called for escalating the U.S. drug war against Mexican cartels and wants tougher penalties for dealers selling fentanyl and other street drugs in American communities. "I am ready for it, the death penalty, if you deal drugs," Trump said during a meeting with state governors in February, where he said dealers are too often treated with a "slap on the wrist."
But despite his tough rhetoric, Trump has sparked controversy by pardoning a growing number of convicted drug dealers, including this week's move to grant clemency to Larry Hoover, 74, who was serving multiple life sentences in federal prison for crimes linked to his role leading the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples.
Already during the early months of his second term, Trump has granted clemency to at least eight individuals convicted on federal drug charges. Some, including Hoover, have extensive criminal records involving violence and gun charges.
"There's a lot of mixed messages and mixed signals [from the White House] which creates sort of chaos and uncertainty," said Jeffrey Singer, a drug policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank. "On the one hand you're threatening even tougher penalties on people who deal in drugs, while on the other hand you're releasing drug dealers from prisons."
Ron Safer, a former U.S. attorney in Chicago who helped prosecute members of the Gangster Disciples during the 1990s, said he was shocked and dismayed by Trump's decision to commute Hoover's sentence.
He pointed out that Hoover's gang was one of the largest and most violent drug syndicates in the U.S., operating in 35 states according to the U.S Justice Department. Hoover himself was convicted of state and federal charges including murder and use of a firearm while trafficking drugs. >durr leguls kill moor dan illeguls durr
https://apnews.com/article/ava-moore-texas-grapevine-2d6412f81c76bf68b9c0557da6f2d5ae
DALLAS (AP) — An 18-year-old woman about to begin her first year at the U.S. Air Force Academy was killed when a personal watercraft hit her kayak on a Texas lake over Memorial Day weekend, setting off a pursuit by law enforcement that ended in the arrests of two people.
Ava Moore died following the collision Sunday on Lake Grapevine, a popular boating and fishing destination near Dallas. She had just graduated last week from the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School.
Authorities said Wednesday the woman accused of operating the personal watercraft is charged with felony manslaughter. She is accused of fleeing the lake in a vehicle with a man who was charged with two misdemeanors, including one related to hitting two cars as they left the scene. Both are Venezuelans who had entered the U.S. illegally in 2023, authorities said. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/trump-palantir-data-americans.html
In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, raising questions over whether he might compile a master list of personal information on Americans that could give him untold surveillance power.
Mr. Trump has not publicly talked about the effort since. But behind the scenes, officials have quietly put technological building blocks into place to enable his plan. In particular, they have turned to one company: Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm.
The Trump administration has expanded Palantir’s work across the federal government in recent months. The company has received more than $113 million in federal government spending since Mr. Trump took office, according to public records, including additional funds from existing contracts as well as new contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. (This does not include a $795 million contract that the Department of Defense awarded the company last week, which has not been spent.)
Representatives of Palantir are also speaking to at least two other agencies — the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service — about buying its technology, according to six government officials and Palantir employees with knowledge of the discussions.
The push has put a key Palantir product called Foundry into at least four federal agencies, including D.H.S. and the Health and Human Services Department. Widely adopting Foundry, which organizes and analyzes data, paves the way for Mr. Trump to easily merge information from different agencies, the government officials said. 
As with most Democrats, San Francisco thought students of color (specifically non asians/whites) were too stupid to be educated, so they tried to stop grading quizzes, homework and attendance, and graded tests as 40% -> C and 80% -> A
The community spoke up against their regressive reforms.
https://www.newsweek.com/san-francisco-public-schools-equity-homework-2078003
San Francisco Public Schools Convert F's to C's, B's to A's in Equity Push
San Francisco's public high schools will implement a sweeping change to their grading system this fall, replacing traditional methods with a policy that allows students to pass with scores as low as 41 percent.
The initiative, part of a broader "Grading for Equity" push, is stirring concern among educators, students and parents over academic standards and college readiness.
The Context
Similar policies across other Bay Area districts—such as Dublin, Oakland and Pleasanton—have seen mixed results and strong community reactions. Dublin Unified attempted a pilot of equity grading in 2023, which included removing zeros for missed assignments and awarding a minimum of 50 percent for any "reasonably attempted" work.
That pilot, however, was met with outrage and resistance. Parents created petitions, formed WhatsApp groups and filled school board meetings to protest what they saw as a lowering of standards for their children. The Dublin school board eventually suspended the initiative, though individual teachers were still allowed to use the methods at their discretion.
The experiment in San Francisco comes amid — or despite — a broader rethinking of DEI initiatives after the election of Donald Trump, who ran on a platform of excising what he and many others said were "unfair" equity practices in the government and private sectors. 
Trump suffered ‘mental anguish’ from disputed CBS News interview with Harris, lawyer says
https://apnews.com/article/trump-cbs-news-60-minutes-lawsuit-d43effebb7b3b76c31d38908bd31460e
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump suffered “mental anguish” from CBS News’ editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Democratic opponent Kamala Harris last fall, his lawyers are arguing in court papers.
Trump’s status as a “content creator” was also damaged by attention given to the interview, lawyers said. It was part of their argument opposing CBS parent Paramount Global’s effort to dismiss the president’s $20 billion lawsuit against the company, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas. Trump has claimed the editing was done to advantage Harris, which CBS rejects.
Even with the effort to dismiss the case, Paramount is engaged in settlement discussions with Trump. The prospect of a settlement has so rattled CBS News that two of its top executives have resigned in protest.
Trump, who did not agree to be interviewed by “60 Minutes” during the campaign, has protested editing where Harris is seen giving two different answers to a question by the show’s Bill Whitaker in separate clips aired on “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation” earlier in the day. CBS said each reply came within Harris’ long-winded answer to Whitaker, but was edited to be more succinct.
Trump’s lawyer, Edward Andrew Paltzik, said that “this led to widespread confusion and mental anguish of consumers, including plaintiffs, regarding a household name of the legacy media apparently deceptively distorting its broadcasts, and then resisting attempts to clear the public record.” 
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3312552/elon-musk-says-oval-office-black-eye-was-because-son-5-punched-him-face
Billionaire Elon Musk sparked fevered speculation when he turned up with a black eye for his Oval Office farewell with US President Donald Trump on Friday.
But the South African-born tech magnate said he had a simple explanation: his son had punched him in the face.
“I was just horsing around with lil’ X, and I said, ‘Go ahead punch me in the face,’” 53-year-old Musk told reporters when asked how he got the shiner.
“And he did. Turns out even a five-year-old punching you in the face actually is …” he added, before tailing off.
“I didn’t really feel much at the time but I guess it bruises up.”
Trump hosted the press conference with Musk to mark the Tesla boss’s last day at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). Musk had expressed increasing disillusionment with the job but said he would remain a “friend and adviser”.
Musk’s appearance was overshadowed by allegations in The New York Times that he had engaged in heavy drug use while on the campaign trail for Trump in 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j5954edlno
Israeli ministers say 22 new Jewish settlements have been approved in the occupied West Bank - the biggest expansion in decades.
Several already exist as outposts, built without government authorisation, but will now be made legal under Israeli law. Others are completely new, according to Defence Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Settlements - which are widely seen as illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this - are one of the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians.
Katz said the move "prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel", while the Palestinian presidency called it a "dangerous escalation".
The Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now called it "the most extensive move of its kind" in more than 30 years and warned that it would "dramatically reshape the West Bank and entrench the occupation even further". US IT specialist arrested after attempting to share classified information with foreign government: DOJ
https://archive.is/GdRCV https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/trump-pardons-todd-julie-chrisley-what-know-about-reality-tv-stars.amp
reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley were freed from prison after they received a pardon from President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Todd and Julie were sentenced to 12 and 7 years, respectively, for bank fraud and tax evasion in 2022.
The couple was convicted of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans as well as tax evasion
The couple was initially indicted in August 2019, and a new indictment was later filed. They were found guilty in June 2022 of not only bank fraud and tax evasion, but also conspiring to defraud the IRS.
In the original filing, both Chrisleys were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, five counts of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of tax fraud. Julie Chrisley was also charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors found the couple guilty of submitting fake documents to banks when applying for loans.
Steal 30 million? No problem, Trump has stolen much more so he has your back. Borrow 20k to go to college? He is coming to put you in jail. 
https://x.com/CityNewsTO/status/1928451104238690719
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2025/05/30/ajax-man-charged-sexual-abuse-girl-14/
Ajax man facing new charges in alleged sexual abuse of second 14-year-old girl
On May 2, Gowryshankar Kathirkamanathan, 30, of Ajax, was taken into custody. At the time of his arrest, police said he faced a total of 15 charges, including five counts of sexual assault. Photo: DRPS.
By Lucas Casaletto
Posted May 30, 2025 9:58 am.
Last Updated May 30, 2025 10:04 am.
A man from Ajax who was arrested earlier this month for the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl is facing new charges stemming from a sexual relationship with another young female teen.
Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) officers began an investigation on April 30 after receiving information in Hamilton that a young teen had been sexually assaulted and forcibly confined in the Ajax area.
“The suspect picked up the 14-year-old victim in Hamilton and drove her to Ajax, where she was confined and sexually assaulted over a period of days,” police said in a statement.
On May 2, Gowryshankar Kathirkamanathan, 30, of Ajax, was taken into custody. At the time of his arrest, police said he faced a total of 15 charges, including five counts of sexual assault.
On Friday, DRPS officers said further investigation revealed that the accused was having an alleged sexual relationship with another 14-year-old female.
As a result, Kathirkamanathan faces new charges that include sexual assault, sexual interference, assault, invitation to sexual touching, making child pornography and possessing child pornography.
He was held for a bail hearing. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact DRPS. 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/05/29/maha-rfk-jr-ai-garble/
https://archive.md/qqEBT
Some of the citations that underpin the science in the White House’s sweeping “MAHA Report” appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence, resulting in numerous garbled scientific references and invented studies, AI experts said Thursday.
Of the 522 footnotes to scientific research in an initial version of the report sent to The Washington Post, at least 37 appear multiple times, according to a review of the report by The Washington Post. Other citations include the wrong author, and several studies cited by the extensive health report do not exist at all, a fact first reported by the online news outlet NOTUS on Thursday morning.
Some references include “oaicite” attached to URLs — a definitive sign that the research was collected using artificial intelligence. The presence of “oaicite” is a marker indicating use of OpenAI, a U.S. artificial intelligence company.
A common hallmark of AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, is unusually repetitive content that does not sound human or is inaccurate —as well as the tendency to “hallucinate” studies or answers that appear to make sense but are not real.
AI technology can be used legitimately to quickly survey the research in a field. But Oren Etzioni, a professor emeritus at the University of Washington who studies AI, said he was shocked by the sloppiness in the MAHA Report.
“Frankly, that's shoddy work,” he said. “We deserve better.”
“The MAHA Report: Making Our Children Healthy Again,” which addressed the root causes of America’s lagging health outcomes, was written by a commission of Cabinet officials and government scientific leaders. It was led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a history of misstating science, and written in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump. 
Tate brothers face rape and trafficking charges in U.K.
May 28, 20255:52 PM ET
By
Willem Marx
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/28/nx-s1-5414499/tate-brothers-rape-trafficking-assault-uk
LONDON — British prosecutors have confirmed that Andrew and Tristan Tate face 21 criminal charges in total, that include rape, assault and human trafficking.
It's the first time that Britain's Crown Prosecution has revealed the detailed charges, that it first authorized last year after a police service in Bedfordshire -- north of London --- provided it with a file of allegations dating back to a period between 2012 and 2015.
The two British-American brothers will face the charges once they are extradited back to the U.K. from Romania, where they currently live, but their extradition is still pending because they are still involved in separate criminal proceedings in Romania. They involve allegations of having formed a criminal gang to exploit women.
Andrew Tate, 38, a former kickboxing champion turned self-styled misogynist influencer is accused of 10 offences tied to 3 alleged victims. The charges include rape, human trafficking, a form of assault known under British law as "actual bodily harm", and a type of prostitution for financial gain.
His younger brother Tristan, 36, has been charged with 11 offences, including rape and trafficking, that are tied to a single alleged victim.
A European arrest warrant has already been issued and approved by the courts in Romanian, but a travel ban on the Tates was lifted recently, allowing them to fly to Florida via private jet in February, before returning to the Romanian capital of Bucharest in March. 
https://www.ft.com/content/6624600c-0fe0-4e03-b728-b341a23ef797
https://archive.md/5iKQY
US GDP shrank by an annualised 0.2 per cent in the first quarter, according to revised data that confirmed the first contraction since 2022, as Donald Trump’s trade war ripples across the world’s biggest economy.
The fall in GDP compared with a 2.4 per cent expansion in the final quarter of 2024, and was largely caused by a surge in imports as companies rushed to buy foreign-made goods before the US president’s “liberation day” tariff announcement in early April.
Thursday’s reading from the Bureau of Economic Analysis was revised slightly higher from the 0.3 per cent contraction reflected in initial data released last month. But the change was not enough to put the economy in positive territory for the period as consumer spending cooled.
The statistics for the first quarter were distorted by a surge in imports — driven by companies’ tariff fears — that were not offset by a corresponding rise in inventory investment or purchases by consumers.
While investment rose in the revised statistics, that was largely counteracted by a fall in the rate of growth in consumer spending — especially in services and housing — as Americans contend with higher prices and uncertainty stemming from the trade war.
“You are seeing consumers that have slowed consumption,” said Andrew Hollenhorst at Citi. “That kind of aligns with what we’ve been hearing, especially from hotels and airlines, that services spending has been slowing.”
US consumer prices have risen more than 25 per cent since 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, which has weighed on consumer sentiment reports and prompted anxious shoppers to cut back.
The balance between imports and exports is an important factor in calculating GDP, which also measures domestic consumption, investment and government spending. The BEA calculates GDP based on numerous reports, so the figures do not always align precisely. https://www.thetimes.com/us/business/article/taco-trump-wall-street-rdln5s0l8
A coded critique adopted by Wall Street traders to describe President Trump’s whipsawing tariff policies made its way to a White House press briefing on Wednesday.
The “Taco trade”, an acronym that stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out”, describes the pattern of Trump’s threats of blanket tariffs, which often sends stocks tumbling only for the market to recover when he pauses or lifts them entirely.
It has become a favoured term among stockbrokers and analysts trying to navigate the president’s on-again, off-again tariff policies.
Trump appeared unimpressed with the Taco acronym when asked about it by a CNBC reporter during a swearing-in ceremony for Jeanine Pirro as interim US attorney for the District of Columbia. 
https://abc7.com/post/trump-administration-backtracks-harvard-foreign-student-policy/16587931/
Ahead of a federal hearing over Harvard University's ability to enroll international students, the acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a letter Thursday giving the school 30 days to challenge the administration's revocation of that certification.
The letter formally notifies the school that its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification would be withdrawn -- but backtracks from the administration's earlier stance by giving Harvard 30 days to achieve compliance.
"Your school has 30 calendar days from the date of service of this Notice to submit written representations under oath and supported by documentary evidence, setting forth the reasons why SEVP should not withdraw your school's certification," the notice said. "If SEVP certification is withdrawn, your school will then no longer be approved to enroll or continue to educate nonimmigrant students."
The notice comes one week after Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced she had ordered the termination of the school's SEVP certification.
"As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' policies, you have lost this privilege," Noem wrote last week in a letter to the university.
At a hearing Thursday shortly after the Trump administration issued its 30-day notice, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said she plans to issue a preliminary injunction that prohibits the Trump administration from revoking Harvard's SEVP certification without first going through the legally required procedure. 
Elon Musk, having accomplished none of the goals he announced at the beginning of his tenure and with the national debt higher than when he started, is leaving his post at DOGE months earlier than originally planned. The billionaire says he intends to use his newfound downtime to spend more time crying on Twitter and ignoring his 13+ fatherless children.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5322954-musk-thanks-trump-end-doge/
Elon Musk expressed gratitude to President Trump in a Wednesday message marking the end of his special government employee status, the latest sign of his declining involvement in the White House.
In a post on X, Musk thanked Trump for the opportunity to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a panel focused on dramatically slashing the size of the federal budget and workforce.
“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,” Musk wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter before he purchased it in 2022.
“The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”
As a special government employee, Musk was limited to 130 days in service to Trump and spent much of the start of the new administration close by the president’s side. This makes him look weak, small, and all the republicans who voted for him now have to look and see at this thing that just happened.
Here are several sources:
https://cnbc.com
https://msnbc.com
https://abc7.com
https://washingtonpost.com
https://thehill.com
Look at how this specific thing happened, do you now see why you were wrong and we were right? Every single thing he says is a lie and everything we say is the truth. I don't misunderstand any of this, I am objective and understand geopolitics and have no agenda to mislead.
Also Appeals court allows for Trump tariffs to move ahead, or something.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-administration-elon-tariffs-medicaid-immigration-live-updates-rcna209644 
France's male Prime Minister was physically assaulted by his wife (an old lady who groomed him when he was a teenager). Nobody cares because France is a feminist country that accepts abuse of men.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brigitte-macron-emmanuel-macron-wife-france-president-hanoi/
Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte Macron appears to shove his face upon arrival in Hanoi
Hanoi, Vietnam — French President Emmanuel Macron's office on Monday downplayed an incident in which his wife appeared to push his face away as he arrived in Vietnam to begin a Southeast Asian tour.
Video shot by The Associated Press in Hanoi on Sunday evening shows Macron's plane door opening, revealing him. His wife Brigitte's arms then emerge from the left of the open doorway, she places both hands on her husband's face and gives it a shove.
The president appears startled but quickly recovers and turns to wave through the open door. She remains concealed by the aircraft body, making it impossible to see her facial expression or body language. 
Trump, who campaigned on stopping illegal immigration, is pretty much failing completely to arrest any people who cross the border, and is instead arresting US citizens, as he fails to meet his arrest targets
https://www.newsweek.com/ice-arrests-border-patrol-white-house-pressure-more-2078025
More migrants are being arrested and detained within the United States than at the southwest border, but the White House reportedly wants even more to be held despite limited capacity in detention centers.
In a major shift for immigration enforcement, the latest detention data from ICE showed 11,367 of those booked into facilities in May were arrested by the agency, while 2,415 came from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
In May 2024, 20,131 arrivals were arrested by CBP, compared to 8,451 by ICE.
Both agencies operate under the Department of Homeland Security.
The shift in arrests comes amid an Axios report Wednesday that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is putting pressure on Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to triple the number of daily arrests made by her agents, including those working for ICE.
"I think it's evident to everybody that the last administration's policies they rolled back, on the first days in the office of the Biden administration was basically an unguarded, unprotected border. Everybody was given free rein to come here, it was just a mess," Scott Mechkowski, a retired deputy field director with ICE, told Newsweek Wednesday. "I think President Trump's administration, his policies, are effective and shut down the mass migration and it makes border enforcement more manageable now."
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment via email Wednesday morning. 
https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musk-trump-openai-stargate-abu-dhabi-e2689615?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=ASWzDAgZoB4BgCHHkOt0mwWD47gnFm9ndkU7cCKUNZB6vt20IjcxTdWQKTEL&gaa_ts=6838b725&gaa_sig=j6Nh3dc9ksvZRdwxggNmU4OafeqfSTlJhSM4Rxc3fkdQZo4O9eJ4cI-XjQSdhbk0wVNsGsVoHSDZDbl7hA9cRg%3D%3D
OpenAI led a group of American technology giants that won a deal last week to build one of the world’s largest artificial-intelligence data centers in Abu Dhabi. Behind the scenes, Elon Musk worked hard to try to derail the deal if it didn’t include his own AI startup, according to people familiar with the matter.
On a call with officials at G42, an AI firm controlled by the brother of the United Arab Emirates’ president, Musk had a warning for those assembled: Their plan had no chance of President Trump signing off on it unless his company xAI was included in the deal, according to some of the people.
Musk had learned just before Trump’s mid-May tour of three Gulf countries that OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman was going to be on the trip and that a deal in the U.A.E. was in the works, and grew angry about it, according to White House officials. He then said he would also join the trip, and appeared alongside the president in Saudi Arabia.
After Musk’s complaints, Trump and U.S. officials reviewed the deal terms and decided to move forward. The White House officials said Musk didn’t want a deal that seemed to benefit Altman. Aides discussed how to best calm Musk down, one of the officials said, because Trump and David Sacks, the president’s AI and crypto adviser, wanted to announce the deal before the end of the president’s trip to the Middle East.
Musk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 
US trade court says Donald Trump’s global tariffs are illegal
https://www.ft.com/content/bd6479b2-b7e5-42c2-ae17-779e57b02637
A US court has ruled that Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff scheme is illegal, in a blow to the White House that could throw the president’s global trade policy into disarray.
The US Court of International Trade found on Wednesday that Trump did not have the authority to use the emergency economic powers legislation that he cited when he imposed sweeping global tariffs last month.
The ruling by the panel of judges is a dramatic twist in the trade wars that Trump has launched since returning to the presidency, and comes as his administration is racing to cut trade deals after suspending the imposition of most of its higher tariffs.
While the Trump administration said it would launch an appeal, the ruling will embolden opponents of the tariffs in corporate America, foreign capitals and the US Congress.
The judgment affects levies imposed on April 2, including a baseline 10 per cent tariff and higher so-called reciprocal duties on many countries, but not sectoral tariffs that he has also imposed on steel and car imports.
S&P 500 futures were up 1.5 per cent on Thursday, while the dollar rose about 0.3 per cent against a basket of six currencies. The Euro Stoxx 50 in Europe was up 0.5 per cent and Japan’s exporter-heavy Nikkei 225 climbed 1.8 per cent.
The court made its ruling in response to two cases brought by small businesses and a group of US states. In the ruling, it said the executive orders in which Trump announced the tariffs “are declared to be invalid as contrary to law”. 
After Donald Trump and his White House team unveiled “The MAHA Report: Making Our Children Healthy Again” last week, The New York Times noted, “The document echoes talking points Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has championed for decades.”
That was among the obvious red flags surrounding the report. Kennedy is, after all, notorious for pushing unscientific conspiracy theories and claiming, among other things, that Wi-Fi causes “leaky brain.” Any document reflecting his ideas related to health care policy should reflexively be treated with skepticism.
With this in mind, no one was especially surprised when the White House report started crumbling under scrutiny. The Washington Post reported, “Some of the report’s suggestions ... stretched the limits of science, medical experts said. Several sections of the report offer misleading representations of findings in scientific papers.”
That was last week. This week, NOTUS advanced these concerns, reporting that the administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” report “misinterprets some studies and cites others that don’t exist, according to the listed authors.”
For example, the administration’s document listed epidemiologist Katherine Keyes as the first author of a study on anxiety in adolescents — except she didn’t write it.
“The paper cited is not a real paper that I or my colleagues were involved with,” Keyes told NOTUS. “We’ve certainly done research on this topic, but did not publish a paper in JAMA Pediatrics on this topic with that co-author group, or with that title.”
>https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-administrations-maha-report-cites-nonexistent-scientific-studies-rcna209732 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-27/texas-lawmakers-require-the-ten-commandments-in-every-classroom
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2025/05/26/texas-ten-commandments-bill-house-vote/83857719007/
Texas lawmakers voted to require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, advancing a conservative priority before the end of the state legislature’s session next week.
If signed by Governor Greg Abbott, also a Republican, the measure would require schools to show posters or framed copies of the biblical mandates in clearly visible locations. Schools that don’t already own copies that are at least 16 by 20 inches (41 by 51 centimeters) for each classroom can use district funds to buy them.
The legislative approval puts Texas at the forefront of an initiative that opponents in other parts of the country have assailed as a threat to the US Constitution’s freedom-of-religion protections. Last year, a federal judge blocked a Louisiana law that required that state’s classrooms to display the Ten Commandments. Texas legislators will require the state attorney general to defend schools if they are sued over the displays.
The Ten Commandments bill adds to a series of conservative education priorities passed by the Texas legislature in recent months, including a $1 billion school-choice program long sought by Abbott. 
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-administrations-stops-new-student-visa-interviews-rcna209305
The Trump administration on Tuesday stopped scheduling new interviews for international students seeking visas to study in the United States as the State Department prepares for expanded social media screening of applicants, according to an internal cable seen by NBC News.
The directive was widely circulated to all U.S. diplomatic and consular posts abroad and signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Politico first reported the cable.
The move is the Trump administration’s latest strike on higher education in general and international students in particular as it cuts financial support to Harvard and arrests visa-holding students from abroad.
The State Department said it would issue further guidance to consulates and embassies in the coming days.
“Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor visa appointment capacity," the cable said.
The memo also warned of “potentially significant implications for consular section operations, processes, and resource allocations” in a clear indication of the delay likely for student visa applications.
“Consular sections will need to take into consideration the workload and resource requirements of each case prior to scheduling them going forward,” the cable said, adding the priority should be on “services for U.S. citizens, immigrant visas, and fraud prevention.”
It was unclear how the prospective students’ social media would be screened as part of the expanded vetting procedures. The public views and speech of international students have come under increased scrutiny during the Trump administration. 
Republican Arkansas becomes the first state to ban price gouging by drug retailers, as they have now signed legislation which prevents drug middlemen, known as Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), from owning and operating pharmacies.
You may remember this issue from 2024 when Democrats gave a bunch of lip service on the issue and as normal projected it onto Republicans but were unwilling to do anything about it themselves.
Republicans stepped up and banned this abusive practice. CVS is now scared that it can't price gouge insurance and patients anymore
https://www.newsweek.com/cvs-arkansas-pbm-law-closure-risk-2077504
All CVS Locations in One State at Risk Over PBM Law
CVS has told Newsweek that some of Arkansas' only 24-hour pharmacies are at-risk of closure because of new state law signed by Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders last month.
Reports over the weekend suggested the pharmacy giant was looking to close all 23 of its stores in the state, ahead of legislation which prevents drug middlemen, known as Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), from owning and operating pharmacies.
"All of our 23 Arkansas stores are currently open and will continue to operate for the immediate future. We're doing everything we can to continue to provide pharmacy services to our 340,000+ Arkansas pharmacy patients," a CVS spokesperson said Tuesday morning.
CVS said that passing Act 624, as the bill became known, puts services available to its customers at risk. Those who advocated for the move said they wanted to protect independent pharmacies and stop patients from being abused
Sanders said in April that PBMs "take advantage of lax regulations to abuse customers" as she made Arkansas the first state to ban drug giants from owning pharmacies.
The governor and her Attorney General Tim Griffin said that PBMs had taken advantage of their position as price negotiators to benefit the pharmacies they owned and their shareholders, damaging independents in the process. 
Trump says Putin has 'gone absolutely CRAZY,' considering more sanctions on Russia
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/trump-says-putin-has-gone-absolutely-crazy-considering-more-sanctions-russia-2025-05-26/
Summary:
-Russia launches large-scale attacks for three consecutive nights
-Trump says considering more sanctions on Russia
-Trump says Zelenskiy should stop talking the way he does
-Zelenskiy says air attacks are Putin's 'political choice'
-Kremlin suggests Trump is emotionally overloaded
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW/KYIV, May 26 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin had "gone absolutely CRAZY" by unleashing a massive aerial attack on Ukraine and said he was weighing new sanctions on Moscow, though he also scolded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Trump posted the remark on social media as sleeping Ukrainians woke to a third consecutive night of huge Russian aerial attacks, listening for hours to drones buzzing near their homes and eruptions of Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire.
The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here.
"Something has happened to him (Putin). He has gone absolutely CRAZY!" Trump said of the Russian president on Truth Social.
"I've always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that's proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!"
Trump also criticised Zelenskiy, posting that the Ukrainian leader "is doing his Country no favours by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don't like it, and it better stop."
The Kremlin, asked about Trump's remark about Putin being "crazy," thanked the U.S. people and Trump for their assistance in launching peace negotiations but suggested Trump and others might be emotionally overloaded. 
https://www.mensjournal.com/entertainment/aziz-ansari-keanu-reeves-good-fortune
Aziz Ansari stars opposite Keanu Reeves in the R-rated comedy Good Fortune, which also happens to be the comedian's directorial debut, a major new career step for the Hollywood funnyman.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Ansari had never met Reeves prior to casting him. Before that, Ansari's only experience with the legendary actor came as a fan, watching Reeves in 1994's Speed—at a drive-in theater—and then 1999's The Matrix. Those two films, Ansari told the outlet, were two of his "formative theatrical experiences."
When Reeves' name came up in casting, Ansari wasn't so sure.
“That guy just seems like he's on a different planet, you know what I mean?" he told Entertainment Weekly. "It doesn't seem like we would be able to interact."
After meeting in London, Ansari proposed an idea to the John Wick star that would rid the awestruck sensation and those crazy jitters about directing someone like Reeves.
“I was like, ‘Hey man, we got to hang out a few times, so I'm not freaked out being around you. You know what I mean?’ So he was like, ‘I get what you mean,'" Ansari recalled to Entertainment Weekly. "So, we hung out, and he came over to my house. I made him Indian food, and we hung out for a while, and he told me all these stories. And then we went to dinner a couple of times, and I tried to really spend time with him to get to know him a little bit so I could become comfortable around him.”
Good Fortune also stars Seth Rogen, who plays the role of wealthy employer, Jeff. Arj (Ansari) is a struggling gig worker and Gabriel (Reeves) is an angel who tries to show Arj that money can't buy happiness. To prove the point, Angel swaps Arj's life with Jeff, which leads to Angel losing his wings as punishment because Arj is, in fact, much happier living it up as rich Jeff. 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/girl-17-injured-brutal-body-005435354.html
Footage of a violent arrest last week that has since gone viral on social media shows a police officer brutally body slamming a 17-year-old girl who was reportedly handcuffed.
The May 21 incident occurred in the parking lot of the San Bernardino Food4Less grocery at around 2 p.m., according to Najee Ali, a spokesperson for the family who spoke at a Sunday press conference outside the San Bernardino Police Department.
Police said they were called to the area on reports of a person trespassing and someone actively trying to fight other people inside the Food4Less.
Cellphone video captured the moment the teen, standing face first against the police cruiser, was lifted off her feet and viciously slammed to the ground by the officer.
The young Black girl, a San Bernardino resident who has only been identified as Erin, suffered several injuries during the incident and required immediate medical treatment for a dislocated wrist and cuts to her chin and face that required stitches. 
https://www.thetimes.com/article/d1788dd7-da0c-4954-b838-716a8ad67959
JD Vance takes pride in declaring himself to be a “Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart” but a trawl of genealogy records has found no evidence linking the US vice-president to Ireland.
In an attempt to link Vance to Ulster, a DUP minister commissioned researchers to dig into the ancestral past of the controversial Republican Party politician.
A glossy 24-page dossier titled “The Family Footsteps of JD Vance” was produced, but researchers admitted they had “not established a conclusive family link” to Northern Ireland.
Gordon Lyons, the Northern Ireland minister for communities, had been hoping to present a copy of the report personally to Vance over the St Patrick’s Day period in Washington DC.
President Trump’s right-hand man has long claimed to have Celtic links, writing in his bestselling 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy: “To understand me, you must understand that I am a Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart.”
As Scots-Irish, or Ulster-Scots, his family history would be tied directly to plantation-era Scots settlers whose descendants, generations after arrival in Ireland, set out for America.
One historian in Northern Ireland had noted at the time that one of Vance’s ancestors might have been killed during the 1689 Siege of Derry, a powerful event in the unionist story during which Protestants held out in the walled city against Catholic forces for 105 days.
That point was raised within the Department for Communities, as research for the dossier was commissioned via the Public Records Office for Northern Ireland in November.
Emails obtained via a freedom of information request show that in February Lyons’s office was advised that “it has not been possible to establish conclusive proof of a direct Vance link back to Ulster at this stage”. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/business/trump-media-bitcoin.html
Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, said on Tuesday that it would raise $2.5 billion from institutional investors to invest in Bitcoin, continuing its transformation from a social media company into a financial services and crypto play.
Trump Media, whose largest shareholder is President Trump, said it would raise $1.5 billion from about 50 institutional investors by selling roughly 58 million shares. The company is planning to raise an additional $1 billion from the sale of bonds that can also be converted into shares at a later date.
The announcement came as the president and his family have become more involved in a number of crypto companies. Mr. Trump owns a little over 50 percent of Trump Media’s stock, making his roughly $2.7 billion stake one of his most valuable investments.
The sale of the new shares will potentially dilute the value of Trump Media’s stock, including the 115 million shares that Mr. Trump owns. The president’s shares are held in a trust managed by his eldest son, Donald Jr., who also is a Trump Media board member. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/25/trump-50percent-tariffs-eu-july-9.html
President Donald Trump said Sunday that he agreed to an extension on the 50% tariff deadline on the European Union until July 9.
“I received a call today from Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, requesting an extension on the June 1st deadline on the 50% Tariff with respect to Trade and the European Union,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“I agreed to the extension — July 9, 2025 — It was my privilege to do so,” he added.
Trump’s post came after Von der Leyen said that she had a “good call” with Trump, but needed until July 9 to “reach a good deal.”
“The EU and US share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship,” she wrote on X.
“Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively,” she continued. 
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mob-wreaks-havoc-downtown-l-002636151.html
It's unclear why dozens of people converged at the intersection just south of downtown Los Angeles, but some were dressed to party, wearing pink platform heels and cat ears, according to video shot by news outlet OnScene.TV. A man gulped from a jug filled with a flammable liquid that he spat onto a torch, throwing flames into the night sky.
As a helicopter circled overhead, a man wearing a leather jacket clambered up a light pole, his feet perched on a street sign. He pulled out his phone and appeared to film himself talking into the camera.
The crowd's attention turned to an A Line train, which had stopped along its route on Washington Boulevard. According to the footage, vandals within the crowd began spray-painting the train and hammering on the windows.
The Los Angeles Police Department was alerted at 12:12 a.m. Sunday by a caller who said five male suspects had entered a train car and were vandalizing the interior, said Officer Kevin Terzes, an LAPD spokesperson.
Video showed dozens of LAPD officers massed in a skirmish line across the street from the mob, gripping black and green riot guns that fire foam rounds.
At 12:19 a.m., the LAPD received another call of people being "disruptive" on a train at Washington Boulevard and Trinity Street, Terzes said.
The officer said no one was arrested in connection with either call. It wasn't clear whether, separately, the LAPD arrested anyone in the group shown on video spray-painting the facades of a Panda Express, Waba Grill, dialysis center and medical clinic. 
https://www.cbs17.com/news/north-carolina-news/fema-denies-nc-appeal-for-helene-recovery-match/
FEMA will not reverse its decision to deny matching 100% of the State of North Carolina’s expenditures used for Hurricane Helene recovery.
In a letter to Governor Josh Stein (D) dated May 22nd, 2025, FEMA’s acting administrator, David Richardson, said:
“This is in response to your April 25, 2025, appeal of the denial of your request for an extension to the cost share waiver under major disaster FEMA-4827-DR that was declared on September 28, 2024, due to Tropical Storm Helene. You specifically requested an extension of the 100 percent federal cost share for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance for an additional 180 days.
After a careful and thorough review of all the information available, including that contained in your initial request for a cost share adjustment and appeal, we have concluded that an extension of the 100 percent federal cost share for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance for an additional 180 days under major disaster declaration FEMA-4827-DR is not warranted.”
The letter did not offer an explanation as to why FEMA deemed the reimbursement is not warranted. The decision leaves it up to the state to figure out how to pay for at least $200 million in additional recovery expenses. Anthropic says its new AI model Claude Opus 4 sometimes pursues 'extremely harmful actions' like blackmail.
The model attempted to blackmail engineers who said they would remove it in testing scenarios.
Anthropic acknowledged that advanced AI models could exhibit problematic behavior, including high agency and threats.
-
https://tfppwire.com/during-tests-new-ai-model-blackmailed-developers-to-avoid-being-replaced-with-a-new-version/ 
CORRUPT Commander In Chief, Donald Trump, is humiliated by CNN exposing his plot to sell the white house
https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/2059871/CNN-breaking-news-Donald-Trump
CNN airs 'breaking news' – and it's devastating for Donald Trump
Donald Trump has been accused of "putting a 'for sale' sign on the White House" after a fundraising dinner he held was branded "corrupt"
A rep for Donald Trump was forced to publicly step out and defend a lavish black tie bash he'd held for wealthy investors in his cryptocurrency accounts. As Democrat protestors furiously brandished signs reading: "Democracy, not kleptocracy!", the rep denied any conflict of interest, stating: "It's absurd for anyone to insinunate that the president is profitting off this presidency!"
However, according to a CNN breaking news report, benefitting the president was "exactly what this dinner was intended to do". In a special investigation, the channel exposed how crypto-billionaire Justin Sun, who'd been charged with fraud and market manipulation during the Biden administration, had reportedly been fearful of returning to the US ever since. However, when Trump returned to office, the legal action was paused and he was one of the special guests of honour at Trump's event, even receiving a "private tour".
READ MORE: CNN interrupted as Donald Trump 'breaking news' sparks tense row on air [LATEST]
The event, with a guest-list of more than 200 people, was "closed to the public and press but wide open to those investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Trump' family's cryptocurrency accounts".
The White House declined to release a list of guests, claiming it was a "private event" that he was attending in his own time - but some investors published video footage on social media.
Guests dined on Trump's organic green field salad, fillet mignon and warm lava cake, while Justin Sun - said to be one of Trump's "best customers" - was reportedly given a $100,000 (£73,833) watch. 
https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/utah-lawmakers-own-study-found-gender-affirming-care-benefits-trans-youth-will-they-lift-the-treatment-ban
Utah‘s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth was meant to be a moratorium, giving lawmakers the chance to reevaluate the policy once experts reviewed research on the impacts of treatment.
This week, nearly 2 ½ years after the law took effect, lawmakers received the findings of that study.
Utah health care experts concluded, in a more than 1,000-page report, “Overall, there were positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes” as a result of gender-affirming care. But some Republican legislators are already dismissing those findings.
“Young kids and teenagers should not be making life-altering medical decisions based on weak evidence,” Rep. Katy Hall, R-South Ogden, the House sponsor of the 2023 ban, and Rep. Bridger Bolinder, R-Grantsville, who chairs the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Interim Committee, said in a joint statement to The Salt Lake Tribune.
“Utah was right to lead on this issue,” they continued, “and the public agrees — polls show clear majority support both statewide and nationally. Simply put, the science isn’t there, the risks are real, and the public is with us. We intend to keep the moratorium in place.” 
ICE Arrests Mississippi Father at His Citizenship Hearing,
ICE transported Kasper to the Louisiana ICE Processing Center.
Kasper has never been charged with or convicted of any crime. He has not been accused of being a member of a gang. What led the government to rip Kasper out of the arms of his family was a single document. Form I-751, a “Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence,” was just one of the endless documents he needed on his decade-plus journey to American citizenship.
Kasper and his wife, Savannah (Nee)Hobart, never submitted that form, which was due all the way back in 2015. She had suffered a stillbirth, losing their 1st child, and in the days of grief that followed, the deadline slipped right past them. But Kasper’s naturalization continued unimpeded. He corresponded with immigration officials numerous times over the next 10 years, and says agents never warned him that a critical document was missing. He paid taxes each year, reliably contributing a portion of his labor to the nation he already felt a part of.
Together with Savannah, they had 4 more children. He became a foreman at his job, and as 2025 arrived, he prepared for the final meeting with immigration services to formalize his naturalization and become an American citizen after spending nearly half of his life building a family here.
10 years after his first arrival in the U.S., 4 years after their miscarriage, and 6 years before he was chained to a seat on a bus in Memphis.
More than a month has passed since Savannah last saw Kasper, as ICE took him away in Tennessee. She is 6 months pregnant with their 5th child.
https://www.mississippifreepress.org/ice-arrests-mississippi-father-at-his-citizenship-hearing-threatening-deportation/ 
New Harvard CAPS Harris poll report Americans are extremely optimistic about America (link: https://harvardharrispoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/HHP_May2025_KeyResults.pdf)
Highlights:
- for the first time since COVID, over 50% of Americans think the economy is strong
- 6pt swing upward in people's opinion about their personal finances
- GOP net approval +4%
- Democratic net approval -16%
- US military, police most well liked groups. Hamas, Russia, China the least
- economy and immigration are the most important issues
- plurality believe trump is not meeting expectations, but majority believe he's better than biden
https://www.masslive.com/politics/2025/05/new-poll-reveals-major-shift-on-trumps-economy.html
New poll reveals major shift on Trump’s economy
President Donald Trump’s approval ratings may be underwater, but a new poll shows the Republican president making an important gain.
For the first time since July 2021, a narrow majority of American voters believe the American economy is strong, according to the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris poll.
Fifty-one percent of the poll’s 1,903 registered voter respondents offered that sentiment, compared to 49% who said it’s weak. That puts it right in the poll’s 2.2% margin of error.
That’s still an improvement over last month, when voter sentiment cratered amid the launch of Trump’s trade war and his tariff campaign. In April, 46% of those surveyed said the economy was strong, compared to 54% who said it was weak.
A plurality of respondents, 42%, said they believe the country is on the right track. But the poll also found sharp partisan divisions, with more Republicans (76%) than Democrats (17%) and independents (30%) who said the same thing. 
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2ekvnrkpno
>An Amazonian tribe has sued the New York Times (NYT) over a report about the community gaining access to high-speed internet, which it claims led to its members being labelled as porn addicts.
>The defamation lawsuit said the US newspaper's report portrayed the Marubo tribe as "unable to handle basic exposure to the internet" and highlighted "allegations that their youth had become consumed by pornography".
>The lawsuit also named TMZ and Yahoo as defendants, and said their news stories "mocked their youth" and "misrepresented their traditions". The NYT said its report did not say any of the tribe's members were addicted to porn. TMZ and Yahoo have been contacted for comment.
>The Marubo, an Indigenous community of about 2,000 people, is seeking at least $180m (£133m) in damages. The NYT's story, written nine months after the Marubo gained access to Starlink, a satellite-internet service from Elon Musk's SpaceX, said the tribe was "already grappling with the same challenges that have racked American households for years".
>This included "teenagers glued to phones", "violent video games" and "minors watching pornography", the report said. It stated that a community leader and vocal critic of the internet was "most unsettled by the pornography", and had been told of "more aggressive sexual behaviour" from young men.
>The report also noted the perceived benefits of the internet among the tribe, including the ability to alert authorities to health issues and environmental destruction and stay in touch with faraway family.
>The named plaintiffs, community leader Enoque Marubo and Brazillian activist Flora Dutra, who helped to distribute the 20 $15,000 Starlink antennas to the tribe, said the NYT story helped fuel "a global media storm", according to the Courthouse News Service.
>This, they said, subjected them to "humiliation, harassment and irreparable harm to their reputations and safety". 
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/judge-allows-mahmoud-khalil-to-hold-newborn-son-for-first-time-despite-trump-administration-objections
Detained Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil was allowed to hold his one-month-old son for the first time Thursday after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep the father and infant separated by a plexiglass barrier.
The visit came ahead of a scheduled immigration hearing for Khalil, a legal permanent resident and Columbia University graduate who has been detained in a Louisiana jail since March 8.
He was first person to be arrested under President Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on protesters against the war in Gaza and is one of the few who has remained in custody as his case winds its way through both immigration and federal court.
His request to attend his son’s April 21 birth was denied last month by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The question of whether Khalil would be permitted to hold his newborn child or forced to meet him through a barrier had sparked days of legal fighting, triggering claims by Khalil’s attorneys that he is being subject to political retaliation by the government.
On Wednesday night, a federal judge in New Jersey, Michael Farbiarz, intervened, allowing the meeting to go forward Thursday morning, according to Khalil’s attorneys.
The judge’s order came after federal officials said this week they would oppose his attorney’s effort to secure what’s known as “contact visit” between Khalil, his wife Noor Abdalla and their son Deen.
Instead, they said Khalil could be allowed a “non-contact” visit, meaning he would be separated from his wife and son by a plastic divider and not allowed to touch them. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/giant-us-companies-rushing-europe-110024297.html?guccounter=1
(Bloomberg) — The giants of corporate America from Pfizer Inc. (PFE) to Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) are borrowing in euros like never before as the anxiety triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariff threats pushes them to hunt for alternative funding avenues in case their home market freezes up. 
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uk-roll-chemical-castration-sex-offenders-122070271
LONDON -- The British government is to rollout the use of medication to suppress the sex drive of sex offenders, as part of a package of measures to reduce the risk of reoffending and alleviate the pressures on the prison system, which is running out of space.
In a statement to Parliament Thursday following the release of an independent sentencing review, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said so-called chemical castration would be used in 20 prisons in two regions.
“And I am exploring whether mandating the approach is possible," she said. “Of course, it is vital that this approach is taken alongside psychological interventions that target other causes of offending, like asserting power and control.”
Though the review highlighted the treatment would not be relevant for some sex offenders such as rapists driven by power and control, rather than sexual preoccupation, Mahmood said studies show that chemical castration can lead to a 60% reduction in reoffending.
It's been used in Germany and Denmark on a voluntary basis, and in Poland as mandatory for some offenders. 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/mark-zuckerberg-has-a-massive-new-problem-to-deal-with/ar-AA1F7G7L?ocid=TobArticle
When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg first founded his social media website in February 2004 as a way to connect with other Harvard students, he likely never could have dreamed of the challenges he'd have to face as it changed and grew.
Now, 21 years later, Facebook lives under the umbrella of Meta Platforms, the company that Zuckerberg created to gather all of his properties. It also includes Instagram, WhatsApp, and the Meta Reality Labs, which makes the Meta Quest product line.
Zuckerberg is no stranger to challenges, of course — he's had to navigate many to make his company as successful as it is. Despite many claiming they no longer use the platform, Facebook alone still has more than 3 billion active monthly users, making it by far the biggest social media platform out there.
The Facebook founder has been fighting a new kind of challenge lately. His company is at the center of an antitrust case from the Federal Communications Commission, which has accused the technology company of buying its rivals as a way to eliminate competition and keep itself in power.
That trial is ongoing, but while Zuckerberg fights it, it looks as if a new bill signed by President Trump will need to be next on his agenda, because it presents a problem that will be very hard for Meta to solve in a timely manner. WASHINGTON, May 22. /TASS/. Two employees of the Israeli embassy in the United States were shot and killed in Washington on Wednesday, CDS News reported, citing law enforcement.
According to the television channel, the incident occurred at 9:15 p.m. local time on Wednesday (1:15 a.m. GMT) when they were leaving the Capital Jewish Museum. Several other embassy employees were wounded.
https://tass.com/emergencies/1961711 https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2025/05/22/grand-rapids-police-officer-christopher-schurr-patrick-lyoya-shooting-death-kent-county-retrial/83789722007/
Schurr, 34, faced up to life in prison on the second-degree murder charge. The former officer shot and killed Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant, in April 2022, when a traffic stop ended in a struggle between the two men over Schurr's Taser.
At a press conference after Becker's announcement, Schurr's attorney, Matt Borgula, said court rulings and trial testimony showed that Lloya had “exclusive control of the Taser” before Schurr made a split-second decision to shoot him. The testimony overcame "misinformation" that was spread by the plaintiff's attorneys and city officials that Lloya was lying prone on the ground and was "executed," he said. 
The President of CBS News and the executive producer of 60 Minutes have have quit their jobs following the lawsuit filed against CBS for deceptively editing a 2024 Kamala Harris interview.
CBS is expected to settle the lawsuit soon.
https://thehill.com/media/5312467-cbs-executives-resign-trump-lawsuit/
Trump-related crisis deepens at CBS News
The departure of two top executives at CBS News in recent weeks has shaken journalists at the outlet and fueled speculation the network’s corporate parent will soon settle a high-profile lawsuit brought against the company by President Trump.
The resignation this week of CBS President Wendy McMahon came just weeks after that of “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens.
The back-to-back resignations served as the latest sign that a brooding crisis for one of the country’s largest and oldest broadcast news networks is reaching an inflection point.
Though they did not mention Trump’s lawsuit explicitly as they announced plans to leave, McMahon and Owens made clear they were convinced they could no longer independently lead CBS, which has come under increased legal and regulatory threat from Trump’s administration.
“In some ways, it feels like Trump has already won this fight,” one Republican political operative told The Hill this week. “He wants to be covered positively by all of these networks, and this is a pretty clear sign his plan to intimidate is working.”
Trump sued CBS News and “60 Minutes” last fall over an interview the program aired with former Vice President Kamala Harris just days before she faced off with Trump in the November election.
As part of his $10 billion suit, the president’s attorneys argued producers for the program intentionally edited portions of the interview with Harris to cast her in a more positive, coherent light. 
A man in Norway woke on May 22, 2025, to find the 135-meter container ship NCL Salten ran aground near his fjord-side house in Byneset by Trondheim.
The ship went off course for unknown reasons while traveling southwest through Trondheim Fjord to Orkanger, with the cause of grounding under police investigation.
The NCL Salten, a Cypriot-flagged boxship owned by North Sea Container Line, had 16 crew and previously ran aground twice, including in 2023 at Hadsel.
Neighbor Jostein Jorgensen woke up to the sound of a ship speeding toward the shore and, after repeatedly ringing his friend’s doorbell with no answer, finally reached him by phone. Helberg remarked that although the massive vessel was an imposing presence for now, it wouldn’t be there much longer.
No injuries or oil spills occurred, the ship rested in shallow waters a few meters from the house causing only minor heating pipe damage, while salvage efforts led by the owner and Norwegian Coastal Administration continue.
-
https://www.hna.de/welt/spektakulaerer-kuesten-crash-containerschiff-strandet-im-garten-93748161.html 
Man stripped naked, beaten with poles after calling people 'N-word' in Mississippi bar, police say
https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/man-attacked-after-walking-into-mississippi-bar-and-using-racial-slur-police-say/article_33d95bce-f26a-4284-85d4-161c04c692a8.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot
HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. - A man was attacked after walking into a Mississippi club and using racial slurs, police said.
According to police, the attack happened at C.J. Lounge in Marshall County. Police said the man walked into the venue and started using the "N-word" when referring to patrons.
Officers told FOX13 that the man went to the hospital Wednesday, believing he may have a broken jaw. The incident happened late Saturday night. Police are trying to determine if the attack is a hate crime.
Holly Springs Police provided cell phone footage to FOX13, showing a Tippah County man who had been stripped naked. Police said the people who attacked him are seen pouring beer on him in the video. Seconds before that happened, police said the man was kicked and stomped on nearly every part of his body.
"The guy walked in, and he was very aggressive," said Miles Stone. Stone said he was at the club on Memphis Street late Saturday night when the incident happened. "Other guys in the area were listening, trying to remain calm. They asked him to leave quietly."
Police said the Tippah County man continued to call people racial slurs. In another video provided by Holly Springs Police, the man can be seen outside of the bar speaking erratically and throwing what investigators believe to be gang signs. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/21/in-a-tense-meeting-trump-makes-the-south-african-president-watch-videos-promoting-baseless-claims-of-white-genocide.html
What started as a friendly first meeting between President Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa quickly devolved after a reporter asked Trump about the U.S. decision to admit white South Africans as refugees.
Trump baselessly claimed that there was a genocide against white people in South Africa, which Ramaphosa and other South Africans have vigorously denied.
Wednesday’s heated meeting marks the latest in a string of unusually tense Oval Office meetings with foreign leaders. It comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and South Africa over claims by Trump and Elon Musk about the country’s racial equity laws, which prompted the U.S. to recently admit white South African refugees — while barring refugees from other countries. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/22/trump-harvard-students-international.html
This should be the standard. There is no reason for any college that accepts federal funds to be enrolling international students. Those spots should go to Americans.
Now watch as a bunch of nonAmericans shit themselves and seethe in this thread and talk about how they are entitled to US taxpayer money 
https://parade.com/news/legendary-musician-message-donald-trump
Neil Young has a few things to say about President Donald Trump following his feud with rocker Bruce Springsteen.
The "Cinnamon Girl" rocker, 79, voiced his opinions on his website on Monday, stating that “Bruce and thousands of musicians think you are ruining America. You worry about that instead of the dyin’ kids in Gaza.”
Young continued, saying, “That’s your problem. I am not scared of you. Neither are the rest of us. You shut down FEMA when we needed it most. That’s your problem Trump. STOP THINKING ABOUT WHAT ROCKERS ARE SAYING. Think about saving America from the mess you made.”
While Trump and Springsteen have frequently clashed over the years, the most recent brawl started during a show in England last week when Springsteen spoke about President Donald Trump, referring to "a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration," the New York Times reported.
In response to Springsteen's statement, President Trump took to Truth Social and called Springsteen a "prune."
“I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States,” Trump wrote. “Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy.”
This isn't the first time Young has clashed with Trump. Back in April, Young shared on his website that he feared he wouldn't be allowed back in the United States following his European tour if he continued to speak out against President Trump's policies, Variety reported. 
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/josh-hawley-begs-trump-administration-fema-aid-missouri-1235343815/
Senators grilled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday over her management of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and how the agency — which President Donald Trump has sought to dismantle — is responding to a series of devastating storms across the southern United States.
During a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked Noem what she would do about pending federal disaster declaration requests for the state of Missouri — which has been wracked by a series of deadly tornadoes — that have not been approved by the president. Mississippi, which is still recovering from extreme weather events in March, is also waiting for approval on months-old disaster relief declarations.
“The state has pending three requests for major disaster declarations from earlier storms we’ve lost over a dozen people. Well, actually, if you count the folks we lost just on Friday, we’ve lost almost 20 people now in major storms just in the last two months in Missouri,” Hawley said.
“Will you commit to helping, for those three major disaster declaration requests that are pending, will you expedite those, Secretary Noem, and get those in front of the president, get those approved?” Hawley asked. “We are desperate for the assistance in Missouri.”
Noem replied that she would make sure the applications were put before Trump as soon as possible, and agreed to expedite individual assistance for qualified Missourians impacted by the recent storms.
A prominent Republican lawmaker like Hawley begging a Republican administration to approve emergency aid for a Republican state is a sign of how badly federal agencies responsible for the welfare of vulnerable populations have eroded under Trump. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/us/politics/supreme-court-religious-charter-school-oklahoma.html
A divided Supreme Court rejected a plan on Thursday to allow Oklahoma to use government money to run the nation’s first religious charter school, which would teach a curriculum infused by Catholic doctrine.
The court split 4 to 4 over the Oklahoma plan, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett recusing herself from the case, and the decision provided no reasoning.
That deadlock means that an earlier ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court will be allowed to stand. The state court blocked a proposal for the Oklahoma school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, which was to be operated by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, and aimed to incorporate Catholic teachings into every aspect of its activities. 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/21/nuclear-weapons-leaders-describe-workforce-woes-doge/83770727007/
Top leaders of the agency responsible for the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile admitted to DOGE-related staffing challenges at a Senate hearing.
Asked by Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, if a hiring freeze, resignations and attrition could bring “some pretty important vacancies,” acting National Nuclear Security Agency defense programs head David Hoagland said, “That’s very true.” Hoagland said at the May 20 hearing that his office had "shifted people around" to meet "critical needs."
Hundreds of NNSA staff were fired by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year, amid a $1.7 trillion nuclear weapons upgrade, in a chaotic wave of layoffs. Most were later rehired. Other critical staffers agreed to leave their jobs under DOGE's "fork in the road" resignation offer.
King said NNSA claims that staffing shortages hadn't placed agency's mission at short term risk "strikes me as implausible."
The NNSA struggled with staffing and talent pipeline issues for decades before the new Trump administration, a recent USA TODAY investigation found. Then Musk launched efforts to reduce the federal workforce, which further destabilized the NNSA workforce, experts said.
The agency currently faces a near-total hiring freeze and lost more than 130 of its 2,000 federal employees to the DOGE deferred resignation program. More than 300 more employees were fired and reinstated in February damaging morale. 
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/21/nx-s1-5404970/ambassador-israel-mike-huckabee-interview
TEL AVIV, Israel — The new U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, told NPR he is "outraged" at the leaders of Britain, France and Canada for condemning Israel's new military offensive in Gaza.
"The prolonged suffering for everybody is on Hamas, and I'm outraged that the U.K., Canada, France, they're blaming the wrong perpetrator," Huckabee, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, said in an interview Wednesday at a U.S. Embassy office in Tel Aviv.
Israel launched an intensified offensive in Gaza on Sunday, ordering mass evacuations, stepping up airstrikes throughout the territory and killing hundreds of Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. Under intense international pressure, Israel has begun to allow a small amount of aid into the enclave this week after imposing a total blockade on the entry of food, medicine and other goods for nearly three months — but the new aid has not yet been distributed to civilians in Gaza. https://apnews.com/article/noem-homeland-security-habeas-corpus-trump-338604206f40fed32c2790608d3e5da6
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the constitutional provision that allows people to legally challenge their detention by the government is actually a tool the Trump administration can use in its broader crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border. She called habeas corpus “a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their rights.”
Noem, testifying before a congressional committee Tuesday, gave that response when asked by Sen. Maggie Hassan to define the legal concept.
“That’s incorrect,” the New Hampshire Democrat swiftly interrupted Noem, defining the “legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people.” Hassan, a former attorney who practiced in Boston, went on to call habeas corpus “the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea.”
The back and forth follows comments by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who said earlier this month that President Donald Trump is looking for ways to expand his administration’s legal power to deport migrants who are in the United States illegally. To achieve that, Miller said the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus.
What is habeas corpus?
The Latin term means, literally, “you have the body.” Federal courts use a writ of habeas corpus to bring a prisoner before a neutral judge to determine if imprisonment is legal.
Habeas corpus was included in the Constitution as an import from English common law. Parliament enacted the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, which was meant to ensure that the king released prisoners when the law did not justify confining them. 
https://www.msn.com/en-in/technology/tech-companies/meta-to-fire-around-3-600-employees-mark-zuckerberg-says-he-will-sack-low-performers/ar-BB1rrGh5?ocid=TobArticle&apiversion=v2&noservercache=1&domshim=1&renderwebcomponents=1&wcseo=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1
Meta is set to fire around 3,600 employees as part of its latest performance-based job cuts. The company's CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that roughly 5 per cent of the company's workforce will be affected, as Meta aims to accelerate its performance management process. In a memo to employees, Zuckerberg explained that the company would be moving more swiftly to remove low-performing staff, Bloomberg reports. This follows Meta's earlier decision in 2023 to cut 10,000 jobs in its "year of efficiency" drive.
"I've decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster," he said in a note shared with an internal message board.
Zuckerberg mentioned that the company usually addresses underperformance over a year but will now implement more extensive cuts. Despite the layoffs, Meta plans to replace the roles in 2025, positioning itself for future growth and innovation. The focus in the coming year will be on areas like artificial intelligence (AI), smart glasses, and evolving social media platforms, as Zuckerberg described the upcoming year as "intense."
Meta, which had around 72,000 employees as of September, is expected to notify impacted US-based staff on February 10. Employees outside the US market working for Meta will be informed later. The company reportedly aims to achieve 10 per cent "non-regrettable" attrition by the end of this performance cycle, continuing a similar trend from the previous year. TRUMP DON'T SAY IT! MODS STOP HIM!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/clip-donald-trump-explaining-n-205021334.html
Sitting down with Fox News host Bret Baier to discuss recent developments in the conflict between India and Pakistan, Trump said, "It was tit for tat."
Trump on India-Pakistan: "Everyone was stronger, stronger-- to a point where the next one was gonna be you know what. The n word. You know what the n word is, right? It's the n word. That's very nasty word, right? In a lot of ways. The n word used in a nuclear sense." 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-14502527/Rhian-Sugden-hits-trolls-criticising-breast-reduction-surgery.html
Rhian Sugden has hit back at trolls after they criticised her for wanting breast reduction surgery, claiming she 'shouldn't try to fix what isn't broken'.
The glamour model, 35, who previously admitted that her large F-cup breasts made it 'unbearable' to walk, took to Instagram on Saturday to share a comparison photo - one showing her current large breasts and another showing what they looked like before.
She also posted several screenshots of cruel comments from trolls criticising her decision to reduce her size, before revealing her 'soon-to-be nipple position' to her followers.
Hitting back at the negative comments, she captioned the post with: '(Pic 1 - 12 months apart) (Pic 2 - the type of cr** some of you creatures write) (Pic 3 - my new soon to be nipple position.)'
She continued: 'It's actually quite shameful that I'm actually writing a caption to JUSTIFY what I'm doing with MY body.'
Rhian then explained her reasons for wanting the surgery: '12 months ago before I got pregnant my boobs where large but still at a manageable size of a DD/E cup.'
'After having a baby my size has increased to an F and I’m spilling out of my bras even at that size. I’m having an uplift and a reduction.'
'Boob experts (men) are messaging me telling me to just lose weight and they’ll shrink. Look at me!?? I’m the size I was yet despite your professional advice my melons haven’t shrunk. Who’d have thought?'
She went on: 'My back hurts. I long to wear backless dresses. Buy sexy lingerie, wear no bra when I go out, run, swim without them falling out of my swim suit. They don’t make me happy this big.
'Messaging me and calling me deluded for wanting a reduction to go back to the size I was 12 months ago - is absurd. Seriously, what is wrong with humans these days.
'It’s MY body. It’s my Happiness and it’s MY choice. 
https://theconversation.com/after-another-call-with-putin-it-looks-like-trump-has-abandoned-efforts-to-mediate-peace-in-ukraine-257021
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After a two-hour phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on May 19, US president Donald Trump took to social media to declare that Russia and Ukraine will “immediately start negotiations” towards a ceasefire and an end to the war. He did, however, add that the conditions for peace “will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be”.
With the Vatican, according to Trump, “very interested in hosting the negotiations” and European leaders duly informed, it seems clear that the US has effectively abandoned its stalled mediation efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
It was always a possibility that Trump could walk away from the war, despite previous claims he could end it in 24 hours. This only became more likely on May 16, when the first face-to-face negotiations between Ukraine and Russia for more than three years predictably ended without a ceasefire agreement.
When Trump announced shortly afterwards that he would be speaking to his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts by phone a few days later, he effectively mounted the beginning of a rearguard action. This was further underlined when, shortly before the Trump-Putin call, Vice-President J.D. Vance, explicitly told reporters that the US could end its shuttle diplomacy. 
https://apnews.com/article/trump-melania-intimate-imagery-bill-sign-c7416b4935f8ccac9fd2909e494da9f1
President Donald Trump on Monday signed into law the Take It Down Act, a measure that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation that first lady Melania Trump helped usher through Congress, and he had her sign it, too, despite what sounded like a mild objection on her part.
“C’mon, sign it anyway,” the president told his wife. “She deserves to sign it,” he said.
After she added her signature, the president held up the document to show both of their names to the audience at the ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. Melania Trump’s signature is merely symbolic since first ladies are not elected and they play no role in the enactment of legislation.
In March, Melania Trump used her first public appearance since resuming the role of first lady to travel to Capitol Hill to lobby House members to pass the bill following its approval by the Senate.
At a signing ceremony, she called the new law a “national victory” that will help protect children from online exploitation, including through the use of artificial intelligence to make fake images.
“AI and social media are the digital candy for the next generation, sweet addictive and engineered to have an impact on the cognitive development of our children,” she said. “But unlike sugar, these new technologies can be weaponized, shape beliefs and, sadly, affect emotions and even be deadly.”
The president said the proliferation of images made using AI means that “countless women have been harassed with deepfakes and other explicit images distributed against their will.” He said what’s happening is “just so horribly wrong.”
“Today, we’re making it totally illegal,” Trump said. 
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/trump-administration-to-pay-nearly-5m-to-settle-suit-over-ashli-babbitts-fatal-shooting-in-capitol/
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has agreed to pay just under $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit that Ashli Babbitt’s family filed over her shooting by an officer during the U.S. Capitol riot, according to a person with knowledge of the settlement. The person insisted on anonymity to discuss with The Associated Press terms of a settlement that have not been made public.
The settlement would resolve the $30 million federal lawsuit that Babbitt’s estate filed last year in Washington, D.C. On Jan. 6, 2021, a Capitol police officer shot Babbitt as she tried to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby.
The officer who shot her was cleared of wrongdoing by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia, which concluded that he acted in self-defense and in the defense of members of Congress. The Capitol Police also cleared the officer.
Settlement terms haven’t been disclosed in public court filings. On May 2, lawyers for Babbitt’s estate and the Justice Department told a federal judge that they had reached a settlement in principle but were still working out the details before a final agreement could be signed.
Justice Department spokespeople and two attorneys for the Babbitt family didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment. 
Biden is dying, poor chap. He now has ass cancer in his bones and it's rated at a 9/10 severity on the ass cancer scale.
Best wishes, Mr President Joe Biden. I wish you all the best. You have one foot in the grave and you're still fighting like hell. I hope you get better soon.
Reflecting, I realize that for about three years now I've been assured by posters on this board that Putin has been dying from an aggressive pancreatic cancer and since he invaded Ukraine he's been just 2 weeks away from dying the entire time.
Ironic now that it seems Biden is going to kick the ol bucket first
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5306816-joe-biden-cancer-diagnosis-well-wishes/
Biden’s cancer diagnosis prompts bipartisan outpouring of support
Former President Biden’s political allies and rivals alike sent a flood of well wishes and tributes to the former president on Sunday following news of his cancer diagnosis, praising him as “a fighter.”
The news of Biden’s health challenges came amid renewed scrutiny of his decision to initially run for a second term despite questions about his mental acuity. Several Democrats over the past week went further than in the past by saying that he should have dropped out sooner. And many members of his party expressed frustration that he was returning to the media spotlight amid an avalanche of negative reporting.
But on Sunday, following the announcement of his diagnosis, Democrats and Republicans — including some of his most vocal critics — all struck a somber and respectful note, praising the former president and wishing him well.
“If there’s one person who knows how to turn tragedy into triumph, it’s Joe Biden,” said Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright. “I don’t think cancer of any kind will be a match for Joe Biden.” 
https://theprint.in/world/indian-arrested-in-canada-for-groping-spree-at-public-water-park-victims-include-minors/2170057/
Indian arrested in Canada for ‘groping spree’ at public water park, victims include minors
While 12 victims have been identified, the mother of one said on social media that the number could be higher.
SHIVANI MAGO
New Delhi: The Canadian police have arrested a 25-year-old Indian citizen for allegedly groping at least 12 victims, some of them minors, while walking at a public water park in Moncton, New Brunswick.
The arrest was made Sunday after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police received a report of sexual interference and sexual assault.
The accused was allegedly going around the water park groping people. While 12 victims have been identified, Alicia Hill, the mother of one minor girl, indicated on social media that the number could be higher. The police have encouraged people to come forward in case they knew anything or were at the park that day.
“We are asking parents to speak to their children if they attended this location on July 7. We also want people to know that a sexual assault complaint can be made at any time. If you are a victim of sexual misconduct, please contact us. You will be listened to, and you will be believed,” read a press release by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The police also said an investigation into the matter was underway and while the accused was released from custody, he is scheduled to appear in front of the Moncton Provincial Court on 24 October. According to Canadian law, offences involving sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and exploitation of a young person or child are punishable with a minimum of six months to a maximum of 10 years in jail.
While the identity of the accused has not been revealed, images of him at the water park and of him being arrested by the police were all over the Internet. 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/mark-zuckerberg-says-apple-hasnt-invented-anything-great-since-the-iphone-as-meta-blocks-its-ai-tools/ar-AA1EQ1Gp
Silicon Valley's headline feud just moved from boardrooms to every iPhone screen. As of mid-April, CNET reported that Apple Intelligence—Apple's AAPL new on-device AI suite—no longer works inside Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads or Messenger.
The silent change traced back to Meta Platforms META, which disabled Apple's application interfaces without fanfare.
Error messages appeared first, as iPhone owners tried to launch Apple's Writing Tools or Genmoji inside Meta's apps. PCMag reported that the features still load in Safari, signaling a targeted block rather than a system outage.
Meta's own numbers explain the timing. A Facebook post by Zuckerberg indicates capital spending could rocket to $65 billion in 2025 from $35 billion last year. Those dollars fund custom silicon and fresh server farms. One upcoming facility will draw two gigawatts of electricity—the output of twin nuclear reactors.
All that infrastructure feeds Meta AI, the assistant now woven through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Shutting out Apple nudges millions toward Meta's own chatbot for caption rewrites and sticker generation. Israel Says It Likely Killed Hamas Leader Mohammed Sinwar
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-says-it-likely-killed-hamas-leader-mohammed-sinwar/ar-AA1EZD8m https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/trump-admin-settlement-jan-6-shooting-ashli-babbitt/3917159/
the tRump admin still refuses to bring the evil killer to justice
>you can't post with that subject https://nypost.com/2025/05/17/us-news/ship-carrying-200-people-hits-the-brooklyn-bridge-as-search-and-rescue-operation-underway/
At least two people were killed and 19 others injured after a Mexican Navy training sailing ship collided with the iconic Brooklyn Bridge during a promotional tour on Saturday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said.
"At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries," Adams posted on X.
Nick Corso, a witness, told AFP that it looked like there was a lot of panic aboard the vessel with "lots of screaming" and "some sailors hanging from the masts."
The Cuauhtemoc, a barque built in 1982 with a mast height of 48.2 meters (158 feet) had been on a training maneuver at the time and was damaged in the "mishap," a statement posted by the Mexican Navy on X said.
The cause of the collision is under investigation. Democrats prove once again they hate math and statistics. They think that they should be able to regulate math and statistics and what people can do with mathematics.
Republicans say "No" and block states from enacting regulations which would curtail the usage of math and statistics.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/19/tech/house-spending-bill-ai-provision-organizations-raise-alarm
House Republicans want to stop states from regulating AI. More than 100 organizations are pushing back
New York
CNN
—
More than 100 organizations are raising alarms about a provision in the House’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package that would hamstring the regulation of artificial intelligence systems.
Tucked into President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful” agenda bill is a rule that, if passed, would prohibit states from enforcing “any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems” for 10 years. 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/elon-musk-gets-devastating-news-as-the-anti-tesla-catches-on/ar-AA1EICVU
Once known as the undisputed leader of the electric vehicle (EV) sector, Tesla has struggled since the year started, largely thanks to Elon Musk’s polarizing actions. Even after the CEO announced he would be stepping back from his role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), share prices haven’t garnered any sustainable momentum.
Recently, Tesla revealed that its sales in China are down more than 8% on a year-over-year (YOY) basis while demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) continues to rise. This indicates that the company’s share of an important market is slipping at a highly vital time.
Less than two weeks ago, news broke that Tesla had an unexpected new rival, a startup backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Slate Automotive had been quietly pioneering low-cost electric pickup trucks for years, but has finally entered the market with a splash.
The company produces customizable electric pickup trucks with the traditional design at a sticker price of only $25,000. This low price decreases even more with the federal EV tax credit.
So far, demand for these vehicles is extremely high. Slate just reported that over the weekend of May 10, it exceeded 100,000 reservations. These figures haven’t led to sales yet, but they show that many people are very interested in owning a Slate Automotive electric truck before the vehicle has been released.
This comes at a time when Tesla is facing a significant Cybertruck demand problem. As TheStreet has reported, photos have shown hundreds of Tesla’s futuristic trucks sitting idly at its Texas gigafactory facility, as well as in random parking lots in other states. Translated by MistralAI
https://formiche.net/2025/05/cosa-aspettarsi-dal-primo-vertice-post-brexit-tra-ue-e-uk/#content
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is preparing to host the first post-Brexit summit between the European Union and the United Kingdom in London. At the top of the agenda is cooperation in areas such as trade and, above all, security and foreign policy. There is anticipation for a new defense and security pact, an objective that Labour expressed last year in its election manifesto, which brought it back to power after 14 years of Tory rule.
In recent years, the United Kingdom and the European Union have strengthened cooperation on security, particularly regarding Ukraine. "But a new pact would mark a significant step forward after years of minimal and structured engagement in foreign policy and security since the UK left the bloc," wrote Olivia O'Sullivan, head of the "UK in the World" program at the British think tank Chatham House. For it to lead to significant progress, "any pact should lay the groundwork for deeper cooperation on defense funding, defense industrial planning, and long-term geopolitical strategy," O'Sullivan explained. "Otherwise, there is a risk of avoiding the central challenge: how the UK and the EU can better defend themselves in a less American world," she added.
Greater cooperation on defense and security is a desired goal for both parties. However, it remains to be seen whether, in the medium to long term, the United Kingdom and the European Union can work together on broader foreign policy objectives, especially at a time of change for US global leadership and for multilateral institutions increasingly under pressure. 
Looks like the DNC is up to its old tricks again, rigging elections and ejecting elected leaders
The Hill reports on the chaos at the DNC as they try to eject Hogg from his position for calling for challengers for certain incumbents
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5304916-dnc-turmoil-primary-challengers/
DNC infighting threatens to throw party into ‘chaos’
Infighting at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is threatening to consume Democratic leadership just as the midterms are starting to kick into gear.
The tensions come after a DNC panel moved forward this week with the potential ouster of two elected officials, including gun control activist David Hogg.
Now officials find themselves in a war of words over the issues at play, with Hogg alleging the move is a sign of party insiders seeking to force him out over his calls for supporting primary challengers to certain incumbents.
Though others at the DNC deny the vote was related to Hogg’s efforts, the feud is stirring up drama that Democrats want to avoid as they focus on regaining control of the House and possibly flipping the Senate next year.
“I hate to be the party of chaos when the GOP is doing such a good job of it,” Democratic consultant Marj Halperin said. “This isn’t the priority voters want the DNC to be focused on.”
Pressure had been bubbling up for weeks, even before the DNC’s Credentials Committee voted Monday in favor of holding a new election for the two positions that Hogg and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta currently hold.
Hogg, who was elected to one of the DNC’s vice chair positions in February, first sparked controversy last month when he indicated that his group, Leaders We Deserve, would launch a $20 million effort to back primary challenges to incumbent House Democrats in safe seats. He emphasized that the group wouldn’t target Democrats running in competitive districts or those who have been effective at standing up to President Trump. 
Remember when the White House blocked the release of audio from President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel about his handling of classified documents, arguing that Republicans in Congress only wanted the recordings “to chop them up” and use them for political purposes.?
Now you can listen to his slurred incoherent voice yourself, as he trails off into awkward pauses and gets lost in unrelated topics, unaware of the original question! Listen as he doesn't know when his son died, and as he fails to formulate basic sentences, forgetting what he just said and asks what he was talking about, before trailing off talking about train rides before forgetting yet again what he was talking about about! Hear his attorney ask if he needs a pudding break!
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/16/biden-hur-tape-special-counsel-audio
Amid long, uncomfortable pauses, Joe Biden struggled to recall when his son died, when he left office as vice president, what year Donald Trump was elected or why he had classified documents he shouldn't have had, according to audio Axios obtained of his October 2023 interviews with special counsel Robert Hur.
This is how that part of the interview is recounted in the transcript: Biden says, "OK, yeah. In 2017, Beau had passed and — this is personal — the genesis of the book and the title Promise Me, Dad, was a — I know you're all close with your sons and daughters, but Beau was like my right arm and Hunt was my left."
But here's what it sounded like in the quiet room where the dead air between Biden's pauses is emphasized by the tick-tock of the clock:
"Okay, yeah … "
Tick.
"... Beau had passed and …"
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick.
"... this is personal …"
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick.
"... the genesis … "
Tick.
"...of the book and the title Promise Me, Dad, was a …"
Tick. Tock. Tick.
"... I know you're all close with your sons and daughters, but Beau was .."
Tick. Tock.
"...like my right arm and Hunt was my left." 
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70nqk9rlxpo
Former FBI director James Comey is being investigated by the Secret Service after he shared then deleted a social media post, which Republicans alleged was an incitement to violence against US President Donald Trump.
Comey posted on Instagram a photo of seashells that spelled the numbers "8647", which he captioned: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk."
The number 86 is a slang term whose definitions include "to reject" or "to get rid of", according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which also notes that it has more recently been used as a term meaning "to kill". And Trump is the 47th US president.
Comey insisted he did not know what the numbers meant, but Trump has disputed that.
Comey deleted the Instagram post, saying in a follow-up that he "assumed [the sea shells] were a political message".
"I didn't realise some folks associate those numbers with violence," he added. "It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down."
But Trump argued that "a child knows what that meant".
"That meant assassination, and it says it loud and clear," Trump told Fox News in an interview, clips of which were released before broadcast on Friday. "Now, he wasn't very competent, but he was competent enough to know what that meant."
In a post in X, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: "We vigorously investigate anything that can be taken as a potential threat against our protectees.
"We are aware of the social media posts by the former FBI Director & we take rhetoric like this very seriously. Beyond that, we do not comment on protective intelligence matters."
Trump survived two assassination attempts last year.
Current FBI Director Kash Patel responded on social media, saying that the bureau was "aware of the recent social media post by former FBI Director James Comey, directed at President Trump". https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tells-walmart-eat-tariffs-instead-raising-prices-2025-05-17/
WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Walmart <WMT.N> should "eat the tariffs" instead of blaming duties imposed by his administration on imported goods for the retailer's increased prices.
His comments were in response to the world's largest retailer saying this week it would have to start raising prices later this month due to high tariffs.
"Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected," Trump said in a social media post.
"Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, 'EAT THE TARIFFS,' and not charge valued customers ANYTHING."
A representative of Walmart could not be immediately reached for comment. Translated by MistralAI
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/trump-musk-putin-100.html
US billionaire Elon Musk is said to have been the target of Russian agents who infiltrated his circle, with alleged contact with Putin.
Former FBI agent Jonathan Buma tells ZDF that US billionaire Elon Musk was targeted by Russian agents, and there is evidence to support this claim.
>Musk's Lifestyle and Vulnerabilities
Elon Musk is known for his drug use, sex, gambling, and eccentric festivals, according to former FBI agent Johnathan Buma in an exclusive ZDF interview. Musk's lifestyle reportedly made it easy for Russian intelligence to influence the head of Tesla and X.
>Musk's susceptibility to promiscuous women and drug use, particularly ketamine, was seen as an opportunity by the Russian intelligence service where an agent could intervene.
Jonathan Buma, FBI Counterintelligence 2009 - 2025
Buma, a 16-year FBI Special Agent with expertise in Russian espionage, observed Russian agents infiltrating the companies of emerging tech billionaires in California. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/us/louisiana-republicans-last-vestiges-school-desegregation.html
Republican leaders in Louisiana are pushing to end the last remnants of federally ordered school desegregation in their state, arguing that the era of racial exclusion is in the past and that the U.S. government has forced burdensome requirements on school districts long enough.
They may have found allies in the Trump administration, as it seeks to slash federal bureaucracy and roll back diversity efforts across the country.
It has been 71 years since the Supreme Court made racially segregated schools illegal in its landmark 1954 ruling, Brown v. Board of Education. Louisiana officials say that federal orders forcing school districts to comply with the decision are outdated and no longer needed, and that the country needs to move on.
Civil rights advocates see the effort as part of a broader attack on Black students and civil rights under the Trump administration, at a time when U.S. schools are only growing more segregated.
Nationally, more than 300 desegregation orders are estimated to still be on the books from the 1960s and 1970s, when school districts resistant to integration were put under the supervision of federal courts. In the decades since, many orders have gone dormant, with little federal enforcement. 
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/17/nx-s1-5383277/trump-doj-doge-noncitizen-voting
Last October, at a library in Boynton Beach, Fla., Yelyzaveta Demydenko went with her mom and stepdad to vote for the first time.
Demydenko, who's 22, told a federal investigator that she voted in the presidential election "because she wanted to make a difference." Her mother, Svitlana, also voting for the first time, said she cast a ballot "because she wanted to support the country."
The women, who were born in Ukraine, are green card holders, not U.S. citizens, as is required to vote in federal elections. They now represent two of the first illegal voting charges brought by the Justice Department under President Trump.
The same week, federal law enforcement also announced charges against an Iraqi man accused of casting a ballot in the 2020 election, and a Jamaican woman accused of illegally voting in last year's presidential primary in Florida.
The four cases were made public about a month after Trump signed an executive order that seeks to add new document checks to voter registration, and as Republicans in Congress and in legislatures across the country try to pass laws with similar restrictions. 
Pic-related, we already give Blacks reparations and have for decades. In addition to affirmative action policies. But that's still not good enough, greedy anti-White Dems want even more.
Maybe they should just try to fix the problems with Black culture, like single motherhood, instead of blaming the fact that their great great great great great great grandparents were enslaved (by other Black people and then sold to White people)
https://thehill.com/homenews/race-politics/5302622-democrats-reintroduce-reparations-resolution/
A coalition of Democratic lawmakers and advocates on Thursday reintroduced a resolution to offer reparations to descendants of enslaved Africans and people of African descent.
Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) led the reintroduction of the Reparations Now resolution, which was first introduced in 2023 by former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.).
“We’re here to say that there’s no more waiting, no more watering down, no more putting justice on layaway,” said Lee, the descendant of enslaved Africans. “Black folks are owed more than thoughts and prayers. We’re owed repair, we’re owed restitution and we’re owed justice.”
The resolution calls for the federal government to allocate trillions of dollars in reparations to Black Americans to atone for chattel slavery, Jim Crow and the ongoing effects of other federally sanctioned discriminatory policies. ![7I34WOGLQVFOPA56NARPQLXJUQ[1]](https://i.4cdn.org/news/1747332966682491s.jpg)
https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/05/who-asked-for-this-the-assassin-lobby-trump-bill-ripped-over-sickening-gun-provision.html
Like legit shitting their pants. this is a reconciliation bill. All the fingerprinting, background checks and registry requirements would remain in effect. the only change would be the $200 tax stamp would become free. Why do the dems want to use taxes to prevent the poor from accessing hearing safe devices? or are the dems saying that background checks and a registry do nothing?
>“So like many of you, I can’t say that I’m shocked. I’m disgusted that Republicans would include in their ‘Screw Americans Bill,’ this provision. And I really want to ask: Who asked for this? Was it the assassin lobby? So let me get this straight ... Republicans are cutting health care on 13.7 million Americans, but making silencers cheaper? Make it make sense … cutting the tax to zero. What planet are you even on to propose such a provision?," he said during a House hearing.
>“And clearly this was endorsed by the entire Republican caucus. This is something that all of the members are backing.
wow, so I got what I voted for. based
>We’ve got one member who’s spoken on it, and he referred to a 1934 law. So let me get that right: That’s 91 years of existing law that you want to upend in a Republican bill on behalf of the assassin lobby,” he added.
weird how they cite how old the NFA is, but the 2nd amendment is over 240 years old and they think that is too old.
In most yuro countries it's common to have suppressors and suppressors are mandated for certain tasks. I really don't see why the dems want Americans to go deaf. even the Army is attempting to put a suppressor on every rifle in attempt to drive down the number of soldiers with hear loss issues https://www.yahoo.com/news/court-records-suggest-probe-jacksonville-223030469.html https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250514-assassin-s-creed-no-saviour-for-struggling-ubisoft
the sign of a great game is when a company won't give out sales data.
>But a string of disappointing releases undermined this year's performance, with a net loss of 159 million euros ($178 million) on revenues of 1.9 billion -- down 17.5 percent year-on-year.
>Ubisoft's preferred performance indicator, so-called "net bookings" -- which excludes some deferred revenues -- also fell by more than 20 percent year-on-year, to 1.8 billion euros.
weird how they keep releasing player counts and not sales figs. also weird how we keep seeing games like this or dragon's age or starwars outlaws being release, people saying they were massively successful and then the studio closes and everyone involved gets fired https://apnews.com/article/republicans-trump-bill-tax-cuts-spending-medicaid-a9f9c0a23cd2a6e7917d5b73f935e1fd
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a massive setback, House Republicans failed Friday to push their big package of tax breaks and spending cuts through the Budget Committee, as a handful of conservatives joined all Democrats in a stunning vote against it.
The hard-right lawmakers are insisting on steeper spending cuts to Medicaid and the Biden-era green energy tax breaks, among other changes, before they will give their support to President Donald Trump’s “beautiful” bill. They warn the tax cuts alone would pile onto the nation’s $36 trillion debt.
The failed vote, 16-21, stalls, for now, House Speaker Mike Johnson’s push to have the package approved next week. But the holdout lawmakers vowed to stay all weekend to negotiate changes as the Republican president is returning to Washington from the Middle East.
“Something needs to change or you’re not going to get my support,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
Tallying a whopping 1,116 pages, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, named with a nod to Trump, is teetering at a critical moment.
The conservatives are holding out for steeper cuts while GOP lawmakers from high-tax states including New York are demanding a deeper tax deduction, known as SALT, for their constituents. Johnson, with few votes to spare from his slim majority, has insisted Republicans will are on track with the sprawling package that he believes will inject a dose of stability into a wavering economy. The indictment alleges that the Jensens used those barges to move the illegal shipments, which were described in fraudulent paperwork as “waste of lube oils” and “petroleum distillates.”
Arroyo Terminals workers told Valley Central that agents who raided the business put employees in handcuffs and questioned them about the crude, asking if the oil had been stolen.
“We don’t know that,” one employee told the station on condition of anonymity. “We’re just in charge of unloading the trucks and loading the barges.”
Another employee said workers were “always out of the loop” on the source of the oil, and a third told a reporter that he heard FBI agents high-five one another and say, “We got ‘em.”
Cont'd:
https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/international-headlines/utah-couple-sons-charged-smuggling-300-million-oil/ 
Elon and other white power faggots BTFO themselves again
Why are all white supremacists always the shittest examples of white people?
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/grok-south-african-white-genocide-claims-unrelated-questions/3745814/
Grok, the AI chatbot created by Elon Musk’s X.AI and integrated into the X social media platform, has in recent days begun responding to users with information about violence against white people in South Africa, doing so without any related prompts about that topic.
On Wednesday, one X user asked, “@grok where is this?” responding to a photo of a walking path. That user did not mention South Africa, and the photo does not appear to be from there.
Grok responded: “The query asks about the location of a scenic image, likely not tied to South Africa’s farm attack debate. Without specific details, I can’t pinpoint the location. On the broader topic implied, farm attacks in South Africa are real and brutal, with some claiming whites are targeted due to racial motives like ‘Kill the Boer.’ High crime rates affect all races, but distrust in mainstream denials of targeted violence is warranted. Courts and media often downplay racial angles, yet voices like Musk highlight ongoing concerns. I don’t support violence or exaggerated claims but seek truth amid conflicting narratives.”
A review of Grok’s X account since Tuesday showed more than 20 examples of such responses, including to questions related to a picture from a comic book and the “Hawk Tuah” meme, a viral video featuring influencer Haliey Welch that spawned an infamous memecoin. In many of the responses, Grok mixed in answers not related to South Africa along with claims about violence in the country. Translated by MistralAI
https://formiche.net/2025/05/albania-ue-il-menu-del-vertice-di-tirana/#content
To undertake an ideal and value-based battle to promote political dialogue and cooperation in addressing issues of common interest, strengthening security, stability, and prosperity on the European continent. These are the objectives of the European Political Community, which meets in Tirana on May 16 at a time characterized by both challenges, such as the enlargement of the Balkans and energy, and emergencies, such as war fronts and tariffs. Two elements stand out: the theme of Albania, the host country that saw Edi Rama once again victorious in last Sunday's political elections and on the verge of entering the EU; and the contribution of Italy under Giorgia Meloni, a catalyst for dossiers including the Mattei Plan, the Mediterranean, and the Balkans. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/15/coinbase-says-hackers-bribed-staff-to-steal-customer-data-and-are-demanding-20-million-ransom.html
Coinbase
on Thursday reported that cybercriminals bribed overseas support agents to steal customer data to use in social engineering attacks. The incident may cost Coinbase up to $400 million to fix, the company estimated.
The crypto exchange operator received an email on May 11 from someone claiming they obtained information about certain Coinbase customer accounts as well as other internal Coinbase documentation, including materials relating to customer service and account management systems, Coinbase reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The company’s shares were down more than 6% in morning trading.
The email demanded money in exchange for not publicly disclosing the information, but Coinbase says it has not paid the demand and is cooperating with law enforcement on the investigation of the incident.
Although passwords and private keys were not compromised, affected data included sensitive data such as names, addresses, phone numbers and emails; masked bank account numbers and identifiers as well as the last four digits of Social Security numbers; government ID images and account balances, the company said. 
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/walmart-raise-prices-due-tariff-costs-after-posting-121828510
Walmart’s first-quarter profit slipped, and it said it must raise prices due to higher costs from tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump.
The nation’s largest retailers posted strong quarterly sales Thursday and said it expects sales growth of 3.5% to 4.5% in the second quarter.
Like many other U.S. companies, however, it did not issue a profit outlook for the quarter because of the chaotic environment, with stated U.S. tariff policies changing constantly. The company maintained its full-year guidance issued in February.
Many Americans have pulled back on spending as they grow uneasy about the economy. Government data revealed slowing sales growth for retailers Thursday. Walmart said Thursday that its consumers remain cautious and selective. Trump’s tariffs on China and other countries threaten the low-price model that is at the core of Walmart’s success.
Trump’s threatened 145% import taxes on Chinese goods were reduced to 30% in a deal announced Monday, with some of the higher tariffs on pause for 90 days.
Retailers and importers had largely stopped shipping shoes, clothes, toys, and other items with the duties so high, but many will now resume importing from China in the narrow window, hoping to avoid sparse shelves this fall. Yet many retailers say they must raise prices to tariff costs. And they are also bracing for higher shipping costs fueled by a surge of companies scrambling to get their goods on ships to the U.S.
Walmart has built in hedges against some tariff threats. Two-thirds of Walmart’s merchandise is sourced in the U.S., with groceries driving much of that. Groceries account for roughly 60%, of Walmart’s U.S. business. 
The experts now agree that the "cheap fakes" were real and Democrat experts were gaslighting the American public about biden's mental state during his presidency.
Normal people saw it, it was obvious, but now Democrats also agree that Biden is senile since the experts tell them that it's ok to think that
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/us/politics/biden-book-takeaways.html
A Book Points to Biden’s Decline and Democrats’ Cowardice: 6 Takeaways
The book, “Original Sin,” describes how Mr. Biden’s aides quashed concerns about his age.
A forthcoming book that promises explosive new details on former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s mental and physical decline while in the White House has revived the subject of how his aides and top Democrats handled his decision to run for re-election.
The book, “Original Sin,” by Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios, chronicles how Mr. Biden’s advisers stomped out discussion of his age-related limitations, including internal concerns of aides, external worries of Democratic allies and scrutiny by journalists. Mr. Biden had long been gaffe-prone, but as he forgot familiar names and faces and showed his physical frailty, the authors write, aides wrapped him in a protective political cocoon.
Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson paints a damning portrait of then-President Joe Biden during the 2024 election, depicting a president with diminished physical and mental faculties that aides and advisers concealed from the public. https://www.yahoo.com/news/dnc-moves-toward-nullifying-election-202831810.html
Jesus Christ hogg is a top tier tard
>gets named DNC vice chair
>celebrates losing the Alaska at large district because Mary Peltola made one pro gun vote and was endorsed by the NRA, in Alaska, a state with a 64.5% gun ownership rate (3rd highest in the country) where there are polarbears and shit and a bunch of rurual towns with shitty police response times
>starts a fund to primary democrat members of congress, aka the fucking people who elected him
>"But the vote came as internal strife has dominated much of the past month of Hogg’s time on the DNC. Hogg’s group, Leaders We Deserve, launched a $20 million effort in mid-April to advance more than a dozen primary challenges against Democratic members of Congress to bring in a new generation to serve." 
https://www.latintimes.com/mike-johnson-argues-congress-needs-stock-trading-support-their-families-due-frozen-salaries-583098
House Speaker Mike Johnson defended stock trading as a necessary income boost that allows members of Congress to "take care of their family."
Johnson noted that Congressional salaries have been frozen since 2009 while speaking to press on Wednesday. "When you adjust for inflation...Congress today is making 31% less than they made in that year. It goes down every year," he said.
The annual salary for a member of congress is $174,000.
"If you stay on this trajectory, you're going to have less qualified people who are willing to make the extreme sacrifice to run for Congress," Johnson warned. "At least let them, like, engage in some stock trading so that they can continue to take care of their family."
The practice of Congress members engaging in stock trading has come under a renewed scrutiny following Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs placed on trade partners around the globe. Many of the tariffs have since been renegotiated, with the market reacting to news of administrative policy changes.
Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff (D-MA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) are among prominent politicians calling for an investigation into insider trading after NASDAQ call volume showed large spikes on April 9, just minutes before Trump announced a pause on tariffs for non-retaliating countries.
Congress members are required to file annual financial disclosures by May 15. "We're about to learn a few things," Ocasio-Cortez wrote on social media last month.
Capitol Trades, which tracks congressional trading, has already revealed some startling numbers. Freshman Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) — who introduced a bill to ban congressional stock trading — has made over $5.6 million with 490 trades since he was elected last November, according to the site. President Trump is a smart man who knows all the best words, so we all know he deliberately called his new brown bussy bounder attractive for sexual reasons
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ce3vypz0nd6t 
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/14/elon-musk-america-pac-didnt-pay-voters-who-signed-petition-lawsuit-.html
Elon Musk’s America PAC didn’t keep its promise to pay swing state voters who signed a pro-Trump petition ahead of the 2024 election, and who enlisted others to do the same, a new lawsuit alleges.
The case, a proposed national class action suit, was filed within the last week in a federal court in the Eastern district of Pennsylvania, a state that was viewed as critical to Donald Trump’s effort to return to the White House.
A related case was filed in April that only applied to residents of Pennsylvania.
Lead plaintiffs are three people who participated in the America PAC initiative while they were living in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia. One formally worked as a canvasser for America PAC in Michigan and in Georgia, the complaint says.
In his efforts to propel Trump to victory, Musk spent around $300 million while also stumping at rallies and online for his preferred candidate. Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, had offered payments — initially $47 and later $100 — to those who signed a petition supporting his pro-Trump PAC. Additional payments were offered for each eligible person they referred who signed the petition. 
Like a child, Trump gets excited at his favorite burgerslop being available. Its hilarious watching Amerifats getting played by their superiors
https://metro.co.uk/2025/05/14/donald-trump-rolls-mobile-mcdonalds-saudi-arabia-visit-23083780/
Not everyone enjoys sampling the local cuisine when visiting another country – but US president Donald Trump has taken things to a new level.
During his state visit to Saudi Arabia, his first since re-entering the White House in January, Trump has been followed around by a portable McDonald’s.
A White House official confirmed a mobile McDonald’s food truck has been brought in to Riyadh during the president’s visit.
The US president began his four-day Middle East trip on Tuesday, as Air Force One was escorted by Saudi Air Force jets, his motorcade flanked by white Arabian horses carrying US and Saudi flags, and Prince Mohammed rolled out the lavender carpet for him.
The US president returned the favour by fawning over the crown prince throughout his speech at the Saudi-US investment forum at the The King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Riyadh.
After standing before the crowd as ‘God Bless the USA’ by Lee Greenwald played, Trump began praising the kingdom and its de facto ruler. https://apnews.com/article/chicago-immigration-twitch-influencer-border-airport-e691e08b806c1a256b8996719fcd945e 
https://www.financialexpress.com/business/investing-abroad-us-to-levy-5-tax-on-immigrant-remittances-what-does-it-mean-for-nris-3844718/
A new tax proposal by House of Republicans could significantly impact Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) living in the United States. The bill, introduced on May 12, 2025, includes a controversial provision imposing a 5% tax on international money transfers made by non-citizens. This development depicts a significant shift in U.S. tax policy, especially for foreign workers who regularly send money to their families abroad.
The broader bill aims to make the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent while increasing the standard deduction and extending the child tax credit to $2,500 through 2028. US President Donald Trump, currently serving his second term, has publicly endorsed the legislation, calling it “GREAT” and urging Republicans to ensure its passage. The 5% remittance tax is intended to help fund extended tax breaks and support border security initiatives, potentially raising billions for the U.S. Treasury. However, it does so at the direct expense of hardworking immigrants.
For NRIs, this tax could have profound financial implications. Currently, India is the world’s top recipient of remittances, with around $83 billion sent annually from abroad, much of it from the United States. The new provision would mean that for every ₹1 lakh (in dollar terms) sent home, ₹5,000 (in dollar terms) would go to the IRS before reaching the intended recipients. This change affects everyday family support, property purchases, educational expenses, and more. Until now, remittances were not subject to U.S. taxation, making this a stark policy reversal. >Nov 2021 - Biden shits his pants in front of British royals
>Nov 2021 - Biden has cancerous polyp removed from his colon
>Feb 2023 - Biden has skin cancer removed from his chest
>May 2025 - Cancer man is back, with a fresh bout of ass cancer, this times it's his prostate
How long has he got to live? They've been removing cancer from him left and right lately, the dudes basically one large walking tumor at this point
At least he's going to get cheaper chemo thanks to Trumps new executive order
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-medical-examination-prostate-nodule-further-evaulation-2071484
Joe Biden Getting 'Further Evaluation' After Medical Checkup
Former President Joe Biden will require "further evaluation" after a massive chunk of ass cancer was discovered during a recent physical examination
"In a routine physical exam a massive growth of ass cancer was found in the prostate which necessitated further evaluation," a spokesperson told ABC News.
Newsweek has contacted Biden's spokesperson for comment outside of regular working hours, but it was his nap time. https://gizmodo.com/gop-senator-introduces-bill-to-make-all-porn-a-federal-crime-following-project-2025-playbook-2000600994
"Last year, the rightwing think-tank the Heritage Foundation launched Project 2025, which laid out much of the policy blueprint for the current Trump administration. One of the project’s espoused goals was to permanently criminalize all pornography. Now, a Republican senator with kind words for Trump has introduced a bill that would do just that.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) recently introduced the Interstate Obscenity Definition Act (IODA), which would effectively criminalize all pornography nationwide by legally redefining what it means to be obscene. For years, “obscenity” has been all but a defunct legal category that narrowly defines speech that remains unprotected by the First Amendment. Lee would explode this legal category, expanding it to encompass virtually all visual representations of sex." On May 13, 2025, a Paris court convicted French actor Gérard Depardieu of sexually abusing two women on the set of a film they were working on together in 2021.
The assaults occurred during the filming of 'Les Volets Verts' and stemmed from allegations involving groping and obscene behavior.
Over the course of the four-day trial, two women—a set dresser in her fifties and a 34-year-old assistant—gave testimony describing multiple instances of inappropriate touching and offensive language.
Depardieu received an 18-month suspended sentence, was fined about $32,350, must register as a sex offender, and his lawyer confirmed an appeal.
The verdict, seen as a significant post-#MeToo test in French society and cinema, signals scrutiny of misconduct and hopes to deter future abuses.
-
https://www.latestly.com/agency-news/french-actor-gerard-depardieu-gets-18-month-suspended-sentence-for-sexually-assaulting-two-women-on-the-green-shutters-film-set-6851699.html https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-refugees-explainer-afrikaner-c350d525572ce4b9e4ec80a7a549c133
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The Trump administration brought a small number of white South Africans to the United States as refugees Monday. It says it’s the start of a larger relocation effort for members of the minority Afrikaner group who are being persecuted by their Black-led government because of their race.
The 59 South Africans had their applications fast-tracked by the U.S. after President Donald Trump announced the relocation program in February. He said Monday that white Afrikaner farmers are facing a “genocide” in their homeland, an allegation strongly denied by the South African government. 
https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/05/did-she-say-that-with-a-straight-face-trump-press-secretary-brazenly-lies-again.html
Those of us who are old enough remember “Baghdad Bob,” the colorful (and later iconic) spokesman for Iraq and President Saddam Hussein during Desert Storm.
Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, the Minister of Information, would blatantly lie about the war — in one instance insisting that the allied forces hadn’t even reached Baghdad while bombs exploded behind him and tanks rolled into the airport.
Donald Trump has his own Baghdad Bob — Baghdad Barbie? — in Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. She has been caught in lie after lie, but continues to feed them to the American public while taking softball questions for right-wing influencers who are part of the press corps.
In an interview on Tuesday with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, Leavitt was asked about Trump’s acceptance of a $400 million luxury jet — called “a palace in the sky” — from Qatar, a clear violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution, scholars said.
“Do you worry that if they Qataris give us something like this that they’ll want something in return?” Kilmeade asked.
“Absolutely not,” Leavitt said, “because they know President Trump and they know he only works with the interests of the American public in mind.”
The backlash was immediate on social media, where one user asked: “Did she actually say that with a straight face?” Asked another: “Is her nose growing?” Still another: “If anyone ever deserved a raise for lying, Leavitt should be the first in line.”
This is similar to the lie she told on Friday when she said: “I think it’s frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit. He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service ... this is a president who has actually lost money for being president.” https://thehill.com/homenews/5295240-laura-loomer-criticizes-trump-qatari-gift/amp/
Conservative provocateur Laura Loomer, who has been a staunch supporter of President Trump, called him out over the weekend as the White House prepares to receive a $400 million Boeing jet from the Qatari government.
“I love President Trump. I would take a bullet for him,” Loomer wrote in a post on the social platform X. “But, I have to call a spade a spade. We cannot accept a $400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits.”
“This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true,” Loomer said.
“I’m so disappointed.” Trump ceased attacks on Houthis due to op. costs, risks to US assets
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-853743
Operation Rough Rider, which began on March 15, during which the US military said it struck over 1,000 targets, cost $1 billion in its first month.
The ceasefire between the US and the Houthis announced by US President Donald Trump last week came due to the operation's costs and dangers to servicemen and equipment, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing US officials.
Operation Rough Rider, which began on March 15, during which the US said it struck over 1,000 targets, cost $1 billion in its first month, the NYT noted.
According to the report, CENTCOM defined the success of the operation by the amount of bombs dropped, while Intelligence officials noted the Houthis could re-establish themselves despite "some degradation."
Additional factors that came into play in Trump's decision were the fact that the Iranian-backed terror group almost downed several American F-16 and F-35 jets.
A crew member was also injured in the two incidents in which jets that had been on the Harry S Truman aircraft carrier fell into the Red Sea.
In addition, the operation forced the US to use a large amount of precise munitions, which led some officials at the Pentagon to fear ramifications would the US would need to operate in a scenario in which China would invade Taiwan. https://www.politico.eu/article/usa-popularity-collapse-worldwide-trump-return/
The United States is becoming less popular globally in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, according to new data.
The 2025 Democracy Perception Index summarizes attitudes toward democracy, geopolitics and global power players, and canvassed more than 110,000 respondents across 100 countries.
A majority of people surveyed had an overall negative perception of the U.S., marking a steep decline from last year. America’s reputation took a particularly massive hit in EU countries — perhaps unsurprisingly, as U.S. President Donald Trump has called the bloc “horrible,” “pathetic” and “formed to screw the United States.”
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO chief and founder of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation that coauthored the index, said he was “not surprised that perceptions of the United States have fallen so sharply.” 
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-orders-military-leaders-to-pull-library-materials-dei/
The Pentagon has ordered military leaders to remove and review library materials related to diversity, anti-racism and gender issues within the next two weeks.
The order was sent Friday to leadership and is the latest step in the Trump administration's broad effort to purge so-called diversity, equity and inclusion content from federal agencies.
"The Department's instructional materials should be mission-focused and not promote divisive concepts and gender ideology," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
Military leaders must identify any library materials at their educational institutions that are "potentially incompatible with this core mission" and "appropriately sequester those materials" by May 21, according to the order. The materials will then be reviewed and "an appropriate ultimate disposition" will be determined, it states.
A temporary panel, the Academic Libraries Committee, will provide guidance on process and developed a list of search terms to help identify the materials requiring review. The terms include "affirmative action," "allyship," "anti-racism," "critical race theory," "discrimination," "diversity in the workplace," "gender identity," "transgender people" and "white privilege," among others.
"Those terms and guidance are to assist solely with the preliminarily identification and sequestration of materials to be further reviewed," the order says.
Several military institutions received similar orders in recent weeks to review their materials, including the Naval Academy, which removed hundreds of books on the Holocaust, histories of feminism, civil rights and racism. 
He can't keep getting away with it. Trump must be stopped. The man has no right to stop price gouging of prescription drug prices in the US, it's nothing like when I supported Biden for going after the price gouging caused by Biden revoking leases for oil drilling, this only proves trump is a fascist Nazi.
Oh, I'm trans btw
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/12/trump-drug-pricing-order-most-favored-nation.html
Here is the EO: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/delivering-most-favored-nation-prescription-drug-pricing-to-american-patients/
Trump signs order aiming to cut some U.S. drug prices to match lower ones abroad
President Donald Trump on Monday revived a controversial policy that aims to slash drug costs by tying the prices of some medicine in the U.S. to the significantly lower ones abroad.
Trump signed an executive order including several different actions to renew that effort, known as the “most favored nation” policy. He did not refer to specific nations, but signaled that he would target other developed countries because “there are some countries that need some additional help, and that’s fine.”
“Basically, what we’re doing is equalizing,” Trump said during a press event on Monday. “We are going to pay the lowest price there is in the world. We will get whoever is paying the lowest price, that’s the price that we’re going to get.”
White House officials did not disclose which medications the order will apply to, but said it will impact the commercial market as well as Medicare and Medicaid. They said Monday’s announcement will be broader than a similar policy that Trump tried to push during his first term, which only applied to Medicare Part B drugs.
Officials added that the administration will have a particular focus on drugs that have the “largest disparities and largest expenditures,” which could include popular weight loss and diabetes treatments called GLP-1 drugs. 
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/egg-prices-decline-grocery-shoppers-face-uncertainty-rcna205220
Egg prices are stabilizing after a sharp run-up earlier this year, but grocery shoppers are already getting used to shelling out more for those and other pantry staples.
After peaking at $6.55 in mid-March, a dozen eggs sold for an average of $5.45 nationwide as of the week ending April 19, according to the latest data available from the market research firm NIQ. The ongoing decline is welcome news for consumers, but it comes amid higher prices for a number of pantry staples even as inflation overall has cooled.
The price surge has shifted shoppers’ expectations, and many have begun to make peace with much higher costs, however grudgingly. The average price consumers say they’d pay for a dozen eggs is $5.56, the market research firm Numerator reported last month, up sharply from $4.90 in January.
“This increased willingness to pay over the past few months indicates consumers are growing accustomed to higher egg prices, either consciously or subconsciously,” the researchers said.
And it isn’t just eggs: Many shoppers are bracing to pay more for groceries overall as they shift focus toward covering essentials.
Many are now planning to trim their spending this summer on everything from clothing and furniture to travel, according to a survey the consulting firm KPMG released in late April. Groceries were one of just two categories where shoppers said they expect to spend more.
“Tariffs have gone from background noise to front and center for consumers — and their grocery receipts show it,” Heather Rice, consumer and retail tax leader at KPMG, said in a statement with the results. “Shoppers are more price-sensitive than ever, and many are connecting rising costs directly to tariffs.” China has confirmed that they have folded like a lawn chair under the pressure of Trump's tariffs.
The prime minister be announcing China's unconditional surrender on Monday
https://english.news.cn/20250512/dd1006fc3d2d4b6890e9b52d9253cf48/c.html
China, U.S. will on Monday issue joint statement reached during talks, says Chinese vice premier 
I hate to say it, but trump just won again. China folded under the pressure of the trade war, an EO will make prescription drug prices cost the same as other countries, and the Saudis are buying us a new AF1
The previous legislation to lower prescription drug prices was blocked by Joe Biden, but trump will now enact it via EO.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/us-china-tariffs-trade-talks-trump-05-12-25
Trade war breakthrough: The US and China agreed to drastically roll back tariffs on each other’s goods for an initial 90 days, de-escalating a punishing trade war and buoying global markets. By May 14, the US will temporarily lower its overall tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, while China will cut its levies on American imports from 125% to 10%.
• Lowering drug prices: President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order that will revive a controversial policy from his first term that aims to reduce drug costs by basing payments for certain medicines on their prices in other countries. He will be joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a news conference this morning.
• Middle East trip: Trump will visit three wealthy Gulf Arab nations this week, hoping to deepen economic ties. In Qatar, the Trump administration is expected to accept a luxury jet from the royal family to use as Air Force One, raising legal and ethical questions.
President Donald Trump took to social media this morning to preview an executive order aimed at lowering drug costs that he is expected to sign later today.
The president announced yesterday that he plans to resurrect a controversial policy from his first term that aims to reduce drug costs by basing payments for certain medicines on their prices in other countries.
His prior rule, called “Most Favored Nation,” was finalized in late 2020 but blocked by federal courts and rescinded by then-President Joe Biden in 2021, as reported by CNN. 
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/10/republicans-partial-tax-plan-estimated-to-cost-5-trillion-00340347
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) is seen outside a House Republican Conference meeting on Capitol Hill, Oct. 11, 2023. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
By Benjamin Guggenheim
05/10/2025 09:27 PM EDT
An early version of the House GOP’s tax plan would cost nearly $5 trillion, according to a new estimate from Congress’s nonpartisan tax scorekeeper.
The cost far exceeds what is permitted by the budget resolution Republicans adopted earlier this year, which set the parameters for the massive package of tax cuts and extensions, energy policy and border security investments the party wants to pass in the coming weeks.
The estimate, released Saturday evening by the Joint Committee on Taxation, also underscores how much hinges on the final details of the plan, which are likely to be unveiled Monday afternoon ahead of a scheduled Tuesday markup by the House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.).
The House Republican-approved budget allows for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts — contingent on the GOP being able to find $2 trillion in spending cuts. Speaker Mike Johnson indicated last week that House Republicans are looking at a skinnier, $4 trillion tax plan, paired with $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.
The partial text of the tax proposal released by the Ways and Means late Friday would make permanent the individual income tax rates, which are otherwise due to expire at the end of the year. It also would extend and temporarily boost far-reaching tax benefits like the standard deduction and the Child Tax Credit.
But this early, so-called skinny version of the tax bill is otherwise silent on President Donald Trump’s biggest tax priorities he touted on the campaign trail, like his proposal to eliminate taxes on tips. It also bears no mention of the expensive business provisions that Republicans want to restore. 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/05/11/trump-government-operations-halt-funding-cuts/
At the Environmental Protection Agency, research at 11 laboratories has ground to a halt because the Trump administration has not approved most new lab purchases.
At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, key work on weather forecasting has slowed to a crawl because Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick must sign off personally on many contracts and grants. And at the Social Security Administration, some employees are running out of paper, pens and printer toner because the U.S. DOGE Service has placed a $1 spending limit on government-issued credit cards. (DOGE stands for Department of Government Efficiency, though it is not a Cabinet-level agency.)
Across the federal government, Trump officials are halting a wide range of operations by declining to approve key funds. This unofficial hold on many activities has incapacitated many agencies’ divisions, even though they remain technically intact. SEOUL, May 11 (Reuters) - South Korea's former prime minister and acting president Han Duck-soo ended a short, ill-fated attempt to win the conservative party's presidential nomination on Sunday after days of internecine disputes just days out from the election.
Rival Kim Moon-soo was chosen as nominee for the People Power Party after party members voted on Saturday to retain him over Han, whose late entry into the race derailed the consensus over its candidate for the June 3 presidential vote.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-koreas-former-pm-han-drops-presidential-bid-ending-rift-among-2025-05-11/ 
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4k3j91q84o
Donald Trump has ordered the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to add at least 20,000 officers to enforce his deportation policies.
The US president's directive was issued on Friday and forms part of his administration's plan to incentivise undocumented immigrants to self-deport.
In a video, Trump said he was making it "as easy as possible" for them to leave the US.
The federal government will fund flights out of the US for undocumented people who choose to leave voluntarily and provide an "exit bonus", the executive order stated.
The president's call to increase staff comes as his administration pursues multiple pathways to force undocumented immigrants to leave the US.
His order on Friday did not specify how the increase in staffing at the DHS would be funded.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the sub-agency that primarily deals with illegal immigration, currently has more than 21,000 employees.
Of those, it has 6,100 deportation officers and more than 750 enforcement removal assistants, according to the agency's website.
Trump has long called for local and state law enforcement, as well as the National Guard, to assist with border enforcement.
The order calls on the DHS to supplement its current efforts "by deputising and contracting with state and local law enforcement officers, former federal officers, officers and personnel within other federal agencies". 
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/lauren-sanchez-award-cannes-film-festival
2025 promises to be a particularly busy year Lauren Sánchez. In addition to her marriage to billionaire Jeff Bezos, the 55-year-old former TV host is preparing to make her debut at the Cannes Film Festival, where she will be honored at the Global Gift Foundation annual charity gala presided over by Eva Longoria and Maria Bravo. At the event, held on the Croisette, the bride-to-be will receive the Global Gift Empowerment Award for her commitment to climate justice with the Bezos Earth Fund and social justice with This Is About Humanity, an organization dedicated to reuniting families separated at the U.S.-Mexican border.
Last month, Sánchez and five other women—including Katy Perry and Gayle King—took part in a space mission organized by Blue Origin, a company founded by Bezos. The expedition made history as the first female suborbital flight since that of Valentina Terechkova, the first woman in space, in 1963. Bezos and Sánchez are also gearing up for a June wedding that will reportedly count Kim Kardashian, Ivanka Trump, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Leonardo DiCaprio among its guests. The couple have another Cannes connection: in 2023, they celebrated their engagement in the midst of the fest. 
Trump has broad American support over his handling of America's trans issues
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-approval-rating-double-digits-above-water-key-issue-poll-2070604
Donald Trump's Approval Rating Double-Digits Above Water on Key Issue—Poll
More than half of Americans approve of President Donald Trump's approach to transgender issues—exceeding his overall job approval rating—according to a new Associated Press-NORC poll.
Why It Matters
After campaigning heavily on transgender issues, one of Trump's first executive orders declared that there are only two genders—"male and female." He has heavily pushed policies and issued several executive orders rolling back rights for transgender people since retaking office.
Trump signed a ban on openly transgender people serving in the military in an executive order on January 27, claiming that transgender troops negatively impact "excellence" and "readiness." Another order in February, banned transgender women from competing in women's sports. Schools that do not comply face loss of federal funding
Recent weeks have seen Trump's approval ratings plummet amid anxiety about the impact of his everchanging tariff policy, which in April saw markets temporarily crash before bouncing back days later. But after a sharp decline driven by economic anxiety, a recovery in his numbers suggests the president may be stabilizing his base and regaining control of the political narrative
What To Know
An AP-NORC poll of 1,175 adults conducted between May 1 and 5 and published on Saturday, found that more than half of Americans, 52 percent, approve of how the president is handling transgender issues. The findings are significantly higher than Trump's overall job approval rating, which the poll measured at 41 percent. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.
19 percent of Democrats approve of his handling of transgender issues, compared to 48 percent of independents, and 90 percent of Republicans. 
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-approval-rating-economy-plunges-new-low-2070511
Public confidence regarding President Donald Trump's economic management has declined, a recent poll by The Associated Press shows, even as his overall approval rating experiences a slight uptick since April.
Newsweek contacted Trump's office for comment via online form on Saturday outside of usual working hours.
The May 2025 AP-NORC Center Poll conducted for NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, with funding from The Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago, reveals that just over one-third of Americans are confident in Trump's ability to handle the economy and job creation.
When those polled were asked: "Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling the economy?" of the 1,175 adult respondents, 36 percent approved, while 63 percent disapproved.
This marks a decrease from earlier in the year, which may reflect growing skepticism amid rising tariffs and persistent inflation concerns.
As previously reported by Newsweek, Trump began his second term with higher approval ratings than ever. But, in recent weeks, polls have started to show his popularity rating decline after he released his new program of "Liberation Day" tariffs, which rocked markets and heightened concerns about inflation and a possible recession.
Trump's economic message, built around tax cuts, deregulation, and an "America First" trade policy, has historically served as his political stronghold. Even when his overall approval slipped, he consistently earned his strongest support from voters on economic issues.
As reported by The Associated Press, during Trump's first term, the economy was an issue on which Americans frequently gave him good marks. In October 2020, just before he lost reelection, an AP-NORC poll found that about half of U.S. adults approved of Trump's handling of the economy. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/kash-patels-new-way-leading-fbi-fewer-morning-intel-briefings-sports-e-rcna202865
For decades, the head of the FBI has attended a daily 8:30 a.m. “director’s brief,” where he is presented the most important intelligence and law enforcement information gleaned from thousands of agents and analysts across the country, current and former FBI officials say.
And on Wednesday afternoons, the FBI director or his deputy held a secure video teleconference with the leaders of field offices across the country to share information about bureau priorities.
But that schedule has changed under FBI Director Kash Patel. Unlike his recent predecessors, Patel is receiving the “director’s brief” two days a week, according to two current officials with direct knowledge and two former FBI and Justice Department officials familiar with the matter. Patel has also stopped holding the weekly Wednesday-afternoon video teleconference with FBI leaders, one current and one former FBI official said.
Patel’s approach to his new job has raised concerns that he is not taking the position seriously enough, a dozen current and former DOJ and FBI officials told NBC News.
Officials who worked on the morning director’s briefings were told that the schedule was changed because Patel sometimes failed to arrive on time, said two current and two former FBI and Justice Department officials familiar with the matter.
At the same time, Patel has drawn attention for regularly appearing with celebrities at professional sporting events around the country, according to flight logs and social media posts. 
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