Thought this was amusing and wanted to share Don't know which thread was talking about the autopen, so putting this here
GOP Rep. Leading Biden Autopen Investigation Caught Using Digital Signature Ryan Grenoble Tue, July 15, 2025 at 4:18 PM EDT 2 min read
GOP Rep. Leading Biden Autopen Investigation Caught Using Digital Signature The lead investigator in the conspiracy-driven effort to discredit Joe Biden’s presidency — because Biden occasionally used an autopen to sign documents — uses a digital signature himself.
An NBC investigation found Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who oversees the House Oversight Committee, had staffers digitally sign legal documents on his behalf.
Ironically, the documents in question were all letters or subpoenas sent in pursuit of Comer’s investigation into Biden for seemingly engaging in the same behavior.
Sixteen letters bearing Comer’s signature were sent to Biden White House officials requesting transcribed interviews. In all 16 cases, Comer’s signature was digitally inserted, and the metadata shows an oversight committee staffer actually authored the documents.
Comer also “signed” cover letters for two subpoenas, which forced former White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor and former Jill Biden aide Anthony Bernal to appear before the committee.
(Dr. O’Connor sat for the committee last week but refused to answer any questions, citing doctor-client privilege and his Fifth Amendment rights.)
Comer’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment from HuffPost.
The Oversight Committee did, however, respond to NBC reporter Ryan Nobles on X, where they didn’t dispute the report ― but did poorly photoshop the Capitol Hill correspondent into clown makeup:
Comer himself also attacked Nobles on social media, telling him, “There’s still time to delete this.”
In a longer response, a spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee also told NBC that comparing Comer’s digital signature to Biden’s legally binding autopen is “absurd and misleading” and that “using digital signatures for official correspondence is common practice for both Republicans and Democrats.”
Speaking of hilarious or sad as some may see it, this is exactly what a habitual liar looks like. Someone, who for no actual reason just makes up lies......................
Fact check: Trump tells fictional story about his uncle and the Unabomber
President Donald Trump likes to boast about the brilliance of his late uncle John Trump, who spent decades as a professor of electrical engineering at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). And when speaking about all manner of subjects, the president likes to make up stories filled with dramatic but fictional details.
On Tuesday, Trump conjured an especially odd imaginary tale – that linked his uncle with the late terrorist Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber.
Trump was speaking at a Pennsylvania event about energy and innovation when he said he had to “brag just for a second” about his uncle’s intelligence. After wrongly saying his uncle was “the longest-serving professor in the history of MIT” (he was one of the longest-serving but not the very longest) and wrongly saying his uncle’s three university degrees were “in nuclear, chemical, and math” (two were in electrical engineering and one was in physics), the president claimed, “Kaczynski was one of his students.”
He went on to tell a story about having asked his uncle about what Kaczynski was like. “‘I said, ‘What kind of a student was he, Uncle John?’ Dr. John Trump. I said, ‘What kind of a student?’ And then he said, ‘Seriously, good.’ He said, ‘He’d correct – he’d go around correcting everybody.’ But it didn’t work out too well for him.”
For two big reasons, this story could not possibly be accurate.
First, the president’s uncle died in 1985. Kaczynski was publicly revealed as the Unabomber more than a decade later, in 1996, when he was captured; before that, he had lived as a recluse in the Montana wilderness. There is no apparent reason that Donald Trump would have been asking anyone about Kaczynski in 1985 or earlier.
Second, Kaczynski attended Harvard University and the University of Michigan, not MIT. An MIT spokesperson said in a Wednesday email: “We have no enrollment record or information that Ted Kaczynski ever attended MIT.”
Harvard has long allowed some students to register for classes at nearby MIT, but media outlets and MIT itself have found no sign that Kaczynski ever did that during his time at Harvard in the late 1950s and early 1960s – much less that Kaczynski, a Harvard mathematics major, studied under Trump, the MIT professor of electrical engineering. MIT reported on its website in 1996 that Kaczynski’s high school guidance counselor said Kaczynski had been offered admission to MIT in the 1950s but had chosen Harvard instead.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the president’s tale.
What the president could have accurately said is that his uncle was an esteemed MIT professor. The MIT spokesperson said Wednesday that John Trump “remains among the longest-serving professors in our history and was a highly valued member of the MIT community throughout his tenure as a researcher, innovator, entrepreneur, teacher, and colleague.”
Some seem to claim that we on the left leaning side go around "blaming trump for everything". That's what people say when they can't honestly defend what trump says and instead try to pin the onus in our direction. When in fact he does and says stupid BS and makes up this kind of crap on a regular basis that never gets posted about. In the grand scheme of things this isn't important. It's just a reminder to those who still support him as to who he really is.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
US officials open investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith
Trump and his cronies are so willing to use government apparatus to Persecute anyone who has stood against him. That there's even some trumptards that would support this and try and justify it.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
US officials open investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith
Trump and his cronies are so willing to use government apparatus to Persecute anyone who has stood against him. That there's even some trumptards that would support this and try and justify it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Opening up this case would eventually require the stuff Smith has on Trump to be revealed... PUBLICALLY
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Trump Official Caught in Bombshell January 6 Tape Urging Cop Murder Malcolm Ferguson Thu, August 7, 2025 at 12:13 PM EDT
NPR has obtained police bodycam footage of Trump Justice Department official Jared Wise calling on January 6 rioters to kill police officers.
“You guys are disgusting, man. You guys are disgusting,” Wise can be seen and heard saying on the footage. “I’m former law enforcement, you’re disgusting. You are the Nazi, you are the Gestapo, you can’t see it, cuz you’re chasing your pension.”
“Yeah! [censored] them, yeah! Kill ’em, yeah!” he later cheers as rioters push their way forward.
Wise’s incendiary statements, which he admitted to under oath in January, first made headlines in July after he was appointed senior counselor to Ed Martin, who was working to help January 6 rioters fight against “improper investigative tactics and unethical prosecutions.”
Wise defended his speech as a heat of the moment action influenced by what he saw as “police brutality” on the part of the Capitol officers.
“Those are terrible things to say. Of course. I shouldn’t say those things,” he said in court. “I think I was careless and used, like, terrible words when I was angry.”
Wise worked for the FBI from 2004 to 2017 before moving on to the far-right propaganda machine Project Veritas, where he infiltrated teachers’ unions across the Midwest. Wise was charged with two felonies and four misdemeanor counts in 2023, including trespassing and disrupting the orderly conduct of government, for his actions on January 6. All of his charges (and the charges of hundreds of other rioters) were dropped by Trump.
Wise’s pardoning and senior appointment show that Trump truly sees no wrong in what happened on January 6, and he won’t even pretend to. Rather than display any level of accountability, he rewards and uplifts those, like Wise, who called for violence against police and against the country in his name.
It's interesting somehow in MAGA world - saying "I'm a proud Gueatamalean and and American 1st" - or whatever version of that speech you want to believe - is somehow much worse than calling for the death of law enforcement. Fact.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
Hegseth reposts video on social media featuring pastors saying women shouldn't be allowed to vote The man who oversees the nation’s military has reposted a video on X, formerly Twitter, about a Christian nationalist church that included various pastors saying women should no longer be allowed to vote and should “submit” to their husbands
ByKONSTANTIN TOROPIN Associated Press August 8, 2025, 6:16 PM
1:40 National headlines from ABC NewsCatch up on the developing stories making headlines. WASHINGTON -- The man who oversees the nation's military reposted a video about a Christian nationalist church that included various pastors saying women should no longer be allowed to vote.
The extraordinary repost on X from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, made Thursday night, illustrates his deep and personal connection to a Christian nationalist pastor with extreme views on the role of religion and women.
In the post, Hegseth commented on an almost seven-minute-long report by CNN examining Doug Wilson, cofounder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, or CREC. The report featured a pastor from Wilson's church advocating the repeal of women’s right to vote from the Constitution, and another pastor saying that in his ideal world, people would vote as households. It also featured a female congregant saying that she submits to her husband.
“All of Christ for All of Life,” Hegseth wrote in his post that accompanied the video.
Hegseth’s post received more than 12,000 likes and 2,000 shares on X. Some users agreed with the pastors in the video, while others expressed alarm at the defense secretary promoting Christian nationalist ideas.
Doug Pagitt, pastor and executive director of the progressive evangelical organization Vote Common Good, said the ideas in the video are views that “small fringes of Christians keep” and said it was “very disturbing” that Hegseth would amplify them.
Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell told The Associated Press on Friday that Hegseth is “a proud member of a church” that is affiliated with CREC and he “very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson’s writings and teachings.”
In May, Hegseth invited his personal pastor, Brooks Potteiger, to the Pentagon to lead the first of several Christian prayer services that Hegseth has held inside the government building during working hours. Defense Department employees and service members said they received invitations to the event in their government emails.
“I’d like to see the nation be a Christian nation, and I’d like to see the world be a Christian world,” Wilson said in the CNN report.
___
AP journalists Mike Pesoli in Washington and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
Maybe stopping women from voting is something they think will MAGA. Maybe they can advocate that women should be in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant during their next campaign cycle.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
A July 2025 survey found that 47% of Republican voters said they'd still support U.S. President Donald Trump even if he were officially implicated in the late Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes.
Rating:
Rating: True
Context:
The question asked of around 1,000 American voters was: "If Donald Trump was officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking activities, would this make you more likely to vote for another party, or would it not affect your vote for Donald Trump?" Forty-seven percent of Republican respondents said such a revelation would not affect their vote, though based on other polling data this appears to reflect voter loyalty more than approval of the alleged actions.
In early August 2025, a claim circulated on social media that 47% of Republican voters said they would not change their support for U.S. President Donald Trump even if he were officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes.
Trump's past association with the late sex offender has long fueled speculation, though no formal charges have linked Trump to Epstein's criminal activities. In early July 2025, the Department of Justice shared a memo stating that its review found no incriminating "client list" and no credible evidence that Epstein had blackmailed prominent people.
One TikTok post (archived) on the topic had a caption reading, "47% of Republican voters said they'd still support Trump even if he were officially implicated in Epstein's sex crimes WHAT THE F***?"
(TikTok user @nowthisimpact)
The claim also spread on social media platforms including Facebook, X, Reddit and Instagram.
In short, the claim was true: A survey conducted in late July 2025 found that 47% of Republican voters said Trump being implicated in Epstein's criminal activities would not affect their vote. While some viral posts framed this as proof of continued support, the poll specifically asked whether the allegation would influence Republicans' voting behavior — not whether respondents condoned the alleged actions.
Source of the statistics
The statistic came from a poll the Canadian market research company Leger conducted in partnership with the media companies 338Canada and Maintenant Media between July 25 and 27, 2025. It was published on July 30. The survey explored the attitudes of a representative sample of around a thousand American voters on several topics, including the potential political fallout if Trump were officially implicated in Epstein's sex trafficking activities.
One question, labeled Q10, asked:
If Donald Trump was officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking activities, would this make you more likely to vote for another party, or would it not affect your vote for Donald Trump?
Base: Republican voters (n=322)
The question was asked only of respondents who identified as Republican voters, making up a subset of the full sample. According to the poll, 47% of Republican voters said Trump being implicated would not affect their vote. Meanwhile, 27% said they'd be more likely to vote for another party and 26% were unsure or preferred not to answer.
(leger360.com)
A side note in the report added, "Among those who say they would vote for the Republican candidate in 2028, 23% report they would be more likely to vote for another party if Donald Trump were officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's activities."
The survey revealed additional insights by region, age and gender. For instance, Republicans age 18-34 were the most likely to say they would vote for another party if Trump were implicated (61%), and older Republicans (55+) were the least likely to be swayed, with 58% saying it wouldn't affect their vote. Additionally, male respondents were more likely than female respondents to say it would not affect their vote (55% vs. 38%).
Other surveys on Republican voters' views regarding Trump and the Epstein case show notable division and skepticism among party supporters. Advertisement
For instance, a mid-July 2025 Quinnipiac University poll found Republicans split on Trump's handling of the Epstein files — 40% approved, 36% disapproved and 24% remained undecided. Overall, 63% of all voters disapproved of how the Trump administration managed the Epstein case.
An Economist/YouGov poll found 45% of Republican voters approved of Trump's handling of the Epstein investigation, with 25% disapproving. Despite this division, surveys have shown that many Republican voters strongly desire transparency. According to the same poll, the vast majority of Americans (89% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans) believed that the government should release all documents it has about the Epstein case. A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that among Republicans, 35% approved of Trump's handling of the case, compared to 29% who disapproved and the rest who said they weren't sure or didn't answer the question.
All in all, the claim that 47% of Republican voters said they would still support Trump if he were implicated in the Epstein case was accurate — but it reflected voter loyalty more than approval of the alleged actions. Other polls showed Republicans were divided on Trump's handling of the case and broadly supported full disclosure of the so-called Epstein files.
Other Epstein-related rumors we've investigated include a claim that Trump once said, "I never had the privilege of going to his island" and a 2002 photo allegedly showing 22-year-old Chauntae Davies, an accuser of Epstein, giving former President Bill Clinton a shoulder massage.
Sources:
63% Of Voters Disapprove Of The Trump Administration's Handling Of The Jeffrey Epstein Files, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Nearly Half Of Voters Would Consider Joining A Third Party, Just Not One Created By Elon Musk | Quinnipiac University Poll. 16 Jul. 2025, https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3928.
As I scroll through FB I see what appears to be some crazy things posted by both the right and the left. Sometimes I fact check them because there's no way I think it could possibly be true. And quite often I'm right about that. Some of these posts just seem too bizarre to be true. This one such example. I thought it was just some far left wing BS.
Man was I surprised by what I found.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Failed New Mexico candidate gets 80 years for convictions in shootings at officials’ homes
Albuquerque, New Mexico AP —
A failed political candidate was sentenced to 80 years in federal prison Wednesday for his convictions in a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
A jury convicted former Republican candidate Solomon Peña earlier this year of conspiracy, weapons and other charges in the shootings in December 2022 and January 2023 on the homes of four Democratic officials, including the current state House speaker.
Prosecutors, who had sought a 90-year sentence, said Peña has shown no remorse and had hoped to cause political change by terrorizing people who held contrary views to him into being too afraid to take part in political life.
Peña’s lawyers had sought a five-year sentence, saying their client maintains that he is innocent of the charges. They have said Peña was not involved in the shootings and that prosecutors were relying on the testimony of two men who bear responsibility and accepted plea agreements in exchange for leniency.
“Today was a necessary step toward Mr. Peña’s continued fight to prove his innocence,” said Nicholas Hart, one of Peña’s attorneys. “He looks forward to the opportunity to appeal, where serious issues about the propriety of this prosecution will be addressed.”
The attacks took place as threats and acts of intimidation against election workers and public officials surged across the country after President Donald Trump and his allies called into question the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors said Peña resorted to violence in the belief that a “rigged” election had robbed him of victory in his bid to serve in the state Legislature.
The shootings targeted the homes of officials including two county commissioners after their certification of the 2022 election, in which Peña lost by nearly 50 percentage points. No one was injured, but in one case bullets passed through the bedroom of a state senator’s 10-year-old daughter.
Two other men who had acknowledged helping Peña with the attacks had previously pleaded guilty to federal charges and received yearslong prison sentences.
Supreme Court formally asked to overturn landmark same-sex marriage ruling
Kim Davis, a former clerk who refused gay couples, brought the appeal.
Ten years after the Supreme Court extended marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide, the justices this fall will consider for the first time whether to take up a case that explicitly asks them to overturn that decision.
Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for six days in 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses to a gay couple on religious grounds, is appealing a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages plus $260,000 for attorneys fees.
In a petition for writ of certiorari filed last month, Davis argues First Amendment protection for free exercise of religion immunizes her from personal liability for the denial of marriage licenses.
More fundamentally, she claims the high court's decision in Obergefell v Hodges -- extending marriage rights for same-sex couples under the 14th Amendment's due process protections -- was "egregiously wrong."
"The mistake must be corrected," wrote Davis' attorney Mathew Staver in the petition. He calls Justice Anthony Kennedy's majority opinion in Obergefell "legal fiction."
The petition appears to mark the first time since 2015 that the court has been formally asked to overturn the landmark marriage decision. Davis is seen as one of the only Americans currently with legal standing to bring a challenge to the precedent.
"If there ever was a case of exceptional importance," Staver wrote, "the first individual in the Republic's history who was jailed for following her religious convictions regarding the historic definition of marriage, this should be it."
Lower courts have dismissed Davis' claims and most legal experts consider her bid a long shot. A federal appeals court panel concluded earlier this year that the former clerk "cannot raise the First Amendment as a defense because she is being held liable for state action, which the First Amendment does not protect."
Davis, as the Rowan County Clerk in 2015, was the sole authority tasked with issuing marriage licenses on behalf of the government under state law.
"Not a single judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals showed any interest in Davis's rehearing petition, and we are confident the Supreme Court will likewise agree that Davis's arguments do not merit further attention," said William Powell, attorney for David Ermold and David Moore, the now-married Kentucky couple that sued Davis for damages, in a statement to ABC News.
A renewed campaign to reverse legal precedent
Davis' appeal to the Supreme Court comes as conservative opponents of marriage rights for same-sex couples pursue a renewed campaign to reverse legal precedent and allow each state to set its own policy.
At the time Obergefell was decided in 2015, 35 states had statutory or constitutional bans on same-sex marriages, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only eight states had enacted laws explicitly allowing the unions.
So far in 2025, at least nine states have either introduced legislation aimed at blocking new marriage licenses for LGBTQ people or passed resolutions urging the Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell at the earliest opportunity, according to the advocacy group Lambda Legal.
In June, the Southern Baptist Convention -- the nation's largest Protestant Christian denomination -- overwhelmingly voted to make "overturning of laws and court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, that defy God's design for marriage and family" a top priority.
Support for equal marriage rights softening
While a strong majority of Americans favor equal marriage rights, support appears to have softened in recent years, according to Gallup -- 60% of Americans supported same-sex marriages in 2015, rising to 70% support in 2025, but that level has plateaued since 2020.
Among Republicans, support has notably dipped over the past decade, down from 55% in 2021 to 41% this year, Gallup found.
Davis' petition argues the issue of marriage should be treated the same way the court handled the issue of abortion in its 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade. She zeroes in on Justice Clarence Thomas' concurrence in that case, in which he explicitly called for revisiting Obergefell.
The justices "should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell," Thomas wrote at the time, referring to the landmark decisions dealing with a fundamental right to privacy, due process and equal protection rights.
"It is hard to say where things will go, but this will be a long slog considering how popular same-sex marriage is now," said Josh Blackman, a prominent conservative constitutional scholar and professor at South Texas College of Law.
Blackman predicts many members of the Supreme Court's conservative majority would want prospective challenges to Obergefell to percolate in lower courts before revisiting the debate.
The court is expected to formally consider Davis' petition this fall during a private conference when the justices discuss which cases to add to their docket. If the case is accepted, it would likely be scheduled for oral argument next spring and decided by the end of June 2026. The court could also decline the case, allowing a lower court ruling to stand and avoid entirely the request to revisit Obergefell.
"Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett seem wildly uninterested. Maybe Justice Neil Gorsuch, too," said Sarah Isgur, an ABC News legal analyst and host of the legal podcast Advisory Opinions.
"There is no world in which the court takes the case as a straight gay marriage case," Isgur added. "It would have to come up as a lower court holding that Obergefell binds judges to accept some other kind of non-traditional marital arrangement."
Ruling wouldn't invalidate existing marriages
If the ruling were to be overturned at some point in the future, it would not invalidate marriages already performed, legal experts have pointed out. The 2022 Respect for Marriage Act requires the federal government and all states to recognize legal marriages of same-sex and interracial couples performed in any state -- even if there is a future change in the law.
Davis first appealed the Supreme Court in 2019 seeking to have the damages suit against her tossed out, but her petition was rejected. Conservative Justices Thomas and Samuel Alito concurred with the decision at the time.
"This petition implicates important questions about the scope of our decision in Obergefell, but it does not cleanly present them," Thomas wrote in a statement.
Many LGBTQ advocates say they are apprehensive about the shifting legal and political landscape around marriage rights.
There are an estimated 823,000 married same-sex couples in the U.S., including 591,000 that wed after the Supreme Court decision in June 2015, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School. Nearly one in five of those married couples is parenting a child under 18.
Since the Obergefell decision, the makeup of the Supreme Court has shifted rightward, now including three appointees of President Donald Trump and a 6-justice conservative supermajority.
Chief Justice John Roberts, among the current members of the court who dissented in Obergefell a decade ago, sharply criticized the ruling at the time as "an act of will, not legal judgment" with "no basis in the Constitution." He also warned then that it "creates serious questions about religious liberty."
Davis invoked Roberts' words in her petition to the high court, hopeful that at least four justices will vote to accept her case and hear arguments next year.
Who didn't see this coming? We warned people this was going to happen. They said that it wouldn't.
The same people when they were warned that medicaid would be on that list they said that wouldn't happen too. The same people that when warned they may even come after food assistence for the poor said that would never happen too.
Keep your lists handy. There is going to be plenty more on that list of things you said "they would never do" that they are going be doing soon.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
70%, even as a plateau, is significant. I have a hunch that SCOTUS will deny cert, but I don’t know for sure.
If it’s overturned, that would be highly unpopular among the general voter population. Could turn into a dog who finally caught the car moment for the MAGA caucus, especially in the Senate.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
I have no idea how the SCOTUS will rule but it's yet another example of how those on the far right are trying to impose their religious beliefs on the whole of society. I mean to some extent that's nothing new but the volume of it most certainly is. From states imposing laws to force schools to post the ten commandments, to one state even mandating Bible classes in their classrooms, to Texas passing laws that even so much as traveling on their roads going to other states for a legal abortion to this, they're flooding the zone with it because they believe this SCOTUS favors them mandating such things.
They used to be all for smaller government. But I guess when it applies to "the God rule" it's different.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Oklahoma to test political leanings of teacher applicants from New York, California
Oklahoma will require applicants for teacher jobs coming from California and New York to pass an exam that the Republican-dominated state's top education official says is designed to safeguard against "radical leftist ideology" but that opponents decry as a "MAGA loyalty test."
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma's public schools superintendent, said Monday that any teacher coming from the two blue states will be required to pass an assessment exam administered by PragerU, an Oklahoma-based conservative nonprofit, before getting a state certification.
"As long as I am superintendent, Oklahoma classrooms will be safeguarded from the radical leftist ideology fostered in places like California and New York," Walters said in a statement.
PragerU, short for Prager University, puts out short videos with a conservative perspective on politics and economics. It promotes itself as "focused on changing minds through the creative use of digital media."
Quinton Hitchcock, a spokesperson for the state's education department, said the Prager test for teacher applicants has been finalized and will be rolling out "very soon."
The state didn't release the entire 50-question test to The Associated Press but did provide the first five questions, which include asking what the first three words of the U.S. Constitution are and why freedom of religion is "important to America's identity."
Prager didn't immediately respond to a phone message or email seeking comment. But Marissa Streit, CEO of PragerU, told CNN several questions on the assessment relate to "undoing the damage of gender ideology."
Jonathan Zimmerman, who teaches history of education at the University of Pennsylvania, said Oklahoma's contract with PragerU to test out-of-state would-be teachers "is a watershed moment."
"Instead of Prager simply being a resource that you can draw in an optional way, Prager has become institutionalized as part of the state system," he said. "There's no other way to describe it."
Zimmerman said the American Historical Association did a survey last year of 7th- to 12th-grade teachers and found that only a minority were relying on textbooks for day-to-day instruction. He said the upside to that is that most history books are "deadly boring." But he said that means history teachers are relying on online resources, such as those from Prager.
"I think what we're now seeing in Oklahoma is something different, which is actually empowering Prager as a kind of gatekeeper for future teachers," Zimmerman said. Oklahoma's move sharply criticized
One of the nation's largest teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers, has often been at odds with the Trump administration and the crackdown on teacher autonomy in the classroom.
"This MAGA loyalty test will be yet another turnoff for teachers in a state already struggling with a huge shortage," said AFT President Randi Weingarten.
She was critical of Walters, who pushed for the state's curriculum standards to be revised to include conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.
"His priority should be educating students, but instead, it's getting Donald Trump and other MAGA politicians to notice him," Weingarten said in a statement.
Tina Ellsworth, president of the nonprofit National Council for the Social Studies, also raised concerns that the test would prevent teachers from applying for jobs.
"State boards of education should stay true to the values and principles of the U.S. Constitution," Ellsworth said. "Imposing an ideology test to become a teacher in our great democracy is antithetical to those principles."
State Rep. John Waldron, the Oklahoma Democratic Party chairman, decried the test as "political posturing."
"If you want to see a textbook definition of indoctrination, how about a loyalty test for teachers," said Waldron. "It's a sad echo of a more paranoid past."
Waldron, a New Jersey native, said he would have been in the target demographic for this kind of test when he moved from Washington, D.C., to Oklahoma to teach social studies in 1999. He said it would have struck him as an indication that the state "wasn't serious about attracting quality teachers."
"Teachers are not rushing here from other states to teach. We've got an enormous teacher shortage and it's not like we have a giant supply of teachers coming in from blue states anyway," he said.
‘We are arresting the mayor right now, per the deputy attorney general’
Ry Rivard, Matt Friedman and Erica Orden Mon, August 18, 2025 at 7:15 PM EDT 6 min read
The federal officer who arrested the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city outside an immigration detention center in May suggested that he was making the arrest at the direction of the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, Todd Blanche, according to law enforcement body camera footage described in a new court filing.
The filing, from Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), sheds new light on the chaotic scene on May 9 when Democratic lawmakers and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, attempting to conduct an oversight visit, clashed with immigration agents. Baraka was arrested for trespassing, but that charge was dropped. McIver was later charged with assaulting federal agents; she is seeking to get the case dismissed.
According to McIver’s attorneys, a Department of Homeland Security special agent was on the phone as the events unfolded that day. Citing bodycam footage they obtained in the case, the attorneys wrote that the special agent, after hanging up the call, turned to a group of fellow agents and announced: “We are arresting the mayor right now, per the deputy attorney general of the United States. Anyone that gets in our way, I need you guys to give me a perimeter so I can cuff him.”
POLITICO has not reviewed the bodycam video. Although the footage was submitted as an exhibit in the case, it was not yet publicly available. A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment, and a response from the Department of Homeland Security did not address whether Blanche had ordered the agents to make the arrest.
The special agent’s apparent suggestion that he was acting at Blanche’s direction is the latest sign that top Justice Department officials are harnessing the power of law enforcement against Democrats and other perceived enemies of President Donald Trump. Trump’s DOJ has opened investigations into various figures Trump disdains, including Jack Smith, James Comey, former Homeland Security aides who criticized him and many others.
Federal law enforcement officials have also detained New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and handcuffed California Sen. Alex Padilla.
For months, Democrats have wondered if agents at the Newark immigration detention center had been instructed by a superior to arrest Baraka. Witness accounts and other video footage taken that day showed the mayor had been allowed inside a gated area by a guard, stood there peacefully for the better part of an hour and left the gated area when federal agents threatened him with arrest. That day, Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) told POLITICO that he’d witnessed an agent inside the gated area talking on the phone with someone who told the agent to arrest Baraka, who by the time of the call was outside the gate. McIver gave a similar account in a press conference at the time.
The description of the bodycam footage submitted in court last week by McIver’s attorneys bolsters that account. Quoting from the footage, her attorneys wrote that the special agent on the phone said of Baraka during the call: “Even though he stepped out, I am going to put him in cuffs.”
Then the agent made the comment about arresting the mayor “per the deputy attorney general.” Moments later, law enforcement officials came out of the gate and arrested Baraka, setting off a scrum involving the mayor and members of Congress. McIver is accused in a three-count indictment of slamming the special agent with her forearm, “forcibly” grabbing him and using her forearms to strike another agent. She has pleaded not guilty.
Less than two weeks later, federal prosecutors dropped a trespassing charge against Baraka. But a federal judge chided the effort to charge him in the first place. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa called it an “embarrassing retraction” that “suggests a failure to adequately investigate, to carefully gather facts and to thoughtfully consider the implications of your actions before wielding your immense power.”
Baraka is the progressive mayor of New Jersey’s largest city and at the time of his arrest was seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, an election he has since lost. Separately, he is suing the Trump administration for “malicious prosecution” in a lawsuit that names acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba and Ricky Patel, a special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations’ Newark Division.
According to a comparison of court documents filed in the Baraka and McIver cases, Patel is the special agent overheard on the bodycam footage referring to the deputy attorney general.
McIver tries to harness Trump immunity ruling
The new revelations about the episode came in legal briefs asking to have McIver’s own case thrown out.
As part of that effort, McIver asked the judge overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper, to rule that lawmakers have the same kind of immunity from prosecutions that the Supreme Court gave Trump.
Her attorneys said McIver’s visit to the detention facility, known as Delaney Hall, was a legislative act she cannot be prosecuted for. They cited the Supreme Court ruling last summer that gave Trump immunity from criminal prosecution for some actions he took during his first presidential term while fighting to subvert the 2020 election.
McIver’s attorneys also argued that she is facing intimidation and that Habba’s office, which is prosecuting the case, is undermining the Constitution’s “Speech or Debate” Clause. That clause grants members of Congress a form of immunity that is mostly impenetrable in investigations relating to the official duties of lawmakers, their aides or other congressional officials.
The Department of Homeland Security said the argument is laughable.
"Suggesting that physically assaulting a federal law enforcement officer is ‘legitimate legislative activity’ covered by legislative immunity makes a joke of all three branches of government at once,” the Homeland Security Department’s assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement.
If lawmakers don’t continue to receive such protections, McIver’s legal team warns of dire consequences for the country.
“If these charges are allowed to move forward, they will send a chilling message to Congress on the risk it takes when it scrutinizes the Administration’s activities,” McIver’s defense team wrote. “The Speech or Debate Clause was designed to prevent that kind of message and intimidation.”
Former Sen. Bob Menendez — Rob Menendez’s father — has tried to use the speech or debate clause to shield himself from corruption charges. He is now serving an 11-year prison sentence and appealing the conviction. McIver’s attorneys cited a 3rd Circuit ruling against Menendez in 2016 — who was then facing different corruption charges that were later dropped — as making clear that members of Congress do have immunity for legislative actions but that the allegations against him were for things beyond the scope of that immunity. McIver’s team argued the Menendez case “could not be more different” from hers.
In another legal filing made last week, McIver also sought to dismiss the charges against her based on unconstitutional “selective” and “vindictive” prosecution, noting that the Justice Department walked away from prosecutions of hundreds of defendants from Jan. 6, 2021, despite clear video of many attacking police officers.
Florida orders Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale to remove rainbow crosswalks
In letters from the state transportation department, communities are being ordered to remove them by early next month.
Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale are being ordered to remove their rainbow crosswalks – or risk losing millions of dollars in state and federal transportation funding.
The directive comes from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), which sent multiple cities across the state 14-day notices to take down Pride-themed crosswalks and street art.
Miami Beach pushes back
One of the most well-known crosswalks is at 12th Street and Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, installed seven years ago. FDOT argues the pastel rainbow artwork poses a safety risk for both drivers and pedestrians. But city statistics suggest otherwise.
According to crash data, the intersection at 12th and Ocean has had just 15 accidents since the artwork was installed in 2018 — fewer than neighboring intersections at 10th Street (37 crashes) and 13th Street (23 crashes).
City Commissioner Alex Fernandez called the rainbow crosswalk “a symbol of safety and inclusivity,” adding, “We must appeal the state’s order. If the state denies our appeal, then we need to consider all of our options…to protect the rights of our community, to protect the visibility.”
State’s reasoning
The state’s order stems from a May FDOT memo that banned surface pavement art tied to “social, political, or ideological messages” that do not serve a traffic control purpose. FDOT says such markings can cause distractions or confusion that compromise roadway safety.
But Fernandez disagreed, saying, “It’s a sign of tolerance, of inclusivity, of being welcoming to all people. To start chipping away at these symbols…it’s a dangerous path forward.”
Fort Lauderdale joins the fight
Fort Lauderdale’s mayor, Dean Trantalis, echoed those concerns after FDOT ordered the removal of Pride-themed art near Sebastian Beach and at three other intersections.
“We know this has nothing to do with traffic safety,” he said. “This has everything to do with eliminating the visibility of the LGBT community.” Orlando crosswalk painted over
The state has already taken action in Orlando, where FDOT crews painted over the rainbow crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub — the site of a 2016 mass shooting that killed 49 people. After word spread, neighbors used chalk to restore the colors.
Trantalis said state leaders should focus on other priorities.
“Honestly I wish the state would focus more on affordable insurance, homelessness, and finding affordable housing," he said.
Trump halts work on New England offshore wind project that’s nearly complete
The Trump administration halted construction on a nearly complete offshore wind project near Rhode Island as the White House continues to attack the battered U.S. offshore wind industry that scientists say is crucial to the urgent fight against climate change.
Danish wind farm developer Orsted says the Revolution Wind project is about 80% complete, with 45 out of its 65 turbines already installed.
Despite that progress — and the fact that the project had cleared years of federal and state reviews — the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued the order Friday, saying the federal government needs to review the project and “address concerns related to the protection of national security interests of the United States.”
It did not specify what the national security concerns are.
President Donald Trump has made sweeping strides to prioritize fossil fuels and hinder renewable energy projects. Trump recently called wind and solar power “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!” in a social media post and vowed not to approve wind or “farmer destroying Solar” projects. “The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!” he wrote on his Truth Social site this week.
Scientists across the globe agree that nations need to rapidly embrace renewable energy to stave off the worst effects of climate change, including extreme heat and drought; larger, more intense wildfires and supercharged hurricanes, typhoons and rainstorms that lead to catastrophic flooding.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee criticized the stop-work order and said he and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont “will pursue every avenue to reverse the decision to halt work on Revolution Wind” in a post on X. Both governors are Democrats.
Construction on Revolution Wind began in 2023, and the project was expected to be fully operational next year. Orsted says it is evaluating the financial impact of stopping construction and is considering legal proceedings.
Revolution Wind is located more than 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of the Rhode Island coast, 32 miles (51 kilometers) southeast of the Connecticut coast and 12 miles (19 kilometers) southwest of Martha’s Vineyard. Rhode Island is already home to one offshore wind farm, the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm.
Revolution Wind was expected to be Rhode Island and Connecticut’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, capable of powering more than 350,000 homes. The densely populated states have minimal space available for land-based energy projects, which is why the offshore wind project is considered crucial for the states to meet their climate goals.
“This arbitrary decision defies all logic and reason — Revolution Wind’s project was already well underway and employed hundreds of skilled tradesmen and women. This is a major setback for a critical project in Connecticut, and I will fight it,” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Wind power is the largest source of renewable energy in the U.S. and provides about 10% of the electricity generated in the nation.
“Today, the U.S. has only one fully operational large-scale offshore wind project producing power. That is not enough to meet America’s rising energy needs. We need more energy of all types, including oil and gas, wind, and new and emerging technologies,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, a group that supports offshore oil, gas and wind.
Green Oceans, a nonprofit that opposes the offshore wind industry, applauded the BOEM’s decision. “We are grateful that the Trump Administration and the federal government are taking meaningful action to preserve the fragile ocean environment off the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts,” the nonprofit said in a statement.
This is the second major offshore wind project the White House has halted. Work was stopped on Empire Wind, a New York offshore wind project, but construction was allowed to resume after New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, intervened.
“This administration has it exactly backwards. It’s trying to prop up clunky, polluting coal plants while doing all it can to halt the fastest growing energy sources of the future – solar and wind power,” said Kit Kennedy, managing director for the power division at Natural Resources Defense Council, in a statement. “Unfortunately, every American is paying the price for these misguided decisions.”
Oklahoma to test political leanings of teacher applicants from New York, California
Oklahoma will require applicants for teacher jobs coming from California and New York to pass an exam that the Republican-dominated state's top education official says is designed to safeguard against "radical leftist ideology" but that opponents decry as a "MAGA loyalty test."
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma's public schools superintendent, said Monday that any teacher coming from the two blue states will be required to pass an assessment exam administered by PragerU, an Oklahoma-based conservative nonprofit, before getting a state certification.
"As long as I am superintendent, Oklahoma classrooms will be safeguarded from the radical leftist ideology fostered in places like California and New York," Walters said in a statement.
PragerU, short for Prager University, puts out short videos with a conservative perspective on politics and economics. It promotes itself as "focused on changing minds through the creative use of digital media."
Quinton Hitchcock, a spokesperson for the state's education department, said the Prager test for teacher applicants has been finalized and will be rolling out "very soon."
The state didn't release the entire 50-question test to The Associated Press but did provide the first five questions, which include asking what the first three words of the U.S. Constitution are and why freedom of religion is "important to America's identity."
Prager didn't immediately respond to a phone message or email seeking comment. But Marissa Streit, CEO of PragerU, told CNN several questions on the assessment relate to "undoing the damage of gender ideology."
Jonathan Zimmerman, who teaches history of education at the University of Pennsylvania, said Oklahoma's contract with PragerU to test out-of-state would-be teachers "is a watershed moment."
"Instead of Prager simply being a resource that you can draw in an optional way, Prager has become institutionalized as part of the state system," he said. "There's no other way to describe it."
Zimmerman said the American Historical Association did a survey last year of 7th- to 12th-grade teachers and found that only a minority were relying on textbooks for day-to-day instruction. He said the upside to that is that most history books are "deadly boring." But he said that means history teachers are relying on online resources, such as those from Prager.
"I think what we're now seeing in Oklahoma is something different, which is actually empowering Prager as a kind of gatekeeper for future teachers," Zimmerman said. Oklahoma's move sharply criticized
One of the nation's largest teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers, has often been at odds with the Trump administration and the crackdown on teacher autonomy in the classroom.
"This MAGA loyalty test will be yet another turnoff for teachers in a state already struggling with a huge shortage," said AFT President Randi Weingarten.
She was critical of Walters, who pushed for the state's curriculum standards to be revised to include conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.
"His priority should be educating students, but instead, it's getting Donald Trump and other MAGA politicians to notice him," Weingarten said in a statement.
Tina Ellsworth, president of the nonprofit National Council for the Social Studies, also raised concerns that the test would prevent teachers from applying for jobs.
"State boards of education should stay true to the values and principles of the U.S. Constitution," Ellsworth said. "Imposing an ideology test to become a teacher in our great democracy is antithetical to those principles."
State Rep. John Waldron, the Oklahoma Democratic Party chairman, decried the test as "political posturing."
"If you want to see a textbook definition of indoctrination, how about a loyalty test for teachers," said Waldron. "It's a sad echo of a more paranoid past."
Waldron, a New Jersey native, said he would have been in the target demographic for this kind of test when he moved from Washington, D.C., to Oklahoma to teach social studies in 1999. He said it would have struck him as an indication that the state "wasn't serious about attracting quality teachers."
"Teachers are not rushing here from other states to teach. We've got an enormous teacher shortage and it's not like we have a giant supply of teachers coming in from blue states anyway," he said.
You don't want indoctrination, but are in support of teachers having to pass an assessment from PragerU.
You guys are pure comedy.
Here is some info since MAGA hates getting tangled up in annoying stuff like info and context. PragerU is a conservative nonprofit that distributes content promoting conservative viewpoints. They are NOT: -accredited -they're not even an actual school
There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but having something like this as a screening tool for educators means you're choosing political affiliation over actual teaching ability... and doing so in the name of combating indoctrination is beyond hypocritical (it's hypocrisy with a generous helping of blissful ignorance).
Last edited by oobernoober; 08/25/2501:33 PM.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
I'm fully aware you think teaching children to be kind, accepting and decent to all human beings regardless of their sexuality is a terrible thing. While force feeding students your version of morality and religion is perfectly fine. Oklahoma is the same state that has ordered The Ten commandments be posted in every class and that a course on the Bible be a required class.
You want children of all faiths and of no faiths have your religion crammed down their throats.
Maybe it's time people like you from the looney bin get exposed and rejected before indoctrinating our children.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I'm fully aware you think teaching children to be kind, accepting and decent to all human beings regardless of their sexuality is a terrible thing. While force feeding students your version of morality and religion is perfectly fine. Oklahoma is the same state that has ordered The Ten commandments be posted in every class and that a course on the Bible be a required class.
You want children of all faiths and of no faiths have your religion crammed down their throats.
Maybe it's time people like you from the looney bin get exposed and rejected before indoctrinating our children.
The Ten Commandments are a wonderful piece of history and should be taught in school.
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples' money." Margarat Thatcher
Whose history? American history? So you do support your religion being imposed on our nations children. You support what you claim is history. If you're so concerned about history why aren't you concerned about trump trying to remove and downplay our actual history?
But I get it. You follow and support the man who said this....................
“Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, ‘Jimmy, I love you so much, go have a good day in school,’ and your son comes back with a brutal operation? Can you even imagine this? What the hell is wrong with our country?”
This is why you have climbed down the rabbit hole.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I'm fully aware you think teaching children to be kind, accepting and decent to all human beings regardless of their sexuality is a terrible thing. While force feeding students your version of morality and religion is perfectly fine. Oklahoma is the same state that has ordered The Ten commandments be posted in every class and that a course on the Bible be a required class.
You want children of all faiths and of no faiths have your religion crammed down their throats.
Maybe it's time people like you from the looney bin get exposed and rejected before indoctrinating our children.
The Ten Commandments are a wonderful piece of history and should be taught in school.
Yaliban.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
The president on Sunday also threatened to pull federal funding for the replacement of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed in 2024. The federal government had previously agreed to pay for the bridge’s replacement. ‘I gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge,’ Trump wrote. ‘I will now have to rethink that decision???’
Yet another example of how trump will threaten an entire city and its people because he is feuding with another politician.
And BTW- The funds to replace this bridge were passed by congress in late 2024 before trump ever started his second term. He had nothing to do with giving them anything. Yet another lie. Surprise, surprise.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
President Donald Trump doesn’t just want federal control of Washington, D.C., he wants aesthetic control as well—and knowing the president’s garish style, it probably won’t be pretty.
On Friday, Trump said the administration was “looking at doing something very exciting” to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, a part of the White House campus that was constructed in the late 1800s. “It’s such a beautiful building, but it doesn’t look it,” Trump said. “I think it’s just incredible, but you have to get past the color, because the stone they used was a really bad color.”
And it won’t stop at the White House: Trump also said that he’s giving out a contract to “beautify” the city, repaving streets and updating lampposts within a three-mile radius of the Capitol Building. “It’s gonna be beautiful, all those lightbulbs—you see the poles, they’re rusting and they’ve got different lenses on top, if you look.… We’re going to have this place beautified,” he said.
This redecoration would require about $2 billion from Congress, according to the president.
Meanwhile, House Republicans still haven’t restored the $1 billion in city funding they blocked earlier this year, holding taxpayer dollars hostage unless the new bill prohibits D.C. residents from spending their own money on things that don’t align with the conservative agenda, like abortion services or reparations.
But gold lampposts (which, if the past is any evidence, could conceivably be part of Trump’s plan) are definitely worth the money! On Thursday, as well, Trump said he wants D.C.’s parks to look like his golf courses.
“I’m very good at grass because I have a lot of golf courses all over the place,” he bragged. “I know more about grass than any human being, I think, anywhere in the world, and we’re going to be re-grassing all of your parks … it’ll look like Augusta. It’ll look like, more importantly, Trump National Golf Club—that’s even better,” he said, referring to Augusta, Georgia, where the Masters Tournament is held.
Washington, D.C. has had three periods in 2025 where there were no murders for more than a week, despite claims by President Donald Trump suggesting otherwise—as of Monday evening, the capital had not recorded a homicide for 12 days.
According to police data, there were two seven-day periods where there were no murders in the city in April and May 2025 and a period from February to March where there was a 16-day period where no homicides were committed. This is despite Trump saying that it had been "many years" since the city had a murder-free stretch of a week. Why It Matters
Scrutiny of D.C.'s crime rate comes after Trump placed the city's police department under federal control and deployed National Guard troops to the city. He has repeatedly claimed there is a high crime rate in Washington, saying it had "become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world."
On Monday, he signed an executive order directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to create specialized National Guard units in Washington, D.C. and nationwide that are trained to handle "public-order issues."
Trump's efforts build on a previously signed executive order titled "Making The District of Columbia Safe And Beautiful," that seeks to reduce crime in D.C., among other measures.
What To Know
On Monday, Trump claimed that it had been "many years" since the city had a murder-free stretch of a week and said that crime was falling. He also told reporters that the then 11-day stretch without murders was "the first time that's taken place in years, actually years."
However, in April and May 2025, there were two seven-day periods where there were no murders in the city. From February 25 to March 12, there was a 16-day period where no homicides were committed. This was the longest span without a killing in six years, according to police.
Meanwhile, data suggests Trump's claims about the crime rate in D.C. are overstated. Washington recorded 187 homicides in 2024. This was a decline from 2023 when there were 274 homicides, its highest figure since 1997.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday: "The incompetent Mayor of Chicago just stated that, in DC, where crime has been brought down to almost nothing, there have been no murders in 9 days, something which hasn't happened in years, and people are safe again, only nine people have been arrested. That is wrong, hundreds of criminals have been held, captured, and arrested, and their guns have been taken away. DC IS SAFE AND BOOMING!!!"
Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X: "Our mission to make D.C. safe again isn't slowing down."
What Happens Next
Whether the capital continues its murder-free spell remains to be seen.
KING TRUMP. Or in other words - dictator Trump - Fires Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
He doesn't have the authority or power to do so. Basically as each day goes by I feel a little more nauseous at how he ignores the consitution. Ignores what his remit is supposed to be and urinates and defacates over the constitution while Congress twiddle their thumbs and let him. It makes it worse to see and hear MAGA morons try to justify this sort of thing, try to say that it doesn't matter what he says and more and more doesn't matter what he does.
Fed Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook says she's staying on the job despite Trump saying he fired her
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's attempt to fire one of the seven governors of the Federal Reserve will likely end up in court and could more clearly define the limits of the president's legal powers over the traditionally independent institution.
Legal experts say the Republican president's claim that he can fire Lisa Cook, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, is on shaky ground. But it's an unprecedented move that hasn't played out in the courts before, and the Supreme Court this year has been much more willing to let the president remove agency officials than in the past.
If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the board, it could erode the Fed's political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. A less-independent Fed could leave Americans paying higher rates for mortgages, car loans and business loans, because investors could demand higher rates to own bonds to offset greater inflation, pushing up borrowing costs throughout the economy.
"It's an illegal firing, but the president's going to argue, 'The Constitution lets me do it,'" said Lev Menand, a law professor at Columbia University and author of a book about the Fed. "And that argument's worked in a few other cases so far this year."
Menand said the Supreme Court construes the Constitution's meaning, and "it can make new constitutional law in this case."
The most likely next steps for Cook, who was appointed to the Fed's board in 2022, are to seek an injunction against Trump's order that would allow her to continue her work as a governor. But the situation puts the Fed in a difficult position.
"They have their own legal obligation to follow the law," Menand said. "And that does not mean do whatever the president says. ... The Fed is under an independent duty to reach its own conclusions about the legality of Lisa Cook's removal."
Trump said in a letter posted on his Truth Social platform late Monday that he was removing Cook effective immediately because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud.
Cook said Monday night that she would not step down. "President Trump purported to fire me 'for cause' when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so," she said in an emailed statement. "I will not resign."
Bill Pulte, a Trump appointee to the agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, made the accusations last week. Pulte alleged that Cook had claimed two primary residences -- in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in Atlanta -- in 2021 to get better mortgage terms. Mortgage rates are often higher on second homes or those bought to rent.
Cook has retained Abbe Lowell, a prominent Washington attorney. Lowell said Trump's "reflex to bully is flawed and his demands lack any proper process, basis or legal authority," adding, "We will take whatever actions are needed to prevent his attempted illegal action."
Cook is the first Black woman to serve as a governor. She was a Marshall Scholar and received degrees from Oxford University and Spelman College, and she has taught at Michigan State University and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Trump was found to have fraudulently inflated the square footage and value of his Trump Tower apartment on financial statements submitted to lenders and insurers. He remains president. Yet he thinks she deserves to be fired for this? The hypocrisy is cray but expected.
Donald Trump Claimed Apartment Was Three Times Its Actual Size To Increase Value: NY AG
I think it's even more base than that - Trump "was found" ... as in found guilty of. She is "alleged" to have .... by a Trump toady. So we'll wait and see. . . and that's not withstanding that Trump has no authority over her.
* edit - alleged, by a Trump Toady, after Trump has expressed a desire to remove her.
Last edited by mgh888; 08/27/2501:24 PM.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
Trump's Executive order concerning architecture........
January 20, 2025
MEMORANDUM FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE GENERAL SERVICES
ADMINISTRATION
SUBJECT: Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture
I hereby direct the Administrator of the General Services Administration, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the heads of departments and agencies of the United States where necessary, to submit to me within 60 days recommendations to advance the policy that Federal public buildings should be visually identifiable as civic buildings and respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage in order to uplift and beautify public spaces and ennoble the United States and our system of self-government. Such recommendations shall consider appropriate revisions to the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture and procedures for incorporating community input into Federal building design selections.
If, before such recommendations are submitted, the Administrator of the General Services Administration proposes to approve a design for a new Federal public building that diverges from the policy set forth in this memorandum, the Administrator shall notify me, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, not less than 30 days before the General Services Administration could reject such design without incurring substantial expenditures. Such notification shall set forth the reasons the Administrator proposes to approve such design...............
He is calling it 'MAKING FEDERAL ARCHITECTURE BEAUTIFUL AGAIN'..................
Control freak dictator say what?
I suppose to some degree I understand it. I'm sure he doesn't think an address and a sign on the building is quite enough to make it easy for many of his supporters to find them.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
