President Trump declines to commit to permanently scrapping the DOJ's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund. "I'd have to ask the lawyers," he says. "I don't know."
The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution that would prevent Donald Trump from ordering more attacks on Iran without first seeking congressional approval.
Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reports.
Trump attacking Kaitlan Collins: CNN's a very corrupt organization, with a corrupt reporter standing right there, never smiles. Young, beautiful woman, never smiles. I never see a smile on her face. I see her standing with such hatred in her eyes.
Trump just signed order "reclassifying" ~8,000 civil servants so they are easier to fire for political reasons. This has been in the works since his first term
https://t.co/et4pWG1E5M
“Nearly 60 percent of the senior officers Mr. Hegseth has fired are female or Black, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in recent Senate testimony. Women and minorities currently account for fewer than 20 percent of all generals and admirals.” https://t.co/V0r60s4CM1
*BRITISH WRITER PENS THE BEST DESCRIPTION OF TRUMP*
Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?" Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:
A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.
So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump's limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.
I don't say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.
But with Trump, it's a fact. He doesn't even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty. Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.
And scarily, he doesn't just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It's all surface.
Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don't. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He's not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He's more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.
There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless or female – and he kicks them when they are down. So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy' is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and most are.
• You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.
This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.
After all, it's impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.
BREAKING: The House has passed a War Powers Resolution aimed at reining in Donald Trump’s war in Iran in a 215-208 vote.
Four Republicans broke with Trump and voted with Democrats: Thomas Massie, Warren Davidson, Tom Barrett, and Brian Fitzpatrick.
The European Union’s six largest economies have agreed on a plan to implement a bloc-wide capital markets union, reaching a collective stance they say will help spur the continent to action after years of delay. https://t.co/yE5RPT6OMo
🚨BREAKING: The Secretary of Homeland Security just admitted, on camera, that he is going to violate your First Amendment right to free speech.
He said, “I have ZERO tolerance. If you verbally assault our officers… we will find you, we will arrest you.”
Except… that’s not how the First Amendment works.
Unless someone is making a credible threat of violence, speech… even rude, angry, or insulting speech… is still protected.
That’s the whole point of a free speech clause… to protect the people from situations where those in power don’t like what’s being said.
So, when a top federal official starts framing “verbal assault” as something you can be arrested for, without clearly defining it as an actual threat…
It stops sounding like protecting officers, and starts sounding like a government trying to silence people who speak out against it.
New reports reveal GOP Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp sold 3 lakefront properties shortly after he became governor.
The properties had been listed for over a decade, and the people who bought the properties were later given valuable government contracts and appointed to high-ranking positions.
Trying to understand how it’s legal for a POTUS to tell voters he’ll ensure their state receives funding if they vote like he tells them to while promising they won’t receive the said funding if they disobey his orders on who to vote for
Thought we fought a revolution over this?
🚨BREAKING: In Chicago, ICE agents were filmed hitting the car of a U.S. citizen, assaulting a bystander who was filming, pointing a taser at innocent people, and driving away before local police could even verify their identities.
And we’re supposed to believe they’re making our communities safer.
The video shows ICE agents chasing a man through Albany Park.
Two agents grab him and rip his shirt off during the chase, while one of the agents drops a fully loaded magazine… and leaves it there.
The man manages to get away and runs across a street, where cars are stopped at a red light.
An ICE agent then drive a black SUV into a U.S. citizen’s vehicle in an attempt to cut off the man running.
The man is eventually surrounded by agents, when one agent suddenly grabs the man and aggressively throws him to the ground, as multiple agents immediately pile on top of him as he screams for help.
As this is happening, residents begin recording what they are witnessing.
That’s when another agent enters the scene with his taser already drawn.
Despite another agent already standing next to a person filming, he walks directly toward the bystander, shoves them backward, and screams, “Back the fuck up.”
The person filming isn’t attacking anyone… or interfering with the arrest.
In fact, you can see them nodding and saying “okay.”
Yet, the agent continues advancing toward them with a taser.
Which all raises some serious first and fourth amendment concerns.
And let’s talk about the woman whose car was hit…
Her vehicle gets run into, during a federal operation… and then they threatened to arrest HER.
And afterward, local police told her they were not given proof of the agents’ identity at the scene.
One officer reportedly said, “[The agents] didn’t want to show us proof of that,” when speaking to the woman whose car was hit.
AND THEN, according to reporting from the scene, one of the ICE agents had a Jerusalem cross sticker on the back of his phone.
The Jerusalem cross is a Christian symbol dating back to the Crusades that has more recently gained popularity among some far-right and white supremacist groups.
Maybe that’s something DHS would like to explain.
So, if federal agents can crash into civilian vehicles, leave loaded ammunition in public streets, point tasers at bystanders, and aggressively confront, and assault, people exercising their constitutional rights…
Then the people holding the cameras aren’t the problem.
The cameras are documenting the problem.