Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) faked a phone call for roughly 90 seconds after being asked about Speaker Mike Johnson’s comments regarding potential Social Security cuts.
The phone's screen remained visible, with his cheek inadvertently tapping different parts of the display.
HipHopDX, which launched in 1999, was one of the biggest treasure troves of Hip-Hop history online. I've sourced it countless times for research & writings. It was rich w/ forgotten news stories & weird moments. The internet is NOT forever. Smh
Hopefully it's not gone for good
This is what local accountability looks like:
In Festus, Missouri, a town of about 14,000 people, the city council quietly approved a $6 billion Ai data center to be built on 360 acres just north of Highway 67.
Residents say they were never properly heard. Meetings were held in private. Documents were released too late. A week after the approval, the town held a regular election. Voter turnout jumped 129 percent.
Every single council member who had voted yes lost in a landslide. A 70-year-old first-time candidate beat an 8-year incumbent by 40 percentage points.
Now a recall petition is circulating to remove the mayor as well. The lawsuit against the city is already filed.
Has your local government ever been held accountable like this? 🔥
Flags at half mast speak loudly about who a nation chooses to honor.
When Charlie Kirk, a racist agitator who trafficked in division and grievance, died, Trump moved swiftly to lower the American flag, a symbolic gesture of national mourning.
But when Reverend Jesse Jackson, a global civil rights icon, freedom fighter, and lifelong advocate for justice, dignity, and unity passed away, there was no such urgency. No national gesture. No unifying call to honor a man whose life’s work helped expand democracy and human rights for millions.
Instead, the president took to social media to center himself rather than the legacy of a giant who marched with Dr. King, negotiated for the oppressed, and spent decades bringing people together across race, class, and nation.
Let that contrast sink in.
A figure known for stoking division is memorialized with the full weight of presidential symbolism, while a civil rights statesman whose mission was reconciliation, equality, and global justice is met with indifference.
That is not just an oversight.
That is a statement of values.
History will remember who was honored, how they were honored, and who was quietly minimized.
And it raises a sobering question:
What does it say about the soul of a nation when a divider is mourned with national symbols, but a unifier is not?
Talbert Swan
"Why did one straw break the camel's back? Here's the secret. Million other straws underneath it. It's all mathematics." -- Yasiin Bey (The Mighty Mos Def)
I don't know how much more suffering people need to experience before "something something democrats" isn't the reflexive response to this dictatorship. Clearly we aren't there yet.