ChatGPT is my new best friend. Yemen is going to shut down the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
President Donald J. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and members of Congress react to U.S. military members being killed by the Iranians.
Of course, Vance and wife Usha had announced their fourth child. How many of these military officials have children or expected children?
He gets to enjoy his life while the families of those who were ordered to serve the U.S. in this war of choice being killed. These military officials will not see their families ever again all for Vance to celebrate his fourth child, Trump to enrich himself and his allies.
Iran promised that for every attack on them, retaliation is hitting places where the U.S. places its flag.
Israel is about to get hit by Iran soon.
Iran is warning that the more the U.S. and Israel continue its aggressions, the likely, Yemen will take sovereignty of its waterways. Ansar Allah, known in the West as the Houthis will impose a military blockade on the Bab al-Mandab Strait which has 10% to 15% of oil and commercial shipping.
Iranian leaders are negotiating a partnership with the Yemen government in Sana'a.
On Monday, if the aggression continues, Yemen will put an effective block on water travel.
The U.S. military has reinstated a naval blockade and bombed Iran for several consecutive days, concentrating attacks on coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz. But airstrikes have recently extended to infrastructure, such as railways that could be used to ferry weapons.
The Bab-el-Mandeb is a strait and a major global chokepoint between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and by extension the Indian Ocean.
The Bab-el-Mandeb acts as a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Most exports of petroleum and natural gas from the Persian Gulf that transit the Suez Canal or the SUMED Pipeline pass through both the Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz.
While the narrow width of the strait requires vessels to travel through the territorial sea of adjacent states, under the purview of Article 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the legal concept of transit passage applies to Bab el-Mandeb, although Eritrea (unlike the rest of coastal countries) is not a party to the convention.
Chokepoints are narrow channels along widely used global sea routes that are critical to global energy security. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is 26 kilometres (14 nautical miles) wide at its narrowest point, limiting tanker traffic to two 2-mile-wide channels for inbound and outbound shipments.
Closure of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait could keep tankers originating in the Persian Gulf from transiting the Suez Canal or reaching the SUMED Pipeline, forcing them to divert around the southern tip of Africa, which would increase transit time and shipping costs.
In 2006, an estimated 3.3 million barrels (520,000 m3) of oil passed through the strait per day, out of a world total of about 43 million barrels per day (6,800,000 m3/d) moved by tankers. This rose by 2014 to 5.1 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil, condensate and refined petroleum products headed toward Europe, the United States, and Asia, then an estimated 6.2 million b/d by 2018.
In 2017, total petroleum flows through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait accounted for about 9% of total seaborne-traded petroleum (crude oil and refined petroleum products) in 2017. About 3.6 million b/d moved north toward Europe; another 2.6 million b/d flowed in the opposite direction mainly to Asian markets such as Singapore, China, and India.
Interracial marriage. The white extremist nightmare, a Black and Brown nation. Vice President JD Vance and Usha are now raising four children.
Nothing like a tone deaf politician celebrating a milestone. While many Americans go into debt after a hospital visit, our president and vice president get free or cost efficient health care at the expense of the taxpayers.
While I do not wish harm on our president, the vice president or their families, I would not shed tears or show an ounce of empathy for them. They are just too negative for any rational condolences.
On social media, the White House announced that Vice President JD Vance, 41 and Second Lady Usha Vance, 40 welcomed their fourth child.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 28 recently returned after her maternity leave for her second child with her elderly husband, Nicholas Riccio, 61.
The vice president on Sunday announced the birth of their fourth child, the first born to a sitting vice president in more than 150 years.
Born Sunday, Alec Neel Vance joins older siblings Ewan, 9; Vivek, 6; and Mirabel, 4.
Vance announced the birth on social media with a statement signed by him and his wife.
“We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning. Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother,” the statement said.
They thanked doctors and staff at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and with the White House medical team.
The Republican vice president’s growing family is in keeping with his passionate advocacy for Americans to have more children. He has also suggested that the 2025 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was his friend, factored into the decision to have another child.
So a man being shot in the fucking neck in a graphic fashion got Vance to humping Usha.
No couch avaliable?
Vance, a former U.S. Marine, repeatedly expressed alarm about declining birth rates in America as he launched his political career in 2021 with a bid for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. As vice president, he said in Washington at the 2025 March for Life anti-abortion rally, “I want more babies in the United States of America.”
The vice president, who’s 41, has been accompanied on overseas trips by Usha Vance, 40, and their children, with the kids often pajama-clad as they board Air Force Two for the overnight flights.
Usha Vance, the daughter of immigrants from India, had already been the subject of some public fascination because of her husband. Her pregnancy, which was announced in January, amplified that spotlight since it is rare for occupants of the United States’ highest public offices to add to their families while serving.
The last time a sitting vice president became a new father was in the 1800s.
Schuyler Colfax and his second wife, Ellen Wade, had a son, Schuyler Colfax III, in 1870 when Colfax was serving as vice president, according to the White House Historical Association. Decades before that, John C. Calhoun and his wife, Floride Bonneau, had a son, William, in 1829 when Calhoun was vice president, the association said.
The newest addition to Vance’s family was part of a recent mini baby boom among top members of President Donald Trump’s administration. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, recently gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had her second child her husband in May.
Usha Vance recently came under scrutiny after The New York Times’ fashion critic called attention to the stomach-hugging, coral maternity dress she wore for a Father’s Day episode of “Storytime with the Second Lady,” a video podcast she launched during the pregnancy.
The Times wrote that the attention that Vance, Miller and Leavitt had put on their pregnancies offered “an image of idealized womanhood that gives literal shape to the pronatalist movement,” which encourages couples to have as many children as possible to counter declining birth rates.
The second lady responded on social media, writing, “Now that we know the political significance of my $8.75 coral maternity dress from Old Navy, can’t wait to hear what the New York Times has to say about my elastic-waistband pants and compression socks! In the meantime, enjoy my pregnancy fashion (or lack thereof) and a good story with your kids on Storytime with the Second Lady.” She later shared the receipt for the dress, and her husband applauded her frugality.
“She bought a $50 dress for $8.75. America: meet your next director of the federal budget!” the vice president wrote on social media.
JD Vance has said it was Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, telling them that she wished she’d had more than two children with her husband before he was assassinated last September in Utah that led him and the second lady to decide to grow their family. Usha Vance, a former attorney who once clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, concurred — in part.
“It was very powerful, what (Erika) said about her own family, and certainly very moving to both of us. I think I had already started to open my mind to the possibility,” Usha Vance said during a joint interview with her husband for “CBS Sunday Morning” that aired in June. “I wouldn’t say that this was, for me in any way, the decisive factor. But it came in the middle of a conversation that we were already having.”
Vice President JD Vance has a job approval of 32%. Usha Vance as the Second Lady of the United States has slightly favorable views. She has 52% favorably. She isn't in the limelight like First Lady Melania Trump or the vice president.
If I was Vance, I would not run for president. I would return back to Cincinnati, raise the children and consider a local run for governor if the opportunity comes. Vance already has the anger of the MIGA crowd. The pro Israel Republicans are still angry over his remarks about not giving a fuck about that country.
Also white extremists hate the fact that Vance has diluted the bloodline by falling in love with an Indian American lawyer. Her parents, Radhakrishna Chilukuri and Lakshmi Yechuri immigrated to the United States.
When Darializa Avila Chevalier was confronted by some Zionists while early voting with her mother, it wss seen as a vile and a sign of desperation by Rep.
Adriano Espaillat (D-NY).
Scott Wiener, one of the two Democrats running to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was chased out of a San Francisco Pride event. His refusal to acknowledge the genocide happening in Gaza and Lebanon led to multiple confrontations about his tepid responses to Israel. He is a gay Jewish Democratic state senator who refuses to take money from American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Despite the pledge, he and Connie Chan have face pressure to call out Israel and Pelosi.
James Carville and Jaime Harrison have openly called for members affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America to no longer be Democrats.
Sen. John Fetterman (I-PA) declared he will no longer caucus with the Democratic Party if they become the anti-Israel party. He took aim at former Maine candidate Graham Platner and Michigan candidate Abdul El-Sayed for being "red flags." He went on Fox and CNN and called El-Sayed "pro Hamas".
Fetterman even took aim at New York mayor Zohran Mamdani by calling him stupid for even thinking of abiding by the "corrupt" International Criminal Court arrest warrant.
El-Sayed has also called upon his supporters to stop mocking Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI).
Why does he look he's swollen?
Many of the establishment figures are pointing to crowd sizes of his rallies. They claim that the audience is mostly white. He held a few prominent events in Metro Detroit.
Not realizing that Black voters aren't monolithic, many of Stevens supporters are calling it a fake op.
Enter that doofus, Jake Lang. The white extremist who allegedly is an Israeli based professional provocateur tried to interrupt his coffee and greet.
Lang, who previously served prison time for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot before receiving a pardon, attempted to heckle El-Sayed during a press gathering. El-Sayed, a progressive candidate vying to become the first Muslim member of the U.S. Senate, addressed the confrontation by allowing Lang to speak before condemning his message and eventually having him escorted out.
The incident happened shortly before a massive rally at the Detroit Opera House, where El-Sayed appeared alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). El-Sayed addressed the confrontation directly, contrasting his progressive platform with what he characterized as a divisive, hateful political approach.
Far right extremists are facing criminal charges in Great Britain. They escape Romanian justice only to be held in federal custody in the U.S. With the two brothers being held for extradition, it is highly unlikely they will escape the iron college in British commonwealth courts.
Brofluncers Andrew and Tristan Tate can't take no for an answer. They literally invented a new term for sexual assault. They call it, "fuck sessions."
The suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Well it appears, the fuck sessions got women who weren't willing participants. They may have drugged or physically abused them. They were sex trafficking women.
The Tate brothers whose social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities, were arrested Saturday in Miami as British authorities sought their extradition on rape and sex trafficking charges.
The brothers were taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on a sealed warrant, agency spokesperson Brady McCarron told The Associated Press, placing the United States at the center of an international legal saga that has stretched from Romania to Britain.
British prosecutors announced Saturday that they were seeking the brothers’ extradition on charges alleging they raped and trafficked women between 2010 and 2017.
The dual U.S. and British citizens moved to Romania in 2016. They were arrested there in 2022, accused of participating in schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. They denied those allegations and the Romanian case hasn’t gone forward because of legal and procedural problems.
Last year, they were allowed to leave Romania and flew to Florida on a private jet.
The brothers are expected to appear in Miami’s federal court early next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations.
The pending charges in the United Kingdom accused the brothers of abusing women in an area north of London, where they grew up. Their lawyers had said they denied the allegations.
Joseph McBride, an attorney representing the Tate brothers, said in a phone interview Saturday evening that he has not been able to speak with his clients but called the new charges out of the U.K. “filth and slander” intended to derail defamation lawsuits filed by the brothers in the U.S.
“They’re pulling out all the stops to make sure these guys never get their day in court,” McBride said.
“We are confident that once a competent judge sees the facts, and once the Department of Justice confronts this egregious abuse of its own authority, Andrew and Tristan Tate will walk free. America does not do Britain’s political dirty work.”
The Tates are American born British agitators.
Andrew Tate, 39, first reached a mainstream audience as a contestant on the U.K. reality television show “Big Brother” in 2016. He was removed from the show when a video surfaced that appeared to show Tate assaulting a woman. He and his brother Tristan Tate, 38, were vocal supporters of President Donald J. Trump.
It has waned thanks to the president going to war in Iran and catering to Israeli interests.
Andrew Tate has amassed over 10 million followers on X but has been banned from platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram for violating hate speech guidelines. His most widely condemned rhetoric includes comments that women who are sexually assaulted should bear some responsibility for their attacks, graphic descriptions of how he might attack women and criticisms of people who seek treatment for mental illness.
The Tate brothers have consistently denied allegations of abuse and human trafficking, claiming that violent and misogynistic statements have been taken out of context or were intended as jokes.
In a statement Saturday, the U.K.'s Crown Prosecution Services said that in addition to the charges publicly announced against the brothers in 2025, involving alleged crimes against three women, it was bringing a total of 38 new charges related to “four further victims.”
Both brothers are accused of rape and human trafficking. Andrew Tate faces an additional charge of profiting from prostitution, and 19 charges “for offences relating to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography,” according to U.K. authorities.
“There is no place for male violence against women and girls, and we will continue to work tirelessly to support victims and investigate all reports made to us,” said Karena Thomas, an assistant chief constable of the Bedfordshire Police, which investigated the case.
Did you know Donald J. Trump had a failed airline?
The far right was upset when Barack and Michelle Obama had their names put on buildings. In Ireland, there is a travel center dedicated to the U.S. first African American president and first lady.
The Republicans were upset that Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize. Rightfully so, Obama didn't deserve it. But damn it, it was a success for a young president in his first year.
The Republicans were upset that Obama was named on roads, bridges, schools, scholarships and various companies.
They do not have a problem when it's their own folks. Obviously the hypocrisy.
Did you know that Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Abraham Lincoln, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and now Donald J. Trump have airports named after them?
Well it official.
The West Palm Beach International Airport is now called the [President] Donald J. Trump International Airport. The city of West Palm Beach with a population of 143,000 has no say in this.
The state Republicans and Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed for the renaming and it quickly became law.
What would happen if Illinois decided to change Chicago Midway International Airport to the Barack Obama International Airport?
What would happen if Pennsylvania or Delaware were to rename either the Philadelphia International Airport or Wilmington City Airport after Joe Biden?
How much does it cost Florida taxpayers?
It will be a $5 million project to fully change the airport name and cost taxpayers $2 million to oversight.
If we could only dream the NYPD being ordered to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu.
Republicans and some Democrats are outraged that the mayor of New York City is following the law. The United States has maintained it upholds the law. They keep saying that no one is above the law.
Well President Donald J. Trump and maybe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
They think they are above the law.
Trump is a convicted felon, an adjudicated sexual predator, a habitual liar, a fraudster and a twice impeached president. He is seditionist. He is an unapologetic curmudgeon who cares more about being liked than doing his fucking job. A semi autistic billionaire driven mad by revenge.
Netanyahu is almost close to Trump. He is not autistic. But he certainly a paranoid man with schizophrenia.
Both are in cognitive decline.
Zohran Mamdani is a democratic socialist. He is unapologetic about how he believes the government should work for the people and not for the elite. He has pushed aggressive policies to make the United States' largest city more affordable. It is small steps but certainly a good path forward despite the noise.
Mamdani understands that the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and Israel Katz. They also have sanctions on President Issac Herzog, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
The member nations must uphold to the warrant. They will arrest him if he steps foot on their sovereignty.
Netanyahu has to take nearly six additional hours of flight to avoid countries that will honor the ICC warrant.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently stated that he will push for an audit of the ICC.
He vows to dismantle the court and punish judges and prosecutors who decided to put Netanyahu on the warrant.
Mamdani had vowed to follow the ICC warrant. The United States refuse to honor the arrest warrant. If he does come to the United States, he is freely allowed access to the nation.
America first mayor.
He is on neutral soil when he goes to the United Nations in New York City.
Once he steps off the United Nations sovereignty, he is in New York state.
In New York City he falls under the New York Police Department. Now with that being said, some Republicans and Democrats will literally shield this maniac.
Mamdani said his administration was still discussing whether to arrest the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, if he comes to New York City as expected for the U.N. General Assembly in September.
“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague,” Mamdani told Lulu Garcia-Navarro this week on “The Interview,” a New York Times show, referring to the home of the United Nations’ International Court of Justice.
“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani added. “And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”
The mayor said he was unclear on whether he has the legal authority to order the New York Police Department, which he oversees, to detain a foreign leader like Netanyahu. He said he was in “an active conversation” with the city’s Law Department over the matter.
“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end,” Mamdani added.
During his mayoral campaign last year, Mamdani said in an interview with The Times that he would order the Police Department to arrest Netanyahu, who is locked in his own re-election bid in Israel.
At the time, he said he would be honoring a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court after Netanyahu’s role in the war in Gaza, which Mamdani and a United Nations commission have called a genocide.
Netanyahu addressed Mamdani’s threat to arrest him during a recent radio appearance, saying he is not concerned, and he accused the mayor of supporting Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls a significant portion of Gaza. Hamas was responsible for the deadly attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which precipitated Israel’s deadly war in Gaza.
“I think he should look at who he's condemning, who he’s praising,” the prime minister said during an interview this week with Sid Rosenberg, a local radio personality and a frequent critic of Mamdani. “He’s condemning Israel, the one democracy that stands shoulder to shoulder with American values.”
“Who does he champion? Hamas, that calls openly to massacre every Jew on earth, that conducted that horrible massacre, the worst massacre on Jews since the Holocaust,” Netanyahu added.
He also said Mamdani “doesn’t care” that “those who hate the Jews and Israel ultimately hate America."
“And in fact I think secretly, he hates America,” Netanyahu added.
Mamdani does not speak positively about Hamas when he criticizes Netanyahu and has condemned the Oct. 7 attacks. He has made his extensive concerns about Israel a focal point of his political identity, raising the issue frequently. Several people who know him well have said he considers Palestinian liberation one of the most pressing moral issues of his time.
Mamdani’s views about Israel are no longer on the fringe of the Democratic Party. Nearly half of House Democrats voted this week to end U.S. aid to Israel, which was not enough for the measure to pass, but enough to demonstrate a shift in the party’s posture toward one of the country’s stalwart allies in the Middle East.
The fall of a superpower and the rise of another. We were told back when we were kids growing up in the 1980s, "Don't waste your food. There's millions in China that starve everyday."
Well it seems like Chinese people are actually telling people to not waste food.
They say that over consumption could ruin the country. They are taking steps to improve their country's infrastructure. They are pushing BRICS to nations that once relied on the United States for economic solvency.
The African Union is interested in it.
It has already been imminent, China is going to excel as the global superpower.
The world’s largest economy is coming from the Chinese. The United States is borrowing so much money to fund wars and continue the status quo. It will eventually wreck our economy.
President Donald J. Trump made the allegations that China played a role in his 2020 presidential election loss. China dismissed the allegations.
Oh, Israel and its affiliates are spending billions to oust anti-Israel candidates.
Toilet paper is more popular than this curmudgeon.
China on Friday said it has never interfered in U.S. elections and has no interest in doing so, urging Washington to stop making what it described as “groundless accusations” after President Donald Trump accused Beijing of meddling in the 2020 election.
In an address to the nation Thursday, Trump again raised doubts about the U.S. elections results in 2020 and accused China of interfering in them.
“The relevant allegations by the U.S. are entirely fabricated and aimed at vilifying China,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian. “We have no interest in interfering in US elections and have never done so.”
In a daily briefing in Beijing, Lin called on the U.S. to stop making groundless accusations against China.
Asked whether this might affect the expected visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the U.S. in September, the spokesperson replied: “As I just said, we urge the U.S. to stop making an issue of China in its elections and do something conducive to China-U.S. relations.”
Trump visited Beijing in mid-May and met with Xi, and both governments said they would adopt a new framework to manage the bilateral relations. Trump invited Xi to visit the United States in September and Beijing confirmed Xi has accepted the invitation.
President Donald J. Trump and Republicans who back Israel are angry at Vice President JD Vance for saying the quiet part out loud. He literally said that he cares about American interests and not the interest of Israel.
Vance went on the Joe Rogan Experience and said that he felt like the president is sidelining him as he was negotiating with the Iranians to end the aggression.
While he agrees with the president on some of the issues they have with Iran, the vice president said that Israel and its influncers are trying to sabotage the talks.
He called them out and it led to MAGA feuding with MIGA.
Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and several Republican members have reacted.
During the interview, Vance claimed that a "literal foreign-influence campaign" funded by members of the Israeli government was attempting to sabotage the Trump administration's ongoing negotiations with Iran, while also admitting the administration "absolutely screwed up" its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Shapiro heavily slammed Vance, stating on social media that Vance “sounded like a Democrat” and mirrored the economics of Bernie Sanders and the foreign policy of Barack Obama. Shapiro criticized Vance's arguments against free markets and meritocracy as "weird and concerning," questioning his alignment with conservative principles ahead of the 2028 election cycle.
Levin and other "Israel First" hawks reacted with fury. According to political commentators, Levin’s wing of the movement has heavily gone after Vance, warning that donors and conservative groups will "take note" of his positions to potentially cut off political funding for a future 2028 presidential bid.
During a lengthy podcast interview with Joe Rogan released Wednesday, Vance pointed largely to former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who infamously stated that an alleged “client list” of Epstein’s was “sitting on my desk right now.” Epstein was a convicted sex offender who was known for his wide web of connections to the world’s elite.
In addition to those comments, the Justice Department under Bondi had also offered conservative commentators and influencers binders that were called “The Epstein files: Phase 1″ and “Declassified.”
“I know Pam. I like Pam. I don’t think there was anything malicious going on,” Vance told Rogan. “I think Pam was trying to respond to the political moment. I think she overstated what we had and what we didn’t have.”
As a result, Vance said, Bondi was “roasted” publicly for it and led people to “mistrust” the administration’s transparency efforts on the Epstein files.
“We absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files. Like, we just did,” Vance said. “But do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No.”
The controversy over the Epstein files dogged the administration for much of last year, with lawmakers eventually passing a measure that compelled the release of a massive trove of documents in the government’s possession related to its investigations of the disgraced financier. The Justice Department began releasing the documents in late December, which included photos, call logs, grand jury testimony and interview transcripts.
Did you know a massive rain storm called a microburst that caused an epic flooding in Philadelphia?
It was a disaster.
Where was President Donald J. Trump?
Where was Vice President JD Vance?
Where was Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin?
Where was FEMA head Robert Fenton?
Where was Gov. Josh Shapiro?
Where were Brian Fitzpatrick, Madeleine Dean, Dwight Evans and Brendan Boyle?
Where were John Fetterman and Dave McCormick?
Well most of them kiss ass to a foreign government. They care more about Israel than Pennsylvania itself.
When he was elected in 2022, John Fetterman won on a savy media campaign against Mehmet Oz. Even after a fucking stroke, Fetterman managed to scurry enough Democrats to vote for him. Since 2023, he became a huge disappointment to the people who backed his ass.
Fetterman declared that if the Democratic Party continues to elect democratic socialists and become the "anti-Israel" party, he will end his caucus membership.
He is an independent senator from Pennsylvania who became a burden to Democrats.
He has a job approval of 30%. Democrats strongly disapprove of his performance. Republicans slightly favor his performance.
Trump has tried to pressure Fetterman to flip and become a Republican. He has refused but has hinted that he will vote accordingly.
Fetterman has a major “concern” over the trajectory of many Democrats who have become increasingly critical of U.S. aid for Israel amid growing pressure from the party’s progressive base.
“My long-term concern has been with [the Democratic Party], as I am a member of that, is that our party is going to back away and turn their back to Israel,” he said.
Fetterman said he “can’t understand why the Democratic Party” — which shares an array of values with Israel as an important democracy in the Middle East — would turn against a long-standing ally.
The Pennsylvania senator says he has a major “concern” over the trajectory of many Democrats who have become increasingly critical of U.S. aid for Israel amid growing pressure from the party’s progressive base.
Fetterman cited Democratic support for an amendment sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to cut off $3.3 billion in annual security assistance to Israel and the success of progressive candidates who are harshly critical of Israel in Democratic primaries.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), the No. 1 and No. 2 ranking House Democrats, split over Massie’s amendment, with Jeffries opposing it and Clark supporting it.
Fetterman said Clark’s support for the amendment reflects a trend in the broader party.
“You look at the kinds of individuals that are winning our recent primaries,” he said. “It’s becoming more anti-, anti-Israel and hostile to people” who are pro-Israel.
He criticized fellow Democrats who “are trying to ingratiate ourselves with that segment of the base of our voters are intensely, intensely anti-Israel.”
Fetterman acknowledged he has been approached by Republicans about leaving the Democratic Party but declined to divulge “private conversations.”
The senator expressed concern over progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s strong performance in polls in the Michigan Senate Democratic primary. He warned that Democrats will have to pour millions of additional dollars into the battleground state to be competitive in November if he is the nominee.
“Rogers just barely, barely lost in ’24,” Fetterman said, referring to former lawmaker Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate who narrowly lost the 2024 Michigan Senate race.
“If El-Sayed wins, then that puts Michigan much more in play for us and would require us to spend more money. What’s defined El-Sayed is the more anti-Israel and hostile-to-Israel thing,” Fetterman said.
He also criticized El-Sayed and other progressive candidates’ past comments expressing support for the “defund the police” movement, questioning whether Democrats truly learned the lessons of losing the 2024 presidential election.
“Now here’s more Democrats to ‘defund the police.’ Here we are back to part of the worst impulses that we just can’t resist. We forgot the crazy things that we said, and that cost us the election in 2024. Now we want to revisit that — if anything they’re coming back in the strongest kind of terms. Look at the people who are winning,” he said.
Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist candidate backed by New York City Mayor Zohran MMamdai, deleted a social media account in which she called for abolishing police, borders and prisons, and claimed Israel doesn’t exist. Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old activist, defeated Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in the Democratic primary for New York’s 13th Congressional District.
Fetterman also expressed frustration with fellow Democratic senators who backed progressive insurgent candidate Graham Platner in the critical Maine Senate race, despite the fact that he was not carefully vetted and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had intensively recruited Democratic Gov. Janet Mills to run for the Maine Senate seat.
Fetterman said he was “angry” that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) championed Platner so forcefully and was reluctant to withdraw his support even after The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported in early June troubling allegations about the candidate’s past behavior.
“As a Democrat, I am angry at people like Bernie Sanders, that pushed that accused rapist. Why did so many people on that left embrace that accused rapist?” he said, referring to Platner.
“What was the appeal? Was it no record in public service? Was it the record of the Nazi ink? Was it the crazy things he said online? What was the appeal, roughing up his ex-girlfriends?” he asked.
“Why did you push these people? Why did you buy in and then plunge that most consequential Senate race now into chaos?” Fetterman fumed, arguing the implosion of Platner’s campaign has made it “more difficult” to beat Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and win control of the Senate.
Fetterman demanded to know why his Democratic colleagues haven’t apologized for backing Platner.
Platner ended his campaign after Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine woman, accused him of raping her in 2021.
“Did Van Hollen apologize to the victim? I don’t know, I didn’t see it. The same with Bernie,” Fetterman said, referring to Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a member of the group of Senate Democratic progressives who call themselves the “Fight Club,” and who initially backed Platner but then withdrew his support along with many other Democrats.
“Where’s the accountability?” Fetterman asked. “Imagine if I would have done that and pushed that kind of individual.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Monday dodged questions about whether she regretted backing Platner but made it clear that she called for him to end his campaign.
“I asked Platner to withdraw from the race. He has withdrawn. Now it’s time for us to get a candidate in Maine and to take back the majority here in the Senate,” she said.
The most unpopular president in the 21st Century wants to leave his namesake on American currency. He still wants his face on Mount Rushmore. He still believes the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen from him. He continues to keep his predecessors Barack Obama and Joe Biden on his daily conversations. He still tells the world that he has done more things than most presidents ever had.
Donald J. Trump, Sr. is the 45th and 47th President of the United States. He is the second man to serve two non consecutive presidential terms. The last one was Grover Cleveland.
Both wrecked the country with their policies. Neither understood the frustration.
The U.S. Mint has begun producing a new $1 coin bearing President Donald Trump’s face to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
The final design for the commemorative coin, being released in the fall, was approved earlier this year by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were appointed by Trump. But the finished product unveiled Wednesday differs from that version in a few aspects, including that it is not made of gold but rather has a gold finish.
The coin is intended “to honor the enduring legacy of liberty and a lasting symbol of patriotism,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on X. “Featuring President Trump, it celebrates the strength of American values, and the promise of a nation dedicated to preserving freedom for all.”
The president on Wednesday told Fox Business Network that the move to put his face on a coin is “very unusual, but I was honored by it,” adding that “it’s very cute they gave me a coin.”
Trump, a Republican, has a penchant for putting his name and likeness in the historical record, following his renaming of the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships, among other tributes. The move to put his face on the gold coin has drawn criticism in particular because federal law prohibits the depiction of a living president on U.S. currency, though the treasury secretary has the authority to authorize the minting and issuance of coins in some circumstances.
The president on Wednesday told Fox Business Network that the move to put his face on a coin is “very unusual, but I was honored by it,” adding that “it’s very cute they gave me a coin.”
Trump, a Republican, has a penchant for putting his name and likeness in the historical record, following his renaming of the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships, among other tributes. The move to put his face on the gold coin has drawn criticism in particular because federal law prohibits the depiction of a living president on U.S. currency, though the treasury secretary has the authority to authorize the minting and issuance of coins in some circumstances.
The front of the coin features an image of Trump in a suit and tie and with a stern look on his face. Lettering on the top half of the coin’s arc spells “LIBERTY,” with the dates 1776-2026 on the bottom half of the arc. The words “IN GOD WE TRUST” are in the middle.
The reverse side depicts the traditional image of the bald eagle in the Great Seal of the U.S., with “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” on the top half of the coin and the Latin phrase “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” meaning “Out of many, one,” on the shield emblazoned on the bird’s breast.
Among the other differences from the design approved earlier this year is that Trump doesn’t have his fists resting on top of what is supposed to be a desk as he leans forward. The Treasury Department did not specify Wednesday why the final product diverged from the originally approved design.
The Treasury Department announced in March that it would be putting Trump’s signature on all new U.S. paper currency.
Traditionally, U.S. paper currency carries the signatures of the treasury secretary and the treasurer, not the president.
I just watched him do a local interview just a week ago. Man, this was hard.
I am an 80s baby. I grew up watching sitcoms. One in particular was 227.
It starred Marla Gibbs, Regina King, Jackée Harry, Alaina Reed Hall, Helen Martin and Hal Williams. The show focused on Mary Jenkins, a homemaker who was the apartment gossip in Washington, DC. Her husband Lester Jenkins was a successful Black construction owner and developer. They raised their rebellious but sweet daughter Brenda. Their neighbors were the landlord Rose, the flirty Sandra and the sarcastic but wise Pearl.
It was NBC for five seasons. It had backdoor pilots to Sandra's new life and Brenda and Calvin going to college.
Hal Williams, 91 has passed away. He was like that strong Black TV dad.
I looked up to him similar to my dad. Working hard to take care of his wife and kids.
Williams died July 15 in California after an illustrious multi-decade screen career. But before the world came to know him as Officer "Smitty" Smith on the sitcom show "Sanford and Son," he called Columbus home.
A native of the area, Williams was born on Dec. 15, 1934, in Columbus. He started his acting career by performing in Ohio theater shows until he packed up his bags in 1968 and set his sights on making it big in Hollywood. Beyond his role in "Sandford and Son," Williams was also featured in "The Waltons" and "227," among many others.
“I didn’t tell nobody but my parents, who thought I’d lost my mind,” Williams said in an interview with Columbus Monthly for a past feature. “I said, ‘My career has come to a stop in social work. My marriage is failing. I’m extremely unhappy. What’s the one thing I want to try to do?’ … I was scared to death, but I said, ‘If I don’t do this now, I know I will never get the guts to do it.’”
The definition of a Black family on television.
While the change of heart was unexpected for some of the people in his life, Williams told Columbus Monthly in 2022 that he always had the itch to become an actor. When he moved, he was a then-recently divorced father of three. He left his children in Ohio with his parents until he bought a home, and they relocated to join him in California.
While growing up in central Ohio, Williams bounced between living with his great-grandmother in Fort Hayes and spending time at his parents' home, which was located where the Easton Town Center is now situated at the intersection of Steltzer and Morse roads.
In the interview with Columbus Monthly, Williams said he used to hunt rabbits around his house because there were so many open fields. He attended Franklin Junior High and East High School in the 1950s, where he participated in the track team and performed in school musicals. While there, he also delivered newspapers for The Columbus Dispatch.
Before moving to California, Williams worked with children in the central Ohio juvenile detention system. He was also employed for a time at Franklin Village, an 80-acre property in Grove City that was a residence for children from troubled homes operated by Franklin County Children's Services.
He later went on to develop script proposals for shows, including one titled "Residential Center," inspired by his time at Franklin Village. The operation, which was located on Gantz Road, closed in 1996, according to the Franklin County Children Services' website.
NBC made Black sitcoms a success with 227.
After taking the leap and heading to Hollywood, Williams spent multiple years attending auditions and working on films while working a separate everyday job. When the schedules conflicted, he would skip work to make it to set on time and convince his boss that he was visiting family in Ohio.
“I would write a letter asking for an excuse to be gone, then take it upstairs and drop it in the Ohio mailbag, and then they’d see there was a postmark from Columbus. I got away with it for almost three years,” then-83-year-old Williams said to Columbus Monthly.
“One morning, they said, ‘The postmaster wants you to stop by his office.’ So I walked in, and he said, ‘Halroy, you’re not fooling anybody. You’ve been taking your sick leave and all your vacation and saying you’re in Columbus on family business. But I saw you on Sanford and Son in a cop uniform last Friday night. You’re either going to throw Uncle Sam’s mail, or you’re going to go be an actor.’ So I quit.”
Williams died in his home in Rancho Mirage, California from natural causes after a prolonged illness.
After a long battle with cancer, progressive activist and professor Dr. Denise Oliver-Velez has passed away. Weeks away from her birthday.
A long time civil rights advocate and professor, Oliver-Velez became active in civil rights work through the Queens branch of the NAACP, and in 1963 took part in a civil disobedience action demanding employment for Black workers at a Queens construction site.
Oliver-Velez transferred to Howard University in 1965, where she joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Students for a Democratic Society. In 1970, she was appointed Minister of Economic Development within the Young Lords Party, becoming the highest-ranking woman in the organization and its first woman elected to its central leadership committee.
Within the Young Lords, Oliver-Velez helped push back against the group’s original platform language around “Revolutionary Machismo.” She later reflected on that moment: “I was in the Young Lords, and one of the points in the original program was ‘Revolutionary Machismo.’ Machismo is reactionary, so you can’t have revolutionary machismo. We women weren’t having it. So we made a very different kind of statement. ‘We want equality for women. Down with machismo and male chauvinism.'”
She wrote for many progressive blogs like The Daily Kos, The Raw Story and The Grio.
Fighting for the equality that many people of color was a key focus of her life. She stood up for women who were in need and never apologized for being what they called radical.
She was 78.
Oliver-Velez was a program director and co-founder of WPFW-FM in Washington, D.C., Pacifica's first minority-controlled radio station and worked in public broadcasting and community media for many years.
She was also the executive director of the Black Filmmaker Foundation.
Oliver-Velez is featured in the 2014 feminist documentary film She's Beautiful When She's Angry.
In August 2020, Oliver-Velez gave a rare interview on Bryan Knight's Tell A Friend podcast, where she candidly spoke about her life and activism in the Young Lords.
