State Champ Radio politics
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The U.S. House of Representatives easily passed the bipartisan TICKET Act in a 409-15 vote on Tuesday (April 29), sending Congress’ first-ever regulatory framework for the event ticketing business on to the Senate.
Sponsored by Reps. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-lll.), the legislation is meant to improve transparency and disclosure of ticket pricing and fees, ban deceptive marketing practices and improve consumer protections by requiring refunds for cancelled or postponed events.
While the legislation introduces long-sought legal protections for artists and fans, some advocacy groups argue that the bill doesn’t go far enough to curb ticket scalping and warn that its language could inadvertently legalize controversial sales practices, including speculative ticket sales.
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“The Ticket Act that just passed the House does not do nearly enough to protect fans and consumers against bad actors,” reads a statement from National Independent Trade Organization executive director Nathan Marro shortly after the bill passed.
At issue is a clause in the bill that Marro and other industry groups like the National Independent Venue Association say create a legal loophole for speculative ticket sales — a highly criticized practice where scalpers sell tickets they don’t actually own, only procuring the tickets after a consumer has agreed to buy them at a substantial markup. Under the language of the TICKET Act a “ticket exchange that does not have actual or constructive possession of an event ticket shall not sell, offer for sale, or advertise for sale such event ticket.” Marro worries that the provision is diluted by a loophole in the legislation which allows secondary sites like Vivid to offer “a service to an individual to obtain an event ticket on behalf of such individual.”
Marro argues that such a service — similar to Vivid’s Seat Saver program, where consumers pay to procure seats before they go on sale to the public, will worsen long-standing public complaints about fair access to tickets.
“Vivid Seats spec ticket ‘seat saver’ program is still 100% legal,” under the current language of the bill, Marro said. “NITO urges the Senate to strengthen this bill prior to passage and we will continue to advocate for stronger protections for our community.”
Stephen Parker, executive director for the National Independent Venues Association, also called out the spec ticket loophole, noting “the inclusion of a ‘concierge service’ carveout, as written in the TICKET Act, would undermine” the legislation. Specifically, Parker asserts that the carve out erodes the trust the public has in the artist — or show presenter — and their ability to fairly and transparently schedule ticket sales. When services like Seat Saver mislead fans into thinking they can buy tickets for high profile events ahead of schedule, Parker says trust in the safety and fairness of the ticket sales process is diminished.
“States across the country have proven that strong, loophole-free ticketing consumer protections work, and Congress should build on that momentum,” wrote Parker, noting that legislatures in Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Nevada all banned speculative tickets sales without carve outs for concierge programs like seat saver.
Parker and Marro have identified other shortcomings with the TICKET Act, including stronger enforcement of the BOTS Act. Marro said his group of talent agents and managers would also like to see greater disclosure around all-in pricing so fans know how much was added to the face value of the ticket by the promoter, the ticketing company and the venue.
The TICKET Act now heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
Nelly shared his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office before stepping on stage for his Stagecoach performance. In a quick interview with Fox News Digital prior to his Stagecoach set on April 26, Nelly called himself a “glass half-full type of guy” when speaking on Trump’s first 100 days back in […]
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Amazon was thought to be one of the major companies aligned with the policies and practices of President Donald Trump. However, the major online retailer is now in the crosshairs of the White House after Amazon decided to highlight new pricing plans based on Trump tariffs, which angered White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Punchbowl News first broke the news that Amazon is going ahead with a plan to show tariff pricing on a portion of items sold on its platform, as it was largely expected that prices would rise under Trump’s economic plan. Experts have long warned that tariffs, which are a normal part of global trade, eventually pass on costs to consumers.
Leavitt framed the pricing listing as “a hostile and political act” and then questioned why company leadership never listed the pricing jump in previous years.
“Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” Leavitt said during a press briefing with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. According to the report, Amazon will share how much the tariffs will add to the cost of the items. However, it isn’t meant to be used across the entire site.
While remaining on the attack, Leavitt cited a Reuters article that said the company Jeff Bezos founded had “partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm,” doing so while holding up a printed page of the article referenced that was first published in December 2021. The Reuters report pointed out that Amazon removed public reviews and ratings from President Xi Jinping’s book of speeches.
On X, many are reacting to Amazon’s tariff price listing announcement, noting that the company is already releasing statements countering the original slate of reports that pricing would be shown on all goods affected by tariffs. Those responses can be viewed below.
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Photo: MANDEL NGAN / Getty
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Source: Piaras Ó Mídheach / Getty
On Sunday night (April 27), 60 Minutes was coming to a close with its “Last Minute” segment. Host and correspondent Scott Pelley began, “A note on Bill Owens, the executive producer of 60 Minutes and until last week, our boss.” Owens resigned in a memo to the staff last week, citing a lack of journalistic freedom as the show’s parent company Paramount is cozying up to President Donald Trump while attempting a high-profile corporate merger.
As a montage of photos of Owens played, Pelley spoke about how much Owens’ presence and work was valued by the staff and correspondents at 60 Minutes before calling out Paramount. “Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires,” Pelley said. “No one here is happy about it.”Owens’ decision to leave 60 Minutes as just the third producer in the 60-year history due to not being able “to make independent decisions based on what was right for ’60 Minutes,’ right for the audience” in the wake of Paramount Global attempting to placate Trump as he sued CBS News last November claiming that the news program tried to influence voters by airing two different edits of Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks on the show. In January, CBS put in a new layer of editorial supervision presumably to vet standards. That and other changes prompted Owens’ decision to resign. “Bill resigned on Tuesday. It was hard on him and it was hard on us,” Pelley said. “But he did it for us.”The move by Pelley reflects the mood of others working on 60 Minutes. Correspondent Lesley Stahl voiced her displeasure last week in an interview with Variety. “I have been made aware of interference in our news processes, and calling into question our judgement,” she said, adding: “That is not the way that companies that own news organizations should be acting.” Pelley has spoken out against CBS’ mismanagement before, alleging that he was removed from their evening news coverage due to questioning the workplace culture of the newsroom. It also falls in line with MSNBC anchors such as Rachel Maddow and Nicole Wallace to publicly question the network’s attempt at hiring former Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel as an analyst.
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President Donald Trump will mark 100 days in office this Wednesday (April 30), and it is typically a gauge of the performance and actions of the nation’s sitting leader and their administration. A new poll from CNN highlighted that President Donald Trump has the lowest approval numbers of any sitting president over the past 80 years.
CNN released its poll findings on Sunday and revealed that President Trump has a 41% approval rating, which is lower than the first 100 days of his first time in office. Since last month, Trump has lost 4 points and is down 7 points dating back to February.
The poll numbers also show a tumble in approval ratings from both women and Hispanic voters, and show that Trump is down 7 points with both, with women clocking in at 36% and 28% with Hispanics. Across party lines, Trump still sits strong with Republican respondents of the poll at 86%, with 93% of Democrats showing disapproval. Independent voters revealed 31% approval numbers, which matches his lowest numbers with that group dating back to January 2021.
Respondents also gave the president lower marks on how his reduction in force for the federal government has been handled, with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leading efforts that was purported to cut costs and help lower the nation’s debt. Trump has a 42% approval rating on this front.
Regarding foreign affairs, namely Trump’s cozying up to Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his posture on the world stage regarding the annexing of Canada and Greenland, showed a 60% disapproval rate.
Trump has called for investigations into The New York Times, ABC News/The Washington Post, and Fox News regarding his polling numbers, connecting the reports to “election fraud.”
The full poll results can be seen here.
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Photo: ANNABELLE GORDON / Getty
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Source: Pacific Press / Getty / Candace Owens
Donald Trump must be doing something wrong when his biggest fans are now regretting their support for him following his administration’s attack on Harvard University.
Speaking on a recent episode of her podcast, Candace, the far-right conservative, expressed her distaste for Trump and his administration’s attacks on colleges and universities as part of their ongoing campaign to get rid of DEI, calling it a blatant attack on free speech.
“I never thought that I would see a day where I would be rooting for a university above Donald J. Trump and his administration,” Owens said. “But I don’t recognize this administration right now. I don’t recognize what’s happening. I have a theory. I do.”
Hell, we never thought we would see the day either, mainly because Owens has been a staunch supporter of Trump and attacked other organizations like Black Lives Matter, other civil rights movements, plus other liberal ideologies.
Owens also called out people in Trump’s inner circle for continuing to suck up to Felon 47 because they are “are still trying to grift.”
“Which is ridiculous, because when you are out of office, we are going to have to live with these consequences,” Owens said, adding, “Our children are going to have to grow up in this America.”
Ownes Has Her Theories
The edgless conservative feels these attacks are “not worth it” and are only being implemented to make Trump and his supporters feel like they are accomplishing something.
She also feels loudmouths like herself and Tucker Carlson could face serious consequences for the things they say. “Everyone can see what’s happening left and right,” she continued.
Her comments come after Trump’s battle with Harvard, in which the university stood up to his administration, telling them it would not comply with Trump administration’s demands.
The historic institution filed a lawsuit last week after the administration’s threat to freeze research unless they comply.
Social Media Is Not Buying Candace Owens Flipping On Trump
Despite Owens turning on Trump, social media is giving her and those who happily pulled the lever for Trump the ultimate side eye.
“Candace Owens and Joe Rogan spent years hyping up Trump, and now that they’re criticizing him, suddenly they’re the voices of reason? They’re not principled, they’re just riding the wave. They see that Trump’s loyalists aren’t trending anymore, so they’re pivoting,” one person on X, formerly Twitter, wrote.
Another user on X wrote, “Maaan, don’t let Candace Owens rebrand herself to ingratiate a black audience and be anti-Trump, saying she didn’t know he would be like this. She was throwing us and our “culture” under the bus for years. Leave her where she at – let MAGA care for her lol.”
Beware of the jig.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
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Source: OLIVER CONTRERAS / Getty
As President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House has reached 100 days, one move has again made many concerned that he is looking to serve a third term despite the constitutional ban against it. On Thursday (April 25), his official “Trump Store” website boasted the red caps for sale with “TRUMP 2028” emblazoned in white on the front of them.“Make a statement with this Made in America Trump 2028 hat,” the product description on the site reads. Each hat, which the site purportedly says are made in the United States, costs $50 each. The shop is also selling T-shirts in navy blue and red with the slogan “Trump 2028 (Rewrite the Rules).” Those shirts are priced at $36. His son, Eric Trump, was shown wearing the hat in a post shared on X, formerly Twitter, by a group backing Trump’s ambitions for a third term. Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also shared a photo of the hat on X, alongside another red, white, and blue hat that read “Gulf Of America.”
The hat is the latest sign that Trump is adamant about a third term in office. In an interview with NBC News, he said he was “not joking” about his intentions. “A lot of people want me to do it,” Trump said on the Sunday morning (April 20) phone call. “But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.” He also didn’t rule out Vice President JD Vance being tabbed to run for office and handing the presidency to Trump if he won. “That’s one method,” Trump conceded, adding “But, there are others, too.”The 22nd Amendment of the Consitution explicitly states that “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” A change of that nature would require either a two-thirds vote of Congress or two-thirds of the states calling for a constitutional convention to submit changes. It then would call for three-quarters of the states to ratify the changes.While some Republicans have tried to pass these statements off as jokes, other GOP politicians have openly endorsed it. Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles even introduced a resolution calling for the extension of term limits so that Trump can remain in office. In a recent survey though, 53% of Republicans polled said the 78-year-old Trump should not run again.
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Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Just days after Maryland Senator Dick Van Hollen was able to confirm that wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia was still alive and well in a Salvadorian prison, we’re learning that his wife and children in New Jersey had to be moved to a safe house after the Trump administration publicly revealed their home address.
According to Raw Story, Jennifer Vasquez Sura and her children had to be swiftly moved out of their home and into an undisclosed location after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, took to X and posted an old order of protection that Sura filed against Garcia in 2021. In an obvious attempt by this administration to further smear Garcia’s character to “justify” his deportation and their refusal to facilitate his return, the Trump administration just made Sura’s life that much more difficult by doxxing her address and putting a target on her home for MAGA to harass (as they’re known to do).
Per Raw Story:
“I don’t feel safe when the government posts my address, the house where my family lives, for everyone to see, especially when this case has gone viral and people have all sorts of opinions,” said Vasquez Sura. “So, this is definitely a bit terrifying. I’m scared for my kids.”
A DHS spokesperson did not respond Monday to a request for a comment about not redacting the family’s address, according to the newspaper’s lengthy story about Vasquez Sura—who shares a 5-year-old nonverbal, autistic son with Abrego Garcia and has a 9-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter from a previous relationship that was abusive.
On Wednesday, The New Republic published a short article highlighting the safe house detail and noting that “the government has not commented on the decision to leave the family’s address in the document it posted online,” sparking a fresh wave of outrage over the Trump administration endangering the family.
As with everything else that this administration does, it’s all about the cruelty.
Fortunately, Jennifer Vasquez Sura and her family have been moved to a safe house, but we just hope that the Trump administration doesn’t learn its whereabouts because knowing them they’ll just “leak” where that place happens to be too.
What do y’all think about this latest development in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Source: The Washington Post / Getty / Elon Musk
Phony Stark, aka Elon Musk, learned the hard way that it truly doesn’t pay to align yourself with Donald Trump and ruin people’s lives in the process.
Spotted on BBC, word on the street is Elon Musk has had enough of being involved in government because it’s tanking his bottom line. According to the website, Musk will “significantly” scale back his role in the US Government in response to Tesla’s profits sinking, a direct result of his dealings with Trump, and firing thousands of government workers as part of DOGE’s “cost-cutting” measures in an effort to cut government spending.
Per BBC:
Musk has led the newly created advisory body – the Department for Government Efficiency (Doge) – since last year, putting the world’s richest man at the heart of cutting US spending and jobs.
But Musk said his “time allocation to Doge” would “drop significantly” from next month, adding he would spend only one to two days per week on it after accusations he has taken his focus off Tesla.
His political involvement has sparked protests and boycotts of Tesla cars around the world.
Temporary government workers like Musk contracts are allowed to work only 130 days a year, and for those keeping count, since working from the day of Trump’s inauguration, his contract is set to expire.
It’s unclear whether Musk, who donated $250 million to Orange Mussolini’s campaign, will step down completely from his role at DOGE.
Social Media Vows To Not Let Up On Elon Musk
If Elon Musk thinks he can simply walk away as if nothing happened, social media is telling him to think again.
Users on X, formerly Twitter, are vowing to continue making life miserable for Musk due to his actions and the harm he has caused.
“Elon Musk says he is stepping back from DOGE in May, after having destroyed every government agency, the lives of 280,000 Federal workers, the support system for social security, not to mention thousands of lives overseas by the gutting of humanitarian aid. Don’t let the door hit you, dick,” one post on X read.
Another post read, “Boo hoo poor Elon, he really thinks he can just walk away after all the damage he did. The world won’t rest until everything around him crashes and he ends up the poorest man in the world. There will be no forgiveness. Musk should just flee back to South Africa.”
Welp, this is what you get, Elon Musk. Now deal with it.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
Coachella 2025 will likely be considered one of the most political editions of the longstanding festival, with a flurry of artists using their onstage platforms to make statements on topics including Palestine, ICE, the Trump administration and more.
Nicolas Jaar of psych jam act Darkside used the trio’s Saturday night performances in the Gobi tent to address the audience about a myriad of issues, primarily Palestine. Jaar began his statement by acknowledging that Southern California is the ancestral home of various Native American tribes, with many of these people killed in the mass murders of Native Americans that occurred in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
“Here were committed the genocides that are the blueprint for what’s happening in Palestine right now, the same racist logic,” Jaar stated during the band’s weekend 1 show, on April 12. “We must continue resisting, even from the belly of the beast, because this genocide is funded by American money, with technology from Silicon Valley, thanks to the complicity of all the politicians in this country.”
Jaar continued by referencing Mahmoud Khalil – the detained Columbia University graduate student currently being held in an immigration detention center following his role in on-campus protests.
“I also want to say that today, these days, as some of you may know, just protesting a genocide that is happening means that you can get deported, like Mahmoud Khalil. That doesn’t feel right. Mahmoud and many others are in ICE detention jails. These jails are run for profit by groups like CoreCivic and The GEO Group. They make money off of keeping people in cells. We need to keep fighting them. For the sake of everyone there stuck without trial, and with no hope, we need to give hope. Thank you, everyone.”
Jaar delivered a slightly different version of the same statement during the band’s weekend 2 performance on Saturday, April 19, stating that, “We’ve been on tour for about a month and a half, and during this month and a half, the administration of this country has been deporting people for their political views, they have been locking people up in ICE detention jails. The prisoner count of this country keeps on being the highest in the entire world. There’s more people locked up in California than at Coachella right now, and this country keeps on arming and funding, also with tech and Silicon Valley, the genocide of the Palestinian people and arming and funding Israel’s system of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
“But the problem doesn’t stop at this administration and the administration of that country,” he continued. “It’s much deeper than that… It’s based off a system of racism, of ethnic cleansing both here in these lands, and also there. And there’s no way to continue in this planet without the empires falling as soon as possible. In all ways possible. A lot of people tell us to shut up and just play the music, but for us, music is being together, and how can we be together if our brothers and sisters are locked up and our brothers and sisters are literally burning in their homes?”
Elsewhere at the festival’s second weekend, Northern Irish hip-hop group Kneecap ended their performance with strong anti-Israel sentiments. On Friday (April 18), the Belfast trio closed their show by projecting strong messaging in support of Palestinians on their video screens. “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” the projected messages read. “It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F— Israel; free Palestine.” This display came a week after the band claimed Coachella censored the pro-Palestinian messaging during their debut at the event.
On the main stage, headliners Green Day also changed the lyrics of “American Idiot” to state “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.” Other artists including Bob Vylan and Blonde Redhead displayed Palestinian flags during their sets. During the performance by this latter artists, the onstage event was soundtracked by audio of Khalil. Senator Bernie Sanders also appeared onstage during Clairo’s weekend 1 performance and urged festivalgoers to “stand up and fight for justice.”
