State Champ Radio politics
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Source: Dave Kotinsky / Getty / Adin Ross
Donald Trump supporters clearly are broken; Adin Ross is a good example of that.
Just days after complaining that Trump and his stupid tariffs cost him “eight figures,” streamer and all-around goofball Adin Ross is still a believer in Orange Mussolini.
During a recent Kick stream, Ross told the losers still watching him to believe in Trump, despite Felon 47 wrecking the global economy by showering the world with tariffs before eventually caving and calling for a 90-day pause on some of them while still keeping a 145% tariff on China.
“The tariff shit is a really good thing. All these other countries got tariffs on us. Be patient. Let [Trump] fix the country. The country’s sick. Let him take his medicine, and the country’s gonna get fixed.”
Adin Ross Doesn’t Seem To Understand What Is Going On
Of course, Ross sounds as idiotic as his MAGA lord and savoir because it’s not as simple as he makes it seem. Also, Trump hit our major trading partners with tariffs using a bullsh*t tariff equation that economists discovered contained an error.
“You guys see the stock market? Boom, green just like that,” he continued. “You understand why he’s a good president? Cause no presidents ever dropped nuts like that. Like, bro, that’s why we’re respected, bro. Motherfuckers can’t bitch us around and punk us. I’m being real. Stop. We all voted for him. Believe in our president, bro.”
“You don’t gotta like me, you don’t even gotta like Trump, but he’s your president. So respect him, bro. He’s in office, alright?” he added.
Ummm, no, we don’t have to respect him, Adin.
Ross refers to the quick rebound the stock market experienced with the pause announcement. Still, things quickly went left, with it dipping back into the red. The dollar’s value recently fell as the markets reacted to China upping its tariffs to 125 percent on US exports, and bond yields rose.
According to Axios, the only reason Trump called for a 90-day pause on his tariffs was pressure from CEOs, Republican allies, and the shaky financial and bonds markets.
Trump’s call for a pause also raised alarm bells, with some Democrats accusing the current president of manipulating the market.
Welp.
Ross is currently getting clowned on social media for being the MAGA simp that he is.
You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
Canadian singer-songwriter Bells Larsen is cancelling his forthcoming U.S. tour after the Trump administration made it impossible for him to travel in the country as a trans man.
In a lengthy post to his Instagram on Friday (April 11), Larsen revealed that, according to an email from the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), he would not be able to apply for a travel visa to the United States since his Canadian passport designates his gender rather than his biological sex.
“To put it super plainly, because I’m trans (and have an M on my passport), I can’t tour in the States,” Larsen wrote. “I hesitate to include a ‘right now’ or an ‘anymore’ at the end of my previous sentence, because — in this sociopolitical climate — I truly don’t know which phrasing holds more truth.”
Trending on Billboard
Billboard has reached out to the AFM for comment.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services (USCIS) announced at the beginning of April that they had updated their policy at the outset of April to only recognize biological sex on immigration forms, in accordance with the Trump administration’s executive order requiring travel documents (including passports and visas) to designate a person’s sex as assigned at birth.
In his post, Larsen admits that he was already feeling trepidatious about touring the U.S. amidst an onslaught of anti-trans initiatives being pursued by the current administration, especially when it came to the administration’s treatment of trans people crossing the border. “If random people are getting randomly questioned/stopped/detained at borders, how can I — as someone wanting to make money abroad by exhibiting my lived experience as a trans person — expect to pass go and get out of jail free?” he asked. “My plan was to tour with harm reduction in mind.”
Larsen said that after speaking with two separate immigration lawyers and the AFM, he decided that there was “no way to move forward” with his scheduled tour, despite his eagerness to see his U.S. fans. “This new policy has crushed my dreams,” he wrote. “I’m cradling a very broken heart and the realization that I don’t know if or when I will be able to tour in the States again.”
The singer-songwriter was set to bring his forthcoming new album Blurring Time stateside this June, with dates in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles throughout the month. The new LP deals extensively with Larsen’s experience transitioning while using vocal recordings from both before and after his transition (his “high” and “low” voices, as he calls them in a statement) to create harmonies between his former and current self. The latest single from that album, “Might,” was released on Wednesday (April 9).
“I was hoping that the album would help me break into the US music market and connect with cool, likeminded American musicians,” he wrote. “More than anything, thought, I just really wanted to perform my album for queer and trans people in the US who saw their stories reflected in my own.”
Bells Larsen’s new album Blurring Time drops on April 25 via Royal Mountain Records. Read his full statement on his cancelled U.S. tour below:
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Source: Anna Rose Layden / Getty / Jahana Hayes
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) learned the hard way not to interrupt Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT) when she is making a point.
During a televised CNN town hall event, things got testy when the topic of discussion shifted to Elon Musk and DOGE’s (Department of Government Efficiency) cuts to federal agencies to stop what they deem as waste and fraud.
Hayes didn’t bite her tongue about Elon Musk after Lawler dared to defend Musk and DOGE’s actions, leading to a tense exchange between the two politicians.
Lawler defended Phony Stark, crediting him with a “turbocharged forensic audit through every department and agency.”
In response to Lawler’s praise of Musk, Hayes had to remind him and the American people how terrible cuts have been and that the American public has a “right to be concerned about Elon Musk because he’s an unelected billionaire who has a tremendous amount of influence.”
She continued, “This is not normal. All of this waste, fraud, and abuse we don’t want that either, but what we’re talking about is burning down the house…”
Lawler couldn’t stand for Hayes clowning of Musk and tried to interrupt her, but she quickly shut him down telling him to his face, “”I’m still talking, please!” He responded by asking her, “Is there one thing you agree with?”
Hayes Patience With Lawler Ran Out
He didn’t stop as he sat back down, continuing to interrupt Hayes as she addressed attendees until she stopped and asked, “Mr. Lawler, can you please let me finish my conversation?” as he continued to ask his question, forcing her to confront him once again, “What is your question?”
“Can you identify one thing of waste that they have found that you actually agree with that should be eliminated?” Lawler asked.
Hayes responded by calling out fraud in the unemployment system, adding “And we have processes and policies to do that, but for one person to make those decisions, everyone should have a level of concern by that.”
She wasn’t done. When Lawler mentioned that there were “career employees” in DOGE going over our data, Hayes asked the million-dollar question, “Who are they?” over and over.
Spoiler alert: Lawler didn’t answer her question.
Welp.
You can see social media reactions to the town hall in the gallery below.
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Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Almost a year after the Central Park Five sued Donald Trump for defamation for his slander of the five men, a judge has ruled that Donald Trump must face them in a court of law after unsuccessfully trying to get the lawsuit dismissed.
According to Raw Story, U.S. District Court Judge Wendy Beetlestone declined Trump’s legal team motion to have the case dismissed and stated that the case will proceed as Donald Trump lied during his debate with Kamala Harris and claimed that the men killed someone and pleaded guilty even though they were exonerated of the crime decades later. Trying to clean up the mess he made for himself during the debate, Trump’s lawyers claimed that his lies were protected under the First Amendment’s free speech grounds, but Judge Beetlestone was having none of it and informed them to get ready for what comes next.
Per Raw Story:
In a 20-page ruling on Thursday, Beetlestone said the court did not agree that Trump’s words were statements of opinion.
“Defendant’s assertions—that Plaintiffs pleaded guilty and that Plaintiffs killed someone—can be ‘objectively determined’ to be false, so Defendant’s statement must be construed as one of fact, not opinion,” the judge wrote.
“For the reasons set forth above, Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss shall be denied as to Plaintiffs’ defamation claim,” the ruling added.
The judge, however, dismissed additional claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress without prejudice, “thus allowing Plaintiffs leave to amend their Complaint with respect to that theory and that claim.”
While we hope that the 34-count felon is held accountable for one of his most infamous lies, the fact that he’s now the president with the power of an obviously loyal and bias Department Of Justice behind him, we’re not sure things will pan out as they should in a normal democracy.
What do y’all think about Trump’s latest legal setback? Will justice be served, or will it be rigged in his favor in some way, shape or form? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Source: Andy Wenstrand / Getty
Our “Forever FLOTUS” is addressing rumors that she and former President Barack Obama are divorcing.
In a new interview on the podcast Work in Progress with Sophia Bush, Mrs. Obama acknowledged that the rumors were largely fueled by her decision to miss both Jimmy Carter’s funeral and Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this year.
Rumors varied from the beloved former first couple divorcing to even questions whether or not Mrs. Obama was ill.
Per Buzzfeed, Mrs. Obama explained that she looked at her calendar and in the case of a “real big example,” chose not to do something she was “supposed” to. “I chose to do what was best for me. Not what I had to do, not what I thought other people wanted me to do. And between you and me, it was an important test for me as a woman, as an independent person. Because like all women and a lot of people, I operate from guilt,” she continued. “What should I do? What is the best thing for everybody else?”
She did not address what the specific event was that she opted out, but explained that she is reclaiming her time.
She explains that as her daughters Sasha and Malia have reached adulthood and her husband is no longer president, she is living life on her own terms. “It’s the first time in my life all of my choices are for me.”
“But it’s also a little scary. Because as a mom and a busy person, it was always somebody else’s excuse — Why didn’t I do this? Why haven’t I gone there? Well, I have to make sure the girls are okay, or my husband’s president, so I can’t do that,” she continued.
“Now, I can’t blame my decisions and indecisions on anyone other than me,” she continued. “As a woman, I think if I’m honest with myself, I could have made a lot of these decisions years ago. But I didn’t give myself that freedom. Maybe, even as much as I let my kids lead their own lives, I used their lives as an excuse for why I couldn’t do something. And now that’s wrong.”
She added, “But the interesting thing is that when I say no, for the most part, people are like, ‘I get it.’ That’s the thing that we as women struggle with: disappointing people. So much so that this year, people couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself. They had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing,” she explained. “This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself, right? But that’s what society does to us.”
Mrs. Obama is currently hosting a podcast IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson where she and her brother take questions about life challenges.
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Source: Andy Wenstrand / Getty
Our “Forever FLOTUS” is addressing rumors that she and former President Barack Obama are divorcing.
In a new interview on the podcast Work in Progress with Sophia Bush, Mrs. Obama acknowledged that the rumors were largely fueled by her decision to miss both Jimmy Carter’s funeral and Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this year.
Rumors varied from the beloved former first couple divorcing to even questions whether or not Mrs. Obama was ill.
Per Buzzfeed, Mrs. Obama explained that she looked at her calendar and in the case of a “real big example,” chose not to do something she was “supposed” to. “I chose to do what was best for me. Not what I had to do, not what I thought other people wanted me to do. And between you and me, it was an important test for me as a woman, as an independent person. Because like all women and a lot of people, I operate from guilt,” she continued. “What should I do? What is the best thing for everybody else?”
She did not address what the specific event was that she opted out, but explained that she is reclaiming her time.
She explains that as her daughters Sasha and Malia have reached adulthood and her husband is no longer president, she is living life on her own terms. “It’s the first time in my life all of my choices are for me.”
“But it’s also a little scary. Because as a mom and a busy person, it was always somebody else’s excuse — Why didn’t I do this? Why haven’t I gone there? Well, I have to make sure the girls are okay, or my husband’s president, so I can’t do that,” she continued.
“Now, I can’t blame my decisions and indecisions on anyone other than me,” she continued. “As a woman, I think if I’m honest with myself, I could have made a lot of these decisions years ago. But I didn’t give myself that freedom. Maybe, even as much as I let my kids lead their own lives, I used their lives as an excuse for why I couldn’t do something. And now that’s wrong.”
She added, “But the interesting thing is that when I say no, for the most part, people are like, ‘I get it.’ That’s the thing that we as women struggle with: disappointing people. So much so that this year, people couldn’t even fathom that I was making a choice for myself. They had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing,” she explained. “This couldn’t be a grown woman just making a set of decisions herself, right? But that’s what society does to us.”
Mrs. Obama is currently hosting a podcast IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson where she and her brother take questions about life challenges.
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Source: YouTube / Live Action
Street interviews have become a trend, but one conservative reporter got more than she bargained for, resulting in her being punched in the face. The incident occurred between Savannah Craven Antao, a reporter for the pro-life media outlet Live Action, and Brianna Rivers last Friday (April 4) outside in the neighborhood of Harlem, New York.
The interview started cordially, as Craven Antao asked Rivers her thoughts on the non-profit women’s health organization Planned Parenthood.
Rivers, a Bronx native, expressed her support for the group and how they help young girls and women. “Some women just don’t have it in them, and they abandon them [their child] and abuse them and all kinds of stuff— and it’s like, girl, just get rid of it if you know you’re going to do that,” she said. Things got more intense as Craven Antao pivoted to the topic of foster care. “Why don’t they [women] just stop having sex with people they don’t want to have a child with?” she asked Rivers, who agreed but stated that she believed in a woman’s right to choose.
“You don’t get to kill the baby just because their dad didn’t want them. Should we kill the kids in foster care?” Craven Antao retorted, which made Rivers upset. “Why not? Who’s gonna take care of them? I need to know the percentage of people who take children from foster care, abuse them, and molest them, who make them like personal slaves. I need specifics before you come to talk to me about pro-life.” she replied. When Craven Antao pushed back, Rivers then punched her directly in the face. She would upload the video interview afterward, showing her reaction and bloodied face.Craven Antao would tell the New York Post a day after that the incident that she was still “stressed” about what happened. “Every time I go on my phone and I open any social media, I see the video of myself being assaulted. And it’s like I go back to the moment. It’s terrifying,” she said. Rivers took to Facebook to defend herself, apologizing but also asking for help against right-wingers online. “To Savannah, I sincerely apologize but cannot sit around and allow you to continue pushing this one-sided narrative,” Rivers wrote. “I understand hands being put on someone is never the answer, but throwing rocks and hiding hands is worse. She knows the truth and she needs to release the footage in its entirety.”
Check out the full interview above.
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Source: Anna Moneymaker / Getty / Donald Trump
Despite claiming he was proceeding with blanket tariffs on numerous countries, including our trading partners, Donald Trump has caved and is now calling for a 90-day pause on some of them following days of stock market turmoil.
The spin is currently on. His most staunch supporters call Trump’s blinking on his tariff threat “part of his plan,” or as he would say, the “art of the deal.”
Others describe Trump’s decision not to go through with his tariff stunt as caving, even though China is still on the hook for 125% tariffs. Some notable figures on Capitol Hill accuse Trump of something even more nefarious: market manipulation.
After a tumultuous week that saw trillions of dollars wiped out, everyone is now taking a step back and trying to figure out if, in fact, this was all part of Felon 47’s plan or if there was something else going on.
Well, These Posts From Donald Trump on Truth Social Are Suspicious
Before he caved, Trump told the regular Americans who have plenty to lose, along with billionaires who saw their bottom lines being affected, to “be cool” as his stupid tariffs came into play, instantly tanking the global market and turning the US economy on its head.
Literally minutes after the opening bell rang at the New York Stock Exchange, Trump hopped on his bullsh*t platform, Truth Social, telling his followers, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
Four hours later, Trump did an about-face, pausing and lowering tariffs for 90 days on most of the countries he threatened while increasing tariffs on China to an astounding 125%, and the markets recovered.
Social media rarely misses when spotting the jig and is calling what Trump did a reverse “pump and dump” scheme, accusing Orange Mussolini driving stock prices down, only to scoop them up before the prices rise.
https://x.com/RepMikeLevin/status/1910062758311219299
Adam Schiff Is Not Buying What Donald Trump Is Selling
California Senator Adam Schiff is also suspicious and calling for an insider trading investigation. Schiff said that Trump “is creating giant market fluctuations with his on-again, off-again tariffs.”
He continued, “These constant gyrations in policy provide dangerous opportunities for insider trading. Who in the administration knew about Trump’s latest tariff flip flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public’s expense? I’m writing to the White House — the public has a right to know.”
Speaking with reporters, Schiff said he wants the White House to answer the question of “Who is cashing in?”
He added, “There is all too much opportunity for people in the White House and administration to be into insider trading,” he said. “They won’t be able to hide it for good.”
https://x.com/ArtCandee/status/1910067654737670246
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. We don’t have confidence that President Trump will be held responsible because Republicans lack a spine, but we do expect Democrats to make noise on this issue for a while.
Will the American people forgive and forget? Or will they hold Trump and his supporters responsible at the voting booth in the upcoming midterms?
Until that day arrives, you can see more reactions in the gallery below.
Ye (formerly Kanye West) has been staunch in his support for Donald Trump since the business mogul’s first presidential term. During a stream with Digital Nas on Tuesday (April 8), the embattled rapper claimed that Frank Ocean attempted to talk him out of supporting the twice-impeached president prior to the 2016 election.
“Frank Ocean p—y a– come over my house talking about Trump all day and how I shouldn’t support Trump,” he said. “N—a f–k you know about politics and n—a I’m your motherf—ing senior, OG, y’all used to come on tour with mea.”
Ye continued: “None of you n—-s can tell me about politics n—a. F–k you think? You read a book and now you can tell me some s–t? None of these n—-s as talented. I’m the greatest motherf—ing artist that ever existed. They can just be slightly better at one thing cause they only do that one thing.”
Billboard has reached out to Ocean’s reps for comment.
Ye — who has faced continued backlash for his ongoing hate speech — hasn’t been shy about his support for Trump over the years. He originally had a pro-Trump rant during his Saint Pablo Tour in 2016 and met up with the president at Trump Towers in December 2016 for a photo op.
He pulled up to the White House in 2018 while rocking a red MAGA hat, where he spoke about his appreciation for the president and met with Trump at the Oval Office. Ye kept the MAGA hat on throughout the year and even wore it during his appearance on Saturday Night Live.
While Ye opposed Trump in 2020 during his own brief presidential bid, he came back to support Trump — who has since been convicted on 34 felony charges in his hush money case — for the 2024 election as DT defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Around the time of the alleged conversation between Ocean and Ye in 2016, they had been collaborative on the music side. Ocean helmed “Frank’s Track” on The Life of Pablo, while West had a cameo on Blonde‘s “White Ferrari.” Ocean hasn’t released a project since.
However, West’s tune changed in March when he claimed during an explosive interview with DJ Akademiks that “Moon” from 2021’s Donda album was the end of his former collaborator’s time in music.
“Like when I made, ‘Moon,’ it basically ended Frank Ocean’s career. He ain’t have a song since then. He talking, ‘Sipping some wine.’ I knew it I heard it, I was like, ‘Oh, this n—a not gonna be able to make another album again,’” he said. “Any genre of music that anyone has, I make a better version of it. I’m 10 times stronger at music than anyone living.”
The NO FAKES Act was reintroduced to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday (April 9) with the help of country legend Randy Travis, his wife Mary Travis and Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl.
The reintroduction of the bill, designed to protect artists against unauthorized AI deepfake impersonations, was part of the Recording Academy’s annual GRAMMYs on the Hill initiative, in which the organization visits D.C. to meet with elected officials and advocate for a variety of music-related causes. On Wednesday, the GRAMMYs on the Hill Awards celebrated Travis, along with U.S. Representatives Linda Sánchez (D-CA) and Ron Estes (R-KS), for their dedication and advocacy for the rights of music creators.
Introduced by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Representatives María Elvira Salazar (R-FL-27), Madeleine Dean (D-PA-4) Nathaniel Moran (R-TX-1), Becca Balint (D-VT-At Large), the NO FAKES Act has also found new supporters in an unlikely place: the tech industry. The bill is now supported by tech giants like YouTube, OpenAI, IBM and Adobe, showing a rare moment of solidarity between artists and big tech in the AI age.
Trending on Billboard
The NO FAKES Act was first introduced as a draft bill in 2023, and formally introduced to the Senate in the summer of 2024. If passed, the legislation would create federal intellectual property protections for the so-called right of publicity for the first time, which adds restrictions to how someone’s name, image, likeness and voice can be used without consent. Currently, these rights are only protected at the state level, leading to a patchwork of varying laws around the nation.
Unlike some of the patchy state publicity rights laws, the federal right that the NO FAKES Act would create would not expire at death and could be controlled by a person’s heirs for 70 years after their passing. There are, however, specific carve outs for replicas used in news, parody, historical works and criticism to ensure the First Amendment right to free speech remains protected.
Over the last few years, as AI voice models have continued to develop, many artists have often found themselves on the receiving end of AI deepfakes. In 2023, the AI music craze kicked off with the so-called “fake Drake” song “Heart On My Sleeve” which featured the unauthorized AI voices of Drake and the Weeknd. Last year, Taylor Swift, for example, was the subject of a number of sexually-explicit AI deepfakes of her body; the late Tupac Shakur‘s voice was deepfaked by fellow rapper Drake in his Kendrick Lamar diss track “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which was posted, and then deleted, on social media.
Even President Donald Trump participated in the deepfake trend, posting an unauthorized AI image of Swift allegedly endorsing him during his campaign to return to the White House.
“Recently, I was made aware that [an] AI [image] of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post soon after. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
Overall, the bill has seen widespread support among the entertainment industry establishment. According to a press release about the bill’s reintroduction, it is celebrated by Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Recording Academy, SAG-AFTRA, Human Artistry Campaign, Motion Picture Association and more.
Mitch Glazier, chairman and CEO of the RIAA, praised the bipartisan effort, saying “this bill proves that we can prioritize the growth of AI and protecting American creativity at the same time.”
Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, added: “The Academy is proud to represent and serve creators, and for decades, GRAMMYs on the Hill has brought music makers to our nation’s capital to elevate the policy issues affecting our industry. Today’s reintroduction of the NO FAKES Act underscores our members’ commitment to advocating for the music community, and as we enter a new era of technology, we must create guardrails around AI and ensure it enhances – not replaces – human creativity.”
