politics
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Chrissy Teigen is defending Selena Gomez after her tearful video about the Trump administration’s mass deportations led to a response video from the White House. “I love her,” the Cravings author told TMZ of Gomez on Monday night (Feb. 3). “Empathy should never be frowned upon or made fun of, and the fact that the […]
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It’s not enough for anti-Trump voters and activists to speak out against the bigoted, oppressive, exclusionary and white nationalist-friendly agenda that President Donald Trump is forcing on the federal government, and, by extension, the nation.
We need our Democratic leaders, the people who are in the closest position to resist Trump’s policies, to speak out and do so without mincing words and using soft language. And, for that, we have Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
On Friday night (Jan. 31), the Trump administration began a purge of federal law enforcement employees, including prosecutors who handled Jan. 6 cases, officials involved in prosecutions against himself and FBI agents involved in investigations against him. Basically, we put a child-like bully back in the White House and now he’s exacting his revenge like he’s pretending to be his favorite cartoon villain. (In real life, he’s half the country’s least favorite cartoon villain.)
https://x.com/repjasmine/status/1885504967538004025
Anyway, Crockett kept it a buck.
From Raw Story:
The D.C. Field Office, in particular, has seen a wave of firings. It comes as the acting head of Trump’s Justice Department is also moving to eliminate the jobs of prosecutors who handled the Jan. 6 cases and worked with special counsel Jack Smith.
“Trump’s DOJ Deputy AG is ordering the FBI Acting Secretary to create a blacklist of officers for termination because they LAWFULLY INVESTIGATED an insurrection at the Capitol that resulted in severe injuries and deaths, including of law enforcement,” wrote Crockett, a former public defender, on X. “Instead of respecting the acts and contributions of the FBI for holding people to account for desecrating the hallowed halls of Congress, my Republican colleagues are now cheering for their removal.”
“LET’S BE CLEAR: Firing these experienced law enforcement officers is a victory for lawlessness, organized crime, and corruption,” she continued. “It is a get out of jail free card for the drug smugglers, human traffickers, child exploiters, and violent extremists that the FBI investigates.”
“But most importantly, tonight is a tragedy for the rule of law,” Crockett concluded.
That’s right, y’all. The so-called “party of law and order” who constantly deride their Democratic counterparts as being “soft on crime” are out here behaving disorderly as if they’re above the law and reminding us daily that they decide which crimes matter.
One would think Trump and his GOP goons were actually masters of manipulation, but, truthfully, white supremacy and idiocracy had already done all the work for them in the backward-ass country.
But MAGA, right?
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order directing the U.S. to take steps to start developing a government-owned investment fund that he said could be used to profit off of TikTok if he’s successful at finding it an American buyer.
Trump signed an order on his first day office to grant TikTok until early April to find an approved partner or buyer, but he’s said he’s looking for the U.S. to take a 50% stake in the massive social media platform. He said Monday in the Oval Office that TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, was an example of what he could put in a new U.S. sovereign wealth fund.
“We might put that in the sovereign wealth fund, whatever we make or we do a partnership with very wealthy people, a lot of options,” he said of TikTok. “But we could put that as an example in the fund. We have a lot of other things that we could put in the fund.”
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Sovereign wealth funds invest in assets, such as stocks, bonds and real estate. They are typically funded by a country’s budgetary surpluses, which the U.S. currently does not have.
Trump noted many other nations have such investment funds and predicted that the U.S. could eventually top Saudi Arabia’s fund size. “Eventually we’ll catch it,” he promised.
There are over 90 sovereign wealth funds around the world that mange over $8 trillion in assets, according to The International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, a London-based organization made up of roughly 50 of these entities.
In the U.S., more than 20 sovereign wealth funds exist at the state level, according to analysis from the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based nonpartisan think-tank.
The largest ones — based in Alaska, New Mexico and Texas — are financed through revenue that comes from oil, gas and mineral proceeds and used to fund in-state programs, such as education. Though these funds are owned by governments, they tend to operate as standalone institutions with their own investment strategies and staff, the center said.
The president put Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, in charge of laying the groundwork for creating a the fund, which would likely require congressional approval. The executive order says a plan for the fund — including recommendations for investment strategies and a governance model — has to be submitted to Trump within 90 days.
Former President Joe Biden’s administration had studied the possibility of creating a sovereign wealth fund for national security investments, but the idea did not yield any concrete action before he left office last month.
Bessent said the administration’s goal was to have the fund open within the next 12 months, and Lutnick said another use of the fund could have been for the government to take an profit-earning stake in vaccine manufacturers.
“The extraordinary size and scale of the U.S government and the business it does with companies should create value for American citizens,” Lutnick told reporters.
TikTok was supposed to be banned in the U.S. last month under a federal law that forces ByteDance to divest its stakes or face a ban. The law was passed in April with bipartisan support in Congress and signed by Biden. The two companies and some users quickly took legal action against the statute, which was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court last month.
After taking office, Trump, who had attempted to ban the popular app during his first term, directed the Justice Department to pause enforcement of the law for 75 days. The reprieve has given the company more time to work out a deal with the administration.
Several investors — including billionaire Frank McCourt and Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — have spoken publicly about their desire to purchase TikTok’s U.S. platform. Trump has said “many people” had also reached out to him privately about it. Last week, he said Microsoft was one of the U.S. companies eyeing the social media platform.
A San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup called Perplexity AI presented a proposal to ByteDance last month that would allow the U.S. government to own up to 50% of an entity that combines TikTok’s U.S. platform with Perplexity’s business, a person familiar with the matter previously told the Associated Press. If successful, the proposal would allow the U.S. government to have a sizable stake in that entity once it makes an initial public offering of at least $300 billion.
After Selena Gomez shared (and then deleted) a video weeping over the Trump administration’s immigration raids, the White House shared its own response video late Friday (Jan. 31) featuring mothers whose children were reportedly killed by undocumented immigrants.
The White House clip, posted to X, intersperses clips of Gomez crying over mass deportations in her since-deleted video with the mothers, who are critical of the singer/actress and tell her: “You don’t know who you’re crying for.”
In the original clip, Gomez — a Texas-born Mexican-American — says through tears, “All my people are getting attacked, the children. I don’t understand. I’m so sorry. I wish I could do something, but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.”
In the White House response, Alexis Nungaray — whose 12-year-old daughter Jocelyn was killed in Houston in June 2024 — accuses Gomez of being insincere in her response. “Seeing that video, it’s hard to believe that it’s actually genuine and real because she’s an actress,” Nungaray says.
A September report funded by the National Institute of Justice using data from the Texas Department of Public Safety found that “undocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens for violent and drug crimes and a quarter the rate of native-born citizens for property crimes.”
Gomez’s original video was in response to Trump’s promise to begin major deportations as soon as he took office. Last week, Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X to announce that “deportation flights have begun. President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences.”
The two other mothers featured in the video are Tammy Nobles, whose 20-year-old daughter Kayla Hamilton was killed in 2022 in Aberdeen, Maryland, and Patty Morin, whose 37-year-old daughter Rachel was murdered in 2023 in Harford County, Maryland. Hamilton’s killer was an undocumented 16-year-old from El Salvador, while undocumented immigrants are facing charges for the murders of Morin and Nungaray.
Gomez’s video became a political lightning rod in the days after it was originally posted on Monday, with Republican Utah politician Sam Parker suggesting she should be deported as well because her grandparents originally entered the country illegally. “Thanks for the laugh and the threat,” Gomez responded on Instagram.
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Former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez was the target of an ethics complaint in 2006 by Republican Party opponents which opened the door to significant charges of corruption that ended the senator’s political career. This week, Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years behind bars floated an idea of seeking a potential pardon from President Donald Trump despite being a member of the Democratic Party.
As seen on CNN, Bob Menendez was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein in a Manhattan federal court on Wednesday (Jan. 29).
At root, Menendez was convicted in 2024 on bribery and corruption charges, which included taking over six figures in gold bars, cash, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible from Egyptian government officials and three businessmen in exchange for political favors.
Menendez was once a darling of the Democratic Party and was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the height of his political career. However, the conviction on 16 felony counts has given the former senator the unwelcomed distinction of being the first United States senator to be charged and convicted of acting as an agent to aid a foreign government.
In court, Menendez made an emotional statement toward Judge Stein.
“You have before you a chastened man,” Menendez said. “Other than family, I have lost everything I ever cared about. For someone who spent his entire life in public service, every day I’m awake is a punishment.”
Menendez’s tune changed outside the courtroom when he spoke to a gathering of media.
“Only in the Southern District of New York would prosecutors allow a witness to walk away from over 10 criminal charges, including defrauding the United States government so that they can get him to lie on the stand. Welcome to the Southern District of New York, the wild west of political prosecutions,” Menendez said.
He added, “This process is political and it’s corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores the integrity to the system.”
As noted at the top of the story, Menendez’s history of questionable political operations dates back to the late 1990s, and he was later indicted in 2015 on bribery, fraud, and false statement charges in connection to boosting the business interests of a Florida doctor with ties to the Dominican Republic in what would’ve benefited the doctor’s practice.
President Trump has not responded to Bob Menendez’s statement outside the court.
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D.L. Hughley has fired back at Snoop Dogg with some choice words following the rap legend’s response to the backlash he’s received following his performance at the Crypto Ball at Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this month. The comedian was brutally honest while condemning Snoop on Tuesday’s (Jan. 28) episode of The D.L. Hughley Show, during […]
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President Donald Trump took to the campaign trail and touted his ability to make sweeping economic changes, including lowering the prices of eggs. President Donald Trump’s claims of lowering egg prices have yet to bear fruit and now, his press secretary is shifting the blame to President Joe Biden instead of examining pathways to help consumers.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt hosted the first press conference at the White House for the Trump administration, using stern talking points that echo much of the bravado of the president and his team. Leavitt, choosing to sidestep facts that egg prices continued to rise after Trump took office, instead took a shot at the Biden administration citing their handling of the issue.
“The Biden administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country. Therefore, lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage,” Leavitt said while choosing to not point to more accurate accounts that bird flu impacted prices on eggs and poultry products in 2022.
Among the many campaign promises from Trump, his pledge to lower prices on day one of his administration was unceremoniously unmet. As seen in an Associated Press report, the spread of bird flu has promoted the slaughter of millions of chickens per month to contain the spread and more than doubling prices since 2023. The average price per carton last month was $4.15, which is still lower than the record of $4.82 set two years prior.
Video of the press briefing courtesy of Forbes Breaking News.
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Madonna is calling out the Donald Trump administration following a number of anti-trans executive orders, including barring transgender people from serving and enlisting in the military, as well as banning federal funding for youth gender-affirming care. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “It’s so sad to watch our […]
After Selena Gomez posted an emotional response to the Donald Trump administration’s recent immigration raids, a user identifying as politician Sam Parker called for her to be deported in a post on X — but the singer-actress isn’t fazed.
On Instagram Stories, Gomez dismissed the Utah Republican — who Ballotopedia says ran unsuccessfully for United States Senate in 2018 — by writing, according to People, “Oh, Mr. Parker, Mr. Parker.”
“Thanks for the laugh and the threat,” the Rare Beauty founder added in the post, which has since disappeared from her Story.
Billboard has reached out to Gomez’s rep for comment.
The Only Murders in the Building star’s words come in response to Parker taking to X to call on the U.S. government to “Deport Selena Gomez” after she posted a video on her Story Monday (Jan. 27) of herself crying over the arrests of nearly 1,000 people deemed to be national security threats by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the weekend. “All my people are getting attacked, the children,” Gomez said in the clip through sobs. “I’m so sorry, I wish I could do something, but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.”
The Texas-born star later deleted the video from her Story and wrote, “Apparently it’s not ok to show empathy for people,” according to People.
Gomez has long been a strong advocate for the immigrant community. In 2019, she produced the Netflix docuseries Living Undocumented, which told the stories of eight families who faced potential deportation under the first Trump administration. She’s also spoken about how immigration has shaped her own family’s history, detailing how her aunt and grandparents crossed the Mexican border to start their lives in the U.S. before she was born in a 2019 essay for Time.
“Over the past four decades, members of my family have worked hard to gain United States citizenship,” she wrote at the time. “Undocumented immigration is an issue I think about every day, and I never forget how blessed I am to have been born in this country thanks to my family and the grace of circumstance.”
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams is sick and has a limited public schedule, but details on what is ailing him have not been publicized.
Late Sunday evening (January 26), a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Adams informed the press that he was sick and was set to undergo a series of appointments with doctors and routine medical tests. “While Mayor Adams will continue to communicate constantly with staff and ensure city business continues undeterred, during this time, the mayor will have a limited public schedule,” Deputy Mayor for Communications Fabien Levy said in the statement, adding that he “has a right to privacy when it comes to personal matters, but we will continue to communicate in the unlikely event he is unable to fully discharge his duties on any particular day.”
Levy didn’t offer any details on what Adams is ailing from but said that he is “doing well” and that he is continuing to conduct phone calls related to the city’s business. His public schedule on Monday (January 27) only showed a meeting with senior administration officials at the beginning of the day, and his office has canceled his usual Tuesday off-topic Q&A session with the media. Adams has also waived his scheduled appearance in court on Wednesday (January 29) on federal corruption charges. The hearing concerned classified evidence in the case.
The 64-year-old has often touted his energy and health, attributing it to becoming a pescatarian in 2016 after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. “No one is going to outwork me,” he said to a press gaggle earlier in January. “I am so committed authentically to New Yorkers.” Under city rules, if Adams is indisposed further, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer would step in as “acting mayor.” If needed, Public Advocate Juumane Williams would take over as mayor with limited authority.
The news comes as Adams has been under intense scrutiny for attending the inauguration of President Donald Trump at the last minute, and sitting down with conservative reporters such as Tucker Carlson. The moves are seen as a way to curry favor with Trump to gain a federal pardon. Adams is set to undergo trial in April, a short time before the Democratic primary elections for mayor are set to begin.