"Couldn't Have Asked...": Barack Obama's Anniversary Post For Wife Michelle

10/04/24 7:15 AM

Former US President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary on Wednesday.

"Prepare For Attack, Best Regards": Iran-Backed Houthis' E-Mail To Ships

10/04/24 3:56 AM

On a warm spring night in Athens, shortly before midnight, a senior executive at a Greek shipping company noticed an unusual email had landed in his personal inbox.

'I just want to know': Comedian gets Vance to answer key question he dodged at debate

10/03/24 6:36 PM

A comedian who spoofs politicians with broadcast news tactics got Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) to answer a crucial question he dodged at the vice presidential debate earlier this week, video shows. Jason Selvig, of the comedy group The Good Liars, trailed former President Donald Trump's running mate with a mic in hand and demanded an answer about the 2020 presidential election in a new X video viewed more than 440,000 times "Who won?" Selvig asked. "Just answer, did Donald Trump win?""Yes," Vance shot back."He did win?" Selvig asked again. "Yep," Vance replied. President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election and took office despite a nationwide effort orchestrated by Trump to challenge those results. ALSO READ: Revealed: Anti-Trump Larry Hogan’s ties to Project 2025 and billionaire MAGA donorsTrump now faces criminal charges in Washington D.C. federal court and Georgia state court linked to his actions in the lead up to the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021. He pleaded not guilty to election interference and racketeering. Vance's surprising answer to this question was revealed two days after Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) asked the same question during their debate. "Did he lose the 2020 election?" Walz asked. "Tim, I'm focused on the future," Vance replied. In the video released Thursday, Selvig asked Vance if he and Trump would concede the race if Harris secured the votes she needed to win. "I really feel bad for you, man," Vance replied. Said Selvig, "I just want to know."Watch the video below or click here. JD Vance refused to answer this question at the debate but he told us Donald Trump won the 2020 election. pic.twitter.com/VyGrnCVAaw— The Good Liars (@TheGoodLiars) October 3, 2024

'I pleaded guilty to journalism,' Wikileaks' Assange

10/01/24 10:35 AM

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday said he was released after years of incarceration only because he had pleaded guilty to doing "journalism", which he described as a pillar of a free society.Assange spent most of the last 14 years either holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London to avoid arrest, or locked up at Belmarsh Prison in the British capital.He was released from jail in June, after serving a sentence for publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential US government documents."I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pleaded guilty to journalism," Assange told the Council of Europe rights body at its Strasbourg headquarters in his first public comments since his release."I eventually chose freedom over unrealizable justice... justice for me is now precluded," Assange said, noting he had been facing a 175-year jail sentence.Speaking calmly and flanked by his wife Stella who fought for his release, he added: "Journalism is not a crime, it is a pillar of a free and informed society.""The fundamental issue is simple. Journalists should not be prosecuted for doing their jobs," said Assange.The trove of confidential documents released by Wikileaks included searingly frank US State Department descriptions of foreign leaders, accounts of extrajudicial killings and intelligence gathering against allies.Assange argued his case provided an insight into "how powerful intelligence organizations engage in transnational repression" against their foes, adding that this "cannot become the norm here."- 'More impunity, more secrecy' -He said that during his incarceration "ground has been lost", regretting that he now sees "more impunity, more secrecy and more retaliation for telling the truth.""Freedom of expression and all that flows from it is at a dark crossroads," he told the hearing of the legal committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)."Let us all commit to doing our part to ensure the light of freedom never dims and the pursuit of truth will live on and the voices of many are not silenced by the interests of the few," he said.Assange's case remains deeply contentious.Supporters hail him as a champion of free speech and say he was persecuted by authorities and unfairly imprisoned. Detractors see him as a reckless blogger whose uncensored publication of ultra-sensitive documents put lives at risk and jeopardized US security.US President Joe Biden, who is likely to issue some pardons before leaving office next January, has previously described Assange as a "terrorist".Assange's timing and his choice of venue have puzzled some observers.The Council of Europe brings together the 46 signatory states of the European Convention on Human Rights, with little say over Assange's legal fate.Assange is still campaigning for a US presidential pardon for his conviction under the Espionage Act.

'I was President': Trump's response to Iranian missile attack puts the focus on himself

10/01/24 5:33 PM

Donald Trump responded to the worsening crisis in the Middle East with a lengthy comment about himself minutes before Iran launched missiles into Israel.The former president's campaign issued a statement Tuesday that he shared on Truth Social blaming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the ballistic missile attack, which U.S. officials had warned was imminent, and insisted that his Democratic rivals were responsible for Israel's war in Gaza and a ground offensive in Lebanon."The World is on fire and spiraling out of control," the statement read before a lengthy attack on Harris' record as a prosecutor and attorney general in California.ALSO READ: The secret weapon Republicans use to win elections"When I was President, Iran was in total check," the statement continued. "They were starved for cash, fully contained, and desperate to make a deal. Kamala flooded them with American cash and, ever since, they've been exporting terror all over, and unraveling the Middle East."The GOP presidential nominee argued that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if he had been president and accused his Democratic rivals of "leading us to the brink of World War III.""You wouldn't trust Joe or Kamala to run a lemonade stand," the statement read, "let alone the Free World."Trump followed up the campaign statement with a post of his own after the missile attack was launched."Look at the World today — Look at the missiles flying right now in the Middle East, look at what’s happening with Russia/Ukraine, look at Inflation destroying the World," he posted. "NONE OF THIS HAPPENED WHILE I WAS PRESIDENT!"

'Oof': MSNBC host winces at Trump downplaying injuries suffered by troops on his watch

10/03/24 11:27 AM

Donald Trump minimized the brain injuries suffered by U.S. troops during his presidency as "headaches," and MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski winced in disgust.The former president insists that "nobody was ever tougher on Iraq" than him, apparently referring to Iran, and he claimed that an Iranian attack on U.S. troops in 2020 had failed and downplayed the traumatic brain injuries suffered by more than 100 of the troops under his leadership as commander in chief."What does injured mean?" Trump said Tuesday during a campaign stop in Wisconsin. "You mean because they had a headache? Because the bombs never hit the fort?"ALSO READ: Revealed: Anti-Trump Larry Hogan’s ties to Project 2025 and billionaire MAGA donorsBrzezinski agreed with Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign, which sent out a statement saying his remarks should be disqualifying."Amidst all of this in the Middle East, the former president minimized traumatic brain injuries suffered by troops while he was president, calling them, quote, 'headaches,'" Brzezinski said. "Speaking in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Trump was asked about his White House's response to a 2020 attack on a U.S. military base in Iraq by Iran."Producers rolled the clip of Trump speaking to reporters about the attack that took place while he was president."Oof," Brzezinski said, wincing. "The Pentagon says 109 U.S. troops were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, that after Iran sent a missile barrage in 2020. Trump dismisses them as headaches."Watch below or click here. - YouTube youtu.be

'Outrageously false': Washington Post buries Trump's latest incendiary claim

10/03/24 2:24 PM

Former President Donald Trump has recently claimed that President Joe Biden allowed 13,000 immigrant murderers into the United States and then allowed them to freely roam the streets of American cities.However, the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler looked at the origins of this claim and deemed it "outrageously false" and even a "figment of his imagination."The reality, writes Kessler, is that the vast majority of the murderers in question have been incarcerated for years, with many having been in prison since before Trump's first term.The false claim about 13,000 murderers being let free began when Immigration and Customs Enforcement director P.J. Lechleitner responded to a request for information from Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) in which he said that there were roughly 13,000 immigrants who had been convicted of homicide who were not currently being detained by ICE.ALSO READ: 'Stop being stupid!' Ex-GOP official rips anyone considering a vote for 'idiot' TrumpHowever, writes Kessler, it turns out that these convicted killers are being detained by agencies other than ICE and aren't simply free to roam the streets."With so little space available in ICE detention centers, many criminals convicted of serious crimes are shipped to another facility to serve out their terms," writes Kessler. "Some noncitizens on the non-detained docket may participate in the agency’s Alternatives to Detention programs, which generally track people with GPS monitoring devices or the SmartLINK phone app, but murderers would not qualify. A 2021 Biden administration memo made detention a priority for noncitizens who pose 'a current threat to public safety.'"Furthermore, as the Department of Homeland Security said last month, the list of 13,000 convicted killers "includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.”

'Recoiled in fear': Ex-Trump official shoots down boasts about 'big man' Iran tactics

10/01/24 7:18 PM

The bombs had barely even begun to fall in Iran's escalatory missile strike on Israeli cities, when former President Donald Trump proclaimed that he could have prevented the whole thing by projecting a tough guy attitude in the White House."[Iran] should not do it. It would be a big mistake if they do," Trump told NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Garret Haake. "They have no respect for the administration. This would have never happened if I was president.”But a number of experts and commentators on X were quick to combat this claim, noting Iran launched attacks on U.S. military installments when Trump was president for the retaliation for the assassination of a top general.ALSO READ: The secret weapon Republicans use to win electionsAmong the former president's nay-sayers Tuesday was Trump administration security official turned critic Alexander Vindman."Iran struck first and early, during Trump’s presidency attacking US troops. Trump consistently recoiled in fear inviting further attacks," Vindman wrote on X."Trump also set the table for Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine by his abuse of power, resulting in his first impeachment & his friendship with dictators & weakening of alliances."Tommy Vietor a onetime staffer for former President Barack Obama, provided more detail. "In 2020, Iran fired a dozen ballistic missiles directly at US forces in retaliation for the Soleimani assassination," wrote podcaster Tommy Vietor. "110 US service members got traumatic brain injuries."Some Trump supporters, like former House GOP staffer Jerry Dunleavy, argued Iran had been "unchained" by Obama's anti-nuclear-proliferation thaw of foreign relations — a take one national security expert blasted as absurd. "Ah yes, the Iranians were so crippled by big man Trump and his sanctions (which had loopholes), so terrified of certain death if they crossed him, that they attacked US forces," shot back national security attorney Bradley Moss. "M’kay." Meanwhile, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner had a blunt response which he contextualized in the upcoming presidential election. "If ever America & the world needed strong, steady, reliable leadership - a leader who will NOT pledge loyalty or write love letter to murderous dictators, who will NOT destroy NATO, who will NOT tell Putin to do 'whatever the hell he wants to do' - it is now," he wrote. "Vote Harris/Walz."

'The system is blinking red': New House GOP report warns of terror threat to U.S. homeland

10/03/24 10:31 AM

Foreign terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and al Qaeda, and even Iran-allied forces such as Hezbollah and Hamas, pose an immediate threat to the American homeland and warrant a serious response by the Biden administration, key House Republicans said in a new report.

'White male in his 50s or 60s' cited for killing geese in Springfield Ohio — not Haitians

10/03/24 5:47 PM

It turns out that someone was illegally killing geese in Springfield, Ohio, but it wasn't a Haitian immigrant.Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) spread baseless claims that the city's sizable Haitian immigrant population was stealing and eating other residents' pets, and police investigated rumors they were also killing Canada geese – but journalist Steven Monacelli found exactly one such case involving a white man from the area on the day of the presidential debate."Complainant Michael Dudley ... observed a white male in his late 50s or early 60s, who was heavy set and riding a lawnmower, get off the lawnmower with a shotgun and shoot two geese near water on [Rocky Lake Golf Course]," police said in an incident report. "The man picked up the first goose and tossed it into the weeds. The second goose was wounded and as he collected it the man twisted it breaking its neck. This goose was disposed of in the same manner."Police spoke to the golf course manager the following day, Sept. 11, and she admitted that she allowed several individuals to hunt geese on the property, and based on the witness description she believed the hunter was one of her employees named Brian Comer, who then called officers himself.ALSO READ: Revealed: Anti-Trump Larry Hogan’s ties to Project 2025 and billionaire MAGA donors"Mr. Comer advised that he was responsible for shooting the geese," police said. "Mr. Comer advised that he thought the golf course had a nuisance permit and that he could shoot the geese."However, police found the golf course did not hold a goose damage permit, and Comer did not have the necessary permits required to shoot the geese, and he was cited for hunting without an Ohio wetlands stamp, a fourth-degree misdemeanor that carries a maximum 30-day jail term or $250 in fines. — (@)