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Trump Escalates Campaign Against Smithsonian With New “Warning Signs” Order

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Trump's executive order bashed the Smithsonian Institution for attempting to advance ideas of “social justice.”

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'World Cup for sale?' Ivanka Trump in-law's looming FIFA deal sees boycott threats spike

Raw Story

35 minutes ago

'World Cup for sale?' Ivanka Trump in-law's looming FIFA deal sees boycott threats spike

FIFA is facing backlash after announcing it will seek outside investors to fund a newly formed commercial arm that would control operations for future World Cup tournaments.The international organization is looking to raise $4.2 billion at a $20 billion valuation to fund a newly formed commercial arm called FIFA Forward Enterprise, and among the potential investors is Thrive Eternal, an investment vehicle launched by Joshua Kushner – brother of President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, reported CNN."So is the World Cup up for sale?" said CNN's Kate Bolduan. "FIFA is apparently looking for new investors, which is sparking these big new questions, and people are not happy about it."The plan has enraged UEFA, European soccer's governing body, which is holding an emergency meeting to discuss the proposal, including a possible World Cup boycott, according to multiple reports."This crosses a line that football's governing institutions should never cross," UEFA said in a statement, adding that "the soul and governance of football are not assets to trade" and warning there is "zero transparency as to who gains financially.""None of us are the owners of football," the statement added. "It is not FIFA's to sell."FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the plan as necessary for FIFA's "next stage of growth," saying it would create a dedicated commercial structure with value "shared more and better all around the world." Each of FIFA's 211 member federations could receive a roughly $20 million stake if they opt into the new subsidiary.The controversy adds to mounting political risk for Infantino, whose re-election bid could be complicated by his close relationship with Trump. House Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has requested records from FIFA, including gifts given to Trump and visitor logs from FIFA's Miami headquarters and Trump Tower office.If Democrats win a House majority in November, they could gain subpoena power and potentially compel Infantino's testimony — with the election falling just two weeks before candidates must declare for FIFA's presidential vote next March.Raskin was pointed in his criticism of the investment plan, accusing FIFA of pursuing "a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner's brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors."Jared Kushner's own investment firm, Affinity Partners, has separately drawn congressional scrutiny for raising billions from foreign sovereign wealth funds while he leads U.S. diplomatic negotiations with those same governments.FIFA and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump holds the FIFA World Cup Trophy, as he makes an announcement on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as FIFA president Gianni Infantino stands next to him, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 22, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

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GOP senator abruptly halts meeting after Trump pick ignores demand to kill slush fund

Alternet.org

39 minutes ago

GOP senator abruptly halts meeting after Trump pick ignores demand to kill slush fund

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has canceled his meeting with President Donald Trump's candidate for attorney general, Todd Blanche, after the Justice Department made it clear it doesn't have any further information on confirmation that the so-called "slush fund" was officially eliminated as a possibility, reported MS NOW producer Kyle Griffin. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Blanche was questioned about the nearly $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" that could be used to give a kind of restitution to anyone who felt they'd been wronged by the DOJ in the past. This includes Jan. 6 attackers who both confessed and were convicted of crimes related to a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.“Hopefully they now recognize the seriousness of this,” said Cornyn, according to a Politico report. “I haven’t seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I’ve requested.”“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or, you know, go along, but they’re mistaken," he added. Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Cornyn must indicate whether he's a "yay or nay" on Blanche by 4 p.m. on Wednesday. According to Politico, Grassley needs to know "if the vote could go forward, putting the Trump administration on a tight timeline if it wants Blanche confirmed before the Senate starts its summer recess next week."Blanche has maintained for the past several months that the fund is "dead" and that it would not be created. The problem, Cornyn said, is that the legal agreement that Blanche and Trump came to about the IRS would still establish the fund. Trump sued the IRS after his personal information was leaked in a data breach along with over 405,000 other people and businesses. When Blanche asserted the fund was "moot," Cornyn asked, "Well, I would refer you to the settlement agreement. Do you happen to have a copy of that in front of you?"Cornyn read the language verbatim from page four of the agreement: "This settlement agreement can be modified, may be modified only upon the written agreement of the parties. Has there been a written agreement of the parties to modify the settlement fund?"Blanche claimed that the fund was not going forward, so there is no modification to the agreement between Trump and the government. "Well, so the settlement agreement remains as it was originally. But I hear what you're saying is it — is the settlement agreement enforceable as a contract by the parties?" he asked.Blanche said that it was and would be considered an "enforceable document."Kathleen Williams, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, published a 56-page ruling not only denouncing the case as "an exercise in self-dealing," but also bashing Trump's so-called "settlement" over his IRS lawsuit, a case "that had no viable basis in law or fact." Blanche has continued to refuse to sign a legal document asserting that the slush fund is dead.

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'Surprising accusation' reveals RFK Jr's Trump days are numbered: analysis

Raw Story

48 minutes ago

'Surprising accusation' reveals RFK Jr's Trump days are numbered: analysis

President Donald Trump is reportedly growing frustrated with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on a key issue, and that suggests his time in the administration is running short.The Wall Street Journal reported the president is running out of patience with Kennedy's probe into the supposed link between vaccines and autism, and MS NOW's Hayes Brown argued that may be putting the notorious vaccine skeptic on thin ice."It’s a surprising accusation, given the centrality of vaccine skepticism to Kennedy’s political brand and the Make America Healthy Again movement he is spearheading," Brown wrote. "It also cuts against the advice that the White House itself reportedly delivered earlier this year, to have HHS downplay the focus on vaccines ahead of the midterm elections."The Journal reported that Trump wants Kennedy to push federal guidelines toward fewer recommended childhood vaccinations, hoping this could eventually lower autism rates. Tensions reportedly boiled over in a mid-June Oval Office meeting, where Trump told Kennedy directly that he wasn't doing enough, and that he's grown disappointed after giving him more than a year and a half to deliver results."Despite the clear scientific consensus, the HHS department under Kennedy has already launched several new studies on vaccine safety and attempted to recommend a reduction in the number of immunization shots that children receive," Brown wrote. "But that isn’t enough for Trump, who has shown that he doesn’t care about backing his own wild claims with solid proof."The column emphasizes that no credible scientific link between vaccines and autism exists, reminding readers that the original 1998 study behind the claim was retracted in 2010 after its author was discredited, and no subsequent research has replicated its findings."Working for the federal government now requires a willingness to share in the president’s delusions," Brown wrote. "But providing evidence sufficient to convince people outside of the MAGA cult of personality, including federal judges and grand juries, has hampered efforts to deal out the vengeance that Trump has demanded."Brown compared Kennedy's predicament to FBI Director Kash Patel's struggles delivering on years of promised revelations about Jeffrey Epstein's death — claims that similarly evaporated once officials were in position to act on them, causing political damage to the administration. Trump has shown a similar pattern with unsubstantiated claims about the 2020 election."There are plenty of people in the world who are willing to say obviously untrue things in public for attention, money or both, but in private acknowledge the limits of their claims," Brown wrote. "But when Trump has decided something is true, there’s little that can shake his conviction.

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It costs $183 to save 100,000 jobs: Why Trump’s trade doctrine is a no-brainer for America

Washington Examiner

1 hour ago

It costs $183 to save 100,000 jobs: Why Trump’s trade doctrine is a no-brainer for America

President Donald Trump just declared to thousands of American manufacturing workers in Michigan, “You were sold out and betrayed by globalist politicians” who let foreign countries “steal your jobs, pillage your factories, and then loot the crown jewels of American industry.” Under Trump’s leadership, we are reducing our dependence on foreign countries for materials essential […]

Center Right

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US troops brace to surrender phones after deadly attack video sullied Trump: report

Raw Story

1 hour ago

US troops brace to surrender phones after deadly attack video sullied Trump: report

U.S. troops deployed to the Middle East are bracing for the seizure of their phones after a viral video of a deadly Iranian attack left President Donald Trump answering for the deaths of two soldiers, according to a new report. The top U.S. commander for the Middle East warned troops in a July 28 letter that cellphone videos shared online were helping Iran assess the damage from its own strikes, Reuters reported.In Jordan, some troops have already been told their phones will be taken in the coming days, Reuters reported.Footage posted by the open-source account OSINTtechnical on X circulated on July 17 before CENTCOM confirmed that two American service members had been killed at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan during an Iranian missile and drone attack, Times Now reported.Reuters reported that the prospect of confiscations was already rattling families at home — writing that "the possible seizure of phones has stoked anxiety among some family members, already on edge in recent months as they read Iranian claims of deadly strikes on bases throughout the Middle East."Admiral Brad Cooper, head of CENTCOM, argued in his letter that open-source reporting was effectively doing Iran's targeting work for them."Detailed lists, descriptions, and analyses of what was hit, openly published by news outlets are essentially performing Iran's Battle Damage Assessment [a military term for evaluating strike damage] for them, free of charge," Cooper wrote, Reuters reported.A service member's Meta smart glasses recorded footage posted to Instagram showing troops evacuating to a bunker during the July 17 attack — the kind of open-source exposure, Cooper wrote, that forced Trump to defend the war publicly before the Pentagon could control the narrative.Speaking to the New York Post shortly after the attack, Trump deflected Democratic criticism by invoking prior conflicts."Have you ever asked how many people died in Vietnam? Have you ever asked how many people died in Afghanistan in one day? In one day — run by Sleepy Joe Biden," Trump said."And it's a shame, but in this case, they died because they don't want to see Iran have a nuclear weapon and they don't want to see the Middle East blown up," Trump told the Post.Russia banned smartphones for soldiers in 2019 after open-source journalists used troops' social media posts to expose secret military operations in Ukraine and Syria, the BBC reported.Cooper stopped short of ordering specific steps, and a third source told Reuters the confiscations were not yet confirmed region-wide.

Far Left

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Dow slumps 700 points, oil jumps over 6% after Trump vows to give Iran ‘beating’ following surprise attacks

New York Post

1 hour ago

Dow slumps 700 points, oil jumps over 6% after Trump vows to give Iran ‘beating’ following surprise attacks

Stocks slumped Wednesday morning and oil prices jumped over 6% after President Trump vowed to “beat the f--king s--t out of” Iran – fueling fears of a lasting conflict that could reheat inflation and push the Fed to hike interest rates.

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‘Fake historian’ exposed as mastermind behind Trump’s Smithsonian obsession: report

Raw Story

1 hour ago

‘Fake historian’ exposed as mastermind behind Trump’s Smithsonian obsession: report

President Donald Trump's moves to discredit the Smithsonian Museum of American History are being driven by a notorious Christian nationalist "fake historian," according to a new report. According to Judd Legum's Popular Information, Trump's "Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution" executive order, which requires signs be placed outside the museum disclaiming its exhibits as "inaccurate" and anti-American, closely mirrors the claims made by David Barton, a prominent far-right activist who has gained prominence in both GOP and Christian nationalist circles.Barton, along with his son Tim, head up WallBuilders, a group that promises to “teach US history and how our beginnings were overwhelmingly rooted in Christian ideology” — an easily debunked claim as Christianity and Biblical law are never mentioned anywhere in the Constitution and the document explicitly prohibits an "establishment of religion" by Congress."Despite having no degree in history, David Barton calls himself a historian," wrote Legum. "For decades, he has pushed the view that the founding fathers never intended for there to be a separation between church and state. David Barton’s work has been rejected repeatedly by actual historians" — and his 2012 book about Thomas Jefferson "was pulled from the shelves by its publisher after a group of historians from Christian universities accused him of including distortions and false information."There are a number of similarities, Legum noted, between Barton's work and Trump's new anti-Smithsonian order.For instance, the order says NMAH is too harsh on slavery, saying that "the words, actions, and ideas of America’s Founders helped spark a worldwide movement that ultimately ended slavery” — a similar distorted claim to the Bartons, who have written that slavery demonstrates "American exceptionalism." Trump's order and the Bartons also push rehabilitation of Christopher Columbus and call him an "American" hero, despite his never having set foot in the United States.Additionally, noted Legum, "the report ... alleges that the NMAH does not give proper attention to the founding fathers or the Declaration of Independence because it does not want to show that Christianity had an influence on them," a claim the Bartons have been making for years.To top it all off, the Bartons themselves have hinted they were involved in the creation of the report, as "in a podcast episode from January 6, 2026, the Bartons said that the White House had asked them to help identify problematic Smithsonian exhibits," said the report.Trump's Smithsonian order has come under heavy criticism, with Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) calling it "one of the dumbest and most bizarre Executive Orders we have ever read."

Far Left

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Trump has four bad choices on Iran. Here’s the least horrible one

Washington Examiner

2 hours ago

Trump has four bad choices on Iran. Here’s the least horrible one

In his meeting with President Donald Trump this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented fresh intelligence that he says shows Iran is rebuilding elements of its nuclear program, apparently seeking to compel a resumption of the full-scale war. The decision rests almost completely with Trump, and no one knows where it will go. The […]

Center Right

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Trump Escalates Campaign Against Smithsonian With New “Warning Signs” Order

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Trump Escalates Campaign Against Smithsonian With New “Warning Signs” Order

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