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The Trump administration slapped a Canadian judge on the International Criminal Court (ICC) with sanctions as the U.S. State Department unleashes a new wave of restrictions against judges it said had been instrumental in a past decision to investigate U.S. officials and in efforts to prosecute Israeli leaders. The State Department says Judge Kimberly Prost of Canada was sanctioned for ruling to authorize the ICC's investigation into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. ICC jurists Nicolas Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal were also sanctioned, with the State Department linking the decision to the...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s defense minister said that a flying object that crashed and exploded in a cornfield in eastern Poland early Wednesday was identified as a Russian drone, calling it a provocation by Russia.

Most people not deeply involved in the artificial intelligence frenzy may not have noticed, but perceptions of AI’s relentless march toward becoming more intelligent than humans, even becoming a threat to humanity, came to a screeching halt Aug. 7.That was the day when the most widely followed AI company, OpenAI, released GPT-5, an advanced product that the firm had long promised would put competitors to shame and launch a new revolution in this purportedly revolutionary technology.As it happened, GPT-5 was a bust. It turned out to be less user-friendly and in many ways less capable than its predecessors in OpenAI’s...

Six severed heads have been found by the side of the road in Mexico alongside a chilling message in an area where such brutal violence is rare, Mexican prosecutors said. The male remains were discovered by a road linking the central Mexican states of Puebla and Tlaxcala, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Alongside the heads was a pamphlet blaming the savage killings on the settling of scores between rival gangs, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. ... Both Puebla and Tlaxcala are usually considered among the safest states in Mexico to visit, with the US State Department designating them a...

The move is an acceleration of President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring English the country’s “official language.”The Trump administration has quietly rescinded long-standing guidance that directed schools to accommodate students who are learning English, alarming advocates who fear that schools will stop offering assistance if the federal government quits enforcing the laws that require it.The rescission, confirmed by the Education Department on Tuesday, is one of several moves by the administration to scale back support for approximately 5 million schoolchildren not fluent in English, many of them born in the United States. It is also among the first steps in...

The Democrat Party is hemorrhaging support with no end in sight, according to a shocking analysis of new voter registrations. Fueled by President Donald Trump’s gains among men, younger voters, and Latinos in 2024, more new voters nationwide chose to be Republicans than Democrats for the first time since 2018, according to a report from the New York Times which relies on voter registration data compiled by L2, a nonpartisan data firm. Perhaps more troubling for Democrats, the data suggests Democrat Party activists can no longer rely on the party’s tried-and-true methods to reverse the trend, leaving panicked party leaders...

European and Ukrainian officials call the idea ludicrous, showing the large gaps in peace negotiations.Russia’s top diplomat on Wednesday said the country would insist on being a part of any future security guarantees for Ukraine, a condition that European and Ukrainian officials widely see as absurd.It was the clearest sign yet that enormous gaps remain in the negotiations over a possible end to Russia’s invasion. And it added to the uncertainty over how a European effort to rally a “coalition of the willing” to protect a postwar Ukraine, possibly with Western soldiers stationed inside the country, would fit into President...

Donald Trump was handed another blow on Wednesday when a federal judge denied his administration's attempts to release grand jury testimony from the Jeffrey Epstein case. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman deemed Trump's Justice Department did not provide adequate reasoning to unseal the highly-protected materials. He also said that the grand jury motion was likely a 'diversion' coming from the Trump administration. '[T]he court denies the government's motion to unseal the Epstein grand jury transcripts and exhibits,' the Clinton-appointed judge wrote in his Wednesday decision. It comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi moved at the direct of the president this...

Former President Barack Obama has waded into states’ efforts at rare mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying he agrees with California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s response to alter his state’s congressional maps, in the way of Texas redistricting efforts promoted by President Donald Trump aimed at shoring up Republicans’ position in next year’s elections. “I believe that Gov. Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We’re not going to try to completely maximize it,” Obama said at a Tuesday fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, according to excerpts obtained by The Associated Press. “We’re only going...

"You must be a cat lady, Ms. Kaytee," the student said to me through laughter. I was working in a school, and had popped into one of the classrooms to assist with a project. This student who had just met me seconds ago assumed that I "must be" a cat lady. Kids say the darnedest things, right? Kids say the darnedest things, right? At the time I laughed: I had one cat, yes, but would hardly call myself a "cat lady." I also had a guinea pig, after all. Maybe this was some new Gen-Z slang that I didn't...

Over the past few months, data shows that half of all courthouse arrests made in the U.S. took place in New York City.A controversial immigration enforcement strategy has prompted a lawsuit from New York City officials, backed by Mayor Eric Adams. The suit calls on the Trump administration to immediately end ICE arrests at courthouses. "No one should be afraid to send their children to school, go to a hospital when sick, call 911 when in danger, or go to a court hearing when called upon to do so," Adams said. According to recent data analysis from the city, over...

Summary Republican legislators undertake rare mid-decade redistricting New map would shift conservative voters into Democrat-held districts One Democrat calls redistricting plan "illegal and racially discriminatory" Aug 20 (Reuters) - Texas legislators on Wednesday took up a new state congressional map intended to flip five Democratic-held U.S. House seats in next year's midterm elections, after dozens of Democratic lawmakers ended a two-week walkout that had temporarily blocked passage. Republican legislators, who have dominated Texas politics for over two decades, have undertaken a rare mid-decade redistricting at the behest of President Donald Trump, who is seeking to improve his party's odds...

Several Texas state House Democrats ripped up the written agreements that allowed them to leave the chamber with a police escort and returned to the House floor Tuesday night, the caucus announced. The lawmakers will spend the night on the House floor with state Rep. Nicole Collier, who has stayed in the chamber for more than 24 hours after declining to sign the “permission slip” to leave. House Republicans announced the requirement on Monday when Democrats, who faced civil arrest warrants for leaving the state during a special session, returned from their 15-day quorum break. The Democrats fled the state...

'ODNI 2.0 is the start of a new era focused on serving our country.'WASHINGTON—Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard will announce Wednesday afternoon that she is refocusing her agency to aggressively execute its national security mission, shrinking the Office of the Director of National Intelligence nearly 50% and saving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. Gabbard described the changes as “ODNI 2.0,” in a statement on Wednesday, calling the shift “the start of a new era focused on serving our country, fulfilling our core national security mission with excellence, always grounded in the U.S. Constitution, and ensuring the safety, security,...

Maps can only do so much.Texas Democrats just ended a two-week standoff on Monday, August 18, returning home after fleeing their state to stall a GOP redistricting effort that galvanized Gov. Gavin Newsom into demanding that new maps be drawn in California. Both states could end up canceling each other out, though, which is partly why various other governors, red and blue alike, are already sharpening their pencils, ready to redraw – ahem, gerrymander – their maps in a battle for the House in the 2026 midterms. Democrats, however, are instigating a war without ammunition.Democrats Backed Themselves Into a Corner...

What do you think? They got rid of the cracker barrel and the guy sitting in the rocking chair!! The Blaze went as far as to ask if this is an actual war crime that assaults the very essence of decency: As Not the Bee reported in 2024, there's a new young female CEO who thinks Cracker Barrel needs a facelift. To the question of war crimes and other high misdemeanors, the comment section provided some perspective. A few more moderate reactions: What do you, the people, think?

White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller slammed the “stupid white hippies” protesting the National Guard’s presence in Washington, D.C., as he, Vice President JD Vance, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked troops during a visit to Union Station.Vance, Hegseth, and Miller made the trek to Union Station on Tuesday to show their support for National Guard members patrolling the streets of Washington amid President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown and takeover of the district’s police force.But their presence at the station sparked a protest, with activists yelling, “Free D.C.!” Miller lambasted the shouting protesters as out-of-touch white...

Earlier this week, he called for stopping windmill operations due to an energy crunch. President Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed that his administration would not approve wind or solar projects, calling the alternative energy sources part of the "scam of the century!"Trump has long criticized the alternative energy forms, notably pointing to the impact of wind turbines on the bird population. Earlier this week, he called for stopping windmill operations due to an energy crunch."Any State that has built and relied on WINDMILLS and SOLAR for power are seeing RECORD BREAKING INCREASES IN ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY COSTS," Trump posted on...

https://babylonbee.com/news/trump-to-receive-nobel-prize-for-getting-zelenskyy-to-wear-a-suitOSLO — The Nobel Committee has officially announced that President Trump will be awarded the prestigious Peace Prize for getting Volodymyr Zelenskyy to actually wear a suit. World leaders had tried in vain for years to persuade Zelenskyy to put on pants that zip and wear a shirt with actual buttons. Where so many had failed, President Trump succeeded. "Trump has done the impossible," said Nobel Committee member Freyre Bilke. "Sure, the suit fit terribly. Yes, Zelenskyy looked like a child trying on something he just found in grandpa's old clothes chest up in the attic. Admittedly, said grandpa in...

A widely condemned Israeli settlement plan that would cut across land which the Palestinians seek for a state received final approval on Wednesday, according to a statement from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The approval of the E1 project, which would bisect the occupied West Bank and cut it off from East Jerusalem, was announced last week by Smotrich and received final go-ahead from a defense ministry planning commission on Wednesday, he said. […] A German government spokesperson commenting on the announcement told reporters on Wednesday that settlement construction violates international law and “hinders a negotiated two-state solution and an...