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A Somalian flag that was raised outside of Buffalo’s City Hall to commemorate Somali Independence Day was stolen in an overnight heist, the city’s leftist mayor decried. “The City of Buffalo’s flagpole in Niagara Square sustained damage after unknown vandals broke the access panel, cut the cable, and removed the Somali flag during the overnight hours of Wednesday, July 1,” Mayor Sean Ryan wrote on Facebook. Ryan said the Buffalo Police Department was investigating the alleged vandalism after the city approved non-profit HEAL International to raise the white star, blue flag on July 1. “The flag had been raised by...

Donald Trump has exposed a weak link in American democracy. It is dependent, as the Founders would put it, on its leaders having a modicum of good character. Benjamin Franklin warned that without strict character requirements, government roles would attract “the bold and the violent,” rather than the wise and peaceful. Trump’s new financial disclosure forms, released Tuesday, provide only the latest confirmation that the President and his family has gotten richer while he has served as president, stemming from a set of actions that have been brazen, if not illegal. This Trump family buckraking, as revealed in the new...

Grumpy Cat

A federal appeals court just upheld a New York state ban on gas stoves, which is very strange, considering the fact that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York insisted that the ban on gas stoves wasn’t even happening. This has all been unfolding quietly in the background for about two years now. Groups which are part of the gas industry challenged the ban but a federal court just sided with the state.

A Tibetan man protesting China’s occupation fatally set himself on fire outside the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan on Thursday evening, capturing the horrifying scene on livestreamed footage. The protester, identified by a friend as Lobga Rangzen, was dressed in full monastic garb when he planted a Tibetan flag on the sidewalk and then self-immolated along the busy street during the evening rush, according to the video. He scattered pieces of paper as he burned to death. Rangzen, who has lived in the US for about 20 years and worked as an Uber driver, crumbled to the ground less than...

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The Kremlin is planning an armed incursion on Polish land to test Nato's response, according to Washington. The provocation could see Putin's troops cross over into Poland, and vital infrastructure could be targeted by missiles and drones. Sources close to Polish President Karol Nawrocki told news outlet Onet that the US had been warning Warsaw about the plan for a while. Russia's plan aims to start a crisis to scare Western nations into stopping their support for Ukraine. Polish security experts also warned that Russia and Belarus might send a small number of troops across the Nato border. Power stations...

A rare surviving copy of the Declaration of Independence has been discovered at The National Archives in Kew, the only known example of its kind outside the US. The document was uncovered by a volunteer in February while cataloguing the papers of Royal Navy captains from the American Revolutionary War. It is one of 11 copies printed in Exeter, New Hampshire in July 1776 to spread news of American independence through the colonies before it was seized by British forces. Volunteer Michael Scurr, recalled feeling butterflies in his stomach after he opened up the paper and realised what it was....

A woman has become the first person to be publicly caned in Indonesia's Aceh province for 'committing obscenity live with a man on social media' under its strict Sharia law. The punishment was handed down after she and her partner were accused of kissing during a TikTok livestream. Images show the woman kneeling and screaming in agony as a masked Sharia police officer repeatedly brings the cane down across her back.

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Fired from her law firm for yelling "Free Palestine," the communist barista from Ethiopia is $250,000 in debt, owns nothing, isn't married, gets by serving cappuccino, and wants to take out another loan to get her PhD. Does she sound like she makes good life choices? When she wins, she is going to have control over your life. That's why she's running. She can't control her own life, so she wants to control yours. She's not happy, so she is going to make everybody else unhappy. She says she's going to take away the private health care you have. She's...

My latest song. It's like dubstep, but with music!

Daily Readings from the USCCBFeast of Saint Thomas, ApostleThomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But Thomas said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” John 20:24–25Though Saint Thomas is best remembered for doubting Jesus’ Resurrection, God used him in glorious ways. Because God is all-powerful, even Thomas’ doubt was transformed into a source of grace for...

In the late 1930s, Bergman arrived in Hollywood with one suitcase and no makeup kit, prompting producer David Selznick’s wife, Irene, to ask, incredulously, “You mean you have nothing on your face?” She didn’t. When the actress met the filmmaker, he immediately sized her up, commenting, “Your eyebrows are too thick, and your teeth are no good, and there are lots of other things...I’ll take you to the makeup department in the morning.” Bergman immediately fought back. “I think you’ve made a big mistake,” she said. “Now you’ve seen me, you want to change everything. So I’d rather not do...

Archbishop Fernandez, Preacher of ChaosHave you heard about the scandalous writings by the new head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office? No, no: I don’t mean Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing, the 1995 pamphlet that has occasioned so much comment since Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández was elevated to Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope Francis last week. Kissing is, I suppose, a reasonable subject for theological reflection; though having said that . . . But let’s leave kissing aside for the moment. First, I want to talk about adultery.It was Archbishop...

The European Heatwave today is not a maiden occurrence. But why is air conditioning still a foreign concept in Europe? More than 20,000 perished following a record-breaking heat dome over Europe in August 2003, the Met Office stated. Many European countries sweltered through their highest temperatures ever, only to have those records broken this year. Forest fires, melting glaciers, low lake and river levels, and worst of all, deaths from heat stroke, dehydration, and drowning, were reported in many European countries in 2003. Some 15,000 people died in France, over 3,100 in Italy, around 2,000 in the UK and Portugal,...

After Gill Hicks was rescued from the wreckage of a tube train following London's 7/7 terrorist attacks in 2005, she was so severely injured her hospital identification wristband read, "One unknown — estimated female". "Becoming Gill again has been a really interesting quest over 20 years," she tells the ABC after arriving back in London from Adelaide for commemorations marking the 20th anniversary of that devastating day. "It's been 20 years of finding the threads of who I once was and 20 years of discovering who I am now." Back in 2005, Ms Hicks, then aged 37, was working as...

A US Air Force major was arrested on the steps of the US Capitol on Wednesday after delivering a speech calling for the impeachment and removal of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. The arrest of Jason Watson occurred after he spoke at a news conference organized by Removal Coalition, the grassroots activist group said. During the news conference, Watson identified himself as an active-duty service member and wore a military uniform. Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas also attended the event. US Capitol Police, which confirmed the arrest, said members of the public may not demonstrate on...

Paramedics conducted CPR on a person experiencing a “cardiac arrest” at a known address for Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the day his office disclosed he had been hospitalized, according to police scanner audio obtained by NBC News. According to the audio, the first medic on the scene began performing CPR, according to the dispatchers, and was then joined by an additional EMS team at the same address. McConnell’s office, which has not disclosed why he was hospitalized, referred NBC News to a June 22 statement when it was asked about the audio Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Seven pro-Palestinian protesters who shut down traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in 2024 to denounce U.S. aid to Israel in the Israel-Hamas war were all found guilty of false imprisonment by a jury in San Francisco on Thursday. One by one, the court clerk first read out guilty verdicts for each of the counts for each defendant. Supporters of the protesters were stunned after each verdict was read out as "guilty," with some people crying quietly. All seven protesters were found guilty of false imprisonment, obstruction of a thoroughfare, and unlawful assembly. As the verdicts were...