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Former President George W. Bush joined up with former President Barack Obama and U2 singer Bono to comfort United States Agency for International Development employees Monday, while also taking shots at President Donald Trump and his administration for shuttering the agency plagued by accusations of fraud and abuse. “Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy,” Obama said in a video that was shown to departing USAID employees Monday, according to the Associated Press. “Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world.” Obama summed up the decision to shutter the agency as “a colossal...

At a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing Secretary of Health & Human Services Robert F Kennedy jr and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) locked horns over the issue of vaccine safety. It started with Pallone impugning Kennedy's approach to vaccines, saying "you've fired the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) without input from the dedicated medical experts who support the work that this committee has done to try to keep Americans healthy. You yourself have consistently sided with the conspiracy nuts who oppose the vaccines this committee has mandated every child be given before being allowed to...

The trial of American music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, who is accused of running a sprawling sex trafficking operation, is almost over. The 12 jurors at a federal court in New York have announced they have come to a decision on four of the five counts faced by Mr Combs, although these decisions have not been disclosed. But the jurors are unable to decide on the racketeering charge, the most serious of the five, which carries a possible life prison term. Mr Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty and denied all allegations against him. So what is the racketeering charge,...

As nearly two dozen Secret Service agents and members of the military were punished or fired following a 2012 prostitution scandal in Colombia, Obama administration officials repeatedly denied that anyone from the White House was involved. But new details drawn from government documents and interviews show that senior White House aides were given information at the time suggesting that a prostitute was an overnight guest in the hotel room of a presidential advance-team member — yet that information was never thoroughly investigated or publicly acknowledged. The information that the Secret Service shared with the White House included hotel records and...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge Wednesday threatened to throw out the guilty plea of a veteran U.S. narcotics agent who conspired with a Colombian cartel money launderer — an unexpected twist that could derail one of the most egregious misconduct cases in the history of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell was expected to sentence the disgraced agent, Jose I. Irizarry, but refused to do so over what she called a “totally unacceptable” legal dispute. “I have never seen anything like this,” Honeywell said, postponing the sentencing indefinitely. “I’m not even sure at...

A UN conference to boost support for global development aid begins on Monday as US funding cuts jeopardise the fight against poverty. But key player the United States is snubbing the biggest such talks in a decade, underlining the erosion of international cooperation on combating hunger, disease and climate change. UN sustainable development goals set for 2030 are slipping from reach just as the world's wealthiest countries are withdrawing funding for development programmes. President Donald Trump's gutting of the US development agency USAID is the standout example, with Germany, Britain and France among other rich economies making cuts when faced...

A federal appeals court Friday lifted a lower court’s order that blocked President Donald Trump from moving forward with efforts to dismantle the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that Trump is likely to suffer “irreparable” harm if barred from fully exercising his executive authority over the Institute’s board. The court concluded that the Institute holds “substantial executive power,” meaning its board members are not protected from at-will removal by the president. “As a general rule, the President may remove executive officers at will,” the three-judge panel wrote. They added that...

On Thursday, Christina Daniels, 47, of Winder, pled guilty to one count of theft of government money, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory consecutive sentence of two years of imprisonment. According to court documents, between January 2023 to May 2024, Daniels, who was employed at the Social Security Administration office in Norcross, changed direct deposit information for 28 beneficiaries. The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said Daniels was a customer service representative, and that’s how she was able to make changes...

The brother-in-law of Vice President Kamala Harris appears to have engineered the greatest transfer of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups in the history of the United States. Tony West, who is the husband of Harris’ sister Maya, served as the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division and awarded massive settlements to groups aligned with the Democrats, even when the Department of Justice appeared to be winning the cases, The New York Post reported. “Until 1977, Congress had to approve any settlement of a civil suit against the Federal government over $100,000,” The Post reported. But facing numerous cases the...

After widespread public opposition, Sen. Mike Lee says he is withdrawing his controversial proposal to sell millions of acres of public lands. The amendment to the national "Big, Beautiful Bill" could have made more than 18 million acres of land eligible for sale in Utah alone Lee later revised the proposal to remove Forest Service land from it, and to only include Bureau of Land Management property within five miles of "population centers." On Saturday, Utah's Senior Senator announced that he is withdrawing the federal land sales from the bill completely.

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The way suspended FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle sees it, he has lived through 1,004 betrayals — and counting. O’Boyle was rewarded for his whistleblower disclosures to Congress with a loss of pay and benefits, attempted character assassination, and what he said is a malicious FBI effort to destroy him and his family. ‘I thought he was going to do the right thing.’ “If the FBI is trying to make you do something that is wrong or illegal or against policy or against rule, you’re supposed to be able to push back and be protected for doing so,” O’Boyle told...

In a stunning upset on Tuesday, 33-year-old Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani beat veteran politico and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. With comparisons to the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), experts have framed the victory as symbolic of where the Democratic party may be headed — away from the older and moderate toward a younger and bolder progressive future. Mamdani’s win may also indicate strong public support for transgender rights and shows that it is not politically dangerous for Democrats to stand by the trans community. If elected, Mamdani has...

Chicago activists welcomed word of a “complete and total ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Iran at a downtown protest Monday evening but said they were cautiously optimistic and urged continued agitation. The protest at Federal Plaza attracted about 200 people despite Monday’s extreme heat. Demonstrators called for the United States to stop bombing Iranian nuclear sites, among other demands. Many condemned U.S. military aid to Israel, supporting its war in Iran and also in Gaza, which has lasted nearly two years. President Donald Trump said on social media Monday that Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is irredeemable and must be eliminated through legislation. Failure to do so leaves the door open for future administrations to reinvigorate it and reintroduce destructive ideas and agendas into U.S. foreign policy. The idea of “development” has become too obtuse and colonized by progressives to keep the agency limited in scope beyond the Trump administration.

Nadine Arslanian Menendez is requesting a new trial due to the “blatant violation of her Sixth Amendment right to counsel of her choice,” according to documents filed by her attorneys in federal court. Menendez, the wife and co-defendant of former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, was found guilty in April on 15 counts of bribery and fraud charges. Arslanian Menendez's attorneys are arguing that because of one of the superseding indictments during the ongoing case, prosecutors created a potential conflict between her and her attorney at the time, David Schertler. According to the filing, prosecutors said during hearings that they intended...

Over 2.1 million Americans have dropped out of college without earning a degree, a troubling trend that raises concerns about whether universities are prioritizing politics over academic achievement. Universities hire more DEI staff than history professors while millions of students leave without degrees ... Over 2.1 million Americans have dropped out of college without earning a degree, a troubling trend that raises concerns about whether universities are prioritizing politics over academic achievement. A June 4 report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that college non-completers rose by 2.2 percent in the past year. Citing a lack of direction,...

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China puppet suggests asking China to “back” the Democrats. Little slow on the draw there, doll.

Israeli compound in Kirya, housing the IDF's secure command centre. Paper Dome did not prevent it from being nearly completely destroyed.