All Activity

THIS DAY IN HISTORY August 19 1909 First race is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway The first race is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, now the home of the world’s most famous motor racing competition, the Indianapolis 500. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1812 Old Ironsides earns its name 1895 John Wesley Hardin killed in Texas Arts & Entertainment 1964 The Beatles kick off first U.S. tour at San Francisco’s Cow Palace 1993 Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin marry Cold War 1953 CIA-assisted coup overthrows government of Iran 1960 Captured U.S. spy pilot sentenced in Russia Crime 1991 A Jewish student is killed by a mob in Crown Heights, Brooklyn 2011 “West Memphis Three” released from prison after 18 years Early U.S. 1791 Benjamin Banneker writes to Thomas Jefferson, urging justice for African Americans European History 1934 Adolf Hitler cements his position of supreme power U.S. Presidents 1946 Bill Clinton is born World War I 1919 President Wilson appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

📺 Trump's media legal battles skyrocket Data: Axios research. Chart: Christine Wang/Axios Media-related lawsuits involving President Trump — along with a broader set of Trump-related defamation cases — have surged over the past two years compared with the decade prior, Axios' Sara Fischer and Kerry Flynn write. Trump, his businesses and his administration have been involved in 61 media and defamation lawsuits since 2015, including 16 in 2025 and nine so far in 2026, according to an Axios analysis. Keep reading ...

⚠️ OpenAI blinks first in safety standoff Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios OpenAI said yesterday it's pausing some model work over safety concerns, days after rival Anthropic insisted its safety measures were solid enough that it didn't need to slow down, Axios' Madison Mills and Ina Fried write. Why it matters: This is a script flip. Anthropic has traditionally been more publicly cautious and safety-oriented than OpenAI. Keep reading.

🤖 The new existential threat to AI Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Forget energy. Forget chips. Forget China. The most clear and present danger to AI and any AI-related economic boom is rapidly rising public opposition to U.S. data centers, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column. Why it matters: Republicans and AI CEOs are in full panic mode watching politicians and the public turn on the physical engines of AI growth. In private, they tell us they can't find a compelling message to shift opinion fast enough. Their nightmare — a political and economic daisy chain that cripples the AI revolution — is already taking shape: Voters revolt against data centers over electricity bills, water use, giant warehouse-like developments and fears about AI eliminating jobs. Democrats race to capitalize, competing to impose tougher restrictions or block projects altogether. Republicans — watching candidates get punished in places like Ohio — retreat from an industry they've spent years championing. The pipeline of new data centers slows, constraining the computing power AI companies need to keep improving their models and products. Investors question the staggering spending, borrowing and valuations built on expectations of relentless AI growth. 🔭 Zoom out: The AI boom has become dangerously intertwined with the U.S. economy, meaning this will ricochet far beyond Silicon Valley. Goldman Sachs estimates U.S. AI investment will hit about $600 billion this year, equal to roughly 2% of GDP and 10% of business fixed investment. Big Tech has already locked itself into trillions of dollars in future spending: The Financial Times found six hyperscalers have nearly $1.5 trillion in purchase commitments, much of it tied to AI infrastructure, plus roughly $1.5 trillion in lease obligations. Even the richest companies in history are now turning to debt markets to bankroll the buildout. A handful of those AI-heavy tech giants dominate the stock market's gains, swelling the portfolios of wealthy Americans who account for an outsized share of consumer spending. 🎨 The big picture: The increasingly toxic politics of data centers are surfacing in several of this fall's governors' races. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), a 2028 hopeful, had welcomed data centers as an economic-development boon, boasting last year that an Amazon plan to build $20 billion in AI infrastructure was the "largest private sector investment in the history of Pennsylvania." Yesterday, Shapiro, whose Republican opponent in November is campaigning on halting data-center development, went from AI cheerleader to critic and signed an executive order imposing stringent new requirements for data-center developers. 👀 The intrigue: In Wisconsin, GOP gubernatorial nominee Tom Tiffany — a close Trump ally — is running ads attacking his Democratic opponent for suggesting the state could become an AI data hub "for the entire globe." It's a striking crack in Trump's pro-AI coalition, as Republicans in swing states scramble to get on the right side of the new populist wave upending the midterms. The other side: OpenAI is aggressively courting state and local officials to try to persuade them of the economic benefits of data centers. Chris Lehane, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, told us: "As the late, great Tip O'Neill famously said, 'All politics is local.'" "That is especially true of AI data centers, where you have to show up, listen, and directly respond with specifics to the concerns of locals," Lehane added. "You have to answer the mail on issues like electricity and water, while also demonstrating a seriousness of purpose when it comes to ensuring the community gets a good deal. ... That is democracy in action." Meta last week announced its Future Is for Everyone Fund, with $1 billion in spending planned to benefit teachers, law enforcement and fire departments in communities where the company owns or plans data centers. Meta is also aggressively highlighting direct economic benefits for localities, including thousands of jobs and an increased tax base. Data: Pew. Chart: Noah Bressner/Axios 🔢 By the numbers: In Pew Research Center polling published yesterday, 52% of Americans said they're "more concerned than excited" about increased use of AI in daily life — up from 37% in 2021. Even adults under 30 have soured on AI, with 55% now saying they're more concerned than excited — mainly because of fears the technology will take jobs. Excitement has faded across all age groups over the past five years, Pew found. A June Echelon Insights poll found AI data centers are uniquely toxic: Just 27% of voters say they would support building one in their community, dead last among the projects tested — including a nuclear power plant. Zachary Basu and Alex Thompson contributed reporting. Go deeper: "AI optimism fades among young adults," by Axios' Josephine Walker.

Exclusive: GOP's stark AI warning Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios The Senate GOP campaign arm, in a private memo to top AI companies, warns that toxic views of U.S. data centers are killing the party's chances of holding a vital seat in Ohio, Axios' Alex Isenstadt scoops. In the memo, obtained by Axios, the National Republican Senatorial Committee says Democrats have made data centers a "centerpiece" of their campaign to defeat Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) — and that it's working. "If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one," the memo says. "This has become a sleeper issue for the entire election cycle." Why it matters: Republicans want AI companies to do whatever it takes to stem the public backlash. 🖼️ The big picture: AI CEOs and top Republicans share in the rising panic. They tell us internal polls show data centers are as popular as spent nuclear waste, and more broadly have become a proxy for feelings about AI. Tech giants are scrambling to pull together media campaigns to try to shift opinion before it hardens locally and nationally. But Democrats aren't dummies. They see the same polls and are moving fast. Even politicians who previously embraced data centers are racing to crack down on them this election year. There are now more than 4,000 data centers online across the U.S., with another 3,000-plus proposed or in progress. They're designed to power the AI transforming the American economy, but have drawn protests from communities nationwide because they require massive amounts of electricity and water, can drive up utility bills, involve enormous warehouse-like structures and provide few jobs. They also have become local proxies for anxiety about AI-driven job loss. Obtained by Axios 🔎 Zoom in: Husted's opponent, former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), has spent millions of dollars on a summer ad campaign calling Husted "the face of data centers in Ohio." Republicans say the issue is especially potent in heavily blue-collar Ohio because the state has several big data center projects in the works. Nvidia and OpenAI have announced one in the last few days. Meta, Vantage and QTS also have projects there. The NRSC memo says Brown has made data centers his "de facto opponent." A Fox News poll last week showed Brown leading Husted by 8 points. The bottom line: The memo, headlined "Ohio Data Center Risk," argues that a Husted loss would cause long-lasting damage to AI companies' push to build data centers nationwide to power future generations of AI. "If voters' perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio," the party warns. Read the memo ...

Fraternity Drug Ring A 24-year-old accused of leading a fraternity-affiliated drug ring at Penn State surrendered to authorities yesterday. He is being held in jail without bail after failing to appear for an arraignment Monday. Agostino Abbatiello is one of 14 people, including 13 current or former students, charged in connection with the alleged drug ring. Court documents released this week allege the operation was run out of off-campus fraternity houses from 2023 to 2024, with Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi brothers and pledges accused of cutting, bagging, and distributing cocaine to the student body. Abbatiello and fellow former student Thomas Robinson, 23, allegedly sourced bulk cocaine from Philadelphia and New York (see how cocaine gets to the US here). Records show Robinson and his father, a Pittsburgh lawyer charged with concealing evidence, posted bail Monday. In 2020, federal prosecutors charged several current and former UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University, and Appalachian State University students in connection with a drug ring that generated an estimated $1.5M in sales.

Another somewhat preposterous story was perpetuated by Benjamin Wilkinson, author of two books that caused some confusion. One was "The Authorized Version Vindicated." The other was "Truth Triumphant." One of the two claimed that there was a Jesuit teaching at Union College. He was discovered and just disappeared. His identity would not be hard to discover. Simply check school records for a teacher who suddenly disappeared. Cliff Goldstein offered a reward for any proof that a Jesuit was connected to the denomination in an official capacity, such as college teacher. Surely someone at Union college could have used the money. Truth stranger than fiction can be discovered by reading the volumes Gill Ford has published on her husband's career. Tales of inappropriate conduct followed by blackmail in order to secure the sacking of Dr. Ford, threats of lawsuits, highly unethical behavior, cowardice, subterfuge, and so forth abound. Apparently Neal Wilson's conscience pricked him. He sought reconciliation with Dr. Ford in hope of bringing him back into the fold. When that failed, Pastor Wilson went to great lengths to have Dr. Ford disfellowshipped, which the PUC church refused to do. It is also a great narrative of SDA modern history in Australia, denominational politics, cover ups and, unfortunately, spite and infighting among the Adventist academy. Included in these comprehensive volumes are accounts of committees, including the names of participants, that studied various issues, especially D&R. These committees usually conclude that the IJ doctrine is not in the Bible. Some accept it based on the authority of EGW, others simply remain silent. Dr. Ford was dismissed because his views contradicted SDA tradition, not the Bible. A lot of people think Dr. Ford was on trial at Glacier View. It was actually his numerous sympathizers who were too scared to stand and be counted. They were the ones on trial. Only Jack Provonsha publicly stood up at GV, a physician who didn't require a denominational paycheck with benefits, including retirement, eyeglasses and dental. A typical plan might also include accidental death, dismemberment, and long-term disability insurance. Then there is the education benefit for children. A comfy job for those who can get it, as long as you keep your mouth shut regarding inconveniient truth.

Record Drone Strike Ukraine launched roughly 800 drones against Russia yesterday, potentially its second-biggest drone strike since 2025. The attack is the latest example of Ukraine’s monthslong strategy to pressure Moscow into peace negotiations by attacking deep within Russian territory. The strike came days after another large-scale Ukrainian attack killed at least seven people and wounded dozens more. Many recent strikes have targeted Wildberries, Moscow’s main e-commerce site, destroying up to $10B in goods and property (why target "Russia’s Amazon"?). Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike yesterday reportedly killed at least 10 people in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and wounded 17 others. See updates here. Russia reiterated last week that it would not accept a ceasefire on the current front lines, and has also rejected Turkey’s request for a moratorium on strikes against ships in the Black Sea. See how attacks on shipping routes are affecting global trade. ... and what it's like inside Ukraine's "kill zone."

Attributing survival on September 11 to divine intervention offers comfort to the living, but it distorts the teachings of Jesus on human suffering. The post The False Mercy of the Missed Connection appeared first on ReligiousLiberty.TV. View the full article

Earth's oceans hold an estimated 20 million tons of gold dissolved directly into seawater. This massive reserve equals about 9 pounds of gold for every person on Earth, but it is diluted to microscopic levels of roughly 13 billionths of a gram per liter, making it impossible to extract at a profit. James

Trump says US and Canada have reached last-minute deal to delay 50% US tariffs on Canadian imports WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was delaying the 50% U.S. tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports after the two countries reached a last-minute deal less than two hours before the sanctions were to go into effect. https://apnews.com/article/tariffs-trump-canada-usmca-trade-aae597c22617bec7a99f670a2c787ef9? Trump's 6 months of war Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Joaquin Sarmiento/AFP and Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images The Iran war will hit the half-year mark next week (Aug. 28), with Washington and Tehran each betting it can outlast the other, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes. Why it matters: The war's length is pushing once-niche national-security issues — munitions levels, defense contracting, at-sea replenishment — into everyday conversation. 🌐 Trump said this week he wants to claim the Strait of Hormuz and posted a map on Truth Social labeling it a "U.S. territory." Go deeper: Navy's chaotic news cycle ...

US Rep Byron Donalds wins GOP nod for Florida governor against Ex-Rep David Jolly for the Democrats ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination for Florida governor and former Rep. David Jolly picked up the Democratic nod in Tuesday’s primaries, setting the stage for a fall campaign to replace outgoing Gov. Ron DeSantis and decide the state’s future political direction. https://apnews.com/article/florida-primaries-donald-trump-wasserman-schultz-917984c2f08603498180e824cd7304ad? 🐊 Florida's Democratic Socialist surprise A stunning Florida Senate primary win by Angie Nixon (D) made her the first member of the Democratic Socialists of America to ever win a major-party nomination for statewide office, Axios' Andrew Pantazi, Marc Caputo and Holly Otterbein write. Nixon beat former Trump impeachment witness Alex Vindman in a major upset (56.1% to 43.9%). Nixon faces an extreme uphill battle against incumbent Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who's heavily favored. 🌴 More Florida results: In an open contest to replace term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis, Rep. Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination. Scandal-plagued Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) lost his primary to former TV reporter Ryan Elijah (34.1% to 47.3%). Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) won her primary (45.3%) in a historically Black-represented district after her district was eliminated, but the majority of the vote split among four Black challengers. Keep reading.

I know many antivaxers that has a close spiritual relationship to God. What is missing in therse discussions is God's position. God speaks to us through the Bible and the Holy Spirit. If we devote time to Him, he is sure to bless us and leed us in the right direction.

Beware of these 15 fake Trump Truth Social posts While Trump is known for making provocative statements on social media, many fabricated posts attributed to the president also spread online. https://www.snopes.com/collections/fake-trump-truth-social-posts/? 9 questionable Pope Leo XIV quotes we've inspected Social media users often falsely attribute quotes to Leo that he supposedly said about U.S. President Donald Trump. https://www.snopes.com/collections/pope-leo-questionable-quotes/?

When a neutral public-health or child-protection law imposes an incidental burden on a religious practice, the law must stand unless it crosses into overt discrimination. The post Faith, Mercy, and the Necessary Limits of Religious Exemptions appeared first on ReligiousLiberty.TV. View the full article

Full Steam Ahead? (Mark Gail / The The Washington Post / Getty)   View in browser Over the past nine years, Donald Trump has returned again and again to the concept of steam power. He loves the way that steam propels fighter jets off the decks of aircraft carriers, and he laments that the Navy has pivoted to electromagnetic launchers in its new ships. “That beautiful scene,” he rhapsodized at a rally in 2023: “That steam goes off, and that plane gets thrown the hell off; the power, beautiful. And it’s cheap!” By The Guardian’s accounting, Trump has spoken publicly about these steam catapults every year since 2017, when he claimed to have told the crew of the USS Gerald Ford that they’d be “going to goddamned steam.” The Gerald Ford is the only one of the Navy’s 11 operational aircraft carriers that’s not currently equipped with steam catapults. Instead, it uses the more modern Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), which runs on electricity from the vessel’s two nuclear reactors. Trump’s wish for the Gerald Ford to return to steam was never fulfilled; the ship was already the water. Until last week, future ships were set to use electromagnetic propulsion too. But on Thursday, Trump ordered one of the Navy’s planned carriers, the USS Doris Miller, to be outfitted with steam catapults instead. It’s a potential logistical nightmare. Although the ship isn’t expected to be assembled until later this year, its parts are already under construction. Experts have said that returning to steam power at this stage in the ship’s development could dramatically increase the cost to taxpayers and delay the building process. The Doris Miller won’t be completed until the mid-2030s, and a future administration may backpedal. But the fact that the president remains so dedicated to the idea says something about his commitment to aesthetics over strategy—and to remaking the military according to his personal preferences. Trump’s order gives officials 60 days to figure out the details, but plans for the Doris Miller are already under way. General Atomics, the contractor responsible for the ship’s EMALS system, released a statement explaining that “nearly 50 percent of production” is complete and warning that “changing course now would introduce significant cost, schedule and integration risks.” Electrical infrastructure can’t be easily swapped for steam once a ship’s layout has been mapped. Areas on the Doris Miller that might have housed pipes have been designated for other things. Bryan Clark, a naval analyst at the Hudson Institute, told me that such an extreme redesign of the ship’s interior could cost the Navy billions of dollars. EMALS isn’t perfect. Its development was lengthy, even by the Navy’s standards; the Gerald Ford, on which it debuted, cost the U.S. billions of dollars more than expected. But the investment has now been made. EMALS has been successfully launching planes for years. Part of Trump’s somewhat-opaque argument against the new system is that it’s a fancy, unnecessarily complex replacement for the old-fashioned way of doing things. “Digital,” he said in 2017, is “very complicated. You have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out.” Last month, he claimed to have been told that only “geniuses” from MIT could work on it. Trump is right to suggest that when it comes to military technology, flashier doesn’t always mean better. After all, Iran’s cheap drones have consistently challenged the far richer and better-equipped United States. But steam isn’t as efficient as he thinks. Today, Clark told me, electromagnetism is a more reliable way to get a plane into the air, requiring fewer repairs in the aggregate. This is one reason that, despite the cost of developing EMALS, Trump’s claim that steam is a “cheap” alternative doesn’t necessarily hold up; a ship that requires fewer repairs may require fewer taxpayer dollars in the long run. The president hasn’t explained why he chose to make such a cumbersome change at this particular moment. Other, more pressing issues could likely use his attention: A shortage of certain kinds of munition, for example, has put the U.S. at a disadvantage in the war with Iran. And the Navy has lately been facing criticism over the conditions aboard another carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed in the Middle East for almost nine months. Sailors have reported food shortages, degraded living conditions, and mental-health struggles. The president dismissed CNN’s report about conditions on the ship as “fake news,” but Admiral Brad Cooper, who’s overseeing the war in Iran, acknowledged the mental-health concerns on Sunday. The USS George Washington is now set to relieve the carrier. Trump’s recurring fascination with steam reflects his broad interest in how things should look rather than how things should work. He’s reportedly considering asking the Navy to make another design change: shifting the command center on new aircraft carriers farther forward so that the ships can look more like World War II–era vessels. The current placement of the command center at the back of the ships “was done for efficiency and safety,” three current and former U.S. officials told The Washington Post. In December, Trump announced the development of a new class of battleship, to be built according to his own preferences. He wants it bigger and more attractive, and has even given it his own name—the “Trump class.” (Earlier this month, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the new ships could cost Americans about $275 billion in all.) “I am a very aesthetic person,” Trump said at the time. That’s one way to put it. Since returning to office, he’s demolished the White House’s East Wing to build a gilded ballroom, paved over the Rose Garden, and planned to put an imperial arch near the Lincoln Memorial. The president is apparently on a mission to align American institutions with his own taste—and to bulldoze what’s already been built to do so. The “beautiful scene” of a steam catapult may please Trump in much the same way that these other forays into design and architecture do. But the U.S. is at war. It’s probably not the best time to delegate the Navy’s resources to a vanity project. Related: Tom Nichols: The Trump-class ships are about branding, not strategy. David A. Graham: The United States of Donald Trump

The CDC has zombie programs. Congress funds them, but few people are left to do the work The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still has an Alzheimer’s disease program. Congress appropriated $41 million to it this year. There’s just no one staffing it. Read More.

Judge rules paint tests on Eisenhower Building can proceed, advancing Trump's makeover plans for now A federal district judge said Tuesday that paint tests on a 19th-century historic landmark building next to the White House can go ahead, advancing President Donald Trump's plans to add a new coat of white paint to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, for now. Read More. Appeals court says Trump-appointed US attorney in Nevada can’t legally serve in the role An appeals court has ruled that Sigal Chattah, the Trump administration’s initial pick for U.S. attorney in Nevada, was unlawfully appointed to lead federal prosecutions in the state. Read More.

Turkey's Erdogan signs law offering conditional pardon for thousands of PKK militants Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed into law a measure that would introduce a conditional pardon for thousands of Kurdish militants as part of a government peace effort with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Read More.

✈️ Google buying Spirit data to feed AI Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Google is paying $10 million for Spirit Airlines' business data to feed into its AI models, Axios' Nathan Bomey reports. The trove includes emails, calendar info, chats, documents, spreadsheets and more. 🤑 Google won a bankruptcy auction for the data from Spirit, which stopped flying earlier this year after failing to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The data doesn't include any personally identifiable information, passenger profiles or frequent flyer info. 🤖 A Google statement says: "We acquired part of an enterprise dataset from Spirit Airlines, which can be helpful in improving our products and AI models." What's next: A federal judge still needs to approve the deal. Go deeper.

Fresh inflation warning Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED. Chart: Emily Peck/Axios Prices for one of the world's least glamorous products — bare printed circuit boards — are skyrocketing to record levels, Axios' Emily Peck reports. That's a blazing-loud warning for more inflation to come. 🟩 The big picture: Bare printed circuit boards are the green rectangles that house silicon chips. They're in everything from smartphones and cars to medical and military equipment. 🤖 Data centers and AI labs are fueling huge price increases for computer chips — but also the simple boards that they get placed on. The Producer Price Index for the boards rose 45% in July from the same time last year. That reflects prices charged by domestic manufacturers. The U.S. produces only about 4% of the global supply, but the data still illustrates the pricing squeeze. 📈 Between the lines: The Iran war has pushed up prices for the boards' basic components: primarily resin and copper. A major manufacturer of resin in Saudi Arabia was knocked offline in April after an Iranian attack. That one plant makes 70% of the world's high-purity polyphenylene ether resin. 👀 What we're watching: Price hikes tied to higher circuit board costs will take a while to hit your wallet. Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University's business school, tells Axios: "It takes at least six months, if not a year, for these price increases fairly far upstream in the supply chain to start to make their way to end users." Go deeper.

Minnesota attorney general sues Texas governor to compel extradition of ICE agent for trial ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota’s attorney general sued the governor of Texas on Tuesday, seeking to compel the extradition of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent charged with wounding a man and then lying to justify the shooting during the agency’s crackdown in Minneapolis. https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-texas-ice-shooting-christian-castro-461acb1a459bc0ecb41fef5f728df502?

Trump Goon Hatches Wild Scheme to Give Criminals Guns The DOJ is streamlining a process to get guns back in the hands of convicted felons. Newly sworn-in Attorney General Todd Blanche has launched a new initiative to give convicted felons back their right to own guns. The Department of Justice announced Monday that people whose felony convictions automatically barred them from owning weapons can now apply to have their right to bear arms reinstated. The DOJ predicted that 330,000 felons will apply. In a statement, Blanche said, “the Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and the federal government should not permanently deprive Americans of a constitutional right without regard to whether they pose a danger to public safety.” The DOJ said the new initiative to put guns back in the hands of criminals will not extend to undocumented immigrants, registered sex offenders, or those convicted of violent crimes. Those with criminal records have typically been able to reclaim their right to own a gun if they obtained a pardon, but the pardon division within the DOJ has seen chaos in the Trump administration. The Justice Department fired its previous pardon attorney, Elizabeth Oyer, last year, after she objected to restoring gun rights to Trumpy actor Mel Gibson, who lost his gun rights as a result of a 2011 domestic violence misdemeanor conviction. “This is dangerous. This isn’t political—this is a safety issue,” she told The New York Times at the time, adding, “Giving guns back to domestic abusers is a serious matter that, in my view, is not something that I could recommend lightly, because there are real consequences that flow from people who have a history of domestic violence being in possession of firearms.” She was replaced with right-wing prosecutor Edward Martin, who defended the Jan. 6 rioters. Martin refers to himself as “Eagle Ed.” At the start of the second Trump administration, he was essentially ousted from his appointment to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. as it became clear he would not have the votes in the Senate to be confirmed. He was prominently involved in Trump’s crazed “Stop the Steal” movement, in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and he served on the board of the Patriot Freedom Project, which raised money to support defendants from the Jan. 6 insurrection attempt and their families. Martin hailed the new push to restore gun rights to felons, saying in a statement that he is “proud to serve and defend our great Second Amendment.” “President Trump keeps making history—this time by his unprecedented restoration of firearms rights to millions of Americans,” his statement continued. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-goon-todd-blanche-hatches-wild-scheme-to-give-criminals-guns/? ps:What a pathetic administration!!!!!

Trump Busted as Brazen Mail-In Voting Hypocrite The president called mail-in voting “inherently corrupt” just last month. Mail-in voting critic Donald Trump has voted in Florida’s Republican primary—with a mail-in ballot. Local voting records obtained by Politico show that Trump, 80, returned his Republican ballot to Palm Beach County, Florida, on August 13, ahead of Tuesday’s primary. Among the contests is the race for governor, where polls have shown Rep. Byron Donalds, a recipient of the president’s endorsement, as the frontrunner. The White House maintains there’s nothing odd about Trump, who called mail-in voting “inherently corrupt” during a speech last month, utilizing the practice. “As President Trump has said, the SAVE America Act has commonsense exceptions for Americans to use mail-in ballots for illness, disability, military, or travel — but universal mail-in voting should not be allowed because it’s highly susceptible to fraud,” White House spokesperson Olivia Wales told the Daily Beast in a statement. “As everyone knows, the President is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections, but he obviously primarily lives at the White House in Washington, D.C. This is a non-story.” In March, Trump voted by mail in a special election in the state legislature. In that race, he could have voted in person, since he had spent the previous two weekends at Mar-a-Lago, and early in-person voting was available through the latter Sunday. Trump trashed mail-in voting the same week he cast his ballot. “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating,” he complained at a roundtable event. “I call it ‘mail-in cheating,’ and we’ve got to do something about it.” The SAVE America Act, which he has been trying to pass for months, would ban most voting by mail and require voters to present proof of citizenship in person when registering to vote. Trump urged passage of the legislation once again later Monday night in a Truth Social post. “Earlier this month, India’s Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, asked our Administration — How can you have Elections in the U.S. without a valid Photo ID?” he wrote. “India’s last Election had 646,000,000 Voters! Less than 1% voted by mail, and every single Voter had to have a VALID Photo Identity Document. We need to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, now!” After the Supreme Court rejected his attempt to restrict the amount of mail-in ballots that can be counted, Trump has openly toyed with the idea of calling a national emergency to assert greater control over the election process. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-busted-as-brazen-mail-in-voting-hypocrite/? ps:What apathetic hypocrite!!!!!!!!!!