Will Bowles jumps off a swing set during a winter snowstorm in Charlottesville, Va., Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP)2025-02-12T05:43:50Z Snow, sleet and freezing rain were expected to continue pummeling the central Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states Wednesday, while California readied for a storm that could flood areas ravaged by the recent wildfires.Especially heavy snowfall up to nearly 14 inches (25 centimeters) was expected in parts of Virginia and West Virginia, according to the National Weather Service. Ice accumulations could reach more than a third of an inch (8.4 millimeters) in Stanleytown, Virginia, and a quarter of an inch (6.3 millimeters) in Glendale Springs, North Carolina. In California, an atmospheric river a long band of water vapor that can transport moisture from the tropics to more northern areas was expected to move in late Wednesday, likely flooding urban areas across central and Southern California, according to the weather service. The snowstorm that blew into the mid-Atlantic states on Tuesday caused accidents on icy roads and prompted school closures. By Tuesday night, nearly 12,000 people in Virginia had lost power, according to PowerOutage.us.Stay home and off the roads tonight, Virginia, the Virginia Department of Transportation posted on social media Tuesday night, alongside a meme of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz saying, Theres no place like home. In parts of Baltimore and Washington, an inch (2.5 centimeters) of snow was falling each hour, according to the weather service. All Washington public schools were closed Wednesday due to the weather. Appalachian Power, which serves 1 million customers in West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee, said Tuesday it had 5,400 workers dedicated to restoring power.About 65 Virginia National Guard soldiers were at facilities along the Interstate 95 and state Route 29 corridors and in southwest Virginia to support the storm response, guard officials said. Another 20 soldiers and members of the Virginia Defense Force were in support roles. Winter storm warnings extended from northwest North Carolina to southern New Jersey, and the snow-and-ice mix was expected to become all rain by Wednesday afternoon as temperatures climb.Meanwhile a separate storm system was expected to dump heavy snow on an area stretching from Kansas to the Great Lakes starting Tuesday night, the weather service said. The Kansas Legislature canceled Wednesday meetings because of the weather, and Gov. Laura Kelly closed state offices in the capital, Topeka.Hundreds of accidentsIn Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin declared a state of emergency and schools and government offices were closed Tuesday, state police reported 700 accidents and dozens of injuries Tuesday. Although Matt Demlein, a spokesperson for the Virginia State Police, said they cant say definitively that all were weather related.In southern West Virginia, multiple crashes temporarily shut down several major highways Tuesday. Smiths Towing and Truck Repair responded to at least 15 calls, mostly from tractor-trailer drivers who got stuck on Interstate 64 in Greenbrier County near the Virginia border, dispatcher Kelly Pickles said.Basically they just get sucked over into the median or they go off of the interstate just a little bit on the right-hand side, she said. And they just dont have enough power in their vehicles to get back onto the road due to the icy conditions. Skating rinks instead of roadsPaige Williams, who owns Downtown Books in Lexington, Virginia, closed her store Tuesday because of the weather. She hoped to reopen Wednesday, noting that Lexington and surrounding Rockbridge County are dependable when it comes to clearing the roads.But with temperatures on either side of freezing Tuesday night and Wednesday, the rain that is supposed to follow could make the roads better or worse. Its just going to depend on where those temperatures go, Williams said. Rain can clear things off. And rain can also freeze. And then you have a lot of skating rinks instead of roads. Bitter cold temperaturesAn Arctic air mass stretched from Portland, Oregon, to the Great Lakes.The temperature bottomed out Tuesday morning at minus 31 degrees (minus 35 Celsius) in Butte, Montana, where over the past two winters at least five people died from cold exposure, said Brayton Erickson, executive director of the Butte Rescue Mission. Advocates for homeless people in the city of about 35,000 were out on the streets distributing sleeping bags, jackets, mittens and other cold weather gear to anyone who needed them, according to Erickson. When it gets this cold, we kind of pull out all the stops, Erickson said.In Oregons Multnomah County, officials extended a state of emergency through at least Thursday. Five emergency shelters were set to open Tuesday night through Wednesday afternoon. Midweek wind chill readings could dip to 10 degrees (minus 12 Celsius) in Portland, the weather service said.California rainsThe atmospheric river was expected to arrive in California starting late Wednesday and to peak Thursday, according to Miles Bliss, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Along with flooding, heavy snowfall was expected in the Sierra Nevada.More than 700,000 sandbags have been arranged across central and Southern California, according to the California Department of Water Resources. ___Associated Press journalists from across the U.S. contributed to this report.

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, right, of Japan, walks back to the clubhouse at the Dodgers baseball spring training facility after working out Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)2025-02-12T13:33:26Z Theres a new No. 2 in the New York Yankees rotation behind Gerrit Cole. A familiar face is getting a fresh start leading the Cincinnati Reds. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani and Co. already have their title defense underway.Theres plenty to see as baseball returns Wednesday for most MLB clubs, with pitchers and catchers officially reporting at sites across Arizona and Florida. The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers got an early spring training start ahead of their season-opening series in Tokyo, and a few clubs dont get going until Thursday. But for most, Wednesday marks the start of a new season.That includes the Yankees, who are welcoming back Cole, the 2023 Cy Young Award winner, after he chose to remain with the Yankees rather than opt out of his contract. Hell be joined in the rotation by Max Fried, a key addition as they try to return to the World Series. New York lost to the Dodgers in five games, failed to bring back Juan Soto in free agency, then signed Fried to a $218 million, eight-year contract, the largest ever for a left-handed pitcher. Fried went 54-25 with a 2.81 ERA over the past five seasons with the Braves and was instrumental in Atlantas 2021 World Series victory over the Astros. Wednesday will also be Day 1 for new Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona. Cincinnati went 77-85 last season but has some promising young talent, led by young ace Hunter Greene. Francona won two World Series titles with the Red Sox and took Cleveland to the playoffs six times in 11 years. That includes the 2016 World Series. Los Angeles added even more star power this winter with two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and Japanese phenom pitcher Roki Sasaki. The rotation got another apparent boost Tuesday when Clayton Kershaw showed up for camp. Its been expected the 36-year-old would re-join the Dodgers for an 18th season, but he remained a free agent entering camp. Of course, the biggest boost to LAs rotation will be Shohei Ohtanis return from elbow surgery that kept him off the mound in 2024. He may provide an update to media Wednesday on his timeline to return.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embrace after giving a joint statement in New Delhi, India, Feb. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)2025-02-12T09:59:14Z NEW DELHI (AP) Prime Minister Narendra Modis longstanding bonhomie with President Donald Trump could be tested as the Indian leader kicks off a visit to Washington on Wednesday, eager to avoid tariffs that have been slapped on others and threats of further taxes and imports. India, a key strategic partner of the United States, has so far been spared any new tariffs, and the two leaders have cultivated a personal relationship. Modi a nationalist criticized over Indias democratic backsliding has welcomed Trumps return to the White House, seeking to reset Indias relationship with the West over his refusal to condemn Russia for its war on Ukraine. But Trump has repeatedly referred to India as a tariff king and pressed the South Asian country on the deportation of migrants. In response, New Delhi has shown a willingness to lower its own tariffs on U.S. products, accept Indian citizens back and buy American oil.But as tariff threats loom, the question remains how much a good rapport between two leaders matters and how far India will go to cut a deal. Body language will be closely watchedModi had established a good working relationship with Trump during his first term in office, and the two can build on the areas of convergence and minimize areas of friction without conceding on core areas of national interest, says Meera Shankar, Indias former ambassador to the U.S.Most other partners have their reciprocal lists ready from the word go, because its a point of leverage when you negotiate, Shankar added, expressing hope that India will find the right balance between firmness and flexibility on the tariffs issue.Modi boosted by his ruling Hindu nationalist partys victory in the high-stakes state legislature election last weekend in Indias federal territory, including New Delhi said before leaving for Washington that the visit was an opportunity to build upon collaboration during Trumps first term and deepen our partnership in areas such as technology, trade, defense and energy. What has Trump said? Speaking with Modi in January, Trump emphasized the importance of India buying more American-made military gear and weapons, as well as reducing the trade imbalance. Last year, the U.S. imported $50 billion more in goods than it sold to India.A readout from the White House at the time said Trump emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship. Earlier this month, India accepted the return of 104 migrants brought back on a U.S. military plane, the first such flight to the country as part of a crackdown ordered by the Trump administration. Also, Modis government lowered some high tariffs, including on some Harley-Davidson motorcycles, from 50% to 40%. In 2023, India had dropped retaliatory tariffs on U.S. almonds, apples, chickpeas, lentils, and walnuts.Another thing we can expect is that Modi would offer to purchase more American (natural) gas to narrow the U.S. trade deficit, said Lisa Curtis, director of the Indo-Pacific security program at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank. This will help a little bit. Concerns over China India is seen as integral to the U.S. strategy of containing China in the Indo-Pacific and is to host a summit of a group of countries known as the Quad made up of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia later this year. But India will likely have to recalibrate its stand in case of a Washington-Beijing thaw under Trump. Trumps outreach to China will complicate Indias ability to cultivate the American desire to use India as a proxy against China without actually ever becoming one, said Happymon Jacob, founder of the New Delhi-based Council for Strategic and Defense Research.India turned the page with China and in December agreed to work toward a solution to their long-running border dispute in the Himalayas after a military standoff that began with a deadly clash in 2020.Even a tactical accommodation between the U.S. and China has implications for India, Shankar said. Defense deals on the agenda?The U.S. is Indias largest trade partner, with a trade deficit of $50 billion in Indias favor. The Indo-U.S. goods and services trade totaled around $190.1 billion in 2023. According to Indias External Affairs Ministry, the U.S. exports to India were worth nearly $70 billion and imports $120 billion.India depends on Russia for nearly 60% of its defense equipment, but the war in Ukraine has added to doubts about future supplies, and New Delhi has been looking more toward the U.S., Israel, Britain, and others.A recently struck deal will allow U.S.-based General Electric to partner with India-based Hindustan Aeronautics to produce jet engines for Indian aircraft in India and the sale of U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones. Since 2008, India has contracted over $20 billion worth of U.S.-origin defense equipment. For India, that could also be an area where we see some synergies with the U.S., Shankar said, adding that Trump will likely seek to persuade India to buy more defense equipment.Raja Mohan, an analyst at the Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore, said Modis visit will be a good time to advance Indo-U.S. ties.Indias diplomatic skills will be tested, so the general goodwill that exists between Trump and Modi should be translated into concrete outcomes, Mohan said.___Boak reported from Washington. JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy for The Associated Press. He joined the AP in 2013. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

(AP Illustration / Peter Hamlin)2025-02-12T13:53:52Z Bearing cards, flowers, chocolates and poetry, lovers have always swooned on Valentines Day as cherubs circled overhead. Right?Or is the history darker, marked by Roman bacchanalia, martyrs and lies?Innumerable legends claim to explain the origins of Valentines Day, but as is the case with legends, they leave many questions unanswered. Here are a few:Where did Valentines Day originate?For years, the consensus among historians was that the holiday had something to do with an ancient Roman festival called Lupercalia that fell in mid-February. Noel Lenski, a Yale University historian, pointed to the seasonal and thematic connections between Lupercalia and modern Valentines Day.Both are erotic festivals, in a sense, but the ancient one which included pairing off women and men by lottery also involved religious purification and atonement.Naked young men, drunk, would go running around Palatine Hill swatting virginal women with strips of dog fur and goat fur to make them fertile, Lenski said. According to one legend, Pope Gelasius wanted to put an end to the debauchery in the late fifth century. He declared Feb. 14 as the feast day of a St. Valentine, who had been martyred about 200 years before. But that theory emerged in an 1807 book without any evidence to support the connection, said Elizabeth White Nelson, a University of Nevada Las Vegas history professor.People who think thats the story havent read the letter that he actually wrote about Lupercalia, she said, referring to the pope. Is he pissed off about Lupercalia? Yeah. But does it have anything to do with St. Valentine? Its very, very hard to find any actual writing that says that. Was St. Valentine a real person? The most cited legend is about a priest named Valentine who was executed in third-century Rome for marrying couples against the will of the pagan Emperor Claudius II. (He also is said to have cured the blindness of his jailers daughter.) Another St. Valentine, the bishop of Terni, was martyred around the same time, but little is known about him.A couple centuries later, a prominent family named Valentine may have promoted themselves by exaggerating an ancestors story after Christianity had become the prevailing religion, Lenski said.They say, Oh, by the way, we have this famous ancestor who was a bishop, and he had been persecuted by the emperor for sanctifying marriages, he said.The story prevailed, but the lack of evidence prompted the Catholic Church in 1969 to remove St. Valentine as the primary saint celebrated on Feb. 14. Now, its officially the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the missionary brothers who spread the Cyrillic alphabet to Eastern Europe.Whats love got to do with it?To further confuse things, there were many St. Valentines. As many as 50 saints with some variation of the spelling have been recognized by the Catholic Church, said Henry Kelly, a research professor at University of California Los Angeles.According to Kelly, author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine, the English writer was the first to make the connection to love but he was talking about another St. Valentine whose feast day was May 3. To commemorate King Richard IIs engagement on that day in 1381, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote a love poem. He had Italian friends who told him that it was the feast of St. Valentine, the first bishop of Genoa, Kelly said. And so he picked that day as the day on which all the birds returned to choose their mates for the year.Chaucer continued writing poems every May that associated love, the rites of spring and St. Valentine. Shakespeare and other poets followed suit. Because the Roman Valentine was the most famous one, people conflated the feast days and now celebrated it in February, Kelly said.It was the middle of winter, so there werent any birds around, there werent any flowers around, and so they started making up things about Valentine, he said. When did it become the Valentines Day we recognize today?By the late 18th century, the tradition had solidified in England and spread to the United States, with people writing poetry and hand-making cards, White Nelson said. Around the 1830s, companies began manufacturing Valentine kits that were assembled from lace paper and cutouts of birds and cupids.Heart-shaped boxes of chocolates would come a few decades later, as would the accusations that the holiday was created to sell cards, flowers and candy, White Nelson said. People were complaining in womens magazines in the late 19th century that Valentines Day was too commercial.Everybodys always expecting Valentines Day to die out, and it never does, she said. Its sort of like saying, Coney Islands too crowded. Nobody goes there anymore.To be fair, none of the myth-busting historians interviewed for this article resented that a day celebrating love ended up in February. In fact, they said the opposite.Winter is endless, Kelly said. The cold is never ending, and were grateful for something to rejoice over.Kelly just gives his wife another Valentine on May 3. ___EDITORS NOTE: Albert Stumm lives in Barcelona and writes about travel, food and wellness. 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A man walks between tents for displaced Palestinians next to destroyed buildings following the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, file)2025-02-12T11:03:54Z CAIRO (AP) Behind U.S. President Donald Trumps vows to turn Gaza into a Riviera of the Middle East lies a plan to forcibly drive a population from its land, rights groups say, warning it could be a war crime under international law.Trump doubled down this week on his vows to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians, saying they would not be allowed to return and suggesting at one point he might force Egypt and Jordan to take them in by threatening to cut off U.S. aid. Whether its serious, a negotiating tactic or a distraction, Palestinians have roundly rejected the idea of leaving. Some say Trumps talk normalizes their erasure and dehumanization, amplifying the idea that they have no connection to their land or right to their homes.He is talking as if the Palestinians are cattle, you can move them from one place to another. They have no agency, they have no say, said Munir Nuseibah, a professor of international law at Jerusalems Al-Quds University. The planTrump has billed the plan as being for the Palestinians own benefit after Israels 16-month campaign demolished entire neighborhoods and left much of Gaza unlivable. In its place, Trump has promised them a beautiful new land elsewhere.The United States would then take over the territory and rebuild it as a Riviera for the worlds people.Palestinians have made clear they dont want to leave Gaza, one part of their homeland that remains for them, along with pockets of the West Bank, after the Mideasts 1948 and 1967 wars. Despite Gazas devastation, Palestinians have shown a determination to stay and rebuild with international help promised in the U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Israel. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in many ways is rooted in the 1948 war surrounding Israels creation during which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from or forced to flee their homes in what is now Israel and the 1967 war, when Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza. Palestinians want those territories for a future state. The ambiguityTrump has left it ambiguous how Palestinians would be removed or what would happen if they refused to go. Asked by reporters at the White House on Monday if the U.S. would force Palestinians out, Trump replied: Youre going to see that theyre all going to want to leave.At one point, he said a rebuilt Gaza would be a place for anyone possibly including Palestinians to live, and administration officials have said Palestinians removal would be temporary.But Trump contradicted that in an interview with Fox News Channel that aired Monday. Asked whether Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza, he replied: No, they wouldnt because theyre going to have much better housing. In other words, Im talking about building a permanent place for them.In a post Thursday on his Truth Social site, Trump said Israel would turn over Gaza to the U.S. at the conclusion of fighting. By that time, he wrote, all the Palestinians would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities. Resettled how? Trump hasnt said. Fighting in Gaza has been paused a ceasefire. There are fears Israel could renew its campaign to destroy Hamas if the two sides cant reach an agreement over a second phase of the deal, including the big question of how Gaza will be governed.The ceasefire is already precarious after Hamas accused Israel of violating the truce and said it would pause releases of hostages. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then threatened to withdraw from the deal if the militant group does not release more hostages on Saturday.Forced displacement?With Palestinians refusing to go, Trumps ambiguity raises fears they would be forced to.Calls for a mass transfer of Palestinians were once relegated to the fringes of political discourse in Israel. But the idea has gained traction in the mainstream the result of frustration from years of failed peace efforts, recurring rounds of violence, and the painful images of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that triggered the current war. Israeli leaders have talked of voluntary migration. The Geneva Conventions forbid mass forcible transfers from occupied lands regardless of their motive. The International Criminal Court where the U.S and Israel are not members also holds that forcible transfer can be a war crime or, in some circumstances, a crime against humanity.Forcible transfer was among the crimes that Nazi leaders were charged with in the Nuremberg trials after World War II. It was also among the acts for which some Bosnian Serb leaders were convicted by a U.N. tribunal over atrocities during the 1990s Balkan wars.Adam Coogle, deputy director of Human Rights Watchs Middle East & North Africa Division, said he didnt know if Trumps statements would turn into policy, but the statement of intent is very concerning. The moving out of the entire Palestinian population, any movement of a people in occupied territory out of that territory, is forced displacement, he said. If done with intent, he said, it could be a war crime.Amnesty International echoed that, saying forcibly expelling Palestinians is a war crime and could be a crime against humanity.Nuseibah pointed to rulings by the U.N. court for the former Yugoslavia and other international bodies saying that any type of pressure or duress to leave constitutes forcible transfer.It doesnt have to be at gunpoint, he said.Asked by a reporter Tuesday about criticism that moving Palestinians out of Gaza could be ethnic cleansing, Trump did not directly answer, repeating that they would go to a beautiful location, where they will have new homes and can live safely.The White House pointed to those comments when asked specifically about the potential that the permanent relocation of Palestinians is a war crime. The responseMany Palestinians have been staggered that Trump takes it on himself to speak on their behalf.Why dont they just ask us what we want? said Nuseibah. It is dehumanizing.Raji Sourani, a leading rights lawyer from Gaza, said Trumps stance was Kafkaesque.This is the first time ever in history that the president of the United States speaks publicly and frankly to commit one of the most serious crimes, said Sourani, who left Gaza for Egypt after Israeli airstrikes destroyed his home in the early days of the war.Sourani accused Trump of aiming to complete the genocide he said was begun by Israel. The International Court of Justice is considering arguments that Israels campaign in Gaza constitutes genocide. Israel denies the accusation, saying it is acting in self-defense to destroy Hamas.As proof of their commitment to stay, Palestinians point to the flood of hundreds of thousands of people returning to homes in Gaza under the ceasefire even to ones that were destroyed.On Monday, Hatem Mohammed set up a tarp to shelter his family from a cold rain on the ruins of their destroyed home. Their home lies in the so-called Netzarim corridor, a strip of land where troops leveled large areas to create a closed military zone during the war, before their withdrawal over the weekend. This is our land, this is our identity and that of our fathers and grandfathers, Mohammed said. Trump wants to deny our identity. No, our identity remains.___Associated Press journalists Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, and Mohammed Jahjouh in Mughraqa, Gaza Strip, contributed. LEE KEATH Keath is the chief editor for feature stories in the Middle East for The Associated Press. He has reported from Cairo since 2005. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Videos that use AI generated voices of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are gaining a massive number of views on TikTok, showing that the platform is also suffering from the onslaught of AI-generated slop that has flooded every corner of the internet.According to Alexios Mantzarlis in his Faked Up newsletter, 400 videos from about two dozen accounts dedicated to posting AI-generated audio of Trump and Musk making quasi-motivational statements have gained more than 700 million views between them.The most popular of these accounts is Zack D Film (@zackdfilmusa), which has 838,800 followers.When you dont have money, people say, who are you, an AI-generated Trump voice says while inspirational music plays in the background in Zack D Films most popular TikTok, which has more than 24 million views. When you have money its, Hey how are you? Long time no see. You look so beautiful, handsome, and amazing. Thats the power of money. 0:00 /0:17 1 In another video posted by Mute-Elon (@mute.arsi), an account with 420,100 followers, an AI-generated voice of Musk talks about five things he wishes for in 2025 (health, strength, motivation, etc). I trust that god sees my struggles, collects my tears, and never abandons me, the AI voice of Musk says.While we dont know whether all the engagement with these videos is authentic, many of them have thousands of comments agreeing with or repeating the gist of the video, with only a handful of commenters pointing out that the voice is AI-generated.As Jason wrote in his investigation into where Facebook AI slop comes from, the primary reason this type of AI-generated content exists is that its profitable. In the case of these AI Trump and Musk channels, at least one avenue for monetization is TikToks own in-app store, TikTok Shop. For example, an account called @trumpsaying, which has 57,000 followers and some videos with millions of views, posted more than a dozen videos with an AI-generated Trump voice before pivoting to videos promoting Trump-themed or vaguely patriotic t-shirts. The videos lead viewers directly to the TikTok Shop, where they can purchase the shirt. The videos are also marked as eligible for commission, meaning other creators can get paid for promoting them as well.A different AI Trump account links to Amazon store pages selling Trump coins and a Trump picture book.Another TikTok account, in which an AI-generated Musk explains how he will colonize Mars and have his robots rule the world in the future, links to an Amazon store page for what appears to be an AI-generated book about Musk.TikToks community guidelines require users to label AIGC [AI-generated content] or edited media that shows realistic-appearing scenes or people. This can be done using the AIGC label, or by adding a clear caption, watermark, or sticker of your own. TikToks guidelines also dont allow content that falsely shows public figures in certain contexts. This includes being bullied, making an endorsement, or being endorsed. After I reached out for comment, TikTok removed two of the AI Musk accounts I flagged to the company that did not disclose they were AI-generated.Some of the videos from some of the accounts that use AI-generated voices of celebrities have a disclosure that says Creator labeled as AI-generated, but most do not. The accounts also dont explicitly endorse products in the videos, but AI Trump accounts promoted Trump-themed products and AI Musk accounts promoted Musk-themed products.TikTok did not immediately provide comment when we asked whether these accounts violate its policies. It also did not immediately provide comment when we asked whether these videos qualify as original content as outlined in its policy about requirements for accounts to qualify for TikTok Creator Rewards Program, which pays TikTok accounts for views.These AI Musk and Trump accounts and the 700 million views they garnered so far are likely just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to AI slop on TikTok. If youve spent any time on the platform youve probably noticed that the motivation genre is very popular there. These can come from financial and fitness influence themselves, but also from an endless number of accounts that take clips of motivational speakers, cut them up, and repost them under different accounts.Jason wrote about some of these accounts last year, which, at the time, were created by people buying packs of inspirational clips that had been compiled from podcasts and public appearances and were being sold on Discord. The idea with these packs of clips was to give people trying to make money on TikTok the raw material they needed to make a large number of edited and remixed videos for TikTok.These videos are trying to cash in on the motivational genre, but they dont even need original material to recycle anymore. They just AI-generate it.When I started viewing the Musk and Trump AI motivational videos, TikTok immediately began recommending other AI-generated motivational videos to me from other celebrities. I saw such videos featuring the AI-generated videos of Keanu Reeves, Cillian Murphy, Denzel Washington, Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma (which, weirdly was previously an Obama account and still has the username @obama.motivations), Sylvester Stallone, Sylvester Stallone en espaol, and Steve Harvey.

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-12T15:06:16Z WASHINGTON (AP) Eight government watchdogs have sued over their mass firing that removed oversight of President Donald Trumps new administration. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Washington asks a judge to declare the firings unlawful and restore the inspectors general to their positions at the agencies.The watchdogs are charged with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse at government agencies, playing a nonpartisan oversight role over trillions of dollars in federal spending and the conduct of millions of federal employees, according to the lawsuit.Presidents can remove inspectors general, but the Trump administration did not give Congress a legally required 30-day notice, something that even a top Republican decried.Trump has said he would put new good people in the jobs.The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the lawsuit. The administration dismissed more than a dozen inspectors general in a Friday-night sweep on the fourth full day of Trumps second term. Though inspectors general are presidential appointees, some serve presidents of both parties. All are expected to be nonpartisan. At the time of the firings, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said there may have been good reasons for the terminations but that Congress needed to know.The role of the modern-day inspector general dates to post-Watergate Washington, when Congress installed offices inside agencies as an independent check against mismanagement and abuse of power. Democrats and watchdog groups said the firings raise alarms that Trump is making it easier to take advantage of the government.Trump, said at the time the firings were a very common thing to do. But the lawsuit says that is not true and that mass firings have been considered improper since the 1980s. The dismissals came through similarly worded emails. The watchdogs computers, phones, and agency access badges were collected within days. The officials were escorted into their respective agencies to collect their personal belongings under supervision, they said in the lawsuit. The inspector general of the Agriculture Department, however, returned to work as normal the Monday after being informed of the firing, recognizing the email as not effective, the lawsuit said. The watchdog conducted several meetings before agency employees cut off her access to government systems and took her computer and phone. Trump in the past has challenged their authority. In 2020, in his first term, he replaced multiple inspectors general, including those leading the Defense Department and intelligence community, as well as the one tapped to chair a special oversight board for the $2.2 trillion pandemic economic relief package.The latest round of dismissals spared Michael Horowitz, the longtime Justice Department inspector general who has issued reports on assorted politically explosive criminal investigations over the past decade.In December 2019, for instance, Horowitz released a report faulting the FBI for surveillance warrant applications in the investigation into ties between Russia and Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. But the report also found that the investigation had been opened for a legitimate purpose and did not find evidence that partisan bias had guided investigative decisions.The lawsuit was filed by the inspectors general of the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, State, Education, Agriculture, and Labor, and the Small Business Administration. __AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report. LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court, legal affairs and criminal justice for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. Past stops include Salt Lake City, New Mexico and Indiana. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Trader Jonathan Mueller works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)2025-02-12T03:23:05Z NEW YORK (AP) U.S. stocks are sinking Wednesday after a report said inflation is unexpectedly getting worse for Americans, before even the first of President Donald Trump s tariffs had a chance to raise prices for imports. The S&P 500 was 0.9% lower in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 418 points, or 0.9%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower. The pain on Wall Street was widespread, and everything from AI darling Nvidia to staid utilities like Duke Energy to bitcoin fell. Treasury yields also climbed in the bond market, cranking up the pressure on financial markets after a report said U.S. consumers had to pay prices for eggs, gasoline and other costs of living that were 3% higher overall in January than a year earlier. That was worse than the 2.9% inflation rate of December, which is what economists expected to see again. The inflation report suggests not only that pressure on U.S. households budgets is amplifying but also that traders on Wall Street were correct to forecast the Federal Reserve will deliver less relief for Americans through lower interest rates this year. The Fed had cut its main interest rate sharply from September through the end of last year, moves that try to make borrowing cheaper, help the economy and boost prices for stocks, bonds and other investments. But the Fed warned at the end of 2024 that it may not cut rates by as much in 2025 as it had earlier expected because of worries about inflation staying stubbornly high. Its goal is to keep inflation at 2%, and lower rates can give inflation more fuel. Some investors were betting on the Fed not cutting rates at all in 2025, even before Wednesdays report on the consumer price index, or CPI. The hotter than expected CPI confirms investors anxiety regarding too-hot inflation that will keep the Fed on the sidelines, said Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. And Januarys reading doesnt account for any of the tariffs that Trump has recently announced, which economists say should push up prices on imports from China and anything made with steel or aluminum. Those will make their impact felt later in the year, Samana said. Following Januarys discouraging inflation data, traders are betting on a 28% chance that the Fed will not cut rates at all this year, according to data from CME Group. Thats up from a less than 20% chance seen the day before. Such expectations sent the yield on the two-year Treasury up to 4.34% from 4.29% late Tuesday. The 10-year Treasury yield, which also takes longer-term economic growth and other factors into consideration, jumped even more sharply. It rose to 4.63% from 4.54%.When a 10-year Treasury, which is seen as one of the safest investments possible, is paying that much in interest, investors are less likely to pay high prices for stocks, which carry a higher risk of seeing their prices go to zero. That puts downward pressure on a stock market that critics say already looks to expensive after running to repeated records last year, with the latest coming late last month. One of the few ways companies have to counteract such pressure is to deliver stronger profits. CVS Health did just that, and its stock jumped 12.9% after topping Wall Streets modest sales and profit expectations for the latest quarter. But even doing that isnt always enough. Ride-hailing app Lyft tumbled to a 10% loss despite reporting stronger profits that Wall Street expected. Lyfts revenue fell short of forecasts as higher prices for rides weighed on bookings, the company said.Shares of Frontier Group Holdings, the parent company of Frontier Airlines, lost 1.6% after Spirit Airlines rejected a third takeover bid from the budget rival. Spirit said that it would focus on its own plan to emerge from bankruptcy and stabilize its finances.In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe after finishing mostly higher in Asia. ___AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Yuri Kageyama contributed.

This week we discuss a new Microsoft study that finds using generative AI is "atrophying" people's cognition and critical thinking skills, the right's war on Wikipedia, and, in the subscriber's section, the idea of posting against fascism.Articles discussed:Microsoft Study Finds AI Makes Human Cognition Atrophied and UnpreparedWikipedia Prepares for 'Increase in Threats' to US Editors From Musk and His AlliesYou Cant Post Your Way Out of FascismSubscribers-only video and embed below:

President Donald Trump holds up an executive order relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in the Oval Office at the White House, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-11T23:10:17Z NEW YORK (AP) To its fans, its an undeniable force for good in a corrupt world, a groundbreaking anti-bribery statute that has brought powerful businessmen to heel for secretly paying off foreign government officials to win contracts abroad. To detractors, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unfairly hobbles American companies while foreign rivals not so encumbered swoop in.On Monday, President Donald Trump took a side. It sounds good on paper but in practicality, its a disaster, Trump said while signing an executive order freezing enforcement of the law. Its going to mean a lot more business for America.The consequences could be dramatic, depending on Trumps next move.If he halts many prosecutions, essentially defanging the law, it could help U.S. businesses win deals abroad. But it also could tarnish Americas image, allow corrupt autocrats ruling over impoverished people to get even richer and lead France, Britain, Japan and other wealthy countries to weaken their own anti-bribery laws so their companies can make payments, too.We are facing a Wild West situation, said Mark Pieth, a criminal law professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland and anti-bribery law expert. It will be everyone against everyone. WHAT EXACTLY DOES THE LAW BAN?The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, or FCPA, prohibits people or companies operating in the U.S. from giving money or gifts to foreign officials to win or retain deals in those countries. The law doesnt require that the bribe is actually paid, but only offered.Punishment for conviction is imprisonment of up to 20 years, and companies face fines double their profits from the illicit deal. That has often meant hundreds of millions of dollars, sometimes billions, in payments. HOW OFTEN HAS THE LAW BEEN USED?The law has been used hundreds of times in the past decade to stop bribes to win deals, leading to massive settlement payments from multinationals like Goldman Sachs, Germanys Siemens and the Swiss commodities trader Glencore. But its real impact, experts say, is arguably not in the headlines, but what happens behind the scenes as the fear of punishment deters businesses from even thinking about bribes in the first place. WHAT SPECIFICALLY DOES TRUMP THINK IS WRONG WITH THE LAW?In a nutshell, Trump is claiming that so many others are corrupt, were fools for playing by the rules.Specifically, Trump said the law is being enforced in excessive, unpredictable ways that U.S. companies are competing on an uneven playing field with foreign rivals. He also said the law was draining resources from law enforcement and harming U.S. national interests because companies were being held back from deals that would give the U.S. access to deep water ports, critical minerals and other assets.Trumps statements are reviving a criticism of the law that was common decades ago before other developed countries enacted their own bribery laws. More recently both Republican and Democratic administrations have embraced the FCPA not just as a way to stamp out U.S. corruption but to fight the kinds of conditions abroad that allow cartels and terrorist groups that act against U.S. interests to thrive. WHAT EXACTLY DID TRUMP DO UNDER HIS EXECUTIVE ORDER?Trump cant overturn the law, but as head of the executive branch he can change the way it is enforced and shift resources to other Justice Department priorities. His order puts in place a 180-day pause to all investigations under the FCPA while they are being reviewed. He also ordered no new ones be opened during that period. The order also says it will halt other Justice Department actions under the law, which might mean ongoing prosecutions though that is unclear. Trump said the pause is also necessary to give his administration time to come up with new reasonable guidelines on how to enforce the law that dont put U.S. companies at a disadvantage in striking foreign deals.Duncan Levin, a criminal defense attorney, said he expects Trump will essentially kill the law by neglect.He cant get rid of the law, but he can refuse to enforce it, said Levin, who has represented high profile defendants Harvey Weinstein and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. I dont think this is just a pause. WHAT KIND OF BRIBES WERE UNCOVERED UNDER THE LAW?The FCPA was enacted after investigators at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1970s found more than 400 American companies making questionable or illegal payments to foreign officials to win business.Since then the list of bribes brought to light by prosecutions is long and varied.Last year, the military contractor RTX, formerly Raytheon, paid more than $300 million to settle charges it had allegedly bribed officials in Qatar by using a sham contract and other devices to hide its tracks.In 2019, Walmart paid $282 million to settle charges from a seven-year investigation into allegations it won approval to open stores in Mexico, India and Brazil by bribing local officials, including one contact called the sorceress who had an uncanny ability to make permitting problems disappear. WHAT DO OTHER COUNTRIES DO TO STOP BRIBERY?Since the FCPA was enacted nearly 50 years ago, U.S. businesses have complained that it was hurting more than helping and unfair because bribes were commonplace in some countries. Then under U.S. pressure, allies in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development started enacting their own laws, especially after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and African and Asian countries formerly in the communist orbit opened their borders to business.Eventually, 40 wealthy countries adopted anti-bribery laws based on the FCPA, according to University of Basels Pieth, including the ability to prosecute foreign companies operating in their countries for acts committed in a third country.Therein lies another danger of Trump weakening the FCPA.If a U.S. company bribes because Trump is giving them the green light, the French and the British will jump on that company, Pieth said. It will be a mess. BERNARD CONDON Condon is an Associated Press investigative reporter covering breaking news. He has written about the Maui fire, the Afghanistan withdrawal, gun laws, Chinese loans in Africa and Trumps business. twitter facebook mailto

Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump's choice to be the Director of National Intelligence, arrives to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)2025-02-12T15:05:07Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Tulsi Gabbard as President Donald Trumps director of national intelligence after Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination.Gabbard was an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the countrys 18 different intelligence agencies, given her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting she held with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad and her previous support for government leaker Edward Snowden.Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was confirmed by a 52-48 vote, with Democrats opposed in the sharply divided Senate where Republicans hold a slim majority. The only no vote from a Republican came from Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.She will take over the top intelligence post as Trump works to reshape vast portions of the federal government. Intelligence agencies including the CIA have issued voluntary resignation offers to staffers, while cybersecurity experts have raised concerns about Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency gaining access to sensitive government databases containing information about intelligence operations. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created to address intelligence failures exposed by the Sept. 11, 2001. Republicans have increasingly criticized the office, saying it has grown too large and politicized. Trump himself has long viewed the nations intelligence services with suspicion. GOP senators who had expressed concerns about Gabbards stance on Snowden, Syria and Russia said they were won over by her promise to refocus on the offices core missions: coordinating federal intelligence work and serving as the presidents chief intelligence adviser. While I continue to have concerns about certain positions she has previously taken, I appreciate her commitment to rein in the outsized scope of the agency, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, adding that Gabbard will bring independent thinking to the job. Democrats noted that Gabbard had no experience working for an intelligence agency and said her past stances on Russia, Syria and Snowden made her a poor choice for the job. They also questioned whether she would stand up to Trump if necessary and could maintain vital intelligence sharing with American allies.It is an insult to people who have dedicated their lives and put themselves in harms way to have her confirmed into this position, said Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst,, D-Mich., about members of Americas intelligence service.Until GOP support fell into place, it was unclear whether Gabbards nomination would succeed. Given the 53-47 split in the Senate, Gabbard needed virtually all Republicans to vote yes.Trumps Make America Great Again base has pressured senators to support Trumps nominees, and Elon Musk, the presidents ally, took to social media recently to brand Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., as a deep-state puppet. Young had raised concerns about Gabbard but announced his support after speaking with Musk. The post was deleted after they spoke, and Musk later called Young an ally. Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience and has never run a government agency or department. Gabbards past praise of Snowden drew particularly harsh questions during her confirmation hearing. Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about U.S. surveillance programs.Gabbard said that while Snowden disclosed important facts about such programs that she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. Edward Snowden broke the law, she said.Gabbards 2017 visit with Assad was another flashpoint. He was recently deposed following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons. Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator, and then there were more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used such weapons.Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.I asked him tough questions about his own regimes actions, Gabbard said.She also has repeatedly echoed Russian propaganda used to justify the Kremlins invasion of Ukraine. In the past, she opposed a key U.S. surveillance program known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.

A government website created by the Trump administration to track government waste has been left unupdated with a default WordPress sample page that includes language about an imaginary architecture firm.Waste.gov: Tracking government waste, the tagline for the website, archived here, says. The rest of the webpage, however, is about an imaginary architecture firm called tudes, pulled from a sample webpage for a default WordPress theme called Twenty Twenty-Four.This remains the case a day after Elon Musk, in the Oval Office, told reporters that all of DOGEs supposed waste-cutting actions are transparent and are available on government websites. Musk is currently in charge of finding and eliminating "waste."We actually are trying to be as transparent as possible. In fact, our actionswe post our actions to the DOGE handle on X, and to the DOGE website. So all of our actions, which are maximally transparent, Musk said. In fact, I dont think theres been I dont know the case that where [sic] an organization has been more transparent than the DOGE organization.The DOGE website contains the line An official website of the United States government, a single image of a dollar sign, the words Department of Government Efficiency. The people voted for major reform, and nothing else. The website for the US Digital Service, which has been renamed the US DOGE Service, has not been meaningfully updated since Trump was inaugurated.Waste.gov, meanwhile, says tudes is a pioneering firm that seamlessly merges creativity and functionality to redefine architectural excellence, and various default images and text from the Twenty Twenty-Four WordPress theme, which is also billed as a flexible default theme. The theme is suitable for everyone, from casual bloggers to creative photographers or small businesses, the themes page advertises. Seemingly, the inclusive nature of this theme extends its utility to those seeking to gut the federal government. Specifically, Waste.gov is an exact mirror of the Entrepreneur demo for that theme.Notably, Waste.gov does not comply with various executive orders issued by Donald Trump because it contains the word diverse in the line Our comprehensive suite of professional services caters to a diverse clientele, ranging from homeowners to commercial developers. The imaginary architecture firm also offers a commitment to innovation and sustainability. Research on climate change and sustainability has been purged by this administration.The White House registered both waste.gov and DEI.govwhich redirects to waste.govlast week, Reuters reported.

By Beth SchwartzapfelThis article originally published in The Marshall Project, a non-profit journalism publication focused on criminal justice. This article was published in partnership with The 19th.Photo by Gage Skidmore.Subscribe nowFirst, President Donald Trump issued an executive order prohibiting the use of federal funds for gender-affirming care. Then, in response to a lawsuit from prisoners, a judge temporarily blocked the order. The result, say employees and incarcerated transgender people, has been chaos and uncertainty as policies are adopted and applied unevenly throughout the federal prison system.At a federal womens prison, all the transgender women were rounded up and placed into a special segregated unit shortly after Trumps Jan. 20 order. The warden told them they would all be transferred to mens facilities and that the paperwork for those transfers was already being processed, one of the women said in a court filing, which did not name the prison. A few days later, they were moved back into the prisons general population, with no explanation.At another federal womens prison in Texas, a transgender man was due for a testosterone injection, but his nurse wasnt sure what to do. The facilitys warden was saying the policies might be this, or might be that, but we havent gotten anything in writing yet, said the nurse, who spoke on the condition she not be named because she is not authorized to speak to the press. Finally, after consulting with the facilitys pharmacist, she gave the man his medication. Id rather ask forgiveness than permission, she said.And at FCI Seagoville, a mens prison in Texas, an unsigned memo went out last week saying that the dozens of transgender women housed there would have to turn in their womens clothing and undergarments. They would also no longer be able to buy makeup or other womens items from the commissary, or have access to group therapy. Within a week, that memo was rescinded.The Bureau of Prisons has not issued formal guidance to its employees about how to implement Trumps order defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government, according to several current and former agency staffers who spoke to The Marshall Project on the condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to speak to the press. Everyone is afraid to say or do anything, said one former top bureau official. The executive team at the bureau wants guidance from the Justice Department, because they are afraid of getting fired. DOJ is in turmoil.Subscribe nowTransgender people in federal prison are being told one thing from one staff person and a totally different thing from another, said Shawn Meerkamper, an attorney at the Transgender Law Center, a nonprofit that does legal and advocacy work on behalf of the transgender community. Meerkamper described the situation as whiplash.Trumps executive order instructed federal agencies to stop recognizing transgender people and prohibited the use of federal funds for prisoners gender-affirming care. It specifically instructed the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that males are not detained in womens prisons or immigration detention centers.The memo distributed at the prison in Seagoville, Texas, said The Federal Bureau of Prisons intends to comply with the Executive Order in all respects.But the bureaus leadership in Washington, D.C. had not authorized the policy outlined in the memo, according to a staffer at Seagoville, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified because they werent permitted to speak about the memo. Somebody just kind of got the cart before the horse and decided, Lets do this, they said.Similar directives went out to prisoners and staff at a federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, according to a person familiar with that institution, and to a prison in Sheridan, Oregon, according to a Facebook post written by a person who identified themself as a prison employee there.Any other male joints make the trans inmates turn in their laundry issued dresses, bras, and panties? the staffer wrote on a private Facebook group for federal prison employees. We had one go on suicide watch over it. This employee did not respond to emails seeking additional information, but three days later posted again: Well Everyone, they gave back the undergarments and dresses yesterday.The vast majority of the 1,500 transgender women incarcerated in federal prisons are housed in mens prisons. Under both the Biden administration and the first Trump administration, they have had access to accommodations like womens clothing and toiletry items and permission to only be patted down by staff of the same gender.One bureau employee who disagreed with Trumps order said these accommodations were reasonable. Theres no extremism involved in giving an inmate a bra, said a bureau caseworker who is not authorized to speak to the press.Just 16 trans women are currently housed in womens prisons, according to documents the bureau filed in federal court as part of the recent lawsuit. Each of them was moved to a womens prison only after undergoing a lengthy process overseen by a panel of experts at the Bureau of Prisons called the Transgender Executive Council. In the last few weeks, a message went out to transgender people that they could no longer communicate with the council, according to attorneys for transgender women in both womens and mens facilities.Since at least 2022, the council has met monthly to offer advice and guidance on unique measures related to treatment and management needs of transgender inmates, according to a policy document that has since been removed from the bureaus website. Some transgender people and their advocates believe the council has been disbanded. The Bureau of Prisons did not respond to questions about the council or policies regarding care for transgender people in its custody.Last week, the bureaus acting director, William Lothrop, sent a message to the agencys six regional directors regarding transgender prisoners and noted that the bureaus health services division and reentry services division were working with the bureaus lawyers to finalize language regarding medical and mental health care.In addition to changes to health care and housing, transgender people have reported other smaller ways that Trumps order has upended their lives in prisons. Many officers have stopped using peoples preferred names and pronouns, according to prisoners and staff. Some prisoners also report being taunted and disrespected by staff, who they believe have been emboldened by the presidents order.Jenni Stallcup, a transgender woman incarcerated at the penitentiary in Coleman, Florida, said, I have already experienced the ugly vibes. A staff member the other day even called out, as I was on the sidewalk, telling me to Be readyyou have one more month and no more makeup.If objective, nonpartisan, rigorous, LGBTQ-focused journalism is important to you, please consider making a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, Resource Impact, by clicking this button:Donate to Uncloseted Media

John Whaite, the former Great British Bake Off winner and Strictly Come Dancing finalist, is serving up something a little steamier these days. The 35-year-old reality star has officially returned to OnlyFans, further solidifying him as the first Bake Off alum to join the explicit content platform.Whaite, who won GBBO (known stateside as Great British Baking Show) in 2012 and later became part of Strictlys first-ever all-male dance partnership with Johannes Radebe, announced his latest venture under the new name "Jonny Boy." His profile bio teases, "The side of me you havent seen... yet."See on InstagramHe also promises everything from solo play to collabs, and notes that he replies to DMs.See on InstagramThe move to the platform comes after his television career hit a turning point with the cancellation of Stephs Packed Lunch in 2023, a show he regularly appeared on. Reflecting on his departure from TV, Whaite shared with DailyMail, "Since leaving the TV industry, I decided to focus on business. Now I run two fairly successful and exciting businesses." One, of course, is his gourmet baked goods brand, Ruff Puff Brownies, while the other takes on a meatier enterprise involving his OnlyFans.See on InstagramIf you want to buy my sweet treats head to Ruff Puff Brownies and if you want to buy my meat head to my OnlyFans page, he said.See on InstagramFor those eager to see what Whaite offers, subscriptions run at about $12 per month or $32.40 for a three-month package.See on InstagramWhile some may question the shift, it's more reasonable to question how long it will last this time. When he previously left the platform, he said it was because he'd only joined it during a drunken mental breakdown and thought it would give him more control of his career. His family, however, were "quite worried" for him. He admitted he regretted joining because he didn't know how you can "be a daytime presenter and cook with being on an adult-only site." He also said young people joining the platform could attribute to "a lack of direction."See on InstagramIt seems as though Whaite made a more conscious and continual decision to be on the platform this time, and appears to be fully in control of his narrative. His most recent post on the Jonny Boy page as of this writing introduces himself by saying, Welcome new followers. Im Jonny Boy, another scramble of atoms plonked on a marbled ball orbiting the sun, just like everyone else.See on InstagramAs Whaite embraces this new chapter, fans will no doubt be keeping an eye on Jonny Boy, both for his signature sweet treats and whatever else hes got cooking.

RuPauls Drag Race UK winner The Vivienne was found dead in their bathroom of unnatural cause of death, a coroner has said. The beloved drag queen known by loved ones as James Lee Williams died on January 5, 2025 at the age of 32, near Chorlton-by-Backford, near Chester in England.Police found there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding their death, the inquest opening at Cheshire Coroner's Court in Warrington heard, the BBC reports.The post-mortem examination revealed an unnatural cause of death, and further examination is necessary, coroner Victoria Davies said and adjourned the inquest until June 30.According to the inquest, The Viviennes body was identified by their father Lee Williams.It is with immense sadness that we let you know our beloved James Lee Williams The Vivienne, has passed this weekend, The Viviennes manager, Simon Jones, wrote in a statement on Instagram on January 5.James was an incredibly loved, warm-hearted and amazing person, the statement continued. Their family are heartbroken at the loss of their son, brother and uncle. They are so proud of the wonderful things James achieved in their life and career. We will not be releasing any further details. We please ask that Jamess family are given the time and privacy they now need to process and grieve.Last month, hundreds of people gathered at a vigil for The Vivienne, who won the first season of RuPauls Drag Race UK in 2019 and came in third in Dancing on Ice in 2023.The funeral was attended by fellow Drag Race UK stars Tia Kofi, Baga Chipz and Cheryl."As a family we are completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for James, The Vivienne," the family said in a statement read by The Vivienne's friend Bobby Musker, the BBC reports.

Palestinians stand next to tents surrounded by buildings that were destroyed by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)2025-02-12T15:06:04Z JERUSALEM (AP) Three weeks into the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the number of tents and temporary homes entering Gaza risks falling short of the goals set for the deals first phase.The looming deficit sits at the heart of a dispute between Israel and Hamas that could topple the tenuous truce.Hamas said it would delay the scheduled release of three hostages on Saturday if Israel did not ramp up delivery of tents, pre-fabricated homes and heavy machinery into the devastated territory, where the majority of people are displaced and many live beside the rubble of blasted-out buildings. Israel rejects the accusation, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to withdraw from the ceasefire in Gaza and resume the war if Hamas does not release more hostages on schedule.Getting enough shelter into Gaza has been difficult because aid workers prioritized deliveries of food at the start of the ceasefire. Israeli inspections and restrictions on what can enter Gaza also complicate the process. The delivery of temporary shelters could soon ramp up, according to officials from Egypt and Hamas who signaled Wednesday that resolution of the dispute was within sight, paving the way for the hostages to be released as planned.Heres a look at where things stand with aid into Gaza: What does the ceasefire agreement say about aid to Gaza?The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas says that during the first 42-day phase, Israel must allow at least 60,000 temporary homes and 200,000 tents into Gaza. It also must allow entry of an agreed-upon amount of equipment for rubble removal.Repairs to Gazas badly damaged electricity, water, sewage and communications systems as well as its torn up roads are to begin during phase one. So is the planning process for rebuilding homes decimated by the war. All of the repairs and planning are being overseen by the U.N. and ceasefire mediators Egypt and Qatar. Simply removing the rubble let alone beginning reconstruction could take decades, according to the U.N. It may also be premature, especially if the ceasefire falls apart and Israel resumes its bombing campaign there. U.S. President Donald J. Trumps stated intention to rebuild Gaza as the Riviera of the Middle East adds uncertainty.In the deals first phase, Hamas is to release 33 Israeli hostages in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Hamas so far has released 16 of the hostages, in addition to five Thai hostages who were not part of the deal.Whether the exchanges continue, the agreement says, depends on how the parties adhere to its regulations on humanitarian aid, among other stipulations. How many tents and temporary homes are getting into Gaza?Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou said Israel had so far permitted 20,000 tents into the territory since the ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19. He said Israel hadnt let any temporary homes in and was not allowing entry of heavy machinery to remove rubble and recover dead bodies.COGAT, the Israeli defense body that coordinates the deliveries of humanitarian supplies, disputed part of Hamas claims, saying in a statement it had allowed entry of even more tents. A U.S. official, an Israeli official and aid worker involved in tracking deliveries into Gaza confirmed Hamas claim that as of Tuesday morning no prefabricated homes had been allowed in. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.But the aid worker estimated that between 25,000 and 50,000 tents had entered. The Israeli official said at least 30,000 tents had entered. Why has it been difficult to get shelter material inside?Aid workers say a number of factors are complicating the quick delivery of tents and other temporary shelters into Gaza. For one, the priority at the start of the ceasefire period was getting food and water into a territory on the brink of famine. Shaina Low, communications adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council, said humanitarian groups prioritized bringing in food during the first couple of weeks of the ceasefire to address Gazas acute starvation crisis.Also, anticipating mass population movements, aid groups held back from sending tents in immediately because people would have a hard time carrying them along with all their belongings, she said. The latest report from the coalition of groups tracking population movement in Gaza says that at least 586,000 Palestinians have gone north since late January and over 56,000 have moved south. Ramping up shelter supplies so suddenly proved a tall order, said Tania Hary, the director of Gisha, an Israeli organization dedicated to protecting Palestinians right to freedom of movement. She added that the initial focus in the first days of the ceasefire was meeting the threshold of 600 trucks a day. Theyre scrambling to get in all the tents in their pipeline, she said. Getting in 60,000 caravans is a huge production.There is another factor slowing the pace of aid deliveries: Israel deems some items dual-use, meaning they could potentially be diverted for military means. According to a list circulated to humanitarian aid groups by COGAT, mobile homes and large tents require Israeli inspection, even though they are on the list for being fast-tracked. The same goes for cleaning materials, water trucks, generators, metal waste containers, sewer inspection devices and iron waste containers.Large storage tents, desalination facilities, toilets and showers with certain kinds of metal, x-ray machines and diesel generators require an even more intense approval process. What does this mean for the deal?Mediators were hopeful Wednesday they could resolve the dispute by Saturday and get the ceasefire back on track.An Egyptian official with knowledge of the talks said the two sides were close to an agreement. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, said Israel had committed to delivering more tents, shelters and heavy equipment to Gaza. An official with Hamas, Mahmoud Merdawi, cited positive signals that the hostages would be released on Saturday. But he cautioned that the group had yet to receive the guarantees it seeks from Israel regarding the delivery of humanitarian aid.-AP reporter Ellen Knickmeyer contributed reporting from Washington. JULIA FRANKEL Frankel is an Associated Press reporter in Jerusalem. twitter mailto

This photo provided by World Relief shows care group volunteers Neimate Mustafa and John Simon Mbiliwele, who provide community health education, visiting a homestead in January 2022, in Maridi, South Sudan. (Esther Mbabazi/World Relief via AP)2025-02-12T16:26:17Z WASHINGTON (AP) In a warehouse in Haiti, nearly four metric tons of seeds cannot be distributed. Soon the planting season will be gone and with it, the best chance for those seeds to produce emergency food.Across the world in South Sudan, a program treating severely malnourished children under age 5 has halted.Both projects are led by World Relief, an evangelical organization whose work has collapsed in certain countries after the Trump administration froze most foreign aid and sidelined the U.S. Agency for International Development.Faith-based organizations that partner with the U.S. government to deliver international aid are being hard-hit by the USAID shutdown, and are now facing their own layoffs, furloughs and severe funding shortages.Remaining staff are being forced to make difficult choices about which lifesaving programs can continue without government funding. Thats what keeps me up at night, said Matthew Soerens, World Reliefs vice president of advocacy and policy.Two of the 12 largest non-governmental recipients of USAID funds are faith-based: Catholic Relief Services and World Vision. These Christian nonprofits serve millions of people globally and provide food, water and health care in conflict zones. Catholic Relief Services founded by U.S. Catholic bishops in 1943 told staff to expect drastic reductions in their workforce this year, as much as 50 percent, due to cuts in U.S. foreign assistance. CRS receives more USAID support than any other non-governmental organization. The U.S. government funded nearly half of the 2023 CRS budget of $1.2 billion. The Vaticans global charity arm, Caritas, on Monday warned that millions of people will die as a result of the ruthless U.S. decision to recklessly stop USAID funding, and hundreds of millions more will be condemned to dehumanizing poverty.The State Department has offered select waivers for organizations to continue lifesaving humanitarian work. But many organizations that have received waivers say federal funding has not arrived for those exempted projects, and they have been unable to get meaningful guidance from the U.S. government. USAID headquarters staffers in affidavits filed this week as part of a court challenge to the Trump administrations dismantling of the agency say they know of no one in USAID who has been told what process will be followed in accepting and reviewing waiver requests, and no funding is getting through to aid partners and programs.World Relief received a waiver to continue its lifesaving work in one country civil-war-torn Sudan but it is still waiting on government payments for those programs and previously completed work.We cant afford to misunderstand the instructions and spend resources that we dont have, Soerens said. We have some cash reserves, but like most nonprofits, we dont sit on months and months worth of cash.Churches and private donors have helped World Relief raise $4.5 million in two weeks to support international aid and its work in the U.S. with refugees. But the organization has furloughed employees and still faces a funding gap of $3.5 million for immediate needs. Franklin Graham, an evangelical leader who prayed at both of Donald Trumps presidential inaugurations, runs Samaritans Purse, an evangelical humanitarian organization that has received USAID funds. Graham said in a statement that the details of the waiver process are not yet clear.Samaritans Purse has not stopped its emergency food and medical programs overseas, he noted, and less than 5% of the organizations 2024 funding came from government grants.I think its a good thing for the government to assess and reexamine the various programs that the U.S. is funding around the world, Graham said. We trust that the new leadership will analyze all of the information and make good decisions. A spokesperson for World Vision, a Christian aid group that is separate from World Relief, said the organization was working on securing waivers and resuming critical programs as soon as possible. Our commitment to serving vulnerable communities through humanitarian and development work remains strong, and we will continue to comply with all relevant regulations, its statement said. The first Trump administration did some incredible work at USAID, according to Adam Phillips, who led the USAID faith-based office during the Biden administration. Phillips continued some of the data-driven approaches to working with faith communities that the Trump team pioneered at the agency.Its so mystifying to see what the second Trump administration is doing, Phillips said, because theyre really going backwards on some extraordinary commitments when it comes to faith-based partners.Supporters of USAIDs work argue it not only alleviates global suffering and promotes stability but also functions as a form of soft power to create goodwill and counter rivals like China and Russia. Many conservatives have championed the type of public-private partnerships that USAID and religious groups traditionally have had. Indeed, when Trump again established a White House faith office, the Feb. 7 executive order said it wanted faith-based entities to compete on a level playing field for grants, contracts, programs, and other Federal funding opportunities.Faith-based groups hope their humanitarian work will pass muster with the second Trump administration after a 90-day review is completed.At World Relief, were also pro-life Christians. We believe in the value of human life, Soerens said. Our hope is that the president and the secretary of state examine this as quickly as possible and get things moving on that genuinely lifesaving humanitarian support.A USAID employee who works on lifesaving humanitarian assistance said she has been instructed not to communicate with grantees. She was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.She still finds common cause with faith-based organizations: She has long viewed her secular work of helping the vulnerable as an extension of her own Christian faith.I cant say that if I werent a person of faith, that I wouldnt be in this in this field, she said. But I do think my main motivation is that Christ calls us to be his hands and feet in this world. Thats what I want to be.___AP reporters Nicole Winfield in Rome, Giovanna DellOrto in Minneapolis, and Gary Fields and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. TIFFANY STANLEY Stanley is a reporter and editor on The Associated Press Global Religion team. She is based in Washington, D.C. twitter mailto

Queer folks are not a monolith. And neither are our opinions. While there are certainly cultural moments that seemingly manage a hostile takeover over our discourse, for example anytime Jonathan Bailey speaks, or that time K-Stew rocked a jockstrap on the cover of Rolling Stone. But for every major moment in queer culture, there's a minority of proud hatersfolks who just, hard disagree with the majority opinion. All of us have had that moment, where we feel like all our fellow queers are on crazy pills, only to discover your feelings on the subject are highly unpopular and to say them aloud would cause records to skip, necks to snap, and gasps to, well, be gasped. Today we are offering you a safe space to finally get those controversial opinions off your chest once and for all. Maybe you truly believe that Drag Race was only good when Merle was still a judge or hookup apps are ruining queer culture. Maybe in your heart of hearts, you think George Santos was sort of hot and honestly Wicked actually kinda sucked and speaking of Kristen Stewart, her character did choose the right partner in Happiest Season.Or maybe your secret unpopular gay opinion is something even more serious. Were not here to judge, but we are here to listen.We want to hear your most unpopular and controversial gay opinions! Click here to fill out this form and unburden yourself, vent, and say it all! Dont hold back, because we are publishing the best answers. So, get into it!

A son's coming out is going viral eight years later as the internet celebrates his dad's touching response.Brandon Puszkiewicz, a 31-year-old programs manager for the Indiana chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, posted on TikTok in October, just ahead of National Coming Out Day, a video of his father's reaction to a letter he wrote him coming out as gay."Just over 8 years ago (a week before #nationalcomingoutday ), my dad received my coming out letter in the mail. He called me and left me a voicemail after reading it while I was in class," Brandon wrote in the video's caption. "I refused to listen to it for about 2 hours because I was so anxious what he would say. The sigh of relief I took after listening to it is something Ill never forget."@username_brandoJust over 8 years ago (a week before #nationalcomingoutday), my dad received my coming out letter in the mail. He called me and left me a voicemail after reading it while I was in class. I refused to listen to it for about 2 hours because I was so anxious what he would say. The sigh of relief I took after listening to it is something Ill never forget. On this #nationalcomingoutday, I hope you know how loved and amazing you are. No matter who you are or where you are on this journey, you are loved and welcome here #fyp #gay #lgbtq"On this #nationalcomingoutday , I hope you know how loved and amazing you are. No matter who you are or where you are on this journey, you are loved and welcome here," he added.The video featured a screen recording of the voicemail left by Brandon's father, Matt, who is now 55, telling his son that everything was going to be alright. Yo, whats up buddy? I got your letter today. You little sucker, got me all fucking choked up and crying over here. You know how to write a letter," Matt said in the message. "But I did drink the two beers. You know, you said grab one maybe two. I don't know what your schedule is between work and school and everything else, so feel free to give me a call back. We're all good, man. No worries. Love you." Brandon recently told PEOPLE that the video, which has over a million views, has since inspired others to come out to their families. He hopes that it can continue to be be a teaching moment for families that are having these very open and authentic conversations.Just be on that human level with your kid and just listen to them when they come to you to talk to you about something that's bothering them," Brandon said. "Whether it's sexual orientation or gender expression, or maybe it's their mental health, or whatever is going on in their life."

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)2025-02-12T17:59:48Z JERUSALEM (AP) Israels defense minister on Wednesday vowed that all hell will break loose on Hamas if it fails to free hostages this weekend as planned, stepping up threats against the militant group as mediators worked to salvage their ceasefire.There were signs that the gaps could be bridged. The dispute was sparked when Hamas accused Israel of failing to meet some commitments under the truce, including the delivery of tents and other aid, and said it would delay the next hostage release on Saturday.Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi told The Associated Press there were positive signals the three hostages will be released as planned on Saturday but the group had not yet received a commitment from Israel that it would adhere to the deal.An Egyptian official with knowledge of the talks said the two sides were close to an agreement. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, said Israel had committed to delivering more tents, shelters and heavy equipment to Gaza. Israeli officials had no immediate comment. Israel says it is fulfilling its obligations under the deal, which went into effect on Jan. 19 and has paused the 16-month war in Gaza, bringing respite to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. In the ceasefires current first stage, which is to last 42 days, Israel is to deliver large quantities of aid. Hamas is meant to free 33 hostages taken during its cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Eight of them are said to be dead. Twenty-one have been released so far, along with hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli custody. Israel and Hamas trade threatsHamas threat to delay the hostage release sparked fury from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who vowed to resume the fighting if Hamas didnt follow through and ordered troops to be strengthened around Gaza. They pulled back from the territorys populated areas during the ceasefire.On Wednesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said he was echoing U.S. President Donald Trump by threatening that all hell will break loose if there is no hostage release on Saturday as planned.If Hamas stops releasing the hostages, then there is no deal and there is war, he said during a visit to a military command center. He said the new Gaza war wouldnt end until Hamas was defeated, which would allow for Trumps vision on transferring Gazas population to neighboring countries to be realized.Hamas spokesperson Hazem Kassem rejected the language of U.S. and Israeli threats and called on Israel to implement the terms of the ceasefire deal. Among other claims, Hamas says Israel is not allowing an agreed-upon number of tents, prefabricated homes and heavy machinery into Gaza. Trumps remarks test the delicate truceThe ceasefires stability has also been rocked by Trump, who has proposed relocating Palestinians out of Gaza to neighboring Arab countries so the U.S. can own and rebuild the territory not necessarily for its current inhabitants.Jordan and Egypt, where Trump wants Palestinians moved, have repeatedly and vehemently rejected the proposal. Jordans King Abdullah II did so again after his meeting with Trump at the White House on Tuesday.Trump has also suggested Hamas release all the hostages yet to be freed under the ceasefires first phase at once which emboldened Israel to call for more hostages to be freed on Saturday. The releases have been gradual and almost weekly so far.The latest ceasefire dispute came as Israel and Hamas were expected to begin negotiations on a second phase of the deal, which would extend the truce, bring about the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and see the remaining living hostages freed.But there appears to have been little progress on those talks.Netanyahu is under pressure from his political partners, on whom he relies to remain in power, to resume the war after the first phase. But he also faces surging outrage from many Israelis, who are stunned by the emaciated condition of the three hostages released last Saturday and want him to follow through with the deal.___Magdy reported from Cairo.___Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war TIA GOLDENBERG Goldenberg is an Associated Press reporter and producer covering Israel and the Palestinian territories. She previously reported on East and West Africa from Nairobi. twitter mailto

In this Sept. 17, 2019 file photo, R. Kelly appears during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool, File)2025-02-12T17:48:22Z NEW YORK (AP) R. Kellys racketeering and sex trafficking convictions, along with a 30-year prison sentence, were upheld Wednesday by a federal appeals court that concluded the singer exploited his fame for over a quarter century to sexually abuse girls and young women.The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled Wednesday after hearing arguments last March.The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling R&B songwriter was convicted in 2021 in Brooklyn federal court of multiple charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking.Attorney Jennifer Bonjean, representing R. Kelly, said in a statement that she believed the Supreme Court will agree to hear an appeal. She called the 2nd Circuit ruling unprecedented, saying it gives prosecutors limitless discretion to apply the racketeering law to situations absurdly remote from the statutes intent. Last year, the high court declined to hear an appeal of a 20-year sentence Kelly received after he was convicted in 2022 of child sex charges including charges of producing images of child sexual abuse in Chicago.The 2nd Circuit rejected Kellys arguments that the trial evidence was inadequate, the constitutionality of some state laws used against him were questionable, four jurors were biased, the trial judge made some improper rulings and a racketeering charge more commonly used in organized crime cases was improper. Enabled by a constellation of managers, assistants, and other staff for over twenty-five years, Kelly exploited his fame to lure girls and young women into his grasp, the appeals court said, noting members of his entourage helped introduce him to underage girls. Evidence at trial showed that he would isolate them from friends and family, control nearly every aspect of their lives, and abuse them verbally, physically, and sexually, the three-judge panel said. The appeals court said it was neither arbitrary nor irrational that several accusers were permitted to testify at trial that Kelly gave them herpes without disclosing he had an STD, and it was not unduly prejudicial or cumulative that seven witnesses who were not yet adults when Kelly began to abuse them were allowed to testify.None of the testimony was more inflammatory than the charged acts, the appeals court said.The 2nd Circuit also said it was not unfairly prejudicial for the trial judge to let jurors view graphic videos. The videos, the appeals court said, were properly admitted to show the means and methods of the enterprise, including the level of control and dominance Kelly had over his victims.Bonjean, in her statement on R. Kellys behalf, also cited a partial dissent in which one 2nd Circuit judge, Richard J. Sullivan, concurred with what he described as the majoritys excellent opinion, but dissented in part over a restitution award given one victim for a lifetime supply of a suppressive regime of herpes medication. The award was based on the cost of the brand-name drug when a generic drug is available.This was not restitution. This was an effort by the government to unfairly enrich government witnesses for their testimony, Bonjean said. Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is known for work including the 1996 hit I Believe I Can Fly and the cult classic Trapped in the Closet, a multipart tale of sexual betrayal and intrigue.Kelly sold millions of albums and remained in demand even after allegations about his abuse of young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. He was acquitted of child sexual abuse image charges in Chicago in 2008, but a second trial in Chicago in 2022 ended with his conviction on charges of producing images of child sexual abuse and enticing girls for sex.Widespread outrage over Kellys sexual misconduct did not emerge until the #MeToo reckoning, reaching a crescendo after the release of the documentary Surviving R. Kelly.

It was never a question of when Biancco Gardner, 32, an Atlanta-based program manager and construction company owner, would become a father but how. As a single gay dad to five-month-old daughter Bianca, Gardner says the birth of his daughter via traditional surrogacy was a second chance at fatherhood after missing a previous opportunity. He [...]The post Single Gay Dad Shares Surrogacy Journey Ahead of Men Having Babies Atlanta Conference as Attendance Surges first appeared on GLAAD.

After 17 whole seasons and dozens of spin-offs you might think youve seen it all on RuPauls Drag Race, but Hormona Lisa proves there are always more surprises and new stories to be told on the hit drag competition series. Case in point: How Hormona made her way into the Werk Room to begin with. It wasnt the queens audition tape that clinched her spot in season 17; instead, in an unprecedented move, Hormona found herself being hand selected by Mama Ru herself during the drag icons The House of Hidden Meanings book tour stop in Atlanta. It was an entrance that caused a stir and plenty of tension with her season 17 sisters. But that was just the beginning. This Southern queen continued to pull focus with her polished looks, delightful drag delusion, and bless your heart coded shade so sharp it could cut a b*tch.While the Sea Sickening Ball challenge saw Hormona sashaying away, she left her mark on Drag Race history with her charismatic ability to take a joke, her unique personality, her nerve-y reads, and her comedic talent. Also, all the drama. PRIDE caught up with Hormona to talk about what really went down with Lexi Love and the infamous rhinestone-gate, how Suzie Toot was involved, and she clears the air about her connection to Dolly Parton and that offer she made to Acacia Forgot.See on InstagramPRIDE: I loved watching you this season. You were incredible. You brought this bless your heart coded shade that I was just living for. How are you feeling about your time on?HORMONA LISA: I feel good about it. I think that it really does represent me as a person, because I have many layers. I have that Southern, bless your heartness, but Im [also] a very compassionate person, and I think that comes across in Untucked as well. I also dont allow people to like, run over me, I think that that comes across too.But I think that all those things come together ... theres not really a contestant that brings those different aspects the way that I do. Across social media too, [people are] saying that I have the most unique personality thats ever been showcased on Drag Race, which is kind of like a bold statement. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hormona Lisa (@hormona_lisa)What else would we expect from someone who took probably the nerviest path of getting on the show, going up to Ru herself and being selected. But do you feel like it ended up adding more pressure for you?I did not feel any additional pressure from it, because, at the end of the day, I got there based on my own merit.Do you feel like it impacted your relationship with your season 17 sisters?I definitely do, and I really didnt understand why from the beginning, to be honest. I felt like their attitude towards me was because they didnt think I deserved to be there. Thats what I initially thought. But then after getting to know some of the girls and talking, apparently it was more so that since I was personally hand selected, whatever you want to call it by Ru, that [it] more so meant I was a shoe-in to win. So its kind of the opposite, I guess, [since] I thought it was because I didnt think I deserved to be there, but in reality, its because I thought I was so good that I was going to win. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hormona Lisa (@hormona_lisa)One of the things I loved about watching you on the season is that you did have moments with so many of your sisters. Beautiful moments and dramatic moments. One that stands out of course is rhinestone gate with Lexi Love. There has been some back and forth about whether or not she let you have it, so I want to know if you could clarify that and if Suzie Toot was wearing rhinestones as well.Lexi did not let me have it. This is what happened in the moment. She had said earlier in the day, she thought ... out of me, her, and Lucky, one would be top, one would be safe, one would be in the bottom. She knew Lucky [Starzzz] would be in the bottom. She thought she was going to be in the top. And then when we left and came back, and I had a stoned gown, shes like, Oh shit, shes going to be in the top over me. She was just saying, Oh, youre going to beat me. And then all of a sudden shes like, Youre not supposed to use that. So youre going to cheat and get over on me, and win. Blah, blah, blah and that was it. There was no, letting me have it. She didnt raise her voice. She didnt say something so clever that my body shut down. She just basically had a tantrum. Having a tantrum does not equate to letting somebody have it.As far as Suzie goes, yeah, I saw Suzies stones before Lexi even said anything about mine. I saw Suzie had stones on her little head piece that she made in her hotel room. And, you know, I could have brought it up. But with cardboard, of course, if you E-6000 something on top of it, its going to rip it to shreds. So she would have had to start completely over. Im just not someone thats going to do that even if she had this crazy couture gown that Im like, Oh, shes going to win, I still wouldnt have done that because that doesnt make me feel any better. Up until that point, I liked Suzie enough where it would make no sense for me to make her take them off. And she was also so proud of it. I wish you could have seen her sweet little face. She was carrying it around like it was a big head of a buck, or a rack of antlers. Its so big that shes so proud of it that shes bringing home to feed her family. Thats really how she acted with her little headpiece. I just could not take that joy away from that kid. I could not. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hormona Lisa (@hormona_lisa)See, theres the compassionate Hormona and the bless your heart shade all in one answer! This is why we love you. Okay? I gotta know: Do you actually know Dolly Parton, and would she really have done you a solid regarding Acacia Forgot if she had helped you out with the Rate-A-Queen?As decent as I think Acacias music is, I do not think... in any solar system thats going to happen. [Dollys] not going to do any kind of collaboration with Acacia. But yes, one of Dollys foundations... her nephew or something, he runs that, and I know him. Ive not ever met her in person. To clarify, we dont have dinner together, like I dont go hang out with her. Ive never seen her without her wigs on or nothing. But I do know the family, and they have a foundation that has sponsored me in pageants. Those are both true things. Would they have ever collaborated with Acacia? No. And to Acacia, Im really sorry if it came across like I thought you had a chance to do that. I was really just joking, like, and not because shes not good at whatever it is that she does. See, I just sound like a very shady person, but I did not mean it, because shes a good singer, but she also, as we saw in RDR Live, shes a good actress too. So whatever she does, shes good at, is what Im trying to say. But no, Dolly doesnt collaborate with just anybody. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hormona Lisa (@hormona_lisa)Seeing you, Lexi, and Hunter Shaefer in Untucked together this week was so powerful, especially in a time when the world is getting scarier and scarier, particularly for trans folks. Im curious, how are you taking care of yourself right now? Do you have any advice for others, for the dolls out there right now?Love yourself so much where it doesnt matter if somebody else doesnt in your immediate life. But then I think that, as a broader look at it with legislation and the government, I really dont know. The thing is, theres a rainbow after a storm and thats kind of what were in right now. Its scary for me too.See on InstagramPRIDE: I loved watching you this season. You were incredible. You brought this bless your heart coded shade that I was just living for. How are you feeling about your time on?HORMONA LISA: I feel good about it. I think that it really does represent me as a person, because I have many layers. I have that Southern, bless your heartness, but Im [also] a very compassionate person, and I think that comes across in Untucked as well. I also dont allow people to like, run over me, I think that that comes across too.But I think that all those things come together ... theres not really a contestant that brings those different aspects the way that I do. Across social media too, [people are] saying that I have the most unique personality thats ever been showcased on Drag Race, which is kind of like a bold statement. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hormona Lisa (@hormona_lisa)What else would we expect from someone who took probably the nerviest path of getting on the show, going up to Ru herself and being selected. But do you feel like it ended up adding more pressure for you?I did not feel any additional pressure from it, because, at the end of the day, I got there based on my own merit.Do you feel like it impacted your relationship with your season 17 sisters?I definitely do, and I really didnt understand why from the beginning, to be honest. I felt like their attitude towards me was because they didnt think I deserved to be there. Thats what I initially thought. But then after getting to know some of the girls and talking, apparently it was more so that since I was personally hand selected, whatever you want to call it by Ru, that [it] more so meant I was a shoe-in to win. So its kind of the opposite, I guess, [since] I thought it was because I didnt think I deserved to be there, but in reality, its because I thought I was so good that I was going to win. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hormona Lisa (@hormona_lisa)One of the things I loved about watching you on the season is that you did have moments with so many of your sisters. Beautiful moments and dramatic moments. One that stands out of course is rhinestone gate with Lexi Love. There has been some back and forth about whether or not she let you have it, so I want to know if you could clarify that and if Suzie Toot was wearing rhinestones as well.Lexi did not let me have it. This is what happened in the moment. She had said earlier in the day, she thought ... out of me, her, and Lucky, one would be top, one would be safe, one would be in the bottom. She knew Lucky [Starzzz] would be in the bottom. She thought she was going to be in the top. And then when we left and came back, and I had a stoned gown, shes like, Oh shit, shes going to be in the top over me. She was just saying, Oh, youre going to beat me. And then all of a sudden shes like, Youre not supposed to use that. So youre going to cheat and get over on me, and win. Blah, blah, blah and that was it. There was no, letting me have it. She didnt raise her voice. She didnt say something so clever that my body shut down. She just basically had a tantrum. Having a tantrum does not equate to letting somebody have it.As far as Suzie goes, yeah, I saw Suzies stones before Lexi even said anything about mine. I saw Suzie had stones on her little head piece that she made in her hotel room. And, you know, I could have brought it up. But with cardboard, of course, if you E-6000 something on top of it, its going to rip it to shreds. So she would have had to start completely over. Im just not someone thats going to do that even if she had this crazy couture gown that Im like, Oh, shes going to win, I still wouldnt have done that because that doesnt make me feel any better. Up until that point, I liked Suzie enough where it would make no sense for me to make her take them off. And she was also so proud of it. I wish you could have seen her sweet little face. She was carrying it around like it was a big head of a buck, or a rack of antlers. Its so big that shes so proud of it that shes bringing home to feed her family. Thats really how she acted with her little headpiece. I just could not take that joy away from that kid. I could not. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hormona Lisa (@hormona_lisa)See, theres the compassionate Hormona and the bless your heart shade all in one answer! This is why we love you. Okay? I gotta know: Do you actually know Dolly Parton, and would she really have done you a solid regarding Acacia Forgot if she had helped you out with the Rate-A-Queen?As decent as I think Acacias music is, I do not think... in any solar system thats going to happen. [Dollys] not going to do any kind of collaboration with Acacia. But yes, one of Dollys foundations... her nephew or something, he runs that, and I know him. Ive not ever met her in person. To clarify, we dont have dinner together, like I dont go hang out with her. Ive never seen her without her wigs on or nothing. But I do know the family, and they have a foundation that has sponsored me in pageants. Those are both true things. Would they have ever collaborated with Acacia? No. And to Acacia, Im really sorry if it came across like I thought you had a chance to do that. I was really just joking, like, and not because shes not good at whatever it is that she does. See, I just sound like a very shady person, but I did not mean it, because shes a good singer, but she also, as we saw in RDR Live, shes a good actress too. So whatever she does, shes good at, is what Im trying to say. But no, Dolly doesnt collaborate with just anybody. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hormona Lisa (@hormona_lisa)Seeing you, Lexi, and Hunter Shaefer in Untucked together this week was so powerful, especially in a time when the world is getting scarier and scarier, particularly for trans folks. Im curious, how are you taking care of yourself right now? Do you have any advice for others, for the dolls out there right now?Love yourself so much where it doesnt matter if somebody else doesnt in your immediate life. But then I think that, as a broader look at it with legislation and the government, I really dont know. The thing is, theres a rainbow after a storm and thats kind of what were in right now. Its scary for me too.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a briefing at the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)2025-02-12T18:37:19Z Follow live updates on President Donald Trump and his new administration. WASHINGTON (AP) The White House said Wednesday that court rulings going against the Trump administration are coming from judicial activists on the bench whose decisions amount to a constitutional crisis.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the comments as she pushed back against critics of Republican President Donald Trumps expansive actions slashing the government workforce and federal spending.We believe these judges are acting as judicial activists rather than honest arbiters of the law, Leavitt said.Trumps moves in the first weeks of his second term to overhaul the federal government and fulfill his campaign promises have been met with more than 50 lawsuits, with judges blocking some of his administrations moves at least temporarily. Top administration officials have responded by attacking the legitimacy of judicial oversight, one of the foundations of Americas democracy which is based on the separation of powers. The focus on the courts has intensified as the other long-standing check on the presidency, the Congress, is Republican-controlled and has largely gone along with Trumps unilateral actions, including his firing of government watchdogs. When asked Wednesday if the White House believes the courts have the authority to issue nationwide injunctions to Trumps orders, Leavitt said the rulings have no basis in the law and have no grounds. She said the White House would comply with the courts but believed the administration would ultimately be vindicated. This is part of a larger, concerted effort by Democrat activists, and nothing more than the continuation of the weaponization of justice against President Trump, Leavitt said, referring to Trumps personal legal challenges, including the criminal trial in New York in which he was convicted last year.Judges have blocked, at least temporarily, his effort to end birthright citizenship, permit access to Treasury Department records by billionaire Elon Musks so-called Department of Government Efficiency and roll out a mass deferred resignation plan for federal workers. Musk, the worlds richest man who has been given far-reaching powers by Trump to shrink the federal government, has posted on social media that judges who rule against the administration should be impeached.A corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached NOW! Musk wrote about the judge in the Treasury Department case. Vice President JD Vance said Sunday on X, If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, thats also illegal. Judges arent allowed to control the executives legitimate power.As court cases pile up, questions have arisen about whether Trump, pushing to expand the limits of presidential power, would comply with court rulings.Trump on Tuesday said he would, but suggested he would consider some kind of response to the judges and called their actions a violation. It seems hard to believe that a judge could say, We dont want you to do that. So maybe we have to look at the judges because thats very serious, I think its a very serious violation, Trump said. Leavitt made clear that Trumps team will also seek every legal remedy to ultimately overturn these radical injunctions and ensure President Trumps policies can be enacted, she said. ___Price reported from New York. MICHELLE L. PRICE Price is a national political reporter for The Associated Press. She is based in New York. twitter mailto ZEKE MILLER Zeke is APs chief White House correspondent twitter mailto

Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, on June 26, 2022. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP File)2025-02-12T19:39:08Z NEW YORK (AP) Sean Diddy Combs is suing NBC Universal over a documentary that he says falsely accuses him of being a serial murderer who had sex with underage girls as he awaits trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York state court says the documentary, Diddy: Making of a Bad Boy, included statements that NBC Universal either knew were false or published with reckless disregard for the truth in order to defame the founder of Bad Boy Records.Indeed, the entire premise of the Documentary assumes that Mr. Combs has committed numerous heinous crimes, including serial murder, rape of minors, and sex trafficking of minors, and attempts to crudely psychologize him, the complaint reads. It maliciously and baselessly jumps to the conclusion that Mr. Combs is a monster and an embodiment of Lucifer with a lot of similarities to Jeffrey Epstein. Spokespersons for NBC Universal and the entertainment company that produced the documentary, which is also named in the suit, didnt immediately respond to emails seeking comment. The documentary premiered last month on Peacock TV, the networks streaming service. From his childhood to becoming a mogul, this raw look at Sean Combs journey through exclusive footage and candid interviews explores his rise, controversies and the man behind the music, a description of the documentary on Peacocks website reads. Combs, who is seeking no less than $100 million in damages, has been in Brooklyn federal prison since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.Federal prosecutors say he used his wealth and influence to coerce female victims and male sex workers into drug-fueled, dayslong sexual performances known as Freak Offs. They say Combs used blackmail and violence to intimidate and threaten his victims in a pattern of abuse that goes back to the early 2000s. Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial is slated to start in May.Erica Wolff, an attorney for Combs, said NBC and the other entities named in the suit maliciously and recklessly broadcast outrageous lies in order to line their own pockets by driving viewership to the documentary. In making and broadcasting these falsehoods, among others, Defendants seek only to capitalize on the publics appetite for scandal without any regard for the truth and at the expense of Mr. Combss right to a fair trial, she said in a statement. Mr. Combs brings this lawsuit to hold Defendants accountable for the extraordinary damage their reckless statements have caused.Combs lawsuit says the documentary falsely, recklessly, and maliciously accuses him of murdering Kimberly Porter, Christopher Wallace and Dwight Arrington Myers, among other notable names.Porter, a model who had been Combs longtime girlfriend and the mother of some of his children, died in 2008 at the age of 47 from complications from pneumonia. Wallace, the rapper known as The Notorious B.I.G., was killed in 1997 in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles at age 24. Myers, the rapper known as Heavy D, died from a pulmonary embolism in 2011 at the age of 44. It shamelessly advances conspiracy theories that lack any foundation in reality, repeatedly insinuating that Mr. Combs is a serial killer because it cannot be a coincidence that multiple people in Mr. Combss orbit have died, the complaint reads.Elsewhere, the complaint says the documentary delved into claims Combs had sex with underage girls, citing as evidence a civil complaint thats been thoroughly discredited. Combs lawyers say the women referenced in that complaint have since confirmed they were adults at the time.___Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo. PHILIP MARCELO Marcelo is a general assignment reporter in the NYC bureau. He previously wrote for AP Fact Check and before that was based in Boston, where he focused on race and immigration. twitter mailto

People attend a protest in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, at the CFPB headquarters in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)2025-02-12T18:33:35Z NEW YORK (AP) The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Congress established to monitor credit card companies, mortgage providers, debt collectors and other segments of the consumer finance industry, is the latest U.S. government agency to have its work halted by the Trump administration.Conservatives have long targeted the work of the CFPB. Critics complain the independent agency, funded by the Federal Reserve System, lacks sufficient supervision and regularly exceeds its regulatory authority. Defenders argue the bureaus watchdog mission has strong bipartisan support.Heres some background on the scope of the CFPBs activities and how the agencys tenuous status might affect consumers: What does the CFPB regulate?The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is charged with creating rules and taking enforcement actions to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices by a wide range of financial institutions and businesses. Its actions involve banks, mortgage servicers, credit card companies, student loan processors, payday lenders, money transfer providers, credit reporting agencies and debt collectors. During the Biden administration, the CFPB passed rules capping bank overdraft fees and removing medical debt from credit reports. The bureau sued financial services companies for misleading consumers and employers for misleading workers. It also focused on curbing junk fees and predatory lending practices. How long has the CFPB been around?Congress established the agency as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The legislation was intended to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. The CFPB says it has obtained nearly $20 billion for consumers since then in the form of monetary compensation, canceled debts, reduced loans and other financial relief. What has the Trump administration done to the CFPB?Russell Vought, the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget, told the CFPB last weekend to stop its investigations and work on proposed rules. He instructed the agency to suspend the enforcement dates of any rules that had been finalized but not yet put into effect, and closed the CFPBs offices for a week. Vought sent an email to employees on Monday morning saying they should not perform any work tasks. They were directed to contact the top lawyer for the Office of Management and Budget to get approval in writing before doing anything.Vought also said in a social media post that the agency would not withdraw its next round of funding from the Federal Reserve, which Congress assigned as the CFPBs funding source to avoid the political wrangling of the congressional appropriations process. Two top officials resigned Tuesday in protest. Also Tuesday, Trump named Jonathan McKernan, a former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation board member, as the agencys new director. What put the agency in the crosshairs? Before Trump took office, banks and industry groups sometimes sued to block some of the agencys rules. For example, when the CFPB issued a rule in 2017 to limit the number of payments the providers of payday loans, vehicle title loans, and high-cost installment loans could take from customer bank accounts, trade associations for payday lenders challenged the bureaus Federal Reserve funding as unconstitutional. In May 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected their argument and upheld the CFPBs funding and oversight model. Trump on Monday defended his administrations efforts to reform the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying the agency was set up to destroy people. What Biden-era rules and regulations are on hold?The overdraft fee rule was finalized and set to take effect in October, but Voughts directive puts it on hold. Banks had previously sued to get the rule thrown out. The rule would require the largest banks to pick one of three options: to reduce overdraft fees to $5, to reduce them to a rate that reflects how much an overdraft costs them, or to disclose, along with the fee, the fees Annual Percent Rate (APR) as they do with other short-term loans. Overdraft fees currently run about $35 on average. The CFPB finalized a rule in January that would remove medical debt from credit reports. The agency had said the change could potentially improve the credit scores of millions of people and make it easier for them to get mortgages and other loans. The rule was set to take effect 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register but is now suspended. It also was the subject of a legal challenge.President Trump campaigned on lowering prices, and a lot of people voted for him because of high prices. and yet were seeing Republicans move to make them pay high overdraft fees and pay more for loans on their credit, said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center. The public broadly thinks that overdraft fees are unfair and medical debt shouldnt be on credit reports. If you ask ordinary people, these are not partisan issues. How is industry responding?Lindsey Johnson, president and CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association, characterized the CFPBs work under Biden as aggressive. She said the agency took action in recent years without going through the appropriate procedures.We dont believe they had the proper oversight, she said.Miranda Margowsky, a spokesperson for the Financial Technology Association, an industry group that counts many financial technology companies as members, said her organization anticipates and hopes several CFPB rules, including those governing buy now, pay later plans and other fintech products, will be reversed with the stroke of a pen.She characterized the rules as overly broad, overreaching, and harmful.How are consumer advocates responding?Supporters of the CFPB protested outside the bureaus shuttered Washington headquarters this week. NAACP President Derrick Johnson and others have demanded the offices reopening.The CFPB has provided crucial protections against big banks and lenders, Johnson said in a statement. Without this critical oversight, consumers especially Black and Brown communities will be vulnerable to fraud, predatory lending, and discriminatory financial practices.Kitty Richards, senior strategic advisor at the advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative, said consumers today are more vulnerable to data privacy violations, junk fees, and financial scams. Without the CFPB, corporations are freer to prey on the American people without fearing they might have to give back the money, she said.___The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism. CORA LEWIS Lewis is an Associated Press business reporter based in New York. twitter mailto

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill, Jan. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)2025-02-12T17:12:57Z WASHINGTON (AP) Republican Sen. Katie Britt has been working to make sure the Trump administrations Department of Government Efficiency doesnt hit what she called life-saving, groundbreaking research at high-achieving institutions, including her states beloved University of Alabama.Kansas GOP Sen. Jerry Moran is worried that food from heartland farmers would spoil rather than be sent around the world as the U.S. Agency for International Development shutters.And Idaho GOP Rep. Mike Simpson warns national parks could be impaired by cutbacks at the start of summer hiring in preparation for the onslaught of visitors.We need to have a conversation with DOGE and the administration about exactly what theyve done here, said Simpson, a seasoned lawmaker who sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee. Its a concern to all of us. One by one, in public statements and private conversations, Republican lawmakers are beginning to speak up to protect home-state interests, industries and jobs that are endangered by President Donald Trumps executive actions and the slash-and-burn tactics erupting across the federal government by billionaire Elon Musk s DOGE. While Democrats have been denouncing the impact of Trumps cuts on Americans, the stirrings from Republicans are less a collective action than targeted complaints. Almost none are openly questioning the purpose or legality of the DOGE effort, which the party has largely cheered. But taken together, the quiet concerns are the first glimmers of GOP pushback against Trumps upending of the federal government. The people voted for major government reform, and thats what the people are going to get, Musk said Tuesday in the Oval Office with Trump.The situation unfolding on a scale like nothing Washington has ever seen as Trump issues executive actions at a rapid clip and Musks team roams agency to agency, tapping into computer systems, digging into budgets and searching for what he calls waste, fraud and abuse. Dozens of lawsuits are piling up claiming Trump and DOGE are violating the law. While presidents have long taken liberty with their authority to issue executive orders, actions and proclamations toward their goals, the White House typically chooses a few signature priorities to make a mark rather than employ such vast power to sweep across the government. Former President Barack Obama, for example, used executive authority to protect from deportation an entire group of immigrants the young Dreamers who came to the U.S. as children without proper paperwork. Former President Joe Biden used his executive authority to cancel student loan debt for millions. Both actions have been in court and are still making their way through the legal system.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said DOGE is taking a meat ax to the federal government.If you want to make cuts, then you do it through a debate in Congress, said the New York senator, not lawlessly. It raises questions about what happens next as judges are quickly slapping on limits and halting many of the White House actions. Both Musk and Vice President JD Vance have questioned the legitimacy of judicial oversight, which is a mainstay of the U.S. democracy and its balance of power. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he met with Musk at the start of the week and has no concern that DOGE is going too far or treading on Congress authority to direct taxpayer dollars or provide oversight of the executive branch. To me, its very exciting what theyre able to do because what Elon and the DOGE is doing right now is what Congress has been unable to do in recent years, the Louisiana Republican said, referring to the spending reviews underway.Johnson said he agrees with Vance and suggested the courts should cool it.The courts should take a step back and allow these processes to play out, he said. What were doing is good and right for the American people.Alabamas Britt was far from alone in speaking up about Trumps caps on the National Institutes of Health grant program that hit universities, medical centers and research institutions coast to coast. While the administration works to achieve this goal at NIH, a smart, targeted approach is needed, the senator said in a statement. North Carolina GOP Sen. Ted Budd said he has heard from constituents in his state, home to the Raleigh areas influential Research Triangle. And Sen. Susan Collins, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, listed the ways scientists in Maine are conducting much-needed research on Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, Alzheimers, diabetes, Duchennes Muscular Dystrophy, as well as other research as she decried the funding caps.There is no investment that pays greater dividends to American families than our investment in biomedical research, Collins said in a statement. As the U.S. Agency for International Development was being dismantled, Kansas Moran said on social media that U.S. food aid feeds the hungry, bolsters our national security & provides an important market for our farmers, especially when commodity prices are low.The senator said he spoke to the Department of Agriculture and the White House about the importance of resuming the procurement, shipping & distribution of American-grown food.Moran and others have been working on legislation that would move management of food aid program from USAID to USDA.On Saturday, Moran shared an update: GOOD NEWS: State Dept. has approved shipping to resume, allowing NGOs to distribute the $560 million of American-grown food aid sitting in US & global ports to those in need. He thanked Secretary of State Marco Rubio for helping make certain this life-saving aid gets to those in need before it spoils.Its unclear, however, if the aid work will have the funding to resume. And the gutting of global supply lines for aid shipments, thanks to the shuttering of USAID, also makes it uncertain that enough workers can be found to deliver stalled food aid, aid groups say.In Florida, GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez is trying to help Venezuelans, who fled their homeland and are now living in the Miami area under Temporary Protected Status, from being deported as Trump ends the program.Gimenez wrote last month to ask the administration to consider Venezuelans on a case-by-case basis.I support the president in the vast majority of things he does, Gimenez told the Associated Press. As a member of Congress, I also have to represent the interests of my constituents, he said. Asked if he felt he had the power to make a difference, he replied: Im not powerless. Im a member of Congress.

Cartons of eggs sit inside cooler at Norma's Sweets Bakery Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Stephen Smith)2025-02-12T18:55:37Z OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Egg prices hit a record high as the U.S. contends with an ongoing bird flu outbreak, but consumers didnt need government figures released Wednesday to tell them eggs are terribly expensive and hard to find at times because of an ongoing.The latest monthly consumer price index showed that the average price of a dozen Grade A eggs in U.S. cities reached $4.95 in January, eclipsing the previous record of $4.82 set two years earlier and more than double the low of $2.04 that was recorded in August 2023.The spike in egg prices was the biggest since the nations last bird flu outbreak in 2015 and accounted for roughly two-thirds of the total increase in food costs last month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of course, that is only the nationwide average. A carton of eggs can cost $10 or more in some places. And specialized varieties, such as organic and cage-free eggs, are even more expensive.We do use eggs a little less often now. You know, because of the price, said Jon Florey as he surveyed his options in the egg case at Encinal Market in Alameda, California. I was going to make a quiche that I like to make and its about six eggs, so I figured Id do something else. When are egg prices expected to go down?Relief is not expected any time soon. Egg prices typically spike around Easter due to high holiday demand. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted last month that egg prices were likely to go up 20% this year.Even if shoppers can afford eggs, they may have difficulty finding them at times. Some grocers are having trouble keeping their shelves stocked, and customers are encountering surcharges and limits on how many cartons they can buy at a time. Encinal Market owner Joe Trimble said he has a hard time getting all the eggs he orders from his suppliers, so most of the time his shelves are only about 25% full.Its something you dont think about until you look at the shelf and its nearly empty, Trimble said. Eggs are just expected to be there in the same way you expect there to be milk. Its a key item to have in a grocery store because people dont go out looking for something else to eat on a Saturday morning. They want it. They want to have some scrambled eggs or over-easy eggs on a Saturday morning. How bad is the bird flu outbreak?The main reason that eggs are more expensive is the bird flu outbreak. When the virus is found on a farm, the entire flock is killed to limit the spread of disease. Because massive egg farms may have millions of birds, just one outbreak may put a dent in the egg supply. Nearly 158 million birds have been slaughtered overall since the outbreak began.The Agriculture Department says more than 23 million birds were slaughtered last month and more than 18 million were killed in December to limit the spread of the bird flu virus. Those numbers include turkeys and chickens raised for meat, but the vast majority of them were egg-laying chickens.And when there is an outbreak on a farm, it often takes several months to dispose of the carcasses, sanitize the barns and raise new birds until they are old enough to start producing eggs, so the effects linger. Bird flu cases often spike in the spring and fall when wild birds are migrating because they are the main source of the virus, but cases can pop up any time of year. The virus has also spread to cattle and other species, and dozens of people mostly farmworkers taking care of ill animals have been sickened.But health officials say the threat to human health remains low and eggs and poultry are safe to eat because sick animals arent allowed into the food supply. Plus, properly cooking meat and eggs to at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit kills any virus, and pasteurization neutralizes bird flu in milk. What else is driving egg prices up?Egg farmers also face higher feed, fuel and labor costs these days because of inflation. Plus, farmers are investing more in biosecurity measures to try to protect their birds. Ten states have passed laws allowing the sale of eggs only from cage-free environments. The supply of those eggs is tighter and focused in certain regions, so the effect on prices can be magnified when outbreaks hit cage-free egg farms. Many of the egg farms with recent outbreaks were cage-free farms in California. Cage-free egg laws have already gone into effect in California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Michigan.Total demand for eggs is also up significantly in recent years. Consumers are buying more eggs, and the growth of all-day breakfast restaurants is adding to demand.CoBank analyst Brian Earnest said the current cost of eggs could discourage some buying, which would ease the demand pressure but might not have a noticeable effect. It will likely take months for egg producers to fill the gaps in supply.As consumers continue to stock up on eggs, supplies at the store level will remain tight, and with Easter right around the corner, that could prolong the tighter supplies, Earnest said.While prices remain elevated, producers of baked goods and other food items that rely on eggs as a main ingredient will have to decide how much to increase prices or reduce production, he said. ___Associated Press reporter Terry Chea contributed to this report from Alameda, California. JOSH FUNK Funk is an Associated Press reporter who covers all the major freight railroads including Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Canadian National and CPKC. Funk also covers Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway and has been attending Buffetts Woodstock for Capitalists annual meeting every spring in Omaha, Nebraska, for 19 years. twitter mailto

A community member holds a sign calling for a national boycott of Target stores during a news conference outside Target Corporation's headquarters Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt, File)2025-02-12T15:59:48Z A growing number of prominent companies have scaled back or set aside the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that much of corporate America endorsed following the protests that accompanied the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in 2020.The changes have come in response to a campaign by conservative activists to target workplace programs in the courts and social media, and more recently, President Donald Trumps executive orders aimed at upending DEI policies in both the federal government and private sector. DEI policies typically are intended to root out systemic barriers to the advancement of historically marginalized groups in certain fields or roles. Critics argue that some education, government and business programs are discriminatory because they single out participants based on factors such as race, gender and sexual orientation. They have targeted corporate sponsorships, employee-led affinity groups, programs aimed at steering contracts to minority or women-owned businesses, and goals that some companies established for increasing minority representation in leadership ranks. While hiring or promotion decisions based on race or gender is illegal under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in most circumstances, companies say they are not doing that. Instead, they say they aspire to diversify their workforce over time through policies like widening candidate pools for job openings.These are some of the companies that have retreated from DEI: Goldman SachsInvestment firm Goldman Sachs confirmed that it was dropping a requirement that forced IPO clients to include women and members of minority groups on their board of directors. As a result of legal developments related to board diversity requirements, we ended our formal board diversity policy, said a Goldman Sachs spokesman in an email to The Associated Press. We continue to believe that successful boards benefit from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and we will encourage them to take this approach. Goldman Sachs said that it will still have a placement service that connects its clients with diverse candidates to serve on their boards. GoogleGoogle rescinded a goal it had set in 2020 to increase representation of underrepresented groups among the companys leadership team by 30% within five years. In a memo to employees, the company also said it was considering other changes in response to Trumps executive order aimed at prohibiting federal contractors from conducting DEI practices that constitute illegal discrimination. Googles parent company Alphabet also signaled things were changing in its annual 10-K report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The report dropped a boilerplate sentence it has used since 2020 declaring that the company is committed to making diversity, equity, and inclusion part of everything we do and to growing a workforce that is representative of the users we serve. TargetThe retailer said that changes to its Belonging at the Bullseye strategy would include ending a program it established to help Black employees build meaningful careers, improve the experience of Black shoppers and to promote Black-owned businesses following Floyds death in Minneapolis, where Target has its headquarters.Target, which operates nearly 2,000 stores nationwide and employs more than 400,000 people, said it also would conclude the diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, goals it previously set in three-year cycles.The goals included hiring and promoting more women and members of racial minority groups, and recruiting more diverse suppliers, including businesses owned by people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, veterans and people with disabilities.Target also will no longer participate in surveys designed to gauge the effectiveness of its actions, including an annual index compiled by the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ+ rights organization. Target also said it would further evaluate corporate partnerships to ensure theyre connected directly to business objectives, but declined to share details. Meta PlatformsThe parent company of Facebook and Instagram said it was getting rid of its diversity, equity and inclusion program, which featured policies for hiring, training and picking vendors.Like other companies that announced similar changes before Meta, the social media giant said it had been reviewing the program since the Supreme Courts July 2023 ruling upending affirmative action in higher education.Citing an internal memo sent to employees, news website Axios reported the Menlo Park, California-based tech giant said it would no longer have a team focused on diversity and inclusion and will instead focus on how to apply fair and consistent practices that mitigate bias for all, no matter your background. The change means the company will also end its diverse slate approach to hiring, which involved considering a diverse pool of candidates for every open position. AmazonAmazon said it was halting some of its DEI programs, although it did not specify which ones. In a Dec. 16 memo to employees, Candi Castleberry, a senior human resources executive, said the company has been winding down outdated programs and materials, and were aiming to complete that by the end of 2024.We also know there will always be individuals or teams who continue to do well-intentioned things that dont align with our company-wide approach, and we might not always see those right away. But well keep at it, she wrote.Rather than have individual groups build programs, Castleberry said, Amazon is focusing on programs with proven outcomes and we also aim to foster a more truly inclusive culture.McDonaldsFour years after launching a push for more diversity in its ranks, McDonalds said earlier this month that it is ending some of its diversity practices.McDonalds said on Jan. 6 that it will retire specific goals for achieving diversity at senior leadership levels. It also intends to end a program that encourages its suppliers to develop diversity training and to increase the number of minority group members represented within their own leadership ranks.McDonalds said it will also pause external surveys. The burger giant didnt elaborate, but several other companies have suspended their participation in an annual survey by the HRC.In an open letter to employees and franchisees, McDonalds senior leadership team said it remained committed to inclusion and believes that having a diverse workforce is a competitive advantage.WalmartThe worlds largest retailer confirmed in November that it would not be renewing a five-year commitment to a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd, and that it would stop participating in the HRCs Corporate Equality Index.Walmart also said it will better monitor its third-party marketplace to make sure items sold there do not include products aimed at LGBTQ+ minors, including chest binders intended for transgender youth.Additionally, the company will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts and it wont be gathering demographic data when determining financing eligibility for those grants.FordCEO Jim Farley sent a memo to the automakers employees in August outlining changes to the companys DEI policies, including a decision to stop taking part in HRCs Corporate Equality Index.Ford, he wrote, had been looking at its policies for a year. The company doesnt use hiring quotas or tie compensation to specific diversity goals but remains committed to fostering a safe and inclusive workplace, Farley said.We will continue to put our effort and resources into taking care of our customers, our team, and our communities versus publicly commenting on the many polarizing issues of the day, the memo said.LowesIn August, Lowes executive leadership said the company began reviewing its programs following the Supreme Courts affirmative action ruling and decided to combine its employee resource groups into one umbrella organization. Previously, the company had individual groups representing diverse sections of our associate population.The retailer also will no longer participate in the HRC index, and will stop sponsoring and participating in events, such as festivals and parades, that are outside of its business areas.Harley-DavidsonIn a post on X in August, Harley-Davidson said the company would review all sponsorships and organizations it was affiliated with, and that all would have to be centrally approved. It said the company would focus exclusively on growing the sport of motorcycling and retaining its loyal riding community, in addition to supporting first responders, active military members and veterans.The motorcycle maker said it would no longer participate in the ranking of workplace equality compiled by the HRC, and that its trainings would be related to the needs of the business and absent of socially motivated content.Harley-Davidson also said it does not have hiring quotas and would no longer have supplier diversity spending goals.Brown-FormanThe parent company of Jack Daniels also pulled out from participating in the HRCs Corporate Equality Index, among other changes. Its leaders sent an email to employees in August saying the company launched its diversity and inclusion strategy in 2019, but since then the world has evolved, our business has changed, and the legal and external landscape has shifted dramatically.The company said it would remove its quantitative workforce and supplier diversity ambitions, ensure incentives and employee goals were tied to business performance, and review training programs for consistency with a revised strategy.Brown-Forman continues to foster an inclusive work environment where everyone is welcomed, respected, and able to bring their best self to work, spokeswoman Elizabeth Conway said in an email.John DeereThe farm equipment maker said in July that it would no longer sponsor social or cultural awareness events, and that it would audit all training materials to ensure the absence of socially-motivated messages in compliance with federal and local laws.Moline, Illinois-based John Deere added the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy. But it noted that it would still continue to track and advance the diversity of the company.Tractor SupplyThe retailer in June said it was ending an array of corporate diversity and climate efforts, a move that came after weeks of online conservative backlash against the rural retailer.Tractor Supply said it would be eliminating all of its DEI roles while retiring current DEI goals. The company added that it would stop sponsoring non-business activities such as Pride festivals or voting campaigns and no longer submit data for the HRC index.The Brentwood, Tennessee-based company, which sells products ranging from farming equipment to pet supplies, also said that it would withdraw from its carbon emission goals to instead focus on our land and water conservation efforts.The National Black Farmers Association called on Tractor Supplys president and CEO to step down shortly after the companys announcement.

John Lithgow Tapped for Albus Dumbledore RoleWhos playing Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series coming to HBO? Apparently, John Lithgow. The actor is in final talks to portray Albus Dumbledore in HBOs upcoming adaptation of J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter books, according to sources confirmed by Variety.HBO declined to confirm Lithgows casting outright, stating, We appreciate that such a high-profile series will draw a lot of rumor and speculation. As we make our way through pre-production, we will only confirm details as we finalize deals.Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore in the movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.Murray Close/Warner Bros. PicturesA Beloved Wizard ReimaginedIn Rowlings Harry Potter series, Dumbledore serves as the wise, compassionate, yet enigmatic headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Known for mentoring Harry Potter in his battle against Lord Voldemort, Richard Harris and later Michael Gambon portrayed the character in the original film franchise.Related | Is Albus Dumbledore Gay?A Faithful Adaptation Spanning a DecadeHBO has described its new Harry Potter series as a faithful adaptation that will introduce a fresh ensemble cast and expand fandom for a new generation. HBO confirmed the project will likely span a decade, with the original filmswhich ran from 2001 to 2011remaining at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally.Newcomers for the TrioHarry, Hermione and Ron will likely be portrayed by newcomers. In fall 2024, Warner Bros. launched an open casting call for children aged 9 to 11. The studio hoped to discover fresh faces to bring the iconic trio to life for this long-term series commitment.Original Films Still Central to the FranchiseAlthough the TV adaptation promises fresh storylines, the studio emphasizes that the existing Harry Potter films continue to be a cornerstone of the wizarding world. Fans can still stream or watch the original eight movies worldwide, even as the franchise expands with this new HBO production.Further Details ForthcomingDeadline was the first to report on Lithgows potential casting. Additional updates about Harry Potter on HBOincluding final casting announcementsare expected as pre-production moves forward.More StoriesInterview With the Vampire Gets Its Gayest Treatment YetIs Albus Dumbledore Gay?Dumbledore Says He is Gay in Fantastic Beasts TeaserDumbledore Wont Be Gay in ChinaFinal Fantastic Beasts Trailer Teases Dumbledores Gay PastThe post Whos Playing Dumbledore in the Harry Potter Series? John Lithgow Reportedly in Final Talks appeared first on Gayety.

Local police in Cheshire, England, confirmed on Wednesday that The Vivienne, winner of RuPauls Drag Race UK, has passed away from an unnatural cause of death. The 32-year-old drag performer, whose real name was James Lee Williams, was discovered in a bathroom at their home in Chorlton-by-Backford, a village near Chester, on Sunday, January 5. The cause of death is currently under investigation, as reported by BBC News.In a statement, local law enforcement clarified that while an investigation has been opened, there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. Cheshire Police began their inquiry immediately after the body was found, and the case has now been handed over to Cheshire Coroners Court in Warrington.Coroner Victoria Davies performed a post-mortem examination on the late drag queens body. The findings indicated that The Vivienne passed away due to unnatural causes, but further investigation is necessary to determine the exact circumstances. A formal inquest into James Lee Williams death was subsequently opened, with the coroner announcing that the investigation would continue until June 30.Given the unnatural cause of death identified in post-mortem testing, it is appropriate for me to formally open the inquest into the death of James Lee Williams, Davies stated during the court hearing.The Vivienne, known for her quick wit, stunning looks, and impeccable performances, was one of the breakout stars of RuPauls Drag Race UK. As the first queen to win the British edition of the series, The Vivienne made a lasting impact on the Drag Race franchise, garnering a dedicated fan base and receiving accolades for her skill and charm on the show.Following the announcement of her death, tributes poured in from fellow Drag Race alumni and drag artists from around the world, all expressing their shock and sadness over the loss. Many took to social media to mourn the loss of the UK queen, remembering her fierce performances and her ability to light up a room both on and off the stage.The Viviennes passing has left the drag community in mourning, as fans and peers alike struggle to understand the untimely death of someone so young and full of potential. She was admired not only for her talents but also for her advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights and visibility. Known for her sense of humor, self-confidence, and artistry, The Vivienne made a significant mark in the world of drag, becoming a role model for aspiring queens.In the wake of her death, many of her RuPauls Drag Race colleagues, including UK queens and international stars, expressed their condolences and shared stories of their time spent with The Vivienne. Fellow contestants from RuPauls Drag Race UK and alumni from the broader Drag Race universe paid tribute to her on Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms. Fans also created memorials and shared their favorite moments from her time on the show, with many highlighting her courage in bringing a unique and authentic voice to the series.The Viviennes death has also sparked conversations within the LGBTQ+ community, with fans reflecting on the pressures and challenges faced by public figures within the community. The tragedy serves as a reminder of the importance of mental health and support within the LGBTQ+ space, especially for those in the public eye who often face intense scrutiny.At the time of her death, The Vivienne was continuing her work in the drag scene, performing at various events and expanding her career in entertainment. In addition to her Drag Race win, she had appeared in numerous other television and stage productions, continuing to gain recognition as a talented and dynamic performer.While the investigation into her passing remains ongoing, fans, friends, and fellow drag artists are holding on to the legacy she left behind. The Viviennes contributions to drag culture and her role in the international success of RuPauls Drag Race UK will not soon be forgotten. Her death has left a void in the community, but her impact will live on through her performances, her advocacy, and the many lives she touched with her art.As the investigation continues, the drag community and fans alike await further details about the circumstances surrounding The Viviennes death, with many hoping that it will bring the clarity and closure they need in this difficult time.The post RPDR The Vivienne Died from Unnatural Cause with New Investigation Underway appeared first on Gayety.

Marc Fogel listens as President Donald Trump speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-12T20:03:36Z The U.S. and Russia agreed to a prisoner swap involving Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher who the Biden administration had deemed wrongfully detained by Russia, in a diplomatic move that the White House said could move forward negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Soon after, President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to begin working toward winding down the conflict in Ukraine.Here are some things to know about the prisoner swap:Who is Marc Fogel and why was he detained? Fogel, an American history teacher from just outside Pittsburgh, was traveling to Russia to work at a Moscow school in 2021 when he was detained. His family and supporters said he had been traveling with medically prescribed marijuana.Almost a year later, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. The Interfax news agency said Fogel taught at the Anglo-American School in Moscow and had worked at the U.S. Embassy. Interfax cited court officials as saying Fogel admitted guilt. The State Department in December announced that Fogel had been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained. Who was involved in the hostage swap for Fogel?While not yet publicly announced, Alexander Vinnik, a convicted Russian criminal, was being freed in exchange for the release of Fogel, according to people familiar with the deal who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic details.Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the U.S. on cryptocurrency fraud charges. He was later brought to the U.S. and pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was being held in California before the swap was finalized, the officials said. Where did Fogel go when he returned? Fogel flew back to the U.S. late Tuesday after more than three years of detention and was welcomed at the White House by Trump. Standing next to Trump with an American flag draped around his shoulders, Fogel said he felt like the luckiest man on Earth.The White House on Wednesday declined to disclose Fogels whereabouts, saying that he had spoken with his wife, his two children and his 95-year-old mother. What is the significance of the prisoner swap? Following the prisoner exchange, Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a long phone call and agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine was the main focus of the call, during which Putin emphasized the need to remove the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peace talks.___Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report. JOHN SEEWER Seewer covers state and national news for The Associated Press and is based in Toledo, Ohio. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Bubba Wallace talks with reporters during media day at the NASCAR Daytona 500 auto race, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)2025-02-12T21:12:08Z DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Bubba Wallace said he couldnt care less if Donald Trump attends the Daytona 500 on Sunday, nearly five years after the president accused the NASCAR Cup Series only Black full-time driver of perpetrating a hoax when a crew member found a noose in the team garage stall.Trump suggested in July 2020 that Wallace should apologize after the sport rallied around him following the discovery of the noose in his assigned stall at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Federal authorities ruled that the noose had been hanging since October and was not a hate crime. NASCAR and the FBI have referred exclusively to the rope which was used to pull the garage door closed as a noose.Wallace, who drives for the 23XI Racing team owned by Michael Jordan and driver Denny Hamlin, declined to say much about the possibility that Trump could return to NASCARs biggest race as a sitting president for the second time. Were here to race, Wallace said at the Daytona 500 media day. Not for the show.A notice from the Federal Aviation Administration posted Monday indicated that Trump was expected to attend the race, but NASCAR said Wednesday it had gotten no confirmation. Trump, who has chimed in through the years on several intertwined NASCAR and political issues, went after Wallace in 2020 on social media after the noose was found. Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX?, he wrote in July 2020. Wallace responded on social media in 2020 to Trump calling him out, writing, Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE!... Love should come naturally as people are TAUGHT to hate. Even when its HATE from the POTUS. Trump served as grand marshal for the 2020 Daytona 500 and gave the command for drivers to start their engines. He also took a parade lap around the 2 1/2-mile speedway in his armored limousine, leading the 40-car field before the green flag. The presidential motorcade remained on the apron in the corners instead of taking to the high-banked turns. Thousands cheered and a band played patriotic music when Air Force One flew over the famed track, a flyover that was simultaneously shown on big screens. Trumps presence energized fans and caused huge headaches because of logistical issues at entrance points.Trump, with first lady Melania Trump by his side, addressed the crowd before the race and called the Daytona 500 a legendary display of roaring engines, soaring spirits and the American skill, speed and power that weve been hearing about for so many years.Trump made history last Sunday as the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl. He watched the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Kansas City Chiefs from a suite after flying in with a group of some of his closest Republican allies in Congress, including Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott of South Carolina.___AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing DAN GELSTON Gelston is an an Associated Press sports writer covering major college and pro sports in Philadelphia, including the 76ers, Flyers, Eagles, Phillies and Villanova. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

As Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives worked to justify the drastic government cuts spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musks so-called Department of Government Efficiency, gay California Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia turned the spotlight back on them. During a Wednesday hearing, Garcia held up a large photo of Musk in a tuxedo, jokingly calling it his version of a dick pic.Garcias remark was a callback to a 2023 hearing where Republican Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene displayed explicit images of Hunter Biden, President Joe Bidens son, drawing outrage. I find it ironic, of course, that our chairwoman, Congresswoman Greene, is in charge of running this committee, he said Wednesday. Now, in the last Congress, Chairwoman Greene literally showed a dick pic in our oversight congressional hearing, so I thought Id bring one as well. An aide then lifted a large image of Musk, drawing grins and laughter from lawmakers and audience members. (@) Texas Democratic Rep. Greg Casar, who sits next to Garcia, appeared to suppress his laughter as Garcia revealed the image. But beyond the humor, Garcias critique was seriousdirectly aiming at Republican efforts to cut funding for the Department of Education, Medicare, Medicaid, and the National Institutes of Health.I think were all here to fight against the lives of corruption and the attacks on our social safety net, Garcia said. We should in no way be cooperating with House Republicans who want to shut down the Department of Education and destroy Medicare and Medicaid, and we should not stand by as the richest man on the planet gives himself and his companies huge tax cuts while the American people get absolutely nothing.DOGE, created by President Donald Trump via executive order on January 20, is led by Musk and claims to have already saved over $1 billion, largely by canceling diversity, equity, and inclusion contracts. However, the initiative has drawn multiple lawsuits and criticism for its lack of transparency.Garcia warned about the broader implications of Musks influence in government, calling it a power grab backed by Trump and the GOP. This entire plan is about hurting the American social safety net and destroying our institutions, he said. This is not about working with the richest man on the planetthis is about empowering him to take all of this money that they so call want to save, and then give it to themselves, their companies, and their billionaire friends.The hearing followed Greenes recent meeting with Musk and Speaker Mike Johnson at the White House, a conversation whose details remain undisclosed, Politico reports. As chair of the DOGE subcommittee, Greene has been a vocal supporter of Musks aggressive cost-cutting measures despite growing backlash from both Democrats and some Republicans who worry about the scope of these reductions.Musk, who serves as an unpaid special government employee, has defended DOGEs rapid implementation, acknowledging that some of the things that I say will be incorrect but insisting that mistakes will be corrected quickly. Critics, however, argue that DOGEs access to federal financial systems, such as the Treasurys Bureau of the Fiscal Service, raises serious security risks.Garcia also called out Musk for appointing unqualified individuals to key positions. Elon Musk is sending his unqualified DOGE staff to carry out this agenda across all of these agencies. And in some cases actually teenage staffers. No accountability, no experience, and problematic records, he said. Theyre trying to rob you, and theyre probably a minor.Garcias use of the phrase a minor carried an added cultural resonance. Just days earlier, during the Super Bowl halftime show, rapper Kendrick Lamar made headlines by referencing the phrase in his ongoing feud with Drake. In a veiled attack, Lamar alluded to accusations against the Canadian rapper, incorporating A minor in a way that left audiences speculating about its deeper meaning.Meanwhile, concerns about DOGEs oversight of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continue to mount. Musk has referred to the agencys apparent shutdown with a RIP CFPB post on his social media platform. The agencys website is now inaccessible, and watchdog groups have filed lawsuits to halt DOGEs actions.

The U.S. State Department has issued a memo stating that the Donald Trumps Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) will now only provide HIV-prevention medications, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), to pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBFW), excluding other high-risk groups such as LGBTQ+ people, sex workers, and individuals at greater risk of contracting HIV. The decision, linked to a broader U.S. foreign aid policy change, has drawn backlash from HIV advocacy groups, medical professionals, and international health organizations.The memo, distributed by the State Departments Global Health Security and Diplomacy program, states that individuals at high risk of HIV infection, including LGBTQ+ people, can no longer receive PrEP funded by PEPFAR during a 90-day pause on U.S. foreign assistance. This hold was implemented following President Donald Trumps executive order aimed at reevaluating and realigning U.S. foreign aid. According to the memo, the pause is meant to ensure that U.S. funding is strictly aligned with Trumps foreign policy, including eliminating programs deemed woke or inconsistent with his administrations values.Critics of the policy argue that limiting access to HIV prevention medications based on narrowly defined criteria will disproportionately impact vulnerable populations around the world. Wayne Besen, executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Truth Wins Out, condemned the memo, calling the move cruel and accusing the Trump administration of intentionally discriminating against marginalized groups. This could cruelly lead to the infection, and eventual death, of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, Besen said, pointing out the contradiction in a supposed pro-life agenda that ignores the health needs of at-risk populations.Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been at the center of the decision, issued a waiver for essential medical services affected by the funding pause. However, the memo clarified that PEPFAR funds would be restricted in several ways, including denying PrEP medications to everyone except PBFW, halting HIV spread surveys, and suspending tracking systems for issues such as child abuse. These changes have disrupted services provided by clinics in numerous countries, with many healthcare workers reporting unpaid wages and the cessation of critical prevention programs, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).The restrictions are expected to result in rising HIV rates, outbreaks, and preventable deaths, as the loss of funding limits the ability of health workers and researchers to manage the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis. Critics of the policy note that cutting off access to prevention tools could exacerbate the global health crisis and undermine decades of progress in fighting the epidemic.Adding to the controversy, these cuts to foreign aid coincide with the Trump administrations efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has historically played a key role in implementing global health programs, including HIV/AIDS relief. The Trump administrations unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk, has focused on reducing or eliminating agencies it deems ineffective or unnecessary, including USAID. Musk has described the agency as a criminal organization but has not provided evidence to support this claim. In the wake of these actions, many USAID employees have been furloughed or dismissed, further complicating efforts to provide aid to those in need.The suspension of USAIDs website and the mass layoffs have left PEPFAR recipients without essential guidance and support. According to sources, organizations receiving HIV prevention funding must now apply for special waivers to access any remaining resources. Lawsuits have been filed in response to the dismantling of USAID, with contractors demanding payment for millions in outstanding bills, and nonprofit organizations, including the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), calling for an end to what they describe as illegal and unconstitutional actions against the agency.The global health community has expressed concern over the potential consequences of these policies. HIV/AIDS experts warn that the disruptions in funding and the narrowing of eligibility for preventive care could lead to a resurgence in HIV cases, particularly in regions where the virus remains a significant public health challenge. As the situation develops, international organizations and health professionals continue to advocate for policies that prioritize the needs of vulnerable communities, including LGBTQ+ individuals, sex workers, and those at the highest risk for HIV transmission.The State Departments restrictions on PEPFAR funding remain in effect for the time being, and the future of U.S. foreign aid and global health programs remains uncertain as the Trump administration continues to reevaluate its priorities.The post Trump Administration Halts PrEP Access for Gay Men and Sex Workers, Raising Concerns Over HIV Outbreaks Abroad appeared first on Gayety.

Jade Thirlwall, former member of the popular girl group Little Mix, has expressed her unwavering support for the trans community, stating that she is happy to pay the consequences of speaking out on behalf of trans people. The 32-year-old singer, whose debut solo single Angel of My Dreams resonated with many in the queer community, shared her views on the topic in a recent interview with Stylist Magazine.Thirlwall, who has long been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, was asked about the fear of speaking out on sensitive issues. Cancel culture is thriving now. When youre in the public eye, its quite scary, she said. Ive always been quite vocal, and Im not always going to get it right. But you cant be a pop artist right now without speaking out about certain things.The singer emphasized the importance of speaking up for marginalized communities, particularly in times when their rights are under attack. I have been warned there could be consequences for speaking out about things like Palestine, but these are basic human rights, Thirlwall continued. Were seeing an attack on the trans community, and I have a very big LGBTQ+ fanbase. I cant sit back and not be vocal about defending that community. Im happy to pay the consequences if it means doing the right thing.Her statement comes amid a growing wave of public discourse surrounding LGBTQ+ rights and the challenges faced by the trans community, particularly in the U.K. and the U.S. Thirlwall has repeatedly used her platform to advocate for LGBTQ+ equality, speaking out on issues such as the rights of trans individuals, including supporting a ban on trans-exclusionary practices like conversion therapy.Her comments were met with praise from many fans and advocates, with social media users calling her genuine and an icon. Some even hailed her as a role model and a queen for her commitment to the cause. The singers outspokenness on these issues has only solidified her status as a prominent ally to the LGBTQ+ community.Thirlwalls advocacy work goes beyond her music career. In a notable show of solidarity, she was seen with Labour MP Kate Osborne holding a sign that read: I support a trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban. The photo, shared on social media, sparked widespread support and further fueled her reputation as an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.In addition to her advocacy, Thirlwall is gearing up for a major performance at the Mighty Hoopla 2025 festival, which will take place in Brockwell Park, South London, on May 31 and June 1. The queer pop festival, known for its celebration of LGBTQ+ culture, will feature an impressive lineup, with Thirlwall headlining the event. She will be joined by an eclectic mix of artists, including Love Sex Magic hit-maker Ciara, Leave (Get Out) singer JoJo, international star Kesh, Allie X, British singer Jamelia, G Flip, Pixie Lott, Lamar, and queer rap legend Big Freedia.The festival is expected to be a celebration of queer culture, and Thirlwalls inclusion in the lineup highlights her continued support for LGBTQ+ communities and her place as a prominent figure within the queer pop scene. As a singer who has always stood up for inclusion and equality, her upcoming performance is expected to be a highlight of the event, drawing a large crowd of fans who share her values of acceptance and love.Thirlwalls outspoken nature and her commitment to using her platform for good have made her a respected figure within both the music industry and the LGBTQ+ community. She has been a consistent voice for equality, particularly when it comes to issues that affect trans individuals, and she shows no sign of backing down in the face of criticism or potential backlash.Her willingness to pay the consequences for speaking out is a testament to her dedication to making a difference. In an era where many public figures remain silent on contentious issues, Thirlwalls courage and advocacy stand out as a powerful example of using fame for a cause greater than personal success.As she continues to support marginalized communities and challenge societal norms, Jade Thirlwall proves that she is not only a talented artist but also a strong, unwavering ally to those who need it most.The post Jade Thirlwall: Im Happy to Pay the Consequences for Supporting the Trans Community appeared first on Gayety.

Rosemary Farm family representatives Jose Pelayo, left, and Lisa Stothart deliver a donation of hundreds of thousands of fresh eggs to feed first responders and those in need in the community through the donation of Rosemary Eggs at the Los Angeles Food Regional Bank in City of Industry, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)2025-02-12T22:38:49Z SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) As consumers face skyrocketing egg prices and widespread shortages, a California farm is donating hundreds of thousands of fresh eggs to people affected by last months devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles Area. The 100-year-old family-owned Rosemary Farm in Santa Maria said its working with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and the nonprofit Gather For Good to get some 270,000 eggs to residents who lost homes in the Eaton and Palisades fires. In addition, nearly 55,000 eggs will go to firefighters and other first responders, according to a statement from the farm. Other eggs will be used by the LA bakery Winter Fate Bakes to make birthday cakes for displaced children. Egg prices reached a record high in the U.S. last month, mostly as a result of a nationwide bird flu outbreak. When the virus is found on a farm, the entire flock is killed to limit its spread. Egg farmers also face higher costs for feed, fuel and labor because of inflation. They are also investing more in biosecurity measures to try to protect their birds. Some grocers have imposed limits on how many eggs customers can buy at a time.

President Donald Trump speaks as Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-12T23:08:58Z WASHINGTON (AP) A federal judge on Wednesday cleared the way for President Donald Trump s plan to downsize the federal workforce with a deferred resignation program. It was a significant legal victory for the Republican president after a string of courtroom setbacks. This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities, said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.There was no immediate response from labor unions that had sued over Trumps plan. U.S. District Judge George OToole Jr. in Boston found that the unions didnt have legal standing to challenge the program, commonly described as a buyout.Trump wants to use financial incentives to encourage government employees to quit. According to the White House, tens of thousands of workers have taken the government up on its offer. The deferred resignation program has been spearheaded by Elon Musk, who is serving as Trumps top adviser for reducing federal spending. Under the plan, employees can stop working and get paid until Sept. 30. Labor unions argued the plan is illegal and asked for OToole to keep it on hold and prevent the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, from soliciting more workers to sign up. A Justice Department lawyer has called the plan a humane off ramp for federal employees who may have structured their lives around working remotely and have been ordered to return to government offices. LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court, legal affairs and criminal justice for The Associated Press in Washington, D.C. Past stops include Salt Lake City, New Mexico and Indiana. twitter mailto CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto MICHAEL CASEY Casey writes about the environment, housing and inequality for The Associated Press. He lives in Boston. twitter mailto

It's Dom King's world and everyone is living in it.The sexy model is continuing to flex his dominance in the world of adult entertainment and he has no signs of slowing down.Following his big night at the 2025 GayVN Awards, the star is now getting candid on his journey to success and how he's continuing to achieve his dreams in the industry.Read the exclusive interview below and don't forget to follow Dom King on Instagram here. See on Instagram How were the GayVN Awards?GayVNs is something I really look forward to every year. After last year, I made it my mission to come back and leave as a winner and my fans really pulled through. I felt like a celebrity! I got to plan my look, walk the red carpet, and have my photo taken. It was an incredible night. Plus, I was having a great hair day my signature "high body count hair." My outfit was John Varvatos, my watch was Shinola, and the theme was Born in Detroit.Congratulations on your win! What does receiving the GayVN Favorite Porn Star Creator award mean to you?I was really stoked! In my opinion, its the best award to win because its fan-voted. That means the world to me. I had support from all over from Europe to Hong Kong to Australia. Its a huge achievement! Last year, I was named Grabbys Best Newcomer and now this! Its definitely going on my list of accomplishments: Eagle Scout, Class President, College Grad. I even have a Cleveland Cavs championship ring with my name engraved on it.Why do you think the fans voted for you?I really invest in my fans. Im not just here for a quick buck or chasing social media likes Im thinking long-term. I think fans appreciate that Im authentic. My content has personality. Abs will only get you so far. Ive made sure that sex isnt my entire identity. I like to show my humor on Twitter and in my scenes. My humor is dry, so its not for everyone, but thats what makes me me. See on Instagram Is there a particular scene or project youre most proud of from the past year?Probably my scene with Ashton Summers, Lie to Me. That one really hit home for me. I think a lot of people related to the storyline its about being trapped in the closet and living a double life. That was my life my old life. Seeing myself on-camera reminded me of who I used to be and how happy I was when I was being my authentic self. Plus, Ashton is hot... he would make anyone smile!Whats it like working with MEN?I love working with MEN. Every day on set is something new and different. Our musical just came out the first one in the gay industry! Its super campy, and we worked hard on it, but honestly, it was the most fun Ive had in a long time. We even spent a day in a recording studio in downtown San Diego something I never wouldve experienced if I was working a regular job in the suburbs. I am truly thankful for MEN. I feel like they keep me on the straight and narrow. It gives me accountability to show up and be my best with something to work toward. One of my producers gives me strong, honest criticism, which I actually appreciate. In an industry full of narcissism, you need people who will check you sometimes.Whats next for you?This industry wont be forever for me. The adult industry may have made me, but it wont be all of me. That said, Dom King isnt going anywhere anytime soon Ive got a few more GayVNs I want to cross off my list! Right now, Im diving into everything I can. Ive got my hand in a bunch of different cookie jars. Im doing romance novel covers and Im starting to get into event planning. I'm actually hosting my first event in my hometown with The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice. Most people dont know this, but thirteen years ago when I was bartending at a gay bar in Detroit while still closeted, I worked this same event and now, Im the one throwing it. Its truly come full circle. Im trying to go the Kim Kardashian routestart with a sex tape and then get my face everywhere!

Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a decision that could spark a legislative battle as the Republican-led state legislature moves to override her veto. While the GOP majority in both chambers of the state legislature has pledged to attempt an override, it remains uncertain whether they will succeed, having failed to do so on a similar bill last year.Senate Bill 63, the measure that Kelly rejected, would prohibit healthcare providers in Kansas from administering gender-affirming care to minors, including treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy, and support for socially transitioning, such as using preferred pronouns or clothing. This type of care is widely recognized as safe, effective, and essential by major medical associations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.Under the proposed legislation, transgender minors currently receiving gender-affirming care would be required to de-transition. The bill would also withhold state funding from healthcare professionals and institutions offering these treatments and threaten to revoke the medical licenses of those who do. In addition, it would allow patients, or the parents of minors, to file lawsuits against healthcare providers up to 10 years after the patient turns 18, claiming professional incompetency, unprofessional conduct, or false advertising.In a statement issued Tuesday, Gov. Kelly strongly opposed the bill, calling it an infringement on parental rights and warning that it could have broader negative consequences for Kansas. It is not the job of politicians to stand between a parent and a child who needs medical care of any kind, Kelly said. Infringing on parental rights is not appropriate, nor is it a Kansas value.Kelly further argued that the bill could harm the states economy and exacerbate ongoing workforce shortages. This legislation will also drive families, businesses, and healthcare workers out of our state, stifling our economy, she added. It is disappointing that the Legislature continues to push for government interference in Kansans private medical decisions instead of focusing on issues that improve all Kansans lives.The veto sets the stage for a potential clash between Kelly and the Republican-controlled legislature. Senate President Ty Masterson and other Republican leaders have indicated they plan to quickly move to override the veto. The Senate stands firmly on the side of protecting Kansas children and will swiftly override her veto before the ink from her pen is dry, Masterson wrote in a post on social media platform X.With a two-thirds majority in both the state Senate (31-9) and state House (88-37), Republicans have the numbers to override Kellys veto. However, the outcome of this override attempt remains uncertain, as a similar effort last year failed when two Republican representatives who had initially supported the bill voted against the veto override. At the time, Rep. Susan Concannon, a Republican from Beloit, explained that she had reevaluated her position on the bill after hearing concerns about its broad language, especially regarding treatments beyond surgery. These decisions belong between the team of professionals and the parents, she said. The youth need our help, not government overreach.Opponents of the bill, including a coalition of healthcare professionals, have urged the legislature to sustain Kellys veto. Approximately 200 healthcare professionals signed an open letter addressed to the Kansas legislature, highlighting the potential harm the bill could cause to transgender youth. Its crucial to recognize that transgender youth are not making impulsive decisions, but rather engaging in a thoughtful process with the support of their families, mental health professionals, and medical providers, the letter stated. Banning essential health care for transgender Kansans under the age of 18 removes a crucial lifeline from these individuals and places them at risk of long-term psychological harm.The debate over gender-affirming care for minors has become a focal point in state legislatures across the country, with many Republican lawmakers advocating for restrictions on such treatments, citing concerns about the long-term effects and potential for regret. However, numerous medical experts argue that gender-affirming care is vital for the mental and physical well-being of transgender youth, who often face significant challenges such as discrimination, stigma, and mental health issues.As the battle over Senate Bill 63 unfolds in Kansas, it serves as another chapter in the ongoing national conversation about the rights of transgender individuals, particularly minors, and the role of government in regulating healthcare decisions. With Kansas poised to become another battleground in this contentious issue, all eyes will be on the state legislature in the coming weeks as they determine the future of gender-affirming care for transgender minors in the state.The post Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly Vetoes Bill Banning Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Minors appeared first on Gayety.

President Donald Trump speaks as Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-12T22:30:45Z This week, the White House barred Associated Press journalists from three media appearances by President Donald Trump two of them in the Oval Office itself. Some of the reaction said, effectively, this: What right do you have to be there, anyway?The answer is a combination of tradition, independent reporting and the First Amendments guarantee of a free press.The AP, a global news outlet founded in 1846, is a source of fact-based, independent news that reaches billions of people every day. The news cooperative has been a member of the 13-person White House press pool that has reported on the president and held him accountable since its inception more than a century ago.The pool gets access to the president on the understanding that it distributes his comments and activities to other news outlets, congressional offices and more. When the Trump administration blocked the AP from three events, it didnt just bar the outlet from access to the president; it did so after an or-else demand that the news agency change its style from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, per Trumps presidential order. The AP has said that it will refer to the water as the Gulf of Mexico, while noting Trumps decision to rename it as well. As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP says it must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences. Here is some background about the relationship between the presidency and the press now and across the years. There are First Amendment issuesThe First Amendment to the Bill of Rights states that the government shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. To AP Executive Editor Julie Pace, Trumps move an attempt to use a news outlets access to him to control the content it published is a plain violation of the First Amendment.The actions taken by this White House were plainly intended to punish the AP for the content of its speech, Pace wrote Wednesday to Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. It is among the most basic tenets of the First Amendment that the government cannot retaliate against the public or the press for what they say. The White House pointed out that the AP was allowed into its briefing Wednesday but continued to take issue with the style of the gulfs name.Nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the president of the United States questions, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday. We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office.The White House does not pick the members of the press pool that goes in to the Oval Office. The pool makeup is decided by the members of the press corps themselves and is designed to represent everyone in all formats.The relationship between the president and the press is intended to be adversarial. Thats essential for knowing what the president and his administration are or are not doing in the United States name with taxpayer money.Freely questioning elected lawmakers is the reason, for example, why congressional reporters can roam most of the same Capitol hallways as members of the House and Senate and pose questions on behalf of Americans. At the White House, a smaller secure compound that functions as a residence, work space and event venue, the rules of access are more strict. But it, too, belongs to Americans. The press is there to represent readers, viewers and listeners all over the world whose lives are going to be affected by what happens in the Oval Office but who are not able to be physically present themselves, said Kathy Kiely, professor of free press studies at the Missouri School of Journalism. The reporters ensure that the public gets information beyond the self-interested accounts provided by the president and his public relations team. What is the White House press pool?The first known instance of a so-called pool reporter inside the White House was in 1881 after President James A. Garfield was shot. As the chief executive lay in bed, AP reporter Franklin Trusdell sat outside his sick room, listening to him breathe and sharing updates with other correspondents.Now, its a group of news outlets that ideally are almost everywhere the president goes: in the Oval Office, to state dinners, on Air Force One, in the motorcade, and when the president goes golfing or biking, It was with Trump at the Super Bowl. The pool is also always on standby in case something happens in the world about which the president needs to speak to the nation. One reason the pool exists is because the Oval Office, the presidents official work space, is too small to accommodate every news outlet that would want to cover his executive order signings or meetings with foreign dignitaries. So the pool operates with a representative of each medium acting as eyes and ears for the others who cant get in. When a pooled event is over, the print, television and radio poolers share written notes, video and audio with everyone else who is interested. The pool maintains strict decorum, according to the White House Correspondents Association guidelines. It is standard practice to stand when the president enters the room. Even though shouting is unacceptable, presidential appearances can get rowdy. The White House press pool represents every media format and daily includes the AP and other wire-service writers, the AP and other photographers, a television crew, radio correspondent and writers for print and online publications.The pool was in John F. Kennedys motorcade in Dallas when he was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963. That allowed for firsthand accounts of the event as conspiracy theories spread, an example of why independent reporting is critical to understanding what is happening around the president. There was a loud bang as though a giant firecracker had exploded in the cavern between the tall buildings we were just leaving behind us, AP reporter Jack Bell, who was in the motorcade with other reporters, recalled to Columbia Journalism Review. The man in front of me screamed, My God, theyre shooting at the president! George W. Bush was on camera at a school in Florida Sept. 11, 2001, when an aide whispered in his ear that America was under attack. More recently, the pool was in St. Croix on the night that former President Jimmy Carter died. The White House told the pool to stand by, and at a certain point transported the pool to a downtown hotel where then-President Joe Biden spoke about his predecessor and answered some questions.Presidents and reporters: An inherently adversarial relationshipTrump is famous for courting reporters even as he publicly criticizes them. Now, legacy media is on its heels amid an atmosphere of distrust as people get news from other sources some less credible than others. Hes not the first to try to go around traditional outlets. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had his fireside chats over the radio as some of the nations biggest newspapers took issue with government expansion under the New Deal. More recently, television and social media and especially podcasts during the 2024 election have provided similar workarounds for presidents. In 1798, John Adams signed the Sedition Act, which made it a crime for American citizens to print, utter, or publish...any false, scandalous, and malicious writing about the government and used it to jail journalists, according to the National Archives. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson threatened to end presidential briefings with reporters, resulting in what became the White House Correspondents Association. For all the tensions, the nations founders recognized the value of a free press in American democracy. Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, future President Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter in 1787, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. LAURIE KELLMAN Kellman has covered U.S. politics and foreign affairs for the Associated Press, including 23 years reporting from Washington and three from Jerusalem. She is based in London. twitter facebook mailto

Migrant, Cesar Anibal Bonilla Estrada, 54, from Ecuador, center, checks his phone during dinner time at the migrant shelter on Randall's Island, on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)2025-02-12T21:49:05Z Elon Musk posted Monday on X that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency he heads had uncovered millions of dollars being spent illegally by FEMA to house migrants in New York City. He said the money was meant for American disaster relief and was wrongly spent for high end hotels. The claim, which has spread widely on social media, led FEMAs acting director to suspend payments sent to house migrants in New York City and the firing Tuesday of four federal employees.But the post misrepresents the funding, FEMAs role in dispersing it and how it is being used. Heres a look at the facts.CLAIM: FEMA sent $59 million last week to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants. Sending this money violated the law and is in insubordination to the Presidents executive order. That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high-end hotels. THE FACTS: FEMA does not send money directly to New York hotels. It does administer money on behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorized by Congress in 2023 for the Shelter and Services Program. It was created to support local governments and non-government organizations that provide support to noncitizens released by immigration authorities, according to the FEMA website. The money is separate from disaster relief funds. The office of Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday it received two payments from the federal government related to migrant assistance last week totaling over $80.5 million. One payment was for $58.6 million and the other was for $21.9 million, under two tranches of the Shelter and Services Program, city spokesperson Liz Garcia said. The money covered reimbursements for services delivered between November 2023 and October 2024 and included reimbursement for hotels, security, food and other costs. About $19 million in reimbursement claims were for hotel costs, she said. Garcia said the city has never paid luxury rates for hotels. Thats backed up by a report last year from City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is now running for mayor in a bid to unseat Adams, which showed that the municipal government has paid on average $152 a night for rooms, the vast majority outside Manhattan. Some of the Manhattan rooms were around $200 per night, but thats not a luxury rate. Rates for five-star hotels in Manhattan for this coming weekend run from $400 a night to well over $1,000. The Shelter and Services Program, also known as SSP, is administered by FEMA in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. Congress appropriated $650,000,000 for the program in fiscal year 2024 to provide financial support to nonfederal entities. Of that, $640.9 million was to support sheltering and related activities provided by non-Federal entities, in support of relieving overcrowding in short-term holding facilities of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The remaining $9.1 million was for FEMAs administrative costs.According to the American Immigration Council, the Shelter and Services Program provided reimbursements to state and local governments and nonprofits in 35 different communities in fiscal years 2023 and 2024. Numerous social media posts and some news reports claimed that the money should be used to help the victims of Hurricane Helene, which devastated parts of western North Carolina. But the funds for disaster assistance are administered separately.Yael Schacher, director of the Americas and Europe at Refugees International, agreed that Musk is likely referring to the Shelter and Services Program and said there is no substance to his claim that money for disaster victims is being given to migrants, as each fund is appropriated separately by Congress.It is absolutely correct to say these funds would not have gone to disaster relief if they hadnt gone to the SSP program, she explained. The funds just wouldnt have been appropriated by Congress at all. The Shelter and Services Program is a separate line item in the federal budget and does not draw from FEMAs Disaster Relief Fund. She continued: Congress has specifically set aside funding for FEMA to administer the Shelter and Services Program, ensuring that it does not pull any resources from FEMAs other work.Congress has authorized 140 times more funding for the Disaster Relief Fund than the Shelter and Services Program, according to the American Immigration Council. Schacher added that grants for the latter program have strict cost requirements for how the money should be spent.Four federal employees FEMAs chief financial officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist were fired Tuesday over the payments to reimburse New York City, Department of Homeland Security officials said. The workers are accused of circumventing leadership to make the transactions. Officials did not give details on how the four had violated any policies. Cameron Hamilton, acting FEMA administrator, said the payments made by the employees were suspended.In court documents filed Tuesday, Hamilton said the administration yanked funding from the Shelter and Services Program because of concerns the money was facilitating illegal activities at a Manhattan hotel used to house migrants. Hamiltons comments came as part of a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administrations freeze on federal grants and loans. The freeze, just days into the new administration, threw states, communities and organizations that rely on federal funding into mass confusion, and was rescinded two days later. U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island ruled on Wednesday that the governments bid to withhold FEMA money sent to New York to house migrants was not subject to an order, still in effect, thats aimed at preventing a sweeping Trump administration pause on federal funding.___Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck. CEDAR ATTANASIO Attanasio covers New York City for The Associated Press with a focus on immigration and the ocean. He uses remote sensing to support the APs global coverage. twitter instagram facebook mailto MELISSA GOLDIN Goldin debunks, analyzes and tracks misinformation for The Associated Press. She is based in New York. twitter mailto

Fans of hot mascs, your time has finally come!Lucy Dacus released a music video earlier this week for her song Best Guess with a group of hot mascs she found by putting out a casting call on TikTok.And it worked like gangbusters because the video features 17 hot mascs, including well-known queer celebs like Cara Delevingne, Towa Bird, and E.R. Fightmaster as well as popular social media influencers and total unknowns.The video is undeniably steamy with those hot mascs wearing suits while boxing, playing poker, and shooting pool. The video is so sexy youre going to want to know exactly who all the stars are!Cara DelevingneSee on InstagramCara Delevingne is a model, actress, and musician who has appeared in Suicide Squad, Only Murders in the Building (where she played an artist who dates Selena Gomezs character), and Orange is the New Black.Follow Cara Delevigne on Instagram.E.R. Fightmaster (they/them)See on InstagramE.R. Fightmaster is an actor, producer, and writer who is best known for their role on Greys Anatomy and their 2023 album Violence.Follow E.R. Fightmaster on Instagram and TikTok.Towa BirdSee on InstagramTowa Bird is an up-and-coming British singer-songwriter. She was on of the openers for the north American leg of Rene Rapp's Snow Hard Feelings Tour in 2023 and is currently dating the Mean Girls star.Follow Towa Bird on Instagram and TikTok.Christina MorelandSee on InstagramChristina Moreland is an illustrator, brand designer, and animator who has worked for Sony Music, Co-Op, and Coinbase and designed the Outside with Pride collection for REI back in 2022.Follow Christina Moreland on Instagram.Elio Kennedy-YoonSee on InstagramElio Kennedy-Yoon is a TikTok star who rose to fame as part of Havard's a capella goup, the Din & Tonics. Kennedy-Yoon also shared his transition journey and top surgery with his nearly one million followers on TikTok.Follow Kennedy-Yoon on TikTok. Natalia Castells EsquivelSee on InstagramNatalia Castells Esquivel is a writer and producer who has worked on popular shows like School Spirits and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.Natalia Castells Esquivel on Instagram.Giovanna "Gio" FerraroSee on InstagramAs of 2019, Gi Giovanna Gio Ferraro was a gym owner in Long Beach, California who spent time doing community outreach for people experiencing homelessness, ABC 7 reported.Follow Ferraro on Instagram.Janae HolsterSee on InstagramJanae Holster is a multi-hyphenate artist who studied ballet, jazz, and hip-hop at USCs Kaufman School of Dance, where they just received their BFA.Follow Janae Holster on Instagram.Lilah LarsonSee on InstagramLilah Larson is a rock musician who has also scored several short films and the 2021 movie Asking for It.Follow Lilah Larson on Instagram.Mattie WesbrouckSee on InstagramMattie Westbrouck is a popular social media content creator who has 1.5 million followers on Instagram, close to 4 million on YouTube and 11.8 million on TikTok.Follow Mattie Westbrouck on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.Naomi McPhersonSee on InstagramNaomi McPherson is a musician and one-third of MUNA whose music was featured in the Netflix movie Do Revenge, and they also acted in the Saturday Night Live biopic Saturday Night.Follow Naomi McPherson on Instagram.Jaqueline "Jackie" MorfinSee on InstagramFollow Jackie Morfin on Instagram.Drew Hermes@drewhermessput me in coach!! @lucy dacus #wlwFollow Drew Hermes on TikTok.Zee OumaisSee on InstagramFollow Zee Oumais on Instagram.Jia Yan Lin, Kaly Winslow, and Kristianna La Roda also appeared in the "Best Guess" music video but don't have any presence on social media.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference regarding immigration enforcement at the Justice Department, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington, as Tammy Nobles, mother of Kayla Hamilton, listens. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)2025-02-13T00:45:39Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trumps newly installed attorney general, Pam Bondi, went after New York leaders Wednesday over the states immigration policies, announcing a lawsuit in the latest effort by the Republican administration to carry out the presidents hardline immigration campaign pledges. In her first press conference since taking office last week, Bondi accused New York leaders of prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens. Standing in front of federal agents who have been tasked with helping in Trumps immigration crackdown, she echoed the presidents rhetoric as she vowed the Justice Department would take on communities that thwart federal immigration efforts. The lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul targets a state law that allows people who might not be in the U.S. legally to get drivers licenses. The so-called Green Light Law was enacted partly to improve public safety on the roads, as people without licenses sometimes drove without one, or without having passed a road test. The state also makes it easier for holders of such licenses to get auto insurance, thus cutting down on crashes involving uninsured drivers. The lawsuit describes the law as a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws, and the federal authorities that administer them. It highlights a provision that requires the states Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner to inform people who are in the country illegally when a federal immigration agency has requested their information. The Justice Department is asking the court to strike down the law. This is a new DOJ, and we are taking steps to protect Americans, said Bondi, with agents from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Drug Enforcement Administration lined up behind her. Millions of illegal aliens with violent records have flooded into our communities, bringing violence and deadly drugs with them. Bondis politically charged rhetoric, unusual for an institution that has historically been wary of aligning itself so directly with the White House, and the selection of legal targets raise fresh concerns that she could seek to use the agencys law enforcement powers to go after the presidents adversaries. James, the New York attorney general, has drawn Trumps ire by suing him, leading to a civil fraud judgment that stands to cost Trump nearly $500 million. James said in a statement that shes prepared to defend the states laws, which she said protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe.Bondi appeared alongside Tammy Nobles, whose 20-year-old daughter Kayla was killed in Aberdeen, Maryland, in July 2022 by someone from El Salvador who entered the country illegally months earlier in Texas. The assailant, then 16, was released to a first cousin to pursue asylum, which is common practice under U.S. law and policy. He had been accused by authorities in El Salvador of affiliation with the violent MS-13 gang, according to a report by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. To trumpet his immigration policies, Trump has often highlighted angel moms like Nobles, who lost their loved ones to violent crimes by people in the country illegally.Tammy represents not only herself and her family but all of the great angel moms around this country who have suffered because of what the Biden administration did, Bondi said. And its over. The lawsuit comes days after the Justice Department sued the city of Chicago, alleging that its sanctuary laws were thwarting federal efforts to enforce immigration laws.In 2020, the Trump administration sought to pressure New York into changing its law by barring anyone from the state from enrolling in trusted traveler programs, meaning they would spend longer amounts of time going through security lines at airports.New Yorks governor at the time, Andrew Cuomo, offered to restore federal access to driving records on a limited basis, but said he wouldnt let immigration agents see lists of people who had applied for the special licenses available to immigrants who couldnt prove legal residency in the U.S.The Trump administration ultimately restored New Yorkers access to the trusted traveler program after a brief legal fight._____AP journalist Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Eric Tucker in Washington and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed. ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Richer is an Associated Press reporter covering the Justice Department and legal issues from Washington. twitter mailto

This image released by Netflix shows Karla Sofa Gascn, left, and Zoe Saldaa in a scene from "Emilia Prez." (Netflix via AP)2025-02-12T21:22:32Z NEW YORK (AP) The inner-Vatican machinations of Conclave have nothing on this years Oscar race.Just as Edward Bergers film juggles various candidates for the papacy, the race for best picture at the Academy Awards has seen one favorite replaced by another, and then another.While some clarity has lately emerged, with a handful of big wins for Sean Bakers Anora, it seems likely to be a nail biter until a winner is declared at the March 2 Oscars, when white smoke unfurls from the Sistine Chapel, I mean the Dolby Theatre.As of now, Anora is the clear frontrunner thanks to wins with the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild both prizes with a long history of predicting Oscar winners. Where the Screen Actors Guild and the BAFTAs fall will offer the last major clues.But unlike years like last year, when Oppenheimer was way ahead wire to wire, no lead in this years best picture race seems ironclad. So, with that in mind, here are the best picture nominees, ranked in order of least likely to win to most likely to win. Its telling that at least half of these films, with three weeks to go, still have a chance. 10. Nickel BoysIf this was a ranking of merit, RaMell Rosss movie would be first. Ross film, thrillingly and thoughtfully shot largely in first person, introduced a new filmic grammar to American movies. But Nickel Boys was seemingly on the cusp of getting a nomination, so we should just be glad its counted here among the best of the year. 9. Dune: Part TwoDenis Villeneuves first Frank Herbert adaptation garnered 10 nominations and won six. Part Two hasnt been the same awards force. Its up for five nominations and will probably walk home with one or two Oscars, possibly for visual effects and sound. People like Dune: Part Two but sequels tend to have a harder go of it at the Academy Awards. Blame it on the sandworms. 8. Im Still HereArguably no film has risen up the Oscar ranks more than Walter Salles portrait of political resistance under Brazils military dictatorship. The film, a box-office sensation in its native country, was once one of the many international underdogs vying for a place at the Academy Awards. It wont win best picture, but its a testament to the films appeal that it could upset Emilia Prez in best international film. Demi Moore in a scene from The Substance. (Mubi via AP) Demi Moore in a scene from The Substance. (Mubi via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More 7. The SubstanceCoralie Fargeats body-horror film has turned out to be much more of an Oscar contender than initially believed certainly by Universal, which financed the film but sold it to Mubi to distribute. Its up for five awards but its best chance comes in the best actress category where Demi Moore is the favorite. Mikey Madison (Anora) and Fernanda Torres (Im Still Here) could make that a close call, too, but Moore propelled by her popcorn actress narrative and the movies biting showbiz satire is the frontrunner. 6. Emilia PrezHow far can a former frontrunner fall? Jacques Audiards narco-musical leads all films with 13 nominations but the Netflix movie has been in freefall since its star, Karla Sofa Gascn, became ensnarled by a scandal over old tweets. Im not completely counting Emilia Prez out you dont get 13 nominations for nothing. But Emilia Prez, a divisive movie to begin with, is now in the business of salvaging its chances in other categories, like best supporting actress, where Zoe Saldaa could win. This image released by Universal Pictures shows Cynthia Erivo, left, and Ariana Grande in a scene from the film Wicked. (Universal Pictures via AP) This image released by Universal Pictures shows Cynthia Erivo, left, and Ariana Grande in a scene from the film Wicked. (Universal Pictures via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More 5. WickedNow were into the top contenders. Most likely, the winner is coming from one of these next five. Jon M. Chus Broadway adaptation might have the most moviegoers rooting for it to win, but its missing some key ingredients for pulling out best picture. Chu missed on a nomination for best director and the Wicked has mostly been out-musical-ed by Emilia Prez on the awards circuit. Still, Wicked has cornered the market on the role of Big Studio Movie contender. However it does, the film academy is going to make sure Wicked is front and center during the ceremony.4. ConclaveHere we have our Everyone Likes It contender. Bergers papal thriller, starring Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal tasked with leading a conclave, feels like the most universally respected nominee. In a year where votes are spread across a lot of films, that might be a quality that particularly considering the academys preferential ballot leaves Conclave driving the Oscar home in a popemobile. Whats the main knock against this happening, aside from the potential difficulty of renting a popemobile? Berger was passed over on a directing nomination, and Conclave hasnt yet won a major award. More than any other movie, it needs a victory at the BAFTAs. 3. A Complete UnknownJames Mangolds Bob Dylan movie is also widely liked and lacks any precursor win. But admiration for A Complete Unknown is widespread and it could, just as Conclave might, pull out an upset by rising high on a plethora of ballots. Unlike Conclave, Mangold was nominated for best director, though, and it has the benefit of being led by Hollywoods biggest young star, Timothe Chalamet. Hollywood likes to, in picking a best picture winner, say something about its future. Chalamets star power could be convincing enough. Plus Searchlight Pictures has previously steered quite a few best-picture winners (Nomadland, The Shape of Water). Mangolds movie has momentum, which, even if it doesnt lead to best picture, may propel Chalamet to best actor over Adrien Brody for The Brutalist. 2. The Brutalist This image released by A24 shows Adrien Brody, left, and Guy Pearce in a scene from The Brutalist. (Lol Crawley/A24 via AP) This image released by A24 shows Adrien Brody, left, and Guy Pearce in a scene from The Brutalist. (Lol Crawley/A24 via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Until recently, Brady Corbets postwar epic might have been the top pick. The Brutalist has been an award-winner at Venice and the Golden Globes. Its up for 10 Oscars. Its roundly been hailed as visionary, hugely ambitious cinema all made, remarkably, with a budget under $10 million. Its also three and a half hours long. Not every Oscar voter, I assure you, is watching it all the way through. That, though, might not be a bad thing for a movie that falls off in the second half.1. Anora Mark Eydelshteyn, left, and Mikey Madison in a scene from Anora. (Neon via AP) Mark Eydelshteyn, left, and Mikey Madison in a scene from Anora. (Neon via AP) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Half a year ago, Anora was the odds-on pick to win best picture and now, after a topsy-turvy awards season, it is again. A trio of wins at the PGA Awards, the DGA Awards and Critics Choice has reestablished Anora as the movie to beat.If it wins at the SAG Awards, too, the race is probably over. Not everything with similar credentials has won before, though; 1917 had the same wins before being defeated by Parasite five years ago. Anora, however, also won the Palme dOr at Cannes, like Parasite did, so it should do well among international voters a crucial voting bloc in todays academy.Its also just really good. Anora comes from a widely respected filmmaker in Baker, a prominent defender of the theatrical release. And his movie, a sly and devastating twist on a Pretty Woman-like fable, is as connected to Hollywoods celebrated 70s as it is to its indie filmmaking present.___For more on this years Oscar race and show, including how to watch the nominees, visit https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards JAKE COYLE Coyle has been a film critic and covered the movie industry for The Associated Press since 2013. He is based in New York City. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Jocelyn Samuels speaks in Seattle, Feb. 4, 2014. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)2025-02-12T23:30:06Z WASHINGTON (AP) A member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission who was abruptly dismissed by President Donald Trump says she believes her firing and the move to reshape the panel that protects workers from discrimination is part of the administrations agenda to erase the existence of trans people. Jocelyn Samuels, in an interview with The Associated Press, said the actions aimed at implementing Trumps crackdown on certain diversity and gender rights policies are unlawful and indicative of a looming wider rollback of work protections for women and minorities.My concern is that the refusal to recognize discrimination against trans people is both a way to scapegoat trans people and inflict immense damage on them, she said, and a harbinger of the way that this administration will treat other applications of the law with which it disagrees. Along with fellow EEOC commissioner Charlotte Burrows, Samuels was dismissed on Jan. 27, one week after Trump took office. Samuels said her dismissal letter pointed out my support for what they termed radical Biden administration guidance for DEI initiatives and also mentioned my refusal to defend women against extreme gender ideology. Again, their words, not mine. Samuels was nominated by Trump in 2020 and confirmed by the Senate. She was later reappointed by former President Joe Biden, with her term meant to extend until July 2026. Trump, she said, found me to be an acceptable nominee for a Democratic seat in 2020. I am now being branded a radical extremist. I think its the administrations perspectives that have changed, not mine. The EEOC was created by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as a bipartisan five-member panel to protect workers from discrimination on the basis of race, gender, disability and other protected characteristics. The U.S. president appoints the commissioners and the Senate confirms them, but their terms are staggered and are meant to overlap presidential terms to help ensure the agencys independence. No more than three of the five commissioners can be from the presidents political party. The two firings leave the agency with one Republican commissioner, Andrea Lucas, who Trump appointed acting EEOC chair last week; one Democratic commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal; and three vacancies that Trump can fill. Once a Republican majority on the commission is established, Samuels predicted an immediate rollback of EEOC protections in a way that will essentially greenlight harassment based on gender identity in the workplace. The EEOC investigates and imposes penalties on employers found to have violated laws that protect workers from racial, gender, disability and other forms of discrimination. The agency also writes influential rules and guidelines for how anti-discrimination laws should be implemented, and conducts workplace outreach and training.In recent years, the agencys Democratic and Republican commissioners have been sharply divided on many issues. Both Republican commissioners voted against new guidelines last year that misgendering transgender employees, or denying access to a bathroom consistent with their gender identity, would violate anti-discrimination laws. The commission is required to investigate all claims of workplace harassment or discrimination, and Samuels believes those investigations into cases involving trans people will continue on paper. But the level of investigation, the resources that the EEOC will put into it and the likelihood that the EEOC would find cause to believe that discrimination had occurred ... will be completely eviscerated, she said.The end result, she said, will be incalculable damage for a vulnerable community. She also maintains that her dismissal is unlawful and against the foundational concept of independent agencies such as the EEOC, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Labor Relations Board. Such positions are intentionally designed to overlap presidential administrations and cant be terminated simply based on political orientation. On the same day Samuels and Burrows were dismissed, Trump also dismissed National Labor Relations Board member Gynne A. Wilcox.I am looking at my legal options, Samuels said. I believe, based on longstanding Supreme Court precedent, that this is an unlawful termination.___Associated Press writers Alexandra Olson and Claire Savage contributed to this report. ASHRAF KHALIL Khalil writes about local issues in Washington, D.C., for The Associated Press and covers the social safety net around the country. twitter instagram mailto

2025-02-12T17:28:59Z LONDON (AP) Russias stockpiles of Cold War-era weapons and larger population have allowed it to withstand heavy battlefield losses in Ukraine as the West fails to provide Ukraine the aid needed to mount a counteroffensive, according to an annual review of the global military situation.While Russia lost 1,400 tanks last year and has seen an estimated 800,000 soldiers killed or wounded since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began some three years ago, Moscow has been able to keep its forces up to strength, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said in the report released Wednesday. The same isnt true for Ukraine, which has suffered a serious drain on its personnel, though no reliable figures exist on such losses because of its sensitive political nature.The pledged Western military supplies appear insufficient to enable a sustained Ukrainian counteroffensive, IISS said. While Ukraine has proved its ability to resist Russias invasion in the air, land and maritime domains, it has found it difficult to mobilize sufficient troops to keep pace with its casualties. Some observers, including U.S. President Donald Trump, see an opportunity for a peace deal in the grinding war of attrition, which is weakening Russias economy. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said last weekend that Trump was prepared to tax, to tariff, to sanction to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. But Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Eurasia and Russia at IISS and a former British ambassador to Belarus, discounted the chances for a ceasefire. The most important underlying fact is Russias and specifically Putins clearly stated determination to continue the war, Gould-Davies said. And in particular the clarity with which Putin on several occasions, even in the past couple of months, has said hes not interested in a ceasefire, hes not interested in a freeze in the conflict. Hes only been interested in a full and final end to the war, which would require the resolution of a wide range of difficult international political, legal and bureaucratic issues. As the war in Ukraine drags on, conflict flares in the Middle East and China takes an increasingly assertive stance in Asia, countries around the world are rebuilding military stockpiles that were allowed to decline after the Cold War.Global defense spending jumped to $2.46 trillion last year, an increase of 7.4% after inflation, according to IISS, a London-based think tank that has produced its annual report on the balance of military power for the past 65 years.Russia increased defense spending by 41.9% to the equivalent of $145.9 billion, dwarfing the $28.4 billion spent by Ukraine but close to total European defense spending. Moscow is now spending about 6.7% of its economic output on defense, compared with 3.6% before the invasion of Ukraine.While stockpiles of armor and artillery have allowed Russia to keep pace with battlefield losses, that may become more difficult over time. Putin has restrained the mobilization of troops to maintain support for the war, which is fueling inflation in Russia and draining funds from social programs such as education and healthcare, IISS said. In addition, remaining weapons stockpiles are likely to need costly refurbishment before they can be used on the battlefield.The present course is unsustainable, Gould-Davies said. But thats not to say something is unsustainable in the shorter term.Concern about Russian aggression has led many NATO countries to increase their own defenses.European countries boosted military spending by 11.7% last year, driven by a 23.2% increase in Germany, IISS said. Even so, German defense spending equaled 1.8% of economic output, below the 2% target for members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.Trump has repeatedly criticized other members of the military alliance for failing to pay their fair share of the collective defense bill.Total NATO defense spending rose to $1.44 trillion last year, with $442 billion, or less than a third, coming from the blocs European members, IISS said.

An American flag hangs in a classroom as students work on laptops in Newlon Elementary School, in Denver, Aug. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)2025-02-13T04:04:28Z Denver Public Schools became the first U.S. school district Wednesday to sue the Trump administration challenging its policy allowing ICE immigration agents in schools.Colorados largest public school district argued in the federal lawsuit that the policy has forced schools to divert vital educational resources and caused attendance to plummet.DPS is hindered in fulfilling its mission of providing education and life services to the students who are refraining from attending DPS schools for fear of immigration enforcement actions occurring on DPS school grounds, the lawsuit states.The federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the Trump administration hasnt provided good reason for rescinding the rules nor adequately considered or addressed the fallout.Last month, President Donald Trump lifted longtime rules restricting immigration enforcement near sensitive locations, including schools. The announcement came as the new president seeks to make good on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations. Denver is standing up for its children and families and protecting the right of all children, regardless of their immigration status, to attend public schools, Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, said in an email. Denver Public Schools serve more than 90,000 students about 4,000 of which are immigrants, according to the lawsuit, which cites 2023-2024 school year numbers. More than half of the students are Hispanic or Latinx. The city of Denver has seen an increase in migrants recently. Since 2023, about 43,000 people have arrived in the city from the U.S. southern border, according to the lawsuit.Parents across Denver enroll their children in public schools believing that while at school, their children will be educated and enriched without fear the government will enforce immigration laws on those premises, the lawsuit said. The school district says it has had to devote a lot of time and resources to adding policies that keep students safe and training faculty and staff on how to respond to people claiming they are conducting immigration enforcement at schools.Denver Public Schools also want to see DHS publish the directive publicly, saying that not being able to view the change in policy has impeded their ability to prepare for it, according to the lawsuit. The Trump administration did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.___Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump speaks as Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-13T05:08:58Z WASHINGTON (AP) As a candidate last year, Donald Trump suggested he could easily conquer inflation and ease voters fears about the economy.I will very quickly deflate, he promised at a California rally. We are going to take inflation, and we are going to deflate it. We are going to deflate inflation. We are going to defeat inflation. Were going to knock the hell out of inflation.Wednesdays consumer price index report showed that inflation is punching back and President Trump could end up facing the same challenges that dragged down his predecessor, President Joe Biden. The annual inflation rate has risen in the three months since the November election to 3%, with gasoline prices climbing despite Trumps claims that his return to the White House would signal increased oil production that would lower energy costs.Trump frequently makes far-reaching assertions about his power to bring about change only to find that it is no match for market forces. Its a humbling reminder that even U.S. presidents are subject to the invisible hand of supply and demand, rather than the masters of it. Consumer sentiment measures suggest the public already sees Trumps plans to expand tariffs as increasing inflation. On Wednesday, the president called for interest rate cuts, even though rate hikes by the Federal Reserve helped lower inflation that spiked at a four-decade high in 2022. The latest consumer price figures have unnerved economists and the financial markets because they suggest that strong consumer spending, solid job gains and a falling unemployment rate could reignite inflation. Steady demand, particularly from wealthier consumers, makes it easier for companies to keep raising prices. The cost of goods including toys and auto parts rose last month even before the imposition of tariffs. Trump has placed 10% tariffs on China, in addition to announcing the removal of exemptions on his 2018 steel and aluminum tariffs. There are also potential tariff hikes on Canada and Mexico and a potential executive order that would increase tariffs to match the import taxes charged by other countries. All of this means that baseline inflationary pressures could be at their highest level in decades.Disinflation may be dead, and we may be looking at a higher rate of inflation than we observed for the 20 years prior to the pandemic, said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax and advisory firm. Trumps call for lower rates puts him in opposition to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.If inflation goes up in general, we will use our tools, which is the interest rate, to bring it back down to 2% over time, Powell told a congressional committee on Wednesday. Powell also said that Trumps calls to lower rates wouldnt sway the Fed.So far, the Trump White Houses main response to this challenge has been to blame Biden, an argument with a short lifespan as Trump is exerting more control over economic policy.The Biden administration indeed left us with a mess to deal with, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Wednesdays news briefing. Its far worse than I think anybody anticipated. But Trump allies are also starting to float new ideas for tackling inflation. Standing in the Oval Office on Tuesday, billionaire Elon Musk, the head of the presidents Department of Government Efficiency, proposed $1 trillion in spending cuts this year.Musk, the worlds richest man who continues to control Tesla, X and SpaceX among other companies, wants to eliminate $1 out of every $7 spent by the federal government in order to bring the inflation rate to zero. Its not clear based on lawsuits and Congress responsibility for government funding that Musk can deliver those savings.If you cut the budget deficit by a trillion between now and next year, there is no inflation, Musk said. And if the government is not borrowing as much, it means that interest costs decline. So everyones mortgage, their car payment, their credit card bills, anything, their student debt, the monthly payments drop. Thats a fantastic scenario for the average American. Such a steep cut might bring lower prices but also the pain of a sharp economic downturn. That would be a roughly 4% of GDP cut to federal spending, all in one year, said Michael Linden, a senior policy fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. It would be an instant recession.For now, markets are anticipating more inflation as consumer demand stays strong and Trump has yet to show how exactly his policies would keep prices low, as he promised to voters.The yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped Wednesday to 4.62% in response to the inflation report, a sign that investors expect interest rates, growth and inflation to be higher in the coming months. Consumers also say that inflation will rise. Americans expectations of inflation over the next year have soared, according to the University of Michigans consumer sentiment survey. The February survey said that inflation this year will be 4.3%, up sharply from 3.3% the previous month. Many respondents mentioned tariffs as a concern. When asked Wednesday why Trumps call for lower interest rates would temper inflation, Leavitt focused on what the president wants instead of what he would do.He wants interest rates to be lower, she said. He wants inflation to be lower. And he believes that the whole of government economic approach that this administration is taking will result in lower inflation. JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy for The Associated Press. He joined the AP in 2013. twitter mailto CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Rugaber has covered the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for the AP for 16 years. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb award for business reporting. twitter mailto

President Donald Trump speaks as Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)2025-02-13T04:57:53Z TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) An explosion at a department store in Taiwan on Thursday killed one person and left 10 others hospitalized, fire authorities said. The blast occurred at the food court on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store in Taichung city. Among the 10 people who were hospitalized, four had no vital signs, authorities said. Dozens of firefighters were deployed to the scene, where parts of the buildings exterior were damaged and scattered fragments were strewn on the streets. Taichung Deputy Mayor Cheng Chao-hsin said he had been told the blast may have been caused by a suspected gas explosion, but that still needed to be confirmed.