Monthly Archives: May 2025

CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Variety reports: Broadway performers and theater professionals are calling on the producers of the Tony Awards to disinvite Patti LuPone from the show after the theater legend made controversial remarks about Audra McDonald and “Hell’s Kitchen” star Kecia Lewis in an interview with the New Yorker. The open letter has received more than 500 signatures, including those of Tony winners …

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DHS Handcuffs Dem Rep’s Aide In His NYC Office, Accuses His Staff Members Of “Harboring Rioters”

Gothamist reports: In a dramatic incident captured on video, U.S. Department of Homeland Security police Wednesday handcuffed one of Rep. Jerry Nadler aides in the congressmember’s Manhattan office, which is in the same federal office building as an immigration courthouse. In the video, which was shared with Gothamist and filmed by a person who was monitoring activity in immigration court, …

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Trump Admin Wants To Take Over Library Of Congress

The Washington Post reports: The Trump White House has a new target in its campaign to expand executive power: the Library of Congress. Never mind the name — administration lawyers are now arguing that the main research library of the legislative branch doesn’t actually belong to Congress at all. A legal push to claim the Library as executive turf isn’t …

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Paxton Loses Appeal In Musk/Media Matters Lawsuit

Ars Technica reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has failed to reverse a preliminary injunction currently blocking him from probing Media Matters for America (MMFA) in defense of Elon Musk’s social media platform X. On Friday, a US appeals court upheld the injunction. In his opinion, senior Circuit Judge Harry T. Edwards wrote that there was “ample” evidence that Paxton …

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Gabbard Wants Trump’s Intel Briefings To Mimic Fox

The Daily Beast reports: Director of National Security Tulsi Gabbard wants to turn President Donald Trump’s daily intel briefings into Fox News-type broadcasts because he “doesn’t read.” Gabbard is hoping to add animations and more dynamic multimedia elements to Trump’s President’s Daily Briefs, or PDBs, to fit his viewing habits and hold his attention. Gabbard also reportedly consulted with current …

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Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 45 Across 18 States

The New York Times reports: A salmonella outbreak linked to cucumbers has sickened at least 45 people across 18 states, health officials said Friday and they warned that the number of people infected was likely higher. Companies including Target have issued recalls for products with cucumbers that may be contaminated. The cases have been reported across the Midwest and East …

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SPLC Adds Turning Point USA To List Of Hate Groups

The Southern Poverty Law Center reports: Turning Point USA’s primary strategy is sowing and exploiting fear that white Christian supremacy is under attack by nefarious actors, including immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and civil rights activists. TPUSA and its spokespeople often warn their audience that their children, wives, religion, way of life and they themselves are under attack by various constructed …

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European Union Ready To Impose Retaliatory Tariffs

Politico Europe reports: The European Commission said it is prepared to impose retaliatory measures against U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest threat on steel and aluminum tariffs. “We strongly regret the announced increase of U.S. tariffs on steel imports from 25 percent to 50 percent,” the EU executive said on Saturday in an emailed statement. “This decision adds further uncertainty to …

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Shakira Cancels WorldPride Concert: “Technical Issues”

The Associated Press reports: One day before the kickoff concert for World Pride 2025 in the nation’s capital, headlining performer Shakira has abruptly canceled due to equipment difficulties. “We are deeply disappointed that unforeseen circumstances have forced the cancellation” of the concert, the Capital Pride Alliance, the main World Pride organizer, said in a Friday statement. “Updates about the relocated …

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OAN Fires Pentagon Reporter For Dissing Hegseth

CNN reports: Gabrielle Cuccia criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s crackdown on press access at the Pentagon. And then, she said, she was fired. Cuccia was briefly the chief Pentagon correspondent OAN. A self-proclaimed “MAGA girl,” Cuccia positioned herself as a proudly conservative voice among the normally nonpartisan Pentagon press corps. But she grew perturbed by Hegseth’s actions against the press. …

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Hate Group Celebrates Making SPLC’s Hate Group List

The Christian Post reports: The far-left civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center has added the conservative Evangelical parachurch ministry Focus on the Family to its list of “anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups,” joining similar organizations that advocate for traditional beliefs on sexuality and family. Glenn T. Stanton, director of Global Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family, told The Christian …

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Musk’s New Company Town Seeks Loan From SpaceX

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas’ newest city had liftoff this week. Starbase city leaders were sworn in Thursday and appointed a city manager. On Friday, they met again to approve a loan request to help fund the city until tax dollars trickle in. In an early sign that reaffirms just how entwined the South Texas city is with Elon Musk’s …

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One Million Moms Vs “Woke, Perverted” Dove Shampoo

Via email from hate group leader Monica Cole: Dove is facing serious backlash again due to a hair care commercial featuring a transgender model. His gender-dysphoric identity as a trans woman is being showcased as Dove uses this male model to advertise Dove Intensive Repair products. Dove is pushing a sinful lifestyle onto viewers while glamorizing the transgender lifestyle choice. …

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Graham Rebuffs Menendez On Help Getting A Pardon

NBC News reports: Former Sen. Bob Menendez appealed to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a former Senate colleague and a Trump ally, to request a pardon or sentence commutation on his behalf, according to three people with direct knowledge of that effort. Graham and Menendez have long had a close relationship, with Graham standing by the Democrat during Menendez’s first indictment …

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Hegseth: Chinese Invasion Of Taiwan May Be Imminent

The Associated Press reports: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reassured allies in the Indo-Pacific on Saturday that they will not be left alone to face increasing military and economic pressure from China, while insisting that they also contribute more to their own defense. He said Washington will bolster its defenses overseas to counter what the Pentagon sees as rapidly developing threats …

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Progressive Party Ranks Mamdani First In NYC Race

Politico reports: The Working Families Party ranked state Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani in the top slot for its mayoral primary slate Friday night, following hours of closed-door deliberations. The progressive organization picked City Comptroller Brad Lander second, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams third and state Sens. Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos fourth and fifth in the hopes of defeating frontrunner Andrew …

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Federal Appeals Court Upholds Block On Mass Firings

CNN reports: President Donald Trump’s directives for mass firings at multiple agencies will remain on hold, a federal appeals court ruled Friday evening. The Trump administration had asked the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to freeze a lower court’s order that halted the terminations at more than a dozen agencies. The new order is a major setback for Trump …

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Trump Administration Cancels Research Into HIV Vax

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration has dealt a sharp blow to work on H.I.V. vaccines, terminating a $258 million program whose work was instrumental to the search for a vaccine. Officials from the H.I.V. division of the National Institutes of Health delivered the news on Friday to the program’s two leaders, at Duke University and the Scripps …

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CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

People Magazine reports: Tia Carrere has so much pride for her son, Jude Wakelin. “I’m really thankful that I think, somehow, I had a hand in making a child that doesn’t feel like [he] has to fit in with everybody else, doesn’t feel like [he] has to wear the same clothes, do the same thing,” the Lilo & Stitch star told …

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Menendez Raked For “Pardon Shopping” With X Post

“People talk about the Trump DOJ, but it was the Democrats who started weaponizing the Justice Dept. When, as the Chairman of the SFRC, I didn’t go along with Obama’s Iran deal, I was indicted, and the next day after being stripped of my position, Obama announced the Iran deal. “Obama told me that he could not have the Democratic …

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