San Francisco's Pink Triangle is more than a Pride symbol
State of play: For three decades, the Pink Triangle has adorned Twin Peaks every June in recognition of the persecution of LGBTQ+ people under the Nazi regime.
The big picture: During World War II, the symbol was used to label gay prisoners in concentration camps — one of several color-coded patches sewn onto uniforms to publicly mark and shame inmates.
Flashback: Activists reclaimed the marking as an emblem of pride and protest amid the AIDS crisis, most famously with ACT UP's " Silence = Death" posters challenging stigma and government inaction.
The symbol first appeared on Twin Peaks in 1996, installed at night at just 60 feet wide. Today, it spans 240 feet.
What they're saying: Patrick Carney, who co-founded the Friends of the Pink Triangle, told Axios it serves as a "warning and a reminder" and a "giant in-your-face educational tool to teach people where hatred can lead."
The latest: Earlier this month, police arrested a 19-year-old on suspicion of vandalizing the installation, which Carney said would not be repaired.
The bottom line: "Leaving it as it is sends a powerful message… we will wear this scar as a badge of resilience, courage and our continuing struggle for equality," he said.
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CNN panel knocks national Democrats on 'tone-deaf' response to Trump DC crime plan
A CNN panel suggested on Monday that the Democratic Party's overall response to President Donald Trump's plan to reduce crime in Washington D.C. might come across as tone-deaf, likening it to the Democratic Party's messaging on the economy during the Biden administration. "What's striking is that national Democrats are not following Mayor Bowser's lead on this, and that national Democrats have been insisting, just look at the statistics. We have a 30-year low violent crime. Whereas Mayor Bowser is talking about, 'Hey, we need to get 500 more police officers on the streets. We'd like the federal government to help us rebuild our jail,'" Axios reporter Alex Thompson said during a discussion on "The Arena with Kasie Hunt." "She's also talking about some of the reforms she did to make it so accused violent offenders don't get out of jail pretrial. So there is this disconnect, and I've talked to Democrat strategists today that think that national Democrats saying, 'look at the statistics,' is sort of a tone-deaf way to react," Thompson continued. Trump spoke to reporters on Monday about his plan, which was immediately dismissed by top Democrats, who argued that crime is at a 30-year low. Kristen Soltis Anderson, a CNN political commentator, pointed out that the Democratic Party's reliance on crime statistics mirrored its unsuccessful economic messaging during Joe Biden's presidency. "Isn't this the exact same problem that Democrats had last year? Look at the statistics. We promise you the economy is great, while people are going, 'It doesn't feel great to me.' That feels like a lot of this conversation around crime that you can point to statistics all day long that say, 'Hey, D.C. is safer this year than it was last year,' but do people feel safe?" she observed. "Bottom line, if they don't, they may be more okay with something that would otherwise be considered extraordinary," Anderson said. Former Republican lawmaker Peter Meijer chimed in, saying Mayor Muriel Bowser might know something about the possible manipulation of statistics at the D.C. police department. "She may know some things that national Democrats are not paying attention to," Meijer said. "It is also true, crime is one of these things where the randomness of it actually has a big psychological effect, right?" said Jamal Simmons, a former communications director for Kamala Harris. "When random crime happens along 14th street or one of the big thoroughfares here in the district, people get very animated about it." CNN host Kasie Hunt also pointed out that a D.C. murder victim Trump referenced during the press conference on Monday, former Trump administration official Mike Gill, who was killed during a carjacking in 2024, was one of her neighbors. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries reacted to Trump's announcement on social media. "Violent crime in Washington, D.C. is at a thirty-year low. Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order. Get lost," he said.
New York Post
a day ago
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Founder of Rolex luxury watch empire may have been a Nazi spy: report
Secret British intelligence files have revealed that MI5 once suspected the German-born founder of the iconic Rolex luxury watch empire of holding strong Nazi sympathies and possibly acting as a spy during the Second World War. The declassified records, held at the National Archives, describe Hans Wilsdorf as 'most objectionable' and allege he may have used his position to spread propaganda for Adolf Hitler's regime, according to The Telegraph. The documents, written between 1941 and 1943 and many stamped with 'Box 500' — a wartime nickname for MI5's headquarters — outline fears among British authorities that Wilsdorf posed a security risk despite being a naturalized British citizen. Advertisement 5 An undated portrait of Hans Wilsdorf, the German-born founder of Rolex, who British intelligence described in wartime documents as 'well known' for his Nazi sympathies. Born in Bavaria in 1881, Wilsdorf moved to London in 1903, where he began making watches in Hatton Garden and later founded Rolex. He married a British woman, Florence Crotty, before relocating the company's headquarters to Geneva in 1919. By the early 1940s, British officials had become increasingly wary of Wilsdorf's loyalties, the Telegraph reported. Advertisement A 1941 report from the British consul in Geneva said he was 'well known for his strong Nazi sympathies,' pointing to claims that his brother, Karl, was working in Joseph Goebbels's propaganda ministry. According to the file, Swiss federal police were already monitoring Wilsdorf over concerns he might be involved in spreading Nazi messaging worldwide. An MI5 report from 1943 stated that the agency had been keeping tabs on Rolex's British operations in Bexleyheath and suspected Wilsdorf of 'espionage on behalf of the enemy.' 5 Hans Wilsdorf in his office at Rolex, whom wartime British officials suspected of espionage on behalf of Nazi Germany. Advertisement The papers repeatedly described him as 'well known' for his political leanings toward the Nazi regime. Tom Bolt, a horology specialist who owns a Rolex once sent to a POW in Stalag Luft III, said the newly uncovered documents 'show the level of concern within the British authorities about the company's founder' and that blacklisting him would have been 'severely damaging for Rolex.' Rolex has acknowledged knowing about the archive file and says it is taking the allegations seriously. A company spokesperson told The Telegraph that an independent review is underway, led by Swiss historian Dr. Marc Perrenoud, who specializes in Switzerland's role during the Second World War. Advertisement Perrenoud has assembled a committee of historians from multiple countries to assist with the research. 5 Rolex watches on display in London, as the company investigates archival claims that its founder may have had ties to Nazi sympathizers. Getty Images 'In the interest of transparency, we will publish Dr. Perrenoud's findings once he has completed his work,' the spokesperson said. The Post has sought comment from Rolex. The MI5's World War II era report also questioned the true motive behind one of Wilsdorf's most celebrated wartime gestures: sending free Rolex watches to British prisoners of war. In 1940, after German officers confiscated timepieces from captured servicemen, Corporal Clive Nutting — held at the infamous Stalag Luft III camp in Poland — wrote to Wilsdorf asking for replacements. Wilsdorf agreed, telling Nutting he should 'not even think' about paying until after the war. 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Advertisement A 1941 letter from the Ministry of Economic Warfare's Blacklist Section recommended reviewing whether Wilsdorf should be placed on a trade blacklist, a move that could have crippled Rolex's overseas sales. 5 The 1908 registration of the Rolex name, decades before its founder came under suspicion by MI5 during the Second World War. However, the ministry concluded that blacklisting him 'may not be entirely in our interests' because much of the company's trade was with countries in the British Empire. Officials also noted they had not found direct evidence of harmful activity by the Swiss company. Even so, they flagged that Wilsdorf's financial ties to German bankers could allow enemy interests to influence both the Swiss and British arms of Rolex. Advertisement By 1943, MI5 decided against blacklisting Wilsdorf, despite maintaining he was 'most objectionable.' The British consul at the time said there was 'no doubt whatever' about his political views and voiced skepticism about his aid to prisoners of war, noting that if earlier intelligence was correct, his motives 'hardly seem likely' to have been purely charitable. Experts say the suspicions may also have been fuelled by Rolex's role in supplying dive watches to the Italian navy's frogmen, an elite unit aligned with the Axis powers.
Axios
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D.C.-area Dems rage as Trump takes control of city's policing
Democratic lawmakers from the Washington, D.C. area are blasting President Trump for deploying the National Guard to the city and seizing control of its police force in an effort to crack down on crime. Why it matters: "Shocking stuff, even for Trump," Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) told Axios, adding, "Suspicious minds might wonder if this is just kind of a first step towards a move on other parts of the government in D.C." "At the end of the day, it's pretty telling. January 6th ... he doesn't want to call the National Guard. Here you get essentially a minor felony, and he's going to call the National Guard and federalize the D.C. police?" Ivey added. "It's ridiculous," he said. "It really is." State of play: Trump said Monday he will federalize the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and send the National Guard into the city in a major escalation of his campaign to tackle local crime. Trump has spent days threatening such a takeover after a DOGE staffer was allegedly beaten during an early-morning carjacking. Trump, at a White House press conference, called the move a "historic action to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor, and worse." What they're saying: Ivey and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who both represent the D.C. suburbs, pointed to data that suggests violent crime in the city has dropped in recent years. Raskin, in an interview with Axios, said Trump "continues to search for distractions and provocations to divert attention from his outrageous refusal to release the Epstein files." "Of course, the president has a major political bone to pick with the people of Washington, D.C., who have voted 10-to-1 against him at every opportunity. So this is one more chance to exact revenge," Raskin added. Between the lines: Trump said he will call up 800 D.C. National Guard troops and said he may send in the military as well "if needed." He said he is taking control of the D.C. Police under the Home Rule Act, which allows such a move in response to "special conditions of an emergency nature" for up to 30 days. Congress can, in theory, vote to terminate the emergency, but it is unlikely to do so with Republicans in charge of both chambers. The bottom line: "It's a very extreme exercise of these powers, raising all kinds of legal questions," said Raskin, who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.
