Trump v. California on women's sports, a risky mortgage retread, and other commentary
Olympics beat: Trump v. Cali on Women's Sports
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will become 'a slow-motion car crash' over the issue of transgender athletes in women's sports, Jennifer Sey warns at The Spectator, with President Trump facing off against California and the US Olympic Committee.
'For the first time in history,' the LA Games will see 'more women's events than men's' — but if biological men can fight for those medals, 'it's women who will lose. And some will get hurt.'
Gavin Newsom doesn't toe the line on his executive order 'aimed at protecting women's sports' — yet 'taxpayer dollars earmarked for Los Angeles 2028' are already flowing. 'Compelled participation against biological men isn't inclusion,' but 'institutionalized abuse.'
Eye on Wall St.: A Risky Mortgage Retread
'The American public doesn't need a sequel to 'The Big Short,' ' Veronique de Rugy snarks at Reason. The 2008 financial crisis traced in that film, was sparked by Washington, 'specifically through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,' government-sponsored lenders that (under pressure from Congress) backed 'risky home loans by effectively making taxpayers cosign the mortgages.' Those 'significantly loosened lending standards' wound up 'inflating the housing bubble.'
Now, President Trump is floating plans to 're-privatize' Fannie and Freddie without taking taxpayers off the hook for bad loans. Aargh! 'Financial entities — particularly those shielded by government guarantees — inevitably revert to risky behavior when market pressures and profit incentives align.' The only safe way to privatize Fannie and Freddie is 'without any implicit government guarantees.'
From the right: A Win Over Climate Hysteria
'The right to express an opinion contrary to the 'settled science' was vindicated last week in the District of Columbia Superior Court,' cheers The Washington Times' editorial board. Penn State University researcher Michael Mann's 'hockey stick' chart 'stoked climate panic around the world, then he sued critics who implied his 'findings were erroneous.'
A DC jury last year awarded Mann '$1 million in punitive damages,' but that 'victory was based in part on a chart containing numbers that couldn't be replicated' — so it seems he 'will now end up paying the individuals he sued a total of around $1.4 million.'
Conservative: Mamdani's Hateful Lies
Progressive mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, already 'a post-Oct. 7 vessel for the de-stigmatized tidal wave of anti-Semitism in the West,' this week 'crossed a line that was staggeringly militant even in our current age of say-anything shock-jock politics,' thunders Commentary's Seth Mandel.
In a campaign stop at a mosque, he denounced 'Israel's pager operation, likely the most carefully targeted such operation in the history of warfare, in which the pagers only of Hezbollah exploded, maiming thousands of terrorists after the group had waged months of war on Israeli civilians.' He claimed it killed 'scores of Lebanese civilians,' marvels Mandel, when 'not even Lebanese authorities claimed as much.
The only way that number is accurate is if Mamdani considers Hezbollah terrorists to be civilians, which is possible, because he does not mention Hezbollah at all in his remarks.'
Civil-rights watch: Whistleblowers vs. DEI
The Justice Department's 'Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which will use the False Claims Act, encourages whistleblowers to come forward with evidence of illegal' discrimination, applauding Edward Blum & Adam Mortara at The Wall Street Journal.
'Universities, corporations, and nonprofit organizations have established 'diversity, equity and inclusion' policies that violate the plain language of civil-rights laws,' yet 'receive billions in federal funding by falsely certifying that they are in compliance with those laws.'
For instance, 'a university can't accept taxpayer dollars while condoning antisemitism on campus or treating applicants differently based on race.' The Justice initiative gives whistleblowers 'an incentive to come forward and expose unlawful discrimination' by letting them collect a share of potential multimillion-dollar damages.
— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
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Newsweek
31 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Marjorie Taylor Greene Partially Agrees With Elon Musk on Trump-Backed Bill
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene partially backed Elon Musk Tuesday in his criticism of President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" that recently passed the House of Representatives and is under debate in the Senate. The Context The Trump-backed reconciliation package passed the House last month following weeks of negotiations in which House Speaker Mike Johnson wrangled votes from the ultraconservative and more centrist factions of the GOP. While Trump praised the measure in its current form, Senate Republicans have made it clear that they plan to make significant changes to it before it passes the upper chamber. Musk, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized the bill, most recently calling it a "disgusting abomination," saying it was filled with "outrageous pork" that would balloon the federal deficit and undo the work by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is pictured arriving for a House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol on May 20 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by) Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is pictured arriving for a House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol on May 20 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by) What To Know "Congresswoman, what do you make of Elon Musk criticizing the 'One Big Beautiful Bill?'" a reporter asked Greene in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "Well, you know, I have to agree with him on one hand," the Republican firebrand responded. "I always love it when Americans are angry at the federal government and express it. I think that should've been happening for years now. I mean, we're $36 trillion in debt for a reason." Greene, one of Trump's staunchest supporters in Congress, went on to criticize the Biden administration's initiatives on renewable energy, its handling of the economy and more. "Unfortunately, in the 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' we had to spend some money to right the ship and pass President Trump's campaign promises" on issues including border security and immigration enforcement, tax cuts and "America First energy." Greene is among three House Republicans who have voiced their agreement with Musk's criticisms. Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie re-shared Musk's post on X, formerly Twitter, ripping into the bill, writing, "He's right." Representative Warren Davidson of Ohio also appeared to agree, sharing another post from Musk that said, "Congress is making America bankrupt." Massie and Davidson voted against the bill in the House. Greene voted in favor of it but said she did not read through a portion of the measure related to artificial intelligence (AI) when it was initially up for vote. Greene said the provision violates states' rights, writing on X on Tuesday: "Full transparency, I did not know about this section on pages 278-279 of the OBBB that strips states of the right to make laws or regulate AI for 10 years. I am adamantly OPPOSED to this and it is a violation of state rights and I would have voted NO if I had known this was in there." "We have no idea what AI will be capable of in the next 10 years and giving it free rein and tying states hands is potentially dangerous," she added. Greene said that if the Senate doesn't strip the provision from the version of the bill that's sent back to the House for final approval, she won't back it, which could complicate House GOP leadership's effort to pass the Trump-backed package. The White House responded to Musk's X posts during Tuesday's press briefing. "Look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn't change the president's opinion," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. "This is one big, beautiful bill, and he's sticking to it." What People Are Saying Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters: "We obviously respect everything that Elon did with DOGE. On this particular issue, we have a difference of opinion ... he's entitled to that opinion. We're going to proceed full speed ahead." Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said of Musk's criticisms: "He's entitled to his opinion." Asked by Politico whether Musk's criticism would affect amendments to the bill, Tillis said: "No." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer waved around a printout of Musk's post and told reporters: "I agree with Elon Musk!" What Happens Next Trump recently gave Senate Republicans a July 4 deadline to pass the bill and get it to his desk.
Politico
35 minutes ago
- Politico
Mexican 4-year-old allowed to continue receiving lifesaving care in US
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Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Memo: Musk drops bomb on Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill'
Elon Musk dropped a rhetorical bomb on President Trump's plans to pass a massive budget bill on Tuesday. Musk, the world's richest man, excoriated legislation that Trump calls big and beautiful as 'a disgusting abomination.' He also called the legislation 'outrageous' and 'pork-filled.' Referring to members of the House who had passed the bill and sent it along to the Senate, Musk added, 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.' The remarks were all the more striking for coming just days after Musk departed from his role with the quasi-official Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). His departure was marked by a joint appearance with Trump in the Oval Office, at which they paid tribute to one another. Musk had expressed misgivings about the spending legislation in an interview broadcast on 'CBS Sunday Morning' this past weekend, musing that while such a bill could indeed be either big or beautiful, 'I don't know if it can be both.' GOP leaders on Capitol Hill thought they had been able to assuage Musk's concerns. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Tuesday that he had spoken to Musk for 20 minutes the previous day. Johnson, who had to go through arduous efforts to get the bill passed in the House, said that in his Monday conversation, 'I extolled all the virtues of the bill, and he seemed to understand that. We had a very friendly conversation about it.' That left Johnson blindsided by the billionaire's rhetorical barrage on Tuesday. Musk's latest remarks were 'very disappointing' and 'terribly wrong,' Johnson lamented. But Musk's characteristically combative intervention raises two bigger questions. One is whether it will land so hard among Republican senators that it could capsize the bill itself. The other is whether it presages a larger willingness on Musk's behalf to go against the wishes of Trump, the president whom Musk spent more than $250 million getting elected — and who gave him enormous power at the heart of government. The Trump-backed budget bill, which also includes a $4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling, already faced uncertain prospects in the Senate. Republicans hold 53 seats in the 100-member body, but fiscal hawks and more moderate members alike have yet to signal they are willing to back the legislation. Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.), Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Mike Lee (Utah) are all in the first category, expressing concern that the bill fails to curb the long stretch of budget deficits that have created an astronomical national debt. The debt currently stands at around $36 trillion. At the other end of the GOP ideological spectrum, many insiders are watching Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) for signs of how hard they will resist proposed changes to Medicaid that are projected to cause millions of Americans to lose their health insurance. Musk is aligned with the first camp. After Musk's initial blast on Tuesday, Paul took to social media to write, 'I agree with Elon. We have both seen the massive waste in government spending and we know another $5 trillion in debt is a huge mistake.' Musk, in turn, amplified Paul's message to his 220 million followers on the social platform X, which he owns. Musk also reposted critiques of the legislation from Lee, who said the Senate 'must' make the bill better, and from Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.), one of two House Republicans to vote against the legislation in the lower chamber. Musk's alignment with Paul was especially notable on a day when Trump had lambasted the Kentucky senator for his reluctance to back the legislation. Trump had written on social media Tuesday morning that Paul had 'very little understanding' of what was in the spending bill, adding, 'He loves voting 'NO' on everything, he thinks it's good politics, but it's not.' In a second post, Trump complained that Paul 'never has any practical or constructive ideas. His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can't stand him.' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt sought to swat aside Musk's criticisms during Tuesday's media briefing. 'The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,' Leavitt said. 'It doesn't change the president's opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill, and he's sticking to it.' But GOP senators are not quite so nonchalant. Johnson, the Wisconsin senator and fiscal hawk, told Politico that Musk's social media blasts 'got spread around pretty quickly' within the Republican conference. GOP senators will also not have missed the implicit threat in a later social media post from Musk. 'In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,' he wrote. Such a message raises the specter of Musk using some of his enormous wealth to finance primary challenges to incumbents — despite a recent statement that he was likely to curb his political spending. For Trump, the danger is that Musk will grow increasingly willing to voice his discontent. Trump, of course, has no more elections to run. But Musk's enormous X megaphone and his influential position near the apex of the online right makes him a highly dangerous potential critic. Relations between Trump and Musk have not fully degraded yet, of course. But Tuesday's messages from Musk will disconcert the White House as much as GOP leaders on Capitol Hill. The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
