Today in History: Federal minimum wage set
Today in history:
On June 25, 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which set a minimum wage, guaranteed overtime pay and banned 'oppressive child labor,' was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Also on this date:
In 1876, the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand, began in southeastern Montana Territory. As many as 100 Native Americans were killed in the battle, as were 268 people attached to the 7th Cavalry Regiment, including George Armstrong Custer and Mark Kellogg, the first Associated Press reporter to die in the line of duty.
In 1947, 'The Diary of a Young Girl,' the personal journal of Anne Frank, a German-born Jewish girl hiding with her family from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II, was first published.
In 1950, war broke out in Korea as forces from the communist North invaded the South. The conflict would last for over three years and would be responsible for an estimated 4 million deaths, an estimated 3 million of whom were civilians.
In 1973, former White House Counsel John Dean began testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee, implicating top administration officials, including President Richard Nixon as well as himself, in the Watergate scandal and cover-up.
In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, its first 'right-to-die' decision, ruled 5-4 that family members could be barred from ending the lives of persistently comatose relatives who had not made their wishes known conclusively.
In 1993, Kim Campbell was sworn in as Canada's 19th prime minister, the first woman to hold the post.
In 1996, a truck bomb killed 19 Americans and injured hundreds at a U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia.
In 2015, in the case of King v. Burwell, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld nationwide tax subsidies under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in a 6-3 ruling that preserved health insurance for millions of Americans.
In 2021, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd, whose death led to the biggest outcry against racial injustice in the U.S. in generations.
Today's Birthdays: Actor June Lockhart is 100. Civil rights activist James Meredith is 92. Singer Carly Simon is 82. Actor-comedian Jimmie Walker is 78. Musician Tim Finn is 73. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is 71. Actor-writer-comedian Ricky Gervais is 64. Hockey Hall of Famer Doug Gilmour is 62. Author Yann Martel ('Life of Pi') is 62. Actor Angela Kinsey ('The Office') is 54. Actor Linda Cardellini is 50. Actor Busy Philipps is 46.
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The Hill
26 minutes ago
- The Hill
Russiagate scandal demands prosecutions, overhaul of the FBI and CIA
Once again, newly released documents and damning evidence conclusively substantiate what many Americans have long suspected. Russiagate was a conspiracy — hatched, implemented and relentlessly promoted by top officials in the CIA, FBI and across the Obama-Biden-Clinton political machine to rig a presidential election and undermine a duly elected president. It also corrupted the very institutions essential to protecting American liberty. Despite the mountain of evidence and exhaustive investigations, those responsible for this travesty remain unpunished. Former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, among other intelligence officials, have lied to Congress and the American public about their reliance on the discredited Steele dossier — a report paid for by the Clinton campaign and the DNC — while simultaneously engineering different versions of critical intelligence assessments to cover their tracks. Although the intelligence community and its leaders publicly maintained that the notorious dossier played no role in the official assessment concerning ' Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections,' newly declassified oversight reviews flatly contradict these claims. The record shows that Brennan and Clapper prepared a classified, compartmented version of the assessment specifically for President Obama and senior officials, which cited the dossier to bolster key judgments about Russian election interference. Later, when sanitized versions were released to Congress and the public, all references to the dossier had been scrubbed away. Special Counsel John Durham's investigation verified that Brennan, Clapper, then-Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and FBI Director James Comey were all briefed, even before the 2016 election, on the Clinton campaign's plan to concoct a false Trump-Russia narrative. Still, the FBI — with full knowledge that the Steele dossier was riddled with falsehoods — deployed it to secure baseless FISA warrants against Trump advisor Carter Page and launch the Crossfire Hurricane investigation (the FBI'S codename for the operation), with the intent of sabotaging Trump's campaign and subsequent presidency. Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act litigation exposed much of this corruption years before the Durham report. Court-obtained documents, such as the 'electronic communication' that launched Crossfire Hurricane, revealed the flimsy and third-hand nature of the intelligence used as pretext. Other records uncovered by Judicial Watch showed how high-ranking Justice Department officials, such as Bruce Ohr, maintained close ties with Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS, acting as a conduit for anti-Trump smears even after Steele was fired as an informant by the FBI for leaking to the media. Ohr's communications disclosed that so-called 'intelligence' on Trump-Russia ties was being laundered to the Clinton campaign and other government insiders. It goes deeper. Declassified supplements to the Durham report lay out how activists tied to George Soros' Open Society Foundations, aided by operatives within the Obama FBI and intelligence community, sought to plant and spread the bogus narrative about Trump colluding with Russia even before the FBI operations officially began. Hacked emails and foreign intelligence corroborated this extraordinary collusion between campaign operatives, federal law enforcement, and the media — a clear case of government being weaponized for partisan ends. Leaders at the FBI — Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok — and at the CIA, and their superiors in the Obama White House, knew precisely what was unfolding. They were using the intelligence community's credibility to spread what they knew to be their own fiction as if it were truth. Yet, they pressed ahead anyway, smearing Trump and creating excuses to spy on his campaign. Their collusion made a mockery of the rule of law, resulting in illegal warrants, fabricated evidence, and years of phony investigations. Recent Judicial Watch lawsuits have further exposed how shamelessly courts and legal systems were deceived, with virtually no oversight or meaningful hearings. For all it revealed, the Durham investigation resulted in one modest plea deal and few and failed prosecutions. If no one is held to account, Americans' confidence in government will be shaken by the toxic message that in Washington, the bigger the crime, the less likely it is to be punished. The FBI and Justice Department, and their enablers in the Obama White House, engineered the most egregious abuse of power and corruption in modern American history. The public deserves justice — not just in the form of reports and hearings, but through criminal prosecution of the officials who orchestrated and covered up this conspiracy. Brennan, Clapper, Comey, McCabe, Strzok, and every enabler involved must be brought before a court of law. No spin can excuse years of perjury, abuse, and violations of civil liberties. It is not enough to claim that 'mistakes were made' or offer platitudes about trust. Laws were broken. Rights were trampled. Our democracy was threatened. News of criminal referrals for perjury by some of the players is a good start, but only that. Nor will prosecution alone suffice. The FBI and CIA need fundamental reform. Trump's recent executive orders aimed at ending the 'weaponization of government' are steps in the right direction. These agencies have proven incapable of policing themselves. From rubber-stamp FISA courts to politicized counterintelligence and persecution of whistleblowers, these agencies are built on unaccountable power. Significantly cutting back the Justice Department and dismantling the FBI should be on the table. America is a republic, not a banana republic. It's time for accountability, reform and a sharp reminder to the deep state: in America, the people are sovereign, not unelected bureaucrats.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
HUD launches English-only initiative for all department services: ‘Speak with one voice and one language'
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is making English the sole language used for virtually all of its services and affairs, according to a new memo obtained by The Post. HUD's deputy secretary wrote the memo, set to be sent out on Monday, advising department leadership of the changes, in keeping with President Trump's executive order in March to designate English as the official US language. 'We are one people, united, and we will speak with one voice and one language to deliver on our mission of expanding housing that is affordable, helping those in need, caring for our most vulnerable Americans, and revitalizing rural, tribal, and urban communities,' HUD deputy secretary Andrew Hughes wrote. Despite the upcoming change, there will still be some instances where other languages may be permitted in HUD services to comply with the law. Those include accommodations required under the Americans with Disability Act and the Violence Against Women Act, which have nondiscrimination provisions that may apply to language in some situations. 4 HUD will begin scrubbing its website and buildings of any non-English flyers. Getty Images 4 President Trump took executive action in March to make English America's official language. Ron Sachs/CNP / 'HUD will continue to ensure that all persons have meaningful access to HUD programs and services,' Hughes stressed, adding that the department also 'will continue to provide communication services to the hearing and seeing impaired, and persons with related disabilities.' Outside of those potential exceptions, HUD will switch to English-only for its services and affairs. Under previous administrations, HUD sought to accommodate other languages to help low-income legal immigrants to the US who struggled with English. Prior to the English-only push, HUD touted that it accommodated some 222 languages and had an interpretation line for individuals unable to speak English proficiently, a flyer seen by The Post showed. 4 Prior to the change, HUD touted how it provided recipients with over 222 languages. HUD Former President Bill Clinton took executive action shortly before leaving office in 2001 to improve the access that people with limited English proficiency had to government services. Trump's March executive order to make English the official US language revoked Clinton's directive and noted that 'nothing in this order, however, requires or directs any change in the services provided by any agency.' Following guidance from the Justice Department, HUD decided that the best way to implement Trump's executive order was to roll back other language translations, which some officials in the housing agency believe will save taxpayer dollars. The new changes at HUD are set to be 'effective immediately,' and the department will begin scrubbing some of the translated materials provided on its website in what Hughes described as an 'ongoing and iterative' implementation process. 4 HUD is the latest government department to take steps towards implementing President Trump's executive order. Getty Images 'All HUD communications, correspondence, and physical and digital published materials will be produced exclusively in English and that we will no longer offer non-English translation services,' Hughes' memo states. 'Additionally, please immediately remove all printed or digital collateral about non-English translation services currently displayed in HUD offices or HUD-funded facilities. Printed or digital collateral not in English can be replaced with an English-only version.' The department also plans to conduct a review of English translation service contracts. Last month, the DOJ blasted out guidance to all federal agencies last month on how to best carry out Trump's executive order. In about six months, the DOJ will provide agencies with updated guidance and allow time for public comment to determine whether or not further adjustments are warranted.
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
The EPA's know-nothing assault on climate science
Soon after he began his second term, President Trump — who has referred to global warming as 'a make-believe problem' and asked oil executives to contribute $1 billion to his 2024 campaign — issued executive orders expanding coal mining and offshore drilling of oil, blocking enforcement of state and local laws restricting carbon emissions and slashing the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In July, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin moved to rescind the agency's 2009 'endangerment finding' that pollutants from burning fossil fuels constitute a threat to public health. Officials indicated that the decision was based in part on a report of five climate contrarians commissioned by the Department of Energy. Committed to ending regulations on automobile emissions, reducing limits on power plant emissions and releases of carbon dioxide and methane, Zeldin denounced 'people, who in the name of climate change, are willing to bankrupt the country … and basically regulate out of existence a lot of segments of our economy.' The Interior Department is now conducting 'consultations' that cause lengthy delays on permits for wind and solar projects (which produced 16 percent of U.S. electricity in 2024). The Trump administration's assault on what Zeldin called 'climate change religion' is based on demonstrably false assumptions and assertions. Global warming is not 'a hoax.' Temperatures on the surface of the earth and ocean are increasing at alarming rates. The ice sheets are melting, sea levels are rising and catastrophic weather-related events are more frequent. The benefits of addressing climate change, moreover, outweigh costs to the economies of developed and developing countries — and to the welfare of hundreds of millions of people on the planet. Hundreds of studies conducted throughout the world confirm that human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels, are having an adverse impact on the climate. About 97 percent of climate scientists agree. According to one expert, no new evidence has emerged 'that would in any way challenge the scientific bases of the endangerment finding.' A National Climate Assessment report presents 2,000 pages of evidence that rising temperatures are injurious to health. Research indicates that each increase of a tenth of a degree Celsius moves about 100 million people into 'unprecedented heat exposure.' In the U.S., extreme heat already kills more people than any other 'natural' disaster. Bill McKibben reminds us in his new book 'Here Comes The Sun' that many factors are often omitted when measuring the economic costs of various energy sources. Consider, for example, insurance. Wildfires, hurricanes and floods have caused many insurance companies to stop offering policies for homes in vulnerable areas. The number of homeowners in the U.S. with no insurance, according to a Senate Budget Committee report, increased from 5 percent in 2019 to 12 percent in 2024. Premiums for Americans lucky enough to get a policy are going up 40 percent faster than inflation. A British actuarial society estimated a 50 percent loss of global GDP and dramatic declines in 'critical services' by 2070 if temperatures continue to rise. Far from bankrupting the country, solar, wind and battery power now present cost-effective alternatives to fossil fuels. Noting that oil and coal produce wasted heat and send pollutants into the air, McKibben praises renewables as 'the Costco of energy, inexpensive and available in bulk.' A solar panel produced in 2024 will generate electricity for decades, whereas oil and gas will have to be replenished every few months. In 2024, 92.5 percent of new electricity around the world and 96 percent in the U.S. came from carbon-free energy. California is now using 44 percent less natural gas than it used in 2023. 'In a red-state cocktail party fact,' McKibben reveals that the largest solar panel factory in the Western Hemisphere is located in Marjorie Taylor Greene's Georgia congressional district. Texas, 'the spiritual home of fossil fuel,' will add twice as much clean energy in 2025 than California and Arizona put together. McKibben also cites evidence that renewables are producing more jobs than the more dangerous and dirty jobs lost in coal, oil and gas industries. China, it's worth noting, has seized the moment, and is now 'the Saudi Arabia of sun.' By 2024, seven Chinese companies were producing more energy than the oil industry's once-fabled Seven Sisters. In the last two years, China spent $329 billion on clean technology supply chains, while the U.S. and Europe spent a total of $29 billion. China also dominates the global market for electric vehicles. America can become a worthy competitor. Polls in 2022 indicated that 70 percent of Americans favored renewables over fossil fuels. But it's also possible, McKibben acknowledges, that the U.S., with Trump behind the wheel, will slide backwards into an 'island of internal combustion' and 'global irrelevance.' McKibben — a sometimes optimist who has written 20 books about climate change — concludes that we have one last chance to stop the increase in global warming and 'restart civilization on saner ground, once we've extinguished the fires that now both power and threaten it.' 'It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble,' a saying attributed to Mark Twain goes, 'it's what you know for sure that just ain't so.' With that in mind, here's hoping that with a push from better informed American voters and from the rest of the world, the U.S. will do a 180.
