Are the MAGA podcasters right about Epstein?
In the last few months, Bongino and Patel have done a complete 180, and are now saying there's nothing to see… So are they telling the truth about the so-called Epstein files? Or has the deep state got to them too?
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News.com.au
6 hours ago
- News.com.au
Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago style renovations to the White House are progressing fast
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News.com.au
7 hours ago
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Crypto group reportedly says it planned sex toy tosses at WNBA games
A cryptocurrency group has said it organized a spate of "stunts" in which sex toys were tossed on courts at WNBA games, US media reported on Thursday. USA Today first reported that an unnamed spokesman for a group behind a meme coin called Green Dildo Coin had orchestrated at least some of the incidents, which angered WNBA players and led to at least two arrests. "We didn't do this because, like, we dislike women's sports or, like, some of the narratives that are trending right now are ridiculous," the unnamed source told USA Today. "We knew that in order to get a voice in the space ... we had to go out and do some viral stunts to save us from having to pay that influencer cabal, sacrifice our souls and the fate of the project." On July 29, a sex toy landed on the court as the Atlanta Dream hosted the Golden State Valkyries. In the week since, similar objects have been thrown onto the court or into the stands at several other games, including another game in Atlanta. The WNBA confirmed that one person had been arrested in connection with one of the incidents in Atlanta and on Wednesday an 18-year-old man was arrested for throwing a sex toy at a Phoenix Mercury game which hit another fan -- who was at the game with his young neice. USA Today reported that the meme coin group spokesman said that Delbert Carter, who was arrested for allegedly throwing a green sex toy on the court at the end of Atlanta's home game against Phoenix, was not part of the cryptocurrency group. Nor was Kaden Lopez, who was arrested in Phoenix. According to the statement from the Phoenix Police Department, Lopez said he saw the trend on social media and bought his own sex toy to throw. "Moving forward, we have a lot more pranks, but they're a lot lighter. They're a lot more tasteful," the unnamed source told USA Today. The WNBA said in a statement on Thursday it was working with arena personnel to identify culprits and "ensure appropriate action is taken."
News.com.au
10 hours ago
- News.com.au
US uses war rhetoric, Superman to recruit for migrant crackdown
From Uncle Sam to Superman, the US government is deploying patriotic icons and increasingly warlike rhetoric to recruit Americans into enforcing Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Job ads promising $50,000 signing bonuses to new "Deportation Officers" have flooded social media over the past week, accompanied by jingoistic rallying slogans that declare "America Needs You." White House officials have shared World War I-style posters, including one with Uncle Sam donning an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) baseball cap, while a former Superman actor has pledged he will "be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP." "So many patriots have stepped up, and I'm proud to be among them," Dean Cain, who starred as the Man of Steel in 1990s TV series "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," told FOX News. ICE, the agency chiefly responsible for the recent, divisive masked raids on farms, factories and Home Depot parking lots across the nation, is pulling out all the stops to hire new officers at a staggering rate. Flush with $75 billion in extra funding -- making it the highest-funded US law enforcement agency, ahead of even the FBI -- ICE has been tasked by Trump with deporting one million undocumented immigrants per year. To do so, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has pledged to hire 10,000 new officers, in a process that would swell ICE's ranks by a whopping 50 percent. On Wednesday, Noem scrapped pre-existing age caps that prevented over-40s from becoming deportation officers. Student debt forgiveness, generous overtime pay and enhanced retirement benefits are all being flouted -- alongside language about the opportunity to "Fulfill your destiny" and "Defend the Homeland." "Your nation needs you to step into the breach. For our country, for our culture, for our way of life. Will you answer the call?" read one post on Department of Homeland Security social media accounts. - 'All-hands-on-deck' - DHS officials say they have received 80,000 applications since the recruitment campaign began less than a week ago. But critics have quickly highlighted evidence that the aggressive drive may not be working as effectively as officials claim. Dozens of officials at FEMA -- a separate agency that deals with emergency disaster response -- have been reassigned to ICE and threatened with losing their jobs if they do not move, the Washington Post reported. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Post the move was part of "an all-hands-on-deck strategy to recruit 10,000 new ICE agents." An ICE pilot program offering agents additional cash bonuses for deporting people quickly was scrapped less than four hours after it was announced, when its existence was leaked to the New York Times. And some local law enforcement agencies that have cooperated with the federal immigration crackdown have complained that they are now seeing their own officers poached. "ICE actively trying to use our partnership to recruit our personnel is wrong," a Florida sheriff's office spokesperson told CNN. -'Kryptonite' - Perhaps the highest profile and most scathing response has come from "South Park," the popular animated TV satire that is becoming a thorn in the Trump administration's side. In a recent episode, hapless school counselor Mr Mackey is offered an ICE job after a seven-second-long interview, immediately handed a gun and sent on a raid of a children's concert. "If you're crazy, or fat and lazy, we don't care at all," says a fictional ICE job advert. "Remember, only detain the brown ones. If it's brown, it goes down," orders Noem's character during a satirical sequence set during an immigration raid in heaven. ICE raids have been accused using racial profiling by rights groups. Meanwhile, the recruitment drive has been hailed by conservative outlets. Fox News celebrated the news that Superman actor Cain had enlisted with the headline banner "Illegals, meet your Kryptonite." Supportive comments on the channel's Facebook page included "Now that's a REAL Superman." amz/hg/bgs
