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Trump's MAGA allies zero in on Ghislaine Maxwell as Epstein furor persists

Trump's MAGA allies zero in on Ghislaine Maxwell as Epstein furor persists

Washington Post26-07-2025
As President Donald Trump has struggled to contain the stubborn fallout of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, several of his staunchest supporters and conservative media allies think they have finally found the key to exposing a secret cabal of rich and powerful pedophiles.
Some of MAGA's most prominent voices say without evidence that Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years for sex trafficking girls for Epstein, has inside knowledge that would help law enforcement bring untold elites to justice.
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South Park Savages ICE and Kristi Noem, Sends Trump to Mar-a-Lago — Read Recap
South Park Savages ICE and Kristi Noem, Sends Trump to Mar-a-Lago — Read Recap

Yahoo

time22 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

South Park Savages ICE and Kristi Noem, Sends Trump to Mar-a-Lago — Read Recap

Did you think South Park would take it easy on Donald Trump this week? Yeah, we didn't, either. In Wednesday's episode, Cartman is enraged when he sees Clyde start a debate podcast where he says terrible things about women and Jews. Hey, that's Cartman's thing! As Clyde explains to guidance counselor Mr. Mackey, 'I'm just trying to make my nut, man.' (DoorDash isn't free, you know.) But then P.C. Principal fires Mr. Mackey because the government is cutting back on 'unnecessary expenses,' and Mr. Mackey is left wondering: 'What about my nut?' More from TVLine The Chi's Yolanda Ross Breaks Down Her Heartbreaking Exit in the Season 7 Finale: 'We All Lost It' The Sandman's Finale Made Us Wish for a Death-Centric Spinoff: 'We Did Play With Those Ideas,' EP Says Dexter: Resurrection Recap: Dexter's Connection With Mia Takes a Shocking Turn Mackey goes to the bank to look at his finances, and it's grim: His nut is $8,000 a month. ('I had no idea my nut was that big.') He can't find a job as a counselor, so he has to work for ICE rounding up undocumented immigrants because they're the only ones hiring: 'We don't ask for experience!… We don't care if you've read a book!' Mackey goes to the recruitment center and is immediately hired, and they show him an orientation video starring Homeland Security head Kristi Noem, who shoots dogs dead when she's not locking up immigrants. (Oh, and she doesn't look great without makeup on.) While Cartman takes over Clyde's podcast and becomes a 'master debater,' sporting a Charlie Kirk haircut, Mackey is handed a machine gun and sent out on his first ICE raid… at a Dora the Explorer concert. He and the other ICE agents rush in and arrest dad and grandmas, even Dora herself. Noem is pleased — but her Botox falters, and her face melts like a hot candle. ICE's overreach leads to angry protests in Denver, where one protestor argues 'there are many Latinos in heaven.' So Noem sends her ICE agents to heaven to round up all the Hispanic angels: 'If it's brown, it goes down.' By now, though, her face falls completely off and scurries away. Mackey's making good money as an ICE agent, but as his income increases, so does his nut. Noem has good news, though: The President has invited Mackey to Mar-a-Lago to thank him personally. He's flown down to Trump's pleasure palace, where Trump emerges in a pristine white suit like Ricardo Montalban from Fantasy Island — while his VP J.D. Vance is reduced to playing the pint-sized Tattoo. Trump wants to promote Mackey to head of homeland security, he says. But what about Noem? 'Her face freaks me out,' Trump admits. Mackey gets cold feet, though, when Trump pulls him into a bedroom with Satan — yikes — and as he tries to escape, Mackey finds that Mar-a-Lago is just a house of horrors. Even fellow guest Clyde is disillusioned: 'Just wanted to make my nut, sir. Didn't really want all this.' Mackey understands, telling the kid: 'If you're doing something you don't really believe in just to make your nut, you're gonna find that you just get sadder, and your nut just gets bigger.' They decide to leave together, with the help of Superman's flying dog Krypto… well, until Noem takes out poor Krypto with a sniper rifle. But when her face crawls off and leaves the ICE agents scrambling to recover it, that gives Mackey and the immigrants enough time to escape. All's well that ends well, we guess. Got thoughts on this week's ? Drop 'em in a comment below. Best of TVLine Mrs. Maisel Flash-Forward List: All of Season 5's Futuristic Easter Eggs Yellowjackets Recap: The Morning After Yellowjackets Recap: The First Supper

US to Scale Back Human Rights Accusations Against 3 Countries: Report
US to Scale Back Human Rights Accusations Against 3 Countries: Report

Newsweek

time24 minutes ago

  • Newsweek

US to Scale Back Human Rights Accusations Against 3 Countries: Report

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. The administration of President Donald Trump is scaling back criticism of certain foreign governments over their human rights records, including their treatment of LGBTQ+ people, in a shift from the traditional U.S. promotion of rights, The Washington Post reported. The newspaper reviewed leaked draft reports on El Salvador, Israel and Russia being prepared for the State Department's annual report on human rights practices in countries around the world. Newsweek reached out to the State Department for comment Wednesday night. Why It Matters The leaked reports for the three countries underscore how the Trump administration is rethinking the U.S. role in global human rights advocacy. The apparent shift on human rights reflects a pattern of disengagement from international conventions and comes as the administration has already moved to abandon long-held positions and norms in areas like trade, the environment and relations with allies. Diplomats in U.S. embassies around the world have drawn up the annual rights report for almost 50 years. Their findings are considered the most thorough and wide-ranging of their kind. President Donald Trump, left, greets Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, as Bukele arrives at the White House on April 14 in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump, left, greets Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, as Bukele arrives at the White House on April 14 in Washington, D.C. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP What To Know The Post said the documents it reviewed are consistent with internal guidance circulated this year by State Department leaders who advised staff to shorten the reports to the minimum required by statutory guidelines and executive orders and to remove references to government corruption, gender-based crimes and other abuses the U.S. government historically has documented. "The 2024 Human Rights report has been restructured in a way that removes redundancies, increases report readability and is more responsive to the legislative mandate that underpins the report," the newspaper cited a senior State Department official as saying. According to the Post, the reports it reviewed are significantly shorter than the ones prepared last year by the administration of former President Joe Biden. They cut all references to LGBTQ+ people or crimes against them, and the descriptions of government abuses that remain have been softened. The draft for El Salvador says it had "no credible reports of significant human rights abuses" in 2024. The previous report for El Salvador, documenting 2023, identified "significant human rights issues" there—including government-sanctioned killings, instances of torture and "harsh and life-threatening prison conditions." "A comparison of the documents covering El Salvador shows the Trump administration downplaying the country's history of prison violence, emphasizing that there has been a reduction overall while stating that purported deaths were under government review," the newspaper reported. El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, a close ally of Trump, has offered to house people from other countries deported by the U.S. in a mega-prison built to detain gang members. "Scrutiny of corruption and judicial independence also is significantly scaled back in the draft report for Israel," the newspaper said, adding that the Israel draft is 25 pages compared with more than 100 pages last year. The draft for Israel makes no mention of corruption or threats to the independence of its judiciary. The 2023 report compiled by the Biden administration addresses the corruption trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and judicial overhaul efforts, which critics say threaten the independence of the judiciary. Previous reports also mentioned Israeli surveillance of Palestinians and restrictions of their movement but the issue is not addressed in the draft, the Post said. Keifer Buckingham, who worked on LGBTQ+ issues at the State Department until January, told the Post that the failure to include any mention in the reviewed reports of gender-based violence or violence against LGBTQ+ people was a "glaring omission" in the case of Russia, where its Supreme Court had banned LGBTQ+ organizations and labeled them "extremist," with raids and arrests last year. What People Are Saying Buckingham, also managing director at The Council for Global Equality, said: "Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio has repeatedly asserted that his State Department has not abandoned human rights, but it is clear by this and other actions that this administration only cares about the human rights of some some countries, when it's convenient to them." The senior State Department official cited by the newspaper said: "The human rights report focuses on core issues." What Happens Next It is not clear if the reports eventually transmitted to Congress and released to the public will mirror the drafts. The ones for El Salvador and Russia are marked "finalized," while the draft for Israel is marked "quality check," the Post reported.

Live updates: Trump's tariffs expected to go into effect after midnight
Live updates: Trump's tariffs expected to go into effect after midnight

Associated Press

time24 minutes ago

  • Associated Press

Live updates: Trump's tariffs expected to go into effect after midnight

U.S. President Donald Trump's wide-ranging tariffs are expected to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, just as the economic fallout of his months of threatening them them is surfacing in visible damage to the economy. The import taxes will reach a level not seen in the U.S. in almost 100 years, with Americans expected to pay an average of 18.3% more for imported products. That's the highest rate since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale, a nonpartisan policy research center. Companies are dealing with the tariffs in various ways. For example many automakers appear to be swallowing the costs for now. But most economists say the cost will ultimately be borne by U.S. consumers and businesses to some degree. Update: Date: 2025-08-07 03:03:32 Title: Ask AP reporters a question Content:

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