Trump keeps threatening to federalize D.C.
Trump called crime 'totally out of control' in the capital, casting the city as a lawless haven for teenagers who are 'randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens.'
Then in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said he is considering taking over the D.C. police and 'bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly.'
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Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Florida and Texas could see more Congressional seats if Trump census order moves forward
President Donald Trump said on Aug. 7 that he wants his administration to run a new census, which usually only happens at the turn of the decade. States around the country are in a bit of a standoff over Congressional districts after the Texas legislature sought to redraw their maps to add more Republican seats, causing Democratic officials to flee the state to prevent a vote on the map. Democratic heavy-weight states like California and New York have said they are poised to counter with their own redistricting if Texas moves forward. "I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024," Trump said in the post. "People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS." As previously reported by USA TODAY, Florida could gain Congressional seats if a mid-decade census moves forward. Here is what to know: More: DeSantis may call special session to redraw congressional districts before next census How often is the census taken normally? The U.S. Constitution calls for the census to be conducted every 10 years, and in years that end in zero, most recently in 2020. The U.S. Census Bureau, part of the Commerce Department, carries out these resource-intensive surveys and hires temporary staff to conduct outreach to count as many people as possible. The survey results are used to decide how seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are distributed to each state based on its population, a process called apportionment. Those processes usually take place in the first two years of a decade. The survey results are also used to determine how much federal funding is distributed to states, and researchers widely cite the demographic research to understand the country. Florida and 5 other states undercounted in the 2020 Census A 2022 report from the U.S. Census Bureau found that 14 states had statistically significant differences between the bureau's count and the actual population. States that were undercounted were: Arkansas Florida Illinois Mississippi Tennessee Texas Florida gained one Congressional seat after the 2020 Census. By how much was Florida undercounted in the 2020 Census? In the 2020 Census, the bureau estimated it undercounted the population by 3.84%, the fourth most drastic undercount of all of the states. WUSF reported that about 750,000 residents went uncounted statewide. Plus, Florida has seen rapid population growth in recent years. Since 2020, Florida's population has grown by approximately 1.8 million from July 2020 to July 2024, an increase of 8.24%, according to the Census Bureau Vintage 2024 data. Florida moves to prep for redistricting following Trump's call Hans Von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow for the conservative Heritage Foundation, believes maps should be redrawn more frequently. He said a mid-decade census could result in more congressional seats for Texas and Florida. Both are red states with rapidly increasing populations, and both were undercounted in the 2020 Census. Texas was undercounted by almost 550,000 in 2020 and added another 2 million people by 2024. By comparison, an average of 760,000 people live in each congressional district. Within hours of Trump's statement, Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Republican, said he's setting up a new redistricting committee. Michael P. McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida, said the congressional maps are the fairest they've been in about 40 years because of redistricting reform efforts across the country to prevent unfairly drawn districts. He said that the congressional maps are already drawn in a way that there are more Republican-leaning districts than Democratic-leaning ones, despite the practice of including undocumented immigrants in the count. McDonald pointed to South Florida, where he said the current lines place right-leaning Cuban Americans with high voter turnout rates in the same districts as lower-propensity, Democratic-leaning Hispanic voters. If the maps were redrawn to not include undocumented immigrants, as Trump has suggested, he said there would likely be only two congressional seats in the area. "Who's going to be on that game of musical chairs?" he asked. Why would Trump want to conduct a new Census? "The Republicans are so desperate at this point to forestall what's likely going to happen in 2026," McDonald said. Democrats are widely expected to win seats in the House of Representatives in next year's congressional elections because the party that occupies the White House usually does poorly. Trump also has low approval ratings. That blue wave could flip control of the House, in which Republicans hold a 219 to 212 majority. McDonald said if Republicans draw new congressional districts, they might be able to mitigate the number of seats they lose. Are immigrants counted in the census? Yes. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says Representatives shall be apportioned according to the "whole number of persons in each State." This ended the long-standing practice of counting three-fifths of enslaved people for purposes of representation. There is no language in the 14th Amendment that restricts these counts to citizens or people with legal presence in the country. During his first term in June 2019, Trump attempted to add a question to the 2020 Census asking if the person completing the survey was a citizen. The Supreme Court struck that down. The following year, Trump issued a memorandum saying undocumented immigrants should not be included in counts that determine congressional representation. Contributing: Gray Rohrer, Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY Network Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump wants a mid-decade census. What could happen in Florida? Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
WNBA sex toys timeline: Every incident involving fans throwing neon green objects at games
WNBA sex toys timeline: Every incident involving fans throwing neon green objects at games originally appeared on The Sporting News WNBA games have been plagued by an all-too-familiar sight as of late, with seven confirmed cases of bright green dildos being launched toward the floor in recent weeks. Four of those occurrences have seen the sex toys reach the floor. Another three have landed in the concourses. Multiple arrests have been made, while players, coaches, and media members alike have pleaded with the general public to stop the dehumanizing act. Nevertheless, the gesture — which could be argued to play on tropes regarding the league and its largely queer and largely Black population — continues to rear its ugly head at WNBA contests. Here's what you need to know about the recent incidents as well as their potential origins. MORE: Where Brittney Griner, Margo Dydek, & others rank by height in WNBA history WNBA sex toy timeline July 29: First sex toy tossed onto court during Dream-Valkyries matchup The first incident took place on July 29 during a matchup between Atlanta and Golden State. With less than a minute left in the game and the two sides level at 75, the green dildo made its dismount, flying from the stands onto the floor after being fired onto the court by a then-unnamed assailant. The device nearly made contact with a Valkyries player. It was disposed of by an Atlanta security guard, who whisked the object away with a towel. Aug. 1: Second incident occurs during Valkyries-Sky The Valkyries' Aug. 1 road clash with the Sky brought about the second occurrence of a dildo crashing onto the floor. The bright green apparatus was thrown onto the court early in the third quarter of the matchup, prompting a halt to the action. The referee once again responded quickly, kicking the toy out of the way to preserve the sanctity of the game. Participants expressed outrage over the gesture. Chicago center Elizabeth Williams labeled the act "immature." 'Whoever is doing it just needs to grow up," Williams said. MORE: Which WNBA players can dunk? Aug. 5: Three games scorned by sight of dildos Three games that took place on Aug. 5 were felled, at least momentarily, by dildos. The Fever's joust with the Sparks at Arena was briefly stopped after an onlooker rifled another green sex toy onto the court, this one appearing to collide with Indiana wing Sophie Cunningham. Cunningham was vocal about her distaste for the gesture on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. "Stop throwing dildos on the court," Cunningham wrote. "You're going to hurt one of us." MORE:Ranking the 10 ugliest sports statues of all time Plum kicked the dildo off the floor after sinking her first free throw. Two other incidents took place involving sex toys that same night — one during the Mercury-Sun fixture at PHX Arena, the other involving the Liberty and Wings at Barclays Center. While the sex toy touched down on the floor in Indiana's matchup with Los Angeles, the same couldn't be said in New York. The dildo fell short of the court, landing in the concourses instead. Aug. 5: Fans arrested for throwing green dildos at Dream, Mercury games An 18-year-old Arizona man was arrested after allegedly throwing a dildo towards the floor at the Mercury-Sun game. Police said the spectator pulled the sex toy from his sweater pocket and launched it toward the floor. It struck a spectator in the back. The man told police the gesture was a prank that he saw trending on social media. A volunteer at the arena followed the man after witnessing the incident and tackled him. Police reportedly booked the man on suspicion of assault, disorderly conduct, and publicly displaying sexual material. The arrest came days after a 23-year-old Georgia man was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency/indecent exposure, and criminal trespass related to the July 29 incident at the Dream-Valkyries game. Aug. 7: Cryptocurrency group claims responsibility for some of the incidents, distances itself from arrests A collective of unnamed cryptocurrency investors claimed responsibility for some of the attacks on Aug. 7, revealing that the act was part of a rollout of a meme coin created on July 28. The meme coin's community, titled Green Dildo Coin, was erected to protest the "toxic" environment in cryptocurrency, according to USA Today. The people behind the cabal are unknown. But they're believed to have coordinated some of the incidents on social media, per The Athletic. Livestreams regarding the use of bright green dildos at WNBA games — likened to "giant green, aggressive, and erect candles" by the collective's founder, Lt. Daldo Raine (a spoof of Brad Pitt's character, Lt. Aldo Raine, from Quentin Tarantino's film, "Inglourious Basterds") — routinely featured disparaging commentary about the league and its players. 'The attention we created for a ($40) dildo and ($140) seats is next level,' said one member of the community, per The Athletic. 'This is empowering to every f—ing crypto community to start thinking outside the box. Get creative and do something that makes people actually laugh. Meme coins should make you laugh. Memes should make you laugh. 'This is a movement to me to empower the average f—ing teacher. I don't care if you have 100,000 followers or 10 followers. Your f—ing posts matter, they have the ability to go viral, as long as they're actually f—ing funny.' A spokesperson for the community called the gesture lighthearted and a "prank" in an interview with USA Today. They recoiled at the suggestion that they would attempt to harm someone or that the sex toys were disrespectful to women athletes. MORE: Ranking the best WNBA players in 2025 "We didn't do this because we dislike women's sports. Like, some of the narratives that are trending right now are ridiculous," he said. "Creating disruption at games is, like, it happens in every single sport, right? We've seen it in the NFL, we've seen it in hockey, you know... fans doing random things to more or less create attention. "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." The spokesperson vowed that other "pranks" are on the horizon, but they're "a lot lighter, a lot more tasteful." They also claimed that neither of the two arrests had anything to do with them. The spokesperson's comments came hours after Donald Trump Jr. shared an AI-generated image of his father, President Donald Trump, watching on as a green dildo fell on a WNBA court. "Posted without further comment," Trump Jr. captioned the image. Aug. 7: Two more incidents of dildos being thrown at games recorded The Aug. 7 nightcap saw dildos tossed in yet another game. A purple sex toy was thrown onto the court in the waning moments of Atlanta's 86-65 win. According to Front Office Sports' Colin Salao, a second object was thrown towards the floor, but it landed behind the Dream's bench. Who is throwing sex toys at WNBA games? If the Green Dildo Coin community is to be believed, the people tossing green dildos at WNBA games are simply cryptocurrency enthusiasts unhappy with the state of crypto markets and copycats tickled by the image of WNBA players having to avoid sex toys being thrown at them. Those queried on the decision to launch bright green dildos at women's basketball players have, by and large, described the gesture as a "joke" or "prank." According to The Athletic, the incidents have precipitated a major windfall for the trading prices of $DILDO. Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction model, fielded bets on whether disturbances would occur during WNBA games, while the $DILDO trading price went up 22.7 percent between Aug. 6 and Aug. 7, according to coingecko, a cryptocurrency website. Why are fans throwing sex toys at WNBA games? Those in the cryptocurrency community have called the incidents light-hearted "jokes" aimed at casting a light on the current state of affairs in cryptocurrency. Raine said the goal of the disruptions is to "more or less create attention", he told USA Today on Aug. 7. "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." The sex objects launched towards the hardwood have featured drawn-on sunglasses and the name of the meme coin. It's a reflection of the lighthearted nature they want the memecoin to represent, the spokesperson said. "We wanna shift the culture in crypto, and we wanna be the 1,000 against the one," the spokesperson said. The Green Dildo Coin community has plans of ratcheting up the disruptions in "lighter" and "more tasteful" ways in the coming days and weeks, the spokesperson explained. Whether that will quell the onslaught of WNBA incidents remains to be seen — Green Dildo Coin didn't claim responsibility for either of the incidents that ended in arrests, suggesting that copycats could be on the prowl. The spokesperson rejected claims that the gestures were disrespectful to women athletes. Whether the WNBA's players — a majority Black, largely queer and largely Black and queer cohort — accept that assertion remains to be seen.
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
SEC ends lawsuit against Ripple, company to pay $125 million fine
By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it ended its case accusing Ripple Labs of selling unregistered securities, leaving a $125 million fine intact and ending one of the cryptocurrency industry's highest-profile lawsuits. Ripple and the SEC agreed on Thursday to dismiss their appeals of the fine imposed by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan and her injunction against the sale of Ripple's XRP token to institutional investors. XRP is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market value, trailing bitcoin and Ethereum, according to the market service CoinMarketCap. The SEC sued Ripple in December 2020, near the end of U.S. President Donald Trump's first White House term, accusing it of selling XRP tokens without registering them as securities. In a mixed ruling in July 2023, Torres said XRP was covered by securities laws when sold to institutional investors, while XRP that Ripple sold on public exchanges was not. She imposed the fine in August 2024. Following Trump's reelection, a more crypto-friendly SEC began retreating from some enforcement cases, and together with Ripple asked Torres to lift the injunction and reduce the fine to $50 million. She refused, saying neither side came close to showing "exceptional circumstances" that outweighed the public interest in enforcing the injunction and $125 million fine. The SEC said the dismissal of the appeals means the injunction and fine remain in effect. Stuart Alderoty, Ripple's chief legal officer, in a post on X referred to the SEC's actions and said the dismissals mark "the end" of the case. Since Trump reentered the White House, the SEC has also ended civil lawsuits against crypto exchanges Binance, Coinbase and Kraken. The case is SEC v Ripple Labs Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-10832.
