More Americans support than oppose Trump's Army celebration parade: Poll
As President Donald Trump hosts events on Saturday to celebrate the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary, a new national poll indicates more Americans are likely to approve than disapprove of the president's decision to hold a military parade.
But six in 10 Americans are concerned about the cost of the parade, saying it's "not a good use" of government money, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey.
Trump, who is marking his 79th birthday on Saturday, is scheduled to give a speech during the parade, which will take place Saturday evening along the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Defense officials say roughly 6,600 soldiers will march in the parade, with some 50 military aircraft and 150 vehicles, including tanks, rocket launchers, and missiles. The Army says it's spending $25-$45 million to pay for the parade, which includes fixing D.C. streets damaged by the tanks.
Trump Warns Any Protesters At His Military Parade Will Be 'Met With Very Big Force'
Trump has defended the cost of the parade, saying last month in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" that it would be "peanuts compared to the value of doing it."
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"We have the greatest missiles in the world. We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we're going to celebrate it," the president said.
Trump To Host Military Parade To Celebrate Army's 250Th Birthday
But some in Congress are criticizing the parade, saying the money could be better spent.
"If it was really about celebrating military families, we could put $30 million toward helping them offset the cost of their child care, food assistance and tuition," Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a military veteran who lost both of her legs in combat while piloting an Army Black Hawk helicopter during the Iraq War, said in a social media post.
"But it isn't. Trump is throwing himself a $30 million birthday parade just to stroke his own ego," Duckworth argued.
According to the poll, 40% of adults nationwide approved of the military parade, with 29% disapproving, and three in 10 neither approving nor disapproving.
There was an expected partisan divide, with two-thirds of Republicans approving of the president's move to hold the parade, and half of Democrats disapproving.
But in a separate question, 60% of those surveyed said holding the parade was not a good use of government funds, with 38% disagreeing.
Nearly two-thirds of Republicans said holding the parade was a good use of government funds, while eight in 10 Democrats disagreed.
The White House, in a statement, said that the parade "will be a unifying celebration for not only the thousands in attendance, but Americans across the country who can participate in honoring our active-duty servicemembers, Veterans, and fallen heroes."
Pro-democracy, progressive, and labor activists are planning protests in all 50 states on Saturday that will coincide with Trump's military parade. Many are part of a series of "No Kings" protests across the country, with more than 1,500 rallies scheduled for this weekend.
But organizers decided against holding a major protest in the nation's capital and instead will hold their main event in Philadelphia.
The poll, which was conducted June 5-9, also indicates that 39% of those questioned approve of the job Trump's doing in the White House, with six in ten giving the president a thumbs down.
The survey had an overall margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.Original article source: More Americans support than oppose Trump's Army celebration parade: Poll
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'What a waste:' US scientists decry Trump's 47% cuts to NASA science budget
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Since January, when President Donald Trump took office for the second time, the White House has been asking U.S. government organizations to implement some pretty radical changes. Things have been tense, to say the least. Thousands of federal workers have been laid off with little explanation, programs that improve diversity in the workplace have been eliminated, research grants have been cancelled in large sweeps, and international college students find themselves at risk of losing their legal status. One government organization that could be hit the hardest is NASA. The agency has faced a particularly extensive amount of pressure from the Trump administration: surveillance, goal restructuring, website purging and more. Other federal science organizations haven't been spared, either — places like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have been targeted as well. The ground of U.S. science seems to be quaking for political reasons rather than scientific ones, leaving scientists disheartened by their government and anxious about what's next. "I don't think it is an overstatement to say that morale among U.S.-based scientists is at an all-time low," Sarah Horst, an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at The Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, told "People are afraid for their jobs, their students, the projects they've often spent decades working on, and they are afraid for the future of the United States." And things only got worse on May 30, when the Trump administration's fiscal year 2026 budget request for NASA came out. It proposes cutting the agency's science funding by 47%, and the agency's workforce by about one-third — from 17,391 to 11,853. This budget has to be officially passed by Congress to take effect, but if it indeed does, the effects could be brutal. "That would represent the smallest NASA workforce since mid-1960, before the first American had launched into space," Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, a nonprofit exploration and advocacy organization, told "If this budget is made real, I am most concerned about people," John O'Meara, chief scientist at the Keck Observatory, told "Missions deliver data and are essential, but the data is meaningless without the people there to interpret it, test theories and share discoveries with the world." Perhaps the most striking aspect of the White House's 2026 NASA budget proposal is the sheer amount of missions it would cancel altogether: 41 projects, as the Planetary Society said in a statement denouncing the report. "This is the extinction-level event we were warning people about," Dreier said. Some specifics: The sharply reduced budget would cancel the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, which was meant to bring samples of the Red Planet's surface to Earth — samples that NASA's Perseverance rover has been dutifully collecting over the last few years, and which scientists have long stressed must be analyzed in a lab to reach their full potential. MSR has experienced its own share of complications since its genesis, to be fair, including a huge price tag and what some believe is an overcomplicated mechanism of sample retrieval. However, cancelling the project outright instead of coming up with a solution would waste much of Perseverance's work on the Red Planet. The OSIRIS-APEX mission (you may remember it by its previous moniker, OSIRIS-REx) would also be cut off. This mission successfully sent a spacecraft on a multi-billion-mile expedition to an asteroid named Bennu, then had it grab a few pieces of the asteroid before traveling all the way back to Earth and safely dropping the samples to the ground. This same probe is now on round two, headed to examine the infamous asteroid Apophis — but if the FY26 NASA budget is confirmed, it won't complete its trip. "I'm personally mostly concerned for in-flight missions that already have a significant investment in both taxpayer dollars and peoples' lives/careers (including my own)," Kevin McGill, an employee at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the agency's lead center for robotic planetary exploration, told "Luckily, my work on [the Curiosity Mars rover] and Mars2020 [Perseverance] are mostly safe, but a lot of other stuff isn't." The budget also suggests ceasing operations for the Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft, which has been circling our solar system's gas giant since 2016 while regularly delivering rich information about the world and its moons. Juno is responsible for all those swirly blue images of Jupiter the astronomy community holds high; it took five years for this spacecraft to get to where it is, and many more for it to be built in the first place. "The operating missions cancellations alone represent over $12 billion of invested taxpayer value — and once they're gone, they're gone. It would take years and many millions more to replace them," Dreier said. NASA would also need to pull out of its collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the Rosalind Franklin rover — for the second time, no less — which is a robotic life-hunting explorer set to launch toward Mars in 2028. NASA had to pull out in 2012 because of budget cuts as well but re-entered the rover program after ESA cut ties with its other partner, the Russian space agency Roscosmos, once Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. "This makes the U.S. an untrustworthy partner and our allies hesitate the next time we ask them for help," Dreier said. Two operational Mars orbiters — Mars Odyssey and MAVEN — would be cancelled as well, as would the New Horizons spacecraft currently studying the outer reaches of the solar system and the DaVinci and VERITAS missions, which would explore Venus. The Lunar Gateway, which NASA envisioned as a sort of International Space Station around the moon, would also be cancelled. "What was surprising was the level of cuts within parts of each of the agencies. An example is astrophysics, where the cut was nearly 2/3 of the astrophysics budget," O'Meara said. According to the Planetary Society's analysis of the budget, that huge astrophysics reduction could mean eight spacecraft dedicated to studying extreme events in the universe (think, the Chandra X-ray Observatory) would be terminated. This analysis also suggests 10 missions constructed to study the region around Earth and the sun would be cancelled, as well as about a dozen Earth-specific missions that help scientists forecast natural disasters such as hurricanes and track global warming. The latter is especially concerning, given the speed with which Earth is heating up due to human activities that lead to greenhouse gas emissions — activities the Trump administration favors, such as burning coal for cheap power. Per the budget proposal, the White House also wants NASA to eliminate its "green aviation" spending, dedicated to making airplanes better for the environment, and instead work on "protecting the development of technologies with air traffic control and defense applications." It is also worth considering that other Trump-mandated moves have heavily impacted climate initiatives as well: more than 800 NOAA workers were laid off, for example, and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which houses climate change records dating back to the 1800s, was closed down — leading members of NASA's largest union to speak out in solidarity with their coworkers. Hundreds of scientists working on the National Climate Assessment, a huge report that details the dangers of climate change for policymakers to lean on, were also dismissed. (That represented all of the authors of this report). "This budget request, and its implications, has been highly disruptive to the entire field," O'Meara said. "We are forced to focus on 'what-if' planning that changes in scope rapidly. That takes the time away from what we do best: doing science and sharing it with the world." Furthermore, the White House's FY26 NASA budget proposal centers around a shift toward human missions to the Red Planet; this was a rare area that saw a budget boost in the President's request. For example, one slide in the budget summary says NASA should invest "more than $1 billion in new technology investments to enable a crewed mission to Mars." Another says the agency should allocate "$200M for Commercial Mars Payload Services (CMPS) to start launching robotic precursor missions to the Martian surface, and $80M to start deploying communications relay capabilities for Mars." "It just bothers me that they are changing almost the entirety of NASA's mission to this pipe dream of a human mission to Mars in any reasonable time frame and cost," McGill said. reached out to NASA for comment on the possible impact of these budget cuts, and was directed to acting administrator Janet Petro's statement in the proposal's Technical Supplement. This statement is supportive of the budget request overall, mentioning items such as a renewed push for human spaceflight to the moon and Mars. "The President's Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request for NASA reflects the Trump-Vance Administration's commitment to strengthening America's leadership in space exploration while exercising fiscal responsibility. With this budget, we aim to shape a Golden Age of innovation and exploration," it reads. This shift toward Mars crewed missions is perhaps predictable, given Trump's affiliation with SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. (Former affiliation, maybe, given the heated feud currently unfolding on social media between the two.) Musk was a prominent backer of Trump's campaign and worked very closely with him over the past four months. For example, the SpaceX chief ran the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE), which was responsible for the bulk of government funding cuts in the name of saving "wasted taxpayer money." Independently, Musk has earned a reputation as maybe the most outspoken advocate of settling Mars, even going so far as to say he wishes to "die on Mars." SpaceX, as well as its fans, are extremely focused on achieving that goal. "In isolation, a serious humans to Mars campaign should be exciting — Mars exploration is a worthy goal, and The Planetary Society has advocated for that for years," Dreier said. "But the cost here is too high." Another concern Dreier has is that the White House expects to achieve this major goal while simultaneously reducing NASA's workforce at an unprecedented rate. "This isn't just poor policy," he added. "It's fundamentally wasteful and inefficient, exactly what this administration is saying it does not want." And the layoffs could be even more far-reaching than anticipated. McGill says morale at JPL had already been very low after sweeping layoffs took place last year, but also that the energy was further damaged by the agency's recent return-to-office order. For context, nearly 5,500 JPL employees who have been working remotely since the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic were told they must return to in-person work. The deadlines for that return were Aug. 25 for general employees within California and Oct. 27 for teleworkers living outside the state. "Employees who do not return by their required date will be considered to have resigned," JPL officials said in a workforce-wide email that was obtained by "It's clear that it's a silent layoff of the over 1,000 remote employees who they don't want to pay severance to," a NASA employee at JPL not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency previously told McGill says the order "threatens to decimate the workforce and a lot of critical institutional knowledge." "I love JPL and its mission, but it's been a rough time as of late," he said. According to Dreier, there's good news and bad news concerning whether the budget proposal will go through. The good news is that, as he explains, there seems to be bipartisan dislike for the proposal. "We've heard directly from multiple congressional offices — Republican and Democrat — that this budget is 'dead on arrival,'" he said. Of note, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation released his legislative directives for Senate Republicans' budget reconciliation bill on Friday (June 6). The senator proposes dedicating $10 billion more to NASA's science programs — and, though most of it is indeed in line with the FY26 budget request's Mars endeavors, some of that funding would be used for other things, like NASA Space Launch System (SLS) rocket meant for moon exploration and Lunar Gateway. This united aversion to the budget proposal is unsurprising. The bipartisan U.S. Planetary Science Caucus, for instance, previously released a statement in response to early blueprints of the proposal that suggested the huge cuts we're seeing presented now. "We are extremely alarmed by reports of a preliminary White House budget that proposes cutting NASA Science funding by almost half and terminating dozens of programs already well underway, like the Mars Sample Return mission and the Roman Space Telescope," co-chairs Rep. Judy Chu (D-California) and Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) wrote. Such agreement across the aisle makes sense when we consider how long it takes for space missions to reach fruition. Collaboration isn't just key — it's unavoidable. "Spaceflight, and human spaceflight in particular, requires hand-off from one administration to another," Dreier said. "The timelines are just too long for any one presidential administration." The bad news, however, is the White House may have a workaround. Related Stories: — 'This is an attack on NASA.' Space agency's largest union speaks out as DOGE cuts shutter science institute located above 'Seinfeld' diner in NYC — Saving Gateway, SLS and Orion? Sen. Ted Cruz proposes $10 billion more for NASA's moon and Mars efforts — 'Their loss diminishes us all': Scientists emphasize how Trump's mass NOAA layoffs endanger the world "Even if Congress ultimately rejects this budget, the slow pace of legislation and gridlock we've seen in recent years make it unlikely that appropriations will be in place by October 1st of this year," Dreier said. "If there's another continuing resolution, the White House budget office will throttle spending to match the lowest of all possible budget scenarios: theirs. So, we face the possibility of these cuts going into effect by default. Given the breadth and depth of these cuts, that could be very hard to recover from." "This budget proposal threatens to tear down that carefully constructed coalition in favor of a narrow vision that lacks the political durability necessary for long-term success," he added. "What a waste."
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Bill Nye says RFK Jr. spammed his phone with miles of anti-vax texts
The Brief Bill Nye the Science Guy once had to block Health Secretary RFK Jr. after he sent "miles and miles" of anti-vaccination texts to his phone. Nye, best known for his show "Bill Nye the Sciency Guy," recalled the story in a lengthy profile for Men's Health. Nye also didn't hold back in his frustration over RFK's views on vaccines and the Trump administration's perceived attacks on science. Bill Nye the Science Guy had a story to tell about Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a recent Men's Health profile. Nye, best known for teaching science to middle-schoolers on his TV show "Bill Nye the Science Guy," was speaking to journalist Ryan D'agostino for a profile called "Can Bill Nye Save Science?" when he pulled out his phone. It was an old text chain with "miles and miles of texts" … "screen after screen." The texts, Nye said, were all from now Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and all of them questioned the safety of vaccines. What they're saying "This is real," Nye says in the interview, laughing at the sheer number of messages and links sent by RFK Jr. RELATED: RFK Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' report cited studies that don't exist "Just no self-awareness," he says. "And if you read these articles he sent, they're all this speculation about autism and just cause-and-effect, and mercury in vaccines, that maybe there's a connection. I wrote him back and said, 'Okay, I'll read your book. I think you've confused causation with correlation. Your friend, Bill.' And he sent this," Nye recalls, pointing to more miles of text messages from RFK. "So I wrote, 'Okay, no more texts.' And he started again! So I cut him off." Nye didn't hold back in his frustration over RFK's stances on vaccines and the Trump administration's perceived attacks on science. "He does not have good judgment. He is not suited for this job," Nye said. "There's an outbreak of measles in Texas. Did you hear about this? It was a religious sect that has historically low vaccination rates. And the argument from the other side is: They have rights not to get vaccinated. No, you don't! And unvaccinated people can, and usually do, spread a disease. And that's why we have these rules, for public health! It's not arbitrary. It's not about your rights. It's about my rights, people." RELATED: HHS, led by vaccine skeptic RFK Jr., cancels contract to fight flu viruses "The other thing that's so remarkable about what's going on now—I went to elementary school with a guy who had polio. You do not want polio! And the reason you don't get polio is because of a vaccine that was discovered that keeps you from getting polio! What is wrong with you, man?" Nye got even more fired up when he brought up RFK's desire for the Food and Drug Administration to remove restrictions on unpasteurized, or raw, milk. "And then this thing where people want to drink raw milk. No, you don't! This is very well understood! Louis Pasteur! You guyyys! What is happening?" Nye, CEO of the Planetary Society, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President Joe Biden in January. "It's just an amazing time," he said. The backstory Kennedy is widely known as a vaccine skeptic, most recently making headlines after he removed every member of a scientific committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to use vaccines. RELATED: RFK Jr.'s newest CDC vaccine panel includes critics of COVID shots, lockdowns Kennedy's decision to "retire" the 17-member panel was widely decried by doctors' groups and public health organizations, who feared the advisers would be replaced by a group aligned with Kennedy's desire to reassess — and possibly end — longstanding vaccination recommendations. Kennedy replaced the panel with his own picks, including a scientist who researched mRNA vaccine technology and transformed into a conservative darling for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines. The Source This report includes information from Men's Health, The Associated Press, a social media announcement made by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , and previous LiveNow from FOX reporting. FOX's Chris Williams contributed.
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Anti-Trump demonstrators crowd streets, parks and plazas across the US. Organizers say millions came
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Masses of demonstrators packed into streets, parks and plazas across the U.S. on Saturday to protest President Donald Trump, marching through downtowns and small towns, blaring anti-authoritarian chants mixed with support for protecting democracy and immigrant rights. Organizers of the 'No Kings' demonstrations said millions had marched in hundreds of events. Governors across the U.S. had urged calm and vowed no tolerance for violence, while some mobilized the National Guard ahead of marchers gathering. Confrontations were isolated. But police in Los Angeles, where protests over federal immigration enforcement raids erupted a week earlier and sparked demonstrations across the country, used tear gas and crowd-control munitions to clear out protesters after the formal event ended. Huge, boisterous crowds marched, danced, drummed, and chanted shoulder-to-shoulder in New York, Denver, Chicago, Austin and Los Angeles, some behind 'no kings' banners. Atlanta's 5,000-capacity event quickly reached its limit, with thousands more gathered outside barriers to hear speakers in front of the state Capitol. Trump was in Washington for a military parade marking the Army's 250th anniversary that coincides with the president's birthday. About 200 protesters assembled in northwest Washington's Logan Circle and chanted 'Trump must go now' before erupting in cheers. A larger-than-life puppet of Trump — a caricature of the president wearing a crown and sitting on a golden toilet — was wheeled through the crowd. In some places, organizers handed out little American flags while others flew their flags upside down, a sign of distress. Mexican flags, which have become a fixture of the Los Angeles protests against immigration raids, also made an appearance at some demonstrations Saturday. In Culpepper, Virginia, police said one person was struck by an SUV when a 21-year-old driver intentionally accelerated his SUV into the crowd as protesters were leaving a rally. The driver was charged with reckless driving. The demonstrations come on the heels of the protests over the federal immigration enforcement raids that began last week and Trump ordering the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, where protesters blocked a freeway and set cars on fire. 'Today, across red states and blue, rural towns and major cities, Americans stood in peaceful unity and made it clear: we don't do kings," the No Kings Coalition said in a statement Saturday afternoon after many events had ended. Philadelphia Thousands gathered downtown, where organizers handed out small American flags and people carried protest signs saying 'fight oligarchy' and 'deport the mini-Mussolinis." Karen Van Trieste, a 61-year-old nurse who drove up from Maryland, said she grew up in Philadelphia and wanted to be with a large group of people showing her support. 'I just feel like we need to defend our democracy,' she said. She is concerned about the Trump administration's layoffs of staff at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fate of immigrant communities and Trump trying to rule by executive order, she said. A woman wearing a foam Statue of Liberty crown brought a speaker system and led an anti-Trump sing-along, changing the words 'young man' in the song 'Y.M.C.A.' to 'con man.' 'I am what the successful American dream looks like,' said C.C. Téllez, an immigrant from Bolivia who attended the protest. 'I've enjoyed great success here in the United States, and I've also contributed heavily to my community. And if there was space for me, I think there's a way for everybody else to belong here as well.' Los Angeles Thousands gathered in front of City Hall, waving signs and listening to a Native American drum circle before marching through the streets. As protesters passed National Guard troops or U.S. Marines stationed at various buildings, most interactions were friendly, with demonstrators giving fist bumps or posing for selfies. But others chanted 'shame' or 'go home' at the troops. Amid signs reading 'They fear us don't back down California' and 'We carry dreams not danger, ' one demonstrator carried a 2-foot-tall (60-centimeter) Trump pinata on a stick, with a crown on his head and sombrero hanging off his back. Another hoisted a huge helium-filled orange baby balloon with blond hair styled like Trump's. A few blocks from City Hall, protesters gathered in front of the downtown federal detention center being guarded by a line of Marines and other law enforcement. It was the first time that the Marines, in combat gear and holding rifles, have appeared at a demonstration since they were deployed to city on Friday with the stated mission of defending federal property. Peter Varadi, 54, said he voted for Trump last November for 'economic reasons.' Now, for the first time in his life, he is protesting, waving a Mexican and U.S. combined flag. 'I voted for Donald Trump, and now I regret that, because he's taken this fascism to a new level,' Varadi said. 'It's Latinos now. Who's next? It's gays. Blacks after that. They're coming for everybody.' Even after the formal event ended, the downtown streets were packed with a jubilant crowd as people danced to salsa music and snacked on hot dogs and ice cream bought from vendors, many of whom are Latino immigrants. But the previously calm demonstration turned confrontational as police on horseback moved into the crowd and struck some people with wood rods and batons as they cleared the street in front of the federal building. New York City Marchers in the crowd that stretched for blocks along Fifth Avenue had diverse reasons for coming, including anger over Trump's immigration policies, support for the Palestinian people and outrage over what they said was an erosion of free speech rights. But there were patriotic symbols, too. Leah Griswold, 32, and Amber Laree, 59, who marched in suffragette white dresses, brought 250 American flags to hand out to people in the crowd. 'Our mothers who came out, fought for our rights, and now we're fighting for future generations as well,' Griswold said. Some protesters held signs denouncing Trump while others banged drums. 'We're here because we're worried about the existential crisis of this country and the planet and our species,' said Sean Kryston, 28. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and law enforcement encouraged people not to attend rallies 'out of an abundance of caution' following the shootings of the Democratic state lawmakers. Dozen of events were canceled, but tens of thousands still turned out for demonstrations in Duluth, Rochester and St. Paul, which included a march to the state Capitol. Walz canceled his scheduled appearance at the St. Paul event. Authorities said the suspect had 'No Kings' flyers in his car and writings mentioning the names of the victims as well as other lawmakers and officials, though they could not say if he had any other specific targets. Seda Heng, 29, of Rochester, said she was heartbroken by the shootings, but still wanted to join the rally there. 'These people are trying to do what they can for their communities, for the state, for the nation,' Heng told the Minnesota Star-Tribune. North Carolina Crowds cheered anti-Trump speakers in Charlotte's First Ward Park before marching, chanting 'No kings. No crowns. We will not bow down." Marchers stretched for blocks, led by a group of people holding a giant Mexican flag and bystanders cheering and clapping along the way. Jocelyn Abarca, a 21-year-old college student, said the protest was a chance to 'speak for what's right' after mass deportations and Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles. 'If we don't stop it now, it's just going to keep getting worse,' she said. Naomi Mena said she traveled an hour to demonstrate in Charlotte to represent her 'friends and family who sadly can't have a voice out in public now' to stay safe. Texas A rally at the Texas Capitol in Austin went off as planned despite state police briefly shutting down the building and the surrounding grounds after authorities said they received a 'credible threat' to Democratic state lawmakers who were to attend. Dozens of state troopers swarmed through the grounds about four hours before the event, but the area was later opened and the rally started on time. The building remained closed. The Department of Public Safety later said one person was taken into custody 'in connection with the threats made against state lawmakers" after a traffic stop in La Grange, Texas, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) east of Austin. State police did not detail the threat or immediately identify the person, but said there was no additional active threat. Mississippi A demonstration of hundreds of people opened to 'War Pigs' by Black Sabbath playing over a sound system on the state Capitol lawn in Jackson. 'A lot of stuff that's going on now is targeting people of color, and to see so many folks out here that aren't black or brown fighting for the same causes that I'm here for, it makes me very emotional,' said Tony Cropper, who traveled from Tennessee to attend the protest. Some people wore tinfoil crowns atop their heads. Others held signs inviting motorists to 'Honk if you never text war plans.' Melissa Johnson said she drove an hour-and-a-half to Jackson to protest because 'we are losing the thread of democracy in our country." ___ Associated Press journalists across the country contributed to this report. Marc Levy, Claudia Lauer And Jim Vertuno, The Associated Press
