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Int'l Business Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Marco Rubio's 'Free Speech' Policy Against 'Foreign Officials' Who Censor Americans Sparks Backlash: 'You Sent ICE to My Home for Exercising Free Speech'
Marco Rubio was criticized after announcing a new free speech policy that will, in part, target any foreign nationals who speak out against Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a new "free speech" policy aimed at protecting Americans from censorship by foreign officials, but the announcement was met with a wave of backlash as critics pointed to the Trump administration's own history of targeting dissent and restricting speech. "For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights," Rubio wrote in an X post shared Wednesday, before revealing "a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans." "Free speech is essential to the American way of life – a birthright over which foreign governments have no authority," he added. For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights. Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign officials and persons who are complicit in censoring Americans.… — Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 28, 2025 Rubio's announcement appeared to serve as a pretext for the Trump administration to crack down on dissent against Israel. In a follow-up video, the former Florida senator revealed the policy's true intent: to punish foreign nationals whom the administration believes "foment hatred against our Jewish community." The clarification has fueled backlash, with many accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing free speech rhetoric to shield Israel from criticism. "We are holding international organizations and nations accountable for rhetoric against Israel that resurfaces in the manifesto of monsters like Yaron and Sarah's killer," Rubio added. "But we do see an eventual light at the end of this long tunnel of suffering. One can imagine a Middle East in which the Abraham Accords eventually reign," referencing an agreement brokered by the U.S. that normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. NEW:🇺🇲🇮🇱 Marco Rubio officially announced that anyone who dares to criticize Israel will NOT be granted a visa to enter the United States. Btw this doesn't apply if you criticise the US itself. — Megatron (@Megatron_ron) May 29, 2025 Palestinians were only briefly mentioned in the agreement and had no role in its creation; a striking omission considering the "foreign officials" now being targeted for speaking out against Israel are doing so in protest of Israel's genocidal actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Rubio's announcement went viral, drawing criticism from Americans and social media users who accused the administration of hypocrisy and questioned its unwavering defense of Israel. "You sent ICE agents to my home because of free speech activity," Momodou Taal, a Cornell University graduate student who chose to leave the U.S. after the Trump administration revoked his visa for his pro-Palestine stance, shared in response. "free speech champion who is cancelling student visas and trying to deport students for their free speech? hypocrisy is not a strong enough word for what these people are doing," another wrote. free speech champion who is cancelling student visas and trying to deport students for their free speech?hypocrisy is not a strong enough word for what these people are doing — dei m'baku💙🌹 (@pazeraiva) May 28, 2025 "You had someone abducted off the street by masked agents in an unmarked van and attempted to deport her for writing an op-ed," a third added, referencing Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts student who was detained for a pro-Palestine op-ed she wrote for the university's newspaper. You had someone abducted off the street by masked agents in an unmarked van and attempted to deport her for writing an op-ed. — Dylan Williams (@dylanotes) May 28, 2025 "So criticizing the U.S. is free speech, but criticizing Israel is a visa violation? Amazing how a democracy bends its own rules to protect a foreign government from hurt feelings. What's next ... mandatory loyalty oaths?" one X user added. So criticizing the U.S. is free speech, but criticizing Israel is a visa violation? 😅 Amazing how a democracy bends its own rules to protect a foreign government from hurt feelings. What's next … mandatory loyalty oaths? — 🅻🅳🅴🅻🆂🍉🅻 (@LDelsoll) May 29, 2025 "This is fascism. What will the little Nazi do next?" another prompted. Originally published on Latin Times © Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Al Etihad
19-05-2025
- Health
- Al Etihad
Joe Biden thanks supporters for 'love' after cancer diagnosis
19 May 2025 16:35 Washington (AFP)Joe Biden expressed his gratitude to Americans on Monday for their "love and support" after the former US president said he had been diagnosed with prostate weekend revelation that the 82-year-old Democrat had been diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer, and that it had spread to his bones, sparked an outpouring of good wishes, including from current President Donald Trump, Biden's vice president Kamala Harris, and everyday Americans."Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places," the former president, whose son Beau Biden died of cancer in 2015, posted on X with a photograph of him and his wife."Thank you for lifting us up with love and support," he was diagnosed with the disease on Friday after he experienced urinary symptoms and a prostate nodule was found, a statement from his office said."While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians," it who has long derided Biden over his cognitive abilities and his four years in office, said he was "saddened" by the news."We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery," Trump, 78, posted Sunday on Truth cancer is the most common form of cancer in men, with the American Cancer Society reporting that one in eight men in the United States are diagnosed with it over their it is highly treatable if discovered early, it is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, the organization said. Hormone therapy is a common treatment that can shrink tumors and slow cancer growth, but is not a cure.
AU Financial Review
17-05-2025
- Health
- AU Financial Review
‘Game changer' Alzheimer's blood test cleared in the US
US regulators have approved the first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer's disease, potentially making it easier to find and treat patients with the mind-robbing disease that affects nearly 7 million Americans. The test made by Fujirebio Diagnostics a unit of Japan's H.U. Group Holdings was cleared for people 55 years and older who exhibit signs and symptoms of the disease, the US Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Can Trump's tariffs truly cut Income taxes for Americans earning less than $200,000? Check details
Can Trump's tariffs lower your income tax? Live Events Why can't tariffs replace income tax? (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Recently, US President Donald Trump said he thinks the tariffs he has imposed 'will be enough to cut all of the income tax' in the country, saying that 'we're going to be taking in a tremendous amount of money.' If such cuts occur, he said, they will first go to people who earn less than $200,000 a year.'We're going to be cutting taxes and it's possible we'll do a complete tax cut,' he said. Trump said that some people's income taxes will be lowered or perhaps even completely eliminated due to tariffs.'We're going to make a lot of money, and we're going to cut taxes for the people of this country,' Trump said before boarding Air Force One for his return from Pope Francis' funeral in Rome. 'It'll take a little while before we do that, but we're going to be cutting taxes, and it's possible we'll do a complete tax cut, because I think the tariffs will be enough to cut all of the income tax.'Trump has time and again described his administration's sweeping tariffs on other countries as a tool for accomplishing a range of key economic goals, including reviving US manufacturing. He has also highlighted that tariffs aim at lowering, or even eliminating, individual income taxes for most Americans."When Tariffs cut in, many people's Income Taxes will be substantially reduced, maybe even completely eliminated. Focus will be on people making less than $200,000 a year," he wrote Sunday on Truth Social, his social media present, there is no tax bill in Congress. Congress is the arm of the US government with the authority to change the tax code that would eliminate income taxes for those earning $200,000 or less. Nonetheless, the House is currently drafting a reconciliation bill aimed at extending the tax cuts enacted under President Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The bill also includes several new tax reductions proposed during his campaign, including the elimination of taxes on employee approved, the legislation would preserve the existing individual income tax rates established in 2018, with brackets ranging from 10% to 37% based on income levels. As a result, most Americans would see no change in their federal income tax rates."There is no real connection" between Trump's tariffs and lower taxes, Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, a think tank focused on tax issues told CBS News "He has the authority to impose higher tariffs, and he's done that. But he doesn't have the authority to unilaterally cut income taxes — that's done by Congress."There is "zero chance" that Congress would eliminate income taxes for a large swath of the U.S. population because the new tariffs won't generate enough revenue to replace the $2.4 trillion in income taxes paid by American households each year, she the notion of eliminating income taxes for people earning less than $200,000 doesn't add up, York told CBS News. Here's why: Trump's tariffs could raise about $170 billion in revenue this year, while wiping out individual taxes for people earning less than $200,000 would forego $700 billion in tax revenue this year, she estimated."You would need tariffs multiple times higher than what we have now" to generate the revenue to make up for the gap in lost taxes, York said. Making the math work is "an impossibility," she if taxes are hiked aggressively, it would escalate the fear of a potential recession in the US, which would lead to unemployment, inhibit consumer spending, suppress business investment and further roil financial markets — all developments that reduce the government's tax claim about tariffs lowering taxes amounts to "an argument that says, 'If Americans pay more out of their left pocket, the government will be able to put more in their right pocket,'" Joe Rosenberg, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, another think tank focused on taxes, told CBS News."Even if you make the math work, it's really replacing one form of tax with another — and the other important point here is these taxes have very different distributional effects across income types," he added.
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Health
- Time of India
RKF Jr makes wild claim over teenage boys' testosterone in bizarre rant, calls it an 'existential problem'
US top health official Robert F Kennedy Jr is worried about testosterone levels in American teens. The health secretary expressed concern about declining testosterone levels among teenagers as he spoke to Fox News on Tuesday night about a newly announced initiative to phase out eight artificial food dyes. Testosterone levels have dropped 50 percent from historic levels, he said. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads RFK Jr's bizarre rant Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads RFK's specious medical claims Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads In a bizarre rant, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has declared new "existential problem": declining testosterone levels and sperm counts in teenage boys. During an appearance on Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime on Tuesday, RFK Jr baselessly claimed the testosterone levels in teenage boys have dropped significantly over the last several decades. He was at the program to discuss the government's plans to ban eight common artificial food dyes by the end of the F. Kennedy Jr has made some outlandish claims since assuming office earlier this year, including claiming that autism can be cured and describing a recent outbreak of measles among unvaccinated people as "not unusual." Recently, he took up his latest health crusade, this time involving teenage boys' testosterone.'The food our kids are eating today is not really food,' RFK Jr told host Jesse Watters, adding that the science surrounding the petroleum-based synthetic dyes has been 'systematically suppressed.'The nation's top health official turned his attention to male fertility after touting his war on chronic disease and listing a raft of health issues faced by Americans.'We have fertility rates that are just spiraling. A teenager today, an American teenager, has less testosterone than a 68-year-old man,' RFK Jr, who revealed previously that he takes the hormone as part of his anti-aging protocol, said.'Sperm counts are down 50 percent and girls are hitting puberty six years early,' the health official added as the Fox News host cuts in, attempting to return to his previous claims.'Wait, an American teenager has less testosterone than a 60-year-old man?,' the Fox News host probed.'That's right,' RFK Jr doubled down. 'Testosterone levels have dropped 50 percent from historic levels. And, you know, that is a problem. It's an existential problem. That is only when we have obesity off the charts.'While the causes of this potential drop in testosterone levels have yet to be identified, it's been long understood that testosterone levels naturally decrease as a man ages. However, a study published in the Urology Times Journal found similar results, noting that testosterone levels have dropped among young adult males from 1996 to study notes that a number of causes could be responsible for this drop, including obesity and a lack of physical these studies, RFK did not mention them during his interview with Watters, presenting them as if they were his opinion rather than an empirical fact. Kennedy has made a number of specious medical claims since taking office, despite holding no medical degree of any to his rise to health secretary, Kennedy joined anti-vaccine advocates in claiming childhood vaccines are responsible for autism, but studies by the CDC and others have ruled that out. A fraudulent single study that claimed a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was later retracted by the journal that published recently announced a major study into the cause of autism and told an April 10 Cabinet meeting: 'By September we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we'll be able to eliminate those exposures.' But last week, he softened that to having 'some of the answers by September.'Earlier this month, found himself embroiled in a fresh controversy after his remarks on 'autism'. Robert F Kennedy Jr claimed that autistic children will never pay taxes nor go on dates during a press conference on Wednesday, 16 Jr spoke to reporters after the release of a new survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. Kennedy blamed environmental risk factors for the rise in disease and rejected the genetic research into autism. 'Genes don't cause epidemics,' he said. 'You need an environmental toxin," he his speech on Wednesday, RFK Jr. said: "Autism destroys families and more importantly it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. These are children who should not be suffering like this. "These are kids who, many of them were fully functional, and regressed because of some environmental exposure into autism when they're two years old."These are kids who will never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date — many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. And we have to recognize we are doing this to our children." Kennedy's statements were not only bizarre but were also widely seen as deeply insensitive, triggering huge backlash online.
