Latest news with #HotMama
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tariffs may lead to more expensive fireworks across the metro this year
EDWARDSVILLE, Kan. — Tariffs enacted by the Trump administration might make fireworks more expensive this year. 'Yeah, we're seeing the prices go up a little bit and like everything is up a little bit,' said Mark Tibbits, the owner of Hot Mama's Fireworks in Edwardsville, Kansas. 'And we have the smallest markup around.' Fireworks explosion injures two children in Kansas City, Kansas Tibbits has been running Hot Mama's Fireworks for the past 5 years, and since they started, he's seen firework prices double in some cases. However, he says you might want to bring some extra cash to the fireworks stand this year, due to the tariffs. '10% or so this year,' he said. 'Some of the stuff has the same price as last year, but a lot of it has gone up. The majority of it's a little higher.' Tibbits said that customers have been feeling price increases in other industries, and it's become somewhat routine to pay more these days. 'We've all seen it, we've all felt it,' said Tibbits. 'Everybody knows the prices have gone up on everything now. So, I think customers are just kind of getting used to it.' One Hot Mama's customer approached the stand on Wednesday. He wasn't able to buy fireworks, as Hot Mama's opens on Friday, but said that he doesn't mind paying more. Where to watch fireworks in the Kansas City-area this year 'I'll pay the tariffs,' he said. 'If it gouges those people the way that it gouges us in the United States, I'll pay for it. I'll pay a little bit extra. Maybe we'll get a little bit more made in the United States.' Tibbits said that the rising costs make operating the fireworks stand more challenging. 'It makes it tough, you know, because we've been around the community for, you know, quite a few years now here,' he said. 'So, we try to bring the customers the best prices we can and then we see our costs go up on everything, and then tent prices go up and up, land prices go up, so, you try to keep your prices the best you can.' Despite the rise in cost, Tibbits thinks that business will be good again this year. Download WDAF+ for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV 'The American people still love getting fireworks to celebrate everything, celebrate our freedom,' Tibbits added. Hot Mama's opens Friday at 9 a.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Team Trump's emphasis on performative politics reaches ridiculous levels
About a month into Donald Trump's second term, the White House used social media to promote a video featuring ICE officials placing immigrants in chains and handcuffs before they board a plane, presumably for deportation. A backlash soon followed, with many observers noting how dehumanizing the display was. Two months later, the president is still talking about how much he enjoys videos like these. Sitting alongside Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office on Monday, the Republican declared, 'I'll tell you who's good. Whoever sends us those tapes that we get. They've become sensations in this country. The tapes. Getting out of the planes. That's what people want to see.' Trump added, 'Good TV. Even the sound, you know. All the others. Very good.' Turning to his counterpart from El Salvador, Trump went on to say, 'Cecil B. DeMille. You ever hear of Cecil B. DeMille? Great movie maker. The greatest of them all.' CNN recently reported that elements of the administration's deportation agenda were designed to be 'camera-ready' and featured a 'made-for-TV look.' Soon after, Axios published a related report that Team Trump's immigration crackdown includes an emphasis on 'choreography, photo ops, wardrobe changes and tough talk.' A White House official said the focus on 'the visuals' was deliberate. The New York Times added that enforcement efforts surrounding the administration's immigration policies are packaged 'like mini reality-TV shows — complete with perp walks and even guest stars.' The president has apparently noticed — and he seems delighted. In fact, it's getting increasingly easy to believe that Trump administration officials are less of an executive branch and more of a theater troupe that's principally concerned with putting on a good show. And if there's one official gunning for a starring role in the Republican production, it's Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The Wall Street Journal reported this week on the South Dakotan's 'made-for-TV style.' On her first day on the job, Noem held a town-hall meeting to introduce herself to the workforce — and came onstage to the Trace Adkins song 'Hot Mama.' She has donned Border Patrol fatigues, toted a gun and posed with airplane controls in the cockpit of a Coast Guard plane. Framed photos of the secretary, including one of her wearing a cowboy hat on horseback with border agents around her and another of her on an ATV, have gone up in different offices around DHS, according to photos seen by The Wall Street Journal. Noem has been so eager to get in front of cameras and microphones that early on in her tenure, she accompanied ICE officials on a predawn raid and tweeted images of her efforts. The Journal added, 'The problem: The raid was still ongoing when Noem posted about it, undercutting the element of surprise, according to people familiar with the operation.' Taking stock of Noem's over-the-top photo-ops, MSNBC's Chris Hayes noted last week that 'every day is Halloween' for the DHS secretary. This coincided with a New York Times report that described Noem's agency as the administration's 'Department of Homeland Publicity.' To be sure, Noem isn't the only one. Attorney General Pam Bondi, for reasons that weren't altogether clear, recently held an event in which she delivered remarks while waving around fake drugs. The president himself continues to prioritize showmanship to an unhealthy degree. But the bottom line remains the same: Americans hoping to see a White House focused more on governing, and less on theatrics and performative politics, are going to have to lower their expectations. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kristi Noem is annoying ICE officials with her ‘made-for-TV' approach to Homeland Security
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is irritating some Immigration Customs and Enforcement officials with her 'made-for-TV' approach to running the department, according to a report. Noem has been accused by some Department of Homeland Security insiders of jeopardizing an ICE raid in New York City in January after she posted about it on social media while the operation was still ongoing, the Wall Street Journal reports. 'We are doing this right - doing exactly what President @realDonaldTrump promised the American people - making our streets safe. Live this AM from NYC. I'm on it,' Noem wrote on her X account on January 28 at 4:43 a.m., with a photo of herself wearing an ICE baseball cap surrounded by flashing lights. The post 'undercut the element of surprise,' people familiar with the raid told the Journal. The department's top spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, told the outlet that the raid was almost over when Noem posted about it on social media. Still, people familiar with the plans claimed it resulted in fewer arrests than planned, according to the outlet. Noem is at the center of a publicity drive to carry out President Donald Trump's sweeping anti-immigration agenda. Under Noem, the department has allocated $200 million for an ad campaign warning migrants living in the country illegally to 'leave now,' and she has posed in front of prisoners in El Salvador's maximum-security prison and behind the controls of a Coast Guard plane. Photographs of Noem on horseback donning a cowboy hat have also gone up on display in offices around the department, according to the Journal. The outlet reports that Noem also hosted a town hall to introduce herself to the department on her first day in the job, where she walked on stage to the song 'Hot Mama' by Trace Adkins. Despite the internal grumblings of some staffers, the strategy to place Noem front and center in the administration's anti-immigration drive is working, according to the department. 'The world is hearing Secretary Noem's message loud and clear: The border is at its most secure in American history and border encounters are at record lows,' McLaughlin said in a statement. 'Criminal aliens are staying out and migrants are turning back before they ever reach our borders.' Last week, Noem was mocked for posing while pointing her rifle at an officer's face in a social media video. In the 20-second video posted to X last Tuesday, Noem stood between two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as she wielded a gun. Social media users flooded the comments section of her clip to warn about the dangers of holding her weapon in that way. 'Here we are with Marco and Brian today. They're letting me roll with them. We're going to go out and pick up somebody who I think got charges of human trafficking,' she says in the video. 'We earlier had an op that swept up somebody that was wanted for murder. So appreciate the good work that they do every day, and we appreciate them working to make America safe.'
The Independent
15-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Kristi Noem is annoying ICE officials with her ‘made-for-TV' approach to Homeland Security
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is irritating some Immigration Customs and Enforcement officials with her 'made-for-TV' approach to running the department, according to a report. Noem has been accused by some Department of Homeland Security insiders of jeopardizing an ICE raid in New York City in January after she posted about it on social media while the operation was still ongoing, the Wall Street Journal reports. 'We are doing this right - doing exactly what President @realDonaldTrump promised the American people - making our streets safe. Live this AM from NYC. I'm on it,' Noem wrote on her X account on January 28 at 4:43 a.m., with a photo of herself wearing an ICE baseball cap surrounded by flashing lights. The post 'undercut the element of surprise,' people familiar with the raid told the Journal. The department's top spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, told the outlet that the raid was almost over when Noem posted about it on social media. Still, people familiar with the plans claimed it resulted in fewer arrests than planned, according to the outlet. Noem is at the center of a publicity drive to carry out President Donald Trump 's sweeping anti-immigration agenda. Under Noem, the department has allocated $200 million for an ad campaign warning migrants living in the country illegally to 'leave now,' and she has posed in front of prisoners in El Salvador 's maximum-security prison and behind the controls of a Coast Guard plane. Photographs of Noem on horseback donning a cowboy hat have also gone up on display in offices around the department, according to the Journal. The outlet reports that Noem also hosted a town hall to introduce herself to the department on her first day in the job, where she walked on stage to the song 'Hot Mama' by Trace Adkins. Despite the internal grumblings of some staffers, the strategy to place Noem front and center in the administration's anti-immigration drive is working, according to the department. 'The world is hearing Secretary Noem's message loud and clear: The border is at its most secure in American history and border encounters are at record lows,' McLaughlin said in a statement. 'Criminal aliens are staying out and migrants are turning back before they ever reach our borders.' Last week, Noem was mocked for posing while pointing her rifle at an officer's face in a social media video. In the 20-second video posted to X last Tuesday, Noem stood between two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as she wielded a gun. Social media users flooded the comments section of her clip to warn about the dangers of holding her weapon in that way. 'Here we are with Marco and Brian today. They're letting me roll with them. We're going to go out and pick up somebody who I think got charges of human trafficking,' she says in the video. 'We earlier had an op that swept up somebody that was wanted for murder. So appreciate the good work that they do every day, and we appreciate them working to make America safe.'
The Independent
28-01-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Kristi Noem walks out to song ‘Hot Mama' at first official DHS news conference
Kristi Noem walked out to her first official news conference as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security soundtracked to the country song 'Hot Mama.' Following a prayer, Noem walked to the podium to rapturous applause while the Trace Adkins hit played. Noem addressed the DHS employees on Tuesday (28 January) afternoon, having participated in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids earlier in the day. In a post to X, Noem, dressed as an ICE agent, told camera, 'we are getting the dirt bags off these streets.'
