Latest news with #TheBabylonBee
Time of India
a day ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
Trump-Musk spat spills onto social media: Blow-by-blow account of how the tiff unfolded
The bromance between the world's richest person and the world's most powerful politician is up in flames. And you can simply head to their social media handles for a front-row seat. Elon Musk bid farewell to the White House only last week, and even then uncertainty loomed over whether he had actually left. The Tesla chief executive had said he would remain a friend and advisor to US President Donald Trump as he stepped away from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with trimming government expenses. Soon after his pivot away from the Trump administration, Musk bashed Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill', stating it would cause fiscal deficit to spike trillions of dollars. Trump-Musk spat: A social media timeline It started with Musk reposting yesterday an X post on the bill from the Christian news satire site The Babylon Bee, captioned: 'Congress Warns Failure to Pass Spending Bill Might Delay Destruction of the Country' Live Events — TheBabylonBee (@TheBabylonBee) Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Musk made a direct swipe at the president, reposting a 2013 tweet from Trump criticising Republicans for raising the debt ceiling. — elonmusk (@elonmusk) Musk reported another one of Trump's old tweets, which stated that no member of Congress should be eligible for re-election if the nation's budget is not balanced. — elonmusk (@elonmusk) Meanwhile, Trump was meeting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office. He stated that Musk is upset because the bill withdraws EV subsidy. He claimed that the Tesla chief knew this. — psychodelic_me2 (@psychodelic_me2) Meanwhile, Musk changed tack to praise Trump for scrapping the high-speed rail project in California, calling it a sensible move. — elonmusk (@elonmusk) He briefly turned his attention ot the bill, backing the EV and solar incentive cuts, 'even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!)'. — elonmusk (@elonmusk) But he soon went back to criticising Trump, denying the President's claim that the billionaire knew the workings of the bill. — elonmusk (@elonmusk) Musk claimed that without his support, "Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51–49 in the Senate." Notably, a recent report claimed that he was consuming drugs on the campaign trail, which Musk has denied . — elonmusk (@elonmusk) He followed with a post showing Teslas lined up in front of the White House, tagging Trump with the caption 'Remember this?' — elonmusk (@elonmusk) Trump's retaliation came hard and heavy. In a post on the Truth Social, the US President stated that Musk was 'wearing thin' and was asked to leave. The US president said the easiest way to save money would be to terminate government subsidies and contracts granted to Musks companies. Musk said the remark about wearing thin and asked to leave was an 'obvious lie'. — elonmusk (@elonmusk) He reposted a comment on how withdrawing government contracts to Musk would be detrimental to the International Space Station. — elonmusk (@elonmusk) Things got personal, as Musk said it's time to 'drop a really big bomb'. He claimed that the files related to financier Jeffrey Epstein were being withheld because they carried Trump's name. — elonmusk (@elonmusk) He said SpaceX would decommission the Dragon spacecraft, which carries people and supplies to the International Space Station. — elonmusk (@elonmusk) Meanwhile, Tesla shares took a beating, falling 14% in their biggest decline since March. Later in the evening, Musk signalled willingness to call a truce, and that SpaceX would not decommission Dragon. — elonmusk (@elonmusk) Also Read: Musk-Trump breakup puts billions in SpaceX contracts at risk, jolting US space program
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk Keeps on Dissing Trump in Flurry of New Posts
Elon Musk continued his rampage against Donald Trump's spending bill on Tuesday night, setting the stage for an ugly showdown with the president's faithful. 'Mammoth spending bills are bankrupting America!' he wrote, sharing a graphic depicting rising national debt over the past three decades. 'ENOUGH,' he added. He also responded with a '100″ emoji to an X user who wrote that Musk had 'reminded everyone: It's not about Right vs. Left. It's about the Establishment vs the People.' He then posted an American flag emoji under a post from conservative satire site The Babylon Bee, highlighting a story titled, 'The Lord Strengthens Elon One Last Time To Push Pillars Of Congress Over And Bring Government Crashing Down.' Earlier Tuesday, the billionaire unleashed hellfire on Trump's so-called Big Beautiful Bill, lambasting the president's flagship legislative package as 'outrageous,' 'pork-filled' and a 'disgusting abomination.' 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,' he wrote of the package, which scraped through the House last month solely on Republican votes. He didn't let up in the hours that followed, sharing posts from Republican lawmakers who publicly agreed with him. In another post, he said the legislation would 'burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.' Then, he turned up the heat on Republicans who supported the bill, suggesting they be booted from Congress in the midterm elections. 'In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,' he wrote. House Speaker Mike Johnson fired back, telling reporters Musk's criticism was 'terribly wrong.' As of May, the national debt stood at over $36.2 trillion, a figure Musk highlighted in the graphic he shared. Musk's comments amplified rifts among Republicans, generating a mixed reaction from GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Democrats have been broadly united in opposing the bill, which they say would hike the national debt while gutting essential social programs. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Tuesday, 'Elon Musk and I agree with each other.' It's a dramatic escalation of tensions between Musk and Trumpworld that had been bubbling amid the Tesla founder's departure last week from his brief, headline-grabbing government role. As head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk—Trump's top campaign donor and his handpicked warrior for government cuts—led an aggressive and tumultuous charge to slash federal spending. On his way out, he offered a comparatively muted critique of the bill, saying he was 'disappointed' with it, and that it undermines the work of his DOGE team. That prompted pushback from several Trump administration officials, though Trump himself has so far refrained from retaliating with the same ferocity as Musk. Trump hadn't directly acknowledged Musk's Tuesday outburst by time of publication. In his first Truth Social posts since Musk's posting spree, Trump ignored the drama altogether, writing instead about China and claiming that 'THE UNITED STATES HAD THE BEST MAY IN 30 YEARS. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also brushed off Musk's criticism when asked about it in an earlier press conference, saying the president 'already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,' adding that Trump was 'sticking to it.' One of his top aides, deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, however, fired off a series of posts defending the bill and calling it 'the most MAGA bill ever passed by the House.' Musk's set time as a 'special government employee' ran out on Friday, but the businessman had already indicated weeks earlier that he would step back from government to focus on his companies amid a significant slump in Tesla sales.
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
US' district judge raj?
'Trump leaves presidency to become even more powerful district court judge,' read a recent headline on the satire website, The Babylon Bee. Though parody, it subtly hints at judicial overreach. From ordering mid-air turnaround of planes carrying illegal aliens with alleged criminal antecedents to an El Salvadoran prison, blocking Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent from accessing his own department's payment systems and restoring foreign aid disbursal, judge after judge – incidentally, all Democrat-nominated — has put the president's agenda on hold. At dispute is a legal remedy: 'nationwide injunction', which courts use to 'control a party's conduct', either by prohibiting or requiring certain action. The relief granted is limited not only to those filing the case, but to anyone, anywhere. Challenge can be filed in any of the nearly 700 federal district courts across the country. Litigants, therefore, cherry-pick judges who are likely to grant a nationwide injunction, a tactic known as 'judge/forum shopping' that has troubled Republican and Democratic presidents alike. But none like Trump. Source: 'District Court Reform: Nationwide Injunctions,' Harvard Law Review, Volume 137, Issue 6, April 2024. PP. 1701-1724 at pg. 1705. A recent Harvard study revealed that of the 127 nationwide injunctions issued between 1963 and 2023, more than half – 64 – were sanctioned during Trump's first term, 59 of which were approved by judges appointed by a Democratic president. As of April 6, 77 days into his second innings, Trump faced 50 (and counting) nationwide injunctions that Attorney General Pamela Bondi has called the 'real constitutional crisis'. Make no mistake, this is lawfare, the weaponisation of the law to hobble Trump, 2.0. Or what Politico calls, the 'court-case presidency'. Recall that candidate Trump was facing four separate criminal cases, with 91 indictments in all. Litigation is an inherently slow process, the proverbial tareekh pe tareekh. Much of the Democrats' current political strategy centres on courts as they contest every executive order by Trump. In his final term, Trump is already in a race against time. The incumbent's party often loses ground in midterm elections, held halfway through a president's four-year term. So, Trump effectively has until October next year to fulfill his campaign promises. For the Democrats, stalling Trump's policies in courts is a win. The more, the better. Add to it the arson and vandalism against Trump ally Elon Musk's electric car company Tesla, rallying the faithful to fight the 'Oligarchy', and leveraging the pain caused by the president's on-again, off-again tariffs. That's their playbook going forward. And if the Democrats reclaim the House in November 2026, they are going to impeach him. There is no criterion for impeaching the president now, certainly none when it comes to Trump. As Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan said after the Democrats captured the House in the 2018 midterms: '…we're going to go in there, and we're going to impeach the motherf****r'. They did just that (Trump's first impeachment in 2019). Because he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate the alleged corruption of Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. On his way out of White House, President Biden granted a 'full and unconditional pardon' to Hunter and other family members, covering acts going back more than a decade. Frustrated by a wave of nationwide injunctions, House Republicans passed the No Rogue Rulings Act of 2025 to limit district courts' authority to issue such orders. However, the Senate is unlikely to approve it given the Democrats' opposition. Some lawmakers filed articles of impeachment against four district judges. Moves to oust a judge are extraordinarily difficult, lack support in either chamber of Congress, and have drawn flak from Chief Justice John Roberts, too. Politicians adore the judiciary so long as it goes along with their program (sound familiar?). Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and current Senate Minority Leader, embodies this attitude. Addressing an irate pro-abortion throng on the steps of the Supreme Court as justices heard a related case inside in March 2020, Schumer threatened two by name. 'I want to tell you, (Neil) Gorsuch. I want to tell you, (Brett) Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.' Fast forward to 2025 and Schumer is the biggest respecter of the judiciary in America today. To the extent that he has warned Trump of 'extraordinary action' if he defies the highest court. Why wouldn't he? With 232 cases (including 7 closed ones) moving through the system and 145 rulings temporarily blocking many of the administration's initiatives, Democrats are handily winning the courtroom battles. At a time when presidential fiat drives much of policymaking, nationwide injunctions act as an effective brake on government excesses. They protect people without means to bring suits, reduce unnecessary litigation, and ensure uniformity. Nevertheless, what has bothered successive administrations is the remit of a single district judge to issue these injunctions. So far, the Supreme Court has sidestepped addressing the issue. Individual justices have spoken out against it though. Four of the six conservatives on the bench — Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito — are for curbing the wider use of nationwide blocks. In fact, Justice Thomas has labelled them 'legally and historically dubious'. Two of the liberal justices– Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor — have also acknowledged that the court needs to review their appropriateness. Now that the matter is before the Supreme Court once again, will the 'principled conservatives' — Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett — step forward? Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Hindustan Times
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Did Dalai Lama ‘quietly' cancel JD Vance meeting after Pope's death? Truth behind claim
A report about Buddhist leader Dalai Lama 'quietly' canceling a meeting with US Vice President JD Vance after Pope Francis' death surfaced on Monday. The Republican and former Ohio Senator is currently on a four-day visit to India, from April 21 to 24. He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. The Dalai Lama is currently at his residence in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India. On Monday, The Babylon Bee reported that the Buddhist leader has canceled his meeting with Vance. Read More: Traditional welcome for JD Vance family at Delhi's Akshardham, kids don Indian wear 'Though the Dalai Lama's representatives said publicly that the timing of the cancellation was just a coincidence, sources close to the religious leader privately disclosed that the revered Tibetan Buddhist figure simply did not want to die,' the website stated. Babylon Bee further posted a 'spokesmonk's' message about the Dalai Lama being 'double-booked'. The report quickly went viral on social media. 'Dalai Lama quietly cancels scheduled meeting with JD Vance,' one person posted on X, platform formerly known as Twitter. They further attached a screenshot of the Babylon Bee report. The post by Anna Komsa has been retweeted over 100 times and has over 400 likes. The claim is fake. There is no meeting scheduled between the Dalai Lama and JD Vance. In fact, The Babylon Bee is a satirical news website that usually posts fake news as part of its satirical take on news events. Read More: Pope Francis and JD Vance's final meeting sheds light on their years-long relation In the about section of the website, Babylon Bee writes: 'The Babylon Bee is the world's best satire site, totally inerrant in all its truth claims. We write satire about Christian stuff, political stuff, and everyday life.' 'If you would like to complain about something on our site, take it up with God,' it further adds. 'Just so it's clear for everyone, BabylonBee is a satirical site like The Onion, except funny,' a social media user reminded Anna Komsa in the comment section of her post. 'For a moment I thought that was serious 😂' another one wrote.
The Hill
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hill
GOP senator defends U2 from Babylon Bee
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) defended the rock band U2 after it was mocked by satire publication The Babylon Bee on Monday. The Bee, a comedic and satire online platform catering mostly to conservatives, posted a headline Monday morning that read 'Study Finds No One Ever Actually Liked U2 It's Just That Everyone Thought Everyone Else Did And No One Wanted To Speak Up And Make It Awkward.' 'The groundbreaking research indicates that humanity could have been saved from 'With or Without You,' 'Beautiful Day,' and 'Angel of Harlem,' if people just had the courage to stand up and say they don't like U2,' the Bee's story read. Lee, a conservative senator with a frequent social media presence, pushed back on the Bee's jokes. 'This is a rare L for [The Babylon Bee],' Lee wrote. 'U2 is freaking awesome.' U2's lead singer Bono has been vocal about politics during the band's decades-long career in music, saying in late 2023 that freedoms around the world were 'going in reverse,' but adding 'America is still the best idea.'
