https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/01/25/trump-coin-crypto-melania/
There’s also disappointment from some who, like Carter, think his launch of the $TRUMP meme coin — followed days later by $MELANIA, named for his wife — amplifies one of the sillier and sometimes scammier aspects of the scandal-associated industry.
https://www.newsweek.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-does-victory-lap-ukraine-aid-frozen-2020892
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, voiced her support on Friday for the recent halt in foreign aid seemingly impacting Ukraine.
Greene, an ally of President Donald Trump, has been a staunch critic of former President Joe Biden's Ukrainian aid amid the Russia-Ukraine war that began nearly three years ago.
Trump has also criticized the billions of dollars the Biden administration has spent in supporting Kyiv and has said that if he was at the negotiating table with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the war between the two nations would end "within 24 hours," leading to concerns that he would press Zelensky to surrender the territory Moscow currently occupies.
While the foreign aid freeze is temporary and Trump has signaled he may continue to take a tough stance on Russia, it's still unclear how much military aid he will give to Kyiv.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czeprnw4repo
On Friday, the office of the Israeli prime minister said the withdrawal outlined in the ceasefire was "conditioned on the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, while Hezbollah withdraws beyond the Litani", a river about 30km (20 miles) from the Blue Line - the unofficial border between Lebanon and Israel.
"Since the ceasefire agreement has yet to be fully enforced by the Lebanese state, the gradual withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the US," the statement said, without specifying how much longer Israeli forces might stay in Lebanon.
It was also not clear how many Israeli soldiers remained in the country.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjvyyn7k99o
US President Donald Trump has said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has done a "very good job thus far" and that the pair have a "very good relationship".
Tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, however, has been strongly critical of Sir Keir and has repeatedly called for his removal from office.
Earlier this month Tesla boss Musk, who is an adviser to the president, criticised Starmer in a series of messages on his X social media platform over the grooming gangs scandal, saying the prime minister was "deeply complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes".
In response, Sir Keir, who was director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013, has accused critics of "spreading lies and misinformation" and says he tackled prosecutions "head on".
Whoever steered President Trump into removing of the security teams protecting former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others facing Iranian death threats was way off-base — and the prez should reverse that dangerous call at once.
Pompeo tops Tehran’s hit list for his part in taking out Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani in January 2020, a massive strategic win for Trump in his first term.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-germans-shouldnt-feel-guilt-over-countrys-past/
Elon Musk urged an audience at a German far-right political rally not to feel “guilty” about their country’s history.
“I think there’s frankly too much of a focus on past guilt (in Germany), and we need to move beyond that,” Musk continued. “Children should not feel guilty for the sins of their parents—let alone their great grandparents.”
Although Musk didn’t mention Nazism explicitly, his speech was heard by many as addressing the collective guilt felt by many German people following Nazi atrocities perpetrated during World War II, including the Holocaust
In response to a post on X that accused Jews of “hatred against whites,” Musk in 2023 wrote, “You have said the actual truth.”
After criticism that the remark platformed anti-semitic conspiracy theories, Musk apologized and called the post “foolish.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/24/anthony-fauci-security-trump-006509
During an impromptu press conference shortly after arriving in North Carolina Friday morning, Trump said removing the security detail of former government officials is “very standard” and that the detail could not be provided forever. It’s a similar explanation he gave earlier this week after removing the security protections of other high-profile people who worked in his first administration, including John Bolton and Mike Pompeo.
“They all made a lot of money,” Trump told reporters Friday. “They can hire their own security.”
When asked whether he would feel responsible should something happen to Fauci, Trump said he would “certainly not” take responsibility.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/23/january-6-pardons-washington-trump-006212
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson warned Thursday that the blanket dismissal of Jan. 6 cases called for by Trump is “contrary to the manifest public interest in upholding the rule of law” and would “dishonor” the police officers who protected the Capitol.
“They are the patriots. Patriotism is loyalty to country and loyalty to the Constitution – not loyalty to a single head of state,” the Obama-appointed judge wrote. “No stroke of a pen and no proclamation can alter the facts of what took place on January 6, 2021. When others in the public eye are not willing to risk their own power or popularity by calling out lies when they hear them, the record of the proceedings in this courthouse will be available to those who seek the truth.”
Democrats are also describing increasing security concerns in the wake of the pardons. They noted that several people who were freed were deemed too dangerous by judges to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday, and several more remained detained pending trial because of judges’ concerns about the danger they posed.
https://jewishaction.com/jewish-living/mirror-image/
The Baal Shem Tov taught that the world is a mirror, and that the defects we see in other people are only a reflection of our own defects. We are likely to be oblivious to our own defects, but can easily detect shortcomings in other people. The Baal Shem Tov instructs us to take such observations as indications that we have these shortcomings ourselves.
We may assume that we are being given “signals” to call attention to defects of which we may be unaware, but there is also a psychological explanation. Many decades after the Baal Shem Tov, psychologists formulated the conception of “projection”; i.e., we are likely to project our own faults onto someone else.
The Baal Shem Tov is simply giving us the most common reason why we may see faults in others. It is a defensive maneuver to minimize the awareness of our own faults, and the self-recrimination that would result from such awareness.
Most people are quick to criticize others for their faults. How wonderful the world would be if we followed the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings, and did as he did; namely, when noticing a fault in others, direct our attention inwardly to discover where we can make changes that would lead to self-improvement.
KA wrote "Also Charlie Chaplin made a comedy which was poking fun at them. Even the Jewish comedians Mel brooks and woody Allen would make fun and use their names as a form of mockery
This is nonsense apologetics
Musk was trivializing Nazis. Chaplin and Brooks were making fun of Hitler not the Holocaust. Woody Allan is your model He also compared Israel to Nazis! Bottom line Musk has shown great insensitivity to Jews in his quest for power in the world. Your attempt to defend the indefensible is unacceptable.
https://www.hnn.us/article/harry-belafonte-woody-allen-criticized-for-stateme
Earlier this summer, comedian and filmmaker Woody Allen said in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel: "The history of the world is like: he kills me, I kill him. Only with different cosmetics and different castings: so in 2001 some fanatics killed some Americans, and now some Americans are killing some Iraqis. And in my childhood, some Nazis killed Jews. And now, some Jewish people and some Palestinians are killing each other." (Der Spiegel, June 20, 2005)
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-mette-frederiksen-phone-call-greenland-2020637
President Donald Trump had a "fiery" phone call with Denmark's Prime Minister last week, putting the NATO ally into "crisis mode," the Financial Times reported, citing officials briefed on the matter.
European officials told the FT the call did not go well and that Trump was aggressive and confrontational with his Danish counterpart.
https://time.com/7209986/pete-hegseth-confirmed-donald-trump-defense-secretary/
Only once before has the vice president had to break a tie on a Cabinet nominee — during Trump's first term, when Vice President Mike Pence cast the vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as education secretary.
In contrast, McConnell said after the vote said Hegseth “did not reckon” with the reality of job, noting that the nominee's “mere desire to be a ‘change agent’ is not enough.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said there were few Trump nominees as “dangerously and woefully unqualified as Hegseth.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5106541-donald-trump-inspectors-general-ousters/
The ouster of the independent inspectors may be in violation of the federal law as the president is required to give a 30-day notice to Congress of his intent, The Post noted.
“It’s a widespread massacre,” one of the fired inspectors told The Post. “Whoever Trump puts in now will be viewed as loyalists, and that undermines the entire system.”
Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, also blasted Trump for the move.
“This midnight purge of inspector generals, including at the USDA, is alarming and unprecedented,” Craig said in a statement. “While the president has the right to replace inspector generals, the late-night firing of these independent watchdogs not only violates the law but also hampers our ability to combat waste, fraud, and abuse and ensure programs are run as Congress intended, whether its disaster assistance for farmers or nutrition programs.”
“These firings threaten to undermine public trust at a time when many hardworking Americans doubt whether government institutions are looking out for them and reinforce the perception that politicians get to play by a different set of rules,” she added.
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-trump-pardon-16f2e7a9?mod=hp_lead_pos8
Allies of the online drug bazaar’s founder made the case to the president that the two men shared enemies
