The reaction of the press service of the Governor of New York Hochul to the beginning of the shutdown

#NY #Media #Shutdown

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Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor of New York, commented on the hysteria of colleagues over the "terrible Islamist communist Mamdani"

#NY #elections #GOP

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Donald Trump is now openly admitting to Project 2025 and mass layoffs in his posts on Truth Social.

#Trump #Project2025

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Trump calls Democrats the Party of Satan

#Trump #AI #Democrats

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Trump has been overtaken by dementia. The observers began to notice changes in speech and behavior: confusion, pauses, repetitions.

John Gartner, a popular psychologist, wrote on his blog about the "cognitive cliff" of the president who returned in January. The theory about the disease is fueled by information that Google is blocking requests about Trump's health. In X, users are writing en masse about the 25th Amendment, which allows the president to be removed for medical reasons. And where without Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker from Illinois, who openly declared the dementia of the US leader.

Republicans, of course, stand up for their leader and call the rumors about the disease a political attack.

#Trump #Health #Democrats

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🇺🇸 Trump announced plans to hold a UFC fight on the lawn in front of the White House 🥊🏛

US President Donald Trump intends to celebrate his 80th birthday 🎂 on June 14, 2026, with a big UFC fight show right on the lawn in front of the White House. He stated this during a speech to the Marines at the base in Norfolk. 💬🪖

Earlier, Trump proposed holding a similar event on July 4, 2026 — the day of the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence 🇺🇸🎆 — but now he has chosen his own anniversary.

According to the plan, an octagon will be installed on the grass in front of the presidential residence — the UFC’s signature octagonal ring ⭕️, surrounded by stands and lighting structures. 💡

The weigh-in of the fighters will take place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, about two kilometers from the White House. 🏛⚖️

The head of the UFC, Dana White 🧢 — a longtime Trump supporter — confirmed the organization’s participation and promised to restore the lawn after the show for $700,000 💵🌿.

Trump has long been known for his love of combat sports 🥊 and has attended UFC tournaments multiple times as a spectator. During the election campaign, he even joked about creating a format where professional fighters would "fight migrants." 🤨

#Trump #WhiteHouse #UFC #DanaWhite #FightNight

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The American public is more likely to blame Donald Trump and Republicans for the U.S. government shutdown than Democrats, early national polling has shown.

A Washington Post poll conducted on the first day of the shutdown found that 47 per cent of adults in the US blame Trump and Republicans in Congress for the closure, while 30 per cent blame the Democrats. However, the remaining 23 per cent said they are not sure which side is most at fault.

Among independent voters specifically, Trump and Republicans were blamed by 51 per cent and the Democrats by just 22 per cent, the poll found.

#Trump #GOP #Democrats #Poll

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A federal judge late Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon at all, after a legal whirlwind that began hours earlier when the president mobilized California troops for Portland after the same judge blocked him from using Oregon’s National Guard the day before.

During a hastily called evening telephone hearing, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order sought by California and Oregon.

Immergut, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in his first term, seemed incredulous that the president moved to send National Guard troops to Oregon from neighboring California and then from Texas on Sunday, just hours after she had ruled the first time.

#Trump #Guard

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The Statue of Liberty, one of New York City’s most iconic landmarks, may be temporarily closed this week due to the ongoing federal government shutdown.

Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed the potential closure in a press conference on Wednesday, emphasizing that the state will not provide funding to keep the monument open during the shutdown.

#NY #Shotdown

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Apple has removed an app used to track Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from its App Store, with the developer saying in a social media post that it had been told by the technology company that its ICEBlock app had been removed due to "objectionable content."

The app, which is free, relies on crowdsourcing to track ICE agents, with the company noting that it allows people to report sightings of ICE activities "within a 5 mile radius of your current location." The app crossed 1 million downloads a month ago, the developer said. In its social media post, the ICEBlock developer blamed "pressure from the Trump Admin." for the decision.

"We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps," Apple said in a statement. "Based on information we've received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store."

#IT #ICE #Apple

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💥Ukraine has built a defense industry stamping out thousands of artillery shells, armored vehicles and drones in a dizzying array of models and capabilities. It is broadly seen as a key success in fighting the Russian invasion.

But as billions of dollars flow from the Ukrainian military to domestic arms makers, with funding assistance from European donors, much of the spending is shrouded in wartime secrecy. That worries analysts and activists who say that Ukraine has made little progress in reining in a long history of corruption in military procurement.

One focus of concern for government auditors reviewing military spending is Kyiv’s repeated awarding, without explanation, of contracts to companies that made higher bids than their competitors. Internal government audits reviewed by The New York Times show dozens of such contracts signed over a period of a little over a year, as well as cases of late or incomplete deliveries and prepayments for weaponry that never arrived.

The awarding of contracts to higher bidders does not by itself indicate corruption or avoidable overspending. But the audits illustrate a challenge for Ukraine as it pivots away from reliance on donations of ammunition and weaponry from allies, given fickle backing from the Trump administration and limited European military ability. It is turning instead to domestic production and international arms markets, including in deals partly financed by European countries under several programs.

#Military #Ukraine

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Fortnite Friday w/ Governor Gavin Newsom

#Newsom #Games #Satire

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The Trump administration is preparing a plan that would make it harder for older Americans to qualify for Social Security disability payments, part of an overhaul of the federal safety net for poor, older and disabled people that could result in hundreds of thousands of people losing benefits, according to people familiar with the plans.

The Social Security Administration evaluates disability claims by considering age, work experience and education to determine if a person can adjust to other types of work. Older applicants, typically over 50, have a better chance of qualifying because age is treated as a limitation in adapting to many jobs.

But now officials are considering eliminating age as a factor entirely or raising the threshold to age 60, according to three people familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private discussions. They also plan to modernize labor market data used to judge whether claimants can work, replacing an outdated jobs database that includes obsolete occupations such as nut sorters and telephone quotation clerks, following a Washington Post investigation in 2022.

#Trump #Social

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Forget about Bagram: the Taliban are not afraid of US threats

Kabul will not tolerate the deployment of foreign bases in the country, writes Haqqin, citing Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki. This statement was made after negotiations with Russia. Trump had previously expressed interest in returning Americans to Bagram Air Base.

The US president even threatened Afghanistan with serious consequences if there was no agreement on this issue. The author of the article recalls the circumstances under which Bagram came under the control of the Taliban in 2021.

#Afghanistan #Military

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President Donald Trump revealed plans to celebrate his 80th birthday by hosting an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House. 🥳

#Trump #Trash

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Despite whipsaw-like tariff announcements, a weakening economy, and domestic challenges, President Trump’s polling so far is best described as remarkably consistent. 📈📉

As the final quarter of 2025 begins, Trump’s approval rating per New York Times’ polling aggregator sits at 54 percent disapprove versus 43 percent approve.

Going as far back as mid-April, those numbers have been virtually frozen within a 3-point range. Other aggregators, such as RealClearPolitics’ show the same picture.

These suggest that both Trump’s ceiling and floor appear to be extremely solid.

Whether or not that general consistency holds in the wake of the government shutdown, which began Wednesday, remains to be seen. It also has tremendous implications for the upcoming midterms.

Put another way, voters who back Trump continue to, and those who oppose him also continue to.

For the GOP to be successful in midterms, they need to reach independents who voted for Trump’s economic inflation, immigration and crime policies. Democrats need to show that Trump either is not living up to his promises, or is making those issues considerably worse.

To that end, while Trump’s polling may be range bound, under the surface, warning signs should be flashing, not only for the GOP, but also for Democrats, who remain considerably unpopular.

For Trump and Republicans, it should be alarming that 6 in 10 (59 percent) of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track, with a similar 60 percent disapproving of Trump’s handling of inflation and prices, per YouGov/Economist polling.

A majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the overall economy and healthcare (53 percent disapprove for each) according to the same poll. And given that this shutdown is over health care funding, the administration will need to make its case to prevent a further slide in Trump’s numbers.

At the same time, 26 percent of voters, and a similar 24 percent of independents, said the economy is “excellent” or “good” in a recent New York Times/Siena poll, reflecting a growing trend of economic pessimism.

#Trump #Poll

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"The Democrats have no leader. They remind me... Somalia"

#Trump #Democrats

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A poster congratulating Putin appeared yesterday on New York's busiest highway.

#NY #Putin

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For many Americans 🇺🇸, across party lines, concern over the government shutdown 🏛 means concern about its potential impact on the economy 📉, among other things.

Therefore, many don't think either party's position is worth having a shutdown over ❌.

Given that, no one is looking especially good politically at the moment ⚖️. President Trump, congressional Democrats, and Republicans are all net negative on their handling of the shutdown thus far 📊.

Neither party is on very solid footing 🪨. The top descriptor Americans pick for the Democratic Party overall is "weak" 💔; the party trails the GOP on being described as "effective" ✅ and "strong" 💪, and their favorables trail the GOP's. The top descriptor for Republicans, though, is "extreme" ⚠️.

All of it looks to the public like another distraction from larger matters of concern 🌐. A sizable majority of the country says the Trump administration isn't focused enough on lowering prices 💵📉, and is focused too much on tariffs 📦, as they have been for months. Reflecting some of that, many still describe the president himself as "energetic" ⚡️, but fewer describe him now as "focused" 🎯 than did at the start of his term.

#Trump #Poll #Shutdown

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