Scores of James Talarico donors are exceeding federal donation limits, with regulators at the FEC identifying 143 such donors who exceeded the legal limit, according to a letter they sent to the Texas Democrat campaign this month.
AP on Trump's rule by rich people: "The number of people worth at least $100 million whom the Republican president has appointed to his administration is more than four times the combined total under the three previous presidents."
If you lost your right to have and use a firearm due to a felony conviction, now, promises Todd Blanche, you can get it back. The right sum paid in crypto to the Trump Bros will insure a prompt decision. http://www.wsj.com/politics/pol…
The U.S. and Iran on Monday missed their 60-day deadline to reach a deal to curtail Iran’s nuclear program under the terms of the cease-fire they agreed to in June, underlining the breakdown of a truce that President Trump promised would end the war. Here's what to know.
Iran decided to shift its policy from defensive to ‘fully offensive’ due to the deadlock in efforts to agree to end to its war with the US, a senior Iranian official told Reuters. Progress towards peace ground to a halt since the conflict began in February reut.rs/4x4EuNZ
At the end of his life, when he stands before God in judgment, J.D. Vance wants to be able to say he did everything he could to help MAGA Rep. Brandon Gill get re-elected. http://www.peoplefor.org/rightwingwat…
Ken Paxton says he's probing widespread noncitizen voting, claiming that tens of thousands voted illegally in a single Texas election. Three have been prosecuted. Of 53 cases referred for investigation, at least five are US citizens. http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele…
Trump says he has a good relationship with Kim Jong Un, asks the lifeguard he's honoring to co-sign his attacks on the press, and then snaps at a woman reporter: "Be quiet! Be quiet!"
It used to be that once a NIH grant award hit “status 19,” the money was about to go out the door.That’s not the case anymore. The Trump administration has enacted an unprecedented political review process, pushing hundreds of awards into limbo.
The number of parents in the U.S. choosing not to vaccinate their children rose dramatically in the last school year, according to data CDC data released Monday. @erikaedwards.bsky.social @nbcnews.com
It used to be that once a National Institutes of Health grant award hit “status 19,” the money was about to go out the door.
That’s not the case anymore. The Trump administration has enacted an unprecedented political review process, pushing hundreds of awards into limbo. Status 19 — an administrative code describing awards with senior leadership sign-off — is being used as the holding cell.
Current and former career staff say this extra review by senior leaders is occurring after grants have undergone peer review, been approved by multiple offices in NIH, and screened for red-flag words around race, gender or other behavioral and social sciences. The extra political reviews are required not only for newly funded grants but also for annual payment installments for previously awarded projects.
As a result, some grants are lingering in status 19 for weeks or even months, gumming up the works as grant officers try to get awards out the door ahead of the new fiscal year starting in October. Flagged grants reviewed by NOTUS had to do with maternal health, contraceptive use, aging, dementia and opioid abuse.
“The notion that Francis Collins or Mike Lauer would ever have reviewed individual grants like this is so beyond the realm of comprehension,” a senior career staffer said, referring to the former directors of NIH and its Office of Extramural Research. “It’s laughable to me.”
A second senior NIH official called status 19 a “graveyard for grants.” The NIH staffers were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media.
As one of the largest grant funders in the federal government, NIH’s process is a prime example of how the Trump administration is implementing more political oversight of grants across a wide swath of agencies, even as its efforts to formalize those reviews face pushback.
Senate Republicans voted to temporarily block a White House regulation to formalize political review, which has already led to delays in posting and awarding grants at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Department of Interior and other agencies.
Researchers, patient advocates and biotech companies are outraged by the proposed regulation, which the White House is seeking to implement by Oct. 1 but could be blocked until December if the House also approves a delay.
Senior NIH leaders sent around a new agency review flowchart in May outlining additional steps once an award hits status 19. The flowchart, viewed by NOTUS, mandates a review by the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) and an HHS counselor before grantees are given a notice of award. There are no political appointees at OER, but its director reports to NIH Director and Trump appointee Jay Bhattacharya.
As a result of the extra reviews, the number of grants sitting for weeks in status 19 have surged. Around 8% of new grant awards are sitting in status 19 for anywhere from two to seven weeks, according to internal data shared with NOTUS.
In past years, around 11% of first-time awards had been released to the recipients within a week. This year, it’s 2%.
The delays are even more pronounced for annual payment installments for ongoing grants. The vast majority previously left status 19 within three days; now it takes 53 days to get 90% of payments out the door.
Lauer, who served as NIH’s extramural research director from 2015 to February 2025, said he couldn’t recall a time when a political appointee — including the NIH director — halted awarding of a research grant after it had gone through the review and approval process.
“Status 19 was not something I thought about,” Lauer told NOTUS.
NIH career staff stress that by the time grant awards reach status 19, they have been through dozens of editing and review steps. They’ve undergone peer review and a second look by an advisory council. Grant officers have gone through a checklist, including confirming that women and racial minorities have been appropriately included, something required by statute.
In grants reviewed by NOTUS, HHS or EOR staff flagged words including “diverse,” “equity,” “structural” and “underrepresented” and asked for clarification about what the researchers meant by them. In one project, a staffer wrote that the word “structural” could include concepts that are inconsistent with NIH priorities.
They asked for more clarification in projects that focused on health disparities or racial groups. Officials wrote that focusing on specific racial groups required more justification. In one project that expressed support for scholars and researchers from a variety of backgrounds, an official responded that the language could raise legal concerns if interpreted as targeting people based on demographics.
In multiple flagged grants, officials expressed concerns that they weren’t worth funding because their only practical use might be to support the writing of new laws.
HHS spokeswoman Emily Hilliard disputed the notion that status 19 is being used to hold up grants under extra political reviews. She said grants can remain in status 19 for five to 10 days while they are given final review by the Office of Extramural Research.
“There is no political appointee review stage in the NIH grant review process,” Hilliard said in a statement. “OER’s review is a longstanding part of NIH’s grant review process.”
Lauer said releasing grant money might face occasional delays, but it was almost always because Congress had failed to pass a budget for NIH, leading to uncertainty about how much total grant funding would be available.
Trump appointees are also conducting extra layers of review to the notices posted by the government to let researchers know money is available for specific projects or programs. Researchers say they’ve seen more delays in posting those notices — another obstacle in getting grant funding out the door.
“It’s this black box of HHS review,” said Colleen Kelley, an associate dean for research at Emory University.
A federal court in Nevada became the 22nd consecutive district court to reject the Trump administration’s campaign to force states to turn over their unredacted voter rolls, dismissing the Department of Justice’s case and denying its motion to compel. https://t.co/553Vyw9JI0
“We raised our hand to defend the Constitution. Congress takes the same oath, and unfortunately, we’re not seeing that same level of service over self today in Washington.”I spoke with @TB_Times about our race and what it means to selflessly serve your country.www.tampabay.com/news/florida…
We are less than one week away from the August 18th Primary! I welcome you to join us in Safety Harbor next Tuesday to celebrate the community we are building and all of the hard work we have accomplished together since my campaign launched. (1/2)
Luna's words are offensive to survivors of abuse everywhere – and she should immediately apologize to Rep. Miller's wife and family, and return the money she has raised from this alleged violent criminal. x.com/Sollenberger…
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says he has heard “absolutely nothing back” from Sen. Mitch McConnell after requesting updates on the senator’s condition.
Beshear (D-KY) says while he wishes McConnell “good health,” the senator should address the public directly. “His boss are the… pic.twitter.com/hnnbQBo4JR
Welker: "Trump pardoned everyone who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, including 172 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers. How is that consistent with your pledge to always protect law enforcement?"
EXCLUSIVE: Two DHS Sources Confirm to Migrant Insider — The ICE Agent Who Pointed His Gun at a U.S. Citizen in Virginia Is Martin Lagunas https://t.co/1xtlQ8APhI
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🚨SEND PETE HOEKSTRA PACKING🚨The House of Commons petition calling for U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra to be declared persona non grata has already reached 171,392 signatures.🔗 Petition e-7531: http://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en…🔗 sendpetepacking.ca❤️🍁🇨🇦TEAM CANADA FOREVER🇨🇦🍁❤️❤️🍁🇨🇦VIVE LE CANADA🇨🇦🍁❤️
ANOTHER WAPO SCOOP:The Navy is considering a major redesign of its new aircraft carriers to better match President Donald Trump’s aesthetic preferences for the warships, according to seven current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec…
The reckless & shameless “American” media completely & intentionally misrepresent the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The brave Sailors of that Strike Group are very proud of their tough & historic mission. They embody resilience & excellence. @DeptofWar@USNavy & @CENTCOM have their back. https://t.co/2Yi08wMxYm
North and South Korea are still technically at war. Our ability to help defend our ally against the North Koreans is because our forces are well trained and able to coordinate with the South Koreans. Hollowing out these joint exercises is shortsighted and a mistake. pic.twitter.com/VLO3t7Ghbf
Trying to imagine the reaction from Republicans if Obama had begun a statement with ‘Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea…’ before announcing a reduction in military cooperation with a top US ally.
Trump has taken a look at North and South Korea and concluded that Kim Jong Un and the North Koreans are the good guys and we should be with them. Fuck MAGA.
For the first time in US history, America betrays South Korea, one of our closest allies for over 75 years. These exercises in various forms have taken place every year since 1974. pic.twitter.com/WoA5Dg8Yti
NEWS: Trump says he has ordered Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, citing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and calling the drills “hostile.”
They are discussing using nuclear weapons on Iran in strategy meetings.
Yes you read that correctly. It’s real. I’m not speculating, I know.
And it’s pure evil.
The last time a nuclear weapon was used was August 6th and 9th of 1945 on two cities in Japan, Hiroshima and…
— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@FmrRepMTG) August 16, 2026
A US Navy guided-missile destroyer spent four days last month without working toilets, galley services and air conditioning in the blistering heat of the South China Sea after the warship lost power. https://t.co/0zyRNvuse9pic.twitter.com/wjO1V1s2lf
Exclusive: A Wyoming woman alleges in a federal lawsuit that her stepfather used the Grok chatbot to transform a childhood photo into child sexual abuse material. https://t.co/FBAjtClETk
Mike Johnson: "We put in this Congress into place all the economic conditions to let the economy take off like a rocket, and beginning in the first quarter of this year that's what was happening, and then we got into the conflict with Iran … that's the big headwind we have right now."
Did Mike Johnson just admit on fox news that President Trump Iran war fucked up their own economic plans? So we had an economy taking off like a rocket until Trump decided to play bodyguard for Bibi?
Look what VANDALS did to the grass connecting the vandalized World War II Monument and the vandalized Reflecting Pool, which will be opened again, and better than ever, shortly. Anybody who thinks the Reflecting Pool wasn't vandalized should go back to Law School! President… pic.twitter.com/q9tJjfwoKX
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham engaged with messages from somebody impersonating one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers, four officials have told POLITICO.
A person without any govt position, who has numerous financial conflicts of interest, should not conduct US foreign policy.And that’s before we get to the fact that he uses this role to corruptly solicit money for himself.It’s wrong. Many seem to have accepted it, but I’ll never stop objecting.
Demand for Canadian citizenship certificates is soaring, fuelled by Americans. Backlog of applications now at 121,800 and archives are swamped with requests. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politic…
The Chicago-based agent was already identified on social media and by Unraveled Press. Now, two Department of Homeland Security sources have confirmed his name to Migrant Insider.
Two sources inside the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the name of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who pointed a gun at a U.S. citizen to Migrant Insider.
The masked ICE officer who stepped out of an unmarked SUV on Monday and pointed his service weapon at Carolina Molina — a U.S. citizen, seated behind the wheel of her own car, in a parking lot off Columbia Pike in Falls Church — is Martin Lagunas, according to two DHS sources who spoke to Migrant Insider on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident publicly.
“This is the same kind of behavior that led to the murder of two American citizens,” Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) tweeted about the incident.” “Trump’s violent goon squad is out of control. We need to completely clean house and rebuild from the bottom,” he added.
DHS has not named Lagunas in any public statement. The agency’s official line after the encounter went viral described the officers as agents who feared for their safety during a “targeted immigration enforcement” operation. But Molina’s video shows her car is stationary as Lagunas points his weapon at her window and accuses her, on camera, of nearly running his team over — a lie ICE agents made after the killing of Renée Good in Minneapolis in January.
Confirming a name investigators wouldn’t
Lagunas, 40, was first publicly identified by Elgin-area ICE watchdog Ismael Cordová-Clough one week ago, and independently verified through voice and visual analysis — including a distinctive arm tattoo and a frayed “POLICE” patch worn across multiple eICEncounters — in reporting by Unraveled Press. Migrant Insider’s DHS sources corroborate that identification.
Unraveled’s reported that Lagunas is a Chicago native who led an Enforcement and Removal Operations team first documented making arrests outside Chicago’s immigration court at 55 E. Monroe Street in May 2025, and later during protests outside the ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois — the epicenter of last fall’s Operation Midway Blitz demonstrations.
That same team surfaced again in Minneapolis in January, four days after ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shot the 37-year-old Good — the case Molina herself invoked at a Wednesday press conference, saying, “I think my life was in danger at that point. It wasn’t until after I was like, this was a whole Renée Good situation again.”
Martin Lagunas’ Facebook profile picture.
The “weaponized vehicle” playbook
DHS’s account of the Virginia stop — that Molina “attempted to harm officers by weaponizing her vehicle” — repeats a pattern the agency has leaned on before, per Unraveled’s reporting: almost identical language was used to justify the fatal shootings of Silverio Villegas González in Franklin Park, Illinois, and Good in Minneapolis — claims that video and body-camera footage in both cases failed to support.
Molina saids the gun in her face made her start filmimg. “I think that’s why I took my cell phone out and started recording, because I’m like, ‘yo, this guy is really pointing a gun at my head.’ Like that’s insane,” she said.
DHS’s statement on the incident does not mention Lagunas by name: “The operation was targeting criminal illegal aliens, whose crimes included a hit and run and drug trafficking, and illegal aliens with final orders of removal. Fearing for their safety, ICE officers conducted a vehicle stop of the driver. Necessary background information of the driver was taken and she could face criminal prosecution as a result of her actions.”
The Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office confirmed this week it is reviewing the footage. Rep. Don Beyer and Rep. Suhas Subramanyam have publicly demanded consequences for the agents involved.
Online Footprint
Four days before the Virginia stop, back in Minneapolis, Lagunas told a driver he’d blocked in with his own vehicle: “You’re not gonna like the outcome of this, sir. I guarantee you’re not going to like the outcome.” On the day Renée Good died, he’d posted about her death on his own Facebook page. The caption was one word: “FAFO.”
This is a developing story. If you have information about Lagunas or other ICE agents caught on video committing atrocities in our country, let us know at tips@migrantinsider.com or on Signal at pab.202.
NEW: Legal filings say Rep. Max Miller made “false statements” to a court in order to get a Civil Protection Order against his ex-wife. Miller told the court he had an eyewitness refuting claim he assaulted Moreno. Then his lawyers recanted the evidence. https://t.co/Z0reqwCip4
Karoline Leavitt is getting glowing reviews of her performance as press secretary when she dodged, attacked, and obfuscated for the most part. A few examples of the lies we heard: claiming the US spent $50M on condoms for Gaza, calling the Epstein files a 'hoax,' denying war… pic.twitter.com/0RM3GYZctJ
Pirro has convened a special grand jury, an extremely rare move in DC. That could potentially pave the way for her office to investigate some of its biggest cases.
Read more about what a special grand jury is and what it could mean for the office. https://t.co/1umfkKIPt0
Todd Blanche's first address to DOJ: "We will always back the blue… Any time somebody assaults a federal law enforcement officer, we'll prosecute them."
73 Capitol Police and 65 MPD officers injured on Jan 6, 2021, would love to have a word.
‘We will always respect the role of the judiciary’: Says new AG who has led Justice Department which has not respected the rule of law at all http://www.politico.com/news/2026/08…
Lawyers for the former Olympian David Hearn filed a motion on Thursday seeking to bar federal prosecutors from reviving a felony charge that he vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying they needed to head off possible “prosecutorial harassment” prompted by President Trump.
President Donald Trump's administration on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it to continue construction of his $400 million White House ballroom after an appeals court ruled the project lacked the necessary approval from Congress.
President Trump is planning for gold-colored presidential seals on the outside of his White House ballroom, breaking with the restrained aesthetic of the executive mansion, according to new renderings.
A top Forest Service official (and billionaire Trump appointee) demanded help to fight a 7-acre fire on his Idaho property.The response amounted to “9 aircraft, including helicopters, air tankers and tactical planes.”It cost over $100,000 and diverted precious resources.🎁🔗 : wapo.st/4wZEqPD
Trump's new Navy Secretary is very concerned about an implacable foe:"Witchcraft," which has "really taken over" in places like California.www.businessinsider.com/hung-cao-gop…
🚨EXCLUSIVE: Military families and service members are now describing horrific conditions across MULTIPLE ships: human waste flooding bathrooms, virtually no food, water or soap, months without port calls, exhausted crews, and no end in sight.This crisis is far bigger than just the Lincoln.
Part of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall was covered in soapy bubbles and red graffiti in an incident the U.S. Park Police was investigating.Red graffiti spelled out “Clean hands dirty $” beneath the arch.
🇬🇧 Netanyahu: Britain could be the first nuclear-armed “Islamic republic”Netanyahu on Britain:“You might call Britain the ‘Islamic Republic of Britain.’Someone said that the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons will be the Islamic Republic of Britain.”
Flock, the country’s most prominent seller of automated license-plate readers, said it will require stricter oversight after a Post investigation found dozens of officers had misused its cameras to spy on their exes and romantic interests.
In addition to trying to re-scrawl his name on the Kennedy Center facade by adding “Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump,” Trump's trying to rename the physical site “the President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” Opposing attys' statement below. (Wash Litig Grp & @DDFund_) pic.twitter.com/JMEoaKjJ0x
Orange Man is so in need of affirmation that he will stop at nothing to slap his name on any edifice in DC. Sad, pathetic and illegal. Astounding what can happen to a person whose Daddy didn’t hug him enough. http://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/a…
Greenland authorities have forced a US oil company connected to Donald Trump to postpone drilling wells in the Arctic territory, defying claims by the US president’s envoy that Americans could be extracting crude by next year. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a…
The reports from the USS Abraham Lincoln about multiple sailors attempting to jump into the sea are disturbing. Long deployments are hard. They are a lot harder when the mission isn’t well defined and there is no end in sight. Here is some information on how to get help:… https://t.co/06a8Nu1ckx
The Department of the Navy must allow a bipartisan Congressional Delegation to visit the USS Lincoln to conduct oversight investigation into this horrible situation. CODELs have visited war zones to inspect the conditions of our troops. There is no reason to be denied access. https://t.co/l1OwrXwJo1
NEW: The USS Abraham Lincoln was supposed to come home in May — instead, under Trump's Navy, its sailors are grinding through a ninth month at sea with no end date, and the crew is so broken that multiple have attempted suicide. This should be a national scandal.
The U.S. has long miscalculated due to intelligence failures. Case in point: The war on Iran. Now, an even bigger miscalculation on the Strait of Hormuz.
Worse than fake news is fake intelligence. Be careful.
Allah is Great, Greater than ANY power on Earth. In Allah we trust.
EXCLUSIVE: The wife of the USS Lincoln sailor who jumped overboard last week says she wasn't notified about the incident until four days after & said her husband repeatedly expressed concerns over his mental health but was "brushed off." w/@PriyaReportinghttps://t.co/jJlmtDHHNC
".. deployed for more than 250 days and it has not made a port call in 200 days, setting a record for consecutive days at sea .."@wsj.com http://www.wsj.com/politics/nat…
NEW: The U.S. military has lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones during the war with Iran, or roughly 25 percent of its fleet, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The high-demand drones cost between $30 million and $50 million a piece. w/ @noahjrobertson…
Q: A lot of people around here can't afford to fly. Can you say something about gas prices being a dollar more than they were a year ago?SEAN DUFFY: No one complained about Joe Biden's inflation, which was wildQ: Can you talk about gas prices?
Florida allows voucher schools to cite their faith as a reason to deny admission to gay students. But the AG says the same schools can't cite their faith as a reason to deny admission to anti-vaxxers. What a selective version of faith and “freedom.”https://t.co/tdSfAUJwhi
The “covered up” data was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in September 2021, where it has sat, publicly, for five years. It shows vaccinated women miscarried at the same rate as everyone else, about 1 in 8. The 82% figure comes from a denominator error: it counts… https://t.co/HtVOF5dDkR
Shame on you @tedcruz. This is a bald faced lie. You are lying. You are purposely lying. You are purposely spreading malicious & dangerous disinformation. How the fuck do you live with yourself? Shame on you. https://t.co/1s040cuCAZ
🚨BREAKING: A Nebraska court Wednesday rejected the RNC’s lawsuit seeking to block certain U.S. citizens abroad from voting in the state, handing the national GOP another major loss in its escalating legal campaign against overseas voters. https://t.co/4nHl5KtzSE
— Sara McGee for Texas HD 132 (@SaraForTexLege) August 12, 2026
BREAKING WaPo:Republican Rep. Max Miller's ex-wife has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Miller and his attorney — alleging that they "recklessly published" a nude image of Miller's 2-year-old daughter online.
BASH: It sounds like you're saying you're not going to return Max Miller's donations because you believe himLAWLER: 😮 Look, this is a private family matter. Max has also made allegations against his ex-wife. Nothing has been corroborated here. Do you have information that proves the allegations?
Watching the media and Democrats fall all over themselves defending Graham Platner is truly next level.
After all the sanctimonious lectures about everything, it turns out, they don’t actually care about Nazi affiliations or sexual abuse and harassment. pic.twitter.com/pV9FrBbO0x
CNN contributor Scott Jennings just falsely accused Hasan Piker of supporting lynchings using out-of-context clips in an attempt to attack Abdul El-Sayed's campaign. Defamation like this is highly unlawful and can result in millions of dollars in damages if Piker sues. pic.twitter.com/7mqYoacwGm
This is beyond insane, even for TX: Fort Worth police just ARRESTED a man for saying "bullshit" while speaking at last week's Tarrant County meeting opposing a plan to cut nearly 50% of Election Day voting locations. He's charged with disrupting a meeting, @startelegram reports.
I’m very disappointed that SacAnime has disinvited me from a Halo 25 reunion at their conference next month. If you thought we defeated Cancel Culture in 2024, guess again! pic.twitter.com/DSEWcIEjDA
Its as simple as just not being an asshole dude. You're not entitled to be at an event when you speak out against the rights of the people organizing it.
CNBC: Do you regret voting for RFK Jr?BILL CASSIDY: If you want to tell me that somebody didn't tell me the truth, and I should've seen in the future they were not gonna tell the truth, you can say, 'Bill you should've seen into the future'
KILMEADE: DHS plans to spend $20 million on electric shock gloves to aid federal agents. How would that work?HOMAN: It's another device to help someone be compliant when they're not. You can't have the first thing you go for be lethal force.
This isn't going to become some anomalous method of arresting people. They will be shocking people like this as a matter of course. pic.twitter.com/U9SuvaMTvu
Pastor David Ritchie is charged with solicitation of prostitution. He is one of eight men arrested during an undercover operation. https://bit.ly/4xs0mDH
BREAKING NYT:A federal judge in Boston just dismissed an antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard University — dealing a blow to the Trump admin's efforts to force the university into a settlement.
The Trump administration is abandoning controversial Biden-era plans to help developers build power lines in areas that badly need increased transmission infrastructure.
Some points I wish to make. First tRump couldn’t take not having his name seen on a building that was to honor the Kennedy family so he kept the tarps up. But why is this building and its prominence that attracts him? The way our society sees and has seen the Kennedy family has long been an issue and sore spot for tRump. In his mind his own family should be the US fake royalty not a war hero president and classy first lady. He raged against predient Kennedy’s son constantly angered that the press never covered his kids the same way. Well that is because while the Kennedy’s were doing good works for the public the tRump kids were ingaged in crimes and money laundering. tRump is fully consumed by his stature and standing with the public and how he is perceived because he is a poor man in a wealthy situation and he is a weak man pretending to be the model strong man. Remember he told Queen Elisabeth that his kids were equal to her kids because he was US royalty like she was British royalty. Hug
Attorneys for Beatty said in a statement that the new naming effort appears to defy a judge’s ruling this year that the center’s board does not have the authority to rename what was intended as a “living memorial” for an assassinated president.
The board voted to change the name of the building to “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”
Scaffolding and tarps cover the building name at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington on June 30.Al Drago / The Washington Post via Getty Images file
The Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board voted Thursday to partially close the iconic arts center for up to two years during renovations and to re-add President Donald Trump’s name to the building’s facade, according to a person who attended the virtual board meeting and a second person familiar with the meeting.
The decision would close the Kennedy Center’s main building and keep a smaller addition, known as the Reach, open for some events in response to a May court order requiring the board to maintain the center as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy.
After an almost two-hour Zoom meeting, the board voted 20-3 to change the name of the building to “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump” and the physical location to “President Donald J. Trump Plaza.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick proposed the name change.
Trump, who appointed himself chairman of the board last year, joined the call for several minutes, according to the source who attended the meeting.
The three people voting against it are the ex officio members from Congress, Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio; Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; and Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash.
“This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed,” Beatty, who was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the Kennedy Center’s renaming, said in a statement. “I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument.”
Attorneys for Beatty said in a statement that the new naming effort appears to defy a judge’s ruling this year that the center’s board does not have the authority to rename what was intended as a “living memorial” for an assassinated president.
“A federal judge already rejected the board’s unlawful attempt to rename the Kennedy Center, and told Donald Trump’s handpicked board that its last closure vote was ill-informed and preordained. Today’s vote is more of the same, and a show of blatant disrespect to the courts,” said the lawyers, Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Action and Nathaniel Zelinsky of Washington Litigation Group.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper’s order in May, which temporarily blocked the Kennedy Center’s planned closure last month, also asked that the board provide a financial plan to justify the decision to close it. Keeping the smaller venue open would allow ticket sales for some events, including performances by the National Symphony Orchestra, which is the Kennedy Center’s chief tenant.
The orchestra has performed there since the early 1970s, when the center — conceived by Jaqueline Kennedy as a memorial to her slain husband — opened.
In recent years, under the baton of music director and principal conductor Giancarlo Noseda, it has been rising in stature — but its future is now uncertain because the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall will not be available. A search for other venues in the area has been underway.
The Kennedy Center’s future has been in limbo for months as Trump moves to reshape the iconic art institution in his image, one of several major Washington renovation projects.
After Trump named himself the Kennedy Center’s chairman last year and filled its board with allies, the board voted unanimously in March to close the center for two years for renovations.
Cooper’s order temporarily blocked the construction work and ordered that Trump’s name be removed, which it was in June.
He also said the board could still ultimately close the center “should it come to this decision anew after independently balancing its multiple obligations to the Center in a prudent fashion.”
Cooper also found the board did not have the authority to rename the center or add a name to it without the approval of Congress, which initially named it.
“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” Cooper said in his May decision.
“May the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts be renamed absent Congressional authorization? The answer, plain from the face of the statute, is no. Nor can any other individual be memorialized on the front portico of the building. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”
The decision to close the center and add Trump’s name to the building has sparked outrage from the administration’s critics, as well as members of the Kennedy family.
Former Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, a grandnephew of the late president, said in a statement last year that the center “is a living memorial to a fallen president and named for President Kennedy by federal law. It can no sooner be renamed than can someone rename the Lincoln Memorial, no matter what anyone says.”
Not much these days, end up walking in circles around the house. Hugs
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