politics and other stuff

President Donald Trump is planning to watch the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals on Monday and fans couldn’t be less hype about it.

Trump — once a fixture at Madison Square Garden in the ’90s and ’00s — is set to return to MSG for Game 3 at the invitation of owner James Dolan amid a historic playoffs run that New Yorkers are embracing in person, at packed watch parties or via the chaotic scenes around the arena on game days.

And as the team heads home with a 2-0 lead over the San Antonio Spurs this week, fans on social media are asking if Trump’s planned attendance — along with the strict game day security measures set to come with him — is ruining “the vibe.”

“Regardless of who it is, this is ridiculous,” wrote Knicks Muse, a fan account, on Instagram in response to MSG announcing a “strict no-bag policy” and “TSA-style screening procedures” for those attending Monday’s game.

“Everyone else’s life has to be changed because one person is coming.”

Other fans weighed in.

06/03/2026

Intercessors for America, a network of pro-Trump prayer warriors that works closely with the White House, is celebrating the Trump administration’s refusal to acknowledge Pride Month—celebrated in the U.S. in June—and praising the State Department’s “hard shift away from promoting pride and ungodly sexuality,” which includes a ban on embassies displaying Pride flags. 

In a Wednesday post, IFA suggest that people offer prayers of thanks for “leaders who are willing to stand for biblical truth” and to ask God to “help our leaders stand strong against the lies of the pride and LGBT agendas.”

“We prayed for an end to the erosion of biblical truth under President Biden, and those prayers have been answered through President Trump,” says IFA. “Let’s continue to pray for truth and wisdom for our leaders, as well as for policies that uphold God’s design for individuals, families, and society.”

IFA kicked off Pride Month on Monday by promoting a “prayer guide” that asks God to “expose the demonic agenda behind ‘Pride’ Month and the ever increasing push toward normalizing sexual perversion and transgender ideology.” It warns that LGBTQ-affirming Christians will face “eternal consequences” for “promoting what is detestable” to God. 

While the Trump administration and many of its religious-right allies already “rededicated” America to God last month, IFA is promoting its own gathering to “rededicate” America at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. July 3 and 4. It will feature New Apostolic Reformation dominionist Dutch Sheets. 

The Trump administration’s snub of Pride Month is far less harmful than the hostile rhetoric and brutal policies that make life more difficult for transgender Americans, but like those attacks it reflects the influence of Trump’s anti-equality religious-right political base. 

Religious-right legal and political groups, with the help of right-wing Christian media outlets, have made some headway in reversing what had been growing Republican support for legal equality for LGBTQ people and same-sex couples. While marriage equality is supported by more than 80 percent of Democrats and two-thirds of independents, a recent Gallup poll shows support among Republicans dropping significantly to 35 percent. 

That likely reflects the obsession of religious-right political and legal groups to overturn the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision. The recently launched Greater Than coalition and campaign demonizes gay parents as selfish people carrying out a “destructive state-sanctioned gaslighting experiment on children.” 

A bit of brighter news for equality advocates came in the form of a June 1 ruling by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals finding that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s ban on transgender people serving in the military was motivated by unconstitutional “animus.” The Court’s ruling was mixed; it upheld a lower court’s preliminary injunction against the Pentagon forcing out trans people currently serving in the armed forces, but it allowed the Pentagon to bar trans people from joining the military while legal challenges to the policy move through the courts. 

Hank Kunneman Says 'The Devil And His Demons' Do Not Want You To Know America Is Christian Nation

However, he made it clear that divorce is not okay. Are these so-called "Christians" condemning divorce, especially as embodied by the twice divorced Trump?

Of course not.

They pick and choose their Bible passages and whom they want to condemn.

Most of them have no idea how the Bible was constructed, nor do they have any idea about how Biblical passages were meant to be interpreted.

Report exposes hidden $50 billion price tag on Trump's ballroom

Canada's food inspection agency has announced a temporary ban on livestock from the US state of Texas after flesh-eating screwworms were discovered in calves this week.

Cows and horses that were in Texas anytime within 21 days before crossing the border into Canada would not be accepted into the country, an agency news release said.

The announcement comes after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the parasite had been found in a second calf in Texas - the leading US beef and cattle producer. Texas Gov Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster on Friday over the "imminent threat" the outbreak posed.

"This is likely to spread over the course of the summer," Abbott told reporters on Friday.

After calling out suspicious data access by DOGE, one whistleblower suddenly found himself in the crosshairs of the world's wealthiest man and his fans.

BY JUSTIN CAFFIER

PUBLISHED JUNE 2, 2026, 9:05 PM ET

One of the more pernicious features of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is that, in choosing to name it after that stupid shiba inu, Elon Musk accidentally created something so blindingly lame that it’s difficult to stare at it long enough to clock all the harm it continues to do. But make no mistake, beneath its TheChive.com humor surface, DOGE is and has been one of the most malevolent government-led forces in modern history.

Scientists across multiple disciplines are sounding the alarm after the White House proposed taking greater control over how scientific research gets funded and allowing political appointees to decide whether to approve scientific grants.

Critics of the proposed rule say it would codify the administration's attempts to destroy the scientific research enterprise in the US that has led to remarkable discoveries on treating cancer, HIV and rare diseases — as well as understanding weather and climate science and developing artificial intelligence. It could have far-reaching implications on what kinds of research topics get studied in the first place.

One of the main casualties in OMB's proposal would be the country's longstanding scientific peer review process for grantmaking. Peer review has been widely used since the post-World War II research boom, and relies on panels of experts in their fields judging federal funding decisions on the scientific merit of the grant proposals, rather than any politically-motivated criteria.

The proposed rule would also ban research on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as gender, and stop federally funded international scientific collaborations. And OMB's changes could target more than scientific research — applying to other federal grant awards from agencies to state and local governments.

"This proposal does not just apply to scientific research funding, it applies to other federal awards in all kinds of contexts," said Stanford Law School professor Lisa Larrimore Ouellette.

Kate Marvel, a climate scientist who recently left NASA due to political interference in climate-science research there, said peer review has long been an enabler of America's scientific leadership.

"One of the reasons the USA has historically been such a research superpower is that we've had a merit-based science funding system, where research is funded by the federal government based on the assessments of other scientists," she said.

The newspaper's editorial board warned that giving Bill Pulte access to sensitive intelligence could threaten national security and the rule of law.

By Lee Moran

Jun 4, 2026, 05:03 AM EDT

Updated Jun 4, 2026

The New York Times editorial board issued a blistering rebuke of Donald Trump’s decision to appoint Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, replacing former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard who quit as DNI last month.

June 5, 2026, 3:23 PM MST

By Ryan J. Reilly

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department told a federal judge that even though the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund is “not going forward,” it still opposes the court taking any action to block the initiative on a more permanent basis.

In a filing Friday afternoon, Justice Department attorney Andrew Block and other DOJ representatives said that no money had been transferred to the fund and that no members of the five-person panel tasked with making decisions about distributing the funds had been appointed.

“This is a rare case that is simultaneously moot and premature,” they wrote. “One of the reasons Plaintiffs were forced to speculate so much about how the Fund would operate is because so little had happened when they sued.”

—

GOP lawmakers refusing to return for votes until Mike Johnson cleans up his mess: report

Republicans can’t govern. They are incompetent and useless for anything that isn’t protecting pedophiles and other abusers.

French prosecutors escalate probe of Elon Musk and X to criminal investigation

PUBLISHED THU, MAY 7 2026 4:54 PM EDT

French cybercrime authorities have escalated an investigation of Elon Musk and his social network X to a criminal probe.

The investigation began in 2025 and focuses on alleged algorithmic manipulation by X to interfere in French politics, and the spread of AI deepfake content on the social network.

The U.S. Justice Department and Musk previously accused French authorities of a sham probe that interferes with an American business.

Below is a (lightly edited) comment to an article in The New York Times about how Trump is destroying clean energy initiatives, and consequently, hurting the country.

The [war against clean energy is the] world's stupidest culture war. Sadly, as far as current American politics goes, the stupid is the point. Of course Trump is repaying oil companies for funding his campaign, and yeah he has a petty reason to hate wind energy, but the biggest problem is that his energy policy isn't costing him votes. Perhaps the Iran war causing a dramatic increase in gas prices is hurting Trump, but his general policy of favouring oil and coal over renewables actually helps him politically. Why? It's as simple as it is awful, and almost no one will talk about it. The real reason MAGA is so loyal to Trump is much greater than any policy. It's even greater than the overt racism. The central principle that ties together all the disparate blocs that comprise the MAGA movement is anti-intellectualism, and the central emotional appeal is spite. [color emphasis added] The main thing Donald Trump learned during his mediocre turn as a student at Wharton is that many, many people were much smarter than him. Some might respond to that realization by working harder at their studies. Trump invented the laughable fiction of his unerring gut that was so superior to the Poindexters' [intellect] he learned to resent and envy and hate. The common thread through MAGA is that same resentment towards people who make them feel inadequate. "The scientists say renewable energy is the future? We'll show them!" Close to half of Americans are people who want to coal roll a Prius with their Dodge Ram turbo diesels. It's the revenge of the stupid. — Rob, Vernon, B.C. The New York Times Comments, May 12, 2026

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” ― Isaac Asimov

“ Trump has been posting all day, nonstop on social media”

Here’s your citation: https://www.irishstar.com/news/politics/trumps-truth-social-meltdown-posts-37227348

Stolen from the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

On Android 

With the release of Android 12, Google began allowing users to delete their ad ID permanently. On devices that have this feature enabled, you can open the Settings app and navigate to Privacy > Ads. Tap “Delete advertising ID,” then tap it again on the next page to confirm. This will prevent any app on your phone from accessing it in the future.

On iOS 

To see which apps you have previously granted access to, go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking. You can set the “Allow apps to Request to Track” switch to the “off” position (the slider is to the left and the background is gray). This will prevent apps from asking to track in the future. If you have granted apps permission to track you in the past, this will prompt you to ask those apps to stop tracking as well. You also have the option to grant or revoke tracking access on a per-app basis.

The outlier in the above chart is Florida because of the Cuban vote.

By the numbers: Two-thirds of Latino voters disapprove of Trump's job performance, compared with 30% who approve. Disapproval is a majority in every region tested, including 51% in Florida.

25% of Latino Trump 2024 voters say they probably or certainly would not vote for him again. That compares with 5% of Harris 2024 voters who say they would not vote for her again.

On the 2026 House ballot, Latino voters back the Democratic candidate over the Republican candidate 54% to 27%, with 19% undecided.

[....]

Zoom in: The political damage to Republicans is highly apparent in critical battlefield states containing high-density Latino populations, the UnidosUS poll found.

In Texas, where significant rightward shifts occurred in 2024, Trump's disapproval has skyrocketed to 67% among Latinos, and Democrats have opened a massive 54% to 28% generic House ballot lead.

In California, Latino disapproval of Trump stands at 71%, paving the way for a 59% to 22% Democratic advantage on the generic congressional ballot.

The European Union already forced Apple to abandon its proprietary charging port and adopt USB-C across its entire iPhone lineup. It just did something bigger. A new EU mandate requires every smartphone sold in Europe including Apple devices to feature a battery that can be replaced by the user without specialist tools, without voiding a warranty, and without sending the device to a manufacturer approved service center. Batteries must maintain a minimum capacity threshold after a set number of charge cycles and replacement parts must remain available for up to ten years after a model goes on sale.

The consumer electronics industry built its current business model around batteries that degrade, cannot be replaced at home, and create a natural upgrade cycle every two to three years. The EU just legislated that model out of existence in the world's largest regulatory market.

Apple, Samsung, and every other manufacturer now faces a choice between redesigning their devices for the European market or accepting that their current hardware architecture is no longer legally sellable there.