United States President Donald Trump has announced his government will seek the death penalty in every murder case that unfolds in Washington, DC, as part of his crackdown on crime in the country’s capital.
Trump made the announcement in the midst of a Labor Day-themed meeting of his cabinet on Tuesday as he discussed a range of issues, from weapons sales to the rising cost of living.
“Anybody murders something in the capital: capital punishment. Capital capital punishment,” Trump said, seeming to relish the wordplay.
“If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington, DC, we’re going to be seeking the death penalty. And that’s a very strong preventative, and everybody that’s heard it agrees with it.”
Most rational human beings who know anything about American history believe that the practice of slavery was one of the United States’ original sins, and that it was allowed for too long. Untold millions suffered due to the enslavement of human beings across generations in a way that still has very real lingering effects.
Which makes slavery the most bewildering topic for Republicans to want to explore the upside of.
President Donald Trump made clear on Tuesday that he doesn’t like all this negative talk about slavery, and complained that the Smithsonian museums are too “woke.”
“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” Trump bleated on Truth Social.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has made himself the face of the Democratic change in tactics when dealing with Trump and his party, but there is a broader sense that the urging of the elite consultant class that Democrats needed to move in Trump’s direction has been rejected and the party has unified on a strategy to fight and fight hard.
While Gavin Newsom was doing podcasts with Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries had been sounding the alarm before Trump came into office and trying to drag congressional Democratic leadership into fight mode.
After Chuck Schumer was nearly run out of the party for caving to Trump on government funding, the tide seemed to shift. When Trump moved on trying to rig the midterm election, it seems that Democrats at all levels got on the same page.
Leader Jeffries put the Democratic strategy into words with a new twist on a Michelle Obama quote.
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a petition filed by state Republican legislators seeking to halt Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) plan to redistrict California’s congressional map.
“Petitioners have failed to meet their burden of establishing a basis for relief at this time under California Constitution article IV, section 8,” reads a brief order posted to the docket.
Newsom has hit back at Republican redistricting efforts in Texas by pushing for a special election this November to get voters’ approval on a more favorable House map for Democrats in California in time for the 2026 midterms.
The ruling paves the way for the California legislature to proceed with voting as soon as Thursday on a package that would set up the special election.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (Aug 26) that the federal government will begin seeking the death penalty in homicide cases in Washington DC, expanding his law-and-order push and federal control over the capital.
“If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington DC, we’re going to be seeking the death penalty, and that’s a very strong preventative,” Trump said at a White House cabinet meeting. “We have no choice.”
The move underscores Trump’s efforts to exert power over the Democratic-leaning capital, where violent crime has fallen from a 2023 spike but remains a flashpoint in political debate. He has already declared an emergency, deployed National Guard troops and sent federal law enforcement to back up local police.
Trump has also threatened to extend such measures to other cities, including Chicago.
Washington is unique in that it falls under the jurisdiction of Congress, though residents elect a mayor and council under the 1973 Home Rule Act. The city has abolished the death penalty for local crimes, but it remains possible for certain offences under federal law.
Constitutional scholars use the “autocratic signaling” when leaders test public tolerance by “just wondering” if dictatorship might be preferable. Trump did exactly that today when he complained about Illinois Governor Pritzker’s resistance to his plans for a military takeover of Chicago. — Read the rest
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore came out swinging over the weekend, rejecting a plot by President Donald Trump to deploy federal troops to Baltimore, the largest city in Moore’s home state.
Trump has deployed federal law enforcement and the National Guard to Washington, despite a recent drop in crime. He has also threatened to repeat the process with other major cities with large Black populations. In response, Moore sent a letter to Trump on Thursday, inviting him to go on a safety walk in Baltimore to see how crime-prevention efforts have improved the situation there.
As part of our broad approach to public safety, I regularly join community advocates and elected officials to walk through the neighborhoods most affected by violent crime,” Moore wrote. “I would like to formally invite you to attend our next public safety walk in September, at a date of your choosing.”
But the president has never been deterred by facts—and he is now setting his sights on additional cities where violent crime has already been falling.
The Washington Post first reported on Saturday that the Pentagon has for weeks been developing plans for potential troop deployments in Chicago. The report came a day after Trump hinted at such a move himself, calling Chicago a “mess” and Mayor Brandon Johnson “incompetent.” Citing officials familiar, the Post reports that the plan could include mobilizing a few thousand members of the National Guard to take to Chicago’s streets by next month.
As if Republicans didn’t have enough problems trying to hold on to the House majority, along comes Utah to give them a whole new problem.
Republicans once again tried to ignore the will of the people and the state’s constitution, and the matter went to court.
The Campaign Legal Center explained what happened:
The court determined that the Utah state legislature violated the people’s right to alter or reform their government when they repealed Proposition 4, or Prop 4 – a ballot initiative that aimed to prohibit partisan gerrymandering by establishing the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission and creating fair, neutral criteria and procedures for adopting district maps.
Prop 4, which was passed by Utah voters and unconstitutionally repealed by the legislature, is now the law again. The current gerrymandered congressional map passed by the legislature may not be used in future elections. The Utah state legislature now has a chance to pass a new, fair map that complies with Prop 4, and if it does not, the court will order a new map, which will be used for the 2026 election.
Former President Barack Obama is supporting California’s mid-cycle redistricting effort as a “responsible approach” to Republicans drawing new maps in Texas.
Obama praised California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ballot measure proposal to redraw congressional districts and tilt at least five congressional districts in the state towards Democrats at a fundraiser on Tuesday for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.
“I believe that Governor Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach,” he said, according to excerpts obtained by POLITICO. “I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.”
The mainstream media doesn’t understand a very basic point. Texas and California are both redrawing their congressional district maps, but they aren’t doing the same thing.
On CNN, gubernatorial candidate and former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) responded when asked if California redistricting was an example of two wrongs not making a right.
Straight from the fascist playbook, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller stood with National Guard troops — along with JD Vance and Pete Hegseth — at Washington D.C.’s Union Station this morning, bashing the nearby folks protesting Trump’s police takeover as “crazy communists.” — Read the rest
These were the words a young woman heard from her obstetrician as they looked at an ultrasound image of her baby at about seven months’ gestation. The baby already weighed more than five pounds.
The conversation took place in Maryland, where there are no limits on abortion and where Medicaid foots the bill. It’s not possible to know why a doctor would make such a suggestion to a woman so far along in her pregnancy, but the price tag for a third-trimester abortion can be $10,000 or more.
If recent reports are true, Sen. Adam Schiff could have some explaining to do. According to newly-released documents, a Democratic whistleblower told the FBI that Schiff approved leaking classified information regarding the alleged Russiagate scandal to smear President Donald Trump. According to the report:
“When working in this capacity, [redacted staffer’s name] was called to an all-staff meeting by SCHIFF. In this meeting, SCHIFF stated the group would leak classified information which was derogatory to President of the United States DONALD J. TRUMP. SCHIFF stated the information would be used to indict President TRUMP.”
Most Austrians see Christianity as an important part of the country’s cultural heritage.
According to a recent survey presented by Austrian Family Minister Claudia Plakolm, 69 percent of Austrians favor keeping crosses in public school classrooms even in areas with a non-Christian majority. Moreover, 79 percent said they want Christian (and specifically Catholic) holidays like St. Nicholas’ Day, Easter, and St. Martin’s Day to be celebrated in schools.
Nebraska is partnering with the Trump administration to open “Cornhusker Clink,” a detention center to house illegal immigrants awaiting deportation or other proceedings, in a remote southwest corner of the state, Gov. Jim Pillen announced on Aug. 19.
The state will work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to convert its Work Ethic Camp in McCook into the holding center.
About 20 Army National Guard soldiers will also help provide administrative and logistical support to federal immigration officials as they work together to enforce immigration laws in the state. The soldiers are scheduled to start training within the next week, Pillon announced.
Go after the criminals, and crime goes down. And we are now seeing that in action in Washington, D.C.
Hundreds of arrests have taken place in the nation’s capital since President Donald Trump announced a crackdown in crime, with federal agents and the National Guard assisting law enforcement to clean up the streets.
According to the Washington Post, over 450 arrests have taken place since Aug. 7.
The D.C. Police Union released its numbers on social media platform X, showing how dramatically crime has gone down.
The Trump administration is imposing sanctions on four members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for targeting Israelis and Americans for prosecution.
The ICC last year issued warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions in a post on X in which he explained that the ICC “continues to disregard national sovereignty and facilitate lawfare through efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, and prosecute American and Israeli nationals.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics has given up the ghost. Each set of recommendations and guidance from the organization shows it to be a left-wing activist group that should no longer be treated with the reverence that it once was.
The AAP has split from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on COVID-19 vaccines for children. The CDC removed the COVID-19 vaccine from its immunization schedule recommendations for children, which lists vaccine recommendations from birth to age 18. The first COVID-19 vaccination recommendation for children was at six months old, along with their first vaccination for the flu.
Mexico sends 26 cartel members to U.S. in deal with Trump administration– www.cbsnews.com Source Link Excerpt:
Mexico sent 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the United States Tuesday in the latest major deal with the Trump administration as American authorities ratchet up pressure on criminal networks smuggling drugs across the border.
Those handed over to U.S. custody include Abigael González Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis,” a group closely aligned with notorious cartel Jalisco New Generation, or CJNG. Another defendant, Roberto Salazar, is wanted in connection to the 2008 killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. Other prominent figures have ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and other violent drug trafficking groups.
“These transfers are not only a strategic measure to ensure public safety, but also reflect a firm determination to prevent these criminals from continuing to operate from within prisons and to break up their networks of influence,” Mexican Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said in a news conference on Wednesday.
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum also said earlier Wednesday that the transfers were “sovereign decisions,” but the move comes as the Mexican leader faces mounting pressure by the Trump administration to crack down on cartels and fentanyl production.
Late last month, Mr. Trump spoke with Sheinbaum and agreed to put off threatened 30% tariffs for another 90 days to allow for negotiations.
The transfers are a milestone for the Trump administration, which has made dismantling dangerous drug cartels a key Justice Department priority. It’s the second time in months that Mexico has expelled cartel figures accused of narcotics smuggling, murder and other crimes amid mounting pressure from the Trump administration to curb the flow of drugs onto American streets.
“These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores — under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We are grateful to Mexico’s National Security team for their collaboration in this matter.”
In February, Mr. Trump signed an executive order designating CJNG, Sinaloa and six other cartels — Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas), La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Cártel de Golfo (Gulf Cartel), and Cárteles Unidos — as foreign terrorist organizations.
The cartel figures were put on planes to the U.S. after the Justice Department agreed not to seek the death penalty against any of the defendants or against any cartel leaders and members sent to the U.S. in February. That transfer was of 29 cartel figures, including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985.
“This transfer is yet another example of what is possible when two governments stand united against violence and impunity,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said in a statement. “These fugitives will now face justice in U.S. courts, and the citizens of both of our nations will be safer from these common enemies.”
Sheinbaum has shown a willingness to cooperate more on security than her predecessor, specifically being more aggressive in pursuit of Mexico’s cartels. But she has drawn a clear line when it comes to Mexico’s sovereignty, rejecting suggestions by Mr. Trump and others of intervention by the U.S. military.
Last week, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News that Mr. Trump directed the military to target drug cartels in Latin America. Sheinbaum responded Friday by saying there would be “no invasion of Mexico.”
Also included in the group expelled Tuesday was Servando Gómez Martinez, also known as “La Tuta,” a former school teacher who became one of Mexico’s most-wanted drug lords as head of the Knights Templar cartel. He was captured in 2015 and sentenced to 55 years in a Mexican prison in June 2019.
Mexican federal police escort who they identify as Servando “La Tuta” Gómez, leader of the Knights Templar cartel, as he sits inside a helicopter at a Federal hanger in Mexico City, Feb. 27, 2015.
Eduardo Verdugo / AP
Gomez led the quasi-religious criminal group that once exercised absolute control over Michoacan and he liked to appear in interviews and videos. The cartel orchestrated politics, controlled commerce, dictated rules and preached a code of ethics around devotion to God and family, even as it murdered and plundered.
Abigael González Valencia is the brother-in-law of CJNG leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, a top target of the U.S. government. Abigael González Valencia was arrested in February 2015 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco and had been fighting extradition to the United States since then. The U.S. government has offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to “El Mencho’s” arrest or conviction.
Alongside his two brothers, Abigael González Valencia led “Los Cuinis,” which financed the founding and growth of the CJNG, one of the most powerful and dangerous cartels in Mexico. CJNG traffics hundreds of tons of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the United States and other countries and is known for extreme violence, murders, torture, and corruption.
One of his brothers, José González Valencia, was sentenced in Washington’s federal court in June to 30 years in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to international cocaine trafficking. Jose González Valencia was arrested in 2017 under the first Trump administration at a beach resort in Brazil while vacationing with his family under a fake name.
The investigation into the U.S. Secret Service’s failure to secure the Pennsylvania campaign rally where former President Donald Trump was shot late Saturday afternoon should focus on whether the agency followed preventive protocols, a former member of the Secret Service told The Daily Signal.
“If they followed the methodology that the Secret Service uses, that worked for me for 24 years,” said Ken Valentine, a retired agent who helped protect three presidents of both parties—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. “It’s super-solid. It can always be enhanced and improved, but I suspect what we’re going to see is that there was non-execution of agreed-upon protocols, and we’ll just see what those are.”
Valentine said if he had been in Trump’s security detail on Saturday, he would have focused on preventing anyone from the top of the building from which the 20-year-old gunman fired upon the rally. One of the bullets grazed the former president in the right ear, bloodying Trump.
Restricting u-turns is now homophobic, and at this point, it would probably be a lot easier if the powers that be provided a list of all the things that are not anti-gay.
Silver Lake, a neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles known for its high hipster population, has officially taken down the last two “No U-turn” signs because they were supposedly put in place to prevent gay men from “cruising” and picking up other gay men.
Getting rid of the signs was long overdue for many, including Donovan Daughtry, a gay man who five years ago moved to Silver Lake, known as being LGBTQ-friendly.
Two years ago, Daughtry reached out to L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman’s office about the signs after learning about them from a podcast hosted by Chris Cruse, founder of queermaps.org, an online archive of 150 years of queer history in L.A. On Monday, moments after he helped take down the last sign, Daughtry said, “This is a small effort, but just to have a sign that I would have to walk past with my dog every day be taken down meant a lot.”
Oh, geez. Cry me a river, Karen. This is how you know these people are privileged. They can literally go and complain that they don’t like a sign and city officials will get rid of them just so they don’t have to look at them. You really can’t get more spoiled than that, and they will still turn around and pretend they are victimized.
