President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that loosens the restrictions on political activity for religious groups. “We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied, or silenced anymore, and we will never ever stand for religious discrimination,” Trump said in the White House Rose Garden. “No American should be forced…
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Trump’s executive order that threatens to cut off federal funding for sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration orders by protecting undocumented immigrants. U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco ruled that the plaintiffs, San Francisco and Santa Clara County, would likely be able…
Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, made an unannounced trip to Iraq over the weekend with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine General Joseph Dunford, a senior U.S. official said Sunday. The official said that Kushner wanted to show his support for Iraq’s government, and get a better understanding of…
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson on Wednesday evening extended his previous order that halts President Trump’s revised travel ban. He made his decision after hearing arguments from the government and from Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin, who argued that Trump’s order was like a “neon sign flashing ‘Muslim ban, Muslim ban’” and that Watson’s earlier…
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was freed from a Cairo military hospital Friday, six years after he was ousted and detained on charges of human-rights abuses during his 30-year rule. The now-88-year-old was transferred to his mansion in a Cairo suburb. “He went home at 8:30 this morning,” said his lawyer. “I don’t have further…
Starting Tuesday morning, electronic devices larger than a smartphone are forbidden from passenger cabins on foreign airlines’ nonstop flights to the U.S. from 10 airports in eight Muslim-majority countries across the Middle East and Africa. The new Trump administration policy, which took effect at 3 a.m. ET, means passengers traveling from those areas must check…
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) on Monday morning refused to say that Muslim Americans are equal to German Americans in their usefulness to society—effectively quadrupling-down on his previous comments that white people have made greater contributions to Western civilization than other “sub-groups.” King appeared on CNN specifically to discuss his Sunday afternoon tweet about a far-right…
After meeting with lawmakers in Washington to discuss his detention at an airport last month, Muhammad Ali Jr. was detained and questioned again by immigration officials on his way home on Friday, his lawyer said. Ali and his mother, Khalilah Camacho Ali, were able to travel to the meeting from Fort Lauderdale without incident, but…
At least 20 Jewish community centers and day schools across the U.S. reported receiving bomb threats Monday, the latest in a recent uptick of anti-Semitic acts. The threats extended across 12 states, including Maryland, Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Michigan, Alabama, and Rhode Island, NBC News reported. The latest…
A Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia was vandalized less than a week after a similar incident in Missouri. More than 100 headstones were damaged at the Mount Carmel cemetery, police said Sunday. The destruction was reported by a man who arrived at the cemetery and found his relatives’ tombstones damaged. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney released a…
A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled against reinstating President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations. READ THE COURT’S RULING (PDF) CLICK HERE Citing a failure by the government to show that a stay of a lower-court ruling that suspended the ban would “cause irreparable damage,” a panel of three…
Donald Trump attempted to whitewash critical remarks made about him by his own SCOTUS pick Thursday morning. Even though a representative for Neil Gorsuch confirmed that he had expressed dismay at the president’s attack on a federal judge, Trump claimed his words had been twisted. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, told the media that the…
President Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court expressed to lawmakers on Wednesday that he was upset to see the president attacking the federal judge who temporarily suspended his ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. In a private meeting with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), SCOTUS pick Neil Gorsuch said it was “disheartening” and “demoralizing” to…
Senator Jeff Sessions was confirmed as the next attorney general in President Trump’s administration on Wednesday night, earning a simply majority by around 7:20 p.m. with the vote total at 52 yes to 47 no. The night before Senator Elizabeth Warren made headlines for attempting to read a letter written by Coretta Scott King criticizing…
President Trump on Wednesday spoke on behalf of his own executive order in front of law-enforcement officers. Reading from U.S. law, he declared that even a “bad high-school student” would side with him in his legal battle to keep citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. “This was done, very importantly, for…
On her visit to Chris Matthews’ “Hardball” show on Thursday night, Kellyanne Conway make up a fictional “massacre” when justifying the President’s ban on refugees and immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries. “I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came…
After asking prayer for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Apprentice ratings this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast Trump declared that religious freedom is “under threat,” He vowed to repeal an IRS rule that says pastors who endorse candidates from the pulpit risk losing their tax-exempt status. “I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment…
Senate Democrats are going to try to bring down President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick no matter who the president chooses to the fill the current vacancy. With Trump prepared to announce his nominee on Tuesday evening, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said in an interview on Monday morning that he will filibuster any pick that…
Airports all over the United States spun into crisis over the weekend after President Trump signed an order closing the nation to refugees and to people from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Lawyers and protesters rushed to the aid of American residents who were barred from reentry, and legal battles began all over the country. Despite…
Right after President Trump signed an executive order that bans U.S. entry from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia for 90 days while suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days, the rule already faces partial challenge in court. Immigration lawyers acting on behalf of two Iraqi men, one a former U.S.…
On Wednesday, President Trump will order the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, White House officials told The New York Times. Trump will sign an executive order at the Department of Homeland Security ordering that federal funds be shifted in order to build the wall, which during his campaign he vowed would be…
President Obama is scheduled to deliver a farewell address Tuesday night at McCormick Place, a lakefront convention center in his adopted hometown of Chicago. Aides said the speech would be a call to action for a new generation of leaders. “It’s a passing of the baton,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Senior adviser Valerie…
Convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof spoke to the jury for the first time at his death penalty trial Wednesday, telling them that there’s nothing wrong with him psychologically and that he is not trying to keep any secrets from them. “My opening statement is going to seem a little bit out of place,” the…
President Obama sat down with Trevor Noah for Monday’s Daily Show, but he wasn’t in a joking mood when it came to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race. “We determined and announced in October that it was the consensus of all the intelligence agencies and law enforcement that organizations affiliated with Russian intelligence were…
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will head to Vatican City just days before the New York primary to attend a meeting on social justice and economic issues. Sanders announced Friday morning that he will attend the conference, which will be hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences on April 15. Sanders, who would be…
Pope Francis will meet with Patriarch Kyril, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, in Cuba this month. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the meeting, which will be the first in nearly 1,000 years to bring together the head of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church, was “beautiful news.”
Pope Francis has recognized the second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, authorizing sainthood for the Roman Catholic nun. The miracle involved healing multiple brain tumors of a Brazilian man, according to a report in the Avvenire newspaper of the Italian Catholic Bishop’s Conference. Reports suggest the canonization is expected to take place in Rome in…
Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis allegedly met with Pope Francis during his trip to the U.S., her lawyers said Tuesday. Davis, who was jailed for five nights after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County, said in a statement she was “humbled” by the pontiff’s invite. “Pope Francis was kind, genuinely…
At a New Hampshire town-hall meeting, Donald Trump failed to correct a man who stated that Barack Obama is a Muslim and “not even American.” The questioner said, “We have a problem in this country—it’s called Muslims. We know our current president is one.” At that point, Trump said “right” uneasily. The questioner then added:…
Colbert mocks Buddhism for “Get All Up In Your Faith” — especially the news from March that, because of the political tension between China and Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama might not reincarnate.
