Donald Trump
George Floyd murder: Minneapolis police to face US federal probe
A US federal investigation has been launched into policing practices in the city of Minneapolis, a day after one of its former officers was convicted of the murder of George Floyd. The justice department will look at whether there has been a pattern “of unconstitutional or unlawful policing”, Attorney General Merrick Garland said. It follows national outrage over the killing of Floyd by Derek Chauvin. The former officer was convicted of all charges against him on Tuesday. Chauvin was filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes during an arrest in May 2020. Floyd, an unarmed African American, was pronounced dead an hour later. His death sparked protests across the US and worldwide, and calls for police reform. Tuesday’s verdict has been widely welcomed in a country where poli...
Waka Flocka Presented With Posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award From “His President” Donald Trump
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Paras Griffin / Getty Waka Flocka got a round of applause in the form of an award from his mom’s favorite president. TMZ reports the rapper/ reality television star received a lifetime achievement award from former President Donald Trump, who apparently is a big fan of Waka’s charity work. According to the celebrity gossip site, the award is for “his humanitarianism and philanthropy as a volunteer for the Chicago non-profit Daughter of Destiny.” Waka was bestowed with the award that features Trump’s awful signature and official medal on Friday (Apr.16) in Atlanta by his pastor and mentor, Apostle Dr. Bridget Outlaw. The “It’s A Party” rapper share a photo of himself alongside Outlaw holding the award and rocking the medal with a huge Kool-Aid smile and th...
Report: US says ex-Egypt premier had diplomatic immunity from lawsuit
The Biden administration has said a lawsuit seeking to hold former Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi accountable for alleged involvement in torture against an Egyptian-American activist should be thrown out because he held diplomatic immunity, the Washington Post reported on Monday. In a submission to the US District Court in Washington, DC, shared by the Post, lawyers for the US Justice Department said “El Beblawi held diplomatic status at the time when the suit was commenced” and the court should dismiss “claims falling with the scope of his immunity”. El-Beblawi had served as Egypt’s representative to the International Monetary Fund, but quit and left the US in late October, the Post reported. The department said in its court filing that it was not making any judgements on the me...
US Supreme Court dismisses case on Donald Trump blocking Twitter critics
The U.S. Supreme Court set aside a federal appeals court ruling that former President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked critics from following his Twitter account. The case had already lost its practical impact given Trump’s election defeat and Twitter’s Jan. 8 decision to permanently ban his @realDonaldTrump account for glorifying violence. But the two sides in the case continued to spar over the fate of the appeals court decision. Before Trump left office, the Justice Department asked the justices to wipe away the precedent, while those suing him sought to keep it intact. The appeals court said a social media account run by government officials can become a constitutionally protected “public forum” if used to conduct official business. The Supreme Court has said t...
Wisconsin governor: Donald Trump must pay for ‘haphazard’ voting lawsuit
Former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the will of the state’s 3.3 million voters was so weak and time-consuming that he and his lawyers should be punished for squandering taxpayer resources, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said in a federal court filing. Donald Trump should be ordered to pay Wisconsin $145,000 to cover the legal expenses the state racked up defending against the former president’s “haphazard” election-fraud lawsuit, the state told a judge. Trump’s attempt to overturn the will of the state’s 3.3 million voters was so weak and time-consuming that he and his lawyers should both be punished for squandering taxpayer resources, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said in a filing Wednesday in federal court in Milwaukee. “There is no reason for Wisconsin taxpayers to bear t...
Virginia Black Woman Labeled “Trouble Maker” For Exposing Racist Cops
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: US District Court for DC / US District Court for DC A Black woman in Virginia has been labeled a “troublemaker” after exposing a few of her local law enforcement officers as racists. According to published reports, Bridgette Craighead of Rocky Mount, Virginia has been facing criticism after she correctly identified Rocky Mount Police Officers Thomas “T.J.” Robertson and Jacob Fracker as pro-Trump rioters after the two posted selfies while standing in the United States Capitol on January 6th. “I can’t believe someone I trusted was a part of that animalistic behavior at the CAPITOL!!,” Craighead wrote at the time. During an exclusive interview with the Washington Post, Ms. Craighead revealed that the seeming majority Pro-Trump town “hated” her for doing wha...
San Antonio Tussaud’s Pulls Wax Donald Trump Because People Keep Punching It
Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks in San Antonio, Texas has removed a figure of Donald Trump because people kept punching it, the San Antonio Express-News reports. The museum in Alamo Plaza is owned by Ripley Entertainment, and according to regional manager Clay Stewart, they’ve had to hide their Trump in a storage closet. “When it’s a highly political figure, attacks can be a problem,” Stewart said. In addition to regular pummelings, the wax sculpture received several deep, cathartic scratches to the face. The Waxworks initially tried to defend 45 by placing him in the lobby under the protective eye of ticket takers. But this proved to be no deterrent, as many visitors were moved to violence even while employees were watching. Eventually, Trump had to be pulled from circul...
Russia hopes for progress as U.S. joins Afghan peace talks in Moscow
Russia said it hoped international talks in Moscow on Thursday would breathe new life into the Afghan peace process, after a high-level U.S. official joined the Russian-hosted talks for the first time. The talks, which also include representatives of Pakistan and China, are designed to give a boost to negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha, stalled lately by government accusations that the insurgents have done too little to halt violence. “We regret that so far the efforts to launch a political process in Doha have yet to yield a positive result,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in his opening remarks at the talks. “We hope today’s talks will facilitate the creation of conditions to achieve progress in intra-Afghan negotiations.” U.S. envoy Z...
WTO chief: ‘Safe Schools Initiative’ to stop abduction of students
The Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Wednesday expressed hope that the ‘Safe Schools Initiative’ will help stop the incessant abduction of students across Nigeria. Nigerian women on Wednesday came out en masse to welcome Okonjo-Iweala in her first homecoming since she became the director-general of WTO, during a visit to the Ministry of Women Affairs in Abuja. Addressing the crowd which included Senators and members of the National Assembly, former Ministers, wives of former governors, women in the Armed Forces, women societies, female political aspirants, Civil Society Organisations, as well as students, Okonjo-Iweala expressed deep concern about the incessant abduction of girls and boys in schools. The WTO boss who noted that it is shamef...
Russia calls U.S. allegations over Putin-directed election meddling ‘baseless’
Russia on Wednesday described U.S. intelligence allegations that President Vladimir Putin had likely directed efforts to try to swing the 2020 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump as baseless. A 15-page American intelligence report, released on Tuesday, added heft to longstanding allegations that some of Trump’s top lieutenants were playing into Moscow’s hands by amplifying claims made against then-candidate Joe Biden by Russian-linked Ukrainian figures in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election. “The document prepared by the U.S. intelligence community is another set of baseless accusations against our country for interfering in American domestic political processes,” Russia’s embassy in the United States said in a statement on Facebook. “The conclusions of the report on Russia conducting...
Stacey Dash Walks Back Trump Support: “I Made a Lot of Mistakes Because of That Anger”
Clueless actress and former Fox News commentator Stacey Dash has walked back some of the statements she made in support of Donald Trump, telling the Daily Mail that she was “angry,” and that, “I made a lot of mistakes because of that anger.” While stopping short of denouncing the former president, she expressed regret at the ways she defended his actions or attacked his predecessor Barack Obama. She first appeared on Fox in 2014, and her short stay at the network was full of controversy. Fox suspended her in 2015 after she cursed on air, saying that Obama didn’t “give a shit,” about terrorism. In 2016, she called for an end to Black History month and said that America needed to “get rid of” the BET network and the NAACP Awards. “I’ve lived my life being angry, which is what ...
Kim Jong Un: North Korea facing its ‘worst-ever situation’
Kim Jong Un says North Korea is facing its “worst-ever situation” and called on “grassroots” members of the ruling Workers’ Party to be more proactive and responsible in carrying out the country’s new five-year economic plan. The comments, reported by state media on Wednesday, came as experts warn Kim is facing perhaps his toughest moment as he approaches a decade in rule, with North Korea’s coronavirus lockdown unleashing further shock on its sanctions-battered economy. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim made the comments during an opening speech at a meeting of the Workers’ Party’s cell secretaries on Tuesday. “Improving the people’s living standards … even in the worst-ever situation in which we have to overcome unprecedentedly numerous challenges depends on the ...