4 d. ago What is the Smithsonian Institution and why is it important?

A Trump executive order aims to uproot ‘anti-American ideology’ from the US museum and research complexOn Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution, a behemoth of a research and museum organization that operates more than 20 museum and research centers and is visited by millions of people each year, mainly in Washington DC and New York City. The museums include the National Museum of African Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), which Trump name-checked in his executive order. Trump’s executive order instructs Vice-President JD Vance to “eliminate improper, divisive or anti-American ideology” from the Smithsonian’s museums.The Smithsonian has already come under scrutiny by Trump and his allies. Earlier this year, the institution was forced to close its diversity office and froze all federal hiring. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Judge orders participants in Signal chat group blunder to preserve all messages

Restraining order was issued to ensure that records of Yemen attack group conversation are retainedA federal judge on Thursday ordered that the Trump administration preserve all Signal messages exchanged in the now-infamous Signal group chat in which officials conducted a high-level military operation on the unclassified commercial app and inadvertently included a journalist.The temporary restraining order from James Boasberg, the chief US district judge in Washington, compelled defense secretary Pete Hegseth, secretary of state Marco Rubio, treasury secretary Scott Bessent, CIA director John Ratcliffe and the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, to save their texts from 11 to 15 March. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Even Tomi Lahren is blasting the White House for trying to parse words to shift blame on Signal blunder

‘I’m honestly getting sick of the whatabout isms from my own side ... Admit the F up and move on,’ said right-wing pundit

Events

6 d. ago Americans think Signal blunder is as big a deal as Hillary Clinton’s use of private email server: Poll

Americans view the Signal leak in as bad a light as Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State

Economics

6 d. ago Mike Waltz faces new scrutiny over public Venmo account after Signal chat blunder – live

National security adviser’s Venmo account reveals journalists, lobbyists and military personnel, Wired reportsTop aides to Joe Biden “aggressively” warned Democratic donors last summer that if the then president was forced out of the 2024 election over concerns about his age and fitness, the party would inevitably make the “mistake” of running the vice-president, Kamala Harris, against Donald Trump, a new book says.“One donor on the receiving end of an electronic message summed up the sentiments of Biden’s top aides: ‘They were aggressively saying that we would wind up with the vice-president and that would be a mistake.’” Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Trump names ‘first buddy’ and DOGE leader Elon Musk to investigate Signal blunder

Musk offered ‘his technical experts’ to help investigate how a journalist was added to a group chat with national security officials

Politics

7 d. ago Trump is offended by a painting of himself. For once, I get where he’s coming from | Dave Schilling

We all know what it’s like to be horrified by our own image. In the president’s case, he looks like a large baby in a suitWhile his friends are getting messy in the group chat, Donald Trump simply has more important things on his mind. Namely, himself. The United States’ war plans are being divulged to journalists like gossip on a second-rate Real Housewives spinoff, but the focus of the American president is squarely on a painting of himself that he doesn’t care for. Trump posted on Truth Social, his personal squawk box for various grievances, that he takes umbrage with a depiction of his face in the Colorado state capitol.The painting depicts Trump as full-faced, cherubic and without wrinkles. He almost looks younger, like a large baby in a suit. A boss baby, if you will. You might assume that at 78, Trump would jump at the chance to shave a few years off his face, but sadly, it seems he’d prefer to look like he was lit by the director of photography from Nosferatu. Continue readi...

Politics

7 d. ago Why is The White Lotus generating so much chatter about teeth? | Arwa Mahdawi

Aimee Lou Wood’s natural smile stands out amid Hollwood’s dazzling veneers. But let’s not get carried away Straight, expensive, blindingly white. No, I’m not talking about Donald Trump’s vision for America; I’m talking about teeth. Namely the sort of teeth you see on American TV shows – and, since many US politicians seem to love cosmetic surgery – the evening news. Everyone from Z-list influencers to Taylor Swift to Trump himself seems to have perfect teeth.Americans have always been invested in their smiles, but an increasing number of British people are also shelling out for veneers. You need sunglasses to watch the telly these days, everyone’s smile is so bright. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Trump pins blame for Signal group chat leak on ‘lower level’ employee

Donald Trump has blamed a ‘lower-level’ employee working under his National Security Advisor, Michael Waltz, for the Signal group chat security blunder.

Politics

7 d. ago Trump blames ‘employee’ for Signalgate and ‘billionaires on left’ for Tesla attacks in Newsmax interview: Live

President suggests no punishment for security officials over blunder that saw Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg added to highly-sensitive Signal group chat by mistake

Society

7 d. ago Trump news at a glance: Waltz takes fall for Signal blunder as president dismisses security threat

Signal chat including the top editor of the Atlantic causes White House chaos. Here’s your roundup of key US politics stories from 25 March 2025Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said he took full responsibility for a stunning leak of military plans in a Signal chat, while Trump intervened to defend him, saying it was “the only glitch in two months”.“I take full responsibility. I built the group. My job is to make sure everything is coordinated,” Waltz said in an interview with Fox News, in which he conceded: “it’s embarrassing”. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Trump blames ‘employee’ for Signalgate and ‘billionaires on the left’ for Tesla attacks in Newsmax interview: Live

President suggests no punishment for security officials over blunder that saw Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg added to highly-sensitive Signal group chat by mistake

Society

7 d. ago Trump addresses Signalgate blunder in Newsmax interview after Waltz takes responsibility: Live

President suggests no punishment for security officials over blunder that saw Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg added to highly-sensitive Signal group chat by mistake

Politics

7 d. ago Trump adviser Waltz claims ‘full responsibility’ for adding journalist to Signal group but can’t explain how it happened – live

Mike Waltz insists he’s never texted Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg, who was added to chat to discuss Yemen strikesDemocrats demand answers over ‘careless’ Signal blunderTrump dismisses Signal failure as ‘the only glitch in two months’Elon Musk appears to be laying the groundwork to privatize some space and satellite operations now under the authority of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), or steer lucrative contracts toward his SpaceX and Starlink companies, former agency employees say.They’re sounding the alarm as at least four other federal agencies have reportedly begun pushing new contracts toward Musk’s Starlink satellite internet company. Musk, the world’s richest man, has been tasked by Donald Trump with drastically slashing the federal government workforce and costs. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago US war plans leak shows Five Eyes allies must ‘look out for ourselves’, says Mark Carney

Signal blunder likely to put strain on Five Eyes as it weighs how Trump administration handles classified informationCanada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has said the inadvertent leak of classified military plans by senior US officials means that allied nations must increasingly “look out for ourselves” as trust frays with a once-close ally.Speaking a day after it was revealed that a journalist was accidentally included in a group chat discussing airstrikes against Yemeni rebels, Carney said the intelligence blunder was a “serious, serious issue and all lessons must be taken”. He said it would be critical to see “how people react to those mistakes and how they tighten them up”. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago The Signal chat blunder has shaken Washington. Except in the White House where it’s brushed off

Trump and his aides are now describing accurate reporting on a national security breach as a ‘hoax’

Events

7 d. ago FBI launches task force to investigate threats on Musk’s Tesla company

‘Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice,’ FBI Director Kash Patel says of those committing violent anti-Tesla acts

Events

7 d. ago Trump attacks The Atlantic editor and denies leaked chat contained classified war plans: Live updates

President facing suggests no punishment for security officials over blunder that saw Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg added to highly-sensitive Signal group chat by mistake

Events

8 d. ago Democrats call for investigations and possible resignations after ‘sloppy, careless, incompetent’ Signal blunder – live

President says national adviser Mike Waltz had ‘learned a lesson’; senate intelligence committee chair criticizes handling of classified informationSignal leak reveals depths of Trump administration’s loathing of EuropeExploitable flaws: what US adversaries could learn from leakElon Musk appears to be laying the groundwork to privatize some space and satellite operations now under the authority of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), or steer lucrative contracts toward his SpaceX and Starlink companies, former agency employees say.They’re sounding the alarm as at least four other federal agencies have reportedly begun pushing new contracts toward Musk’s Starlink satellite internet company. Musk, the world’s richest man, has been tasked by Donald Trump with drastically slashing the federal government workforce and costs. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Democrats demand answers over White House’s ‘careless’ Signal blunder

Senators interrogate US intelligence community after Atlantic editor was added to group chat on Yemen war plansUS politics live – latest updatesDemocratic senators demanded answers from leaders of the US intelligence community on Tuesday on how the top editor of the Atlantic was added to a group chat discussing airstrikes in Yemen, arguing that the “sloppy, careless” leak put national security at risk.The unusual story broke on Monday, when the Atlantic published a piece by its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, who said he had been added to the group on the messaging app Signal, and watched as accounts that appeared to match top Trump administration officials, including Vice-President JD Vance and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, debated and then coordinated a wave of bombings targeting the Houthis in Yemen. Continue reading...

Politics