Trump’s lewd talk about daughter Ivanka in front of White House staff recalled in new book
While president, Donald Trump made sexual comments about his daughter Ivanka in front of his employees that were so lewd and disturbing that he was rebuked by his one-time chief of staff John Kelly, a former Trump official writes in a new book.
“Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump’s breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her, remarks that prompted Kelly to remind the president that Ivanka was his daughter,” writes Miles Taylor, a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, in his new book, according to Newsweek.
Taylor is the official who penned the blistering 2018 New York Times op-ed about the former president under the pen name “Anonymous.” In his new book, “Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump,” Taylor uses Trump’s alleged comments about his beloved oldest daughter, who worked as his senior presidential adviser, to illustrate the almost daily instances of “naked sexism” in the Trump White House, Newsweek reported.
The sexism was so bad that one senior female official told Taylor: “This is not a healthy workplace for women.”
—The Mercury News
Why Moms for Liberty was designated an ‘extremist’ group by the Southern Poverty Law Center
PHILADELPHIA — Moms for Liberty calls itself a parent empowerment group. But as the polarizing organization arrives in Philadelphia this week for its annual summit, it’s being identified as something else: an “antigovernment extremist group.”
That’s according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the veteran civil rights organization that tracks domestic extremism. This year, the group added a number of “parental rights” groups — the Southern Poverty Law Center refers to them as “anti-student-inclusion” — to its tally of hate and antigovernment extremist groups.
Moms for Liberty has accused the Southern Poverty Law Center of espousing “hate” toward its members.
Founded in Florida in 2021, Moms for Liberty was born out of opposition to COVID-19 mandates in schools and now claims 285 chapters across 45 states. It pivoted to targeting diversity education and how LGBTQ issues are handled by schools, as part of a broader conservative movement that has accused schools of indoctrinating students around race, gender, and sexuality.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
‘Sharks suffer from a bad reputation’: Researchers look at peoples’ perceptions of sharks in new study
While sharks have been seen as “bloodthirsty man eaters” that are out to get you in the ocean, a new study shows that people learning about sharks can reduce their fears and boost conservation efforts for the apex predators.
Shark researchers in the first-of-its-kind study looked at peoples’ perceptions of sharks. Overall, people were more likely to support sharks if they believed the animals could think, feel, or reason.
The study’s results could help conservation groups raise awareness and support for threatened species that may be viewed negatively by humans, according to the scientists from Cal State Long Beach.
“Sharks suffer from a bad reputation,” said Gabriella Hancock, an assistant professor of psychology at Cal State Long Beach. “Everybody remembers those one or two shark incidents that they see on the news, but they don’t take into consideration the tens of millions of people that go into the ocean every day and don’t even see a shark.
—Boston Herald
After Wagner revolt, Russian defense minister Shoigu meets with head of Cuba’s armed forces
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu hosted Cuba’s Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Gen. Alvaro Lopez Miera, ion Tuesday in what appears to be his first public meeting with a foreign official after the Wagner mercenary group’s boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led a brief armed rebellion and demanded his dismissal.
The meeting with the Cuban military delegation, reported by Russian state media, is another signal of the two countries’ close relationship amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Shoigu called Cuba its “key alley” in the Caribbean while announcing the two governments were planning to develop “military-technical cooperation projects,” the Russian official news agency Tass reported.
“Cuba has always been and continues to be Russia’s key ally in the region. Our Cuban friends have confirmed their attitude toward our country by demonstrating a complete understanding of the goals of the special military operation in Ukraine,” he said in on-camera remarks released by the Ministry of Defense.
—Miami Herald
