Speaker Johnson clashes with Rand Paul over ‘wimpy’ spending cuts in Trump’s bill
House Speaker Mike Johnson went to battle with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., over spending cuts and the national debt in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” this weekend. Johnson made the comments during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream, after Paul had called the spending cuts in the current version of the bill “wimpy.” “It sounds like his biggest objection is the fact that we are extending the debt ceiling. That’s a critically important thing to do. We have to do it. We’re not going to get any Democrats to assist on that,” Johnson said Sunday. “So to get it through the Senate and make sure we don’t crash the U.S. economy and default on our debts for the first time in history, it has to be part of the reconciliation package. And that’s why President Trump and all the other Republicans in Congress, House and Senate understand the necessity of this,” he added. MIKE JOHNSON, DONALD TRUMP GET ‘BIG, ‘BEAUTIFUL’ WIN AS BUDGET PASSES HOUSE Paul himself also appeared on “Fox News Sunday” later in the show, and he continued to blast what he said was a lack of real spending cuts. GOP HOLDOUTS SOUND ALARM ON $36T DEBT CRISIS AS TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ PASSES HOUSE VOTE “I supported the tax cuts in 2017. I support making them permanent, so I support that part of the bill. I support spending cuts. I think the cuts currently in the bill are wimpy and anemic, but I still would support the bill, even with wimpy and anemia cuts, if they weren’t going to explode the debt. The problem is the math doesn’t add up. They’re going to explode the debt. The House’s is $4 trillion. The Senate’s actually been talking about exploding the debt by $5 trillion,” Paul said. He went on to say that there is no way he can vote for a version of the bill that raises the debt ceiling by $5 trillion. “There’s got to be someone left in Washington who thinks debt is wrong and deficits are wrong and wants to go in the other direction,” he said. Paul instead proposed raising the debt ceiling for a period of three months, or $500 billion, on a rolling basis. He argued that voting on the issue every three months would force leadership to take the issue seriously by placing the lack of progress center stage in U.S. politics. “The deficit is a threat to our country. I think it’s the greatest threat to national security. And so I think you can’t do this,” Paul said.
CAT pauses inquiry against Karnataka ADGP Alok Kumar, raising questions on process
Alok Kumar, a senior IPS officer, challenged the notice, arguing it lacked merit and aimed to hinder his potential promotion to DGP.
Rohingya: The art of survival
In the world’s largest refugee camp, Rohingya artists use art to preserve a culture Myanmar has long tried to silence. In Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee camp, three Rohingya artists are defying cultural erasure. Through painting, music, and photography, they preserve the memory of a people long persecuted in Myanmar. This Talk to Al Jazeera special looks beyond the headlines of displacement and genocide investigations into the creative resistance of a stateless community. As Myanmar continues to deny them recognition, these artists are fighting back with colour, sound, and story, refusing to let their heritage disappear. Adblock test (Why?)
Oil riches are on the horizon as Suriname chooses its next government
The Gran Morgu project may transform Suriname’s economy, rivalling oil-rich neighbour Guyana by 2028, officials predict. Voters in Suriname, which is on the cusp of a much anticipated oil boom, have begun to elect a new parliament, which will subsequently choose the next president of the smallest nation in South America. Sunday’s elections have already been marked by fraud allegations and have seen little debate about what the next government, which will hold power until 2030, should do with income from the offshore oil and gas Gran Morgu project. It is to begin production in 2028. Experts said Suriname, a country beset by poverty and rampant inflation, is projected to make billions of dollars in the coming decade or two from recently discovered offshore crude deposits. The project, led by TotalEnergies, is Suriname’s first major offshore effort. The former Dutch colony, independent since 1975, discovered reserves that may allow it to compete with neighbouring Guyana – whose economy grew 43.6 percent last year – as a prominent producer. “It will be a huge amount of income for the country,” President Chan Santokhi told the AFP news agency this week. “We are now able … to do more for our people, so that everyone can be part of the growth of the nation.” Advertisement Santokhi is constitutionally eligible for a second term, but with no single party in a clear lead in the elections, pollsters are not predicting the outcome. The party with the most seats will lead Suriname’s next government, likely through a coalition with smaller parties, but negotiations and the choosing of a new president are expected to take weeks. People vote during National Assembly elections in Paramaribo [Ranu Abhelakh/Reuters] Fourteen parties are taking part in the elections, including Santokhi’s centrist Progressive Reform Party and the leftist National Democratic Party of deceased former coup leader and elected President Desi Bouterse. Also in the running is the centre-left General Liberation and Development Party of Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk, a former rebel who fought against Bouterse’s government in the 1980s. Provisional results are expected by late Sunday. Suriname – a diverse country made up of descendants of people from India, Indonesia, China, the Netherlands, Indigenous groups and enslaved Africans – will mark the 50th anniversary of its independence from the Netherlands in November. Since independence, it has looked increasingly towards China as a political ally and trading partner and in 2019 became one of the first Latin American countries to join the Asian giant’s Belt and Road infrastructure drive. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a stopover in Suriname in March on a regional tour aimed at countering China’s growing influence in the region. More than 90 percent of the country is covered in forest, and it is one of few in the world with a negative carbon footprint. Advertisement Santokhi insisted this status is not in danger and Suriname can use its oil windfall “for the transition towards the green energy which we need, also because we know the fossil energy is limited”. “It will be gone after 40 years.” Adblock test (Why?)
How desperate is Iran for a deal with the US?
With Iran at its weakest point in decades, political scientist Vali Nasr argues that a deal with the US is imminent. With a battered economy and a restless population, Iran is as desperate as the United States to come together, Johns Hopkins University Professor Vali Nasr argues. Nasr told host Steve Clemons that US President Donald Trump’s administration is eager to reach an arms control deal with Iran, and Iran is eager to grow economically. “Both of them have arrived, after 40 some years, at a juncture where they need to change the direction of their relationship,” Nasr said. Join the conversation on Nasr’s latest book, Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History, which explains how Iran’s anti-Americanism “is not ideological or theological”. Adblock test (Why?)
Rohini Acharya backs Lalu Prasad Yadav’s decision to expel Tej Pratap Yadav from party: ‘Papa is like god’
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Rohini Acharya has come out in strong support of her father and party supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s decision to expel his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav from both the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the family, citing repeated violations of family values and public conduct.
‘After Op Sindoor, families have taken pledge to spend vacations in India’, says PM Modi
Amid boycott calls for Turkey and Azerbaijan for their support to Pakistan during the recent conflict with India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, i.e., May 25, said in ‘Mann ki Baat’ that several families have vowed to spend their vacations in India in recognition of ‘vocal for local’ calls.
Hegseth denies China’s claim that Golden Dome is ‘offensive’: ‘Protecting the homeland’
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth denied China’s claim the Golden Dome would turn space into a “war zone.” “All we care about is protecting the homeland,” Hegseth told Fox News Digital while departing from a trip to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. President Donald Trump has said for a long time defense of the homeland is critical to his “America First” policy, and the Golden Dome is a generational investment. Chinese Foreign Minister Mao Ning claimed this week the Golden Dome has a “strong offensive nature and violates the principle of peaceful use in the Outer Space Treaty.” CHINA ACCUSES US OF ‘TURNING SPACE INTO A WARZONE’ WITH TRUMP’S GOLDEN DOME MISSILE DEFENSE PROJECT “The project will heighten the risk of turning space into a war zone and creating a space arms race and shake the international security and arms control system,” Mao said. “We urge the U.S. to give up developing and deploying global anti-missile system.” Trump, alongside Hegseth, released some details about the project earlier in the week, explaining there’s an ambitious plan to complete the missile defense shield in three years for $125 billion. Hegseth also responded to pushback over his decision to kick off a monthly Christian prayer service at the Pentagon, which sparked a debate over religious freedom and the separation of church and state. “We’ve said it very publicly, and we’ve said it very proudly. Appealing to heaven, to God, is a longstanding tradition in our military,” Hegseth said, adding that George Washington got on bended knee alongside his continental Army forces. “I appeal to Jesus Christ for that protection, to speak that word and be open and willing to talk about it at the Pentagon. If they want to criticize that, they’re on the wrong side,” he said. His remarks came after he addressed the 82nd Airborne Division of Army paratroopers during “All-American Week.” There, he celebrated the name change of the North Carolina base from Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg. “It is Fort Bragg again,” Hegseth said to cheers from the crowd. “Nothing wrong with Fort Liberty. Give me liberty or give me death. I love it,” Hegseth said. “But give me Fort Bragg every day of the week.” He also addressed critics who said he didn’t have the strategic experience to serve as secretary of defense, and took a shot at the media. “Our friends in the fake news media are here,” Hegseth said. “Some of them said, ‘Critics might say you can’t choose an Army major to be the secretary of defense. It has to be, well, one of our many distinguished generals or congressmen or business leaders or corporate leaders.’ TRUMP, HEGSETH ANNOUNCE ‘GOLDEN DOME,’ A ‘GAME CHANGER’ TO PROTECT AMERICAN HOMELAND “One of the critiques was we need somebody that can think strategically, big picture. We can’t have a guy who thinks like the troops, to which I say ‘Hell, yeah, we can have a guy that thinks like the troops.’” He told a crowd of Army paratroopers, “I’ve been in that formation, loosening my knees, taking a deep breath, gazing over the horizon, sweating and wondering what time it is, but I can’t move my arm. I’ve been in your boots — not yours. The 101st is not the 82nd. I’ll admit that on a day like today. Not quite your boots or your beret, but close.” Hegseth announced an increase in jump pay for paratroopers to more cheers from the crowd. Hazardous duty incentive pay, known as “jump pay” for Army troopers who jump out of airplanes, will increase from $150 a month to $200. Jump masters, the senior paratroopers who train and lead jump operations, will see their pay increase from $150 to $300. “Here’s to our paratroopers, our jumpmasters, who do the difficult things in difficult places that most Americans can never imagine,” Hegseth said. Since 2006, the Army has maintained 56,756 paid parachutist positions, according to Gen. Gregory Anderson, head of the 18th Airborne Corps. That number will decrease by 20,000, allowing for the increase in pay for those who do maintain their jump status. Limited aircraft ability and resources has meant a “degradation in proficiency,” Anderson told reporters. “The goal has to be really good quality over quantity.”
Biden’s chief of staff scolded Obama campaign architect for calling Biden’s age an issue, book reveals
Former President Joe Biden’s decision to run for re-election divided longtime Democratic advisors, a new book about Biden’s cognitive decline and his administration’s alleged cover-up revealed. Biden’s former Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, shut down former President Barack Obama advisor David Axelrod for repeatedly calling Biden’s age an issue. “The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue,” Axelrod told The New York Times. Soon after the Times’ story was published in June 2022, Klain called Axelrod fuming, CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson revealed in their book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.” BIDEN STRUGGLED TO FILM 2024 CAMPAIGN VIDEOS AMID DECLINING HEALTH, NEW BOOK CLAIMS: ‘THE MAN COULD NOT SPEAK’ “Who’s going to beat Trump? President Biden is the only one who has done it. You better have a lot of certainty about a different candidate before you say the president should step aside. The future of the country depends on it!” Klain told Axelrod on the phone, according to Thompson and Tapper. FOX NEWS’ PETER DOOCY REVEALS HISTORY OF QUESTIONING BIDEN’S MENTAL FITNESS Klain believed it was “sloppy thinking” that anyone other than Biden could beat Trump, the journalists said in the book. But Axelrod, like most Americans, worried about the first octogenarian president’s age and his ability to serve four more years. The chief strategist for Obama’s back-to-back winning campaigns, Axelrod was one of the last advisers to meet with Biden before Obama chose him as his running mate in 2008. Axelrod told Tapper and Thompson that they didn’t expect Biden to run for president at 73 and eventually discouraged Biden from running for president in 2015. They certainly didn’t expect Biden to run for president at 77. After Axelrod made some friendly comments about Biden to a reporter in 2018, Biden invited him to his rental home in Virginia, according to the book. “He was stunned by how much Biden had aged,” Tapper and Thompson wrote. Axelrod told Biden that age would be an issue for his campaign but encouraged him to lean on his experience and wisdom, the journalists said. Axelrod’s apprehension about Biden’s age only grew, and when it came time for Biden to make a decision about his re-election, he knew Biden shouldn’t run in 2024. The longtime political advisor told Tapper and Thompson he wished someone in the White House had “come to their senses and [convinced] Biden and his family that this just wasn’t tenable.” Pointing to unfavorable battleground polls from 2023, Axelrod encouraged Biden to drop out of the race in a series of social media posts. He said the “stakes of miscalculation here are too dramatic to ignore.” “Only @JoeBiden can make this decision. If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. What he needs to decide is whether that is wise; whether it’s in HIS best interest or the country’s?” Axelrod questioned on social media. Klain fired back, this time for the public to see: “Man who called Biden ‘Mr Magoo’ in Aug 2019 is still at it,” in reference to Axelrod’s comments following the 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate. An excerpt from the book reads: “In response to Axelrod’s 2023 post, Biden called Axelrod a ‘prick’ – a private insult until someone leaked it to Jonathan Martin of Politico. Axelrod received confidential messages of agreement from prominent Democrats who remained silent, they explained, because they were resigned to Biden’s candidacy and did not want to weaken him as a looming rematch with Trump approached.” Fox News Digital has written extensively, dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign, about Biden’s cognitive decline and his inner circle’s role in covering it up. “There is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover-up or conspiracy,” a Biden spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Nowhere do they show that our national security was threatened or where the president wasn’t otherwise engaged in the important matters of the presidency. In fact, Joe Biden was an effective president who led our country with empathy and skill.”
After MP Minister Vijay Shah, another BJP leader makes shocking comment on Pahalgam terror attack, says, ‘victims should have…’
BJP MP Ram Chander Jangra has remarked that tourists should have put up a fight against terrorists in Kashmir’s Pahalgam. Reacting to the statement, the Congress party has slammed Jangra, demanding his sacking.