Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group
Hum Allah Hum Allah Hum Allah · Pharoah Sanders
Jewels Of Thought
℗ 1969 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Released on: 1998-01-01
Producer: Ed Michel
Tenor Saxophone, Associated Performer, Composer Lyricist: Pharoah Sanders
Vocals, Associated Performer, Composer Lyricist: Leon Thomas
Associated Performer: Lonnie Liston Smith
Associated Performer, Upright Bass: Cecil McBee
Associated Performer, Drums: Idris Muhammad
Drums, Associated Performer: Roy Haynes
Auto-generated by YouTube.
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group
Hum Allah Hum Allah Hum Allah · Pharoah Sanders
Jewels Of Thought
℗ 1969 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Released on: 1998-01-01
Producer: Ed Michel
Tenor Saxophone, Associated Performer, Composer Lyricist: Pharoah Sanders
Vocals, Associated Performer, Composer Lyricist: Leon Thomas
Associated Performer: Lonnie Liston Smith
Associated Performer, Upright Bass: Cecil McBee
Associated Performer, Drums: Idris Muhammad
Drums, Associated Performer: Roy Haynes
Auto-generated by YouTube.
Attribution: AP originalSoul singer James Brown sings “Living in America” during a concert in Los Angeles on June 10, 1991.
Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 300 stories
covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own
vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps
an introduction to something new.
Happy James Brown Day! The legendary musician and showman was born on May 3, 1933. He would have been 93 years old today.
From his Musician Guide biography by Simon Glickman:
In the book about his life, Living in America, James Brown told the
author, “I never try to express what I actually did,” regarding his
influence on the American soul scene. “I wouldn’t try to do that, ’cause
definition’s such a funny thing. What’s put together to make my
music–it’s something which has real power. It can stir people up and
involve ’em. But it’s just something I came to hear.”
The music that James Brown heard in his head–and conveyed to his
extraordinary musicians with an odd combination of near-telepathic
signals and vicious browbeating–changed the face of soul. By stripping
away much of the pop focus that had clouded pure rhythm and blues, Brown
found a rhythmic core that was at once primally sexual and powerfully
spiritual. Shouting like a preacher over bad-to-the-bone grooves and
wicked horn lines, he unleashed a string of hits through the 1960s and
early 1970s; he was also a formative influence on such rock and soul
superstars as Parliament-Funkadelic leader George Clinton, Rolling
Stones frontman Mick Jagger, Prince, and Michael Jackson, among
countless others.
[…]
Brown was born in the South–sources vary, but generally have him
hailing from Georgia or South Carolina–and grew up in Augusta, Georgia,
struggling to survive. At the age of four, he was sent to live with his
aunt, who oversaw a brothel. Under such circumstances, he grew up fast;
by his teens he drifted into crime. In the words of Timothy White, who
profiled the singer in his book Rock Stars, “Brown became a shoeshine
boy. Then a pool-hall attendant. Then a thief.” At 16 he went to jail
for multiple car thefts. Though initially sentenced to 8-16 years of
hard labor, he got out in under four for good behavior. After
unsuccessful forays into boxing and baseball, he formed a gospel group
called the Swanees with his prison pal Johnny Terry.
Nearly stillborn, then revived by an aunt in a country shack in the
piney woods outside Barnwell, South Carolina, on May 3, 1933, Brown was
determined to be Somebody. He called his group “Famous” before they had a
right to; called himself “Mr. Dynamite” before his first Pop hit; and
proclaimed himself “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business” before the
music business knew his name. His was a fantasy, a sweet dream. But
James Brown had singular talent, and the vision to hire the baddest. In
his own time, he became “Soul Brother Number ONE,” a larger-than-life
Godfather of Soul.
Some say it was a freedom too bold. Night after night, on stage and
in the studio, his blood swirled, his legs split and his body shook. But
talking to a crowd stretched at his feet in the late 1960s, James Brown
reassured them: “If you ain’t got enough soul, let me know. I’ll loan
you some! Huh! I got enough soul to burn.”
{…]
His main concern was hustling; his main outlet was sports. He liked
music: gospel when he attended church; big-band swing and early rhythm
& blues that he heard that he heard on the radio and on jukeboxes,
particularly Louis Jordan with his Tympany Five was a special
inspiration.
In 1946, all of 13 years old, Brown first tried his musical luck with
his Cremona Trio, a penny-making sideline. His career halted
temporarily when he was imprisoned for petty theft in 1949.
Paroled in Toccoa, Georgia, in 1952, under the sponsorship of the
local Byrd family, Brown started to make music his principal motive.
Initially, he sang gospel with Sarah Byrd and the church club, then
joined her brother Bobby Byrd’s locally established group, known as the
Gospel Starlighters or the Avons, depending on what or where they
performed.
There was no cohesive plan. Transporting illegal hootch across the
state lines was a bigger moneymaker than their day jobs and night gigs.
Gradually, though, singing rhythm & blues seemed to make the most
sense.
[…]
Too poor to afford horns, “either James or I would whistle or we’d
scat sing it together,” Byrd added. “Our voices always did go well
together.”
The Avons did pop ballads, too, for the afternoon tea parties and
such. But in clubs and high schools, Brown, having emerged as the group
leader, was bit more reckless.
“The dancing y’all seen later on ain’t nothing to what he used to do
back then,” Byrd said. “James could stand flat-footed and flip over into
a split. He’d tumble, too, over and over like in gymnastics. We’d say,
‘What’s wrong with you? When it’s time to record, you’ll have killed
yourself.’”
There are quite a few excellent documentaries on YouTube that tell his story, including “James Brown: The Man, the Music, & the Message”:
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American
musician. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of
20th-century music, he is referred to by various honorific nicknames,
some of which include “the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business”,
“Godfather of Soul”, “Mr. Dynamite”, and “Soul Brother No. 1”.[1] In a
career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of
several music genres.[2] Brown was one of the first 10 inductees into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction in New York on
January 23.
Soul Connection (1978) | The James Brown Story
James Brown: The Godfather of Funk | Meet The Man Behind the Music and the Grooves
Renowned as the “Godfather of Soul & Funk,” James Brown is a
pioneer of funk music and an iconic figure in 20th-century music and
dance. This program showcases interviews with Brown, live performances,
and conversations with band members Bobby Byrd and Maceo Parker Jr.
James Brown’s Last Chance – 2005 VH1 documentary
2005 vh1 episode of documentary series, Inside/Out. Follows
70-year-old James Brown as he hopes for one more time in the spotlight.
He and his entourage tour the world, with plans for it all to conclude
with a tribute show to himself at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. But not
everything goes as planned . . .
James Brown – Beat The Devil (2002) | Directed by Tony Scott HD
James Brown, Clive Owen, Gary Oldman and Danny Trejo star in this
hyperkinetic short film from the director of True Romance. Commissioned
by BMW to promote their cars, it was one of a series of shorts directed
by top tier tHollywood filmmakers
When documenting Brown, it’s important to look at the history of The Famous Flames.
How The Famous Flames Created the James Brown Sound
“Please, Please, Please” – James Brown and The Famous Flames
Brown also made his mark on civil rights history.
The Night James Brown Saved Boston
April 5, 1968. It is the day after one of the most catastrophic
moments in the history of the civil rights movement. Backstage at the
Boston Garden, the mood is somber, appropriately funereal. Just 24 hours
ago, Martin Luther King, Jr., the most important and beloved African
American leader in America, has been assassinated, and though James
Brown is booked that night for a show, nobody really wants to go onstage
and play. On April 4, 1968, the leader of the nonviolent resistance
movement, Martin Luther King, was assassinated in Memphis. On April 5,
1968, James Brown sang, and the city of Boston didn’t burn down. This
film tells the story of the pivotal role that James Brown—and that
particular James Brown concert—played in the political, social and
cultural history of the country, focusing on 1968, a defining year for
America.
This film tells the story of the pivotal role that James Brown—and
that particular James Brown concert—played in the political, social and
cultural history of the country, focusing on 1968, a defining year for
America. Using actual performance footage and the personal recollections
of James Brown’s band members, friends like activist Reverend Al
Sharpton, personal manager Charles Bobbitt, Princeton University
Professor Dr. Cornel West, Boston citizens, those who attended the
concert, politicians (such as former Boston Mayor Kevin White) and
Newsweek’s David Gates, The Night James Brown Saved Boston tells the
compelling story of an artist at the absolute peak of his powers using
his artistry for the greater good.
When I was young, this was our anthem:
Say it Loud- I’m Black and Proud | James Brown
James Brown – Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud – Live on Soul Train, 1973
Here’s a least-expected duo:
He was buried with full honors after his death on Christmas Day, 2006:
James Brown’s Homegoing (2006)
Please join me in the comments section below to continue this birthday celebration!
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“The Hezboolah situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday morning. “They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!! Thank you!”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his team were shocked by the language in the post, Axios reported,
believing it violated the ceasefire agreement. The text of that deal
allows Israel to take military action “in self-defense, at any time,
against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.”
Israel
claims that their bombing was defensive, making it within the realm of
the ceasefire that was struck on Thursday, and came after six weeks of
war in which Israel killed over 2,000 Lebanese civilians and displaced
over one million. Israel is no stranger to breaking ceasefire
agreements, as they have killed at least 766 Palestinians and injured over 2,000 in the Gaza Strip since that ceasefire was declared in October.
RFK Jr. Says Every Person Who Lost Health Insurance Is Illegal
The health secretary apparently has no remorse about anyone who’s lost their insurance in the last year thanks to Trump’s cuts.
Heather Diehl/Getty Images
Robert
F. Kennedy Jr. had a callous and wildly inaccurate response to a
question about millions of Americans losing their health insurance at a
congressional hearing Friday.
The secretary of
health and human services was testifying before the House Committee on
Education and the Workforce, and was asked by Democratic Representative
Greg Casar if he had “met with any of the 1.4 million people who have
lost their health insurance just this last year from dropping off of
Obamacare.”
Kennedy was unmoved by the question.
“They’re almost all illegal immigrants,” Kennedy responded.
Casar pressed further, saying it sounded like Kennedy hadn’t met with
anyone, referring to one person in his congressional district who lost
insurance. Kennedy cut in.
“We
found 1.5 million illegal immigrants illegally collecting Medicaid,”
Kennedy said, before Casar interjected and noted that people in his
district saw their monthly health insurance costs skyrocket by hundreds
of dollars, including mothers and kids. He again asked Kennedy whether
he had spoken to anyone who had lost their insurance, and Kennedy tried
to claim that Affordable Care Act costs are lower for many Americans.
Casar’s time for questioning then ran out.
“Chairman,
it sounds like he’s met with nobody and been able to explain to them
why it’s okay that this policy kicks them off their healthcare,” Casar
concluded, addressing committee chair Tim Wahlberg.
Undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. In January, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which RFK Jr. oversees as health secretary, reported that 1.4 million fewer Americans
had signed up for ACA plans because prices had gotten too high. That’s
all thanks to Republicans and the Trump administration letting ACA
subsidies expire. Kennedy doesn’t seem to care.
DOJ Boots Prosecutor From Trump Revenge Probe After She Shared Doubts
The lead prosecutor on the investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan expressed doubts about the case’s viability.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Former CIA Director John Brennan
A
top Department of Justice official was removed Friday from an
investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan after she reportedly
expressed doubts about the probe.
Maria Medetis Long,
chief of the national security section for the U.S. attorney’s office in
Miami, notified attorneys working on the probe that she would no longer
handle the case moving forward, people familiar with the matter told CNN.
Two sources told ABC News
that Medetis Long had expressed doubts about the investigation. The
prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida are looking into
allegations that Brennan lied to Congress about his role in crafting an
intelligence assessment about Russian efforts to interfere on behalf of
Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Some
attorneys were surprised by the news, sources said, because there were
additional interviews scheduled in the coming days as the department
weighed whether to bring charges against Brennan.
The
U.S. attorney’s office in southern Florida issued 30 subpoenas to
individuals, including Brennan and other former intelligence officials,
as part of a sprawling conspiracy investigation into Trump’s perceived
political enemies. Those cases are set to land on the desk of the same
judge who handed the president his get-out-of-jail-free card back in
July 2024: Aileen Cannon.
Asked
about the move, a Justice Department spokesperson said, “As a matter of
routine practice, attorneys are moved around on cases so offices can
most effectively allocate resources. It is completely healthy and normal
to change members of legal teams.”
Caitlyn Jenner Begs Trump for Help Changing Passport Gender
Trans
Americans have been suffering under Donald Trump since the very
beginning. Caitlyn Jenner has finally realized she’s no exception.
David McNew/Getty Images
Caitlyn Jenner in 2021
Caitlyn Jenner, perhaps the most prominent transgender Trump supporter around, made a public appeal to President Trump, begging him to reconsider his executive order requiring passports to only offer options for male and female—and match the gender the passport holder was assigned at birth.
“I
love President Trump. And I think he signed this executive order.... I
don’t know who underneath him was putting this thing together—that all
federal documents, it has to be your biological sex at birth,” Jenner
said, absolving the president. “Recently I had my passport, I had to get
it renewed. I sent it back. [It] comes back, gender marker ‘M.’ Screws
everything up.”
She went on to note that she tried
multiple different avenues to remedy the situation, even sending in her
female birth certificate, but to no avail.
“This is a
safety factor, OK? I can’t travel internationally anymore.... I don’t
blame President Trump, I love him. But for a lot of people this is a
huge issue.... I don’t know what’s gonna happen because I don’t think
this was really thought out, what this means—not just for the
males-to-females.”
Jenner
said she left a note for Trump with his Secret Service while visiting
Mar-a-Lago two months ago, but still hasn’t heard back.
Trump
signed the executive order in January 2025, and the Supreme Court
upheld it in November, meaning many trans Americans are now dealing with
the chaos.
Jenner is just the latest vocal Trump
supporter to put her foot in her mouth. What exactly did she expect to
happen when Trump made it clear more than a decade ago that the LGBTQ
community would be a primary target? And how many trans rights
organizations warned against the exact thing Jenner is now complaining
about?
Iran Dumps Cold Water on Trump’s Central Claim on Nuclear Deal
Donald Trump has said Iran will hand over all of its enriched uranium.
Graeme Sloan/Sipa/Bloomberg/Getty Images
President
Donald Trump claimed Friday that Iran had finally agreed to hand over
its nuclear stockpile—but Tehran said otherwise.
Speaking with CBS News,
Trump claimed that Iran had “agreed to everything,” including working
with the U.S. to remove the roughly 2,000 kilograms of enriched uranium
that remains buried in underground facilities.
“Our
people, together with the Iranians, are going to work together to go
get it. And then we’ll take it to the United States,” Trump said. He
clarified that by “our people,” he did not mean U.S. troops.
Trump
claimed that the U.S. and Iran would continue to meet over the weekend
to iron out the details, and that the U.S. military blockade on Iranian
ports in the Strait of Hormuz would continue “until we get it done.”
But
sources in Tehran have denied Trump’s claim that any progress has been
made. “Contrary to Trump’s claim, no form of nuclear material transfer
has been negotiated,” a source close to Iran’s Parliament Speaker
Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X. Another Iranian source called Trump’s claim “another lie.”
Trump’s
seemingly unsubstantiated claim came shortly after Axios reported that
the U.S. was considering releasing $20 billion in frozen Iranian assets
in exchange for the country’s stockpile of enriched uranium—which Trump furiously denied
earlier Friday. The two countries were reportedly discussing a
three-page plan, and could send negotiators to Pakistan this weekend to
try and finalize it. The talks would concern what specifically will
happen to the uranium, and how many Iranian assets will be unfrozen.
Trump Ready to Settle With IRS in $10 Billion Lawsuit Over Tax Records
Any money awarded to Donald Trump will come from taxpayer dollars.
Matt McClain/Getty Images
Donald
Trump is in “discussions” to settle a $10 billion lawsuit with the
Internal Revenue Service over the release of his tax returns.
The president’s lawyers asked a judge Friday to extend key deadlines
on the multibillion lawsuit against his presidential administration,
but hidden within the pages of the legal filing was a profound detail:
that the president has been in talks with his own government staffers to
“avoid protracted litigation.”
“Good
cause exists to grant an extension in this matter while the Parties
engage in discussions designed to resolve this matter and to avoid
protracted litigation,” Trump’s lawyers argued.
“This limited pause will neither prejudice the Parties nor delay
ultimate resolution. Rather, the extension will promote judicial economy
and allow the Parties to explore avenues that could narrow or resolve
the issues efficiently.”
Any payment from Trump’s lawsuit against the government would be doled out to him via taxpayer funds.
The
suit alleges that the IRS and Treasury Department during Trump’s first
term did not do enough to thwart Charles Littlejohn, a former contractor
for the IRS, from leaking the tax returns to the press. Littlejohn
leaked 15 years of Trump’s tax returns to The New York Times in 2019.
The documents were published by the paper of record the following year, in September 2020, two months before the presidential election.
Trump’s
attorneys have argued that, despite the fact that Littlejohn was
classed as a contractor, he acted as a “joint employee” of the two
agencies. They further asserted that the government was liable for
Littlejohn’s actions due to the IRS’s “extensive, detailed, day-to-day
supervision” of his behavior.
The legal challenge has
raised numerous ethical quandaries, chief among them the apparent
conflict of interest in the case. Legal experts have questioned whether a
president can sue his own administration to pocket taxpayer money, and
have expressed doubts about whether Trump’s Justice Department can
appropriately defend the financial institutions.
A group of former government officials filed an amicus brief
in February that challenged the suit’s core claims. Those officials
included former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and former National
Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson. Together, the cohort argued that Trump’s
lawsuit contains “significant legal flaws” and risks becoming “collusive
litigation.”
RFK Jr. Argues Vapes Are Good—Using Vape Brand’s Marketing
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before Congress that there is a case to be made for using e-cigarettes.
Heather Diehl/Getty Images
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to claim Friday that vaping is healthier than smoking.
Speaking before the House Education and Workforce Committee, Kennedy tried to peddle some of his classic pseudoscience.
“There’s an argument for vapes,” Kennedy said. “Vapes reduce cigarette tobacco smoking—”
“No
sir. That was an argument Juul made, and I’d be happy to have a further
conversation,” California Representative Mark DeSaulnier interrupted.
“I’d love to have that conversation,” Kennedy said.
The Centers for Disease Control’s own website
states: “E-cigarette aerosol generally contains fewer harmful chemicals
than the deadly mix of 7,000 chemicals in smoke from cigarettes.
However, this does not make e-cigarettes safe.”
The
vape company Juul illegally tried to market its electronic cigarettes as
a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes, earning it a strong admonishment from the Food and Drug Administration in 2019—another of the many health agencies which Kennedy now oversees.
No
federally reviewed vaping product has been found to be less harmful
than cigarettes. Studies have shown that vapes and e-cigarettes are just
as dangerous—if not more so—than traditional cigarettes, because they
can increase the risk of heart disease and limit blood flow to the heart. They also still contain nicotine, which is highly addictive.
While
vapes may be considered preferable to cigarettes for adult smokers,
that’s not who uses them: Children are, on average, nine times more
likely to vape than adults, according to the World Health Organization.
Trump Adviser Quote Comparing Him to God Surfaces Amid Beef With Pope
The Paula White-Cain quote has gained attention after Donald Trump posted an AI photo of himself as Jesus.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Paula White-Cain and Donald Trump
Amongst the upper echelons of the MAGA movement, Donald Trump’s word is God’s.
Paula
White-Cain, a Pentecostal televangelist who has offered Trump spiritual
guidance since 2002 and was appointed to run the new White House Faith
Office last year, once said that “saying no to Trump would be saying no to God.”
Earlier this month, White-Cain compared Trump to Jesus at the White House’s Easter lunch, likening Trump’s various political scandals to Christ’s crucifixion.
“It almost cost you your life,” she said,
feet away from Trump. “You were betrayed and arrested and falsely
accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our lord and savior showed us. But
it didn’t end there for him, and it didn’t end there for you.”
White-Cain’s
sycophantic public commentary offers a brief glimpse into the rhetoric
circulating around the president, and could possibly explain why Trump
felt it appropriate to circulate an AI-generated picture of himself as
the messiah earlier this week.
That
act earned Trump nationwide backlash, driving a wedge between himself
and many of his loyal supporters, who overwhelmingly condemned the
blasphemous depiction. (The image features Trump dressed in white and
red robes, encircled in light, holding light, and sharing it with the
fallen.)
Several self-identified Trump voters interviewed by MS Now said that they were “disgusted” by and “ashamed” of the image, and further implied that they regretted voting for the self-identified Christian. (Reminder: while Trump has claimed the Bible is his “favorite book,” he couldn’t name a single passage from the text when prompted to do so in a 2019 interview.)
“Trump knows what he is doing. He knows what he posted,” former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote
on X Thursday after prominent evangelist Franklin Graham came to the
president’s defense. “He knows how to manipulate his followers. And he’s
not sorry, he never apologized. Instead he lied, and said he was a
doctor, which is also absurd.”
A Franciscan friar that spoke with CBS News earlier this week said that “no one” should try to “put themselves in the person of Christ.”
“I think that’s a little bit of a problem,” he said.
White-Cain’s
remarks could also explain the president’s attitude as he escalates a
seemingly pointless feud with Pope Leo XIV, who apparently upset the
administration by advocating for peace, not war.
As
Trump’s base begins to turn on him, questions have arisen about Trump’s
other political miracles. Several MAGA voters have recently begun to reexamine the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in apparent suspicion that the ordeal was staged.
A
screengrab captured from a video shows Republican presidential
candidate Donald Trump injured as he is rushed offstage following
gunshots during a rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
As
Donald Trump’s MAGA base sours on him, some of them now think the 2024
assassination attempt on him in Butler, Pennsylvania, was staged.
Wiredreports that this conspiracy theory started to take hold after Joe Kent, who resigned from the Trump administration over the Iran war, went on conservative pundit Tucker Carlson’s show and asserted without evidence that investigations into the shooting were halted before they were finished.
“If
you don’t want to address that question, then you just go silent and
say you can’t ask that question,” Kent, formerly the director of the
National Counterterrorism Center, said. “Which then creates people who
come out of nowhere and they start drawing their own conclusions.”
Kent
noted that this would fuel conspiracy theories, and ever since his
interview, that is exactly what seems to be happening within MAGA.
Trisha Hope, who served as a delegate from Texas during the 2024
Republican National Convention, posted on X
last week that “if you cannot look at this story, and use critical
thinking skills and have at least some questions, you are the problem
and we need you to snap out of it.”
“Since the
attempt on his life, Trump has show [sic] no interest in investigating
what really happened. He never mentions it, it’s as if it never
happened, except when he tells us, he took a bullet for us,” Hope said
in a long post.
Comedian Tim Dillon, who interviewed JD Vance on his podcast during Trump’s presidential campaign, said
last week that he thinks “maybe it was staged,” adding that Trump
should now say publicly that “some people are going to be upset by this,
but we staged the assassination attempt in Butler to show people how
important it was to vote for me and how far I was willing to go for
them.”
Candace Owens, a far-right conspiracy theorist who has abandoned Trump, claimed on her podcast last week that Miriam Adelson, an Israeli-American billionaire and Republican donor, was
actually behind the assassination attempt because Trump hadn’t followed
through on a promise to allow Israel to annex the occupied West Bank.
Ali
Alexander, who helped pushed the “Stop the Steal” campaign around the
conspiracy that Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him, wrote on
Telegram Tuesday that the attempt on Trump’s life could mean he is in
the Antichrist, echoing a different right-wing conspiracy theory pushed by Tucker Carlson and others.
“To
be clear: if Donald Trump didn’t receive a miracle, then it was
deception or a dark sign,” Alexander wrote. “There is biblical prophecy
in Revelation 13:3 apparently about the Antichrist being struck on the
head.”
Cracks are beginning to show in Trump’s support base following his decision to break a major campaign promise and start a war with Iran, attack the Catholic Church, and imply that he’s Jesus Christ. All of this could be the beginning of the end of his political career and control of the Republican Party.
Federal Judge Shuts Down DOJ’s “Fishing Expedition” for Voter Data
The Department of Justice is on a losing streak in its quest to seize voter data from states.
Lane Turner/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
A
Trump-appointed federal judge handed down another loss to the Justice
Department on Friday, striking down the department’s demand for personal
voter information in Rhode Island.
U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy said the DOJ lacked the authority “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here.”
“In
its September 8, 2025, letter to Secretary Amore (the ‘Demand Letter’),
DOJ stated that the purpose of its demand for an unredacted copy of
Rhode Island’s statewide voter registration list was ‘to ascertain Rhode
Island’s compliance with the list maintenance requirements of the
[National Voter Registration Act] and the [Help America Vote Act],’”
McElroy wrote in her dismissal
of the DOJ lawsuit. “The Demand Letter did not identify any facts
suggesting that Rhode Island has not complied with the NVRA and HAVA,
and it did not otherwise expressly identify any factual basis for DOJ’s
demand.”
The DOJ initially filed the lawsuit as part
of its effort to continue Trump’s immigration crackdown and weaponize
voter registration information in deep-blue states. But now Rhode Island
has become the fifth state—along with California, Michigan,
Massachusetts, and Orgeon—to reject Trump’s meddling.
“Neither
the NVRA nor HAVA authorize DOJ to conduct the kind of fishing
expedition it seeks here,” McElroy concluded. “As such, for the
foregoing reasons, the Court DENIES the United States’ Motion to Compel
Production and GRANTS Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss.”
That
leaves Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon with zero wins and
five losses on her voting records lawsuits, with 25 states still waiting
on decisions.
