https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/26/politics/fema-workers-administrative-leave-katrina-declaration-trump
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/27/nx-s1-5476531/fema-hurricane-katrina-trump
https://apnews.com/article/fema-letter-dissent-staff-put-on-leave-4794981bba6415451add5423530159ec

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday placed several employees on administrative leave effective immediately, just one day after they signed an open letter warning Congress that the Trump administration’s sweeping overhaul of the agency could lead to catastrophic failures in disaster response.

Titled “Katrina Declaration,” the letter accuses President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, of undermining the agency’s capabilities, ignoring its congressionally mandated authority and appointing unqualified leadership. The group calls for FEMA to be shielded from political interference and for its workforce to be protected from politically motivated firings.

Of the more than 180 current and former FEMA staffers who signed the letter, most did so anonymously. Only 36 signed publicly, though it’s unclear how many were still employed when the letter was released.

Among them was Virginia Case, a supervisory management and program analyst, who told CNN she received notice Tuesday evening that she’d been placed on paid leave.

https://apnews.com/article/cdc-director-susan-monarez-50dfbec849b53b4593755d2e6e616687

The director of the nation’s top public health agency has been fired after less than one month in the job, and several top agency leaders have resigned.

Susan Monarez isn’t “aligned with” President Donald Trump’s agenda and refused to resign, so the White House terminated her, spokesman Kush Desai said Wednesday night.

Her lawyers said she was targeted for standing up for science.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had announced her departure in a brief social media post late Wednesday afternoon. Her lawyers responded with a statement saying Monarez had neither resigned nor been told she was fired.

“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted,” attorneys Mark Zaid and Abbe David Lowell wrote in a statement.

“This is not about one official. It is about the systematic dismantling of public health institutions, the silencing of experts, and the dangerous politicization of science. The attack on Dr. Monarez is a warning to every American: our evidence-based systems are being undermined from within,” they said.

Her departure coincided with the resignations this week of at least four top CDC officials. The list includes Dr. Debra Houry, the agency’s deputy director; Dr. Daniel Jernigan, head of the agency’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, head of its National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; and Dr. Jennifer Layden, director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology.

In an email seen by The Associated Press, Houry lamented the crippling effects on the agency from planned budget cuts, reorganization and firings.

Southwest Airlines had a policy where fat people could get an extra seat for free. Now that wokeness is dead, fat people have to pay for the extra seat again.

https://metro.co.uk/2025/08/27/southwest-airlines-changing-rules-plus-sized-passengers-24008196/

Southwest Airlines is rolling out a new rule for plus-sized travellers that could make fares significantly more expensive.

Passengers who can’t fit within the armrests of their seat will soon need to book an additional one before they fly.

The rule goes into effect on 27 January 2026 as part of a wider set of changes, including pre-assigned seats.

As it stands, plus-sized travellers have two options if they require extra room: they can either purchase an additional seat upfront and apply for a refund after flying, or request a complimentary seat at the airport.

Trump moves to ban flag burning despite Supreme Court ruling that Constitution allows it

https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-order-flag-burning-4628d588350db4f6baf10ae1d91f49c1?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order requiring the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute people for burning the American flag, an activity that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is legitimate political expression protected by the U.S. Constitution.

The order the Republican president signed in the Oval Office acknowledged the court’s 5-4 ruling in a case from Texas in 1989, but said there is still room to prosecute flag burning if it “is likely to incite imminent lawless action” or amounts to “fighting words.”

In that case, the justices ruled 5-4 that the First Amendment protects flag burning as legitimate political expression. The late Justice Antonin Scalia, the conservative icon who Trump has repeatedly praised, was in the majority.

Trump said Monday that burning the U.S. flag “incites riots at levels we’ve never seen before,” with some people “going crazy” over burning it and others expressing anger at people for burning it. He did not offer examples.

The text of the executive order states that desecrating the American flag is “uniquely offensive and provocative. It is a statement of contempt, hostility, and violence against our Nation — the clearest possible expression of opposition to the political union that preserves our rights, liberty, and security. Burning this representation of America may incite violence and riot.”

It turns out Bolton's home was raided because during Biden's presidency intelligence officials stole information from a foreign adversary's spy agency which contained emails sent by John Bolton containing classified information. They were sent over unclassified email, and he was leaking the information to write his book.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/us/politics/bolton-trump-emails-fbi-investigation.html
John Bolton Inquiry Eyes Emails Obtained by Foreign Government
It is not clear what country intercepted Mr. Bolton’s private emails, but the investigation into President Trump’s former national security adviser picked up momentum under the Biden administration.

The investigation into President Trump’s former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, began to pick up momentum during the Biden administration, when U.S. intelligence officials collected information that appeared to show that he had mishandled classified information, according to people familiar with the inquiry.
The United States gathered data from an adversarial country’s spy service, including emails with sensitive information that Mr. Bolton, while still working in the first Trump administration, appeared to have sent to people close to him on an unclassified system, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive case that remains open.
The investigation of Mr. Bolton, who has become an ardent critic of the president, burst back into public view last week when federal agents searched his Maryland home and Washington office.

23-year-old who died of cancer after refusing chemo had ‘five coffee enemas a day’

A 23-year-old British woman who died after refusing conventional cancer treatment was allegedly undergoing “five coffee enemas a day” under the care of her mother, a controversial health influencer.

Paloma Shemirani’s brother made the claim this week during an inquest into her death, which came seven months after doctors told the Cambridge graduate she had an 80% chance of surviving non-Hodgkin lymphoma with chemotherapy, according to the BBC.

Instead, she pursued an unproven alternative cancer regimen promoted by her mother, Kate Shemirani, who claimed to have used it successfully in the past.

Paloma died of a heart attack on July 24 last year, caused by an untreated tumor.

In written statements before her death, she denied having cancer at all, calling the diagnosis an “absurd fantasy, with no proof,” per the BBC. She also expressed fears that chemotherapy might leave her infertile.

“I do not want to undergo such a harsh treatment that could even kill me when there is a possibility this is not cancer,” she wrote.

Her parents, Kate and Faramarz Shemirani, told the BBC they believe Paloma “died as a result of medical interventions given without confirmed diagnosis or lawful consent.” The outlet has not been able to substantiate their claims.

Paloma’s brothers, Sebastian and Gabriel, have publicly blamed their mother for fostering her distrust in modern medicine.

“My sister has passed away as a direct consequence of my mum’s actions and beliefs and I don’t want anyone else to go through the same pain or loss that I have,” Gabriel told the BBC.

Growing up in the small Sussex town of Uckfield, Gabriel said the “soundtrack” to their household included conspiracy theorist Alex Jones — with claims that the Sandy Hook school shooting was staged and that 9/11 “was an inside job.”

https://nypost.com/2025/07/30/health/23-year-old-dies-after-rejecting-chemo-for-coffee-enemas

> Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKtblT3fLJ4

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15018765/broncos-truck-crash-jaskirat-sidhu-deportation-parole-florida-crash.html

> A truck driver who spent only four years behind bars after killing half a junior ice hockey team in a horror crash is fighting deportation to India.

> Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, 36, barreled through a stop sign at 53 to 60mph and a bus carrying 29 players and staff from the Humboldt Broncos couldn't stop in time.

> The bus collided with the truck's front trailer, killing 16 and injuring 13 in the crash at about 5pm on April 6, 2018, in rural Saskatchewan, Canada.

> Sidhu was jailed for eight years in March 2019 but was released on parole after four years and four months behind bars.

> He returned to his suburban life with his Canadian wife and the couple had a baby soon after he was released, who has severe heart and lung complications.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/denmark-summons-us-envoy-alleged-influence-operations-greenland/story?id=125012946

LONDON -- The top U.S. diplomat in Denmark was summoned for a meeting at the country's foreign ministry, Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen confirmed on Wednesday, over alleged pro-American influence operations in Greenland.

"We are aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark," Rasmussen said in a statement. "It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the future of the kingdom in the time ahead.

"Any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the kingdom will of course be unacceptable," Rasmussen said. "In that light, I have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the U.S. chargé d'affaires for a meeting at the ministry."

"The cooperation between the governments of Denmark and Greenland is close and based on mutual trust, just as there is close cooperation and dialogue between the relevant Greenlandic and Danish authorities," Rasmussen added.