https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/25/business/trump-fire-fed-governor

President Donald Trump on Monday said he has fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, according to a letter addressed to her posted on his social media — the first instance of a president firing a central bank governor in the central bank’s 111-year history.

The unprecedented move represents a significant escalation of the president’s battle against the Fed, which he has blamed for taking too long to lower interest rates.

Cook has recently come under fire by Trump and members of his administration for allegedly committing mortgage fraud. The Justice Department has said it plans to investigate those allegations first raised by Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte.

Cook has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

“President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” Cook said in statement her attorneys shared with CNN Monday night. “I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022.”

The Fed declined to comment on the news.

It’s unclear whether Trump has the legal authority to fire Cook over these allegations. The law specifies that a president may only remove members of the Fed’s board “for cause” – though what merits a for-cause firing has not been explicity defined.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gabbard-barred-sharing-intelligence-russia-ukraine-negotiations-five-eyes-partners/

Washington — As Russia's war in Ukraine rages on despite high-level meetings to discuss a possible path to peace, CBS News has learned that Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, issued a directive weeks ago to the U.S. intelligence community ordering that all information regarding the Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations not be shared with U.S.-allied intelligence partners.

The memo, dated July 20 and signed by Gabbard, directed agencies to not share information with the so-called Five Eyes, the post-World War II intelligence alliance comprising the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, multiple U.S. intelligence officials told CBS News. They spoke under condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security matters.

The officials said the directive classified all analysis and information related to the volatile Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations as "NOFORN," or no foreign dissemination, meaning the information could not be shared with any other country or foreign nationals. The only information that could be shared was information that had already been publicly released. The memo also limited distribution of material regarding peace talks to within the agencies that created or originated the intelligence.

The memo does not seem to prevent the sharing of diplomatic information gathered by other means separate from the U.S. intelligence community, or military operational information unrelated to the talks — such as the details the U.S. shares with the Ukrainian military to aid in their defensive operations.

Contacted by CBS News, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence referred questions to the White House, which did not respond.

>>513802298
>>513813385
There's another Indian truck driver who ran over a mother and daughter in Canada

https://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/indian-origin-truck-driver-arrested-in-canada-killed-a-mother-daughter-in-crash-nine-months-ago-fled-ontario/amp_articleshow/123474334.cms

Indian-Origin Truck Driver Arrested In Canada, Killed A Mother-Daughter In Crash Nine Months Ago, Fled Ontario
WORLD
|
TOI World Desk | TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Aug 23, 2025, 22:06 IST

>Amid a major row over Punjabi truck drivers breaking law in the US, an Indian-origin truck driver has been arrested in Canada after months of being a fugitive. 25-year-old Navjeet Singh was arrested at Toronto's Pearson International Airport Thursday as he arrived in Canada on an Ethiopian Airlines flight.

>Navjeet Singh, 25, had been wanted since November for two counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and one count of obstructing a police officer, CBC reported.
>Singh drove a semi-trailer truck through a stop sign that caused the crash killing a Manitoba mother and daughter. A Canada-wide warrant was issued against Navjeet in November last year after the authorities failed to locate Singh in Winnipeg.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/canada-urges-action-as-us-halts-visas-for-foreign-truck-drivers-101755945407217-amp.html

https://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/amritsar/truckers-and-those-deported-from-us-rallies-behind-harjinder-singh-for-reducing-his-sentence/amp_articleshow/123466653.cms

Indian illegal immigrants trick driver kills three Americans in Florida after immigrating from India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW6NrQJGFY0

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ice-arrests-brother-illegal-immigrant-trucker-deadly-florida-wreck

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/truck-driver-accused-in-fatal-crash-returned-to-florida-rubio-suspends-visas-for-commercial-drivers/

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/08/21/ice-arrests-illegal-alien-involved-fatal-18-wheeler-crash-caused-illegal-aliens

https://nypost.com/2025/08/21/us-news/illegal-immigrant-trucker-charged-in-deadly-wreck-flown-back-to-florida-after-he-fled-to-sanctuary-state/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/ghislaine-maxwell-provided-incriminating-information-meetings-deputy-ag/story?id=124894271

Among those Blanche inquired about, according to the transcript, were tech billionaires Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman and Elon Musk; political figures Ehud Barak, Robert Kennedy Jr. and the late U.S. Senator George Mitchell; and celebrities Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker and Naomi Campbell.

The rumored existence of an apocryphal "Epstein client list" has long fueled speculation of a "deep state" cover-up to protect an elite cabal of alleged participants in Epstein's crimes. Some of the most vocal purveyors of the theory -- including FBI Director Kash Patel and his top deputy Dan Bongino -- have since taken up prominent posts in the Trump administration.

But Maxwell said there was no such list and that she saw no indication that Epstein had obtained compromising information that he used to extort others.

"A man wants sexual favors, he will find that. They didn't have to come to Epstein for that," Maxwell said.

"[T]here's no list. There never was a list," she said. "None that I ever heard of, none that I ever witnessed."

At one point in the interview, Maxwell likened the quest to find others complicit in Epstein's crimes to a dark period in early American history.

"So that narrative that was created and then built upon, and it just mushroomed into what -- basically this is like a Salem witch trial. People go and lost [sic] their minds for this thing," she said. "I mean, it's bananas."

Significant portions of the interview were dedicated to inquiries about President Trump and ex-President Bill Clinton.

Before any allegations of sexual misconduct against Epstein surfaced in 2005, Trump and Clinton each spoke glowingly of Epstein, and court records have included documents and testimony indicating that -- at separate times -- both men flew with Epstein on his private jets.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/arts/design/smithsonian-trump.html

The White House published a list of Smithsonian exhibits, programming and artwork it considered objectionable on Thursday, one week after announcing that eight of the institution’s museums must submit their current wall text and future exhibition plans for a comprehensive review.

The list borrows heavily from a recent article in The Federalist that objected to portrayals at several museums. It argued that the Museum of American History promoted homosexuality by hanging a pride flag; overemphasized Benjamin Franklin’s relationship to slavery in its programming; and promoted open borders by depicting migrants watching fireworks “through an opening in the U.S.-Mexico border wall.”

Other grievances were previously enumerated in an executive order that President Trump authorized in March, which criticized the National Museum of African American History and Culture for a 2020 worksheet that describes aspects of “whiteness” as “hard work,” “individualism" and “the nuclear family.” The worksheet was part of an online educational portal called Talking About Race; once it drew criticism, Lonnie G. Bunch III, the secretary of the Smithsonian, had it removed.

The White House list also featured complaints that were not part of the Federalist article or the president’s executive order. Those include a stop-motion animation at the National Portrait Gallery about Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a government leader during the coronavirus pandemic, and a series at the African American museum that it says “featured content from hardcore woke activist Ibram X. Kendi.”

The Smithsonian Institution and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

‼EU may introduce total surveillance of correspondence — decision in autumn, — Brussels Signal — https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/08/eu-chat-control-law-is-a-step-towards-mass-surveillance/

The European Union has resumed discussions on the resonant Chat Control bill, which provides for mass scanning of citizens' private messages.

Key details:

From July 1, 2025, Denmark led the EU Council and again put the document on the agenda.

The official goal is to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

It is planned to introduce client-side scanning — scanning messages before they are encrypted. This effectively destroys end-to-end encryption, making correspondence transparent for checks.

Experts warn that if adopted, the law will become the largest digital surveillance mechanism in European history.

Previously, a number of EU countries blocked the initiative, but now the positions of some of them have changed.

The final decision is planned to be made on October 14, 2025.

Anti-Trump lefties shooting black people again. Many such cases.

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/new-video-shows-confrontation-before-shooting-wheelchair-bound-man-seattles-pier-55/YWHC4WJTCRHB5GX57S4RRBG63E/

A man accused of shooting a man in a wheelchair at Seattle’s Pier 55 last month remains in King County Jail on $750,000 bail, with prosecutors pointing to newly obtained video that captured the confrontation, the gunfire, and his arrest.

Seattle police say the incident happened just after 6 p.m. on July 31 in front of the Starbucks at Pier 55, drawing dozens of witnesses and bystanders who recorded the scene from multiple angles.

In the videos, 32-year-old Gregory William Timm is seen confronting Harold James Powell, a musician who regularly performs for donations along the waterfront.

Prosecutors say Timm accused Powell of “stolen valor” — falsely claiming to have served in the military.

Footage shows Timm demanding Powell show military identification before ripping a patch off Powell’s wheelchair.

Moments later, Powell wheels toward Timm and reaches inside his shirt.

Timm then steps back, retrieves a handgun from a zipped bag, points it, and fires once into Powell’s chest.

Witness video shows Timm standing in place for several minutes afterward, telling emergency responders his gun was in his bag.

Police detained him at the scene.

Powell was taken to Harborview Medical Center in serious but stable condition.

Timm opted not to appear in court the following day. A judge found probable cause for assault and robbery.

His attorney has suggested the shooting was an act of self-defense, but King County Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney said that argument will be difficult to sustain.

“A key in self-defense cases is who the first aggressor is,” McNerthney said. “If you provoke an attack upon yourself, you lose the right to claim self-defense.”

we gotta wage war against the uk
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq68j5g2nr1o

Indonesia has unofficial embassies (trade offices) with Israel and buys weapons from Israel and Elbit systems. Jakarta also hosted a Mossad spy base.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/22/indonesia-plans-details-treat-2000-injured-palestinians-galang-island

The Indonesian government is working on plans to treat 2,000 people from war-ravaged Gaza, holding a series of inter-ministerial discussions to discuss logistics, legality and foreign policy implications relating to the highly sensitive proposal, according to a senior government official.

Indonesia announced earlier this month that it would provide temporary medical assistance to 2,000 Palestinians from Gaza, with the uninhabited island of Galang identified as one possible site. Located just south of Singapore, the island was once home to a former camp for Vietnamese refugees and most recently the site of a pandemic hospital.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/08/indonesia-wounded-gaza-residents-galang-island

Axios reported this July that Israel’s spy agency The Mossad had visited Washington to seek US support in convincing countries to take hundreds of thousand of Palestinians from Gaza, with Indonesia among several countries reportedly receptive to the idea.

https://www.axios.com/2025/07/18/israel-send-palestinians-gaza-indonesia-ethiopia

Any permanent relocation would be hugely controversial in Indonesia, but so far, criticism of the Gaza plan has been relatively muted in the south-east Asian country.

“At the moment there are so many issues in the headlines so the Gaza issue to be honest is not that widely reported in the media,” said political analyst Kennedy Muslim. “It’s not a major issue in Indonesia at the moment.”