Ground Game: Trump and the US debt, the Supreme Court's emergency docket, Leonard Leo and the president

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Fox News

20 minutes ago

• Fox News

Bill Maher says Democrats need to 'do something' about 'The View' after Whoopi Goldberg's Iran comments

"Real Time" host Bill Maher and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, hammered Whoopi Goldberg and "The View" on Friday after the co-host claimed that life for Black Americans is equivalent to women living under Iran's oppressive theocratic regime. Maher claimed that Democrats took a step "back to sanity" after The New York Times took a more "sensible liberal, not crazy woke" position on transgender issues. He then asserted that the second step Democrats should take is to "do something about 'The View'" after Goldberg's comment comparing life for Black Americans to living under Iran's brutal regime. Goldberg sparked backlash during a heated argument with her fellow "The View" co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin on Wednesday. Griffin elaborated on the many human rights violations perpetrated by the Ayatollah's regime in Iran, including executions of gay people and imprisonment of women who go outside with their hair uncovered. "Let's not do that, because if we start with that, we have been known in this country to tie gay folks to the car. Listen, I'm sorry, they used to just keep hanging Black people," Goldberg insisted as Griffin pushed back and said the situations weren't comparable. Hunt shot down Whoopi's assessment of life in America for Black people, noting the success he's found in the United States as a Black man. "My district in the great state of Texas is actually a white majority district that President Trump would have won by 25 points. As I said, I'm a direct descendant of a slave, my great-great-grandfather, who was born on Rosedown Plantation. I am literally being judged not by the color of my skin but by the content of my character," he explained. Hunt continued, adding, "That's the progress because — like a lot of white people had to vote for me — a lot. So I don't ever want to hear Whoopi Goldberg's conversation about how it's worse to be black in America right now." The Texas congressman also pointed out that his father, who grew up under Jim Crow, is now the father of a United States congressman in a white majority district who ran as a Republican. "That's America," Hunt stated. CNN Contributor Paul Begala brought up the fact that America has a holiday to celebrate the freedom of Black Americans from slavery — Juneteenth — but questioned why President Donald Trump "doesn't want to honor" the occasion. "I don't want it," Hunt replied. "I don't want Black History Month. I don't want all these days to make everybody feel special. I'm an '80s baby. Everybody's too sensitive anyway. We're all Americans anyway."

The Hill

22 minutes ago

• The Hill

Pope Leo XIV says there should be no tolerance for abuse of any kind in Catholic Church

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Pope Leo XIV has said there should be no tolerance in the Catholic Church for any type of abuse – sexual, spiritual or abuse of authority — and called for 'transparent processes' to create a culture of prevention across the church. Leo made his first public comments about the clergy sex abuse scandal in a written message to a Peruvian journalist who documented a particularly egregious case of abuse and financial corruption in a Peruvian-based Catholic movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. The message was read out loud on Friday night in Lima during a performance of a play based on the Sodalitium scandal and the work of the journalist, Paola Ugaz. 'It is urgent to root in the whole church a culture of prevention that does not tolerate any form of abuse – neither of power or authority, nor abuse of conscience, spiritual or sexual abuse,' Leo said in the message. 'This culture will only be authentic if it is born of active vigilance, of transparent processes and sincere listening to those who have been hurt. For this, we need journalists.' Leo is well aware of the Sodalitium scandal, since he spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru, where the group was founded in 1971. The then-Bishop Robert Prevost was responsible for listening to the Sodalitium's victims as the Peruvian bishops' point-person for abuse victims and helped some reach financial settlements with the organization. After Pope Francis brought him to the Vatican in 2023, Prevost helped dismantle the group entirely by overseeing the resignation of a powerful Sodalitium bishop. The Sodalitium was officially suppressed earlier this year, right before Francis died. Now as pope, Leo has to oversee the dismantling of the Soldalitium and its sizeable assets. The Vatican envoy on the ground handling the job, Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, read out Leo's message on Friday night, appearing alongside Ugaz on stage. In the message, Leo also praised journalists for their courage in holding the powerful to account, demanded public authorities protect them and said a free press is an 'common good that cannot be renounced.' Ugaz and a Sodalitium victim, Pedro Salinas, have faced years of criminal and civil litigation from Sodalitium and its supporters for their investigative reporting into the group's twisted practices and financial misconduct, and they have praised Leo for his handling of the case. The abuse scandal is one of the thorniest dossiers facing Leo, especially given demands from survivors that he go even farther than Francis in applying a zero-tolerance for abuse across the church, including for abusers whose victims were adults. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Yahoo

23 minutes ago

• Yahoo

‘Petty and unserious': Padilla blasts Vance for calling him ‘Jose Padilla'

Sen. Alex Padilla snapped back at Vice President JD Vance Saturday, calling the vice president 'petty and unserious' after Vance referred to the senator as 'Jose' during a press conference in Los Angeles the previous evening. The squabble between Padilla and Vance is the latest clash between Trump administration officials and California Democrats as hostilities brew over President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration in the city, which has seen numerous ICE sweeps and significant counterprotests in recent weeks. 'He knows my name,' Padilla told MSNBC Saturday morning. 'Look, sadly it's just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is. He's the vice president of the United States. You'd think he'd take the situation in Los Angeles more seriously.' Vance visited Los Angeles on Friday amid the heightened tensions, meeting with federal law enforcement and Marines his administration called in to quiet anti-ICE protests in the city, a move that prompted backlash from Democrats. During a speech in which the vice president defended the administration's decision to call in National Guard troops — which a federal appeals court upheld this week — Vance also bashed his former Senate colleague, who was handcuffed and removed from a press briefing with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last week after attempting to question the secretary. 'I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question, but unfortunately I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't the theater,' Vance said, deriding Padilla's handcuffing at Noem's briefing the prior week as 'pure political theater.' Vance's press secretary, Taylor Van Kirk, said that the vice president misspoke and 'must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.' Padilla, the senator, was not charged after the incident at Noem's press conference. It isn't clear who Van Kirk could be referring to, but a Jose Padilla was convicted over 15 years ago of conspiracy to commit murder and fund terrorism. California Democrats were having none of it. 'JD Vance served with Alex Padilla in the United States Senate,' Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a post on X. 'Calling him 'Jose Padilla' is not an accident.' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass pulled no punches at a press conference later on Friday, denouncing Vance's earlier statement. 'Mr. Vice President, how dare you disrespect our senator,' Bass said. 'I guess he just looks like anybody to you,' the mayor continued, appearing to reference the underlying racialized tone of Vance's comment. Padilla also addressed his former Senate colleague-turned vice president directly in a post to X, flipping Vance's jab about 'political theater' back at him. 'You know my name, @JDVance,' the California senator wrote. 'If you want to talk about political theater, let's start with the thousands of troops that your administration is using as props in Los Angeles.'