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The Dictatorship

Trump admin sets up ‘anti-Christian bias’ tip line to target Biden holdovers at the State Dept.

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Trump admin sets up ‘anti-Christian bias’ tip line to target Biden holdovers at the State Dept.
Donald Trump Campaigns For President In Racine, Wisconsin
A person holds a crucifix during the opening prayer of President Donald Trump’s 2024 rally in Racine, Wis.Scott Olson / Getty Images

The Associated Press reported this week on a new effort to use allegations of anti-Christian bias within the State Department to target officials who worked at the agency during President Joe Biden’s administration.

The outlet cited a cable the State Department sent to employees, encouraging them to report the allegations — even anonymously — to Trump’s so-called task force on anti-Christian bias, which will apparently determine whether any officials involved will face discipline. BLN hasn’t yet confirmed the report.

As The Associated Press notes, “there is no immediate indication that such discrimination, as defined by President Donald Trump’s State Department, took place under Biden.” Nonetheless, employees are being asked to submit their complaints to Heather Olowski, the head of the State Department’s office of civil rights and wife of Lew Olowski, a pro-Trump, Anti-Immigration lawyer who currently leads the Bureau of Global Talent Management, wh me is essentially the State Department’s HR office. The examples the State Department cable cited as potential infractions make this effort seem like little more than a way to exact vengeance upon officials who helped enforce vaccine requirements or supported pro-LGBTQ policies.

According to the AP:

Examples of potential violations include formal or informal actions taken against a person because they requested religious accommodation “from taking mandatory vaccines or observing religious holidays ” and “mistreatment for refusing to participate in events and activities that promoted themes inconsistent with or hostile to one’s religious beliefs, including policies or practices related to preferred personal pronouns,” according to the cable. Others include “mistreatment for opposing displays of flags, banners or other paraphernalia on or in government facilities because of religious objection or for opposing official media content due to religious objections, forcing employees to remove personal displays of religious faith or conscience, whether as part of clothing/accessories items on desks or in personal workspace,” the cable said.

The hypocrisy displayed by Trump and his administration on the subject of anti-Christian bias is especially egregious. They have publicly denounced Christians who show compassion to immigrants and have tried to strip funding from Christian groups known to provide immigrants assistance. Even some faith leaders from the conservative-leaning Southern Baptist Convention have said the administration’s anti-immigrant crackdown, and particularly its refusal to rule out raids on churches, tramples on religious freedom. So it seems many Christians are discovering what many Muslims and many Jews have also discovered about Trump — that he is no ally to their free religious expression. Far from protecting religious liberty outright, Trump seems only interested in protecting expressions of religion that serve his and his movement’s political goals — and using any means available to punish his perceived adversaries.

Ja’han Jones

Ja’han Jones is an BLN opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. He is a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include “Black Hair Defined” and the “Black Obituary Project.”

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The Dictatorship

Trump won’t rule out seeking a third term — and his company is looking to profit

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Trump won’t rule out seeking a third term — and his company is looking to profit

With President Donald Trump continuing to tease the idea of seeking a third term in the White House, which is unconstitutionalthe Trump Organization is selling “Trump 2028” merchandise to supporters.

The company lists at least two “Trump 2028” products on its online store, including a red hat for $50 and a $36 T-shirt that also says “Rewrite the Rules” — presumably in reference to the U.S. Constitution.

The Trump Organization has long capitalized on his supporters’ appetite for merchandise, but the latest products suggest a blatant attempt to profit off of knowingly unconstitutional talk about the president serving a third term in office. When asked about the products, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred NBC News to the Trump Organization, though she said “it’s a cool hat and I suspect it will be highly popular!”

Trump has refused to definitively rule out an attempt to serve a third term as president. He has suggested that he is seriously considering it, telling NBC News last month that there are “methods” that would allow him to do so. Yet this week, he told Time magazine that there are “loopholes” that would allow him to seek the presidency again, but that he does not “believe in” using them.

Whether or not he would actually go to such lengths to challenge the ConstitutionTrump’s interest in keeping up the public discourse around the controversy is self-evident — and serves as yet another opportunity for his company to make money from his political loyalists.

Trump’s two elder sons have taken over management of the Trump Organization since he first entered the White House in 2017, and the company said in January of this year that the president would not be involved in day-to-day operations and that it would abstain from new dealings with foreign governments during his time in office. Nevertheless, the Trump Organization and his other business ventures — which have expanded greatly since his first term in office — have profited handsomely from his success in politics, raising a veritable parade of red flags among ethics experts.

Clarissa-je Lim

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

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The Dictatorship

Virginia Giuffre, an outspoken survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, has died by suicide

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Virginia Giuffre, an outspoken survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, has died by suicide

Virginia Giugna prominent survivor of financier Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse and an advocate for sex trafficking victims, died by suicide in her home in Australia, her family said Friday.

Giuffre’s family announced the news of her death in a statement, saying “the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”

Giuffre, 41, was one of the most outspoken women who accused Epstein of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She said she was a troubled teenager trying to rebuild her life when she met Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwellwho roped her into their circle as Maxwell groomed her for Epstein’s abuse, which lasted years. Epstein, she said, then “passed [her] around like a platter of fruit” to his powerful friends.

Giuffre had named Britain’s Prince Andrew as one of the men who sexually abused her. She sued him in federal court in 2021, alleging that she was forced to have sex with him multiple times when she was 17 years old. Andrew denied her allegations, but the fallout became a national scandal in the U.K., and he was stripped of his royal titles in early 2022. Andrew settled with Giuffre for an undisclosed sum one month later and did not admit to any of the allegations.

Giuffre also hit Maxwell with a defamation areit in 2015and the two settled in 2017 for an undisclosed amount.

Epstein died by suicide in a jail cell in New York City while awaiting trial for his crimes in 2019. In December 2021, Maxwell was convicted on charges of recruiting and grooming teenagers for Epstein’s abuse. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Giuffre’s family called her “a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking.” She continued to speak out against Epstein in recent years and pushed for the release of documents related to the late financier as part of the settlement she reached with Maxwell.

“She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” her family said.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at988lifeline.org. You can also visitSpeakingOfSuicide.com/resourcesfor additional support.

Clarissa-je Lim

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

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The Dictatorship

Hundreds of thousands attend funeral services at the Vatican for Pope Francis

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Hundreds of thousands attend funeral services at the Vatican for Pope Francis
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