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Trump's muttering 'in the presence of the jury' riles judge in defamation case

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U.S. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan warned former President Donald Trump after he spoke out in front of a jury hearing a defamation case against him Wednesday.

On the second day of the trial, writer E. Jean Carroll testified about how she had been defamed after Trump denied raping her.

During Carroll's testimony, Trump was heard muttering loud enough for the jury to hear.

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"With the jury out of the room, Carroll's lawyer Shawn Crowley is complaining that Trump is muttering loud enough that the plaintiff's table can hear him," Politico's Erica Orden reported. "Crowley says Trump is saying Carroll's testimony is false and suggesting she has 'suddenly gotten her memory back.'"

Before taking a break from the trial, Kaplan suggested he would address Trump's remarks.

"What about Mr. Trump being vocal in the presence of the jury?" the judge asked. "I'm just going to ask that Mr. Trump take special care to keep his voice down when he's conferring with counsel so that the jury does not overhear it."

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'The furries are coming for me!' GOP lawmaker turns heads with odd fundraising pitch

Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI) sent out a bizarre fundraising call to action for his supporters on Friday, headlined, "the furries are coming for me."

"I'd heard of furries, but to be honest, I didn't think they were real. Then one filed to run against me for Congress," stated the email. "Samuel Smeltzer, whose furry name is Elyon Badger, announced he's running against me, in costume, on a far left progressive platform."

"Never seen a fundraising appeal quite like this one," wrote Axios' Andrew Solender on X.

The campaign page of Smeltzer, which advertises him under his "fursona," introduces him as "a Michigan Army National Guard veteran, LGBTQIA+ activist, and small business owner running to represent Michigan’s 7th District in Congress. I’ve experienced the failings of our system firsthand and I’m running to build a government that finally works for the people, NOT THE BILLIONAIRES."

The furry community is known for creating anthropomorphic animal avatars of themselves, which they perform in often elaborate and expensive fursuits. The community is not inherently sexual, but there is a not-safe-for-work and sexualized subculture within it that has gotten them labeled as deviants in some conservative political circles.

In particular, there has been a persistent myth, often promoted by GOP lawmakers, that schools around the country have provided litter boxes to students who "identify as animals" to do their business in class. While it is unclear where this myth started, there is one documented case of a school district in Colorado providing cat litter in kits — not to help students satisfy a kink, but as emergency supplies in case a mass shooter forces them to barricade in classrooms for extended periods of time.

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'Devastating results': Health expert slams Trump admin over 'sharpest threat' in decades

A health expert has called out the Trump administration over what he calls the "sharpest threat" in decades.

The U.S. Department of Education has claimed it will redefine what it considers a "professional degree," claiming it's tied to an attempt to reduce costs. The department has planned to recategorize nursing, public health, social work, physician assistant studies, audiology and physical therapy as "nonprofessional."

But the move could have lasting repercussions on everyday Americans and the people working towards these roles in health care — disproportionately hurting women and people of color, Thoai D Ngo, chair and professor of the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, wrote in an opinion piece for Newsweek published Friday.

"But in truth, it poses one of the sharpest threats in decades to our nation’s health‑workforce pipeline and Americans’ access to care," Ngo wrote. "It will impact whether a child in a rural county, a senior in care, or a parent or child in an underserved community will get the care and services they need."

The reality is that the change will lessen people's abilities to obtain federal graduate loans, including one financial aid option, Grad PLUS. The federal loan is what many graduate students turn to when they enter nursing or public health fields. Students who want to pursue these fields will face major financial deterrents and could further increase workforce shortages and "further devalue professions already facing burnout, shortages and recruitment challenges."

The added financial pressure will make graduate degrees further out of reach for students and ultimately take away from the American health care system's focus on prevention, "crippling the nation’s ability to care for itself," Ngo explained.

"Reducing access to federal loans will likely put graduate degrees beyond the reach of many students—particularly those from under‑represented or economically marginalized communities," Ngo added. "The results will be devastating: fewer of these essential workers, which will result in reduced or eliminated services and entire communities being left behind."

Top Trump official uncorks call to 'round up' migrants

A senior Trump administration counterterrorism official is calling for the mass roundup and deportation of tens of thousands of Afghan refugees admitted to the United States under President Joe Biden, claiming that their presence led to the Washington D.C. shooting involving two National Guard members.

Joe Kent, a former Army Green Beret and longtime MAGA activist, made the eyebrow-raising demand Friday in a post to his X account in response to what he called a “barbaric terrorist attack.”

“Vetting a foreigner in a war zone to determine if he will fight a common enemy is vastly different than vetting a foreigner to see if he is suitable to live in our country,” he said in the post. “Yet under Biden tens of thousands of Afghans were brought to America using the war zone vetting standard. This is why the DC attack happened.”

Kent, who was confirmed by the Senate earlier this year as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, then called for sweeping removals.

“The solution is rounding up everyone Biden let in & deporting them immediately,” he concluded.

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