Politics
Trump's revenge tour claims its biggest victim yet
President Donald Trump keeps knocking out his political enemies in the GOP. On Saturday, Sen. Bill Cassidy was the latest to fall.
It’s a massive warning sign for any Republicans who’ve provoked the president’s wrath: Trump’s revenge campaign has already mobilized voters in both Indiana, where he successfully ousted several state GOP senators over redistricting, and Saturday night in Louisiana. Tuesday’s primaries in Georgia and Kentucky, where Rep. Thomas Massie is up for reelection and he’s picked sides in the open Senate race, will be another test. Now, the president is entering those races with the wind at his back.
Cassidy’s distant third-place finish marks the end of his tenure in the Senate, one that was doomed by his vote to convict Trump on impeachment charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection five years ago.
That decision ostracized him from Louisiana’s rabidly conservative base and set up two strong primary challengers in Rep. Julia Letlow — the Trump-endorsed candidate — and MAGA-friendly state Treasurer John Fleming. Up until polls closed, Cassidy maintained that his massive war chest, his record in Congress and a high turnout of non-party voters would be enough to save him.
In the end, it was not.
“For a man with such a formidable intellect, his political strategy was breathtakingly dense,” said Lionel Rainey, a Louisiana GOP strategist, who is unaffiliated with any of the campaigns. “History will remember Bill Cassidy as the absolute smartest guy in the political morgue.”
Letlow, boosted by Trump’s support, advanced to a runoff with a significant lead over Fleming — evidence that his endorsement is still key for Republican voters and can boost a candidate who begins a race with relatively low name ID and fundraising power.
Trump on Saturday night declared online that Cassidy’s “disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now a part of legend, and it’s nice to see that his political career is OVER!”
As Cassidy took the stage in Baton Rouge to concede and thank his supporters, he appeared to repeatedly needle Trump in his remarks, possibly previewing a potentially adversarial role to the White House he will take on as a lame duck senator.
“Insults only bother me if they come from somebody of character and integrity, I find that people of character and integrity don’t spend their time attacking people on the internet,” he said at one point, after taking apparent digs at Trump for refusing to accept his 2020 loss was legitimate and declaring that “leaders should think through the consequences of their actions.”
Cassidy’s suddenly pointed criticism of the president following his loss suggests he could quickly turn into a headache for the White House. He has already blocked a handful of White House appointees, and still chairs the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Without the need to woo the president, he could follow the path of retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and refuse to fall in line on some key votes — an important factor in a fairly narrowly divided Senate.
Throughout the campaign, Cassidy tried to cast Letlow as insufficiently conservative, nicknaming her “Liberal Letlow” and hammering her for her past support of diversity initiatives in higher education. But those attacks did not stick.
Trump didn’t dip into his own MAGA Inc. coffers or appear on the campaign trail to elevate Letlow — but she still benefited from some of his allies. The Make America Healthy Again PAC pledged $1 million in support of her candidacy, angered by Cassidy’s skepticism of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becoming the Health and Human Services secretary. Those frustrations grew when the senator blocked Casey Means’ nomination as U.S. Surgeon General, which the White House later pulled.
Cassidy’s attempt at self-preservation was also stymied by the rise of Fleming, a former Freedom Caucus member who claimed he was the most conservative candidate in the race. In the final hours, Fleming got a shoutout from Trump as well, who posted earlier Saturday that Cassidy must be “CLOBBERED” by “two great people!!!”.
Letlow’s first-place finish is a boon for Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who aggressively campaigned for her with his endorsement, pressured big donors to get in line behind her and was behind Louisiana closing its primary system — a move that disadvantaged Cassidy, who has historically brought in some Democratic voters.
The runoff, scheduled for late June, sets up a new battle for the president’s base: Do they go with the Trump-chosen option in Letlow or the other MAGA candidate in Fleming, who previously worked as White House aide under Trump? Pre-runoff polls showed a close race between the two, though Letlow comfortably led Fleming in the first round. The extended primary is sure to be bruising.
As the polls closed on Saturday evening, Trump had already begun to expand his target map, singling out Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) for campaigning on behalf of Massie, who is facing his own tough reelection fight in Kentucky against Trump-backed primary challenger Ed Gallrein. (Colorado’s filing deadline has already closed, so it’s unlikely that threat can be carried out this election.)
“Is anyone interested in running against Weak Minded Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District?” he wrote on Truth Social. “Even though I long ago endorsed Boebert, if the right person came along, it would be my Honor to withdraw that Endorsement, and endorse a good and proper alternative.”
Politics
Bill Cassidy loses Senate primary in another major win for Trump
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) just lost his seat — a key victory for President Donald Trump’s revenge tour this cycle.
Rep. Julia Letlow, the Trump-backed candidate, and state Treasurer John Fleming advanced to a runoff in the Louisiana GOP Senate primary on Saturday, with Cassidy finishing in third place.
It’s a remarkable result: Cassidy is the first senator of either party to lose in a primary since 2012. The two-term senator and chair of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee failed to even make the runoff, finishing with roughly a quarter of the vote.
Both Letlow and Fleming benefited from MAGA voters’ frustrations with Cassidy for his 2021 vote to convict Trump on impeachment charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, and for his skepticism of Trump’s decision to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary.
The president, who has been itching to oust Cassidy, finally got his wish Saturday. The result follows Trump’s successful attempts to oust several GOP state senators in Indiana last month over redistricting clashes.
Letlow, a three-term representative from north Louisiana, jumped into the race with Trump’s endorsement, a huge boost in the deep-red state. Gov. Jeff Landry also endorsed her and worked behind the scenes to help her campaign, and the Make America Healthy Again PAC committed $1 million to supporting her.
Fleming, a former member of Congress and White House aide under Trump, drew deep grassroots support during his campaign and was able to cut into Letlow’s polling lead in the final days of the race.
The runoff will extend an already expensive battle for the GOP nomination to late June. Early polls suggest a tight race between Letlow and Fleming, though Letlow had a clear advantage in the first round of voting.
Politics
Wings Over Scotland | The Land Of No Laws
This game of football is not over.
Except for viewers in Scotland, where no laws apply.
Don’t get us wrong, readers. In the (minimum of) 32 seconds that were left to play, it was highly unlikely that Hearts were going to score the two goals they needed to win the league. It is improbable that the referee allowing the game to end at that moment (because thousands of Celtic fans immediately invaded the pitch) changed the destination of the Premiership title.
But improbable is not impossible. let’s note a couple of things.
(1) The eight minutes added by the fourth official is a MINIMUM. It is very common for games to go on longer than the minimum for all sorts of reasons. When Scotland beat Denmark to qualify for the World Cup, Kenny McLean’s shot from the halfway line hit the net EIGHT minutes into the six that had been indicated by the fourth official.
It is perfectly possible, then, that Celtic vs Hearts could have had two and a half minutes still to go. We’ll never know when the referee was actually going to blow before he bottled it after Callum Osmand’s goal.
(2) The annals of football, as we all know, are stuffed with examples of teams scoring two goals in a couple of minutes.
Just one minute and 44 seconds, including the celebration time, elapsed between Lyndon Dykes’ equaliser for Scotland against Norway in Oslo in June 2023, and Kenny McLean’s winner. The two goals that won Manchester United the 1999 Champions League were even closer together, at just 1m 41s, again including all the celebrations.
In both cases, the ball was actually in play for only about 30 seconds of that time. 30 seconds, then, is a long time in football – the referee can’t just let goal celebrations run down the clock, he has to add time on.
And that’s why there are laws. That’s why we don’t just let the referee blow his whistle if a team is 4-0 down with 10 minutes left, even if it’d mean he could catch an earlier train home. It’s not a matter of discretion or convenience. The game has to be played to its end.
Because imagine the alternative. Imagine if the crowd could just invade the pitch when THEY thought the game was won, and we let them decide.
What if the 2,500 Danish fans at Hampden last November, say, had taken it upon themselves to storm the field in the 93rd minute with the score still at 2-2 and Denmark heading for the finals, and the referee had thought “Well, it’s Scotland, they’re not going to get another goal now and I can’t be arsed waiting for the stewards to get all these Danes off the pitch, we might as well call it a day?”
What if the Norwegian fans in Oslo, having conceded a late equaliser after dominating the game and having taken Erling Haaland off, had collectively gone “Better safe than sorry” and piled onto the turf before Kenny McLean could stroke home that exquisite winner?
Just a couple of weeks ago, Rochdale scored in the 95th minute in a vital promotion decider against York City. Fans streamed onto the pitch.
There were only 60 seconds left on the clock. The referee could have just thrown up his hands and said “Well, it’s done now.” But he insisted on completing the game. It took six minutes to clear the pitch and kick off again. 75 seconds later, York equalised and won promotion.
Where do you draw the line? If it’s okay to end a game 30 seconds early because of thugs on the pitch, why not 60? Why not 90? Why not five minutes? We’ve proved above that 30 seconds is enough to turn defeat into victory. The only answer is that you can’t – you play to the end, and if circumstances prevent that then you don’t reward the thugs with a league championship, you abandon the match.
That’s not an abstract hypothetical assertion. It actually happened literally a week ago.
The consequences were swift. In the Czech Republic, that meant the club responsible – who would have clinched the league if the game had ended normally – forfeited the match, and suffered other severe punishments.
But every single person reading this knows that that won’t happen in Scotland, because as this site has documented for years, Scotland is a country where nobody rich or powerful is ever held accountable for anything, and that goes double when the body responsible for enforcement of the laws is the Scottish Football Association.
For the last 15 years the SFA (with the support of the press) has allowed a club that’s only existed since 2012 to claim it’s won the league 55 times, to the unending (and justified) fury of Celtic supporters. Yet those same fans are all over social media this weekend insisting that the laws of the game, which are the same across the globe, should not be applied when their club is guilty of the exact same offence as Slavia Prague.
And they’ll get their way, because in Scotland whoever screams the loudest wins. We’re a joke of a country with a joke of a football league that has now, because of blatant cheating in both cases, still only been won by two clubs (or rather, three clubs pretending to be two) in over 40 years.
There is no coherent argument whatsoever for allowing yesterday’s result to stand. It is absolutely clear by the laws of the game what should happen. But not one person thinks for a single second that it will.
We’d be depressed, readers, if only we were even a tiny bit surprised.
Politics
In the birthplace of Civil Rights Movement, groups rally to defend Black political representation
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the cradle of the modern Civil Rights Movement to mobilize a new voting rights era as conservative states dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called Montgomery “sacred soil” in the fight for civil rights.
“if we in our generation do not now do our duty, we will lose the gains and the rights and the liberties that our ancestors afforded us,” Booker said.
The crowd was led in chants of “we won’t go back” and “we fight.”
“We are not going down without a fight. We are not going down to Jim Crow maps,” said Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case.
A crowd of thousands gathered in front of the city’s historic Alabama Capitol, the place where the Confederacy was formed in 1861 and where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in 1965 at the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March. The stage, set in front of the Capitol, was flanked from behind by statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and civil rights icon Rosa Parks — dueling tributes erected nearly 90 years apart.
Speakers said the spot was once the temple of the confederacy and became holy ground of the civil rights movement.
Some in the crowd said the effort to redraw lines has echoes of the past.
“We lived through the ’60s. It takes you back. When you think that Alabama’s moving forward, it takes two steps back,” said Camellia A Hooks, 70, of Montgomery, Alabama.
The rally began in Selma, where a violent clash between law enforcement and voting rights activists in 1965 galvanized support for passage of the Voting Rights Act. It then moved to the state Capitol, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “How Long, Not Long” speech that same year.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana hollowed out voting rights law that was already weakened by a separate decision in 2013 and then narrowed further over the years. That helped clear the way for stricter voter ID laws, registration restrictions, and limits on early voting and polling place changes, including in states that once needed federal preclearance before they could change voting laws because of their historical discrimination against Black voters.
Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement are alarmed by the speed of the rollbacks, noting that protections won through generations of sacrifice have been weakened in little more than a decade.
Kirk Carrington, 75, was a teen in 1965 when law enforcement officers attacked marchers in Selma on what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” A white man on a horse wielding a stick chased Carrington through the streets.
“It’s really just appalling to me and all the young people that marched during the ’60s, fought hard to get voting rights, equal rights and civil rights,” Carrington said. “It’s sad that it’s continuing after 60-plus-odd years that we are still fighting for the same thing we fought for back then.”
City will be affected by Supreme Court ruling
Montgomery is home to one of the congressional districts that is being altered in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
A federal court in 2023 redrew Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District after ruling that the state intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up about 27% of its population. The court said there should be a district where Black people are a majority or near-majority and have an opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.
But the Supreme Court cleared the way for a different map that could let the GOP reclaim the seat. While the matter remains under litigation, the state plans special primaries Aug. 11 under the new map.
Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who won election in the district in 2024, said the dispute is not about him but rather people’s opportunity to have representation.
“When Republicans are literally turning back the clock on what representation, what the faces of representation, look like, what the opportunities, legitimate opportunities for representation look like across this country, then I think it starts to resonate with people in a little bit of a different way,” Figures said.
Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, said the Louisiana ruling provided an opportunity to revisit a map that was forced on the state by the federal court.
“People tend to forget what happened. When this thing went to court, the Republican Party had that seat, congressional seat two,” Ledbetter said last week. “There’s been a push through the courts to try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly what happened in that one.”
Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, said there is grief over the implosion of the Voting Rights Act but it is crucial that people recommit to the fight.
“We have to accept that this is the new reality, whether we like it or not,” Milligan said. “We don’t have to accept that this will be the reality for the next 10 years or two years or forever.”
Politics
If Burnham wants to get into No 10 contest, he must promise no EU return
Starmer mini-me Wes Streeting has turned on his former boss and confirmed his intention to stand to replace Keir Starmer in Downing Street. He has little prospect of winning — even Starmer would hammer him, according to the latest polling of Labour members. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has declared his intention of standing in the Makerfield by-election in the hope of getting into the contest. But Burnham faces the major hurdle of having to win a seat dominated by Reform in last week’s local elections.
But Streeting has — apparently unwittingly — opened a potential door for a Burnham win. Presumably in his desperation to improve his dire standing with party members, Streeting has told Europhile Labour right-wingers of the ‘Progress’ faction that he wants to take the UK back into the EU if he wins.
This will infuriate Makerfield Reform voters, who despise Starmer and want him gone but will not want to risk re-returning to the EU. But if they vote in a Reform MP, he (it will almost certainly be a man) will not be in a position to prevent Streeting carrying out his plan if Streeting manages to get into Downing Street. Burnham could. He is miles ahead of both Streeting and Starmer with Labour members — if he can get into Parliament to stand in the Labour leadership race.
Burnham — Two big gambles
Burnham has previously also mentioned rejoining the EU. But if Burnham he is serious about winning Makerfield, he needs to announce immediately that he will not attempt to rejoin the EU, at least in this parliament. Reform voters might then lend him their vote, especially if Burnham campaigns hard on Farage’s plans to replace the NHS with an insurance system. There are indications he or at least his advisers have realised this.
The big gamble then for Burnham would be that opposing re-entering the EU (the EU would be mad to accept us back anyway, mind) might put Labour members off him. But he is currently beating Starmer by 61%–28%, while Starmer is beating Streeting by 53%–23%.
He’s already taking a big risk by standing in a seat in which he’s a distant second favourite, when defeat will sooner or later cost him the mayoralty. Will he roll the dice to improve the odds in the first one?
Featured image via Gary Oakley/Getty Images
By Skwawkbox
Politics
Israel’s Moataz Tower attack targeted Gaza wedding, murders/maims woman, children
As Skwawkbox reported last night, the Israeli occupation bombed the Moataz Tower, one of its few surviving tall buildings in Gaza. But more details have emerged of the cynical, murderous attack — which targeted a wedding.
Israel followed its usual pattern of claiming it had aimed to kill a “senior Hamas” figure. The UK ‘mainstream’ media, if they bother reporting the atrocity at all, will parrot this line as though it’s not a war crime to slaughter hundreds of civilians to kill one man.
Gaza — life and limb
But they will not report the true aftermath of the crime, which robbed the wedding party and their guests of life and limb. Survivors fled the wrecked building, recounting the horrors of the attack as they came:
View this post on Instagram
Palestinian journalist Wadih Abu Al-Saud reported from the scene as rescuers spoke of severed limbs and heads, and of women and children trapped as the building burned:
View this post on Instagram
Israel perpetrated the attack on Nakba Day, when Palestinians remember the violent, colonial seizure of their lands and homes. The terror state remains able to function with impunity, in large part, because of the collaboration of western media and politicians.
Featured image via Omar Ashtawy/Getty Images
By Skwawkbox
Politics
Cracking empire: FBI offer huge bounty for ex-military operative who defected to Iran
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has offered a huge bounty for a former US military intelligence operative who defected to Iran. Monica Elfriede Witt is wanted on espionage charges. Witt used to work for air force intelligence and had high-level clearance.
The FBI announced on 15 May that it was offering:
a $200,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension and prosecution of Monica Witt, a former U.S. service member and counterintelligence agent who was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia in February 2019 on charges of espionage, including transmitting national defense information to the government of Iran.
The agency described Witt as:
a former active-duty U.S. Air Force intelligence specialist and special agent for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, served in the military between 1997 and 2008 before working as a U.S. government contractor until 2010.
Adding that her military service and later contracting work:
provided her access to SECRET and TOP SECRET information relating to foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, including the true names of U.S. Intelligence Community undercover personnel.
The FBI said Witt defected in 2013, giving secrets to Iran.
FBI has not forgotten, not forgiven
Daniel Wierzbicki of the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division, went full divorced dad fire and brimstone:
Monica Witt allegedly betrayed her oath to the Constitution more than a decade ago by defecting to Iran and providing the Iranian regime National Defense Information and likely continues to support their nefarious activities.
The FBI has not forgotten and believes that during this critical moment in Iran’s history, there is someone who knows something about her whereabouts. The FBI wants to hear from you so you can help us apprehend Witt and bring her to justice.
In 2019, the BBC reported that Witt took a Persian language course while serving and later worked for a private defence firm for years after leaving the military. Her contracted role involved consulting on:
“Iranian subject matter” and providing “language and cultural specialisation”.
In a later role at another military firm she:
“supervised, controlled, and co-ordinated the execution of highly sensitive counterintelligence operations against foreign intelligence services worldwide”.
The US and Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering unprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.
The Iranian government remains intact despite months of intensive US and Israeli attacks. The US-Israeli attack’s main achievement seems to be a global energy crisis after Iran predictably closed the straits of Hormuz, a vital oil channel.
It’s not clear why the bounty on Witt has suddenly been raised — she has been on the run since 2013, after all — though it may well have some connection to US president Donald Trump’s badly-backfiring war…
Featured image via theTimes
By Joe Glenton
Politics
A US lawmaker said 39 aircraft lost in Iran war and the Pentagon didn’t deny it
A US lawmaker has said the US has lost 39 aircraft in the failing Iran war. The number is considerably higher than previously suspected. The details emerged in a Senate hearing in the US.
The Express Tribune reported an exchange between Democratic Congressman Ed Case and Pentagon financial officer Jay Hurst “about the extent of damage suffered during the conflict”:
“We’ve lost about 39 aircraft, according to a report in The War Zone, and that’s an old one that’s almost one month old,” Case said, asking Hurst whether the Pentagon had calculated “a retention cost on all those aircraft.”
Hurst replied:
There are costs there, sir, but I want to get back to you in writing and what they specifically are, because, as you can imagine, repair of aircraft is something that’s very hard to calculate.
We want to do a full diagnosis of the aircraft before we estimate that cost.
Sounds like the Pentagon was playing for time. But Hurst did not deny the 39 figure outright.
The outlet added that according to Case:
39 aircraft were destroyed and another 10 sustained varying levels of damage.
The report also claimed that an F-35A Lightning II fighter jet was hit inside Iranian airspace and that a Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft was destroyed.
The claims could not be independently verified, and Pentagon officials did not publicly confirm the alleged losses during the hearing.
The US has been extremely guarded about losses in the failing war — including casualties. The Intercept’s Nick Turse reported on 1 April:
Almost 750 U.S. troops have been wounded or killed in the Middle East since October 2023, an analysis by The Intercept has found. But the Pentagon won’t acknowledge it.
U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, appears to be engaged in what a defense official called a “casualty cover-up,” offering The Intercept low-ball and outdated figures and failing to provide clarifications on military deaths and injuries.
US-Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering unprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.
The US has achieved none of its original war aims. Iran predictably closed the Straits of Hormuz, a vital oil channel, once attacked — creating a global energy crisis. Far from being defeated, Iran has said the war will continue until:
the enemy’s inevitable and permanent humiliation, disgrace, regret, and surrender.
Trump came to power on an anti-war ‘America First’ ticket. He now faces worldwide humiliation. The US president is currently scrambling for an off-ramp from the war he started.
Featured image via NBC
By Joe Glenton
Politics
Cassidy defiant as Trump's revenge campaign closes in
As Bill Cassidy fights for his political life, he’s refusing to acknowledge the political gravity surrounding him.
Five years after he cast a vote to convict President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial over Trump’s election denialism and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Cassidy is facing a challenge from Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.) and GOP State Treasurer John Fleming in a crucial Louisiana primary today that marks the next stop on Trump’s revenge tour.
In an interview with POLITICO on Saturday, Cassidy sounded disconnected from the reality he faces, frequently referring only to Letlow as “my opponent” while ignoring Fleming, and complaining about the state’s shift to a closed party primary back in 2024.
If Trump’s push to oust Cassidy succeeds, it could unleash another rogue in the Senate with a vendetta against Trump and nothing left to lose.
But Cassidy claims he’s not thinking about that. Asked whether he would be a thorn in Trump’s side in his remaining months in office should he go down and join other YOLO Republicans, Cassidy sounded defiant.
“I’m going to win today,” Cassidy said. “I may go into a runoff. But I’m always going to vote for the good of my country and my people.”
If no candidate clears 50 percent in today’s vote, the top two candidates will advance to a June 27 runoff. Recent polls show a tight three-way campaign. Most polling puts Cassidy in third place, behind Letlow and Fleming, another MAGA candidate.
Cassidy spoke with POLITICO by phone before he made his Election Day rounds after attending a wedding Friday evening. He talked of his plans to improve affordability and criticized Letlow for not voting for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
“I don’t quite know why, but it takes courage, and so you got to know what’s right, and then you got to have the courage to do what’s right, and that’s what I have,” Cassidy said. “I’ve proven it. That’s what this race is about.”
But in the final hours before results roll in, the senator who drew Trump’s ire over his impeachment vote was the one crying foul over voting issues.
Cassidy echoed his concerns about Louisiana’s move to a closed primary system, telling Playbook he had just gotten off the phone with a “No Party” voter who tried to cast a ballot for him but said he could not. Cassidy said he’s communicating with Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landy, who he said is investigating. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Today, I’m trying to make sure that people are able to exercise their right to vote … in a system which, in effect, has been designed to prevent people from being able to cast their vote for me,” Cassidy said.
He brushed off MAHA’s role in the primary. “People in our state want someone who has delivered,” he said. “If you’re talking about ‘Making America Healthy Again,’ my gosh, I’ve worked to make my state healthy again. And so if people are concerned about our state being healthier, then I’m your candidate.”
And he expressed no regrets over his impeachment decision.
“That is not something I think about.” Cassidy said. “If my opponent is focused on that, she’s thinking about five years ago. I’m thinking about five years from now. If she wants to be wedded to the past, be wedded in the past, but by golly, you’re not working for the future. I’m working for the future, that’s where I’m focused.”
Despite Cassidy’s resoluteness, GOP sources in Louisiana see an increasingly bleak outlook for Cassidy — no matter where he finishes at the end of the day.
“There is almost a 0.0 percent chance that Bill Cassidy is coming back to the Senate,” said an unaligned GOP strategist with experience running races in Louisiana and granted anonymity to assess the state of play.
“He’s run a lot of ads,” the person said, “and the problem with his ads is he’s in them.”
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Politics
Following Lamine Yamal, Sacha Boey raises Palestinian flag during Turkish league title celebration
French player Sacha Boey captured attention during Galatasaray’s Turkish League title celebrations when he appeared wrapped in the Palestinian flag amid the festivities held on Friday evening, a scene that garnered widespread interaction on social media platforms.
Fans on social media platforms circulated videos and photos of the 24-year-old French player holding the Palestinian flag on the pitch during the title celebrations, a moment that highlighted the recurring presence of Palestinian symbolism in the Turkish club’s celebrations over recent years.
Boey is considered one of Galatasaray’s most prominent players in recent seasons, operating as a right-back. He previously had a stint with German club Bayern Munich before returning to the Turkish league.
Sacha Boey joins the tradition
This was not the first time the Palestinian flag appeared in Galatasaray’s celebrations. Moroccan star Hakim Ziyech previously wore the Palestinian flag during the team’s Turkish League title celebrations in May 2024, coinciding with the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, which also sparked wide interaction across social media at the time.
Ziyech then posted a video clip on his verified Instagram account showing him wrapping the Palestinian flag around his body as he descended onto the pitch to celebrate the title win with his teammates.
Boey’s appearance with the Palestinian flag comes just a few days after the controversy sparked by young Barcelona star Lamine Yamal, after he raised the Palestinian flag during his team’s Spanish League title celebrations. This incident drew a widespread wave of Israeli anger, reaching the point of him being attacked by Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, who incited against the player and called on his club to “discipline” him, according to Israeli media reports.
In contrast, Yamal received political and popular support in Spain, where Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez defended him, stressing that expressing solidarity with Palestine aligns with the official position of the Spanish government supporting the recognition of a Palestinian state and a ceasefire in Gaza.
Galatasaray club and its fans are known for their repeated pro-Palestine stance. The team’s stands have witnessed the raising of solidarity banners with Palestinians on several occasions, condemning the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
During matches in February 2025, the Turkish club’s fans raised banners reading: “The world will remain captive if Palestine is not free,” alongside other slogans demanding an end to the “genocide” in Gaza, scenes that received widespread coverage across media and social platforms, as reported by Anadolu Agency.
Featured image via Haberler
By Alaa Shamali
Politics
Manchester United Legend Eric Cantona sears a shirt supporting freedom for ‘Palestinian Mandela’ Marwan Barghouti
Manchester United and France football legend Eric Cantona has once again stepped into the political and humanitarian spotlight after appearing in a shirt supporting the Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti. The move garnered widespread attention across social media platforms and international media.
Cantona posted a picture of himself wearing a shirt emblazoned with the slogan “Freedom for Marwan” as part of an international solidarity campaign calling for the release of Barghouti, who has spent more than two decades in Israeli prisons. Messages circulated by the campaign emphasized that the shirt is “not just sports attire,” but carries political and humanitarian symbolism associated with the values of freedom, resilience, and justice.
According to Anadolu Agency, the shirt’s design was inspired by the Palestinian national team’s jersey from 2002, the year Barghouti was arrested during the Second Palestinian Intifada. It also bears the number “24”, referring to the years he has spent inside Israeli detention facilities.
Cantona on Marwan Barghouti
In a statement accompanying the photos, the campaign added that Barghouti “will once again be unable to watch the World Cup with his children this year,” considering the message to transcend sports and shed light on the issue of Palestinian prisoners. The campaign also affirmed that football “has always been a global space for expressing freedom, dignity, and the rejection of injustice.”
Cantona is known for his political and humanitarian stance supporting human rights issues. He has previously expressed solidarity with Palestinians multiple times and criticized the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in recent months.
The French star’s photos provoked a massive reaction among football fans and social media activists. Many considered that the appearance of a global sports personality of Cantona’s stature grants the campaign additional media momentum, especially given the recent expansion of global sports and artistic solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Eric Cantona is considered one of Manchester United’s most prominent legends, having led the team to several domestic titles during the nineties, subsequently becoming a historical icon for the club and its fans worldwide.
Cantona’s action follows similar stances taken by a number of athletes and artists globally who have expressed their support for Palestine and their rejection of the war on Gaza — a scene that has been notably recurring in international stadiums and sporting events.
Featured image via the Canary
By Alaa Shamali
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