Cardi B and Stefon Diggs go public with PDA-packed date night at NBA playoff game amid Offset divorce
Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner were also sitting courtside as the New York Knicks beat the Boston Celtics Monday night.
Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ proposal offers ‘MAGA accounts’ with $1K for newborns
A draft of President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” includes a proposal to establish so-called “MAGA” savings accounts for children. The pilot program — described as the “money account for growth and advancement” or “MAGA account” in the GOP bill released on Monday — would give every baby with a Social Security number born in the…
Trump begins Middle East tour meant to reboot global power plays and more top headlines
Former Columbia Prez Armstrong Set To Return to Campus. Plus, GOP Senators Draw a Nuclear Red Line.
Back so soon? Columbia University announced last month that former president Katrina Armstrong would be taking a sabbatical following a disastrous deposition before the White House’s anti-Semitism task force. She was to “spend more time with her family.” But she’s apparently had enough: Armstrong is set to resume her role as CEO of Columbia’s medical center in June, sources familiar with the matter told our Aaron Sibarium and Eliana Johnson.
At the April deposition, Armstrong said she had “no specific memory” of anti-Israel activists calling for the destruction of Israel. Nor could she recall reports that Jewish students were spit on or that a faculty member described Jewish donors in class as “wealthy white capitalists” who “laundered” “blood money”—incidents documented in Columbia’s own anti-Semitism report.
“The end of her brief sabbatical comes at a delicate time for the university and could complicate Columbia’s efforts to prove to the Trump administration that it is taking anti-Semitism seriously,” Sibarium and Johnson write. “More than 80 anti-Israel protesters—including an employee of Columbia’s sister school, Barnard College—were arrested last week after they commandeered a campus library and injured two police officers.” Among those arrested were several students who had been permitted to return to campus following previous suspensions, highlighting “the university’s failure to expel activists who violate school rules.”
READ MORE: Columbia’s Armstrong to Return From Sabbatical as CEO of Medical Center
GOP senators draw red line: A trio of Republican lawmakers is calling for any Iran deal to mandate the complete dismantlement of the regime’s nuclear program. Sens. Katie Britt, Tom Cotton, and Lindsey Graham introduced a resolution last week that would require Iran to “forgo domestic uranium enrichment, the reprocessing of spent fuel, and the development or possession of any enrichment or reprocessing infrastructure or capacity,” our Adam Kredo reports.
“Despite the clear language from Republican senators, the executive branch has sent mixed signals about whether Iran will be permitted to continue enriching uranium as part of a revamped nuclear deal—perhaps the most contentious aspect of any agreement,” writes Kredo. President Donald Trump has said he hasn’t decided on the issue, while Vice President J.D. Vance has indicated the regime “can have civil nuclear power.”
As the White House deliberates over whether to let Iran continue enriching uranium, a recent deal between Iran and Moscow “has the potential to complicate things.” Russian president Vladimir Putin has “agreed to extend a line of credit to Tehran, begin building a new nuclear facility in the country, and expand ongoing work at the Bushehr plant.”
Free the gas stoves: The Trump administration on Monday announced it would scrap “dozens of energy efficiency regulations targeting common household appliances that the Biden administration issued as part of its climate agenda,” our Thomas Catenacci reports. The sweeping action will save consumers north of $11 billion and trim the U.S. Code of Regulations by more than 125,000 words.
The regulatory rollback will affect “rules restricting sales of certain types of gas-powered stoves and ovens in addition to microwaves, clothes washers, dishwashers, faucets, shower heads, and dehumidifiers,” Catenacci writes.
“It should not be the government’s place to decide what kind of appliances you or your restaurants or your businesses can buy,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the Free Beacon earlier this month. “Everybody wants clean air and wants to lower their energy costs and run their factories good as they can.”
“The big hand of government doesn’t actually help that process at all,” Wright added.
READ MORE: Free the Gas Stoves: Trump’s Energy Department Axes Dozens of Biden Appliance, Energy Regulations
Away from the Beacon:
- Jeh Johnson, who served as DHS secretary under Barack Obama, has been named co-chair of Columbia University’s Board of Trustees, the school announced last week. What could go wrong?
- Hamas on Monday released Edan Alexander, the last known American hostage in Gaza, following pressure from Trump and ahead of his visit to the Middle East.
- During an executive order signing at the White House on Monday, Trump dismissed concerns about Qatar giving him a luxury Boeing 747 jet to be used as Air Force One. “I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane,'” he told reporters.
- According to Politico, a number of Democratic Party insiders are upset by Joe Biden’s attempts to return to the spotlight. “It’s time for Joe Biden to go away with all due respect and let the next generation of Democrats take the mantle,” Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha told the publication. Amanda Litman, who cofounded the progressive group Run for Something, said every Biden interview “drags us backwards and reminds people of the older generation of Democrats that got us into this mess.”
Check out our full Tuesday lineup below.
The post Former Columbia Prez Armstrong Set To Return to Campus. Plus, GOP Senators Draw a Nuclear Red Line. appeared first on .
Real Madrid Coach Ancelotti Confirms Exit And Brazil Switch
Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed that he will leave the club and become the new manager of the Brazil national team at a press conference on Tuesday.
Rapper Tory Lanez stabbed 14 times in prison attack while serving for Megan Thee Stallion shooting
Democratic National Committee panel voids David Hogg’s election as party vice chair
Taliban Bans Chess In Afghanistan: ‘Means Of Gambling’
Taliban Bans Chess In Afghanistan: ‘Means Of Gambling’
We weren’t aware that the game of chess could lead to a raging gambling addiction, but apparently the Taliban thinks so…
“The Taliban government in Afghanistan has banned chess until further notice due to fears the game is a source of gambling,” BBC reports Monday. “Officials said the game has been prohibited indefinitely until its compatibility with Islamic law can be determined.”
“There are religious considerations regarding the sport of chess,” Atal Mashwani, the spokesman of the Taliban government’s sports directorate, told AFP news agency. “Until these considerations are addressed, the sport of chess is suspended in Afghanistan.”
He explained that chess in Islamic sharia law is “considered a means of gambling” – but didn’t explain further on how this might be so.
It is but the latest absurd, draconian move by Taliban authorities since seizing power again in August 2021, following a more than two decade war with occupying US-NATO forces.
Some cafe owners have been quoted in Western media reports as describing chess as one of the few positive and healthy activities young people in the country can engage in.
But with many sports and intellectual activities also restricted and deemed ‘unIslamic’ – there are fewer and fewer games and hobbies the population has access to, also amid ongoing economic collapse and suffering.
“Chess has been gaining popularity in Afghanistan in recent years, according to Khaama Press,” Russia’s TASS notes. “A few days before it became known about the ban, a group of activists has asked the government for funding to develop chess in the country.”
According to a historical outline from Chess.com:
The Taliban had also banned chess soon after coming into power in Afghanistan in 1996, but the game returned as a popular pastime in the country after the regime change in 2001. At the Batumi Olympiad in 2018, Afghanistan won the D Category with CM Khaiber Farazi, CM Habibullah Amini, Wais Abdul Khaliq, Ashrafi Sulaiman Ahmad, and Safy Kanz Ahmad in the team. The Taliban retook control of the country in 2021 and has now announced the suspension.
But many Islamic countries and populations across the Mideast region routinely send chess players to international competitions and events. The Taliban has once again set itself apart as the ‘most extreme’ government in the region and the world.
Certainly, this ‘pause’ which is likely to lead to a more permanent ban on playing chess in Afghanistan won’t help the Taliban’s chances of getting international sanctions against it lifted.
‼️ In connection with the situation with the ban on chess in Afghanistan, I have prepared an appeal to the Taliban leadership with a request to reconsider their decision. pic.twitter.com/pP7qojbLJ6
— Кирсан Илюмжинов (@Kirsan__) May 11, 2025
The war-ravaged country’s pre-Taliban population, for example back in the 1970s, was actually somewhat liberal, cosmopolitan and open – with women regularly wearing European fashions, and Islamic garb was rarely seen in the cities.
All of that changed with the CIA’s Operation Cyclone, which saw American and allied operatives (such as in Pakistan’s ISI) arm, train, and equip radical Afghan and Arab mujahideen. These militants would later form the core of the Taliban and its terror allies.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 05/13/2025 – 06:55
Tom Cruise Urges Young Actors to Learn Filmmaking Tech, Which Is ‘Not Taught in Film Schools’: ‘Brando Understood Lighting. All the Greats Did’
Tom Cruise took a moment while receiving a British Film Institute Fellowship (via Times of London) to urge young actors to learn about the craft of filmmaking. The A-list actor bemoaned film schools for failing to teach production tools and filmmaking technology to aspiring actors, as it’s important for all actors to know about lighting, […]