Turkey's main opposition party has claimed big election victories in the main cities of Istanbul and Ankara.
The results are a significant blow for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had hoped to regain control of the cities less than a year after he claimed a third term as president.
He led the campaign to win in Istanbul, where he grew up and became mayor.
But Ekrem Imamoglu, who first won the city in 2019, scored a second victory for the secular opposition CHP.
Mr Erdogan had vowed a new era in Turkey's megacity of almost 16 million people, but the incumbent mayor of Istanbul secured more than 50% of the vote, defeating the president's AK Party candidate by more than 11 points and almost one million votes.
This was also the first time since Mr Erdogan came to power 21 years ago that his party was defeated across the country at the ballot box.
In the capital Ankara, opposition mayor Mansur Yavas was so far ahead of his rival on 60% that he declared victory when less than half the votes were in. Supporters blocked all the main roads in the city, waving flags and sounding their car horns.
Significantly, the CHP - the Republican People's Party - also seized control of Turkey's fourth-biggest city Bursa and Balikesir in the north-west, and retained control of Izmir, Adana and the resort of Antalya.
President Erdogan, 70, acknowledged the election had not gone as he had hoped, but he told supporters in Ankara it would mark "not an end for us but rather a turning point"... (our emphasis)
The only "turning point" we want to see is turning authoritarian Erdogan out of office (his term ends in 2028, and this defeat means he's less likely to try and stay in power like another authoritarian we loathe).
Michigan U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg suggested that nuclear weapons should be dropped on Gaza, which his office said was a metaphor to “support Israel’s swift elimination of Hamas.”
“It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick,” Walberg says in a video circulating on social media, referencing the Japanese cities that the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on at the end of World War II.
Walberg, a Republican from Lenawee County, also is heard in the video speaking out against humanitarian aid for those in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory on the brink of famine after more than five months of Israel's war against Hamas, militant group that set off the conflict with its Oct. 7 attack on Israeli citizens, killing 1,200 and taking 240 hostages.
“We shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid," Walberg said.
Walberg spokesman Mike Rorke said Saturday the eight-term congressman’s answer was in direct response to a question about American troops being deployed into Gaza to build a port to send aid to Palestinians...
Walberg is one of the worst of the worst; in other words, he falls right into the mainstream of his rotted out party. In addition to his reckless talk and Islamophobia, he's an election denier, a climate change denier, a forced- birther, anti- same sex marriage, and an Obama birther conspiracist. To the folks in Michigan's 5th Congressional District: you are who you vote for.
On Monday, thousands of children and their families will gather on the White House South Lawn for the annual Egg Roll, an Easter tradition that dates back to the nineteenth century.
But this year’s celebrations have been marred as Republican politicians and commentators falsely accused President Joe Biden’s administration of banning religious themes and symbols from the celebration’s art contest — failing to note that the policy has been in place during every administration for almost 50 years.
Much of the backlash began after Fox News published an article with the headline, “Religious-themed designs banned from White House Easter egg art contest,” citing a poster about the event that said religious symbols and themes are banned from submissions. Mr Trump shared the article on his social media platform, Truth Social — however, he did not comment on the article in his post.
The rule, however, began in 1978 under former president Jimmy Carter — and has remained in place ever since, including during Donald Trump’s administration.
The Fox News article and subsequent reaction prompted Elizabeth Alexander, Communications Director for First Lady Jill Biden, to explain the rule had been in place for 45 years. Then, the American Egg Board — an organisation that helps facilitate the event — had to make their own statement clarifying the rule had been enforced by previous presidents.
“The American Egg Board has been a supporter of the White House Easter Egg Roll for over 45 years and the guideline language referenced in recent news reports has consistently applied to the board since its founding, across administrations,” the organisation said... (our emphasis)
The article goes on to quote some of the high-minded Christofascist supporters of the Orange Calf, eager to get another phony culture war started over ... the Easter Egg Roll. What a bunch of small- bore cretins. (More on the "stupid-dangerous" effort to rile up the rubes here.)
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