The Algorithm Age

The US Congress has passed President Donald Trump's huge tax breaks and spending cuts bill, bringing an end to days of debate and overnight voting in the Capitol. House Republicans propelled the $4.5 trillion (€3.8 trillion) One Big Beautiful Bill Act to final congressional passage on Thursday, overcoming multiple setbacks to approve Trump's signature second-term policy package before a 4 July deadline. The tight roll call, 218-214, came at a potentially high political cost, with two Republicans joining all Democrats opposed. GOP leaders worked overnight and the president himself leaned on a handful of sceptics to drop their opposition and send the bill to him to sign into law. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York delayed voting by holding the floor for more than eight hours with a record-breaking speech against the bill. "We have a big job to finish," said House Speaker Mike Johnson. "With one big bea...

The Israeli government said Thursday that Donald Trump’s plan to relocate nearly two million Palestinians from Gaza is “still active,” despite widespread opposition from U.S. allies and warnings from rights groups that it would constitute a war crime. “President Trump has made clear that plan is most definitely still active,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said in response to a question from The Independent about the plan’s status. “We think it's a good idea. The Prime Minister has praised the idea. It's certainly out-of-the-box thinking,” he added. The White House did not deny the plan was still a possibility when asked by The Independent. “President Trump has long advocated for creative solutions to improve the lives of Palestinians, including allowing them to resettle in a new, beautiful location while Gaza rebuilds,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said. The comments come ahead of a visit from Israeli Prime Minist...

A decade ago, Donald Trump descended the golden escalator at Trump Tower in New York City and ignited a political movement that has reshaped American politics . In a memorable turn of phrase, Trump promised supporters of his 2016 presidential campaign that “we are going to make our country great again.” Since then, the Make America Great Again movement has dominated the U.S. political conversation, reshaped the Republican Party and become a lucrative brand adorning hats, T-shirts and bumper stickers. When asked what MAGA means to him, Trump, in a 2017 interview with The Washington Post said, “To me, it meant jobs. It meant industry, and meant military strength. It meant taking care of our veterans. It meant so much.” But Democratic leaders have a different interpretation of the slogan. Former President Bill Clinton in 2016 said of MAGA: “That message where ‘I’ll give you America great again’ is if you’re a white Southerner, you know exactly what it means, d...

On June 15th, Donald Trump declared war on blue cities. ”[W]e must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America's largest Cities, [which are] are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens,” Trump posted to Truth Social, riffing on the interlocking conspiracy theories that define his second term. The next day, at the G7 summit, a reporter asked Trump about the post. Why was he singling out Democratic cities? Trump falsely claimed that Joe Biden let in 21 million migrants of whom “vast numbers” were “murderers, killers, and people from gangs.” Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s mouth fell. His eyes darted back and forth, as if he were scanning the back of the room for a rescue party. Trump continued. Most of those people are in Democrat-run cities, he claimed, “and they think ...

Political and news cycles often work in a certain and predictable way. Issues flare like bushfires, then rage for weeks or even months, until they are finally extinguished by action or fade by being overtaken by the next big thing. On two very different fronts this week, we’re reminded how these cycles work. During the last term, the opposition constantly hammered the government over its handling of the former immigration detainees released after the High Court found they couldn’t be held indefinitely. These included people who had committed murder, child sex offences and violent assaults. On Sunday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke admitted in a television interview that the legislation the government passed to re-detain some of these people was, in effect, impossible to use. Burke’s comments attracted only limited attention. The other reminder of an old story came when the Federal Court ordered a militant Muslim preacher to remove inflammatory lectures from the internet...

Sinn Féin called on the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Tracy Kelly, to explain the decision to remove a portrait of President Michael D Higgins from Belfast City Hall. Following a social media post by Ms Kelly, Sinn Féin councillors were quick to notice that a portrait of Mr Higgins had been removed from a reception parlour in the building. Sinn Féin has now called on Ms Kelly to explain the decision to remove the portrait. The portrait had been placed in the reception room by Sinn Féin’s Ryan Murphy when he was lord mayor. The picture was put up after Mr Murphy received a portrait of King Charles and decided to place the two side by side. This was then followed by a formal event to mark the occasion. The portrait’s disappearance prompted Mr Murphy to question its whereabouts in a council meeting on Tuesday. Belfast City Council confirmed that the portrait, despite no longer being on display, is being safely stored at City Hall, ‘at the requ...

Fox News commentator Jason Chaffetz tossed a stunning accusation at Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday, claiming the New York City mayoral candidate “just wants to eradicate Jews” and “doesn’t believe in them.” The inflammatory assertion by Chaffetz – a former Republican congressman from Utah– comes as conservatives and centrist Democrats have widely smeared Mamdani as “antisemitic” – largely over his “refusal to condemn” the pro-Palestinian slogan “globalize the intifada.” While saying he doesn’t use the phrase or endorse it , Mamdani has added that his role as “the mayor is not to police language” while arguing that the term can mean different things to different people. He’s also vowed to tackle the “crisis of antisemitism” in the city, pushing for a significant increase in funding for anti-hate crime prevention. During an interview with The Bulwark, for instance, he said that while he sympathized with those who feel “intifada” is associated with violence against Isra...

The decision by three Republican senators to vote "no" on the megabill on its way back to the House before Donald Trump can sign it set off a mass outpouring of anger Tuesday afternoon on his Truth Social platform. Moments after the bill passed with Vice President JDVance's tie-breaker vote, GOP Sens. Thom Tillis (NC), Susan Collins (ME) and Rand Paul (KY) became enemies of the state in the eyes of the MAGA faithful, with one Trump fan calling them "insurrectionists." With a flood of complaints that the three are "Republicans in name only," or RINOs, commenter Monk lumped in Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) , who later admitted she would like to see the bill fail as it is written once it is returned to the House. Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story. "Now, primary Collins, Murkowski and Rand Paul!. America is sick of these RINO’s ," he wrote. Rugmakr added, "Yes indeed, ...

Glastonbury Festival may be the best festival in the world for music, but it's always politically-charged, and over the years has become known as a place for people to express themselves and engage in healthy debate when it comes to current affairs too. However, the 2025 festival has caused a stir in particular, not least because it's fallen at a time when there's a lot more conflict in the world, particularly in the Middle East, where the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, and the Israel-Iran war are dividing people. What's more, a lot of artists used their performances at the Worthy Farm site to call for peace, or even express their own support publicly for Palestine , which has been near-destroyed as a result of fighting. Bob Vylan became one of the biggest talking points of the weekend, when front man, Bobby Vylan (real name Pascal Robinson-Foster), led chants of "Death, death to the IDF" (Israel Defence Forces) among the crowd. The festival...

Glastonbury Festival may be the best festival in the world for music, but it's always politically-charged, and over the years has become known as a place for people to express themselves and engage in healthy debate when it comes to current affairs too. However, the 2025 festival has caused a stir in particular, not least because it's fallen at a time when there's a lot more conflict in the world, particularly in the Middle East, where the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, and the Israel-Iran war are dividing people. What's more, a lot of artists used their performances at the Worthy Farm site to call for peace, or even express their own support publicly for Palestine , which has been near-destroyed as a result of fighting. Bob Vylan became one of the biggest talking points of the weekend, when front man, Bobby Vylan (real name Pascal Robinson-Foster), led chants of "Death, death to the IDF" (Israel Defence Forces) among the crowd. The festival...

Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport One in three Scots are living in fear of rising crime levels amid plummeting police numbers, a damning new poll has found. Three times as many people also feel crime levels are getting worse rather than  better. The findings emerged as new figures showed the eye-watering scale and cost of overtime for Police Scotland’s stretched frontline. The Scottish Conservatives said law-abiding Scots had ‘clearly lost trust’ in the SNP ’s ‘soft-touch justice system’, while the body representing frontline officers called on ministers to making policing ‘a greater priority for Government’. SNP justice Secretary Angela Constance said she was ‘concerned’ by the survey results. The Survation poll for 1919 Magazine asked more than 1,000 adults to describe how much their local area crime rate had changed in the past two years. A total of 34 per cent some a lot or a little more, 44 per cent ‘a...

George Brandis is drawing a rather long bow to even include Sussan Ley and Gough Whitlam in the same column (“ What Ley can learn from Whitlam ”, June 30) but I’m assuming his intention is to bestow some kind of importance on Ley that has so far been elusive. Despite her impassioned narrative about her past, and her determination to “modernise” the Liberal Party, good luck with that – Ley is, in reality, a compromise leader who will be lucky to be leading by the next election, given the predatory nature of her predominantly male colleagues. That said, behind the beaming smile, her responses to questions on policy remain the same as any other politician, and certainly not Whitlamesque. Max Redmayne, Drummoyne For just a moment I thought Brandis had seen that “it’s time” and embraced Labor great Whitlam. But, alas, they are still as far apart as their surnames are in the alphabet. His overly verbose text really comes down to merely arguing that all Sussan Ley has ...

Paige Carter and her son Oaklan were front and centre when the Premier unveiled the state's first Minister for Autism almost three years ago. Ms Carter welcomed the "world leading" appointment of Emily Bourke and the state government promised to deliver nation-leading autism reforms. But the mother-of-two said she now felt "let down" and as though her family and the autism community were "used" by the government. "[Oaklan] was a good look for them, but they haven't come through so, I don't think there's any other way to feel other than used," she said. "... He [the Premier] can announce skyscrapers and LIV Golf and all these really cool exciting things for the state and yes they're amazing, but what about our little kids who can't even access an education?" The government has pushed back against these claims, pointing to the rollout of 400 autism inclusion teache...