White House aide Kellyanne Conway twice violated the Hatch Act during the special US Senate election in Alabama late last year, according to the Office of the Special Counsel.
The Hatch Act of 1939 forbids employees in the Executive Branch from engaging in political activity. During the special election, Conway advocated for candidate Roy Moore (R) and railed against the ultimate winner, Doug Jones (D). Roy Moore was an accused pedophile.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is getting called out after she attempted to justify President Donald Trump's sudden reversal on his proposed tariffs, telling reporters that his actions make sense because he has a master plan to make the world bend the knee.
Trump declared a full 90-day suspension of all the “reciprocal” tariffs that took effect at midnight April 10—except for those on China—in a dramatic about-face from a president who had long championed his historically high tariff rates as permanent.
Tariffs on China, however, are not only staying in place—they’re going up. Trump announced they’ll rise to 125% from 104% following Beijing’s announcement of new retaliatory tariffs earlier that day. Meanwhile, all other countries hit with reciprocal tariff hikes will see their rates rolled back to the standard 10%, he said.
Outside the White House alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Leavitt slammed the press for failing to read Trump’s go-to book, The Art of the Deal, where he lays out his strategy of making bold opening demands as a setup for eventual compromise.
She said:
“Many of you in the media clearly missed 'The Art of the Deal.' You clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here. You tried to say that the rest of the world would be moved closer to China, when in fact we’ve seen the opposite effect.”
“The entire world is calling the United States of America, not China, because they need our markets, they need our consumers, and they need this president in the Oval Office to talk to them. And that’s exactly why more than 75 countries have called, because the United States of America is the best place in the world to do business."
"And as the president has shown great courage, as the secretary has said, in choosing to retaliate against China even higher.”
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Leavitt was criticized for her remarks.
Trump’s early afternoon reversal came after a tense week in which Republican lawmakers and close allies privately warned him the tariffs could tank the economy.
The markets wasted no time reacting. Stocks shot up, breaking a streak of losses that had shaken older Americans who rely on their 401(k)s—and left many rethinking when they might be able to retire.
Behind the scenes, Trump’s advisers had grown increasingly uneasy about what was happening in the bond market, a senior administration official said. Interest rates on 10-year Treasury bonds were climbing—an unusual signal during a market slump, when investors usually move their money into safer assets.
The result? Tariffs were driving up costs, and at the same time, borrowing was getting more expensive. That meant higher prices at the checkout line, steeper mortgage and credit card rates, and bigger hurdles for businesses looking to grow.
There's been a perception of a bit of an exodus from religion for the last several decades. But humanity has gone from no organized religions to oppressive religious regimes to rebellion and back again over the last several millennia.
But is the 21st century when religion finally fails to bounce back?
In the past, people often converted—or were forced to convert—from one religion to another, sometimes swapping deities in the process.
However, more and more people are becoming atheists or agnostics, indifferent to the existence of any gods and unwilling to attend a weekly meeting for one.
Reddit user lowly_shepherd asked:
"People who have stopped going to church, what made you stop?"
"The focus on appearances. It seemed like no one actually gave a sh*t what went on behind closed doors as long as they weren’t forced to acknowledge it."
"Felt like nobody would care if their back teeth were rotting out just as long as the front looked nice, so to speak."
~ ThatsAmoreMyGuy
"The many Evangelical Christian churches I attended in my area were purely social clubs."
"Everyone came to show off their clothes, babies, 'holiness' or whatever and then go back to being horrible when they walk out the door."
~ nndscrptuser
"I stopped going when I was 14 because two different people, one of them the pastor, told me that dinosaurs never existed."
"I really went home that night, sat on my bed, and said to myself 'I can’t let myself ever get that stupid' and I never went back."
"I was going 4 times a week, too—it was a big part of my life."
~ Not_Cartmans_Mom
"Noah's Ark was definitely the breaking point for my 12-year-old brain and the catalyst of my doubt of all religion."
"I distinctly remember the moment that I thought, 'Wait, where did all the water come from, and where did it go? How did they feed all the animals, especially the carnivores? How did they send undiscovered animals back to undiscovered lands and only mention the known animals? Why are some parasites on some continents and not others? Why is there not a massive fossil record of any of this?'."
"Just a *ahem* flood of questions that made me realize that all the other stuff was equally likely to be completely made up to keep people less panicky about dying and more fearful of being punished for being bad."
~ JSTFLK
"They said my mom’s cancer was God testing me and my family."
~ InspectorMadDog
"This one gets me incredibly angry each time."
"If God really is 'testing' people with these horrible situations, then is he really a good God? He has the power to make people's lives better, but a majority of people have immense suffering during their lives whether related to abuses around them, medical diagnoses, financial hardships, etc...
"So he doesn't care to improve people's lives, just to 'test' us?"
"My cousin committed suicide, and the priest told the hundreds of people at the service that 'God loved my cousin so much he couldn't wait for cousin to come to heaven'. No."
"My uncle emotionally abused his family enough that my cousin wanted it to stop. God didn't help in the 20 years of abuse, so why did God suddenly step in to 'save' him then?"
~ ValleyOfDoggos
"Holier than thou pastor was screwing his secretary for years while he was married."
~ hawken54321
"A church that I live about 2 miles away from had a huge scandal last year where the pastor,youth pastor, and both of their wives were swingers."
"Admittedly, isn't nearly as bad as other churches."
"But when you teach staying within the boundaries of marriage and then behind the scenes you're sexually promiscuous and committing adultery, people don't take kindly to it."
~ bman123457
"They seemed to want money more than anything else."
~ GeekyBookWorm87
"This is why my mom stopped going. Every sermon ended with the importance of giving them money."
~ AnnualLychee1
"My mom’s former church had a spreadsheet of everyone’s tithes. My mom gave every Sunday, but didn’t use the envelopes the church gave out."
"Someone leaked the spreadsheet made based on the envelopes and its existence understandably pissed off a lot of people, but my mom never attended again after seeing $0 next to our names."
~ Fishtacoburrito
"This always gets me: 'God loved this child so much he gave him an agonizing death of cancer'."
"So if God loves you very much, he kills you so you can go to heaven early? How does that make sense?"
"My grandma was over 100 when she died. Did God dislike her so much that he kept her alive just so he wouldn't have to meet her?"
"When people pray for a long life and happiness. Are they essentially praying, 'dear God, please don't love me very much, I don't want to go to heaven and experience eternal happiness just yet. I'd rather watch TikTok all night, before going to work a double shift at McDonalds in the morning'."
~ Ogloka
"I read the Bible. Came to very different conclusions than those I was taught in church."
~ JT_Hemingway
"I feel like I was born the most skeptical child imaginable, and when my dad wanted me to go to Sunday school, he gave me a copy of the Bible annotated for children and I read the whole thing cover to cover and I was that little a**hole that kept asking inconvenient questions."
"I went probably five or six sessions until I told my parents that I didn’t wanna go anymore because none of it made any sense."
"My mom‘s always been an atheist, but never said anything to me about it. My dad grew up Catholic."
"I think me strenuously objecting was the opening my Mom needed to cease my attendance which she had been secretly lobbying for since I was born."
~ Himajinga
"I stopped being forced to go."
~ Keypenpad
"Same! I think I was in my early teens when I realized I didn't really believe the stuff that was being taught in church, but my dad was a deacon so we went every weekend."
"I struggled for years trying to figure out what I believed and convincing myself that I wasn't bad for not believing in a God. When I moved in with my mom when I was 16, I never had to go again because she is an atheist."
"She actually went to church when she was married to my dad, but she didn't believe any of it either."
"Also, my dad stopped going a few years after I moved out, because he said that it was his job as a parent to get us to go and that job was over. And he's never been back."
~ lightningusagi
"I quit going to church because of the religious platitudes I received in respect to my cancer diagnosis, treatment, and remission. They were all some iteration of 'God has a plan' which really rubbed me the wrong way."
"I was very religious prior to this, but never believed in determinism. I always felt that determinism cheapened the necessity of free will and dumbed down God to this Santa Claus character in the sky that only granted wishes if you believed and prayed hard enough."
"Meanwhile funeral homes were hauling off dozens of corpses a day from my cancer center, many of whom prayed plenty hard enough and died anyway."
"Then the thought that magic genie God cured me really cheapened the fact that dozens of doctors and nurses were treating me with drugs developed by thousands of researchers working millions of hours to figure out how to scientifically kill my tumors with chemicals."
~ uniballing
"I have a working theory that going to a religious elementary school made met anxiety way worse than it would have been had I gone to public school."
"So much 'God is watching and will know if you sin' probably f*cked up my already not great brain as a kid."
~ Karsa69420
"I grew up in the 80's and my parents were Jehovah's Witnesses. So I had them telling me the world was going to end and at the same time we were doing drills in case of nuclear war at school."
"Every night on the news they talked about nuclear war. I remember just being a wreck."
"No child should have to be burdened by those things."
~ Padashar7672
"My family stopped going to a church that we'd been going to for ages. My parents were having financial hardships—we were going to food pantries at the time."
"The church guilt tripped them for not donating money we didn't have."
~ SongsForBats
"The pastor at my local megachurch drives a customized Lamborghini Urus. One of a handful of Lambos in the entire city."
"He and his wife couldn't give a rat's a** about anyone else."
~ theaviationhistorian
"I started to realize I felt guilty for things that weren’t truly wrong and didn’t negatively impact others."
"I now don’t need the interpretation of good and evil from others. I just do my best to be a good person on my own terms."
~ thefastestfridge
Have you stopped attending church? Why?
Dance Moms dancer, Nickelodeon child star, singer, and reality TV staple Jojo Siwa had a rough few months in 2024 over some problematic comments and behavior.
But 2025 is looking brighter as the public rallies to her defense.
Actor and boxer Mickey Rourke attacked Siwa with several homophobic comments and slurs while both Americans were participating in Celebrity Big Brother UK, which is aired on the British ITV network.
The official cast of Celebrity Big Brother UK 2025, airing Sundays-Fridays on ITV. #CBBUK #BBUK
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— Reality TV News/Updates (@realitytvfan.bsky.social) April 7, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Despite being the only Americans in the UK's Big Brother house, Rourke didn't try to form an alliance with Siwa.
Rourke began by asking the 21-year-old about her sexuality, then said he "could tell" after Siwa self-identified as a lesbian, but added that her partner—Australian actor, presenter, and health/fitness content creator Kath Ebbs—is non-binary.
The actor later told Siwa he could change her sexuality if he was around for more than 4 days.
To which Siwa responded:
"I can guarantee I’ll still be gay and I’ll still be in a very happy relationship."
After stating he could use force against Siwa to "convert" her, Rourke declared he'd vote out the lesbian "real quick."
Siwa responded:
"That’s homophobic, if that was your reasoning."
You can see the inexcusable behavior by Rourke—who is more than 50 years Siwa's senior—and the aftermath here:
- YouTubeyoutu.be
Not shown in the clip posted by the Big Brother UK franchise's YouTube account was the reprimand Rourke received for his offensive behavior and for violating the rules he agreed to follow. Rourke is only seen being called to the Diary Room after he reentered the house.
Once inside, the voice of Celebrity Big Brother UK told Rourke:
"Mickey, before you entered the ‘Big Brother’ house, the rules regarding unacceptable language and behavior were explained to you."
After a brief exchange with the actor, the voice announced:
"As a result, Big Brother is giving you a formal warning. Further language or behavior of this nature could lead to you being removed from the Big Brother house."
You can see what happened in the Diary Room here:
After emerging, Rourke told his housemates:
"Boy, did I get chewed out."
The group discussed what happened and how they felt about it with Rourke, who later offered a formal apology to Siwa, who accepted it and continued to be friendly to the actor.
While his housemates ultimately accepted Rourke's apologies, the public was less forgiving.
Made a comment on Reddit about Mickey Rourke saying he’ll turn Jojo Siwa straight being homophobic and rape-y sounding and now my notifs have some weird ass people in them.
[image or embed]
— Nicht (@immernichts.bsky.social) April 9, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Didn’t have Mickey Rourke calling Jojo Siwa a f*g while on Celebrity Big Brother UK on my bingo card for 2025
— Love.Angel.Music.Benji. (@benjiarmishaw.bsky.social) April 9, 2025 at 1:22 PM
@kileywrestling/Bluesky
never been the biggest fan of jojo siwa but what is happening in celebrity big brother is horrifying & shouldn't be happening a queer person is being threatened + bullied and it is NOT okay why is nothing being done? mickey rourke is a piece of homophobic trash why are they still in there?!
— flynn 🖤🩶🤍💜 (@flynn1597ttv.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 6:44 AM
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— Causeway Pride (@causewaypride.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Rourke was called out again later for body shaming housemate actor and comedian Donna Preston.
Rourke was nominated for eviction from the Big Brother house and many fans are now demanding it. His fate won't be revealed until the next episode airs tonight.
Speaking on Sophia Bush's Work in Progress podcast, former First Lady Michelle Obama addressed rumors that she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, were getting a divorce.
Obama addressed the recent divorce rumors for the first time, while also reflecting on the personal choices she’s made since departing the White House in 2017.
She said:
"The interesting thing is that, when I say 'no,' for the most part people are like, 'I get it, and I'm okay.' That's the thing that we as women, I think...we struggle with disappointing people."
"I mean, so much so that this year people were...they couldn't even fathom that I was making a choice for myself that they had to assume that my husband and I are divorcing."
"This couldn't be a grown woman just making a set of decisions for herself, right? But that's what society does to us. We start actually, finally going, 'What am I doing? Who am I doing this for?'"
"And if it doesn't fit into the sort of stereotype of what people think we should do, then it gets labeled as something negative and horrible."
You can hear what she said in the audio below.
Many appreciated her remarks and came to her defense.
Obama's remarks are notable considering she was earlier this year criticized by President Donald Trump's supporters following reports she would not attend Trump's inauguration.
At the time, a spokesperson for the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama said in a statement that while Obama's husband would attend the ceremony, she would not be present. The Obamas' statement did not provide an explanation for the former first lady’s absence.
The news marked the second instance in two weeks where she skipped a major public event attended by Trump. One week prior, she missed former President Jimmy Carter’s national funeral service, with her advisers citing a scheduling conflict. Had she attended, she would have been seated next to Trump, a situation avoided as her husband took her place alongside the incoming president.
Moreover, Obama has been vocal about her discomfort with politics, despite consistently ranking as one of the most popular Democratic figures in polls asking whom people would like to see run for president.
However, after her husband completed his second term, she firmly dismissed the idea of pursuing public office, stating unequivocally that she had no desire or interest in doing so.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was criticized after she had an ICE officer seemingly dodging her aim after she pointed a gun towards his head while filming a video.
In a 20-second video posted to X on Tuesday, Kristi Noem stands flanked by two Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, brandishing a gun. Wearing a vest marked "ICE," along with dark cargo pants and a cap, Noem addresses the camera while the two agents remain silent beside her—though some X users expressed concern for the safety of one of them.
In it, she says:
“Here we are with Marco and Brian today. They’re letting me roll with them. We’re going to go out and pick up somebody who I think got charges of human trafficking."
"We earlier had an op that swept up somebody that was wanted for murder. So appreciate the good work that they do every day, and we appreciate them working to make America safe.”
You can see the video below.
People were alarmed by Noem's gun-handling—or lack thereof.
Noem's experiences using guns have previously made national headlines, specifically after she laid out her decision to kill her dog in her memoir No Going Back. She wrote that “Cricket was a wirehair pointer, about 14 months old" with an “aggressive personality." She said she "hated" the "untrainable" dog and decided to shoot Cricket after taking her to a gravel pit.
The disturbing anecdote first garnered attention after The Guardianreported on it, noting that Noem also wrote about killing a goat she claimed was "nasty and mean" and “loved to chase” Noem's children.
Noem has defended the decision to kill her dog, framing the story as an example of the grimmer aspects of farm life that sometimes have to be faced. She said she has "never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle" and that she had simply "followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor."
Noem has pushed back against criticism, saying that she is not one to "shy away" from tough challenges. She added that she hopes those who read her book "will have an understanding that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life."
