LEFT: Donald Trump and Tom Homan (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) RIGHT: Stephen Miller (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller is reportedly far less influential now than he was at the outset of President’ Donald Trump’s second term.

According to The Atlantic‘s Michael Scherer and Nick Miroff, Trump “has also told others in recent weeks that he understands Miller sometimes goes too far.” Miller’s power began to wane when Trump “recognized immediately after the second killing in Minneapolis, of the protester Alex Pretti, that the policy needed to shift. Miller, on the other hand, referred to Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” in the immediate aftermath of his death.

Recent months have seen Trump backpedal away from numerous policies advocated by Miller, including a plan to cut the number of visas for seasonal workers by 50%, after consulting with border czar Tom Homan.

“The new secretary is listening to Tom Homan and Rodney Scott before he is ever listening to Stephen Miller,” one senior administration official told Scherer and Miroff.

A former official declared, “The president knows who he is, period.”

From The Atlantic‘s story:

There have been no accounts of clashes or tension between Homan and Miller, and the former has even praised the latter as “one of the most brilliant people I’ve met in my entire life.” But from the start of the administration, they have advocated for different approaches to Trump’s mass-deportation campaign. Miller has emphasized sheer numbers, and Homan prefers a quality-over-quantity approach that prioritizes immigrants with criminal records. “I have always worked, and continue to work closely, with Stephen and now Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin to deliver on the President’s commitment to the American people,” Homan told us in a statement.

But Homan’s approach is the predominant one right now, and the department has been quietly reversing changes that Miller ordered. Miller had pushed aggressively to fast-track training for new ICE hires, slashing the academy course to about eight weeks. The accelerated schedule alarmed veteran ICE officers, and the hiring surge was marred by high dropout rates. In recent weeks, ICE reverted to a four-and-a-half-month training program similar to its former academy course, according to three officials who were not authorized to discuss the change.

Still, Scherer and Miroff reported that “White House insiders said that Miller remains a top adviser to the president, that he has a singular relationship to Trump built over the past decade, and that his job is not in jeopardy.”

A bombshell report from The New York Times last March suggested that at the peak of his powers, Miller was setting “the agenda” for the Trump Department of Justice.

“It was clear from the start that Mr. Miller, who is not a lawyer, would exercise control inside the department, current and former Trump aides said,” observed the Gray Lady at the time.

The post ‘The President Knows Who He Is’: Stephen Miller Reportedly Sidelined by Trump Admin first appeared on Mediaite.

After keeping things low-key with iOS 26.3, Apple rolled out a sizable update for iOS 26.4—especially for Apple Music users. That app's UI now matches the art of the album you're checking out; you can use AI to generate new playlists, and find upcoming concerts by the artists you're listening to directly in the app. Combined with other new changes, like eight new emojis and the new "Urgent" section in Reminders, iOS 26.4 was actually quite a feature-filled update. iOS 26.5, on the other hand, is arguably another quiet one.

Don't expect any massive new features or changes here (despite some rumors to the contrary, Apple really does appear to be saving its AI Siri for the launch of iOS 27), but there are some interesting updates to call out. In my view, two features define this update: one good, one frustrating.

Apple Maps gets ads in iOS 26.5

It's official: Apple Maps is getting ads. It's part of Apple's push to introduce ads into more of its apps and services in order to boost its revenue. (What's a $4 trillion company to do?) These ads will appear when you search in Apple Maps, based on relevance, as well as at the top of a "Suggested Places" screen that is also new to iOS 26.5.

You should easily be able to distinguish between ads and suggested locations: Apple says it's placing a blue "Ad" icon on any paid location that appears in search or Suggested Places. It's possible these ads could even be useful, if they really are relevant: If you're looking for a specific type of food in a particular city, perhaps the top ad really is the way to go. On the other hand, the fact that it was paid to be up there could be a red flag.

The addition of ads isn't a shock: We first heard rumblings of this news last year, and Apple confirmed it last week. Because this is Apple, the company is assuring users that its ad placements take privacy into account, as the app "doesn’t know which stores, neighborhoods, or clinics you visit." When you interact with an ad, that data is tied to a "random identifier" that changes multiple times an hour, so theoretically, no one should be able to tie your ad interactions to you personally.

RCS end-to-end encryption is finally here

After months of testing, Apple officially rolled out end-to-end encryption for RCS—one of the last big limitations the protocol has on iOS. iPhone users should now be able to text their Android friends directly without leaving their messages out in the open in plain text. That's assuming, of course, their Android friends are also using a messaging app that supports encrypted RCS. At the moment, that largely means the most recent versions of Google Messages.

When Apple finally rolled out RCS support for iPhone, it was a true game-changer. Green bubble texts no longer need to be something to fear; now, group chats can function correctly, photos and videos can be sent in high resolution, and you can use read receipts outside of iMessage. But end-to-end encryption was missing, which made the experience just as insecure as SMS. Going forward, we can all message with a little more peace of mind.

You can quickly pair Magic Accessories to your iPhone

If you have one of Apple's "Magic" accessories, like a Magic Keyboard, you can quickly pair it to your iPhone in iOS 26.5. You can plug your iPhone into the accessory via USB-C to pair, as you do on macOS, rather than fiddling with Bluetooth settings. Once you do that, the accessory can quickly pair to your iPhone via Bluetooth, which should make switching devices easier.

There's a new "Pride Luminance" wallpaper in iOS 26.5

Credit: Apple

As part of the company's latest Pride collection, there's now a "Pride Luminance" wallpaper that refracts light and color. Apple says the design is two-fold: The radial design features rays of color that align with the hour, while a vertical design divies up the colors into sections.

You can now pay for annual subscriptions month-by-month (not available in the U.S.)

iOS 26.5's final new feature makes it a bit easier to stomach paying for an annual subscription—assuming you don't live in Singapore or the U.S. With this new update, you can now pay for annual subscriptions month-by-month. Instead of dropping $120 on an annual plan all at once, you could instead pay $10 per month. You're still locked in for the year, so you'll need to commit to 12 months of payments, but at least it feels like a monthly subscription to your wallet. However, despite being home to Apple HQ, the U.S. can't take advantage of this change yet. Hopefully, that'll come with iOS 26.6, or maybe iOS 27.

President Donald Trump warned Space Force is “surveilling” sites in Iran and the United States will take out anyone they see involved in nuclear activity.

Trump joined Sharyl Attkisson on Sunday’s Full Measure where she asked about the state of the Iran war. Trump has mentioned a new deal being on the table, but he’s complained that the country’s leadership is fractured and non-committal on deals. U.S. officials have warned Iran about targeting and charging tolls to ships in the Strait of Hormuz amid a ceasefire.

“I did a thing called Space Force, and they are watching that every [day]. If somebody walked in, they can tell you his name, his address, the number of his badge. No, we have that very well-surveilled. If anybody got near the place, we will know about it, and we’ll blow them up. We’ll blow them up,” the president declared.

Check out the exchange below:

SHARYL ATTKISSON: Where are we in the war if we’ve not yet gotten the nuclear materials, the enriched uranium from them?

DONALD TRUMP: Well, we’ll get that at some point, whatever we want. We’ll have it surveilled. You know, I did a thing called Space Force, and they are watching that every [day]. If somebody walked in, they can tell you his name, his address, the number of his badge. No, we have that very well-surveilled. If anybody got near the place, we will know about it, and we’ll blow them up. We’ll blow them up.

ATTKISSON: So is it accurate to say you think the combat operations are over and done?

TRUMP: No, I didn’t say that. I said they are defeated, but that doesn’t mean they’re done. We could go in for two more weeks and do every single target. We have certain targets that we wanted and we’ve done probably 70% of them, but we have other targets that could conceivably hit. But even if we didn’t do that, you know, that would just be final touches, but even if we didn’t do that, it would take them many years to rebuild.

Watch above via Full Measure via KATU-POR (ABC).

The post Trump Warns Space Force Is Watching Iran’s Enriched Uranium and If Anyone Gets Close ‘We’ll Blow Them Up’ first appeared on Mediaite.

Democratic strategist James Carville went nuclear on the Supreme Court on Saturday, singling out Chief Justice John Roberts as looking like a “whiny p*ssy baby.”

“I told y’all a week or 10 days ago that the Supreme Court was not legit. Some of you motherfuckers like took issue with me. Well, now you’re not anymore, now are you?” Carville said in a video for Politicon.

Carville ripped into the Supreme Court and state Supreme Courts over redistricting efforts across the country ahead of the midterms. He blasted the Supreme Court for shooting down a Louisiana congressional map after it was challenged as racial gerrymandering. Louisiana is now at risk to lose a Black-majority district.

Carville argued the goal is to “disenfranchise” as many Black voters as possible.

“I hate to say this to my Black brothers and sisters, but you can forget about f**king equal protection and due process in this country now. I hate say that. I hate be the bearer of bad news, but I can only tell you the facts,” he said.

Carville blasted conservative Justices like Samuel Alito over the decision.

“You think this motherf**ker cares one iota about the rule of law?” he asked.

He then brought up Virginia where Democrats have taken issue with the state Supreme Court overturning a new congressional map. Democrats have also raised issue in Tennessee where a new congressional map was signed into law. Democrats have accused Republicans of getting rid of representation for majority-Black districts like Memphis.

Carville called the current Supreme Court “not legit” and singled out Roberts.

He said:

Then we go to Virginia, right? There’s Republican control of the Supreme Court. Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, Indiana. Alabama, Tennessee, they’re just doing it. In Virginia, there was actually an election authorizing the redraw in the congressional district. You think they gave a f**k? Of course they didn’t. But it’s the idiots, the godd*mn idiots in the commentariat that want to like pretend these people are legit and it’s Roberts looks like some little whiny pussy baby out there. “You gotta respect, we worked so hard,” oh bullsh*t.

Roberts recently pushed back on what he argued are public misconceptions about the Supreme Court, saying the American people view the Justices as “political actors.”

“I think at a very basic level, people think we’re making policy decisions, [that] we’re saying we think this is what things should be as opposed to this is what the law provides,” he said. “I think they view us as truly political actors, which I don’t think is an accurate understanding of what we do. I would say that’s the main difficulty.”

Carville continued:

You can laugh at them. You can mock them. As of now, you can still do that. They might come get my a*s. But that’s still an available option to you. But anytime that you’re told that any of this sh*t is on the up and up or it’s legit, or these are just people who are trying under the best circumstances they can to arrive after duly researching the previous statutes, the Constitution, previous decisions, tradition, and all that sh*t, they don’t care about that. They care about one thing, keeping Republicans and, more importantly, keeping corporations in power.

Carville eventually argued the only way to properly reform the Supreme Court is to expand it, dismissing “normal measures.”

“You cannot reform. This is an irredeemably corrupt Supreme Court that cannot be reformed through normal measures,” he said. “It can only be reformed by adding four more members, which is constitutionally permissible to do with a legislative majority. It’s the only f**king thing you could do with these people.”

Watch above via Politicon.

The post James Carville Torches ‘Whiny P*ssy Baby’ John Roberts and Supreme Court in Scorched Earth Rant first appeared on Mediaite.

Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) argued Black Americans are “waking up” to how the Democratic Party treats them like simpletons and believe they are “too stupid” to bring identification to vote.

Hunt went off on the Dems during an appearance on Saturday in America on Fox News. Host Kayleigh McEnany asked Hunt about an Axios report last week titled “GOP spots an opening with Black voters,” which reported on how the Republican Party is trying to keep its momentum with Black Americans rolling.

The congressman said it made sense the GOP was gaining with Blacks, because the Republicans are the party of “common sense” compared to the Democrats. He said a prime example is the Democratic opposition to the SAVE America Act, the legislation backed by President Donald Trump that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

“Democrats are trying to say that having an ID to vote, requiring an ID to vote, is Jim Crow 2.0,” Hunt said. “The last time that I voted, I walked into the booth, stood in line with Asian people, Black people, you name it. Pulled out my ID, showed it to them, and I voted just like everybody else. There is nothing racist about that.”

He continued, “In fact, the Democrats are the ones who are saying that they believe that we are too stupid to have an ID to vote. I call it the soft bigotry of low expectations. Black men in particular are waking up to this.”

Hunt added earlier that Black Americans were increasingly gravitating towards the Republican Party because the Dems are too worried about having Megan thee Stallion twerking at the DNC, “open borders,” and that “biological men can compete against biological women” in sports.

His answer comes after the aforementioned Axios report said “the share of Black adults identifying as or leaning Democratic fell from 77% in 2020 to 66% in 2023 — roughly an 11-point drop.”

Watch above via Fox News.

The post Black GOP Lawmaker Claims Democrats Believe ‘We Are Too Stupid’ to Have Voter ID first appeared on Mediaite.

(AP Photo/Ryan M. Kelly)

Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Don Scott (D) announced his party “respects” the decision of the Virginia Supreme Court to overturn a new congressional map passed by the legislature and signed off on by Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger (D), while others sounded off on the ruling.

“We respect the decision of the Supreme Court of Virginia,” Scott said in a public statement after Friday’s 4-3 decision.

He continued:

I’m proud that Virginians came out in historic numbers, made their voices heard, and sent a message not just here at home – but across the country – to Donald Trump and his administration.

Three million people voted in a free and fair election. We gave this decision to the voters – exactly where it belongs – and they spoke loud and clear. They voted YES because they wanted to fight back against the Trump power grab.

That truth doesn’t change because of a court ruling. This was always about more than one election – it was about whether the voices of the people matter. And no decision can erase what Virginians made clear at the ballot box.

We respect the court. But we will keep fighting for a democracy where voters – not politicians – have the final say. Because in Virginia, power still belongs to the people.

Democratic leaders in the state shared mix reactions to the Supreme Court’s decision, including Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, and Lt Gov. Ghazala Hashmi.

“The Supreme Court of Virginia has told voters in the Commonwealth that their voices can simply be discarded. This decision does not exist in isolation. It comes amid years of assaults on fundamental civil rights, the battles for voting rights, escalating hyperpartisanship, and coordinated efforts to erode public trust in democratic institutions. These actions disenfranchise voters and weaken the very principles of our country,” Hasmi said.

Jones said the Republican-led majority court got it legally wrong and accused the judges of putting “politics” over the law.

“The consequences of their error are grave,” Jones said.

Kaine said the state’s Supreme Court threw Virginians’ votes “in the trash can.”

The new congressional map would have given Democrats an advantage in all but one of the state’s districts.

Governor Spanberger announced she was “disappointed” by the court’s ruling on Friday, saying voters “made their voices heard” and tried to “push back against a president who said he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress.”

“I am disappointed by the Supreme Court of Virginia’s ruling, but my focus as Governor will be on ensuring that all voters have the information necessary to make their voices heard this November in the midterm elections because in those elections we — the voters — will have the final say,” she said in her statement.

The post Top Virginia Dem ‘Respects’ Supreme Court Decision Nixing Gerrymander While Others Fume first appeared on Mediaite.

Gmail does a decent job at filtering junk mail to the Spam folder, but there are always the marketing emails, newsletters, and other mass messages that slip through to your inbox. Maybe you accidentally signed up for a mailing list, or you wanted those promo emails at one point, but now they've become too much. You can keep deleting them one by one—or you can take action to remove spam from certain senders once and for all.

Set up filtering to banish unwanted emails

Filtering is one of our favorite Gmail hacks for moving junk emails straight to the trash. Select the messages in your inbox from as many senders as you want to filter out, click the three-dot menu at the top of the screen, and select Filter messages like these. On the pop-up, click Create filter and check Delete it. Be sure to also check Also apply filter to [X] matching conversations. Future emails from filtered senders will automatically go to Trash.

Filter entire domains instead

If you're still getting emails from a sender you've filtered out, it may be because they're using multiple aliases on the same domain. To solve this, you can set up a filter for an entire domain. Go to Settings > See all settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses and select Create a new filter. Add the domain (@[domain].com) to the "From" field, select Create filter, and check Delete it.

Unsubscribe en masse via 'Manage Subscriptions'

You can unsubscribe from mailing lists by clicking "Unsubscribe" at the bottom of each individual email you receive, but this is both tedious and a potential security risk, as threat actors have been known to hijack these links for malicious purposes. At minimum, opening the email and clicking any link therein confirms that your email address is active and ripe for targeting. Google updated Gmail last year to include a "Manage Subscription" view, which centralizes mailing list and promotional emails in one place with a one-click unsubscribe option. In the left-hand navigation bar, click More > Manage subscriptions, locate the sender, and click Unsubscribe to be removed from that sender's list.

Note that Gmail may not pull all email campaigns into this view—if that's the case for a list you want to unsubscribe from, you can click Unsubscribe at the top of the email itself (next to the sender's address) instead or use the next step to block the sender entirely.

Use the 'Report spam' button ruthlessly

If you find yourself deleting emails from the same senders over and over, report them as spam instead. This helps Gmail to recognize these and similar messages as junk, which over time can reduce how much clutter actually reaches your inbox. Select the email and click the Report spam button at the top of your inbox to move the message to your spam folder. Gmail automatically deletes spam after 30 days.

Block external images to prevent tracking

Marketing emails typically have tracking pixels—invisible 1x1 images used to monitor online activity—embedded that let senders know when you open a message, which is why you should stop opening emails you don't want and use one of the above strategies to filter, delete, or block them instead. To add an extra layer of protection, you can keep external images from loading in emails unless you explicitly allow them. Go to Settings > See all settings. On the General tab, scroll to Images and select Ask before displaying external images.

Keep your email address private and use aliases instead

An obvious way to keep junk from reaching your inbox is to avoid giving out your email address in the first place. You can create a second Gmail account to use solely for subscriptions, shopping, service sign-ups, etc. so any lists you are added to are directed straight to a separate inbox. Gmail also has unlimited aliases via "plus addressing," so you can easily see where spam is coming from. Or you can create burner accounts via "hide my email" services in browsers, password managers, or Apple iCloud.