Keith Self

Having just returned from a trip to China, I can tell you that if I were drawing a picture of relations between our two countries today, it would be two elephants looking at each other through a straw. That is not good.

Episode 4 examines the history and politics of guns and hunting in Maine, the state’s unique 'yellow flag' gun laws and its powerful gun lobby, which shaped state officials’ response to the Lewiston shooting.

A bill to avert a partial government shutdown that was backed by President-elect Trump failed to pass the House of Representatives on Thursday night, pushing Congress closer to a government shutdown.

“Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are leading a team of detectives to ferret out waste and fraud in the federal budget,” notes James Piereson at The New Criterion.

Here are some of the many influential and noteworthy people who died in 2024.

Minnesota Democrats’ leader thinks the national party must communicate better in new media spaces and restore its reputation as a champion for workers.

President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff. And, here's a dive into what his first 100 days in office could look like based on his campaign promises.

Calling Donald Trump a fascist is a political mistake.

The U.S. Naval Academy is under fire after it invited — then uninvited — a distinguished expert on authoritarianism and fascism to give a lecture.Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a professor of history and Italian Studies at New York University, where her bio says she "writes about fascism, authoritarianism, propaganda, and the threats these present to democracies around the world." She is the author of books on fascism and serves as an advisor to the nonpartisan nonprofit organization Protect Democracy. She is also an MSNBC opinion columnist, where she appears as a commentator, as she does on other news networks.For weeks, since early October, right-wing media has been criticizing the U.S. Naval Academy for inviting her to speak.The Daily Caller, founded by Tucker Carlson, described Dr. Ben-Ghiat as "an outspoken anti-Trump guest" who was invited to "give the keynote speech at a high-level lecture this month.""Ben-Ghiat announced that she'd be speaking at the event in an op-ed last month and further claimed that former President Donald Trump was an 'authoritarian 'and drew comparisons between him and world dictators," The Daily Caller's Jake Smith wrote in an opinion piece.READ MORE: ‘Within Two Seconds’: Trump Vows to Fire Special Counsel Jack Smith if Elected President"I will be speaking about what happens to militaries under authoritarian rule, touching on Fascist Italy, Pinochet's Chile and the Russian military during the war on Ukraine," Ben-Ghiat had written in a Substack post, which The Daily Caller cited. "That brings us to today's post, on why Donald Trump insults the military."The Daily Signal, founded by The Heritage Foundation (although now it says it is an independent organization) reported: "Naval Academy Allows Bancroft Lecture Series to Become Politicized.""Anti-Trump historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat is scheduled to lecture midshipmen on 'authoritarianism,'" two Heritage Foundation officials, Mathew Lee and Wilson Beaver, wrote at The Daily Signal in a piece marked commentary. They called for the Naval Academy to retract the invitation to Dr. Ben-Ghiat.The Heritage Foundation is the headquarters of Project 2025. The ACLU calls Project 2025, "a federal policy agenda and blueprint for a radical restructuring of the executive branch authored and published by former Trump administration officials in partnership with The Heritage Foundation, a longstanding conservative think tank that opposes abortion and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrants’ rights, and racial equity. Project 2025’s largest publication, 'Mandate For Leadership,' is a 900-page manual for reorganizing the entire federal government agency by agency to serve a conservative agenda."Dr. Ben-Ghiat in her Substack piece also wrote about Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where a cemetery official was "pushed," allegedly by Trump campaign staffers, according to an Army report. A judge on Tuesday ordered the Pentagon to release its records related to Trump's visit there in August, by the end of this week."The conduct of Trump and his campaign on those hallowed grounds violated federal prohibitions against election-linked activities at military cemeteries," Ben-Ghiat wrote. "The photos and videos they took there also showed graves of U.S. service members whose families had not given permission. Additionally, a Trump aide shoved an Arlington employee who was trying to enforce the rules, and Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung claimed she initiated the aggression and was having a 'mental health episode.'""It seems counter-intuitive when you are running for president and commander-in-chief to insult the U.S. military," she added. "But that hasn't stopped Trump: insulting and mocking the military are among his most consistent habits."On Tuesday, in an opinion piece in the Baltimore Banner, Rick Hutzell slammed the Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 for getting Dr. Ben-Ghiat's lecture canceled. (The U.S. Naval Academy is based in Annapolis, Maryland.)"If Trump wins, the right-wing thought police will come for the Naval Academy," Hutzell wrote in a scorching editorial."You could hear the spittle fly as the Heritage Foundation shouted out its latest intellectual assault on the Naval Academy," he wrote. "All over Ruth Ben-Ghiat and a lecture the midshipmen likely will never hear.""Her politics were the problem, not her lecture.""As controversies go, it was easy to miss this one. It all took place within the conservative media ecosystem. But it could foreshadow what might happen to the U.S. service academies if Trump is elected next month," he added. "Deep within Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s 925-page roadmap for the next Republican president, its authors say they want the service academies scrubbed of anything and anyone deemed insufficiently pure of thought — exactly what they did to Ben-Ghiat."Ben-Ghiat in an email told Hutzell: “The lecture had nothing to do with contemporary America and I was not going to mention Mr. Trump at all in this strictly nonpartisan event at an institution, the U.S. Naval Academy, which I greatly admire.”Hutzell wrote that Heritage "Foundation 'researchers' Matthew Lee and Wilson Beaver made the connection a month after Ben-Ghiat’s announcement and simply made up the rest, assuming she planned to attack Trump." He also pointed to another piece at The Daily Signal by "Heritage Foundation mouthpieces Hans von Spakovsky and Cully Stimson," and n0ted that "U.S. Rep. Keith Self — a West Point graduate who represents a district north and northeast of Dallas — wrote Vice Adm. Yvette M. Davids, the academy superintendent, and demanded that she cancel the lecture."READ MORE: ‘God, Religion and Teaching of the Commandments’: Eric Trump Says Dad Saved ‘Christmas’He also reports The Daily Signal's managing editor called for an apology from the Naval Academy, and Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee "called for an explanation.""The harrumph over Ben-Ghirat smacks of hamfisted stagecraft. It’s not about protecting young minds from learning what tools authoritarians use, it’s about preparing the case for an intellectual bloodletting," Hutzell concluded.Others lashed out at the Naval Academy."This is a shameful move by @NavalAcademy. If our armed services are truly training people to be loyal to the Constitution, not to an individual, this is one lecture they need to hear. Very disappointing," declared attorney and former FBI Special Agent Asha Rangappa, a legal and national security expert.She also blasted the "members of Congress who do not want students at service academies to learn what happens when you turn into Hitler’s generals," likely a response to news of Trump allegedly praising Hitler and saying he had wanted "Hitler's generals."Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, a professor of law and MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst, pointing to Ben-Ghiat being disinvited, warned: "This is exactly what she's been warning about—caving in to the demands of authoritarian leaders, even before they're in place. Dangerous & shameful."Historian and professor of strategic studies Phillips P. O'Brien, author of several books including, "How the War Was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II," called Hutzell's editorial a "terribly worrying story about how MAGA pressure is already leading to censorship in the US military. The US Naval Academy disinvited the distinguished historian @ruthbenghiat from delivering a major lecture because of Heritage-MAGA pressure."READ MORE: Trump’s Current Campaign Manager Shared Statements Blaming Him for J6 ‘Insurrection’

Republican Texas Rep. Brian Babin and a group of House Republicans sent a letter Tuesday to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), slamming them over a recent announcement that Lebanese nationals inside the U.S. will now be eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and work authorization due to war in the Middle East. The Daily [...]

The Supreme Court turned away a failed Minnesota state senate candidate’s challenge to rulings that he falsely implied to have the Republican Party’s support during his 2022 write-in campaign. The Republican Party of Minnesota and the state’s Democratic attorney general insisted that Nathan Miller’s First Amendment appeal was riddled with errors and the issue was [...]

Ethel Kennedy, who lost her husband Sen. Robert Kennedy to assassination, has died. She was 96.

U.S. Representative Keith Self also says all sanctions in place against Iran should be enforced.

The House of Representatives took a step toward averting a partial government shutdown just before Election Day.

Letter to the Editor: A misleading cartoon blames Kamala Harris for inflation and high food and fuel prices.

Preaching to teenagers has always been a challenge.

The Committee on Education and the Workforce shared a letter exclusively with Fox News Digital requesting an investigation into claims Education Secretary Cardona violated the Hatch Act.

Letters: Getting rid of the tax on Social Security would be a far greater help to seniors than the crumbs from the table of disingenuous politicians like Susan Wild.

Walz allows for Harris to “turn a corner” in her policy on the war in Gaza, said James Zogby, president of Arab American Institute.The post What Tim Walz Could Mean For Kamala Harris’s Stance on Gaza and Israel appeared first on The Intercept.

A federal judge said that Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy has not been officially dismissed because the former New York City mayor has refused to pay administrative expenses — even though he seems to have the funds to do so.In July, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane said he would dismiss the bankruptcy case at the request of Giuliani and two former Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. Giuliani had initially declared bankruptcy after a court ordered him to pay Freeman and Moss $148 million for defamation.In a five-page order on Thursday, Lane noted that the order to dismiss the case had not been entered into the court record because Giuliani claimed he could not afford to pay related administrative expenses."The administrative expenses in question are the fees for the financial advisors retained by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors," the judge's Thursday order said. "What little we know about the Debtor's financial situation makes his stance here more troubling.""Even assuming that the Debtor does not have the funds on hand to immediately pay these bankruptcy expenses, he certainly has considerable assets upon which he can draw to pay such expenses," Lane continued. "It is undisputed that he owns two apartments of considerable value."Giuliani's New York apartment was said to be worth $5.6 million, and his Florida apartment was valued at approximately $3.5 million.EXCLUSIVE: Trump ‘secretary of retribution’ won't discuss his ‘target list’ at RNCLane explained that the "most obvious path forward" would be to hold hearings to determine Giuliani's financial conditions and possibly force him to testify."[T]here may come a point when dismissal is no longer an option because the Debtor is unwilling to pay these administrative expenses, a necessary requirement under the law for dismissal of the case," Thursday's order said. "Under such circumstances, the Court may be forced to reevaluate the alternative of a Chapter 11 trustee to supervise the administration of the Debtor's financial affairs and to promptly liquidate assets such as the New York apartment as appropriate."Lane gave Giuliani and his creditors until July 31 to submit proposals for a path forward.