Category: US Politics

President Donald Trump traveled to the Army/Navy football game Saturday afternoon, receiving a roar of cheers from the military cadets and midshipmen.

The annual game was held at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, at Michie Stadium.

The president entered the stadium with a fist pump as he walked to the center of the field to participate in the opening coin toss.

In response, the crowd roared with chants of “USA! USA! USA!”

Navy won the toss by calling tails.

The game was originally scheduled for Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia but was moved due to state limits on outdoor gatherings.

Trump also attended the annual rivalry game in 2018 and 2019, as well as in 2016 after he was first elected president.

The music streaming service Spotify has reportedly reset an undisclosed number of user passwords after claiming that a software vulnerability in its systems exposed privacte user information to its business partners.

TechCrunch reports that the music streaming service Spotify has stated that it was forced to reset an undisclosed amount of user passwords due to a software vulnerability in its systems that exposed private account information to the company’s business partners.

Spotify filed a data breach notification with the California attorney general’s office stated that the data exposed “may have included email address, your preferred display name, password, gender, and date of birth only to certain business partners of Spotify.” The company did not name the business partners but added that it “did not make this information publicly accessible.”

Spotify stated that the security vulnerability existed as far back as April 9 but wasn’t discovered until November 12. Spotify did not elaborate on what the vulnerability was or how user account data became exposed.

The data breach notification stated: “We have conducted an internal investigation and have contacted all of our business partners that may have had access to your account information to ensure that any personal information that may have been inadvertently disclosed to them has been deleted.”

A Spotify spokesperson confirmed that a “small subset” of Spotify users were affected but did not provide specific figures. Spotify has over 320 million users and 144 million subscribers.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com

Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Washington, rejected a student’s yearbook picture because she posed with an American flag draped over her shoulders. A statement from the school claims the decision was not made against what the flag represents, but out of respect: “We respect our flag as much as any school in the area and were concerned that in the photo submitted it was being used as a prop in the photo and was not being afforded appropriate regard.”

“The fact that I can’t have my senior picture in the yearbook because it contains the American flag in it amazes me,” wrote the student to her Facebook page on Monday, sharing a purported screenshot of an email she received from the school notifying her that her yearbook photo was denied.

“Are you kidding me right now? If the American flag offends you effing leave,” the student added. “Screw this school I want to switch Lewis and Clark High School.”

According to Lewis and Clark’s principal, Marybeth Smith, the American flag violates the school’s new policy, which states that “no props are allowed.”

“We have rejected a photo this year in which our American flag was displayed in a way not sanctioned by Title Four, US Code, Chapter One,” said Smith in a statement posted to the school’s Facebook page.

The statement went on to claim that while the American flag is not allowed to be featured in the student’s yearbook photo, the school does not and has not “banned the American flag from inclusion in photos.”

“We do not and have not banned the American flag from inclusion in photos,” said Smith in her statement. “In the past we have celebrated students who have enlisted in the military by using senior photos highlighting their branch of service – student in uniform and US flag displayed behind them. It’s been an honor to portray our seniors in this way.”

The statement added:

We say the Pledge daily during school, we have our flag displayed in accordance with Code guidelines on our stage during all school events and we even have one of the largest US flags in this area in our gym – it is celebrated during the playing of our National Anthem prior to athletic competitions held there. We respect our flag as much as any school in the area and were concerned that in the photo submitted it was being used as a prop in the photo and was not being afforded appropriate regard. We continue to work through the matter with the student. Thank you.

The student took to social media again on Tuesday to respond to some of the other criticisms that she had apparently received in response to her photo.

“Well I’m sorry for using the flag as ‘clothing or apparel’ and ‘draping it over me’ because that goes against certain guidelines (flag code),” the student wrote. “People have also pointed out that the stripes on the bottom of my shoes are offensive, but it’s not the American flag so they can calm down on that one.”

“I’m also not sitting on the ground nor am I sitting on the flag. I would NEVER let the flag touch the ground. I don’t think I’m the ‘exception’ or ‘entitled’ to anything, but I’m just reaching out since the school was not doing anything,” she added.

The student also noted that if people consider her photo with the American flag to be “clothing,” then it does not violate the school’s policy against using “props.”

“If everyone keeps claiming that I am using the flag as ‘clothing’ then there’s no way that it could be a ‘prop’ therefore making it acceptable in the yearbook,” the student said.

“I am sick of the people saying I am the opposite of patriotic for this picture and will let them spew the lies,” she added.

Principal Smith is expected to meet with the student and her parents to go over the new policy, according to a report by Country Music Family.

The student added that if she is not allowed to use the photo featuring the American flag, then she will not submit another one.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.

Illinois saw a 167 percent surge in applications for Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) cards through November this year as compared to 2017 numbers.

The Chicago Tribune reported there were 445,945 FOID card applications through November of this year as compared to “166,649 applications in 2017.”

More than 2.2 million Illinois residents currently have FOID cards.

Moreover, “the number of concealed carry licenses has swelled from 90,301 in 2014 to 343,299 in 2020.”

NBC 5 highlighted that the surge in FOID card applications and jump in concealed carry licenses have been coupled with a sharp increase in gun purchases in Illinois. They note that Illinois State Police data indicates “more than 500,000 inquiries about gun purchases through November” in the state, so those inquiries are coming in at a level 45 percent higher than witnessed in 2019.

According to Fox 32 article, Illinois State Police “struggled” to keep up with the demand for FOID cards, and there is now “a processing period of 121 days.” The processing time for a concealed carry license is currently averaging 145 days.