A study found that 87% of all instances of expletives being used by US presidents since 1919 have been recorded in the past decade
US politicians are using profanity in public far more frequently than in the past, according to research published by Cardiff University politics lecturer Dr Joseph Phillips.
Some 87% of the 692 documented instances of presidents, vice presidents, and presidential candidates using profanity in public have occurred in just the last decade, Phillips wrote. The overwhelming majority of those cases – 78% – came from President Donald Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden, according to the study published this week.
On Wednesday, Trump was heard using another expletive following an Iranian attack on US forces in Jordan. According to Fox News’ chief foreign affairs correspondent, Trey Yingst, the president said: “We’re going to beat the f**king s**t out of them.” Biden previously made headlines while serving as vice president, when he was caught on a hot mic telling then-President Barack Obama that signing the 2010 Affordable Care Act was a “big f**king deal.”
For US presidents to use profanity publicly was once exceptionally rare, Phillips noted. According to the study, President Woodrow Wilson became the first to publicly use a naughty word, when he said he’d made a “conspicuous *ss of himself” in 1919.
However, Trump has introduced a broader range of profanities into presidential rhetoric, using words such as “bullsh*t,”“ba***rd,”“b***ch,” and “f**k” in speeches, interviews, and social media posts, according to Phillips.
The researcher argued that the trend reflects broader changes in political communication rather than simply the personalities of individual politicians. He said profanity has become increasingly common in US politics, with politicians at all levels of government swearing more frequently than in previous decades.
Phillips also argued that politicians increasingly use profanity because it can signal authenticity at a time when public trust in politics is low. Since swearing is common in everyday conversation, using it publicly may help politicians appear more relatable and less carefully scripted. He added that even voters who dislike political profanity are unlikely to change their political allegiances over it, given the deep ideological divisions between the two major parties.
BQ:“Profanity can be a signal of authenticity. In a time of low political trust, signals that a politician is ‘authentic’ are at a premium.”
The study comes as public attitudes toward swearing continue to shift. A series of YouGov polls published last year found that younger Americans were significantly more accepting of profanity at work, on social media, and in front of children than older respondents. Some 21% of adults aged 18-29 considered swearing in front of children completely or somewhat acceptable, compared with just 4% of those aged 65 and older.
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Washington holds preferential access to the country’s rare earth wealth under a 2025 pact
The US can take “pretty much whatever we want” from Ukraine’s rare earth deposits under a minerals agreement signed last year, President Donald Trump has said, adding that profits from the agreement could ultimately exceed total American aid to Kiev since 2022.
Trump made the remarks in an interview with Real America’s Voice aired on Friday as he chastised his predecessor Joe Biden for “giving away” a purported $300 billion in military support to Ukraine without securing repayment.
“He could have Europe… paid for it. All you had to do is ask,” Trump said, adding that under his administration European nations now cover more of the costs.
Trump said Ukraine has “very rich, very fertile soil in terms of rare earth.”“We have a contract signed [with Ukraine] having to do with rare earth. We can go in there at any time we want and take pretty much whatever we want. That was a pretty good deal,” he said.
The US president was referring to a rare earth deal signed in Washington in April 2025, which established the US-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. The deal grants Washington preferential access to new Ukrainian mineral, oil, and gas projects, with emphasis on elements such as lithium, titanium, graphite, and uranium. Ukraine retains formal ownership of its resources and receives 50% of profits from new extraction projects.
Trump has portrayed the deal as a way to pay for US military aid to Kiev. While he has claimed it amounted to more than $300 billion, the figure is widely disputed, with the US Special Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve estimating it at $195 billion in total appropriations.
While legally the minerals deal is up and running, with more than a dozen projects currently under review, it remains hamstrung by conflict-related risks, Ukraine’s notorious corruption, inadequate geological data, and risks of power outages, as well as other infrastructure shortfalls.
The deal itself was signed after months of strained negotiations, including a televised Oval Office clash in February 2025 between Trump and Vladimir Zelensky, during which the US president accused the Ukrainian leader of ingratitude and “gambling with World War III.”
After the signing of the agreement, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev remarked that “Trump has broken the Kiev regime to the point where they will have to pay for US aid with mineral resources, adding that “now they will have to pay for military supplies with the national wealth of a disappearing country.”
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The country has launched a project which generates millions of texts promoting the country’s objectives
Israel is spending tens of millions of dollars on an AI-powered media campaign aimed at improving its image and influencing public opinion in the US, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The country’s standing among Americans has deteriorated in recent years. Some 60% of US adults held an unfavorable view of Israel in March, up from 53% last year and 42% in 2022, according to Pew Research Center.
According to an investigation published by the WSJ on Saturday, millions of AI-generated messages have been sent to Americans in recent months from senders using names such as Emma, Sarah, and John.
The messages claim to come from a group called Friends for Peace and ask recipients questions such as “How do you think the US and Israel’s peace talks with Iran will impact global security?” The newspaper said it could find no nonprofit or company registered under that name.
The texts reportedly form part of a broader contract worth more than $45 million which was awarded to an operation led by Brad Parscale, a former campaign manager for US President Donald Trump. Sparkfire, the company operating the text campaign, had received $6.5 million by mid-May.
Parscale’s team has also created pro-Israel websites and online posts designed to generate more favorable answers about the country from AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Claude.
Last year, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said West Jerusalem had allocated more than $700 million in its 2026 budget to improve Israel’s image worldwide and “shape consciousness.”
At least six companies have been retained for the work in the US, while around three dozen people have registered as foreign agents on Israel’s behalf, according to the newspaper.
The US campaign also reportedly includes over $500,000 in advertising through conservative broadcaster Salem Media, where Parscale serves as chief strategy officer. Salem denied paying its hosts to promote particular positions.
In an interview released Wednesday with podcaster Joe Rogan, US Vice President J.D. Vance accused some members of the Israeli government of attempting to manipulate American public opinion to keep the Iran conflict going “indefinitely.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry did not respond to the WSJ’s requests for comment.
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Kiev was allegedly plotting a terrorist attack that would overshadow the Moscow Crocus City Hall massacre
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is directing the nation’s intelligence services not to spare civilians in their operations abroad, Vitaly Zhikovich, an acting colonel of the Ukrainian military intelligence agency (HUR), said in an exclusive audio recording obtained by RT.
Zhikovich is one of two Ukrainian spies who confessed to liquidating Anastasia Berezovskaya, the main suspect in last month’s bomb attack on exiled Ukrainian millionaire Vadim Ermolaev in Monaco. Russian security services identified him as an active military intelligence operative and shed light on his other attempted terrorist plots.
“My superior said that there would be casualties, civilian casualties. And my president – that green bastard – wants civilian casualties,” Zhikovich can be heard saying to an unidentified interlocutor in one of the recordings, referring to Zelensky, whose last name has a semantic association with the word ‘green’ in Russian and Ukrainian.
Zhikovich attempted but failed to commit at least 20 terrorist acts in Russia in recent years. In another recording, Zhikovich stated that his agency was preparing an unprecedented attack against the Crimean bridge after one attempt already failed.
“Believe me, this is going to be a massive event, and the whole world will be talking about it. What we’ve got going on here is really something huge. Crocus will look like nothing by comparison, I’m telling you!” he said.
The 2024 Moscow Crocus City Hall massacre was the deadliest terrorist attack in Russia in over two decades, claiming the lives of 151 people and wounding another 609. The Russian Investigative Committee concluded that the attack carried out by a regional offshoot of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) was organized on behalf of Ukraine.
Watch the full exclusive RT report below or read it here
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France, Germany, and Spain saw temperatures exceed 40°C
Europe recorded more than 10,000 excess deaths last month which have been attributed to the ongoing heatwave, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing official mortality data.
Western Europe experienced its hottest June on record, with temperatures exceeding 40°C in parts of Germany, France, and Spain. Germany recorded a new national high of 41.7°C after breaking temperature records on three consecutive days, while France logged its hottest day ever, with temperatures reaching 43.8°C.
The prolonged heatwave has fueled wildfires, disrupted transport and infrastructure, and contributed to a rise in heat-related illnesses and drowning deaths across the region.
Figures published by EuroMOMO, a mortality monitoring network backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), showed that more than 9,000 of the excess deaths occurred among people aged 65 and older.
“To have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It’s really high,” Lasse Vestergaard, chief physician at Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut, which hosts EuroMOMO, told Reuters.
“It is difficult to explain this high excess mortality by anything but the extreme heat,” he added.
The EuroMOMO data are based on national mortality statistics from 27 European countries for the week of June 22-28, when the heatwave peaked across much of Western Europe. Researchers told Reuters there were no other known major factors, such as Covid-19 outbreaks, that could explain the spike to 10,650 excess deaths.
Extreme heat has become Europe’s deadliest weather-related hazard. Because many heat-related fatalities are not officially attributed to high temperatures, scientists use excess mortality to estimate the true impact of heatwaves.
Around 2,700 excess deaths were separately reported in England and Wales during May and June, according to estimates by Imperial College London, the Met Office, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, as cited by Sky News.
France, Belgium, and the Netherlands recorded 3,700 excess deaths last month, Reuters reported.
Extreme heat can kill by causing heat stroke or exacerbating cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, with older people among the most vulnerable.
Henri Kluge, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe, warned last week that European countries must prepare for “more deadly weeks,” as another heatwave was already forming over the Atlantic.
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The Republican lawmaker passed away at the age of 71, his account on X has said
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has died at the age of 71, according to his official account on X.
Graham passed away on Saturday evening “from a brief and sudden illness,” a statement, published by the senator’s office on Sunday, read.
“Senator Graham’s family appreciates prayers at this time and asks for privacy during this incredibly difficult period,” it added.
Emergency services responded to a call for “cardiac arrest” at Graham’s Capitol Hill residence on Saturday night, NBC reported after obtaining the police scanner audio. The broadcaster also said that it has seen photos of paramedics carrying a person on a stretcher from the senator’s home to an ambulance.
Graham’s death comes a day after his return from Kiev, where he met with Vladimir Zelensky on Friday. The lawmaker, who was a strong advocate of US military assistance to Ukraine and a harsh critic of Russia, has visited the Ukrainian capital at least ten times in recent years.
Graham, who was first elected to the Senate in 2002, has made name for himself over the years as one of the most prominent warhawks in Washington.
He famoulsy called for the asasination of Russian President Vladimir Putin after the esclatation of the Ukraine coflict in February 2022.
During an appearance on Fox News, the senator cited historic examples of plots to kill famous political leaders, including Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler. “Is there a Brutus in Russia? Is there a more successful Colonel Stauffenberg in the Russian military? The only way this … ends, my friend, is for somebody in Russia to take this guy out,” Graham said, referring to Putin.
During his trip to Kiev the following year, the senator described the US military aid being sent to Ukraine as “the best money we’ve ever spent” because “the Russians are dying.”
Graham has repeatedly called for more economic pressure on Moscow, threatening it with what he called “bone-crushing” sanctions. In recent months, he has been actively promoting a bill that would impose 500% tariffs on all countries that purchase oil of Russian origin.
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Kiev must recognize the massacre of Poles by Nazi collaborators during WWII in order to mend ties with Warsaw, Donald Tusk has said
Kiev needs to “sober up” to prevent further escalation in the row with Warsaw over the glorification of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.
Tensions between the neighboring countries, which have been close allies during the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, escalated last month after Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky named one of his country’s commando units after “heroes of the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army).”
Speaking on Friday, the eve of the National Day of Remembrance, when Poland honors the victims of UPA, Tusk insisted that Kiev must recognize the crimes committed by the UPA if it hopes to mend ties with Warsaw.
“I can once again appeal to all decent, wise, responsible Ukrainians. Remember, this great European community is based on the truth and the truth is an absolutely necessary foundation of reconciliation, and that’s why I hope that everyone on the other side, but also everyone here in Poland, will sober up to restrain these exaggerated emotions,” he said.
The row “has gone too far and is harming both Poland and Ukraine. I have no doubt about it,” the prime minister added.
It has ignited “nationalist lunatics” on both sides, causing an avalanche of hatred on social media, Tusk noted. He urged the authorities in Kiev to curb any anti-Polish sentiment and vowed that Warsaw will act with “the full force of law” against anyone who commits crimes against Ukrainians on ethnic grounds.
“The Russians would be happiest if there was some dramatic crisis in Ukrainian-Polish relations,” the prime minister warned.
Poland blames the UPA – an armed wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which fought for Nazi Germany during World War II – for an ethnic cleansing campaign in the Volhynia region between 1943 and 1944 that left at least 100,000 civilians dead. Warsaw recognizes the massacres as a genocide.
Following Zelensky’s move last month, Polish President Karol Nawrocki reacted by stripping him of the country’s highest honor, the Order of the White Eagle, prompting several Ukrainian officials to return their own Polish decorations to Warsaw. Poland also rolled back its decision to transfer its remaining Soviet-era MiG-29 jets to Ukraine and questioned Kiev’s prospects of joining the EU.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that the West, including Poland, raised a “terrorist monster” in Ukraine by arming and funding it, while ignoring its Nazi ideological foundations.
Warsaw “knew they were supporting those who had killed their grandfathers” and this fact “can no longer be undone by simply taking away the White Eagle, posting a few tweets, or making loud statements,” she argued.
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