Politics

USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter apologized on Monday for his team's edit of the Iranian flag in World Cup social media posts ... though he insisted he and his players had no say in the matter.

The U.S. Soccer Federation's posts were up for several hours on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook on Saturday ... showing Iran's flag without the emblem of the Islamic Republic in it.

U.S. soccer officials said the scrubbing was on purpose, telling CNN it was a planned 24-hour change to show "support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights." The normal flag had been restored by Sunday afternoon.

The move, however, was panned by Iran ... and the country's state media asked FIFA on Sunday to kick the U.S. out of World Cup action over it all.

"According to section 13 of #FIFA rules," Tasnim News Agency tweeted, "any person who offends the dignity or integrity of a country, a person or group of people ... shall be sanctioned with a suspension lasting at least ten matches or a specific period, or any other appropriate disciplinary measure."

FIFA has yet to comment on the issue -- though Berhalter was peppered with questions about it during a meeting with reporters just 24 hours before the U.S. is slated to play Iran in a must-win match on Tuesday. The loser is likely eliminated from the tourney.

Berhalter said "players and the staff knew nothing about what was being posted" ... calling it "out of our control." He did, though, say he was sorry.

"All we can do on our behalf is apologize on behalf of the players and the staff," he said, "but it's not something that we are part of."

The 49-year-old manager then said he and his team's focus is strictly on Tuesday's match.

"I don't want to sound aloof or not caring by saying that, but the guys have worked really hard for the last four years, we have 72 hours between England and Iran, and we really are just focused on how to get past Iran and how we can go to this knockout stage of the tournament."

"Of course, our thoughts are with the Iranian people -- the whole country, the whole team, everyone. But our focus is on this match."

Kanye West grabbed dinner with radical right-wing extremist Milo Yiannopoulos Sunday night, and one of the dinner guests -- Ray J.

A table for 6 was set at Giorgio Baldi in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. We don't know who else joined, but Milo told the hostess on his way in that Ray J was among the guests.

Despite the obvious connection between Kanye and Ray J -- Kim Kardashian -- it seems shocking Ray J broke bread with this group, given Kanye's antisemitic rants and association with white nationalists like Nick Fuentes.

As we reported, Kanye is in lockstep with Fuentes, dining with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago and traveling cross-country with him.

President Biden's recruiting the best for a huge honor -- Jon Batiste will perform at the administration's very first White House state Dinner.

The black-tie affair will go down Thursday ... and the night is all about putting a spotlight on the United States' tight relationship with France, as well as honoring French President Emmanuel Macron.

Sure, Batiste's name will make Macron feel at home ... but he's also the current holder of the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, so even more fitting he's being tapped for this gig.

Of course, performing at the WH is no small deed ... and Jon Batiste will be joining a special list of entertainers to do so.

Some past celebs to perform for the Prez include Whitney Houston, Elton John and Mary J. Blige ... just to name a few.

As for Jon, a spokesperson for the First Lady, whose office is overseeing the event, sang his praises, saying ... "An artist who transcends generations, Jon Batiste's music inspires and brings people together."

JB might not be a big Billboard hitmaker, but he's a decorated Jack of many trades -- recording artist, bandleader, film composer, museum creative director and scion of New Orleans musical royalty.

Oh yeah, and he took home 5 Grammys earlier this year alone, including that big one for his "We Are" album.

Donald Trump is slamming Kanye West -- calling him "seriously troubled" ... for showing up with "white nationalist" Nick Fuentes to their supposed one-on-one meeting.

The 45th President posted a fiery message to his Truth Social platform Saturday night ... saying Ye crossed the line by bringing Fuentes and others to Mar-a-Lago for the dinner.

DT said ... "So I help a seriously troubled man, who just happens to be black, Ye (Kanye West), who has been decimated in his business and virtually everything else, and who has always been good to me, by allowing his request for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, alone, so that I can give him very much needed "advice."

Trump went on ... "He shows up with 3 people, two of which I didn’t know, the other a political person who I haven’t seen in years. I told him don’t run for office, a total waste of time, can’t win. Fake News went CRAZY!"

As we reported ... Ye and Fuentes were filmed walking together Tuesday at Miami International Airport. Kanye also tweeted he was going to meet with DT ... "First time at Mar-a-Lago. Rain and traffic. Can't believe I kept President Trump waiting. And I had on jeans. Yikes. What you guys think his response was when I asked him to be my running mate in 2024?"

Then, on Thursday, Kanye released a video announcing his 2024 candidacy and mentioning his get-together with Trump and Fuentes. The rapper also claimed Trump made degrading remarks about Kim Kardashian.

As a result, Trump issued an initial statement... "Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about." But, DT curiously left out how Fuentes was able to pass through Mar-a-Lago security.

Ron DeSantis just got a major endorsement from the world's richest man.

Elon Musk says he's throwing his considerable support behind DeSantis if the Florida governor decides to run for President in 2024. Elon's message was an obvious slap in the face to Donald Trump, who recently announced his candidacy to win back the White House.

Musk started the ball rolling Friday night when he responded to a question from a Twitter user, asking if he would back DeSantis. The new Twitter CEO simply stated, "Yes. But Twitter as a platform must be fair to all.”

Elon later posted another tweet ... “As a reminder, I was a significant supporter of the Obama-Biden presidency and (reluctantly) voted for Biden over Trump. My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would [be] the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far.”

It's interesting ... Musk claims he's not a conservative ... but he directed his millions of Twitter followers to vote Republican in the last midterm elections. He has also come under attack from Democrats, including President Biden, who has asked the Justice Department to investigate Elon's foreign business practices.

Meanwhile ... DeSantis has shown Elon some love, too, publicly praising Musk for giving his Starlink internet satellite technology to Ukraine in its war against Russia. Elon was blasted on social media after he toyed with the idea of stopping the free-of-charge service, which was costing him a fortune.

Kanye West has lost friends, fans and billions of dollars in business deals, but he seems to have picked up at least one amid his antisemitic rants ... white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

West and the former YouTuber -- who lost his account for violating the platform's hate speech policy -- were spotted together at LAX earlier this week. We're told they were heading to Miami, and video of the duo arriving at MIA confirmed as much -- indeed, they were shoulder-to-shoulder cruising through the terminal.

Kanye announced Tuesday he was making the trek to former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, tweeting ... "First time at Mar-a-Lago. Rain and traffic. Can't believe I kept President Trump waiting. And I had on jeans. Yikes. What you guys think his response was when I asked him to be my running mate in 2024?"

In a video posted Thursday, where West announced his run for President in 2024, he disclosed he and Fuentes both met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago -- and that things got heated between himself and 45 ... claiming Trump made disparaging remarks about his soon-to-be ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.

But, Trump fired back in a statement ... "Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about."

It's curious because Fuentes is famous within right-wing circles and would have had to pass through security at Mar-a-Lago to attend the dinner.

As for 24-year-old Fuentes, he's been banned from platforms including Twitter, Twitch and Reddit for his hateful views. In 2017, it was reported he spoke positively of "a tidal wave of white identity" after he attended the Unite the Right rally.

He's denounced those who call him a white nationalist, calling the term an "anti-white slur."

Of course, Kanye's spewed antisemitic remarks, even doubling down on them on multiple occasions -- and in 2019, Fuentes compared the Holocaust to a cookie-baking operation -- prompting people to label him a Holocaust denier. Fuentes has since claimed he wasn't serious when he said it.

Kanye West released his first video for his 2024 presidential run, and he claims Donald Trump has some super unkind things to say about his then-wife, Kim Kardashian, but what exactly 45 allegedly said is a mystery.

Ye, who posted the vid on Twitter, says Trump was pissed when he suggested a demotion -- that Trump become his Veep ... "I think the thing Trump was most perturbed about [was] me asking him to be my vice president. I think that was lower on the list of things that caught him off guard."

It seems he's saying this conversation occurred recently at Mar-a-Lago.

Kanye says Trump told him he released Alice Johnson not because of Kim but because of him, and then claimed Trump lobbed some insults about Kim. What those insults are -- well, we don't know because there's a big 'ol bleep over the comment.

Kanye, who did not declare he's running although he has said it in the past, had some convoluted things to say about the January 6th insurrectionists -- that he challenged Trump for not "acting to legally protect those who invaded the U.S. Capitol Building ..."

Ye says Trump yelled at him during their encounter, saying he "started basically screaming at me at the table, telling me I am going to lose," then laughing as he added, "Has that worked for anyone in history?"

A man was caught on camera chucking a brick into the window of a gay bar in New York City ... and it's reportedly been the 4th attack on the spot in a week.

The clip shows the unknown man walking up to VERS located in Hell's Kitchen Saturday night -- after hurling the brick at the window, he runs off as people nearby quickly turn their attention to the building.

Oddly enough, the guy appears to come back to the scene ... and it looks like he's trying to blend in -- he even points down the street, seemingly directing people toward the assailant.

This attack was the 4th in the past week ... according to owner David DeParolesa, who told the New York Post shatterproof glass windows were installed when he bought the place back in July -- anticipating anti-gay attacks.

He calls the string of attacks "unnerving," seeing it as "yet another manifestation of hate against our community."

The video appears to have been shot the exact same night as a gunman opened fire at Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs ... as we reported, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich was taken into custody -- and reportedly 5 victims have died, with another 25 injured.

Aldrich had a troubling rap sheet, BTW -- getting arrested back in June 2021 after allegedly making a bomb threat against his mother.

The suspected gunman who murdered 5 people and injured dozens of others at a gay nightclub has a troubling rap sheet ... which includes making a bomb threat against his own mother.

Cops have identified 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich as the man in custody on suspicion of shooting up Club Q Saturday in Colorado Springs.

Aldrich was arrested back in June after his mom called cops, fearing he would kill her. She said he threatened to blow up her home with a makeshift bomb. When cops arrived they found Aldrich wandering the streets a mile from his home. He somehow escaped and after an hour's standoff, he was taken into custody. No bomb was found in the house, but Aldrich was charged with 2 felonies. The charges were dropped and the records sealed -- unclear why.

His mom was so concerned she posted pleas for help on Facebook, looking for a PTSD therapist and a boxing coach.

Aldrich's grandfather is Randy Voepel, California State Assemblyman and MAGA supporter who praised the actions of the January 6th insurrectionists, comparing them to American Revolutionaries. Voepel was just rejected by voters in the midterms.

Disney+ customers tuning in to watch Elton John from the comfort of their couch got some unwanted politics mixed in with their music ... all thanks to an apparent hack of the streaming service's closed captioning feature.

Viewers reported on several occasions the name "Donald Trump" mixed in with the captioned lyrics during Sunday night's live broadcast. It appears to have happened during the songs "Levon" and "Candle in the Wind."

One Twitter user wrote, "Disney will be firing someone. They snuck Donald Trump into the closed captioning of the Elton John Live concert for about 30 seconds and then started to delete it." Another said, "The caption on this Elton John concert said “Donald Trump” for like a full minute.

The show, from Dodgers Stadium, marked the last of the U.S. leg of Elton's farewell tour, before he hits Europe and other parts of the world. Elton was also joined by Dua Lipa and Kiki Dee during the event.

Kim Jong Un has been shaking up the world with his terrifying antics, and he used one of those occasions to introduce the world to his adolescent daughter.

The brutal North Korean dictator gave everyone an uncharacteristic first look at his cherubic-faced girl watching a ballistic missile test in a series of photos released Saturday by his state media. The child's name, age and other personal characteristics were kept under wraps.

She appears to be around 9 years old. Kim and his wife reportedly have 3 kids, but they have all been shielded from public view.

Of course, Kim is famous for walling off himself and his country, which is how it got the nickname the "Hermit Kingdom." So, Kim's decision to unveil his daughter in such an official setting is interesting ... since he might view her as a next-generation leader.

In the images, Kim is seen walking with his daughter and holding her hand ... but his choice for their special outing is something most dads would never dream of.

Instead of buying her ice cream, Kim took her to Pyongyang International Airfield to watch a new intercontinental ballistic missile launch into the sky. ICBMs are typically used for nuclear weapons delivery.

As you may know ... Kim has been ratcheting up tensions in the region with a stream of ballistic missile tests in recent weeks. He warned President Biden that he would take "fiercer" measures if the U.S. continued to defend North Korea's rivals -- South Korea and Japan. The latest test shows these missiles are now capable of reaching just about any part of the U.S. mainland.

Donald Trump is no longer persona non grata on the bird app ... all thanks to Elon Musk, who just made the decision to bring him back into the fold.

The announcement was made Saturday by EM himself, who wrote ... "The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei." He also linked to the results of a poll he posted Friday, which posed the question of whether DT should be allowed to return.

The results were pretty close, but ended up being in favor of letting Trump back on Twitter ... with 51.8% of the more than 15 million people who voted saying "Yes." 48.2% were opposed.

Elon was pretty impressed by the numbers on his own question ... saying earlier in the day that it was fascinating to see the results pour in, and later noting that at least 134 million had viewed the poll -- seemingly referencing some internal data he has access to.

Now, while Trump's account is, in fact, accessible again to the public -- this after being nothing but a blank page for well over a year now after being permanently banned post-Jan. 6 -- it doesn't appear Trump has tweeted anything yet ... and possibly might not at all.

Reports say he was quoted on Truth Social last month, saying he was going to stick to his own platform and that he was done with Twitter ... even amid the prospect of EM ownership.

His last public tweet dates back Jan. 8. Interestingly, DT's follower count took a nose-dive into the hundreds of thousands, but it's steadily climbing right now. Trump was once one of the most followed Twitter accounts at his peak, and "the people" clearly want him back.

CBS has started what could be a devastating ripple effect on Twitter ... hitting the pause button, indefinitely, on posting new tweets amid uncertainty under Elon Musk's stewardship.

The network's news division, CBS News, announced Friday it'd be suspending all Twitter activity from its official profiles as it continues to monitor things. CBS News says it's doing this out of an abundance of caution and in light of all the tumultuous updates.

Word of CBS News' decision was first reported Friday during that night's broadcast of "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell," during which reporter Jonathan Vigliotti seemingly announced the move on behalf of the entire company. CBS confirmed it shortly thereafter.

Vigliotti was reporting on the rumored chaos at the bird app's HQ ... where a majority of employees are said to have quit recently, leaving Twitter as a bare-bones operation and at risk of completely shutting down. That hasn't happened quite yet, but the fear is there.

CBS News's last original tweet links to a story about ex-WH Press Sec. Jen Psaki's failed effort to quash a subpoena she's been roped into. The account also retweeted a TV segment discussing the DOJ's new special counsel investigating Trump. Both of those were posted almost a full 24 hours ago, and CBS News hasn't tweeted anything new since.

Ditto for local affiliates, it seems. KPIX -- the Bay Area's CBS News arm -- hasn't tweeted anything since yesterday either ... and that policy seems to apply to most, if not all, of CBS's stations across the country. We should note, they're still posting stories to their home pages.

The reason this is a big deal -- assuming it carries on for an extended amount of time -- is because Twitter has become the go-to source for news ... not just for users, but for news organizations themselves. A lot of outlets rely on Twitter to get news out quickly, not to mention the traffic captured as one of the key social media sites and the wide reach it carries.

CBS News refusing to tweet is a major statement, and if it catches on among other big publishers ... it could make Twitter even less relevant, sparking a true mass exodus.

Bill Maher put a bow on the 20th season of "Real Time" with words of hope ... how 'bout Dem midterms!!!

Bill is blown away by the election ... if you followed him, he thought it would be a deathblow to democracy, but it was the opposite. As he said, Donald Trump may get credit for putting up a slate of whackos who were so scary ... voters opened their eyes and rejected them in force.

Now B.M. isn't suggesting America is out of the woods ... paraphrasing Mark Twain, he said "Reports of our death were slightly exaggerated." Nevertheless, Bill tipped his hat to voters, who helped us revert to some semblance of sanity.

He then leaned into one of his mantras ... reject the extremes on both sides, noting they account for only around 7% of us, yet they get 90% of the media's attention. And how 'bout this -- 90% of all tweets are courtesy of only 10% of users. As he says, if we let them control our country, it's like letting the crying baby fly the plane.

Bill ends with sage advice for both sides ... start compromising, especially on the extremes.  His examples are hilarious.

Elon Musk seems to be leaving the fate of Donald Trump's Twitter account up to bird app users ... asking folks to vote on his reinstatement.

Elon posted a Twitter poll Friday on his account, asking users to vote either "Yes" or "No" on reinstating the former president's Twitter page.

Musk first posted the poll then left a reply ... "Vox Populi, Vox Dei" ... a Latin phrase meaning, "the voice of the people is the voice of God."

Elon's poll already has 1.4 million responses and counting, and it's not even been live for an hour. The poll will be up for 24 hours, giving folks until Saturday evening to decide.

As you know, Trump was banned from Twitter by the previous ownership in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot. The former president is also banned from other mainstream social media apps.

Elon's hinted at Trump's return to Twitter since buying the bird app for $44 billion ... but this is the first time he's sought feedback through a Twitter poll.

The Justice Department could get to the bottom of the Taylor Swift ticket fiasco ... because the feds are reportedly already investigating the parent company of Ticketmaster for possible antitrust violations.

The department is taking a close look at Live Nation Entertainment, according to the New York Times ... trying to see if the company's abusing its massive market power to screw millions of music fans over.

While the Swift madness certainly adds to the drama, it seems like the investigation has already been going on for months -- with NYT's sources saying the department's antitrust division has already been contacting venues in the industry about Live Nation's past practices and the overall dynamics of the ticket industry.

As you know, all hell broke loose as fans flocked to Ticketmaster to try and get their hands on a ticket to "The Eras Tour" this week during the presale.

The company even canceled the public sale on Friday, which is ordinarily how it sells any remaining tickets after presales -- and now the resale market is seeing sky-high prices.