Marjorie Taylor Greene didn’t just resign from the US Congress — she detonated a political grenade on her way out, blasting open cracks in a dam that some fear could unleash a flood of Republican exits.The 51-year-old conservative provocateur stunned Washington last week with a blistering attack on President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda and the Republican leadership she accused of betraying voters. Her departure announcement immediately fueled talk that more exhausted or exasperated Republicans may follow — a dangerous prospect for a House of Representatives majority hanging by a thread.”The honeymoon’s over and some Republicans are realizing this isn’t what they signed up for,” political analyst Andrew Koneschusky, a former Senate staffer, told AFP.”The discontent is multifaceted — everything from the growing affordability crisis to the ongoing Epstein saga, the impact of trade wars, the concentration of executive power, the diminution of congressional power and the toxicity in our political discourse.”Greene’s four-page resignation read more like a manifesto than a farewell, blasting Trump, skewering Speaker Mike Johnson and denouncing a “Political Industrial Complex” serving elites while ordinary Americans struggle. Washington, she argued, isn’t gridlocked — it’s rotten: lawmakers face violent threats while serious legislation gathers dust, replaced by meaningless messaging bills and party loyalty tests.Johnson, she charged in a separate post, has “sidelined” Congress in “full obedience” to the White House, blocking votes on bills and smothering campaign promises made by Trump. – ‘Tinder box’ -Her critics have long branded her a chaos agent, but this time Greene’s fury is resonating. Indiana Republican Victoria Spartz posted that she couldn’t blame Greene for fleeing “an institution that has betrayed the American people.” Already, 41 House members plan to retire this term — unusually high halfway through — and Punchbowl News reported that more could follow as Republican lawmakers complain behind closed doors of being treated like “garbage.””More explosive early resignations are coming. It’s a tinder box,” said one, according to the politics news outlet. “Morale has never been lower.”The math is brutal: House Republicans hold a slim 219–213 majority even before Greene’s departure, and Democrats are eyeing an upset in next month’s special election in Tennessee. They should also pick up seats in Texas and New Jersey.Rank-and-file lawmakers have worked only a handful of days since July despite a $174,000 salary, and say they spend more time when they are in Washington on punitive resolutions and theatrics than governing. Frustration is now erupting in a surprising place: “discharge petitions,” an obscure tool allowing lawmakers to circumvent the leadership and force votes with 218 signatures. Once rare, they’ve become the rebellion weapon of choice. Last week, four Republicans defied Trump and Johnson to demand the release of documents on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Five discharge petitions have succeeded under Johnson — more than in the previous 30 years combined.- ‘Go along or get out’ -Meanwhile, the temperature in Congress is rising in more ways than one. Threats against lawmakers have surged, a situation that some say has worsened since the recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Greene and Democrat Jared Golden both cited rising political violence as reasons for stepping aside.Zoom out, and the picture looks even bleaker. Public trust is cratering: Pew reported in 2023 that only 26 percent of Americans view Congress favorably. The last Congress passed the fewest bills in decades. Oversight has also weakened, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, with fewer hearings, thinner witness testimony and implementation of watchdog recommendations increasingly spotty.”This is one of the toughest environments to be a lawmaker. If you’re a Democrat, you’re out of power and there’s only so much you can do,” said Koneschusky.”If you’re a Republican, you can’t exercise independent policy or political judgment without risking retribution from the administration. Many Republicans seem to feel there are only two choices: go along or get out of the game.”

Foreign tourists visiting US national parks including the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone will now pay a hefty surcharge, the Trump administration announced Tuesday.The Department of the Interior, which operates the renowned US national parks, said that starting in 2026 visitors from abroad will have to pay $100 on top of the individual park fee to enter 11 of the most popular destinations in the system. The cost of an annual pass to all the parks will meanwhile more than triple to $250 for non-residents.”President Trump’s leadership always puts American families first,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in a statement. “These policies ensure that US taxpayers, who already support the National Park System, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations.”Long considered a jewel of American tourism, the 63 officially designated national parks receive hundreds of millions of visitors a year — nearly 332 million in 2024, according to the National Park Service.The standard cost of an “America the Beautiful” pass that offers unlimited annual access is currently a flat $80 for any purchaser.For day use, some parks charge fees by the vehicle, and others by the person — the annual pass covers all passengers plus the passholder, or up to four adults.Non-US residents who buy an annual pass will not be subject to the $100 surcharge on entry to the most visited parks, including Florida’s Everglades, Maine’s Acadia and California’s Yosemite, but that fee will apply to all other foreign visitors.The significant extra costs for most foreigners — US citizens and permanent residents won’t be impacted — follow President Donald Trump’s July executive order intended to “preserve” the parks for “American families.””Nonresidents will pay a higher rate to help support the care and maintenance of America’s parks,” read the Interior Department’s statement.The department also emphasized “patriotic fee-free days” for residents that would include President’s Day, Veteran’s Day and Trump’s birthday, which happens to fall on the annual observance of Flag Day.

US prosecutors asked a judge on Tuesday to re-try the main suspect in the infamous New York kidnap and murder of a six-year-old boy 46 years ago.In a case that still haunts US parents and forever changed the handling of child abductions, Etan Patz vanished on May 25, 1979 after leaving his parents’ home in Manhattan to walk alone for the first time to the school bus stop.Pedro Hernandez, then 18 years old and working in a convenience store near the bus stop, was convicted at a second trial. But a federal appeals court ruled in July that Hernandez must be released or re-tried because of errors in the second trial’s conduct.”The state trial court contradicted clearly established federal law,” the appeals court found, after defense attorneys complained about instructions given to jurors.Hernandez was arrested in 2012 following a tip to detectives. He had told family members he killed a child in New York, CNN reported at the time.The first trial ended in 2015 with the jury failing to reach a unanimous verdict.At trial, Hernandez was accused of luring Patz into the basement of the convenience store with the promise of a soda, choking him and putting his body out with the trash.While there was no material evidence against him, Hernandez confessed to the killing in 2012. He later retracted his confession and pleaded not guilty.A defense lawyer previously said Hernandez is innocent and has an IQ of 70, which puts him in the bottom two percent of the population.”The District Attorney has determined that the available, admissible evidence supports prosecuting defendant on the charges of Murder in the Second Degree and Kidnapping in the First Degree in this matter, and the People are prepared to proceed,” said the letter seen by AFP.In the letter to judge Ellen Biben, Manhattan prosecutors said they were ready to discuss a retrial during a hearing scheduled for December 1.Etan’s disappearance shocked Americans and fueled a generation of hyper-vigilant parenting.His parents only discovered he was missing after he failed to come home from school at the end of the day. His body was never found, and the case was one of the city’s great unsolved crimes for decades.Photographer Stan Patz’s pictures of his son were the first of a missing child to be featured on milk cartons as part of a nationwide search.