Articles & Videos

12775 items
All PoliticsPolicyEconomyRights & JusticeInternationalClimate & EnvironmentTechnologyHealthMediaCulture & Society

Select Date Range

Trump On Edge at Bizarre White House Event Ahead of SOTU
1:27:39
Pod Save America • 3 weeks ago

Trump On Edge at Bizarre White House Event Ahead of SOTU

Turns Out Trump Hasn’t Actually Sent “Hospital Boat” to Greenland
New Republic • 3 weeks ago

Turns Out Trump Hasn’t Actually Sent “Hospital Boat” to Greenland

Seemingly nobody in the federal government actually received instructions to send a hospital boat to Greenland.The Pentagon has heard no official word about sending any such sort of humanitarian aid to the Arctic island, The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday.Donald Trump announced on Saturday that the White House would be sending a “great hospital boat” to Greenland, though exactly who would be responsible for the project—and why Greenland, which has nationalized health care, would need it—was not clear.Trump included an AI-generated image of the USNS Mercy, despite the fact that the ship is based on the West Coast. The hospital ship situated on the East Coast is the USNS Comfort. Both are currently in the shop, with the USNS Mercy in the middle of a yearlong maintenance period and the USNS Comfort undergoing repairs that are expected to be completed in April. Regardless, the Pentagon had not received instructions to send either Navy ship, reported the Journal.In the days since Trump’s notice, not one agency or office potentially responsible for the unwanted project has recognized that the boat is a real thing that’s actually happening.Pinning responsibility has been more like a game of hot potato: On Monday, the Pentagon referred questions to U.S. Northern Command, which redirected questions to the U.S. Navy, which in turn sent questions to the White House, CNN reported. The White House has so far failed to elaborate, with spokespeople pointing back to Trump’s social media post.Greenland has expressed zero interest in Washington’s unsolicited aid package. The island currently has six hospitals that serve its 56,000 residents. Remote parts of the Danish-controlled territory have struggled with accessing specialized medical equipment—though that would hardly be addressed by a centralized boat at the coast.Furthermore, the issue was tackled earlier this month, when the island’s capital city, Nuuk, settled on a new arrangement with Copenhagen that would allow Greenlanders to access specialized health care in Denmark.“That will be ‘no thanks’ from us,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the Greenlandic prime minister, wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday. “President Trump’s idea to send a US hospital ship here to Greenland has been duly noted. But we have a public health system where care is free for citizens.”Trump’s offer appears to be just another component to his relentless quest to annex the mineral-rich territory. Trump has claimed that America “needs” Greenland “for defense.” But what exactly the White House stands to gain from controlling Greenland isn’t clear, especially in light of the fact that myriad existing treaties already give the U.S. unfettered access to Greenland as a military base. Danish and Greenlandic officials have repeatedly insisted that Greenland is not for sale.

Trump Team Quietly Drops Case Against Dems in “Illegal Orders” Video
New Republic • 3 weeks ago

Trump Team Quietly Drops Case Against Dems in “Illegal Orders” Video

Donald Trump is dropping his attempt to prosecute six congressional Democrats who made a video urging federal law enforcement and members of the military not to obey illegal orders. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., led by Jeanine Pirro, had sought to indict lawmakers two weeks ago, but a federal grand jury issued a rare denial. Pirro has subsequently decided to stop pursuing the case, NBC News reported Monday night. While another federal prosecutor in a different federal court district could still try to bring a case, there’s no indication that any will. Trump had accused Representatives Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan, as well as Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin, of “SEDITION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL,” even suggesting that they should be executed. It was a gross abuse of power, as none of the six lawmakers did anything except express their First Amendment rights and tell federal and military personnel not to follow illegal orders, which shouldn’t bother the White House if it doesn’t believe it’s issuing any. A federal grand jury agreed, and on some level, prosecutors in Pirro’s office must have known their effort was unfounded, as they couldn’t name any statute the members of Congress violated.Trump’s State of the Union address will take place Tuesday night. It’s not clear how many of the six Democrats will be attending, but at least some of them will. It will be interesting to see if Trump decides to take a jab at them during his speech, or even acknowledges them at all.

Aided by U.S. Intelligence, Mexican Army Kills Top Cartel Leader After Threat of Trump Intervention
Democracy Now • 3 weeks ago

Aided by U.S. Intelligence, Mexican Army Kills Top Cartel Leader After Threat of Trump Intervention

Aided by U.S. intelligence, Mexican security forces killed the nation’s most wanted man, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” on Sunday. At least 70 people were killed in the raid and aftermath as armed groups retaliated in more than a dozen states. “There’s a real sense in Mexico and beyond that governments need to show the U.S. that they are willing and able to take military action on their own, lest Washington send special forces into the country,” says Reuters correspondent Laura Gottesdiener about the raid and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s wider crackdown on organized crime. While Sunday’s operation will help Sheinbaum “stave off some of the pressure from Trump,” Latin American historian Alexander Aviña warns that “this is not going to do much in terms of stopping the flow of illicit drugs from Mexico into United States.” Instead, he says, instability within cartel leadership will likely lead to internal power struggles that spill out into local communities. “The burden of this war always falls upon the very bottom of the hierarchy within this political economy,” says Aviña.

12...275276277278279...14191420