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Vice President JD Vance is frustrating the Secret Service with his personal and family travel. MS NOW reports that last week, agents complained about a request to fly Vance’s son to a golf lesson across town on a helicopter. The trip to Joint Base Andrews, which has a secure, world-class golf center, would have involved a military helicopter crew on Marine Two, the helicopter that carries the vice president,  but was canceled at the last minute due to severe thunderstorms and high winds in and around Washington, D.C. It’s not the first time that Secret Service agents have been frustrated with last-minute travel demands from Vance and his family. Some of that has to do with Vance having young children, as the first vice president with such a family since Al Gore in the 1990s. Vance and his family, with three children aged nine, six, and four, have used the helicopter at the last minute to look at houses to rent or buy in Middleburg, Virginia. Vance’s wife, Usha, is expecting a fourth child later this month. Previous vice presidents and senior administration officials traditionally told the Secret Service of travel plans days in advance, especially regarding their families. But one unnamed agent told MS NOW that the Vances “change everything.” “They don’t stick to their schedules, and that costs shit tons of taxpayer money,” the agent said. Last minute, quickly arranged trips require agents to hastily change their schedules, often canceling planned days off and altering other plans for what agents call “off the record,” or OTR, movements. They have to rush to their new location and come up with new security plans on the fly, and repeatedly putting the Secret Service through this is bad for morale, agents told MS NOW. “The detail is tired of them not giving notice on things and making everything an OTR,” an unnamed source told MS NOW. “He [Vance] thinks he can still move around like a U.S. senator.”The use of a military helicopter for a child’s schedule is unprecedented, with agents usually using SUVs to ferry children around, current and former Secret Service supervisors told MS NOW. Using the helicopter for the golf lesson would have required approval from the White House Military Office, which reports to President Trump. The helicopter costs $16,000 to $24,600 in taxpayer funds for every hour of use, according to estimates from the 2022 Department of Defense budget.“That is RIDICULOUS,” an anonymous source said in a message to MS NOW. “Pence and Harris never pulled anything like that.”Agents have made coins and badges mocking Vance’s last-minute travel demands, incorporating the vice president’s secret service name, Bobcat. The coins and stickers have a picture of a Bobcat’s head with the words “Bobcat OTR Survivors Club.” The logo includes the motto, “Advance. OTR. Repeat.”In a statement, the vice president’s office told MS NOW that “The Vances are grateful to the men and women of the U.S. Secret Service who serve our country with distinction. While protecting a Vice President with a large policy portfolio and a young and growing family presents a unique challenge, agents of the Secret Service do so with excellence every day.”

Has the United States launched a forever war on Iran? As the Trump administration renews its attacks on Iran, killing at least 35 civilians over the course of five days, political analyst Ali Vaez warns that the U.S. is inciting potentially never-ending “cycles of violence” with its manipulations of the diplomatic process. The U.S.’s unilateral renunciation of the “memorandum of understanding” as a “pretext for another round of war” has further eroded trust between the countries, says Vaez. “There is really no military solution,” he concludes. “The best solution is for both sides to agree to return to the MOU and to respect its terms.”

With inventories falling and ships under fire in Hormuz, “it's too optimistic to believe that the global economy is off the hook,” Birol told the Aspen Security Forum.

U.S. Strikes Iran for Fifth Consecutive Day Targeting Tehran, Israeli Forces Kill Four People in Gaza, Including 6-Year-Old Girl, Israel’s Security Cabinet Approves Nearly Half a Billion Dollars for New Settlements in Occupied West Bank, Half of All Democrats on Capitol Hill Support Measure Slashing Military Funding to Israel, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Grilled During Senate Confirmation Hearing, Trump’s Nominee for Director of National Intelligence Refuses to Say Whether Biden Won 2020 Election, New York Times Files Motion to Quash Subpoenas of Its Journalists, Hegseth Announces Plans to Screen Testosterone Levels of Service Members Over the Age of 30, 45-Year-Old Venezuelan Immigrant Dies in ICE Custody in Georgia, 100 Million People in North America Face Air Quality Alerts, Pro-Palestinian Activists Demand Release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from Israeli Custody

The authoritarian president keeps escalating his war at home, but it’s a war he’s losing. In Congress, Democrats voted against Israel in unprecedented numbers while Trump nominees were battered.

Mykhailo Fedorov was credited with masterminding key elements of Ukraine’s successful recent offensive against Russia.

Washington has pressured Mexico’s president to extradite officials with alleged ties to organized crime gangs, straining relations between the neighbors.

Washington struck a tanker and targets in northern Iran, while Tehran fired on US military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan.

Critics say Jay Clayton, fast-tracked to be confirmed as director of national intelligence, is poised to run point on election interference for President Trump. The post Clayton’s Trump Loyalty Becomes a Problem for Warrantless Spying appeared first on The American Prospect.