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Report: Trump Considers Pulling Troops Out of NATO Countries Deemed ‘Unhelpful’ to Iran War Effort

The Trump administration is considering a plan to “punish” NATO countries that the president has deemed “unhelpful” to the US-Israeli war effort against Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The potential plan would involve withdrawing US troops from those NATO countries and placing them in the territory of other allies that the administration believes were helpful to the US-Israel war, far short of President Trump’s suggestion that he may leave NATO altogether.

The most notable NATO member opposing the US war with Iran was Spain, which took steps to block the use of its territory and airspace for any military activity related to the Middle East conflict.

Italy also blocked a US aircraft from landing at an airbase in Sicily before it headed to the Middle East, and officials from several NATO countries were very critical of the war, including in Germany. The largest opposition party in Germany, the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), recently called for the removal of the tens of thousands of US troops stationed in German territory.

The Journal report said that Trump’s plan could involve closing a military base, either in Germany or Spain. It could also lead to the US placing more troops in countries closer to Russia, such as Poland, Romania, and Lithuania.

Trump was unhappy that no NATO allies heeded his call to help the US military open the Strait of Hormuz and was expected to discuss the situation with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked if the president would bring up the idea of the US leaving NATO and said, “It’s something the president has discussed, and I think it’s something the president will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary-General Rutte.”

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Pentagon’s UFO Office to Be Eliminated Under New Bill

Representative Tim Burchett moved to dismantle the Pentagon office that investigates UFOs under legislation introduced this week.

The bill written by the Tennessee Republican would eliminate the Defense Department’s All‑domain Anomaly Resolution Office and redistribute its responsibilities across the Pentagon, while also prohibiting the creation of any future office that holds centralized authority over investigations into unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), often referred to as UFOs.

Newsweek reached out to Burchett’s office and the Pentagon for comment via email on Wednesday afternoon.

Why It Matters

Burchett has been a long-time advocate for transparency around the U.S. government’s investigations into UFOs, and has claimed that a multi-decade cover-up has been perpetrated by federal agencies. A recent spate of disappearances of people linked to UFO research has heightened scrutiny around the topic.

Burchett’s bill aims to terminate the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, which sits within the Department of Defense, currently styled as the Department of War by the Trump administration.

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Kurt Cobain death mystery reignites as ex-detective points to three clues challenging suicide ruling

Kurt Cobain was found with a lethal gunshot wound to the head on April 8, 1994 at his Seattle, Washington home.

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) took over the investigation, finding a suicide note, a gun in his hands and a nearby heroin kit, which they used to determine the Nirvana frontman, 27, had taken his own life.

Now, in a newly released update tied to his controversial book Case Closed: The Cobain Murder: The Killing and Cover-Up of Kurt Cobain, author Ian Halperin, a journalist known for several bestselling investigative books, claims that an unnamed former Seattle police detective privately told him the investigation into Cobain’s death was mishandled. 

Halperin wrote that he spoke to the former police officer about 18 months ago and quoted the source as saying: ‘I have felt a sense of righteous indignation for years. Finally, I decided to speak out to address a serious wrongdoing.’

Halperin said the unnamed former detective claimed Cobain’s heroin levels were so high that it would have been impossible for him to fire the gun himself. 

‘There were no fingerprints on the gun, and the last five lines of his alleged suicide did not match his own handwriting,’ the source said, according to the book.

‘Just on that, the case should not have been labeled a suicide. A proper investigation should have been conducted, a thorough investigation to find out how, in fact, Cobain died. It was never done.’

When asked about a potential mishandling of Cobain’s death, a SPD spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘Kurt Cobain died by suicide in 1994. This continues to be the position of the Seattle Police Department.’

The former SPD office also claimed there was ‘poor management,’ with Halperin writing that the source said they were among several people within the department who believed the entire investigation was ‘one big cover-up.’

Halperin wrote that the source worked under Norm Stamper, the Seattle Chief of Police from 1994 to 2000, who has expressed regret over how Cobain’s case was handled, stating in 2015 that he ‘would reopen this investigation’ if given the opportunity.

While not directly accusing anyone, Stamper previously suggested that investigators should not have immediately discounted the possibility of murder.

Halperin’s source echoed Stamper’s concerns, saying: ‘Too much politics was involved. Not enough facts. Many people were able to advance themselves at others’ expense. As a result, many cases were treated unfairly.’ 

Halperin wrote that when asked why the unnamed former detective questioned the suicide ruling, the source cited several concerns about the investigation. 

Similar concerns have been raised in previous years by other law enforcement figures who later reviewed the case.

In a previous interview with the Daily Mail, retired Seattle Police Captain Neil Low, who was asked by his chief to audit the Cobain case in 2005, said he believed investigators failed to properly treat the death as a potential homicide.

‘I just am not buying that Kurt did that to himself,’ he said, describing the investigation as ‘botched.’ 

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AOC: Iran Deal “Changes Nothing” on Need to Impeach Trump for Genocidal Threat

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) has reiterated that the call for President Donald Trump to be impeached or removed from office remains as urgent as ever after his genocidal threat toward Iran, regardless of the president’s announcement of a temporary ceasefire on Tuesday evening.

In a post on X, Ocasio-Cortez said the deal “changes nothing.”

“The President has threatened a genocide against the Iranian people, and is continuing to leverage that threat,” the lawmaker wrote. “He has launched a massive war of enormous risk and of catastrophic consequence without reason, rationale, nor Congressional authorization — which is as clear a violation of the Constitution as any.”

On Tuesday, just an hour and a half before his deadline to decimate Iran’s civilian infrastructure, Trump announced that the U.S. and Iran had agreed to a two-week ceasefire, with the potential to negotiate a long term end to the bombardments. During the pause in fighting, the U.S. would cease its bombardments of Iran, while Iran would reopen traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The announcement came after Trump had, earlier on Tuesday, threatened to destroy all of Iran. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he said.

The statement was swiftly met with a deluge of calls for Trump to be impeached or removed via the 25th Amendment, which allows the president’s cabinet to declare him unfit. Over 70 lawmakers joined the calls, with the comment being so alarming that even far right figures like Candace Owens and Alex Jones called for Trump’s removal.

But the calls seemed to lose momentum after the threat didn’t come to pass on Tuesday, and as Democratic leaders declined to demand his removal. Some Democrats and liberal commentators even mocked Trump, taunting him with the “TACO” insult, standing for “Trump always chickens out,” or criticized him for the deal after it was announced.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Arizona), who is Iranian, said that it was callous to taunt Trump for not following through on his threats of genocide.

“I do not appreciate anyone — Democrat or Republican — taking this moment to make TACO jokes to say Trump ‘chickened out,’” Ansari said. “The president was threatening genocide against 90 million Iranians. I’m grateful there’s a ceasefire & scores of innocent people didn’t die tonight.”

Ocasio-Cortez said that it’s important that Democrats keep their foot on the gas. She said that Trump’s corruption and profit-seeking are also clear cases for Trump to be ousted.

“All of these incidents, and plenty more, have clearly driven our country past the threshold for impeachment or invocation of the 25th amendment. We cannot risk the world nor the wellbeing of our nation any longer,” she wrote. “Whether by his Cabinet or Congress, the President must be removed from office. We are playing with the brink.”

Ocasio-Cortez was one of the lawmakers calling for Trump’s removal on Tuesday, saying that his “civilization” threat was a “threat of genocide” that “merits removal from office.”

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Trump Calls Factual CNN Report on Iran Ceasefire Statement “Fake News”

n Tuesday evening, following the announcement of a tentative ceasefire agreement with Iran, President Donald Trump accused the news network CNN of falsely reporting a statement from some of Iran’s leaders that claimed victory over the United States in the war that has been waged over the past month.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump made a promise to engage in additional war crimes and genocidal attacks against Iran unless an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was reached.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump said, giving Iran until 8 p.m. ET to comply.

Ninety minutes before that deadline, Trump then announced via Truth Social that a two-week ceasefire deal had been reached. Wrote Trump:

Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks.

Trump also said the U.S. received a 10-point proposal from Iran that “is a workable basis on which to negotiate.”

Trump shared a statement from Iran’s minister of foreign affairs, which read, “If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations.”

That same evening, CNN reported on a statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which was much more forceful in its telling of events.

“The enemy, in its unfair, unlawful, and criminal war against the Iranian nation, has suffered an undeniable, historic, and crushing defeat,” that statement read. “Our hands remain on the trigger, and at the slightest mistake by the enemy, a full-force response will be delivered.”

The reporting of that statement upset Trump, who claimed on Truth Social that it was “a FRAUD” and a fake news story emanating from Nigeria. Trump provided no evidence for his assertions, but suggested the reporting by CNN could be criminal.

“Authorities are looking to determine whether or not a crime was committed on the issuance of the Fake CNN World Statement,” Trump wrote. He added:

CNN is being ordered to immediately withdraw this Statement with full apologies for their, as usual, terrible ‘reporting.’ Results of the investigation will be announced in the near future.

In a later post, Trump also claimed CNN was “inflaming a very delicate situation” rather than reporting on the facts of a statement from Iran.

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Israel Carpet Bombs Lebanon After Announcement of Iran Ceasefire

sraeli forces launched some of the most intense bombardments of Lebanon in recent years on Wednesday, striking Beirut and towns and cities across the country just hours after a ceasefire deal that reportedly includes Lebanon was announced.

The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that it targeted over 100 sites with strikes over just the course of 10 minutes in Lebanon. The UN also reported that it has recorded over 60 locations struck. The intensity of the strikes was unprecedented in recent times, one Al Jazeera reporter said, reminiscent of the scale of Israel’s invasion of Beirut in 1982 or Israel’s beeper attack in 2024.

Video of the strikes circulated online. One showed a massive fire in the wreckage of destroyed buildings in Beirut, sending plumes of dark smoke into the air. Another video purportedly taken in Beirut showed the top floors of a building completely destroyed and smoking, while the streets below were covered in flaming debris.

Another video from Tyre, in southern Lebanon, showed an Israeli strike hitting a building in the city center, with the explosion spreading horizontally across what appeared to be several city blocks and sending a plume into the air that shot higher than the hills in the background.

The death toll is unclear, but early reports have said that hundreds have been killed by the strikes.

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Newly Released Records Reveal Drone Incursions, Including Triangular Object With Spotlight, Above U.S. Nuclear Sites

Liberation Times has obtained records detailing drone incidents around sensitive U.S. nuclear facilities. The documents point to a spate of activity around critical infrastructure between September 2022 and February 2023. 

Among the most striking cases is an incident at the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station in Pennsylvania – a nuclear plant – where a triangular object appearing to carry a large spotlight was reported within the site’s airspace and perimeter for more than two hours.

The material, provided by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) under the Freedom of Information Act, relates to records the NRC sent to the Pentagon’s dedicated Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena office, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, between 1 January 2020 and 24 November 2025.

In total, 22 drone-related incidents were documented. 

The Susquehanna nuclear power plant accounted for eight incidents in just over a month. In contrast, the Columbia Generating Station in Washington state accounted for nine across a period of nearly three months. 

Taken together, those two sites made up 17 of the 22 incidents.

Several incidents around Susquehanna involved multiple drones approaching from multiple directions.

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Woke California lawmaker who backs transgender treatments for children squirms as brave young gay man shares how being railroaded into puberty blockers destroyed his life

A California lawmaker who supports youth access to gender-affirming care was confronted by a young gay man who testified that puberty blockers and hormone therapy negatively affected his physical development.

State Senator Scott Wiener heard from 23-year-old Jonni Skinner, who said the treatments Wiener backs have left him unable to achieve orgasms.

‘When I was young, I was a feminine child, and I discovered trans influencers online. They said, “Change your body and your life gets better. Don’t and it gets worse,”‘ Skinner said during a state Senate hearing on Tuesday.

‘Or, as my doctors told my mom, I would commit suicide,’ he continued. ‘The medical and mental health providers didn’t bother to ask why I felt the way I did. They poisoned my body with blockers and hormones, arresting my puberty and messing with my development. The result is I’m a 23-year-old gay man who’s never had an orgasm and may never experience one.’

Skinner was testifying against Senate Bill 934, which was introduced by Wiener. The measure allows people to sue licensed therapists for harms caused by ‘sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts’.

At first glance, someone like Skinner – who says he was improperly pushed by therapists and doctors toward transitioning into a female – might be expected to support the measure. 

But critics, including Skinner, argue that the bill is not intended to target medical professionals supportive of gender transition treatment.

The California Family Council said in a statement that the bill will ‘weaponize civil liability’ against counselors who tell children it might not be a good idea to switch genders at such a young age.

‘When the government cannot constitutionally ban speech outright, it sometimes turns to more subtle forms of coercion. By creating overwhelming legal risk, SB 934 seeks to make it practically impossible for counselors to offer certain viewpoints, even to clients who request them,’ the organization said.

The bill vastly expands the statute of limitations for filing claims, allowing people to sue therapists and doctors years or even decades after the alleged harm was done. 

On March 20, Wiener put out a statement explaining the bill’s intent, making it clear it would go after providers who try to convince people they are not LGBTQ.

‘Conversion therapy – the made up notion that you can convert a gay or trans person into being not gay or trans – was debunked long ago, and is now condemned by every major medical association as dangerous and ineffective,’ he said.

Greg Burt, Vice President of California Family Council, has said this amounts to viewpoint discrimination, and that the bill is trying to get around the landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Skrmetti.

In that case, which was decided last year, a 6-3 majority ruled that state bans on gender-affirming care for minors is constitutional.

‘This is a desperate and vain attempt to pretend the Supreme Court didn’t say what it really did say. They can’t stop professionals from helping people who don’t want to identify as LGBTQ anymore,’ Burt said. 

Skinner filed an amicus brief in that case, where he revealed more about his upbringing and why he ended up on estrogen from the age of 13 until he was 20.

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Voters Gave Ohio Legal Cannabis. Then Lawmakers Took Away the Part That Helped Me.

I’m Tobey MacCachran – a senior journalism and English student at Denison University– and an intern with NORML since December. I came to cannabis advocacy the way most people arrive at anything that matters: it stopped being abstract. 

I’ve had a birthmark on my right wrist my whole life. Other kids would notice it, point at it, and make jokes, but I never minded. It was a part of me that was as ordinary as my hands or my name. I was born with it, and I was comfortable. 

Eczema was different. 

It showed up in my early teens, uninvited and impossible to ignore. Red, cracking patches spread across my skin during dry winters, causing my hands, wrists, and neck to resemble the surface of Mars. The birthmark was mine. The eczema felt like an invasion. And somewhere in the space between those two things, my relationship with my own body quietly changed. 

By high school, my life was dictated by small adjustments. Long sleeves on some days. Certain seats. Situations I’d remove myself from before anyone noticed. Shirt always on at the beach. And then at 17, I tried a cannabis topical for the first time. 

Something actually worked. And last Friday, Ohio made it a crime to access the product that helped me most. 

SB56 was sold as consumer protection. For people who depend on cannabis topicals for chronic pain and skin conditions, it landed like a punishment.

A cannabis topical isn’t recreational. It’s a cream or balm infused with cannabinoids applied directly to the skin. No high. No altered state. For millions of people managing chronic pain, inflammation, and skin conditions, it’s simply the thing that works when nothing else does. It was that for me – the first treatment in years that gave back some ordinary comfort in my own body. The kind of comfort I hadn’t realized I’d lost until I had it again. 

Ohio Senate Bill 56 went into effect on March 20th. Governor DeWine signed it in December, framing it as consumer protection – a crackdown on unregulated intoxicating hemp products that flooded gas stations and corner stores. And there’s a real conversation to be had there. But buried inside the bill are provisions that go far beyond protecting anyone. 

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Police Destroyed Innocent People’s Property—and Left Them With the Bill. Will the Supreme Court Step In?

2022 was a big year for both Carlos Pena and Amy Hadley. Separated by several states, SWAT teams left their properties in ruins while attempting to capture two suspects. In August, officers threw dozens of tear gas canisters into Pena’s Los Angeles printing business; two months prior, law enforcement had done the same to Hadley’s Indiana home before also destroying security cameras, punching holes in the walls, and ransacking the house.

Neither was suspected of a crime. They were, to put it mildly, unlucky. Which raises an unfortunate question: What is an innocent person owed when police wreck their property?

The Supreme Court will once again decide if it will address that question and offer legal clarity in a debate that has seen governments refuse to reimburse people when their property becomes major collateral damage in a law enforcement operation.

The circumstances leading up to Pena and Hadley’s property damage differ slightly. A SWAT team from the city of Los Angeles blew up Pena’s shop, NoHo Printing & Graphics, after a suspect ejected Pena from the business and barricaded himself inside while attempting to evade capture. (Police would later find that the man had escaped.) Over in Indiana, law enforcement arrived at Hadley’s house after an officer posited that a suspect was accessing the internet from her IP address, which wasn’t true.

The basic end result, however, was the same. Local government officials ignored their pleas for help and declined to compensate them for mutilating their respective properties, despite the fact that no party disputes their innocence. Pena has sued for over $60,000, alleging the raid destroyed his shop and the equipment inside, forcing him to relocate to a garage with one printer and a reduced capacity that has cost him significant revenue, according to his lawsuit. Hadley, meanwhile, says she incurred about $16,000 in losses, which insurance only partially covered. That it helped at all is not the norm. Pena’s insurance denied assistance, as most policies stipulate that they are not liable for government-induced damage.

Common sense may dictate that innocent people should not individually shoulder the financial burden of public safety (or, in Hadley’s case, a flawed police investigation). Yet both were denied relief because of how the property met its demise.

Is that constitutional? The Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause promises “just compensation” when private property is taken for public use. But some courts have ruled that it does not always apply when police are involved.

The courts are not in agreement on what exactly the exception is or how far it goes. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said that Pena could not sue for damages because “law enforcement officers destroy[ed]” his shop “while acting reasonably in the necessary defense of public safety.” In other words, the judges declined to say if a categorical “police power” exception applies in such cases; that law enforcement acted reasonably and out of necessity was enough to kill his claim.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, however, did find a categorical exemption. “The Fifth Amendment does not require the state to compensate for property damage resulting from police executing a lawful search warrant,” wrote Judge Joshua Kolar, rejecting Hadley’s claim.

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