Tag: donald trump

Demands to Release Full Video of Deadly US Boat Strike Grow After Congressional Briefing

Calls mounted Thursday for the Trump administration to release the full video of a September US airstrike on a boat allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea following a briefing between Pentagon officials and select lawmakers that left some Democrats with more questions than answers.

“I am deeply disturbed by what I saw this morning,” Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said after the briefing. “The Department of Defense has no choice but to release the complete, unedited footage of the September 2 strike, as the president has agreed to do.”

Reed’s remarks came after Adm. Frank Bradley and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine briefed some members of the Senate and House Armed Services and Intelligence committees on the so-called “double-tap” strike, in which nine people were killed in the initial bombing and two survivors clinging to the burning wreckage of the vessel were slain in second attack.

Lawmakers who attended the briefing said that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allegedly did not give an order to “kill everyone” aboard the boat. However, legal experts and congressional critics contend that the strikes are inherently illegal under international law.

“This did not reduce my concerns at all – or anyone else’s,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who attended the briefing, told the New Republic’s Greg Sargent in response to the findings regarding Hegseth’s actions. “This is a big, big problem, and we need a full investigation.”

“I think that video should be public,” Smith added.

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Americans Worry Most Among Developed Nations About Food Security

Concerning nations surveyed in Statista’s Consumer Insights, Americans were among those most worried about food and water security.

Indeed, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports, while for most European nations, worry about the topic peaked during the coronavirus pandemic and the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, concern has remained elevated in the United States into 2025.

Food and water supplies were not considered a particular issue among developed countries for a long time. But the data illustrates how that is starting to change.

As many as 1 in 5 respondents in France said that food and water security was one of the biggest challenges their country faced in 2025.

The proportion was similarly high in the United Kingdom and Italy (23 percent), while it had fallen a little lower again in Spain (16 percent) and Germany (13 percent).

As wars (trade and kinetic) continue to disrupt international trade and affairs in recent years, the constant chatter about climate change shifting droughts and destructive fires more top of people’s minds, and inflation (groceries becoming more expensive), more people are seeing how these and other issues can affect the security of their food and water supply even in richer countries.

In the United States, shifts in government benefit programs by the Trump administration might also add to peoples’ feeling around food security.

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The Trump Administration’s Top Nuclear Scientists Think AI Can Replace Humans in Power Plants

During a presentation at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence on December 3, a US Department of Energy scientist laid out a grand vision of the future where nuclear energy powers artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence shapes nuclear energy in “a virtuous cycle of peaceful nuclear deployment.”

“The goal is simple: to double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade,” Rian Bahran, DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors, said.

His presentation and others during the symposium, held in Vienna, Austria, described a world where nuclear powered AI designs, builds, and even runs the nuclear power plants they’ll need to sustain them. But experts find these claims, made by one of the top nuclear scientists working for the Trump administration, to be concerning and potentially dangerous. 

Tech companies are using artificial intelligence to speed up the construction of new nuclear power plants in the United States. But few know the lengths to which the Trump administration is paving the way and the part it’s playing in deregulating a highly regulated industry to ensure that AI data centers have the energy they need to shape the future of America and the world.

At the IAEA, scientists, nuclear energy experts, and lobbyists discussed what that future might look like. To say the nuclear people are bullish on AI is an understatement. “I call this not just a partnership but a structural alliance. Atoms for algorithms. Artificial intelligence is not just powered by nuclear energy. It’s also improving it because this is a two way street,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in his opening remarks.

In his talk, Bahran explained that the DOE has partnered with private industry to invest $1 trillion to “build what will be an integrated platform that connects the world’s best supercomputers, AI systems, quantum systems, advanced scientific instruments, the singular scientific data sets at the National Laboratories—including the expertise of 40,000 scientists and engineers—in one platform.”

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AFRICOM Announces Seven More Airstrikes in Somalia as Trump Continues Record-Shattering Bombing Campaign

US Africa Command has announced in recent days that its forces have launched at least seven more airstrikes in Somalia as the Trump administration continues its record-breaking bombing campaign in the country, which receives virtually no media coverage in the United States.

AFRICOM said in a press release that it launched airstrikes in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region on November 26, November 27, and November 28, which it said targeted the ISIS affiliate in a remote mountain region about 37 miles to the southeast of the Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso.

The command said in another press release that it launched more airstrikes against ISIS in the same area of Puntland on December 1, December 2, and December 3. A separate airstrike that was launched on December 3 targeted al-Shabaab near the village of Kobon in the southern Jubaland region, according to a third AFRICOM press release.

The six days of US airstrikes in Puntland came after the commander of AFRICOM, Gen. Dagvin Anderson, visited the region and called for the war against the ISIS fighters hiding out in caves to be “intensified.” The US has been backing local Puntland forces since the region is not under the control of the Mogadishu-based Federal Government.

The command didn’t specify how many airstrikes it launched, but counting each day as one bombing brings the total number of US airstrikes in Somalia this year to 109, an unprecedented number. President Trump has shattered the previous record for annual US airstrikes in Somalia, which he set at 63 during his first term in 2019.

According to numbers from New America, which tracks the US air war in Somalia, President Biden launched a total of 51 airstrikes in Somalia throughout his entire four years in office, and President Obama launched 48 over eight years. President Trump launched a total of 219 during his first term.

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‘Positive Sign’: Native Americans Praise Reversal of Biden-Era Rule on Drilling in Alaskan Wildlife Refuge

A group of Native Americans are pleased government leaders have pushed back against a rule imposed by former President Joe Biden (D) regarding development in a wildlife refuge in Alaska.

The issue surrounds the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), Fox News reported Saturday.

That area is where Biden worked to choke an oil and gas lease sale before he left the White House and President Donald Trump took over following his victory in November 2024, according to Breitbart News.

Fox reported:

Using the Congressional Review Act, the Senate voted Thursday night to pass a resolution from Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, that formally reversed a Biden-era rule restricting more than 1 million acres to development in the refuge, where Native communities like Kaktovik reside.

Democrats have been concerned about potential harms to Alaskan communities if access to the ANWR was expanded for more energy development, the Fox article said.

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Fact Check: No, Trump Did Not Call for the Deaths of Democrat Senators Who Urged Military to Disobey Orders – Here’s the Proof

Democrats in Congress called for the military to openly defy the orders of the commander-in-chief, but did President Donald Trump actually call for their deaths in response?

Last month, Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, New Hampshire Rep. Maggie Goodlander, Pennsylvania Reps. Chrissy Houlahan and Chris Deluzio, and Colorado Rep. Jason Crow filmed themselves addressing the military, stating, “This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens.”

Democrats plainly stated — and plastered on the screen of the video — “you can refuse illegal orders,” going so far as to tell them “you must refuse illegal orders.”

The video ends by telling service members and intel, “Don’t give up the ship.”

Just The News reported that as commander-in-chief, Trump had quite a response for those Democrats, who quite literally called for insubordination.

On Nov. 20, Trump made a series of posts via social media platform Truth Social.

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“Widespread Misconduct”: Trump Admin Orders All Beneficiaries Of Nation’s Largest DEI Program To Surrender Financial Records

The Daily Wire has learned that the Small Business Administration has ordered all 4,300 firms in its 8(a) “socially disadvantaged” program, which receive no-bid federal contracts, to turn over their financial records, including general ledgers, bank statements, payroll files, subcontracting agreements, and other internal documents, by January 5 or face removal from the program.

SBA’s crackdown on one of Washington’s oldest DEI initiatives follows mounting evidence that some 8(a) firms have become a major pipeline for fraud, pass-through schemes, and artificially inflated contract costs.

Late last month, Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and the investigative journalist who broke the Clinton Cash corruption story, published a report exposing the cronyism and corruption inside the 8(a) program, where pass-through firms handed bidless contracts on silver platters while quietly outsourcing the real work to major consulting companies.

“For years, DC insiders have exploited a federal DEI contracting program that provides windfalls to Beltway elites. This open secret isn’t about helping the downtrodden; it’s about bagging no-bid paydays. The SBA’s 8(a) program is long overdue for reform,” Schweizer wrote on X.

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Trump’s Illegal Boat Strikes Recall Duterte’s “Drug War” Mass Killings

Public outrage is mounting over the Trump administration’s September 2 “double tap” strike, in which the U.S. military bombed a small boat for a second time to kill the survivors of a first strike. This particular strike has garnered significant attention due to its clear violation of U.S. and international law because shipwrecked sailors should never be targeted. But it is crucial to note that Donald Trump’s entire bombing operation against vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific is illegal as well.

Trump’s campaign of extrajudicial violence under the pretext of fighting a “drug war” is reminiscent of the policies of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently in custody in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, awaiting trial for murdering alleged drug dealers and users. Like Duterte, Trump’s bombing campaign should be considered a crime against humanity.

Trump Issued Orders to Bomb Alleged Drug Smugglers on Small Boats

On September 2, Trump proudly posted a video on Truth Social depicting the first of his murderous bombings of alleged drug traffickers on small boats in international waters. Trump stated he had personally ordered the operation:

Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility. TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere. The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!!!!!!

Although Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has waffled about whether it was he or Admiral Frank M. Bradley who issued the order for the second strike, Trump left no doubt that the orders resulting in the killing of 11 people came directly from him, the Commander in Chief.

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Amid Raging Drug War Trump’s Hemp Ban Will Further Empower Cartels

During his first term, the Trump Administration’s legalization of hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill was seen as a fantastic win in the crusade to legalize cannabis across the country. Thanks to the bill, not only was hemp cultivation legalized for industrial use, but an additional loophole also paved the way for the legalization of a psychoactive cannabinoid known as Delta-8-THC, which has received high praise for its numerous medicinal uses without the accompanying intensity that comes with a typical cannabis high.

According to the National Cancer Institute, delta-8-THC can be defined as:

“An analogue of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) with antiemetic, anxiolytic, appetite-stimulating, analgesic, and neuroprotective properties. [Delta-8-THC] binds to the cannabinoid G-protein coupled receptor CB1, located in the central nervous system…This agent exhibits a lower psychotropic potency than [delta-9-THC], the primary form of THC found in cannabis.”

Hemp cultivation has a long history in the United States marred by restrictive prohibition at the behest of industrial tycoons of the early 20th century who were threatened by hemp’s capability to replace the petrochemical industry due to its potential to create more effective, cleaner, and safer alternatives for thousands of products; capable of replacing oil, plastic, lumber, paper, and cotton.

The passage of the 2018 bill presented a promising future for the cultivation of hemp in the United States to potentially revolutionize domestic infrastructure, in addition to serving as a victory for advocates of personal freedom. However, new legislation threatens to change all of that.

The recently passed federal spending bill includes a provision intended to close the aforementioned loophole, banning hemp derived THC products in a move that CNBC notes threatens a growing 28 billion dollar industry.

“What this ban is going to do is it’s going to force all those little players right now into the illegal market. Companies have got way too much money invested in this and the demand is still there and growing. They [companies] aren’t just going to go away, they’re just going to go into the illicit market and put more people at risk.” Said Boris Jordan, CEO of cannabis company Curaleaf.

The move, spearheaded by Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell, who led the charge to pass the original 2018 bill and said to be his final major act in Congress before his retirement next year has been sharply criticized by colleagues such as senator Rand Paul, who worked with McConnell on the original legislation.

“This is the most thoughtless, ignorant proposal to an industry that I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Paul said after the ban was passed. 

This move represents the latest ridiculous folly in the failed war on drugs, as Congress attempts to legislate morality over the rights of individuals self ownership, prohibition will only continue to do what it has always done and fuel the growth of illicit market industry.

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Trump Admin To Stop Food Stamp Payments To Democrat States Covering Up Welfare Fraud

he Trump administration announced that it will soon stop food stamp funding to 21 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C., because they refuse to provide data about recipients, choosing instead to run cover for illegals and massive welfare fraud.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a Tuesday cabinet meeting that 28 states and Guam, run by Republicans, have provided data like names and immigration statuses for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, but that the remaining Democrat-run states are refusing to comply.

“So as of next week, we have begun and will begin to stop moving federal funds into those states, until they comply and they tell us and allow us to partner with them to root out this fraud and to protect the American taxpayer,” Rollins said at the White House.

Over 20 million SNAP recipients live in the Democrat-run states, nearly half of all 42 million recipients — a enormous number that should make anyone suspicious of the program.

The data was requested earlier this year, but the Democrat states filed a lawsuit claiming the data request violated privacy laws, essentially arguing that the government and taxpayers are not allowed to ensure accountability by tracking people who use the program.

The lawsuit is really a ploy to keep illegal immigrants in the country and on public welfare. As the lawsuit points out, the data could be used to inform better immigration enforcement. While the Trump administration maintains that the data will be used to clean up waste, fraud, and abuse, it should absolutely use the data to help deportation enforcement as well.

SNAP, much like other welfare programs, is notorious for fraud and abuse and often allows people who do not really need food assistance to game the system, not to mention the fact that the program allows recipients to purchase massive amounts of junk food that are clearly not “nutrition” as the program implies.

What’s worse is that 59 percent of illegal immigrant households use at least one welfare program, and 52 percent of legal immigrant households do the same. Native-born households account for 39 percent.

Food assistance like SNAP is one of the biggest categories of welfare for immigrants.

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