Category Archives: US

Politics, Trump, US

Trump Friend Got ICE to Arrest His Son’s Mother

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Trump Friend Got ICE to Arrest His Son’s Mother

Trump’s FCC lets one company control 70% of local news; new footage shows Trump’s declining health; Trump may cave to Democrats’ key ICE demand

British Chris and Raw America
Mar 20

A friend of Trump is using ICE as his personal weapon. A new media merger is giving a right-wing billionaire control of almost all local news. New footage suggests Trump’s health is rapidly declining. And—in good news—Democrats may have forced Trump to unmask ICE agents.

MAGA oligarchs are buying up media outlets at a staggering pace, hollowing out newsrooms, and silencing all reporting they don’t like.

Trump Ally Asked ICE to Detain the Mother of His Child
Paolo Zampolli is the man who claims credit for introducing Donald Trump to Melania back in 1998 at a New York nightclub. Last June, Zampolli had a problem. His Brazilian ex-girlfriend, Amanda Ungaro, had been arrested in Miami on fraud charges. They were locked in a custody battle over their teenage son. And she was in the country on an expired visa.

So he picked up the phone.

According to records obtained by the New York Times, Zampolli reached out to a top ICE official named David Venturella. He explained that Ungaro was undocumented and suggested that getting her into ICE detention could help him win custody of his son.

Venturella then called the Miami ICE office to make sure agents would pick Ungaro up before she could be released on bail. He reportedly noted that the case mattered to someone close to the White House.

Ungaro was placed in ICE custody and eventually deported to Brazil.

DHS insists she was detained because of her expired visa and the fraud charges. And it’s possible she would’ve been deported regardless. But the speed with which a senior ICE official jumped into action for a minor Trump associate is quite a story.

This is what the abuse of power looks like. It doesn’t always come in the form of a presidential order. Sometimes it’s a phone call from a bloke who goes to the same parties as the first lady. Draw your own conclusions.

One Company Will Now Control Local News for Over 70% of US Households
As we mentioned this morning, Nexstar Media Group has just been cleared by the FCC and the Department of Justice to acquire Tegna, another major local broadcaster. Already the largest provider of local news in the country, Nexstar will now reach more than 70 percent of U.S. households with its local newscasts.

The FCC granted Nexstar a waiver of the rule that caps how many households a single broadcaster can reach. In other words, the rule that was supposed to prevent this kind of consolidation was just waved away.

Nexstar’s CEO praised President Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr by name for making it happen.

Eight state attorneys general had filed a lawsuit just the day before to block the deal, arguing it violates antitrust law and would put more broadcast news in fewer hands, gut local jobs, and remove accountability to the communities being covered. Those concerns were brushed aside.

New Footage Raises Serious Concerns About Trump’s Cognitive Health
A new Netflix documentary about the Murdoch family called “Dynasty: The Murdochs” also includes footage of Donald Trump spanning the past decade, and the contrast is striking.

The film includes clips of Trump from the first Republican primary debate of the 2016 election cycle, where he came across as coherent, sharp, and effective. Whatever one thinks of his politics, he was in command of himself.

Compare that to recent footage of the 79-year-old president, and the difference is difficult to ignore. Medical observers and Trump critics have for some time been pointing to rambling speech, verbal stumbles, and apparent difficulty concentrating during public appearances.

Trump himself dismissed questions about his cognitive health in January, saying his father had Alzheimer’s but that he does not.

He forgot the name of the disease mid-sentence while making that point.

Trump’s supporters argue the criticism is politically motivated. Medical professionals have noted the cumulative effects of age and stress. The documentary footage adds a visual dimension to a conversation that isn’t going away.

Trump May Be About to Cave to a Key Demand from Democrats
The partial government shutdown is still dragging on, with negotiations centred on funding for the Department of Homeland Security and reforms to ICE and Customs and Border Protection.

Border czar Tom Homan was expected to meet with Senate Democrats on Friday to continue talks.

According to NBC News correspondent Julie Tsirkin, the White House is open to compromising on some Democratic demands. One item is reportedly under discussion: agents unmasking, with restrictions. That means potentially limiting the ability of immigration enforcement agents to conceal their identities during operations.

Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin also agreed he’d use judicial warrants for home entries if he were named Homeland Security secretary.

Here’s the context that matters.

These negotiations are happening after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota: Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Two Americans are dead. That’s what it took to get any movement toward accountability measures.

The willingness to even discuss warrant requirements and agent transparency only appeared at the table after American lives were lost. That’s not reform. That’s damage control.

 

 

Politics, Trump, US

Internal Collapse Inside Trump’s White House Resignations looming, Miller rising, and a behind-the-scenes power struggle exploding.

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Internal Collapse Inside Trump’s White House
Resignations looming, Miller rising, and a behind-the-scenes power struggle exploding.

Lev Parnas (Substack)
Mar 20

I’m going to be very direct with you.

What I’m hearing from my sources right now is serious — and if it plays out, it will send shockwaves through Washington.

Tulsi Gabbard is actively considering resigning as DNI.

This comes on the heels of Joe Kent’s resignation, where he made it clear there was no imminent threat from Iran, and what we are now seeing is not a coincidence.

It’s a fracture inside Trump’s intelligence and national security circle that is getting harder and harder to contain.

Let me explain what’s really going on.

Over the last two days, during her testimony before Congress, Gabbard made something very clear — without saying it outright.

She never once expressed support for Donald Trump’s decisions.

Instead, she carefully walked a legal line, repeatedly affirming that the president has the right to make decisions, while stopping short of saying she agrees with those decisions.

That’s not loyalty. That’s  distance.

At the same time, Joe Kent publicly undercut the administration’s position, saying there was no imminent threat — and then resigned.

When you have senior figures breaking from the same messaging—especially on something as sensitive as Iran—that’s not policy disagreement… that’s a rift.

Now here’s what I’m being told that the media is NOT reporting.

Trump is concerned. And he should be.

Because Tulsi Gabbard isn’t just another cabinet official.

She has been deeply involved behind the scenes in Trump’s election strategy infrastructure—working on so-called “election reform” initiatives in states like Georgia and Arizona and tied into broader efforts around foreign interference narratives, including Venezuela, that could be used as leverage politically.

That’s not a small role. That’s central to the operation.

And now she’s pulling away.

That’s why this is creating panic internally.

And it gets even more complicated.

Inside Trump’s inner circle right now, I’m hearing there are two camps forming:

Those who want Gabbard out immediately

And those who are trying to keep her in place at all costs

But let me be very clear here —

Trump and his inner circle are doing everything possible to keep her from leaving.

Because this isn’t just about optics.

This is about timing.

With the midterms approaching, the last thing Trump can afford is a high-profile fracture like this — especially from someone as deeply embedded in his national security and election infrastructure as Tulsi Gabbard.

They know if she walks now, it doesn’t just create headlines — it creates exposure.

And at the same time, the pressure is building from all sides.

The Tucker Carlson fractures, the Laura Loomer wing, and other voices inside the MAGA ecosystem are pulling in different directions—turning what was once a controlled operation into internal chaos.

That pressure is spilling directly into the White House.

And it’s becoming harder and harder to contain.

Because they also know what happens next if she leaves.

Tucker Carlson. Independent platforms. Uncontrolled conversations.

Places where she can speak freely — and where the narrative can’t be managed.

And that’s the real fear.

At the same time, there are major shifts happening inside the White House itself.

As I’ve been telling you:

Susie Wiles is on her way out

Stephen Miller is now effectively taking over, acting as chief of staff

And I’m hearing Alina Habba may be stepping into a larger role

This is a power struggle unfolding in real time — and nobody in mainstream media is connecting these dots for you.

But you’re hearing it here.

But here’s the bigger picture that should concern all of us.

While this internal chaos is unfolding:

Gas prices are climbing.

Wars are expanding.

Economic pressure is building on everyday Americans.

And where is the leadership?

Where is the Democratic Party calling this out clearly and consistently?

Where are the fighters explaining what’s actually happening behind the scenes?

They’re not there.

And that’s the problem.

This is exactly why I made the decision to run for Congress.

Florida’s 27th District is not just another race—it’s ground zero.

This is Trump’s backyard.

Marco Rubio is tied into it.

Susie Wiles operates out of it.

Pam Bondi and Donald Trump himself.

This is where power is concentrated — and where it must be challenged.

 

Politics, US

Federal judges have ruled more than 7,000 times in recent months that ICE has illegally locked people up without — at the very least — a chance to prove they can live safely in the community.

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Federal judges have ruled more than 7,000 times in recent months that ICE has illegally locked people up without — at the very least — a chance to prove they can live safely in the community.

Politico West Wing Playbook
By Kyle Cheney, Ben Johansen and Sophia Cai

Most of the time, judges have simply rejected the administration’s legal claims that it can detain people under an expansive and unprecedented view of ICE’s power. Other times, the administration has dropped the ball — missing deadlines and failing to respond to emergency lawsuits brought by the people ICE has detained, leading judges to rule in the detainees’ favour.

Now, in a growing number of cases, the administration is simply raising the white flag.

DOJ offices across the country are inundated with emergency immigration cases, laboring to keep up with the pace and in constant triage mode. They have repeatedly told judges that they’ve struggled to get information from their ICE counterparts in order to defend detention decisions. And now, those struggles are leading to decisions to simply fold in court.

In those cases, the administration has simply agreed to provide a bond hearing, or even outright release, telling judges that officials “do not have an opposition argument to present” or saying they couldn’t cobble together enough information to mount a defence.

“Undersigned counsel was unable to obtain documentation … sufficient to provide factual support for a response,” a Justice Department attorney wrote in a March 13 response to a detainee’s lawsuit in Arizona. “Accordingly, [administration officials] do not oppose the Court ordering Petitioner to receive a bond hearing at this time.”

The phenomenon is the latest manifestation of the extraordinary strain that the administration’s deportation agenda — compounded by the mass detention of people who have lived for years without incident in the U.S. interior — has exacted on the justice system.

— On Jan. 23, Judge GARY KLAUSNER, a George W. Bush appointee in the Los Angeles area, ordered the release of a 70-year-old Iranian woman who was ordered deported in 1999 but whose deportation could not be effectuated at the time. She was detained by ICE in November, but when she filed a lawsuit seeking release, the administration did “not have an opposition argument to present.”

Klausner was floored: “It appears that Respondents arrested a chronically ill, 70-year-old woman, who came to this country to avoid religious persecution and applied for asylum, who has lived here peacefully for 26 years and complied with all check-in requirements and other conditions of release, who has no known criminal record and poses no threat to anyone … then kept her in detention for months without sufficient medical care — and they do not have any argument to offer to even try to justify these actions.”

— On Jan. 26, Judge KENLY KATO, a Biden appointee, ordered the release of another Iranian national who had been ordered deported after drug convictions in 2018 but whose deportation to Iran could not be arranged. ICE detained the man last June but has been unable to deport him since, so the man filed a lawsuit seeking release in January. The Trump administration’s response: “At this time, Respondents do not have an opposition argument to present.” A week later, for the same reason, Kato ordered the release of a man born in the Soviet Union, who was ordered deported to Russia in 2005 after a conviction but whose deportation could not be arranged.

— On Jan. 27, Judge DOLLY GEE, an Obama appointee, ordered the release of an Afghan man who had been detained for a year while the administration was unable to secure his deportation to the Taliban-led nation or an alternate “third country.” Once again, the administration had “no opposition argument” to his release from custody.

— On Feb. 17, a judge ordered the release of a Vietnamese man with paranoid schizophrenia who had been ordered deported after a 2000 burglary conviction but whose deportation could not be effectuated because of Vietnam’s longstanding reluctance to repatriate nationals who fled prior to 1995. The administration told Judge MARK SCARSI, a Trump appointee, it had “no opposition argument to present.”

The same pattern has played out in dozens of cases centred in California and Arizona, two states where ICE has housed thousands of detainees facing immigration and deportation proceedings. Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security officials declined to respond to requests for comment.

Constitution, Environment, Healthcare, Politics, Republican Party, Science, Trump, US

Somebody Finally Stood Up to RFK Jr. A federal judge’s ruling highlights the ways Kennedy’s anti-vax agenda is putting public health at risk.

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Somebody Finally Stood Up to RFK Jr.
A federal judge’s ruling highlights the ways Kennedy’s anti-vax agenda is putting public health at risk.

Jonathan Cohn (The Bulwark)
Mar 18

WELL, WELL, WELL. The brainworm may finally have turned.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent the past year systematically dismantling federal support for vaccines. From his perch atop the Department of Health and Human Services, he has canceled funding for vaccine research, published misinformation about supposed vaccine dangers, forced out or fired respected scientists who might resist his agenda, and withdrawn federal recommendations for a half dozen childhood vaccines.

Until recently, Kennedy had run into little resistance. Donald Trump, who gave Kennedy all this power, has lauded Kennedy and amplified his attacks on vaccines. Bill Cassidy, the high-profile Senate Republican and Louisiana physician, has—despite some angry statements—refused to use his chairmanship of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to demand changes or even explanations for Kennedy’s actions.

But this week Kennedy suffered a major setback. And it came at the hands of the judiciary.

On Monday, a federal judge in Boston blocked several of Kennedy’s most consequential policy changes, arguing that he had violated legal rules for how the HHS secretary is supposed to make key decisions. The 45-page ruling was a big win for the plaintiffs—a group of medical organizations and affected individuals led by the American Academy of Pediatrics—who have been protesting Kennedy’s actions from the get-go.

“There is a method to how these decisions historically have been made—a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements,” Judge Brian Murphy wrote in his opinion. “Unfortunately, the government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.”

Murphy’s order “stays” several key actions taken by Kennedy’s department—meaning that they are not fully prohibited, but rather they are put on hold as the legal proceedings fully play out. Judges in higher courts may not see things the same way; they could reverse some or all of Murphy’s ruling if the Trump administration appeals, as officials are already promising to do.

“HHS looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon told reporters after the ruling. ¹

The underlying legal issues here include genuinely complex questions about which powers the HHS secretary really has and the extent to which judges can or should determine what qualifies as an expert. It also involves questions over who has legal “standing” to bring a lawsuit like this. Murphy is a Joe Biden appointee with a reputation as a liberal. It’s not at all hard to imagine conservative judges—including Trump’s appointees on the Supreme Court, if the case gets that far—ruling differently.

But Murphy’s order will help keep vaccines in the news. And that alone has important consequences, given how the politics around the issue seem to be shifting.

In just the last few weeks, the White House has taken a series of steps to get a tighter grip on operations at HHS and to tamp down on some of the anti-vaccine rhetoric coming from Kennedy and his camp. It’s not clear whether Trump is having second thoughts about his full-throated endorsements of Kennedy. What is clear is that people around the president have gotten nervous that the anti-vaccine agenda is alienating the majority of voters who support vaccination strongly.

In short, Team Trump would prefer to change the subject. Murphy’s ruling makes that harder.

Which, perhaps, is appropriate. The debate here isn’t simply about whether Kennedy is making decisions in ways that comply with the law. It’s also about whether he is making decisions in ways that are good for public health. And this case highlights multiple ways in which he is not.

Business, Constitution, International, News, Politics, Republican Party, Russian Investigation, Trump, US, World

Saying No to the Toddler Resisting consistently is the key

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Saying No to the Toddler
Resisting consistently is the key

Mary L Trump
Mar 18

As you may have heard, despite declaring the war over, Donald has been desperately seeking help from U.S. allies to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. I have bad news for him. His delusions aside, every single country he has asked so far has said no. What we’re now seeing play out on the world stage is something long overdue: a toddler finally being told no.

Our allies’ united refusal is not the only thing rattling Donald right now. I think the latest phase of his unraveling began earlier this year when his corrupt, illegitimate supermajority of the Supreme Court that has bent over backwards to enable him nearly every step of the way finally drew a line when it declared his tariffs were unconstitutional and must be undone. How did Donald respond?

He attacked the justices who had, up to that point, given him almost everything he could hope for, including near-total presidential immunity. These justices have bent the law and broken the Constitution in ways that continue to protect him while expanding his power. The one time they told him something he did not want to hear, he lashed out; he insulted them; he called them traitors. And then he refused to comply with their decision anyway.

That’s right, instead of following the court’s ruling, he doubled down and imposed another 15% tariff across the board.

After all, who’s going to stop him? Donald continues to do what he’s always done: push the envelope to see what he can get away with. If nobody stops him (which they almost always never do), he pushes further and gets away with more. On those rare occasions when he’s thwarted, he doesn’t course correct like a mature human being; he doesn’t come up with a different strategy. He doubles down.

When the person engaging in this kind of behavior has the power to bring the world to the brink of economic chaos and a war nobody but him wants, we should all be on our guard. But it’s a long-established pattern: Most frequently, the person who stands up to him—after being threatened or blackmailed—eventually backs down. This gives him more room, more power, more oxygen. He becomes emboldened to do worse things, to take bigger risks, to inflict more pain, and to acquire more wealth and more power. Rarely has anybody stood up and said no in a way that sticks.

But that may finally be shifting.

Donald has dragged America into a war of his choosing without the permission of the U.S. government or the support of the American people. Nobody, with the exception of Donald and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted this. It is a war that nobody, including Donald, can justify. And perhaps most telling of all, it is a war that nobody, including Donald, knows how to end.

For once, our allies are not falling in line behind him. Instead of humoring him, they’re standing up against him. They are finally, at long last, saying that very simple and powerful word: “no.” They are saying, “We do not want this. We did not ask for this. You did not consult us before starting this, and therefore we owe you nothing.”

And most importantly, they’re saying, “We will not risk our blood and treasure to help you wage an illegal and unconstitutional war that endangers us all.”

They will not participate in Donald’s war crimes; nor will they help him clean up the political disasters he has created for himself, both at home and abroad. Make no mistake, this situation is already costing him politically. His reckless and ill-considered actions have helped drive massive spikes in oil prices and the kind of economic shock that reverberates quickly across the globe.

Our allies are beginning to understand something that people inside the U.S. government often pretend not to understand: weakening Donald politically is actually good for the United States, and it is good for the rest of the world.

I suspect that many of our allies are quietly relieved to see Donald’s position weakening, because a diminished Trump regime means a more secure international coalition, fewer reckless decisions, fewer unilateral acts of aggression, and fewer moments during which the entire world has to hold its breath hoping that American leadership doesn’t plunge all of us further into chaos.

In this context, it’s particularly revealing who Donald has not asked for help—that embarrassing gaggle of failing democracies and autocracies that make up his so-called Board of Peace, countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, and Hungary. Donald created that group as a way to convince people, erroneously, that he has global support when, in reality, he does not. The “Board of Peace” is also a very effective mechanism through which to steal more money from the American people. On February 26, Donald pledged $10 billion American dollars, funds over which he, as permanent chair, has discretion.

Donald, instead, has turned to China to help him out of the geopolitical mess he created. This serves to empower China further (it’s important to keep in mind that this entire fiasco benefits China and Russia—two of our greatest adversaries—at least until Donald gets back into the Oval Office in 2025. And it benefits them at the expense of American influence and security. And yet even China said, “No.”

Everyone is saying no to him. These refusals, though, will only matter if they are unwavering.

Over the past few days, we’ve seen signs that Donald is losing control to a degree that we may not have seen before. His behavior toward reporters has become even more volatile and inappropriate. Journalists asking basic, legitimate questions about the war he started, questions any president should be prepared to answer, are being met with insults and temper tantrums.

When a female reporter asked a straightforward question:

Can you explain why you are sending 5,000 additional Marines and sailors?

Donald shushed her and said,

You’re a very obnoxious person.

He then turned to a male reporter who, without missing a beat, asked another question without any concern for how his colleague had been treated (a conversation for another time).

This is how Donald has always operated, but there’s an important difference between throwing temper tantrums during business negotiations, when you have all of the power and leverage, and doing it while managing multiple international crises, most of them of your own making.

Donald likes to claim that he is a master dealmaker—he is not now, nor has he ever been. Not even if we entertain that myth for a moment, the reality is that as a businessman, he always negotiated from a position of overwhelming advantage.

When he was at the Trump Organization, thanks to my grandfather, Donald had more money, more lawyers, more resources, and more leverage than the people he was dealing with. Every negotiation was structured in his favor from the very beginning, and by the time a deal was ready to be finalized, all Donald had to do to make sure he got his way was show up at the last minute, and if the other party did not give him everything he wanted, he’d throw a tantrum, and, if necessary, threaten to bury them in lawsuits if they didn’t comply with his wishes.

That’s not how negotiations work. That is how weak people without any moral compass behave when they are handed enormous, unfair advantages.

What we are witnessing now is something Donald has almost certainly never experienced in his life: he is negotiating from a position of increasing weakness, and he has absolutely no idea how to handle it.

For most of his life, Donald has been protected by wealth, by privilege, and by individuals and institutions that were reluctant to hold him accountable. Even when he failed, the consequences were mitigated by those who realized he was still of use to them. Even when he crossed lines, someone eventually stepped in to smooth things over for him.

But we are living in a very different moment, because this is not just about him and his business interests anymore, and we’re not just talking about the Republican Party anymore. We’re talking about the fact that, through his reckless and dangerous actions, Donald has put the entire world at risk without having secured the support of the American people, of Congress, or other world leaders.

In response, our allies are showing us something that has been missing for far too long: resolve.

To our allies around the world, if you care about the future of NATO and Western liberal democracy, and if you care about America and the survival of our democracy, which you should, keep doing exactly what you are doing.

Keep saying no.

Middle East, Politics, Republican Party, Russian Investigation, Trump, US

Articles of Impeachment for Bondi Introduced, Some Airports May Shutdown, SAVE Act in Trouble, Russia

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Articles of Impeachment for Bondi Introduced, Some Airports May Shut Down, SAVE Act in Trouble, Russia Helps Iran Even More

Aaron Parnas
Mar 17

There is a lot to cover this afternoon. Articles of impeachment have been filed against Pam Bondi. Some airports may begin shutting down as the government shutdown escalates. The SAVE Act is in serious trouble, lacking enough Senate support to pass. At the same time, Russia is increasing its support for Iran in the ongoing war.

Meanwhile, new data shows CBS Evening News ratings are dropping sharply as independent media continue to surge. We are doing this differently, and we are doing it better. Why? Because we answer to you.

Rep. Summer Lee has introduced articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleging a wide range of misconduct, including defying congressional subpoenas to release unredacted Epstein files, violating federal law, misleading Congress and the courts, and abusing prosecutorial authority. The resolution also accuses Bondi of politicizing the Justice Department by targeting political opponents, dismissing cases involving allies, and retaliating against officials and journalists, as Lee and several Democratic co-sponsors argue her actions undermine the rule of law and warrant removal from office.

House Oversight Chair James Comer has subpoenaed former Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify under oath in an ongoing probe into the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein investigation, citing concerns about potential mismanagement and failure to comply with transparency laws. The move follows bipartisan frustration over heavily redacted files and escalates congressional scrutiny, even as the DOJ calls the subpoena unnecessary and offers briefings instead.

Senior Justice Department officials are set to brief a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the Capitol on the handling and release of Epstein-related documents, as congressional scrutiny intensifies over transparency and the DOJ’s actions.

A group of more than three dozen House conservatives has staged a revolt against their own party leadership by voting down even routine, bipartisan legislation to pressure the Senate into taking up the SAVE Act, openly defying Speaker Mike Johnson, disrupting the House’s normal legislative process, and signaling they are willing to block all Senate-originated bills—including “must-pass” measures—until their demands are met.

A prolonged government funding standoff has led to a mounting workforce revolt among TSA officers, who have been working without pay for weeks and are increasingly calling out or quitting, severely straining airport security operations. Absentee rates have surged far above normal levels, causing long screening delays and operational disruptions at major hubs, while officials warn that if the situation continues, staffing shortages could force the closure of some smaller airports—especially as travel demand ramps up during the busy spring season.

The Senate narrowly voted 51–48 to open debate on the SAVE America Act, but some Republicans showed internal division: Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted against it, Sen. Thom Tillis missed the vote after opposing it, and Sen. Mitch McConnell—who doesn’t support the bill—only voted to proceed as a procedural courtesy, highlighting fractures within the GOP despite overall backing for the legislation.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard responded to Joe Kent’s resignation in protest of the Iran war.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Russia is significantly ramping up its military and intelligence support for Iran by sharing satellite imagery and upgrading drone capabilities, enhancing Tehran’s ability to target U.S. forces and sustain operations in the region. The cooperation reflects a deepening strategic partnership, with Moscow aiming to keep Iran engaged against U.S. and Israeli forces while prolonging a conflict that benefits Russia by diverting Western attention and creating military and economic advantages.

Iranian state media has confirmed that top security official Ali Larijani was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tehran, marking the first acknowledgment from Iran after earlier Israeli claims and signaling a major escalation in the conflict with the loss of one of the country’s most senior leaders.

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, deployed in operations against Iran, is set to make a temporary port stop after a significant onboard fire injured nearly 200 sailors with smoke exposure, disrupted living quarters, and took hours to contain, impacting its operational readiness during the ongoing conflict.

Rep. Pat Ryan sharply attacked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of increasingly erratic behavior, blaming him for the deaths of 13 Americans, and calling for him to be held accountable.

French President Emmanuel Macron rejected claims by Donald Trump that France would help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, stating France would not participate in such operations and signaling a split with the U.S. over how to respond to escalating tensions in the region.

Iran confirmed the killing of Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani in an اسرائیلی strike, marking one of the highest-level assassinations of the war, as regional tensions escalate with ongoing missile exchanges, heavy civilian casualties in Lebanon, and warnings from the UN that Israeli strikes on civilian areas may constitute war crimes.

The conflict is widening politically and militarily: Trump is pressuring but also criticizing NATO allies for not joining U.S. efforts in the Strait of Hormuz, key partners like France are refusing involvement, internal dissent is growing in the U.S. (including a senior resignation), and Iranian leaders warn the strategic waterway will not return to normal conditions.

Ireland’s leader Micheál Martin publicly pushed back on Donald Trump’s criticism of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a White House meeting, diplomatically defending Starmer and Europe while avoiding confrontation, highlighting growing transatlantic tensions over the Iran war and NATO.

Arizona has escalated its crackdown on prediction market platform Kalshi by filing its first-ever criminal charges, accusing the company of operating an unlicensed gambling and election-betting business as part of a broader, multi-state legal battle over whether such platforms fall under federal financial regulation or state gambling laws.

A federal judge ordered a sweeping reversal of Kari Lake’s dismantling of Voice of America, mandating the reinstatement of about 1,000 employees and rebuking her for disregarding congressionally mandated legal requirements.

According to Axios, Senator Ruben Gallego is pressing the Energy Department for details on potential releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as gas prices rise, highlighting growing political pressure in Washington over the domestic impact of the Iran war on energy markets.

 

Of Interest, Politics, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

Drunk General Loses Top Secret Documents

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Drunk General Loses Top Secret Documents

US airports may shut down over TSA worker shortage; judge kicks Trump DOJ prosecutor out of the courtroom; majority of Americans think Iran war meant to distract from Epstein

British Chris and Raw America
Mar 17

There’s a lot happening right now that billionaire-owned outlets are sweeping under the rug. Airports across the U.S. could soon shut down. A judge had one of Trump’s prosecutors removed from his courtroom. A majority of Americans think the Iran war was launched to distract from the Epstein files. And a general drank himself into a stupor and left behind top-secret documents.

TSA Crisis Could Mean Shutdown of U.S. Airports
America’s airports are in trouble.

The Transportation Security Administration is stretched so thin that its own acting deputy administrator went on Fox News this week and said, flat out, that shutting down airports isn’t hyperbole. It’s a real possibility. Smaller airports especially.

Adam Stahl told Fox & Friends that officers “can’t afford to come in.” TSA workers have been going without full pay since a partial DHS shutdown kicked in on February 14th.

Three hundred and sixty-six TSA workers have already quit. Each replacement takes four to six months to train and certify. So every officer who walks out the door creates a gap that won’t be filled anytime soon.

The results are showing up at every major airport in the country. Three- and four-hour security lines. People missing flights. TSA callout rates are spiking, including in major hubs like Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans.

The DHS shutdown happened after two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis. Democrats want to fund DHS agencies like the TSA and FEMA while cutting off ICE funding. Republicans insist on an all-or-nothing approach.

Judge Kicks Trump DOJ Prosecutor Out of Courtroom
Here’s a story that deserves far more attention than it’s getting.

A federal judge in New Jersey threw a top prosecutor out of his courtroom this week. Not metaphorically. Actually ejected him.

Judge Zahid Quraishi was presiding over a sentencing hearing when things unraveled fast. The head of appeals for the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mark Coyne, showed up without formally disclosing he’d be there. The judge told him he couldn’t address the court. Coyne spoke anyway. Judge Quraishi warned him again. Coyne spoke again. And the judge had security remove him.

The New Jersey U.S. attorney’s office has been in legal chaos since Alina Habba was disqualified from her previous role. Pam Bondi responded by appointing a three-person leadership team that a federal judge found last week to be unlawfully appointed. Judge Quraishi is now demanding those three people testify in court next month.

The concern isn’t just procedural. Last week, Judge Matthew Brann wrote that Trump’s reliance on illegal maneuvers to staff the New Jersey prosecutor’s office could mean scores of dangerous criminals walk free or get convictions reversed because the law would be on their side.

Judge Quraishi didn’t mince words at the end of Monday’s hearing. He told the remaining prosecutor that the office had lost the confidence of the court, the New Jersey legal community, and the public.

More Than Half of Americans Think Trump Started War to Distract from Epstein
Posters popping up across Washington D.C. are calling the war in Iran not by its official name, “Operation Epic Fury,” but rather “Operation Epstein Fury.”

Another poster shows a fallen American serviceman in front of the Stars and Stripes saying U.S. troops shouldn’t have to “die fighting Iran for the Epstein class.”

Now, whether the war was launched to distract from those files is impossible to prove. But what’s striking is who is raising the question.

Republican Congressman Thomas Massie wrote that bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files disappear. Podcaster Joe Rogan said that bombing Iran makes everyone forget about everything.

A poll for progressive outlet Zeteo found that 52 percent of Americans believe Trump attacked Iran because of the Epstein headlines. That includes 26 percent of Republicans.

Republican strategist Rick Wilson summed it up bluntly: “For Trump, war is the ultimate political reset, no matter its cost.”

U.S. General Gets Drunk and Loses Secret Documents
A Pentagon watchdog report has found that the U.S. Army general who ran America’s Ukraine aid mission left classified documents on a train and drank himself into a concussion.

Major General Antonio Aguto Jr. headed the Security Assistance Group-Ukraine out of Germany between 2022 and 2024. Three anonymous complaints triggered a Department of Defense inspector general investigation in June 2024.

The findings are remarkable.

In April of 2024, Aguto’s staff traveled to Kyiv carrying secret classified maps in an unsecured plastic tube. When they boarded the train home, the tube didn’t make it back with them. Ukrainian train security found it and returned it to the U.S. Embassy within 45 minutes, but the documents had been outside American control for over 24 hours.

Aguto accepted responsibility. But the alcohol findings are harder to explain.

The following month, Aguto attended a dinner in Kyiv that lasted nearly six hours. He and his companions drank from two bottles of strong liquor, violating U.S. European Command rules limiting personnel in Ukraine to two drinks in any 24-hour period.

He was visibly intoxicated when he left the restaurant. He fell multiple times that night and the following morning. Despite pleas from staff, he pushed through a meeting with the secretary of state, arriving late with a ripped jacket, a red mark on his forehead, and the smell of alcohol.

By mid-afternoon, a Kyiv hospital confirmed a concussion. Investigators concluded the concussion was caused by his drinking the previous evening.

Aguto has disputed some of the findings, citing medical conditions, and claimed verbal authorization to drink during official Kyiv visits. Investigators rejected both defenses.

International, Middle East, Oil, Oil, Politics, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US, World

Iran called Trump’s bluff — and now he’s spiraling and ‘out of ideas’: expert

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Iran called Trump’s bluff—and now he’s spiraling and ‘out of ideas’: expert

Travis Gettys
March 17, 2026, 3:28PM ET (RAWSTORY)

None of President Donald Trump’s usual bailouts are coming after he launched a war on Iran, and the situation has quickly spiraled out of his control.

The 79-year-old president has long relied on lies, bluster, and escalation to stay one step ahead of consequences in his business, political, and personal life, but those tactics are proving woefully ineffective against the global energy market that’s been choked off by Iran in response to the military operation he impulsively authorized, wrote political scientist Nicholas Grossman for MS NOW.

“In response to the U.S.-Israeli attack, Iran played its biggest card, closing the Strait of Hormuz,” wrote Grossman, a political science professor at the University of Illinois. “It’s a narrow choke point at the end of the Persian Gulf, and a kink in the waterway leaves it exposed to a lot of Iran’s coastline. About 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through Hormuz, and it isn’t hard for Iran to stop the traffic.”

“Iran can’t prevent U.S. and Israeli forces from flying over the gulf, and they probably couldn’t keep the U.S. Navy out of it, but to close the strait, they don’t need to,” he added. “They only have to make shipping companies afraid to sail, and insurance companies think the risk of insuring the ships is too high. With threats, a few attacks on tankers, and now possibly sea mines Iran has.”

That development should have been expected, Grossman wrote, but the president seems caught off guard by the strategic closure that’s threatening to tip the global economy into a tailspin, so Trump has fallen back on his habitual tactics to wriggle out of the jam he created for himself.

“Trump tried saying the war is almost over and the U.S. already won,” Grossman wrote. “It made the oil price drop back down for a bit, but as U.S.-Israeli bombardment continued and market disruptions got worse, it rose again.”

“Trump tried telling ships to traverse the Strait of Hormuz, but most wouldn’t, and a few who did exploded, presumably at Iran’s hand,” he added. “He tried releasing oil from America’s strategic reserve, and some other countries did from theirs. But that’s a Band-Aid on a gaping wound and had little impact.”

He tried bombing Kharg Island, which Iran uses for oil exports, in the apparent belief that slowing down Iran’s shipping would force it to stop blocking other nations’ ships in the Persian Gulf, and Grossman saw a parallel in Trump’s business career.

“That recalls one of Trump’s go-to moves in business: the bad faith lawsuit,” Grossman wrote. “He’d break a contract, screw someone over, and dare them to sue him. Or would initiate legal action himself. Either way, he bet that he’d have more resources and greater tolerance for a protracted legal fight, and the other party would settle even when the facts were on their side.”

“That won’t work with Iran,” Grossman warned.

Trump has incentivized the Iranian regime to use every bit of leverage they have and endure as much punishment as they can take, and U.S. allies aren’t willing to bail him out after he alienated them and launched an illegal war without first consulting them.

“Much of the time when Trump was in the private sector and messed up, his rich dad bailed him out or he’d declare bankruptcy,” Grossman wrote. “Instead of holding equity or debt, Trump would have the business pay him a salary and bonuses so that money was gone when the company went under, and his partners and contractors would take most of the losses.”

“Trump started something that quickly spiraled and seems out of ideas,” he added. “There’s no one to sue, no rules to manipulate, just the hard realities of resource shortages and war. And there’s a good chance Iran can tolerate being bombed more than the U.S. can tolerate a rapidly rising oil price and the economic damage it causes.”

Economy, News, Politics, Politics, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US

This unforgivable lie is Trump’s most heinous insult to troops yet

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This unforgivable lie is Trump’s most heinous insult to troops yet

John Casey
March 17, 2026 8:21AM ET (RAWSTORY)

Donald Trump has a fixation with numbers. He must get this trait from his uncle, who taught at MIT. Trump claims his uncle had three university degrees “in nuclear, chemical, and math.”

That’s a lie, of course. And it fits. And math? What? We surely know Trump failed his math courses. That’s because Trump’s obsession with numbers usually involves numbers he makes up, pulls out of thin air, and, well, lies about, just like he lies about his uncle.

He doesn’t just lie about numbers. He remakes them as he sees fit: larger, smaller, higher, lower, more pleasing, and more flattering. He has a long history of making false or misleading statements about figures, consistently exaggerating numbers related to his achievements, support, and events.

Throughout his life—and in the interest of brevity, let’s stick to his political career—Trump has treated data not as a collection of facts but as a tool for image-making.

From the moment he was sworn in, he famously inflated his 2017 inauguration crowd size. Later, he compared the crowd that participated in the insurrection he provoked on January 6th to the historic crowds of the March on Washington in 1963.

These weren’t just wildly false. They were insulting.

And if you’re a glutton for lies and keep up with Trump’s fibs, you know the pattern extends to the economy, immigration, job numbers, gas prices, and on and on. He routinely posts whoppers on Truth Social and delivers them during interviews, rallies, and even State of the Union speeches.

He constantly claims “record-breaking” statistics, such as 20 million illegal border crossings or inheriting “record” inflation, even when the numbers are grossly exaggerated or the opposite is true.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie once explained Trump’s reliance on falsity: “Trump looked at my wife and said, Whether it’s true or not, if I say it enough times, it becomes true… He takes what he knows is incorrect and convinces himself by saying it enough times.”

This habitual distortion creates a phony version of leadership where popularity and success are measured by unadulterated nonsense rather than real results, i.e. electoral victory as a “landslide” or unfavorable approval ratings as “fake news.”

Trump has established a perverse precedent where obvious facts become inconvenient. His reliance on fabricated numbers doesn’t just mislead supporters; it erodes the shared seriousness required for a functioning democracy.

Alarmingly, we watched him do it six years ago with COVID. The question now, as his Iran war enters its third week and injuries and fatalities begin to mount, is whether we will watch him do it again.

On Thursday, a second military evacuation flight landed at Ramstein Air Base carrying roughly 19 more wounded American troops, including two injured in a drone attack whose details the Pentagon has declined to fully disclose. This follows about 20 who arrived days earlier. The official Pentagon tally now sits at roughly 140 injured and 13 dead.

Some of those numbers reached the public through leaks, not through clear, direct briefings from the equally fact-challenged Pete Hegseth.

When wartime casualty data has to escape through back channels to reach the American public, you don’t need a history degree to understand what’s happening. You just need a memory.

During the Vietnam War, the Johnson administration manipulated, obscured, and downplayed U.S. involvement and casualties to manage public opinion and conceal the lack of progress.

Trump has traversed this dubious road before. In the spring of 2020, he suggested that COVID case counts could be reduced simply by doing less testing.

“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people; you’re going to find more cases,” he said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’” The White House said it was a joke. It wasn’t. And if it were, these are people’s lives we are talking about.

He pressured the CDC. He slow-walked through reporting. He feuded publicly with his own health officials when their projections made him look bad. He even tried to keep cruise ships away from U.S. shores so that the infected passengers wouldn’t raise the ominous COVID numbers.

He turned the routine act of counting the dead into a political liability to be managed rather than a solemn obligation to be honored. By the time it was over, the United States had one of the highest COVID death tolls in the developed world.

Now here we are again.

The Iran war is just over two weeks old. It has already cost American taxpayers more than $11 billion in its first week alone. Gas prices are rising by the day. A military refueling plane crashed, and the administration was remarkably quick, suspiciously quick, to distance the incident from enemy fire.

Meanwhile, the White House communications operation has been running this conflict like a winter blockbuster, complete with NFL-style highlight reels and video game-style footage. It’s disgusting. War is not a game. It is deadly. People are maimed. People die.

Trump worked hard to manipulate COVID data. Public health experts and career officials forced some transparency. But now, in his second term, he has a compliant inner circle, a press operation built for deflection, and an instinct to reward officials who shade the truth in the boss’s favor.

Consider what happened in August 2025, when Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after a weak jobs report, accusing the agency of producing “fake” or politically motivated data. The message was clear: numbers that make him look bad are unacceptable.

Unlike a virus or a jobs report, this war has names and faces and anxious families waiting by their phones. Those families deserve accurate information. They deserve to know exactly how many of their sons and daughters have been hurt and how badly.

Our troops are not inconvenient data points to be managed around an approval rating.

They are human beings in harm’s way. Every one of them deserves to be counted fully, honestly, and publicly.

Trump has ridiculed our troops before; under-counting the injured and dead may be his greatest insult toward them.

 

Canada, International, International, Of Interest, Politics, Republican Party, Trump, US, World

‘Funny how that works’: Nobel-winner warns Trump’s allies won’t help him out of ‘trap’

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‘Funny how that works’: Nobel-winner warns Trump’s allies won’t help him out of ‘trap.’

Ewan Gleadow
March 17, 2026, 2:30PM ET (RAWSTORY)

A new brief of tariffs from the Trump administration could be the worst yet, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman.

Krugman warned that new tariffs set to be introduced by the president’s team will affect not just U.S. citizens but the world as he lashes out at NATO for not helping with the war in Iran. The economist believes a proposed tariff on 60 countries, including members of the European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom, will cruelly hinder economies across the world during a time of domestic crisis.

Krugman wrote, “Trump imposed tariffs on almost every other nation, including islands inhabited only by penguins, by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.” This use of IEEPA was blatantly illegal, and after dragging its heels for many months, the Supreme Court finally agreed with lower courts that the tariffs were, in fact, illegal.

“One important point that isn’t emphasized enough is that in addition to being illegal under U.S. law, the IEEPA tariffs were a gross breach of contract. Most U.S. tariff rates were set in 1995, as part of the negotiations that, among other things, created the World Trade Organization.

“These tariffs were ‘bound’ by international agreements, which have almost as much force as treaties. But the U.S. just ripped those agreements up without even trying to make a case for its actions.

“Now the IEEPA tariffs are gone, but Trump isn’t giving up. On Sunday night he posted a long, falsehood-filled rant about the court, beginning with a condemnation of its tariff ruling. And while he can’t simply defy Supreme Court rulings—not yet, anyway—his officials have been scrambling for legal strategies to reimpose high tariffs.”

Krugman has warned that, despite the Supreme Court intervening in Trump’s tariff powers, the worst is yet to come as the administration looks to hinder its allies, enemies, and trading partners with a new round of economic changes.

“Under U.S. law the executive branch has the authority to impose tariffs without new legislation in certain specified circumstances,” Krugman wrote. These include Section 232 tariffs to protect national security, the (spurious) basis for most of the tariffs that survived the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“Trump officials are planning to impose another major round of tariffs using Section 301, designed to cope with unfair foreign trading practices. In particular, they’re proposing tariffs on 60 (!) countries, including Canada, the UK, and the European Union, that they accuse of violating rules against international trade in goods produced with forced labor.

“The current U.S. government has, as Trump would say, treated our erstwhile allies very, very badly in multiple ways, with the arbitrary, illegal imposition of tariffs the most consequential. And now those erstwhile allies have no inclination to help Trump out of the Iran trap he created for himself. Funny how that works.”