Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News

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Sunday, January 18, 2026

U.S. District Judge William Young said he'd force the Trump administration to "jump through hoops" if it wants to deport more pro-Palestine protesters.


Trump's Big Bill gave private jet owners the ability to write off the entire cost right away, rather than spread the deduction out over several years. While private jets get more easy to afford, food, housing and energy costs have risen under the Trump administration. "A 2024 report found that passengers in larger models cause more CO2 emissions in one hour than the average person does in a year," read more


Pentagon Brushes Off Request to Understand How Wind Turbines Threaten National Security read more


As public opinion in the country increasingly turns against the U.S. president over his threats to seize Greenland, the AfD is seeing the downside of its strong alignment with him. read more


Saturday, January 17, 2026

New documents show the crew on board the United States' newest aircraft carrier are growing increasingly frustrated by design flaws that lead to regular failures in the ship's toilet system.


Comments

Another view ...

Judge to protect noncitizen academics involved in case from authoritarian' Trump
www.theguardian.com

... A federal judge described Donald Trump as an "authoritarian" and accused his administration of "an unconstitutional conspiracy to pick off certain people" in its aggressive pursuit of non-US citizen, pro-Palestinian activists on American college campuses. ...
[emphasis mine]

... I used to believe that if all I did was read Page One of the New York Times, I'd be well-informed. Brainwashed is more like it. ...

Let's see ...

New York Times -- Bias and Credibility
mediabiasfactcheck.com

... Overall, we rate the New York Times Left-Center biased based on wording and story selection that moderately favors the left. They are considered one of the most reliable sources for news information due to proper sourcing and well-respected journalists/editors. The failed fact checks were on Op-Eds and not straight news reporting. ...

Yeah, just a "high" rating for factual reporting.

And for comparison ...

Fox News (foxnews.com) -- Bias and Credibility
mediabiasfactcheck.com

... Overall, we rate Fox News right-biased based on editorial positions that align with the right and Questionable due to the promotion of state propaganda, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, the use of poor sources, and numerous false claims and failed fact checks. While straight news reporting from beat reporters is generally fact-based and accurate, it is typically overshadowed by propagandistic opinions, which earns them a Low factual rating. ...

A "low" rating for factual reporting? Who could have known?

And just for grins ...

Drudge Retort -- Bias and Credibility
mediabiasfactcheck.com

... Overall, we rate the Drudge Retort Left Biased based on the use of mostly left or left-center sources. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to the use of some sources that have failed fact checks as well as a lack of transparency. ...

Wait, what??? drudge.com has a higher factual rating than foxnews.com?


@#1 ... Meanwhile, China is also gaining footholds in Africa and with other allies that Pres Trump is abandoning. ...

And it's not just China and Canada whose trade Pres Trump is chasing away ...

After 25 years, Europe and South America formalize world's largest free-trade zone
courthousenews.com

... European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antnio Costa signed a landmark trade agreement with South American nations Saturday, creating the world's largest free-trade zone covering more than 700 million people.

The ceremony in Paraguay's capital brought together leaders from the EU and Mercosur " the South American trade bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. They finalized an agreement the European Commission adopted in September, and EU member states approved last week.

"We are creating the largest free trade zone in the world, a market worth almost 20% of global GDP," von der Leyen said at the signing ceremony in Asuncion. "This agreement sends a strong signal to the world. It reflects a clear and deliberate choice. We choose fair trade over tariffs, we choose a productive, long-term partnership." ...



China's annual trade surplus hits a record $1.2 trillion, even as exports to U.S. decline by 20%
www.cnbc.com

... Exports surged 6.6% in U.S. dollar terms last month from a year earlier, topping Reuters-polled analysts' median estimate for a 3% growth.

Imports rose 5.7% in December from a year earlier, topping expectations for a 0.9% growth.

Shipments to the U.S. plunged 30% in December from a year ago, declining for a ninth straight month. ...


@#4

The full URL ...

Nicaraguan man arrested by ICE in Minnesota dies at Camp East Montana
www.elpasotimes.com

... A Nicaraguan immigrant arrested by ICE in Minneapolis has become the third detainee to die at Camp East Montana in El Paso while facing deportation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced. ...

Related ...

Treasury secretary defends Greenland tariffs: 'The national emergency is avoiding the national emergency'
www.nbcnews.com

... Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended proposed tariffs targeting eight European countries that oppose President Donald Trump's push to acquire Greenland, telling NBC News' "Meet the Press" that the goal is to avoid a future national emergency. ...

Asked by moderator Kristen Welker what national emergency justifies tariffs against countries that oppose Trump's Greenland ambitions, Bessent argued that "the national emergency is avoiding a national emergency." ...



How Trump's loathing for wind turbines started with a Scottish court battle (July 2025)
www.bbc.com

... "I am the evidence," was the eyebrow-raising comment made by Donald Trump when he appeared before the Scottish Parliament in 2012.

He was speaking as an "expert" witness on green energy targets, describing how he believed wind turbines were damaging tourism in Scotland.

Five years before he first became US president, it was one of his earliest interventions on renewable energy - but since then his opposition to them has grown to become government policy in the world's biggest economy.

He was objecting to 11 turbines which were planned -- and ultimately constructed -- alongside his Aberdeenshire golf course.

On his latest visit to Scotland, he described those turbines as "some of the ugliest you've ever seen".

When Trump bought the Menie estate, about eight miles north of Aberdeen, in 2006, he promised to create the "world's greatest" golf course.

But he soon became infuriated at plans to construct an offshore wind farm nearby, arguing that the "windmills" -- as he prefers to call the structures -- would ruin the view. ...

They generate enough electricity to supply up to 80,000 homes but the wind farm was also built as a test and demonstration facility for new technology.

Trump battled the plans through the Scottish courts, then appealed to the UK's Supreme Court - but he was unable to stop the "monsters" from going ahead.

It clearly left him smarting and he's not had a good word to say about wind power since. ...

[emphasis mine]


More from the article ...

... Last week brought some good news for the East Coast's struggling offshore wind industry.

Federal courts ruled three times for developers of northeast projects " one of them being New London-based Revolution Wind " which so far have succeeded, barely, in fighting back against the Trump administration's continuing effort to shut them down.

Trump has long opposed offshore wind turbines, dismissing them as ugly threats to bird and marine life that, if completed, will produce unreliable and prohibitively expensive electricity.

But the administration's latest stop work order " turned back at last temporarily in court by Revolution, New York's Empire Wind and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind " is based on the claim that a classified Pentagon report, one too secret to discuss, has identified offshore wind turbines as a threat to national security.

The security claim has met skepticism not only in court, but in Congress and elsewhere. The administration and Pentagon have so far refused to elaborate, but there is widespread belief that the claim is based on concern that enormous, revolving windmill blades interfere with military radar by producing unwanted images known as clutter.

If that is the claim, the wind industry and its supporters say the potential problem was identified by the Pentagon and resolved to its satisfaction years ago. ...

Whatever the reason for its latest concern, the Pentagon won't talk about it, even when pressed by powerful members of Congress with seats on committees that control the defense budget and weapons procurement. ...



Then there's things like this ...

Wyden Expands Epstein Investigation with Probe of Hundreds of Suspicious Bank of New York Mellon Transactions
www.finance.senate.gov

... Epstein Moved Nearly $400 Million in and out of Accounts at Bank of New York Mellon through 270 Wire Transfers; the Bank Waited Years to Flag the Transactions with the Treasury Department

Washington, D.C. -- Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., expanded his investigation of the financing of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking network today with a new probe of Epstein's client relationship with Bank of New York Mellon (BNY) and the hundreds of millions of dollars he moved in suspicious transactions through BNY accounts.

In a letter to BNY CEO Robin Vince, Senator Wyden stated that committee investigators had uncovered a 2019 filing in which the bank disclosed that Epstein had moved $378 million in and out of BNY accounts through 270 wire transfers, and that the bank had failed to identify a legitimate business purpose for any of those transactions. Senator Wyden's letter also noted that many of Epstein's wire transfers exhibited patterns and structuring indicative of money laundering, yet BNY failed to flag the transactions with the Treasury Department until 2019, more than a decade after the transactions were made -- a potential violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. ...



There's this ...

China buys more US soybeans, total purchases approach 10 million tons
www.reuters.com

... China's total purchases from the latest U.S. crop were now estimated at 8.5 million to nearly 10 million tons, according to traders and analysts, representing up to 80% of the 12 million metric tons that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said China pledged to buy by the end of February.

"There were more U.S. cargoes bought by Sinograin and total purchases are very close to 10 million tons," said one of the traders with direct knowledge of the deals. "We think China will buy a couple of million tons more to meet the target."

On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported private sales of 336,000 metric tons of soybeans to China for shipment in the 2025/26 season that ends on August 31, bringing China's total confirmed purchases since October to nearly 6.9 million tons.

In addition, a sizeable share of the roughly 3 million tons in sales confirmed by the USDA to undisclosed buyers is thought to be to China. ...


Another view ...

World leaders show caution on Trump's broader 'Board of Peace' amid fears for UN
www.reuters.com

... Governments reacted cautiously on Sunday to U.S. President Donald Trump's invitation to join his "Board of Peace" initiative aimed at resolving conflicts globally, a plan that diplomats said could harm the work of the United Nations.

Only Hungary, whose leader is a close Trump ally, gave an unequivocal acceptance in response to the invitations, which have been addressed to some 60 nations and began arriving in European capitals on Saturday, according to diplomats.

Other governments appeared reluctant to make public statements, leaving officials to express concerns anonymously about the impact on the work of the U.N.

The board would be chaired for life by Trump and would start by addressing the Gaza conflict and then be expanded to deal with other conflicts, according to a copy of the letter and draft charter seen by Reuters.

Member states would be limited to three-year terms unless they pay $1 billion each to fund the board's activities and earn permanent membership, the letter states.

"This simply offers permanent membership to partner countries who demonstrate deep commitment to peace, security, and prosperity," the White House said in a post on X. ...



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