Key Points President Donald Trump said countries that purchase oil and gas from Venezuela will face a 25% tariff on the trade those nations have with the U.S. Trump said the tariff will take effect April 2. The president accused Venezuela of sending gang members to the U.S. read more
This week, Republican State Representative Charlie Geren put forth the Life of the Mother Act in the Texas House. A similar bill was introduced in the state Senate. While the new law wouldn't expand abortion access, it would spell out the circumstances in which doctors are allowed to provide abortion: if the woman "has a physical condition" from pregnancy that puts her "at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced."
Schmidt, an electrical engineer, had been returning to the US on 7 March. His mother did not hear from him until 11 March, when he was transferred to hospital after collapsing. She told NBC news she had no idea why her son had been detained, saying: "I feel helpless, absolutely helpless." Schmidt and his mother moved to the US from Germany in 2007 and got permanent resident cards the following year. He renewed his legal permanent residence status last year and has no active legal issues, his mother said, although she added that he had faced misdemeanour charges about 10 years ago. ... The CBP sent the Guardian the same statement, without further explanation. The statement also said: "When an individual is found with drug-related charges and tries to reenter the country, officers will take proper action." read more
Reports of declining insect populations have received widespread media attention, but evidence for declines has been variable across regions and taxonomic groups. read more
The Donald Trump administration has cancelled several international aid projects, including contracts supporting HIV, polio, and malaria programmes in some of the world's most impoverished communities. Earlier this week, the administration officially terminated these contracts through brief, direct emails. Around 5,800 contracts under USAID have been revoked. These included vital projects such as refugee aid, tuberculosis clinics, and polio vaccination initiatives, according to The New York Times. read more
This case shows three things:
They hate Europe.
They think about geopolitics like a corporation. If we do this, and it's good for you, then you should pay.
They are incompetent regarding security.
Another birthday gift for Putin.
www.reddit.com
"There is a dispute over whether the term war plans' is being exaggerated"
Only by people who want to deny that war plans were shared.
www.theatlantic.com
The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen.
I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.
"WTF are these bozos doing using a commercial messaging app?"
They are deliberately operating outside the reach of the law to avoid any government oversight.
And there isn't a Republican here who will deny it.