United States | News & Politics

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a self-declared “crusader” who believes the United States is in a “holy war” against the left, China, and Islam.

In his 2020 book American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free, Hegseth vowed that, if Trump could return to the White House and Republicans could take power, “Communist China will fall—and lick its wounds for another two hundred years”.

Hegseth declared that the Chinese “are literally the villains of our generation”, and warned, “If we don’t stand up to communist China now, we will be standing for the Chinese anthem someday”.

Under Trump’s leadership, Hegseth promised, “Israel and America will form an even tighter bond, fighting the scourge of Islamism and international leftism that will never fully abate”.

A high-ranking kingpin and so-called Narco Prince was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge on Friday in Washington, D.C., in one of the first drug war trials to conclude since the Trump administration declared certain Mexican cartels to be “terrorist” organizations.

Rubén Oseguera-Gonzalez is the U.S.-born son of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, who founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, and is Mexico’s most wanted man. While his father, alias “El Mencho,” is still at large, Oseguera, alias “El Menchito,” was convicted by a U.S. jury in September of conspiring to traffic cocaine and meth, and possessing weapons to further his drug trafficking operations.

Hamas urged US President Donald Trump on Friday to meet Palestinians released by Israel as part of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip after he met with Israeli captives held in the Strip and released by the movement.

Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, in an open letter addressed to the US president, urged Trump, who spoke of the “unbearable suffering” of the Israeli captives, to: “Show the same level of respect for Palestinian political prisoners and dedicate time to meet them and listen to their stories.”

Naim pointed out that the number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons stands at 9,500.

Among the companies invited to the summit, Crypto.com, Kraken, and Paradigm gave $1 million to the inauguration effort. They were outdone by the trading platform Robinhood, which gave $2 million, and by Ripple, which gave $5 million worth of its custom crypto token.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase also donated $1 million. During last year’s campaign, the company spread money around both parties, including a $1 million donation to a pro-Kamala Harris super PAC.

But the biggest item on Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s spending list was a pro-crypto super PAC, Fairshake, that disproportionately spent money on GOP candidates. Its spending may have helped tip the Senate for Republicans. Coinbase said in October that it would give another $25 million to the super PAC to help tip next year’s midterm elections as well.

In total, Trump received at least $10 million donated by crypto interests to his campaign or super PACs supporting him, according to the tracking website Follow the Crypto.

The Trump administration announced on Friday that Columbia University will lose $400m in federal grants and contracts over accusations it has not done enough to combat antisemitism.

On Monday, a federal task force notified the Ivy League institution that it would conduct “a comprehensive review” of the university’s federal contracts and grants as part of its ongoing investigations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

The statement warned that the cancellations represent the first round of action and additional cancellations are expected to follow. Columbia University currently holds more than $5bn in federal grant commitments. The amount announced today is almost eight times more than the amount the federal task force announced it was considering halting on Monday.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/26883117

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, seeking a new deal with Tehran to restrain its rapidly advancing nuclear program and replace the agreement he withdrew America from in his first term in office.

Iranian state media immediately picked up on Trump’s acknowledgment, given in excerpts from a Fox Business Channel interview aired on Friday, though there was no confirmation from Khamenei’s office that any letter had been received. The interview airs in full on Sunday.

It remained unclear how the 85-year-old supreme leader would react, given that former President Barack Obama had kept his letters to Khamenei secret ahead of the start of negotiations that led to Tehran’s 2015 deal with world powers.

Ari Ben-Menashe, who has accused the late Jeffrey Epstein of being an Israeli agent and who was the arms dealer who was implicated in the 1980s Iran–Contra scandal, has registered as a foreign agent to lobby the Trump administration on Gaza, according to a new Justice Department filing I obtained.

Menashe, who says he once spent a decade in the “innermost circles of Israeli intelligence,” is being paid $300,000 to promote Palestinian real estate mogul Samir Hlaileh (Hulileh) as the next president of Gaza.

Businessman Hlaileh is a hotel developer who says he has been working for years on a “master plan” to rebuild Gaza. His plan sounds remarkably similar to the remaking of Gaza that Donald Trump first described on February 4, when the president said he envisioned a “Riviera of the Middle East.”

The promise of a DOGE dividend is built on several lies and misconceptions:

1. The Amount Promised
2. The Funding Source
3. Who Gets the Dividend

The form: https://enddei.ed.gov/

Russia has carried out massive ballistic missile and drone strikes across Ukraine a day after the US stopped sharing intelligence with Kyiv that had previously given advance warnings of attacks.

The strikes came early on Friday as a Ukrainian delegation prepared to meet with US counterparts in Saudi Arabia for talks about a possible end to the war.

In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump appeared to criticise Russia’s latest bombardment.

He posted: “Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED.

“To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!”

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/23529644

A naturalized Hispanic man says he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who were looking for another person on a deportation order, and now the man is questioning his vote for President Donald Trump.

Jensy Machado said he is a U.S. citizen and provided News4 documentation of his legal status.

Machado said he was driving to work Wednesday with two other men when he was stopped by ICE agents on Lomond Drive in Manassas, a short distance from his home. He said he was confused by what was happening, why agents surrounded the pickup truck.

“And they just got out of the car with the guns in their hands and say, turn off the car, give me the keys, open the window, you know,” Machado told Telemundo 44’s Rosbelis Quinoñez, who first reported his story. “Everything was really fast.”

He said the agents said the name of a man they were seeking for a deportation order, someone who had given Machado’s home address. Machado told them that wasn’t his name — he didn’t know anyone by that name — and offered to show them his real ID compliant Virginia driver’s license.

“They didn’t ask me for any ID,” Machado said. “I was telling the officer, if I can give him ID, but he said just keep my hands up, not moving. After that, he told me to get out of the car and put the handcuffs on me. And then he went to me and said how did I get into this country and if I was waiting for a court date or if I have any case. And I told him I was an American citizen, and he looked at his other partner like, you know, smiling, like saying, can you believe this guy? Because he asked the other guy, ‘Do you believe him?’”

Machado said he was uncuffed and immediately released after showing his driver’s license.

The two men with him were taken into custody. He does not know why.

Machado said the experience shook his faith in the immigration enforcement efforts of Trump, for whom he voted.

“Because, like I said, I was a Trump supporter,” he said. “I voted for Trump last election, but, because I thought it was going to be the things, you know, like, … just go against criminals, not every Hispanic looking, like, that they will assume that we are all illegals.”