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President Donald Trump was pounded Wednesday over a ham-handed defense of his Iran war escalation that left MS NOW host Stephanie Ruhle sickened.After pointing out that Trump had just threatened on Truth Social to commit war crimes by bombing critical civilian infrastructure, Ruhle had her producers put up a graphic from a presidential post in which he wrote: “Afghanistan War: 20 years, 2,000 DEAD.Iraq War: 9 years, 4,600 DEAD.Vietnam War: 19 years and 5 months, 58,220 DEAD.Korean War: 3 years and 1 month, 36,574 DEAD.Venezuela War: 1 day, 0 DEAD.Iran Military Conflict: 4 months, 18 DEAD."That led the MS NOW host to blurt, “Yesterday he posted [this] as his defense for the war. He was comparing the death toll in Iran to other wars. You have it right there on your screen: Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, Venezuela. Iran military conflict, four months, 18 dead.”“He's basically saying only 18 [dead], we should take that as a win,” the incredulous Ruhle added. “Is this going to be a winning argument for this president? It's only been 18, we’re good?” she asked former New York Times reporter Luke Broadwater.“I mean, that was a kind of a shocking post to me to put up,” Broadwater began as Ruhle interrupted with, “Even for him, shocking.”“Yeah,” Broadwater agreed. “On the day before he's going to the dignified transfer of dead American troops who are coming back into this country,”“You know, if you're the families of some of those troops and you see him minimizing their deaths like that, I think that that strikes the wrong note for those families,” he added. “But to your question at large, the American people have never supported this war. The polling for it has never been positive.” - YouTube youtu.be

US secretary of state says international community should ‘join forces’ against authoritarian Ortega regimeNicaragua’s congress, controlled by the country’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, has announced a “work plan” to implement the authoritarian leader’s order that the country should no longer hold elections.The UN and the US strongly condemned Sunday’s announcement by Ortega, who has been in power since 2007 and, after a controversial constitutional change last year, now governs alongside his wife, Rosario Murillo, as “co-president”. Continue reading...

France experienced at least 5,700 more deaths than usual during a historic heatwave last month, according to the public health agency

Researchers listening off the Caribbean island of Dominica found variations in the mammals’ audible clicks when marine traffic was closeSperm whales produce a specific pattern of clicking noises when they hear the noise of boats, researchers have found. The pattern is so distinct that the scientists who identified it said they can now use it to predict when ships are nearby.Researchers from Project Ceti (the Cetacean Translation Initiative), a non-profit research organisation working to decode sperm whale communication, spent four years tuning in on the calls of 15 sperm whales off the coast of Dominica. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed.Sign up for US Breaking News emailUS gas prices have continued to rise since the conflict with Iran resumed this month. According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), a gallon of fuel is now just over $4 – almost a dollar more than a year ago.It comes as Brent Crude, the international oil benchmark, is now up by almost 2% to $90.92 a barrel. Continue reading...

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was flailing for as much distance as possible as President Donald Trump moves to impose draconian new tariffs on Canada, according to a Politico report on Tuesday.Collins, a top target for Democrats in a battleground Senate race, represents a state that directly borders the Canadian Maritime provinces.“I have voted repeatedly against the Canadian tariffs,” said Collins in a statement to Politico. “Maine and Canada’s economies are very intertwined. A lot of our blueberries, our potatoes, our lobster, our lumber are harvested in Maine, processed in Canada and then come back. I don’t want to see the tariffs on the books.”Bobby Charles, the GOP's nominee for governor, concurred with Collins. “As Governor, Bobby will always prioritize Maine, even if that means taking a position contrary to the national elites of his party,” Vincent Harris, a senior strategist for Charles, told Politico in a statement. If elected, Charles said he will travel to Washington to argue against Trump's tariffs.Trump's new scheme, enacted under a controversial and hardly-ever-used 1930 tariff law, would put 50 percent import taxes on a range of Canadian products.All of this comes amid a massive shakeup of the Maine Senate race, with Democrats pressuring their nominee Graham Platner to withdraw over credible allegations of sexual assault, and coalescing instead around state lawmaker Troy Jackson.

President Donald Trump was considering a total end to the Iran war for the sake of bailing out Republicans in the midterm elections, The Atlantic reported on Tuesday.This comes as none of the typical day-to-day things a president or Congress does to oversee a war have happened since the president's ceasefire memorandum was thrown out, the report said."In the 10 days since the United States resumed its air strikes against Iran, neither President Trump nor any other senior administration official has publicly addressed the campaign," said the report. "U.S. forces began by striking Iranian military facilities but later expanded to attacking civilian infrastructure that the administration says is being used for military purposes." Congress has "yet to receive classified briefings on the latest phase of the war."Meanwhile, Trump, who initially bragged about how well the war was going when the fighting first erupted, has tried to shift the conversation back to his election conspiracy theories.The president "expected a quick victory, and so the military didn’t prepare for a prolonged conflict," according to the report. And as the administration failed to adequately build up forces, it set off further problems for the U.S. military."Although the military surged additional forces into the region, many assets — particularly Navy ships — were diverted from other war theaters rather than trained for this conflict," The Atlantic reported. "The Pentagon has since extended the deployments of nearly half of those ships, further taxing an already-strapped force."According to two sources who spoke to The Atlantic, "Trump may at some point consider," a clean break from the war to cut losses, stop gas prices from rising further, and try to prevent more damage to the GOP in the polls. "But for now, despite the growing costs, he is continuing the fight.""While sitting next to the leader of Lebanon in the Oval Office today, the president seemed to commit himself to the type of forever war he once derided: 'We’re not finished at all,' Trump told reporters. 'We’re not leaving right now,'" said the report — and Trump further vowed "to bomb Pickaxe Mountain on the suspicion that it houses part of Iran’s nuclear program."

The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board was none too happy about President Donald Trump's latest "senseless" tariff order — this time a 50 percent punitive attack on Canada for perceived unjust trade practices.The president has tried multiple times to issue broad-based tariffs around the world, which federal courts have slapped down. This also comes as Trump caused international tension by delaying opening of a critical international bridge set to boost trade between the U.S. and Canada.'The White House on Monday exhumed Section 338 of the 1930 Tariff Act to impose 50% tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods, including hockey sticks, honey, beer, down feathers, fishing rods and golf clubs," wrote the board, noting that they don't take effect for another month — a clear indication Trump wants to use them as a bargaining chip.This power, which comes from the so-called "Smoot-Hawley Tariff" often blamed for exacerbating the Great Depression, "was intended to let the President retaliate against countries that impose tariffs on the U.S. Mr. Trump is using the law to punish Canada for retaliating against his tariffs. His tariff order cites Canada’s 25% tariffs on U.S. cars that exceed certain quotas, which were a response to Mr. Trump’s 25% duties on motor vehicles and parts."These moves are colossally counterproductive to the economy of both countries, the board lamented: For instance, "A study in March found that the tourist dropoff has cost between 14,000 and 42,000 jobs in the U.S. markets most exposed to Canadian tourism. Northern border areas have also suffered from a decline in cross-border trade."The American people are already running out of patience, the board warned."The more Mr. Trump keeps swinging recklessly, the more Americans are likely to think there’s only madness in his tariff methods," the board wrote.