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President Donald Trump on Wednesday recounted what he repeatedly called an “amazing” story about an Israeli plumber who supposedly helped save a plunging passenger plane — while acknowledging he didn’t know whether the extraordinary account was true.Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relayed the story to him after a FlyDubai Flight plunged thousands of feet amid a violent cockpit incident.“I did speak to Bibi Netanyahu at length about this event,” Trump said.Trump claimed an injured pilot managed to open the cockpit door before an Israeli plumber rushed in, pulled the other pilot from his seat and grabbed the controls.“Having never flown a plane, he took the stick, lifted it up and leveled out the plane before it crashed,” Trump said.“Now, this is the story that I heard,” Trump quickly added. “I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s the story that I got from Bibi.”Trump then dropped what he called “the craziest thing” about the wild tale.“When I asked why he did that, he said he watches the show ‘Air Disasters.’ You know the show? It’s that crazy show,” Trump said. “But he said he watches it a lot, and he learned from watching that show sort of how to fly.”"I mean, you tell me, this is the craziest thing," Trump said.Trump repeatedly marveled at the account, telling reporters and those in the Oval Office with him on Wednesday that it was “the most amazing story.”He also remained captivated by the plumber’s apparent actions.“Well, now maybe I will start watching it,” Trump said of ‘Air Disasters.’

Support such as for white Afrikaners and anti-communism reveals how US is redefining what qualifies as human rightsWith hours left before the funding expires, the Trump administration is pushing to direct more than $175m of the state department’s flagship human rights fund to a slate of awards that includes a huge $40m grant for an anti-communism fund, support for a group advancing white Afrikaner rights in South Africa, a campaign against Brazil’s supreme court and programs that would reward ideological allies in Europe who protect “western civilizational norms”.On Wednesday, the state department obligated the funds to the grantees hours before the deadline despite congressional concerns and requests not to do so, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The state department declined to comment on questions from the Guardian specifically on whether it had obligated the funds and had “blown” holds from Congress due to concerns about the money’s use. Continue reading...

At the same time Donald Trump's approval numbers are hitting lows never seen before, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is enjoying a burst of popularity that's letting him push his agenda through with little resistance.The reason? His refusal to be bullied by the American president has Canadians and political rivals lining up behind him as his party adds new members. Carney is barreling forward with "a rewiring of Canada's economic, national-security and foreign policies" that, in some cases, would once have been "unthinkable" and unpopular, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. A political novice until he won the premiership last year, Carney has vanquished opposition that might have felled his predecessors thanks to a confrontation with Trump that has given him "unthinkable" popularity.Polls show Carney's Liberals would win a majority if an election were held today. According to the Journal, "Polls show that Carney’s Liberals would win a majority if an election were held today. A survey released Tuesday from Nanos Research found that Carney was the preferred choice for prime minister of more than 60% of respondents, the highest level it has recorded for him."That has lawmakers from "across the political spectrum" defecting to the Liberals over the past year, and his opponents are struggling to land a punch; Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has spent recent months fending off critics in his own party."Even in Alberta, a conservative stronghold, people view Carney more favorably than Poilievre or Premier Danielle Smith, according to the report."I cannot remember, in my adult life, a prime minister having this good an 18 months," said Darrell Bricker, chief executive of Ipsos told the Journal. "There has been very little pushback against any of the things that he's proposed."Lori Turnbull, a political scientist at Nova Scotia's Dalhousie University, said Carney likely wanted to pursue many of these policies regardless, but the conflict with the U.S. "gives him a logic, gives him a narrative that might make more sense to people." She added: "The way he's describing it is essentially we're in an emergency situation, we're in a kind of something that's similar to a war. He's made this about our sovereignty, and so it all kind of fits together."

Women say nothing has changed since Delhi’s infamous Nirbhaya bus rape case 14 years agoThe posters, just like the women holding them, were taking no prisoners. “Girls don’t need curfews, rapists need consequences,” read one. “Lock your dicks rather than your women at home,” read another.As hundreds of women walked from the gates of their university campus into the streets of Delhi – where sexual harassment, assault, catcalling and molestation are a constant, daily threat – they shouted together in a chorus of rage and defiance: “We want justice.” Continue reading...

President Donald Trump's war in Iran has cost Americans in a number of obvious ways, MS NOW's Rachel Maddow said on Monday — but it is costing them in a number of subtler and more insidious ways too.Nothing demonstrates this better, she explained, than a possible terror threat that didn't even affect the United States — a set of five men in suspicious vans who were arrested in the U.K., which raised immediate alarms there.In July, Maddow explained, "Iran told the U.K. explicitly that if any British base was used by the U.S. military for this war against Iran, that would make that base in the U.K. a legitimate military target for Iran," said Maddow. Now, she said, when today we learn "that five young men had been arrested and those vans were seized outside the gates of this rural air base, well, there was, for obvious reasons, lots and lots of speculation about who these five young men might be and what this might have all been about. Lots of speculation, lots of worry, and then lots of head scratching."The investigation is only beginning, Maddow said, even as the five were granted bail. But it highlights security threats that could soon reach the United States, too."Here in the United States, it raises an important question about the cost of Trump's war in Iran," said Maddow. "Raises the question as to whether the cost of Trump's war in Iran is something that we've really adequately grappled with. Is it a cost that's not just going to be measured in lives lost and people injured and buildings destroyed, and facilities and aircraft and equipment destroyed, and the shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz and all the other oil transit routes and infrastructure that have driven your gas and gas and diesel prices and fertilizer prices to all-time record highs, the multi-billion dollar cost just of anti-aircraft munitions alone, let alone all the other missiles and materiel we have expended in this war."All of these are well known, Maddow said. But beyond that, the U.K. incident "raises this very uncomfortable question for us Americans as to whether there's an additional cost of this war, which might be an additional risk for us here at home of potential retaliatory violence against us by Iran or its proxies or its sympathizers."Unfortunately, Maddow said, the U.S. could have a hard time dealing with these threats, because Trump's administration just reassigned Michael Burgwald and Courtland Rae, two of the most important FBI officials investigating terror threats from the Middle East. - YouTube youtu.be

A former CIA counterterrorism official poked holes Monday in President Donald Trump’s account of an alleged terror plot in the United Kingdom — calling one version of events “a little far-fetched” and Trump’s public comments “a little bit embarrassing.”Phil Mudd, a former CIA counterterrorism official and former FBI senior intelligence adviser, joined CNN’s Jake Tapper after Trump claimed the U.S. had suspects “under investigation” before arrests connected to an alleged plot targeting a U.K. base.Mudd said Trump’s account left him confused.“I have about 200 dog years in investigations like this, and this one’s a little confusing,” Mudd said.He first questioned the idea that authorities sprang into action simply after a civilian reported suspicious activity.“Boy, that sounds a little far-fetched in this situation,” he said.But Trump’s suggestion that the suspects had already been under surveillance also raised questions, Mudd said.That doesn’t make sense either, because if you’re surveilling people, you don’t conduct the operation when you’re in a high-risk area with a bunch of civilians,” he said.Mudd said he wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but took particular issue with Trump publicly suggesting the U.S. played a role in a British-led investigation.“If the Brits are leading the investigation and the Americans say we're actually involved in the investigation, that's a little bit embarrassing,” Mudd said.“You don’t say that,” he added. “The Brits take the lead. We sit in the back seat.”

President Donald Trump's war in Iran has exposed a "growing vulnerability" that has no easy solution, according to one foreign affairs expert. Max Boot, a columnist at The Washington Post and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, argued in a new op-ed that the war has called into question whether the American military still retains its air superiority over other nations. He pointed to Iran's use of inexpensive drones to "inflict heavy losses on U.S. bases" and in allied countries in the region. "The growing vulnerability of U.S. bases because of the proliferation of cheap drones and missiles — which will only get worse with the spread of artificial intelligence guidance — has no easy solution," Boot argued. "Shutting down bases is one way to prevent them from being targeted, but that would have a deleterious political impact, because it would signal U.S. disengagement." "U.S. bases serve an important trip-wire function, alerting foes that if they attack a U.S. ally, they will have to attack U.S. troops too," he added. "Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping would like nothing better than to see U.S. bases near their countries close."Boot's op-ed also questions Trump's repeated claims that he's rebuilt the military during his two administrations. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has claimed to be restoring the "warrior ethos" by remaking the military's image as more male-dominant and removing punishments for soldiers who commit violent acts. However, some troops have reported significant mental health issues stemming from long deployments overseas, as was the case with the USS Lincoln. Boot argued that the Iran war also serves as a dark warning that the military needs to "radically change" its thinking."It can no longer expect to operate from invulnerable bases near the front," Boot wrote. "But it’s hard to imagine that the armed forces can focus on such a major strategic reorientation when they are dealing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s destabilizing political purges and his retrograde demands for increasing testosterone counts." "Many of the topflight officers being cashiered by Hegseth, for no good reasons, are the very ones the armed forces need to adjust to the massive changes in the American way of war being necessitated by the drone revolution," he added.

President Donald Trump lashed out at Axios Monday over a report that he was willing to offer Iran economic relief in exchange for concessions on its nuclear program.“Axios just released a story that ‘Trump’ offered Sanctions Relief and Frozen Funds to Iran. This is untrue. I offered them NOTHING!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Axios’ story, like most others, is a HOAX, used only for purposes of satisfying their Trump Derangement Syndrome,” he added. “They should withdraw this fake story, IMMEDIATELY!”Trump appeared to be responding to an Axios report earlier Monday headlined, “Trump offers Iran economic relief for concrete nuclear concessions.”Axios reported that Trump was willing to provide sanctions relief and release frozen Iranian funds in return for “concrete Iranian steps regarding the nuclear program.” The report cited U.S. officials. Axios, along with CNN and MS NOW, is part of Trump’s White House media ban.