Extra, Extra
Outstretched Armada: “Mr. Trump gave no specifics about the deal he was demanding, saying only that a ‘massive Armada’ was heading toward Iran and that the country should make a deal. But U.S. and European officials say that in talks, they have put three demands in front of the Iranians: a permanent end to all enrichment of uranium, limits on the range and number of their ballistic missiles, and an end to all support for proxy groups in the Middle East, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis operating in Yemen. Notably absent from those demands — and from Mr. Trump’s post on Truth Social on Wednesday morning — was any reference to protecting the protesters who took to the streets in Iran in December.” NYT (Gift Article): Trump Threatens Iran With ‘Massive Armada’ and Presses a Set of Demands.
+ Bucking the Trend: “Spain’s government announced Tuesday it will grant legal status to potentially hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country without authorization, the latest way the country has bucked a trend toward increasingly harsh immigration policies imposed in the United States and much of Europe.”
+ Noem Alone: “From Democratic Party leaders to the nation’s leading advocacy organizations to even the most centrist lawmakers in Congress, the calls are mounting for the Homeland Security secretary to step aside after the shooting deaths in Minneapolis of two people who protested deportation policy. At a defining moment in her tenure, few Republicans are rising to Noem’s defense.”
+ Spraying Mantis: A man arrested in an attack on Ilhan Omar has a criminal history and made pro-Trump posts. Trump responded to news of the attack by calling on Americans to tone down the aggressive rhetoric and explaining that violence has no place in American politics. Just kidding. He created a conspiracy theory suggesting that Omar orchestrated her own attack. Trump Floats Conspiracy Theory After Man Shoots Liquid at Ilhan Omar: ‘She Probably Had Herself Sprayed‘.
+ Matching Funds: JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America said Wednesday morning that they will match the US government’s $1,000 contribution to so-called Trump accounts for thousands of their US employees.
+ Vlad Handing: “President Trump’s on-off relationship with President Putin is so volatile that he has veered from describing the Russian leader as ‘a nice gentleman’ to saying he was ‘pissed off’ with him. Now there is a sign that the ‘bromance’ is on again, as Trump hung a picture of himself and Putin in the White House.”
+ Still Looking for Those 11K Votes: “Speaking last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Donald Trump repeated his false claim that the 2020 election was ‘rigged,’ and said that ‘people will soon be prosecuted for what they did.'” And this week? The FBI just conducted court-authorized law enforcement actions at a Fulton County election office.
+ A Place in History: “Born to Black farmers in rural Virginia, Dr. West lived through remarkable societal and technological transformations — from segregation to the civil rights movement, from calculators to supercomputers, and from paper maps to Google Maps. Through it all, she worked in near obscurity. She was almost 90 before she received any recognition for her work.” Gladys West, Unsung Figure in Development of GPS, Dies at 95.
+ Nicollet Avenue Freeze Out: “Just don’t believe your eyes. It’s our blood and bones. And these whistles and phones. Against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies.” Bruce Springsteen Releases ICE Protest Song: Streets of Minneapolis.
