Donald Trump’s tough talk—Buy Greenland! Take back Panama Canal!—sparks defiance from many Republican rebels
Donald Trump says it is “an absolute necessity” for our country to own Greenland. He says the U.S. should take back the Panama Canal unless the “ridiculous” shipping fees are lowered. He threatened that any Republican who opposed him on the bill to avoid a government shutdown can and should be primaried. The president-elect is earning his reputation as a disruptor, with enough influence over what is now his party to blow up carefully negotiated bipartisan compromises. Let’s look at each of these. HOW PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP COULD PULL OFF ‘THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY’ AS HE ENTERS OFFICE Trump tried in his first term to buy Greenland, which is controlled by Denmark but under home rule. That went nowhere, though it created a diplomatic crisis with Danish officials. While the U.S. built the Panama Canal in the early 20th century, it was turned over to Panama under a treaty approved by both countries. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino says “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone is Panama’s and will continue to be so. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.” That didn’t stop Trump from posting an AI image of an American flag flying over a waterway presumed to be the canal. The incoming president has certainly demonstrated the ability to engineer primary challenges to those who cross him. But three dozen conservative Republicans voted against him on the government shutdown bill, including on final passage, which dropped his demand to eliminate the debt ceiling during his term. Would he really gin up primaries against all of them? So the overwhelming likelihood is that the status of Greenland, the Panama Canal and rebellious Republicans won’t change in the second term. The reason Trump does this is that it reinforces his role as a disruptor, someone taking on the decrepit Washington establishment, even though a president, by definition, is the new establishment. Beyond that, whether he’s making outrageous demands or not, Trump shapes, and often dominates, the news agenda. As the 47th president has acknowledged to me, he sometimes crosses the line because he knows it will provoke a strong media reaction. As Trump sees it, even negative coverage is good coverage because the press is playing on his turf. And sometimes these are just negotiating positions to win concessions, as with the threatened 25 percent tariffs against Canada and Mexico. Remember, most people outside the media-political complex aren’t breathlessly following these developments. Since the government didn’t actually close down, they don’t see it as a setback for Trump that he didn’t get most of what he wanted. They probably don’t recall that he tried to buy Greenland before. What Trump clearly has the power to do is to blow up carefully crafted bipartisan agreements. He did it after Speaker Mike Johnson–whose own future is in doubt because, like Kevin McCarthy before him, he didn’t have the votes–let the bill grow into a Christmas tree monstrosity. And he did it during the campaign when both parties agreed on a tough border enforcement deal, which was then trashed by Trump’s objections. But there are clearly limits to Trump’s ability to shape events, especially with the country. For three dozen Republicans to defy him on as fundamental a matter as the debt ceiling shows that he can only push his party so far. TRUMP’S FAMOUS CHRISTMAS CAMEO IS FAR FROM HIS ONLY ACTING CREDIT: SEE THE FULL LIST Rep. Nancy Mace, a Trump supporter who voted against him on final passage–told me on Sunday’s Media Buzz that was because she wants to keep the debt ceiling. But with the GOP clinging to a 1-vote House margin, for now, the cauldron of campaign rhetoric is running up against the cold, hard math of getting to the number 218. Democrats have to wonder if it’s worth negotiating with the other party if they’re just creating a target for Trump’s demolition derby. It was Elon Musk who first tweeted about how bad the original bill was–at Trump’s suggestion–and after 70-plus tweets (including some falsehoods), the new president was drawn into the fight. Over the weekend, Trump denied that he had surrendered his presidential powers to his billionaire buddy, and half-mockingly said Musk could never be president: “You know why? He wasn’t born in this country. Hahaha.” A favorite media parlor game is whether the two strong-willed men will eventually have a falling out. For now, though, Trump’s tough talk about Greenland and the Panama Canal shows that he’s most comfortable playing offense, even if nothing much comes of it. In other news: –The House Ethics report says Matt Gaetz “regularly” paid women for sex, including with an underage girl, and used illegal drugs. In 2017, the former attorney general nominee “engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl,” who was also paid. Gaetz used or had possession of such illegal drugs as cocaine and Ecstasy “on multiple occasions,” and also accepted lucrative gifts, such as transportation and lodging in the Bahamas. “Many of the women interviewed by the committee were clear that there was a general expectation of sex,” with one woman telling the committee Gaetz paid her more than $5,000 and that sex was involved “99 percent of the time.” The panel said Gaetz was “uncooperative” and that he “knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct the committee’s investigation of his conduct.” The Justice Department investigated but brought no charges. TRUMP COULD FACE RENEWED ISIS THREAT IN SYRIA AS TURKEY GOES AFTER US ALLY Gaetz also misused House resources when he had his chief of staff “assist a woman with whom he engaged in sexual activity in obtaining a passport, falsely indicating to the U.S. Department of State that she was a constituent… “There was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.” If
‘BJP is not a double engine government but…’: Akhilesh Yadav takes a jibe at BJP-led government at Centre, in UP
The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister shared a post on his official social media account on ‘X’ with a news item on the Vande Bharat train incident: “Rasta bhatak gayi Vande Bharat’ – jana tha Goa, nikal gayi Kalyan” (Vande Bharat lost its way – was supposed to go to Goa but ended up in Kalyan).
Shillong Teer Results TODAY December 24, 2024 Live Updates: Check lucky winning numbers
The Shillong Teer lottery is a traditional game that holds significant cultural importance in Meghalaya, attracting participants from across eastern India, particularly West Bengal and the Northeast. Organized by the Khasi Hills Archery Sports Institute, this unique lottery features two rounds of archery each day, with results announced at 4 PM and 5 PM, except on Sundays.
Chess Athlete Tania Sachdev questions Delhi govt for lack of recognition of sport, CM assures…
She urged Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal to “see value in support chess athletes”.
Delhi faces severe air pollution and water shortage, know why
Many areas of the national capital face water shortage due to dangerously high levels of ammonia (NH3) in the Yamuna river at the Wazirabad pond, an official statement of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) said.
Guatemala finds children taken by Jewish sect after abuse investigation
The Jewish sect, Lev Tahor, has accused Guatemala authorities of religious persecution. Guatemalan authorities have recovered several children taken by members of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect who had broken into a care centre where they were being held. Officials said that members of the Lev Tahor sect had entered the shelter on Sunday in an effort to take back 160 minors who had been taken from the sect’s compound on Friday in a police raid. Authorities accuse the sect of child sexual abuse. Some of the children were found on Sunday, while others were recovered early on Monday, according to the AFP news agency. The farm compound in Oratoria, southwest of Guatemala City, was raided on Friday by authorities to rescue children and adolescents who “were allegedly being abused by a member of the Lev Tahor sect”, said Minister of the Interior Francisco Jimenez. Nancy Paiz, a prosecutor at Guatemala’s Prosecutor’s Office Against Human Trafficking, said at a news conference : “Based on the statements of the complainants, the evidence obtained, and the medical examinations, it was possible to establish that there are forms of human trafficking against these minors, such as forced marriage, abuse and related crimes.” Advertisement About 100 of the children’s relatives who belong to the sect gathered on Sunday outside a care centre in Guatemala City, where the children were being held, to demand their return. Sect members then “broke into” the centre at about 4:30pm local time (22:30 GMT), “forcing open the gate and abducting the children and adolescents sheltered there”, a statement from the Attorney General’s Office said. “We want them to let the children out of here,” Uriel Goldman, a representative of the families, told the AFP outside the centre before the attempted recapture of the minors. Those outside the shelter tried to prevent the authorities from bringing back the minors, leading to some scuffles with police, according to an AFP photographer at the scene. With police help, the centre “managed to locate and protect everyone again”, the Attorney General’s Office said, although the Secretariat of Social Welfare of the Presidency later clarified that some had “evaded” authorities and a search alert has been activated. Lev Tahor has also accused local authorities of religious persecution. “The authorities… tell lies with false accusations,” Goldman said. The Lev Tahor community, founded in 1988 in Israel, practise an austere form of Judaism with interpretation of Jewish law that includes long prayer sessions and arranged marriages. The community settled in Mexico and Guatemala between 2014 and 2017. In 2022, a Mexican police operation in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas on the Guatemalan border rescued a group of children and adolescents from a Lev Tahor camp, whose members were arrested on suspicions of participating in abuses against minors. Advertisement The Jewish Community of Guatemala in a statement said the sect was foreign to its organisation and expressed its support for Guatemalan authorities in carrying out the necessary investigations “to protect the lives and integrity of minors and other vulnerable groups that may be at risk”. It called on the “government and diplomatic corps of countries from whose nationalities make up members of Lev Tahor, to join forces to protect those whose rights may be violated”. The minors are now under the protection of the government and investigations remain under way. Adblock test (Why?)
Canada records almost 50,000 deaths from fentanyl since 2016
The highly addictive opioid is behind an increasing number of deaths in Canada, according to the government. Fentanyl is increasingly behind opioid overdose deaths in Canada, according to new government data. The national health agency on Monday reported that nearly 50,000 people in the North American country died from opioid overdose deaths from January 2016 to June 2024. During that period, fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid sometimes prescribed for pain relief, accounted for 49,105 of the deaths. Meanwhile, the proportion of fentanyl deaths has increased, according to the data, accounting for 79 percent of opioid deaths so far this year. That is a 39 percent increase since 2016. The data was released just weeks before United States President-elect Donald Trump is set to enter the White House. Trump’s looming presidency has drawn increased attention to the opioid crisis in North America, with the president-elect threatening to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico if the neighbours did not do more to stem the flow of drugs and undocumented migrants crossing into the US. Advertisement Canada’s government last week announced a raft of new border measures aimed at allaying Trump’s concerns, even if the president-elect’s claims do not quite track with the data. US Customs and Border Protections reported that less than 20kg of fentanyl was seized at the US-Canada border in 2023. Still, Canadian authorities have warned of an increase in domestic production of fentanyl in the country, with law enforcement focusing more on chemical precursors used to make the substance. Canada’s foreign ministry has said the seizure of Canadian-made fentanyl in the US, Australia and other countries indicates that domestic production exceeds demand and Canada has become a net fentanyl exporter. The overall rate of opioid overdoses has declined compared with last year, according to Health Canada. Health Canada said an average of 21 people had died each day from apparent opioid overdoses so far this year – an 11 percent decline from 2023. Still, the agency warned that the numbers are preliminary and subject to change. “We must remain cautious in drawing conclusions on the trends for 2024,” it said in a statement. “The extent of opioid and stimulant-related harms remains very high.” Adblock test (Why?)
UN raises death toll for recent Cite Soleil massacre in Haiti’s capital
The UN now says 207 people were killed in a slum neighborhood of the capital, Port-au-Prince, earlier this month. The United Nations has raised the death toll of a recent mass killing in Haiti, saying its investigation found that 207 people were killed by a gang, including dozens of older people and Vodou religious leaders. In a report published on Monday, the UN office in Haiti detailed events that took place between December 6 and 11 in the Wharf Jeremie neighbourhood of Cite Soleil, a coastal slum in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The gang took people from their homes and a place of worship, interrogated them and then “executed” them with bullets and machetes before burning their bodies and throwing them into the sea, the report found. Earlier this month, human rights groups in Haiti had estimated that more than 100 people were killed in the event, but the new UN investigation concluded that a total of 134 men and 73 women were slaughtered. “We cannot pretend that nothing happened,” said María Isabel Salvador, the UN secretary-general’s special representative in Haiti. “I call on the Haitian justice system to thoroughly investigate these horrific crimes and arrest and punish the perpetrators, as well as those who support them,” she said in a statement. Advertisement The Haitian government acknowledged the killing of older people in a statement issued earlier this month, and promised to prosecute those responsible for this act of “unspeakable carnage”. The UN Security Council issued a statement on Monday condemning the latest gang killings and expressing their “deep concern” over the crisis in Haiti, highlighting food insecurity and gang recruitment of children. Insecurity and isolation The insecurity has deteriorated so far in Haiti that the UN recently ordered some of its personnel to leave the country or relocate from the capital to safer areas. The country is increasingly isolated after the Port-au-Prince international airport was closed due to commercial passenger planes being struck by gunfire. The UN is in discussions over what steps to take in Haiti after an international security mission led by 400 Kenyan police has struggled to restore law and order. One option being considered is a return to a full-scale peacekeeping operation, despite mixed results by previous deployments, including a “stabilisation” mission, MINUSTAH, which ran from 2004 until it departed in 2017. ‘King Micanor’ Human rights groups in Haiti said the Wharf Jeremie killings began after the son of Micanor Altes, a local gang leader, died from an illness. Witnesses told the groups that Altes, alias “King Micanor”, accused people in the neighbourhood of causing his son’s illness by casting an evil spell on him. In Monday’s report, the UN said that people were tracked down in their homes and in a place of worship by Altes’s gang, where they were first interrogated and then taken to a site where they would be killed. Advertisement The killings are the latest humanitarian tragedy in Haiti, where gang violence has intensified since the nation’s president, Jovenel Moise, was killed in a 2021 coup attempt. The Caribbean nation is currently governed by a transitional council that includes representatives from the business community, civil society and political parties, but its government has no control over many areas of the capital city, and gangs are constantly fighting over ports, highways and neighbourhoods. According to the UN, more than 5,358 people have been killed in Haiti’s gang wars this year and another 2,155 injured. More than 17,000 people have been killed or injured in gang-related violence in Haiti since the beginning of 2022. Adblock test (Why?)
Seven Texans facing federal execution given clemency, four others given state pardons
On the same day that President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of seven Texans, Gov. Greg Abbott issued his own set of pardons.
Trump rep says Biden move to commute sentences for most death row inmates a ‘slap in the face’ to victims
A spokesperson for President-elect Trump lashed out on Monday against President Biden‘s decision to commute the death sentences of 37 inmates on federal death row, calling the move a “a slap in the face to the victims, their families, and their loved ones.” In a short statement, Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, noted the different approaches to crime between Biden and Trump. “These are among the worst killers in the world and this abhorrent decision by Joe Biden is a slap in the face to the victims, their families, and their loved ones,” he said in a statement. “President Trump stands for the rule of law, which will return when he is back in the White House after he was elected with a massive mandate from the American people.” BIDEN SETS RECORD WITH FIRST-TERM CLEMENCY GRANTS, HERE’S HOW OTHER PRESIDENTS RANK The White House announced that Biden was commuting the death sentences to life without the possibility of parole on Monday. Among the victims of the 37 men are law enforcement officers, children and other inmates. “Biden’s decision is a slap in the face to the victims and to the families of the victims that thought justice was going to be served,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., wrote on X. Many other Republican lawmakers echoed the same reactions. Biden believes the federal death penalty should only be imposed for acts of terrorism and hate-motivated killings, the White House said. “When President Biden came into office, his Administration imposed a moratorium on federal executions, and his actions today will prevent the next Administration from carrying out the execution sentences that would not be handed down under current policy and practice,” the White House said. ‘SQUAD’ DEM APPLAUDS BIDEN FOR SPARING MURDERERS FROM ‘RACIST’ DEATH PENALTY IN 11TH-HOUR CLEMENCY MOVE Three federal inmates whose death sentences were not commuted are Robert Bowers, who is responsible for the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018, which left 11 people dead; Dylann Roof, a White supremacist who killed nine Black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who worked with his now-dead brother to perpetrate the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds. Biden said the move would prevent the incoming Trump administration from carrying out the executions. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” he said. The action came after Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 prisoners placed in home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and pardoned 40 others, including his son, Hunter. As of Dec. 13, Biden has pardoned a total of 65 individuals and commuted sentences for 1,634 inmates during his time as president, according to the Department of Justice. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “The President has issued more sentence commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms,” White House officials said in a previous statement. Trump has taken a tough stance on the death penalty, previously suggesting that drug dealers should be eligible for the ultimate punishment. “We’re going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts,” Trump said earlier this year on the campaign trial. “Because it’s the only way.”