Author: potus

Over the last decade, as China dropped its show of geopolitical obeisance and began to perform similar games of dominance — telling the 10 nations of the ASEAN regional alliance, for instance, China is a big country, and you are small countries, and that is a fact — it inspired a new foreign-policy term: wolf-warrior diplomacy. This scandalized the foreign policy institutionalists of the West, including Biden, who in juggling not just China but Russia and Israel dedicated much of the second half of his presidency to a nostalgic diplomatic restoration project. The MAGA riposte is, Let’s not be naïve…

Britt Lower and Adam Scott in “Severance,” now streaming on Apple TV+.Source:  Apple TV+Apple TV+ is now available on Android devices as the iPhone maker on Wednesday released its video streaming service for Google’s mobile computing platform. It’s unusual for Apple to release Android apps. The company typically focuses on software for its own iOS and MacOS platforms, but Wednesday’s release is the latest sign that Apple won’t be limiting the growth potential of its Services division by keeping popular services like Apple TV+ exclusive to its own devices.More people have iPhones than Android phones in the U.S., but globally, Android claims…

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks prior to a meeting with Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at Istana Nurul Iman in Bandar Seri Begawan on September 4, 2024.Dean Kassim | Afp | Getty ImagesIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is headed to Washington, D.C., for meetings with President Donald Trump and members of his administration, including Elon Musk, to discuss topics such as efforts to avoid a trade war and artificial intelligence policy, CNBC has confirmed.In his meetings with President Trump on Thursday, Modi will address the country’s growing trade deficit and present a menu of trade concessions including some tied to…

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, has been confirmed as the director of national intelligence in the United States, a cabinet-level role in the administration of President Donald Trump. Wednesday’s confirmation in the Senate was considered one of the most controversial of Trump’s second term. Nevertheless, the Republican-controlled Senate voted 52-48, mostly along party lines, to approve Gabbard for the post, which oversees the 18 agencies in the US intelligence community. The only Republican to vote against her was Senator Mitch McConnell, who had been the party’s leader in the chamber for 18 years until the end of last year.…

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said that he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone Wednesday about ending the war in Ukraine and that Putin indicated he would be willing to negotiate directly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social about their first known call of his second term.”We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,” he added. “We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.”Trump said…

(The Center Square) — California officials told legislators that the state is spending $9.5 billion on healthcare for illegal immigrants in the current 2024-2025 budget.With the governor’s proposed budget including a $7 billion reserve withdrawal and deficits expected to soon rise to $30 billion, and federal funding likely to decrease, the state may face challenges in continuing to pay for this growing program. During a budget hearing earlier this week, Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, asked California Department of Finance officials how much the state has allocated to undocumented immigrant healthcare in the current budget. “In the current year, to cover undocumented…

Eight inspectors general who were fired by President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit Wednesday charging their terminations were unlawful and seeking their immediate reinstatement. “In this action, the duly appointed Inspectors General of eight major U.S. agencies — the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, State, Agriculture, Education, and Labor, and the Small Business Administration — seek redress for their unlawful and unjustified purported termination by President Donald Trump and their respective agency heads,” their complaint, which was filed in Washington, D.C., federal court, said. The eight were part of a group of over a dozen IGs…

(The Center Square) —  New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is urging state regulators to reject double-digit rate increases by one of the state’s largest utilities and calling for an investigation of top executives’ pay. Last week, Con Ed announced it was asking state regulators to hike its electric bills by an average of 11.4% and gas bills by 13.3% starting on Jan. 1, 2026, citing the need to raise revenue to make upgrades to infrastructure to support the regional power grid. The combined rate hikes could generate up to $2 billion for the company, increasing consumers’ monthly bills by an average…

In his three weeks on the job, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has removed portraits of his predecessors from the Pentagon, banned Black History Month celebrations, restricted access to learning materials in military schools that touch on views he doesn’t like and attacked the renaming of bases that had honored Confederate generals.On his first trip abroad in the role, he said in Brussels on Wednesday that it was unrealistic for Ukraine to regain all the territory seized by Russia. And he signaled to Europeans that they should look to themselves rather than the United States to ensure their security.All of the…

WASHINGTON — The GOP-controlled Senate early Wednesday morning voted to confirm Tulsi Gabbard to be President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, putting the former congresswoman in charge of the sprawling U.S. intelligence community.The 52-48 vote was largely along party lines, with nearly all Republicans present voting in favor of Gabbard. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the former longtime GOP leader who has clashed with Trump, was the only Republican who joined all Democrats in voting against her.Gabbard’s confirmation is a win for Trump and represents yet another example of his dominance over the GOP, where few have shown a willingness…