In Iran, the U.S. and Israel are employing tactics used in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the “War on Terror” and Trump’s recent attacks on alleged drug boats in the Carribean.
The penalties caused tensions to flare between both countries.
A federal judge has revoked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s ability to restrict members of Congress from entering ICE facilities. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled that Noem’s requirement that members of Congress give her a week’s notice before entering an immigration facility is illegal, given that it relies on funding Congress warned could not be used to block oversight from lawmakers.“The Parties’ arguments on this point raise complex questions regarding the technical details of DHS budgeting and the application of appropriations law that the Court finds difficult to resolve on this preliminary factual record,” Good wrote. “Luckily, the Court does not need to fully address those disputes to resolve the present motion, because Defendants’ proposed solution suffers from a fatal flaw: It assumes that [One Big Beautiful Bill Act] funds are available for all of the costs necessary to promulgate and enforce the policy.” While DHS appealed immediately, others hailed the ruling as a tribute to common sense. “Despite the Trump administration’s unlawful attempts to block Members of Congress from conducting oversight, a federal court just affirmed in Neguse et al. v. ICE et al.—ONCE AGAIN—our clear right to conduct unannounced oversight visits,” Democratic Representative Joe Neguse wrote on X. “We will keep fighting to ensure the rule of law prevails.”Multiple Democratic politicians have been denied entry, roughed up, or outright arrested trying to enter ICE facilities since President Trump returned to office last year. Last May, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Representative LaMonica McIver were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while trying to gain entry to Delaney Hall. Last June, Senator Alex Padilla was literally dragged out of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles while trying to ask a question. That same month, New York City comptroller and then–mayoral candidate Brad Lander was taken from the hallways of a Lower Manhattan immigration court and detained by masked ICE agents.
Yet another Republican is calling it quits on his congressional career.Montana Representative Ryan Zinke announced Monday that he will not seek reelection, ending his time in Washington.In a letter to his constituents, Zinke said that the decision was predicated on recent health issues, writing that he had undergone “multiple surgeries” since 2023 to correct injuries he sustained while serving as a Navy SEAL.“The injuries sustained from a career in Special Operations are not immediately life threatening, but the repair cannot be deferred any longer and recovery will require considerable time,” Zinke wrote. “My judgement and experience tell me it is better for Montana and America to have full-time representation in Congress than run the risk of uncertain absence and missed votes.”The Whitefish native has represented Montana since 2014, when he garnered national attention on the campaign trail for referring to Hillary Clinton as the Antichrist. Between stints on Capitol Hill, Zinke was tapped by Donald Trump to serve as his first-term interior secretary. Zinke worked in that job for just two years, from 2017 to 2019, but nonetheless racked up 18 federal investigations into his behavior, ranging from probes into numerous alleged Hatch Act violations to misuse of public funds.Zinke’s decision further imperils the Republican House majority, which currently has 218 Republicans to 214 Democrats. The lower chamber also has three vacancies due to the November resignation of Democratic Representative Mikie Sherrill, now New Jersey governor, as well as the January resignation of Representative Majorie Taylor Greene and the passing that same month of Representative Doug LaMalfa.All 435 House seats will be contested in the upcoming midterm elections, a reality that has Republicans fretting, as preceding elections have suggested that the cycle could be overtaken by a tsunami-esque “Blue Wave.” At least three Republican districts are confidently expected to flip (they include two districts in California and another in Utah), while the Nebraska race to replace retiring Republican Representative Don Bacon is likely to go to Democrats as well, according to the Cook Political Report.Four Democrats had already filed to run in their party’s primary to replace Zinke before he announced his retirement.
“Spanish bases are not being used for this operation,” Spain’s foreign minister said.
Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer is under investigation after having been caught using taxpayer funds for personal reasons, including to throw herself a birthday party.Last year, shortly after Chavez-DeRemer was sworn in, she and her senior staff wanted to have a birthday party at the Department of Labor’s headquarters at the Frances Perkins Building, The New York Times reports. But when staff worried about using the department’s funding, DeRemer and her staff decided to call it a swearing-in celebration.The party went ahead with dozens of political staffers as guests, who sang “Happy Birthday” to Chavez-DeRemer, who then blew out the candles on a birthday cake. After the party, her chief of staff, Jihun Han, sent a memo to the entire department threatening “serious legal consequences” against any staffers who spoke with the press.Weeks afterward, Chavez-DeRemer told the House Appropriations Committee, “I did not have a birthday party.” Ultimately, though, the Times obtained a photo from a party guest showing Chavez-DeRemer blowing out the candles on her birthday cake.The party is just one glaring example of alleged misconduct by Chavez-DeRemer. She is now under investigation by the department’s inspector general, former Republican Representative Anthony D’Esposito, for misusing department funds, including to travel around the country on personal trips, and other misconduct, such as an alleged affair with someone on her security team.Thanks to her jet-setting, the secretary herself doesn’t spend much time at the office, with Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling running the department day-to-day. Han and her deputy chief of staff, Rebecca Wright, have been placed on leave during the investigation. On top of that, Chavez-DeRemer’s husband is barred from Labor Department headquarters for allegedly sexually harassing female staffers.When Donald Trump nominated Chavez-DeRemer for the post, she was a controversial pick for Republicans, who saw her as too pro-labor for a GOP congresswoman from Oregon, and some Democrats were cautiously optimistic. But now, it seems she fits into the endemic corruption of Trump’s White House, and should consider herself lucky her own misdeeds went unnoticed until now.
Hegseth has also indicated that the US is willing to engage in war crimes in Iran, one critic pointed out.
“These attacks are causing much suffering for Iranian people,” says a scholar who was on death row in Iran.