Trump regime ends policy requiring cash payouts for flight delays, cancellations

Source: SFGate

“Just one week after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to cut up to 10% of their flights from 40 major U.S. airports, the Trump administration is scrapping a Biden-era policy that made getting refunds from airlines a lot easier. On Friday, the Department of Transportation withdrew the Airline Passenger Rights policy, which regulates compensation standards for airlines and requires cash payments when airlines are responsible for flight disruptions. A federal filing obtained by SFGATE said the move was in line with the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’s Deregulatory Agenda.'” (11/14/25)

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/trump-admin-ends-policy-requiring-cash-payouts-21187798.php

The Shutdown Cave and the Next Health Care Fight

Source: The American Prospect
by staff

“Last Saturday, Bob Kuttner wrote a scoop for the Prospect that Chuck Schumer was much more involved with the allegedly rearguard action by wayward Senate Democrats to end the government shutdown. A day later, that deal was consummated. There’s been uproar about Schumer’s leadership of the Democrats in the Senate, but also a sense that Democrats might be in a decent position politically, raising the salience of health care and affordability at a time when President Trump is essentially unable to do much about it without abandoning his economic program.” (11/14/25)

https://prospect.org/2025/11/14/prospect-weekly-roundup-3/

A Few Thoughts on Life, Death, and Politics

Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter

“In September 2010, I’d been dating my future wife for a while and had successfully turned her from a dog person into a cat person. OK, I don’t know that I so much ‘turned’ her as I exposed her to cats and made her realize how cool they are. Living in apartments at the time helped as well, since dogs weren’t an option. For her birthday that year, I bought her a kitten from the Baltimore animal shelter. We named him Ringo because we’re Beatles fans and it suited him. I also call him ‘Buddy,’ as in ‘Little Buddy,’ because he spent a lot of time with me and my cats in Baltimore, adapting to his new family, and would follow me around, weaving in and out of my feet, before we’d settled on a name. To me, he is ‘LB’ from that time. I’m typing this downstairs as Ringo is upstairs dying.” (11/13/25)

https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/11/13/a-few-thoughts-on-life-death-and-politics-n2666351

The Difference Between The US Empire And The British Empire

Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

“The difference between people who supported the British Empire and people who support the US empire is that those who supported the British Empire knew they were supporting an empire. … Supporters of the British Empire understood that the enemies of the Empire were being killed because they refused to adequately subject themselves to the King and his demands. Supporters of the US empire think the US and its allies are always attacking Evil Bad Guys in the name of spreading Freedom and Democracy, and if this happens to advance pre-existing geostrategic agendas and/or resource interests then it is purely by coincidence.” (11/13/25)

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/11/13/the-difference-between-the-us-empire-and-the-british-empire/

The Golden Rule and a life of meaning

Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

“In a Thanksgiving letter to shareholders this past Monday, Nov. 10, business titan and retiring Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett announced that he’s ‘going quiet.’ ‘Sort of,’ he added. In fact, this ‘quiet’ farewell from one of the world’s wealthiest individuals will likely echo through the halls of American business and philanthropy for some time. For investors, there is keen interest in how his handpicked successor will perform as chief executive of one of the United States’ 10 largest firms. But it is at the intersection of affluence and altruism, of gaining and giving, that Mr. Buffett’s words and actions carry outsize implications. He has donated $60 billion over the last 20 years, and this week gifted $1.3 billion from sales of stock to four family foundations. That still leaves $150 billion of his personal fortune to be given away.” (11/13/25)

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/1113/The-Golden-Rule-and-a-life-of-meaning

Gunboats and Drones: Trump’s Dangerous New Monroe Doctrine in the Caribbean

Source: Common Dreams
by Mario Alfonso Murillo

“The United States has once again taken up its old role as the self-appointed police of the Western Hemisphere. Under the disingenuous pretext of combating ‘narco-terrorism’, US forces have launched a violent campaign across the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that has already killed at least 76 people (most of them unidentified) in a series of so-called ‘anti-narcotics’ strikes on small boats. Washington claims these are precision military operations targeting narco-traffickers who are directly attacking the US with their illegal contraband. But in reality, they are extrajudicial, indiscriminate executions on the high seas. There is no due process, no physical threat to the United States, and no legal justification under either domestic or international law. It’s murder, plain and simple: moral, legal, and strategic failures disguised as national security policy.” (11/13/25)

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-monroe-doctrine

Democrats’ 43-day shutdown was not a strategy, it was a disaster

Source: Fox News
by US Representative Brian Mast [R=FL]

“Let me say this as plainly as I can: when the Democrats shut down our federal government, that wasn’t a strategy. That was their failure. For the last 40 days, the term ‘government shutdown’ became interchangeable for Democrats with words like ‘leverage’ or ‘to make a point.’ But for millions of Americans, this shutdown wasn’t political theater. It was a gut punch. It meant missed paychecks, putting unpaid bills on credit cards with mounting interest, delayed travel, national security risks, and uncertainty about whether the people who protect and serve this nation will get paid on time – if at all.” [editor’s note: The shutdown happened because Mast’s party wanted it to happen, and ended when Mast’s party chose to let it end – TLK] (11/13/25)

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/rep-brian-mast-democrats-43-day-shutdown-not-strategy-disaster

How on Earth Are We Just Now Hearing About Trump’s “Hours” With an Epstein Victim?

Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper

“Well, now we have it. On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released another batch of documents related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Among them were several emails about Donald Trump. One was from Epstein to his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell back in 2011. He wrote: ‘i want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump.. [victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned. police chief. etc. im 75 % there[.]’ (Excuse the spelling and grammar errors, that’s all Jeffrey.) By now, we’re all familiar with what ‘spent hours’ meant in the context of rich, powerful men and Epstein’s victims—particularly given the reference to ‘barking,’ which has to mean going to prosecutors or the media.” (11/13/25)

https://prospect.org/2025/11/13/how-are-we-just-now-hearing-about-trumps-hours-with-epstein-victim/

Left is pushing another desperate anti-Trump hoax: a false Epstein smear campaign

Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine

“The party that cries wolf is at it again. Democrats are back in Congress after their shutdown to launch another anti-Trump hoax. This time, it’s not a fictional ‘pee tape’ but the old Epstein horse they keep flogging. On Wednesday, House Oversight Committee Democrats selectively released three emails among 23,000 handed over by the estate of the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein to try to implicate Donald Trump, yet again, in Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls. Of course, the Oversight Dems, who include such adornments to Congress as Jasmine Crockett, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, left out crucial information that exonerated the president, instead claiming that the emails ‘raise serious questions about Donald Trump and his knowledge of Epstein’s horrific crimes.'” [editor’s note: Devine’s picture should be in the DSM next to “Trump Devotion Syndrome” – TLK] (11/12/25)

https://nypost.com/2025/11/12/opinion/miranda-devine-the-left-is-pushing-another-desperate-anti-trump-hoax-a-false-epstein-smear-campaign/

Trump’s Kill Zone in Caribbean an Escalation of the Neverending US Drug War

Source: In These Times
by Greg Grandin

“Today, Donald Trump presides over his own Murder Incorporated, less a government than a death squad. Many brushed off his proclamation early in his second term that the Gulf of Mexico would henceforth be called the Gulf of America as a foolish, yet harmless, show of dominance. Now, however, he’s created an ongoing bloodbath in the adjacent Caribbean Sea. The Pentagon has so far destroyed 18 go-fast boats there and in the Pacific Ocean. No evidence has been presented or charges brought suggesting that those ships were running drugs, as claimed. The White House has simply continued to release bird’s-eye view surveillance videos (snuff films, really) of a targeted vessel. Then comes a flash of light and it’s gone, as are the humans it was carrying, be they drug smugglers, fishermen, or migrants. As far as we know, at least 64 people have already been killed in such attacks. The kill rate is accelerating.” (11/13/25)

https://inthesetimes.com/article/trump-venezuela-colombia-drug-war-narco-boat-strikes