Source: CBS News
“Gunfights on Monday shook a Mexican border city plagued by drug cartel-related violence, forcing the suspension of flights at the local airport, authorities said. The violence in Nuevo Laredo, just south of Texas, followed the arrest of an alleged local cartel leader, Ricardo Gonzalez, alias ‘El Ricky.’ The U.S. consulate in Nuevo Laredo issued a security alert saying that it had ‘received reports of multiple gunfights throughout the city.’ U.S. government personnel were advised to shelter in place, it added. Hours later, the consulate said it would be closing on Tuesday ‘due to an emergency situation in the city.’ Nuevo Laredo airport canceled flights and was expected to reschedule them for Tuesday, Mayor Carmen Lilia Canturosas said on social media.” (02/04/25)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/violence-mexico-border-flights-canceled-us-consulate-warning/
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Moves Forward $1 Billion in Arms for Israel, Trump Wants Deal for Ukraine’s Minerals, and More.” (02/04/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uui3Tp6okk
Source: The Daily Economy
by Neal McCluskey
“Forcing people with diverse values to fund a single system of government schools fuels constant political and social conflict.” [editor’s note: Unfortunately, McCluskey calls for mere “choice” in government funding and control of schools, not separation of school and state, which is the only solution to the problem he notices – TLK] (02/04/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/why-public-schooling-delivers-war-not-peace/
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, arrived in Turkey on Tuesday for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his second international trip since ousting President Bashar al-Assad, an official told AFP. Sharaa was to meet the Turkish leader in the capital Ankara after flying in from Saudi Arabia, where he was seeking help from wealthy Gulf countries to finance the reconstruction of his war-ravaged nation and revive its economy. Turkey, which has close ties with Sharaa, reopened its diplomatic mission in Syria and sent its spy chief and foreign minister for talks with him soon after his Islamist-rooted HTS rebels overthrew Assad on December 8.” (02/04/25)
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250204-syria-s-interim-president-sharaa-arrives-in-turkey-for-talks-with-erdogan
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Ben Freeman
“‘I don’t need anybody’s money … I’m not using the lobbyists. I’m not using the donors,’ proudly proclaimed Donald Trump in his 2016 campaign for president that, like his other campaigns, was laced with disdain for how money drives politics in the U.S. He, of course, did take hundreds of millions of dollars in donor money (some of it from lobbyists) in his 2016, 2020, and 2024 campaigns. And, he certainly wasn’t the only politician railing against the corrosive impact of money in politics. … in few areas is the corrosive impact of money in politics more apparent than in U.S. foreign policy. D.C. has become awash in cash from special interests that profit from America’s endless wars. Campaign coffers are flooded with money from the arms industry, but that’s just the beginning.” (02/04/25)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/lobby-horse/
Source: Politico
“California lawmakers on Monday approved a ‘Trump-proofing’ bill package that includes $50 million in state funding to challenge President Donald Trump’s policies in court and provide legal aid for immigrants. The proposals — which emerged from a special session Gov. Gavin Newsom called last year shortly after Trump’s election — easily passed on a party-line vote and now go to the governor for his signature. … Trump deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said ‘aiding and abetting’ undocumented immigrants is against the law and disregards the will of voters who were seeking change when they elected the president.” (02/03/25)
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/03/california-trump-lawsuits-immigrant-aid-00202256
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Trump vs International Law | Robert Wright & Mark Leon Goldberg.” (02/03/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/68379
Source: Bleeding Heart Libertarian
by Matt Zwolinski
“In which I’m uncomfortably forced to admit that JD Vance is kinda right, and Scott Alexander is kinda wrong.” (02/03/25)
https://bleedingheartlibertarian.substack.com/p/friends-family-and-strangers
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
“Sometimes you can spot a disaster happening from across the room, and despite your instinct to help prevent it, you can’t and it happens – a tray of food falls to the floor, someone trips, or someone is caught trying to get away with something. Whatever it is, by the time what happens unfolds and registers in your head it is over, even though its unfolding seemed in slow motion, like a car crash. When it comes to the slow motion collapse of the Democratic Party … just sit back and enjoy the show. ” (02/04/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2025/02/04/democrats-insist-on-destroying-themselves-let-them-n2651590
Source: Common Dreams
“Hours after Democratic lawmakers warned that billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of federal agencies ‘is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like,’ expressed outrage at being barred from entering the U.S. Agency for International Development, and vowed to take legislative action and launch legal challenges to stop Musk’s ‘outrageous’ maneuver, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke out against Democrats who are proceeding as though a constitutional crisis isn’t taking place. ‘No Democrat should be voting to advance [President Donald] Trump’s nominees while all of this stuff is going on,’ said the New York Democrat in a 90-minute Instagram Live video Monday evening. ‘There has to be a political price to pay and we have a responsibility as a party to block everything that is happening while they’re setting a literal mash to the federal government.'” (02/04/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-aoc
