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May 12, 2026 - World

During a Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, Sen Patty Murray (D-WA) got under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s skin just moments after she took a potshot at Donald Trump.Murray’s line of questioning centered around the Pentagon seeking a $1.5 trillion in taxpayer money at a time when American families’ lives are being made worse by the unprovoked war on Iran that has sent gas prices skyrocketing and on a day when it was reported that US inflation jumped 3.8 percent.“Secretary Hegseth, the president has called Medicaid, Medicare, and child care ‘little scams ‘and said "we're fighting wars, we cannot take care of daycare." I'm trying to understand that,” she began. “Is it your position you're asking taxpayers for another half a trillion dollars for the war, that American families should be forced to give up child care and health coverage so that you can have $1.5 trillion for this budget?”The former Fox News personality airily replied, “Senator, that's not my department.”He then added, “I certainly support this, and I also support the president's efforts to find and remove fraud wherever possible in general. We do that in our department as well.”“I'm not talking about fraud. I actually asked whether an American family should lose their healthcare or their child care to pay for this budget. That is literally what the president suggested,” Murray reminded him.‘’The president has proposed a historic $1.5 trillion budget that will defend the nation and confront threats like Iran, which previous presidents allowed to happen, as Senator [Lindsey] Graham (R-SC) pointed out,” he stated. “Previous administrations said they wanted to take care of this problem, and they did not, and he's doing it.”“The question in front of the American people is what are they being asked to give up for this $1.5 trillion,” the Democrat from Washington pushed back. “That's where I was talking about. And last thing, Mr. Secretary, your budget request cuts through Trump's ramblings and really, to me, makes the truth clear, that you and the president don't value families as much as you value defense contractors. You want to increase the war budget, every penny —.”Holding up a cautioning finger, Hegseth interrupted the senator and claimed, “I meet every family at Dover [Air Force Base]. Don't tell me we don't care about families! We sure do, and we take care of them in every way we possibly can.”The nonplussed Murray replied, “I'm asking you about taxpayer dollars that everybody has. We've been to war before. We have asked people to do victory gardens. We've asked them to pay more — you are not doing that. You are taking, asking for $1.5 trillion, which means something else has to be given up. That is what this committee is looking at. You want to increase the war budget a trillion dollars. That is taxpayer money that could be used to feed families or build new affordable homes or wipe out some diseases completely or increase child investments 20 times over. But you are asking us to blow it all on war, and that's not even counting the money that you have spent bombing Iran, or you may still request in a separate supplemental.” - YouTube youtu.be

May 12, 2026 - World

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) pointed out to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the U.S. had "not won this war" with Iran despite the rhetoric coming from President Donald Trump's administration.During a Tuesday Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the war, Shaheen pointed to reports that Iran was receiving intelligence from Russia."Russia is making $4 billion from oil sanctions relief because we've loosened those sanctions," she explained. "As has been testified to. An Iranian Shahed drone costs about 35,000. That's enough money for hundreds of thousands of drones supporting Russia's war in Ukraine and billions for Iran to reconstitute its industrial base.""Senator, we know Russia is a nefarious actor on a lot of levels and account for that," Hegseth insisted. "All evidence to the contrary!" Shaheen interrupted. "We're not accounting for that if we're giving Russia the opportunity to earn $4 billion a month, $20 billion by the end of the year if we leave those sanctions lifted for that time during which they can continue to fund Iran.""The destruction of Iran's defense industrial base has been clear and overwhelming," the defense secretary argued. "What we see is Iran still producing drones," the senator observed. "They're still engaged in this conflict. We have not won this war despite the rhetoric.""If Iran still has almost 50% of their missile capacity and the ability to pull drones," she added, "and still injure our allies and U.S. service members, then we have not won the war."

May 12, 2026 - World

A relatively subdued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth changed tactics and talked over a Democratic lawmaker on Tuesday morning as the two argued over Pentagon expenditures with the Donald Trump appointee snapping when one of his claims was called “ridiculous.”Hegseth faced off with Rep. Joe Morelle (R-NY) who asked, “There has been much reported about the president's trip to China and I appreciate again my colleagues raised PACOM [United States Indo-Pacific Command] and its defense. There are weapons on hold the president has not authorized to Taiwan and I wonder if you can give me an update, what’s the status of those weapons sales are at this point?”“I just want to say the primes will be paying for the factories out of their own pocket, not the taxpayers' money which is a sea change, which I think this budget —," Hegseth began.“They are going to get a return on their investment,” Morelle interrupted as Hegseth protested with the New York Democrat continuing, “Yes, I understand, but they are not paying for it out of their pocket and not getting compensated. But anyway, can you answer my question about Taiwan?”“Buildings cost money, and if giving them $2 billion to build a factory, that is taxpayer money. If they are using it out of their own hide, that is $2 billion saved for the American people that then we can appropriate to our munitions we pay for in the future” Hegseth argued before complaining, “I know it is difficult to grasp…”“It’s not difficult to grasp! It is a different way of getting to the same place,” the Democratic lawmaker replied. “You end up paying for it — look, we ought to, they are building things for us, but to suggest that they are making an investment and will not somehow get compensated through sales is just honestly ridiculous.”“We used to pay for the building too and then pay for the sales,” Hegseth shot back as Morelle looked down and shook his head. “Now we are paying for the sales and not the building which is, I think, is a good—.”“And they are not embedding that in the tax write-off in the things they are selling to us, the capitalization, CAPEX they are putting into it they will get back? I don't know why we are arguing about it,” Morelle asked.“They are paying for it,” Hegseth replied. - YouTube youtu.be

May 12, 2026 - World

Donald Trump's trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping comes as the leadership of China is buoyed by an internal report that their country has seen its profile in the world rise above the US in large part due to American president.With Reuters reporting that Trump needs some “wins” due to his horrific approval numbers at home, the New York Times is reporting that a “Beijing think tank affiliated with Renmin University published a triumphant report about Mr. Trump’s first year back in office. The report argued that his tariffs, attacks on allies, anti-immigration policies and assaults on the American political establishment had inadvertently strengthened China while weakening the United States. Its title: ‘Thank Trump.’”According to the Times the analysis argued that Trump's erratic decision-making across domestic and foreign policy has inadvertently unified China while fracturing American institutions with the authors characterizing Trump as an "accelerator of American political decay," and the United States teetering on "Latin American-style instability."Trump's hostility toward China, the report argued, functioned as a "reverse booster" that strengthened Beijing's strategic self-reliance. "At this turning point in history," the authors wrote, "what we hear is the heavy and haunting toll of an empire's evening bell."In light of the current state of affairs, the Times is reporting that use of the term "American decline" in official Chinese sources nearly doubled in 2025, citing a Brookings Institution study.Chinese scholars are openly discussing how to exploit Trump's desperation. "Only China can save Trump," said Huang Jing, a professor at Shanghai International Studies University during a late 2025 media event. With midterm elections approaching, Huang argued, Trump needs visible wins such as Chinese purchases of American soybeans, corn, and natural gas that could help Republicans in the red states the GOP relies upon."Since Trump, the United States has become increasingly prone to compromise," Huang reportedly advisedChinese scholars are also strategizing about the possibility of a Republican midterm collapse. According to Wu Xinbo, a leading American studies scholar at Fudan University, if Republicans lose control of the House in November, Trump, handcuffed domestically by a Democratic-controlled House would likely lean into foreign policy legacy-building — opening the door for China's leaders to use that to their advantage, with Wu remarking, "China should make good use of this opportunity."

May 12, 2026 - World

The 32.3m surpasses those caused by disasters for the first time, as 82.2m people displaced in total around worldThe number of internal displacements triggered by conflict or violence around the world reached a record high in 2025, surpassing the number of disaster-driven internal displacements for the first time.A report published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) shows that by the end of 2025 there were 32.3m conflict-driven internal displacements. That is 60% higher than those recorded the previous year, and – for the first time since data collection began in 2008 – above displacements driven by natural disasters, which reached 29.9m in 2025. Continue reading...