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Sep 5, 2026 - World

A MAGA firebrand put Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in her crosshairs just hours after the pair landed in Russia for peace talks.On Saturday, Kushner and Witkoff arrived in Moscow to meet with special representatives for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Trump said on Friday that Kushner and Witkoff are carrying a proposal to "end the war" in Ukraine, adding, "We have an idea for peace."Trump loyalist and MAGA diehard Laura Loomer wasn't buying the Trump administration's message, however. She took to X to cast doubt on the Trump envoy's mission and rally more of MAGA against them."Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are in Moscow, Russia," Loomer wrote. "They just arrived for more 'peace talks' despite the fact that Putin is aiding the Iranians in killing US soldiers."Loomer notably used to be fiercely anti-Ukraine, a country she once claimed was "full of Nazis," PBS reported. She visited the country in July, and since then, has reversed course. She said that she was "bamboozled by Russian propaganda" and "came to believe a lot of untrue things about Ukraine," CNN reported. She called out Russia in her Saturday rant."Meanwhile, Russia continues to pummel Ukraine with ballistic missiles and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon," Loomer wrote. "Everyday, Ukrainian civilians are slaughtered and Putin has shown no good faith in ending the war."She then added that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky "has offered to travel to the US to sign a peace deal to end the war, but Putin continues his aggression against Ukraine." She then tied Putin to Iran again, writing that he hasn't stopped "his support for the Islamic regime of Iran despite pretending to support President Trump."Loomer demanded, "We should stop pretending like Russia isn't a terrorist state," and mentioned that "Russia is still holding 10 Americans hostage as well," although groups like the Foley Foundation report that at least six Americans are detained in Russia.

Sep 5, 2026 - World

Bewilderment and frustration roiled the nation Saturday morning as news spread President Donald Trump had threatened to cut trade with Canada because America doesn't need a cinnamon-flavored candy he mistakenly asserted came from Mexico. Trump made his confusing comment to a reporter in the Oval Office Friday during which he "explained" — or thought he did — how trade deficits work. "We could do tremendous good for ourselves by just not trading with countries," Trump said. "We lose, with the European Union, $200 billion a year. If I didn't trade with them, we'd lose nothing."This comment, posted on X by journalist account Acyn, was quickly subject to a fact-check from readers. "The trade deficit is not a debt, it does not represent losing money to the other country," the reader comment states. "It means more goods were imported from it than exported to it."The comment cites a Stanford University Hoover Institution by David R. Henderson called "Trade deficits aren't a problem.""It’s easiest to see that at the individual level," Henderson wrote. "My wife and I have about a $5,000 annual trade deficit with Safeway. We spend approximately $5,000 per year at Safeway and Safeway spends zero on my articles and speeches. More’s the pity, as the British say, but that’s the way it is."The president of the United States apparently couldn't grasp this concept."Just one swipe of the pen," he said. "We lose, with Mexico, $195 billion a year. If I don't trade with Mexico, they have nothing that we have to have. I mean, Hot Tamales, tomatoes, a couple of things. But basically they have nothing that we need."Hot Tamales are produced by the company Just Born, which was founded in New York, Trump's home state, in 1923 and has since moved to Pennsylvania, according to its website. They boast that they produce "America’s #1 Cinnamon flavored candy."Hot Tamales aside, Trump claimed he would not cut trade with Mexico because he respects their president, then quietly threatened that he could cut trade with Canada. "Canada would be in a heap of trouble," Trump said. "I don't think they'd exist."Critics were stunned. "Hot tamales?" replied Ron Filipowski. "WTF?"The Intellectualists summarized the statement thusly: "Trump claims trading is bad.""He's just stupid," X influencer RogerZenAF told his 37,000 followers. "Being a little dense or ditzy is normal, he's just plain f---ing dumb."Randy Shulman, editor of the Washington, D.C. LGBTQ+ magazine Metro Weekly, said simply, "He is the dumbest racist alive."

Sep 5, 2026 - World

A former supporter of President Donald Trump says he will forever regret his vote after his brother died in ICE custody.According to an article by The Mirror, Naseer Paktyawal posted a tearful video, first shared by ABC News, describing the loss of his brother Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal and the guilt he carries over voting for Trump. The two men were inseparable, Paktyawal said, describing his bond."We never call each other a brother," Paktyawal, who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan, said. "We call best friends."His brother served in the U.S. Special Forces in 2005, Afghan community leaders and a refugee group said, but the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of ICE, claimed it had no record of his service, according to the Mirror.He recounted the arrest outside a Dallas apartment that led to his brother's death. He saw "two cars unmarked. Seven, eight people jump out of those cars," he said. Agents grabbed his brother and put him in handcuffs in front of his family, Paktyawal said.Later, Paktyawal got a phone call from an ICE facility. He was told that his brother had died and that his body was left in a hospital parking lot."That's the thing that I will never forget in my life," he said. Paktyawal's brother had been seeking asylum since 2021 and was the 12th person to die in ICE custody in 2026, according to The Mirror.Paktyawal voted for Trump after he arrived in the U.S. in 2014, and he blamed the choice for his brother's death, according to The Mirror."My first vote was for this president, and I regret it, and I'm gonna regret it for the rest of my life," Paktyawal said. "Because of me, because of my voting, he got arrested, and he lost his life. And I'm never going to forgive myself for that."Paktyawal said he no longer trusts the Trump administration, saying, "I don't believe this administration."

Sep 4, 2026 - World

The Justice Department accidentally stopped working with Canada after a division chief misunderstood instructions to reschedule a meeting, The Wall Street Journal reported.According to a Friday article, the DOJ's antitrust division was instructed to halt all work with the Canadian government after an email was sent out with the subject line, "Pause on Canada." The chief of the antitrust division's international section, Lynda Marshall, sent out the email after she was told to reschedule a meeting.The email ordered DOJ officials in the division to stop all cooperation on cases and engagement on policy issues with Canadian authorities, according to The Journal. Marshall didn't offer any reasoning in her email for why the division had to stop working with Canada, but she wrote that she would "circle back if the guidance changes," The Journal reported.A follow-up email was sent on Friday to section chiefs within the division demanding lists detailing areas of cooperation with Canada by the end of the day, according to The Journal. In yet another email from Marshall that came later that day, she told staff in the division that she had been mistaken and cooperation with Canada could continue.Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Covington told The Journal that the directive to stop cooperation came after Marshall misunderstood a directive. Covington explained that Marshall had been told to push back a scheduled meeting, The Journal reported. The mix-up came as the Trump administration and Canada are in a dispute after trade talks broke down last month, with both the U.S. and Canada imposing tariffs on each other.According to The Journal, the DOJ division has resumed working with Canada. Representatives from Canada or its Competition Bureau didn't respond to The Journal's request for comment.The Journal noted that Canadian and U.S. antitrust authorities have multiple agreements in place to increase cooperation and have collaborated on major investigations since the 2000s. The two countries worked together on investigations into price-fixing in the auto parts and air cargo industries as well as on cases about mergers in tech, aerospace, and other industries.

Sep 4, 2026 - World

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly helped shut down a federal investigation into a businessman involved in President Donald Trump’s massive Venezuelan oil deal —then publicly said there was no investigation against him.Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt had spent years under investigation by the Justice Department as part of a sprawling billion-dollar money laundering case, according to a new CNN report. But prosecutors in Miami recently closed the probe after receiving direct orders from then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.“The move came as part of an effort by Trump White House officials and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to enlist Betancourt to engineer a massive new oil deal with Venezuela’s government,” the report said.Rubio, in an interview this week with a Venezuelan broadcaster, took credit for helping arrange Betancourt’s role in the oil deal and went on to defend the businessman as having been fully vetted.“We thoroughly investigate what we know within our system,” Rubio said. “Obviously, if these individuals were under investigation in the United States, and we have checked that with all the authorities, there was no investigation within our system against him.”But, according to CNN, Rubio did not disclose that he “played a key role in why Betancourt is no longer under investigation.” The Justice Department disputed that Blanche personally directed prosecutors to shut the case, calling the claim “a complete fabrication,” the Friday report said. Betancourt, who is now a partner in Trump’s Venezuelan oil plan, was never charged with a crime. “Now we have an opportunity to do something that I believe is going to benefit everyone,” Rubio said in the interview. “But specifically, in the long term, benefit the Venezuelan people.”