#national-public-radio — Public Fediverse posts

Mirroring Gaza, Israel is destroying towns and villages in southern #Lebanon
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/30/g-s1-119210/lebanon-israel-war

from #NPR #NationalPublicRadio [USA]
April 30, 2026

#Israel has been very public about the controlled demolitions its military has been carrying out in many of the 55 #Lebanese towns and villages it now occupies in the south. The #Israeli military has been publishing videos on social media and in releases to the press showing entire neighborhoods eviscerated in seconds, the concrete homes and shops erupting into clouds of dust at the push of a detonator.

Israel says it's destroying #Hezbollah infrastructure. And that the goal is to create what Israel calls a "buffer zone" along its border, in order to keep Hezbollah from attacking its northern residents.

But those demolitions — along with widespread Israeli airstrikes throughout the past two months — have also significantly destroyed civilian infrastructure.

#IsraelOutOfLebanon
#IsraelTerroristState
#news #politics

Trump’s Executive Order on NPR and PBS Is Unconstitutional, Judge Rules

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/business/media/trump-npr-pbs-executive-order-ruling.html

Photos: 'No Kings' #protests across the country : The Picture Show : NPR

https://www.npr.org/sections/the-picture-show/2026/03/28/g-s1-115637/photos-no-kings-protests-across-the-country

From #NPR #NationalPublicRadio
March 28, 2026

#news #politics #USpol #Trump

"Flagstaff, Ariz., Cambridge, Mass., Eugene, Ore. and Santa Cruz, Calif., are among a list of at least 30 localities that have either deactivated their Flock cameras or canceled their contracts since the beginning of 2025 – with much of the activity happening in just the last three months….Flock's #AI-powered cameras scan license plates as well as vehicles' identifying details….Santa Cruz was among a number of California cities that learned their local data had been shared with Flock's national network without city officials' knowledge or intent. It was alarming to some officials given that state laws forbid cities from sharing license plate data with federal or out-of-state agencies, or assisting federal immigration enforcement.” Report by Jude Joffe-Block for @npr
#NationalPublicRadio https://www.npr.org/2026/02/17/nx-s1-5612825/flock-contracts-canceled-immigration-survillance-concerns

#immigration #surveillance #LicensePlateReaders #MontereyBay #SantaCruz

"How to register to vote in the 2026 primaries,” from #NationalPublicRadio / @npr https://apps.npr.org/voter-registration-2026-mail/

Our post, including specific tips for State of California, and Monterey County: https://bikemonterey.org/register-and-vote.html

#Democracy #RegisterAndVote #USA #Vote #Vote2026 #ActOnClimate #ClimateJustice

Partial government shutdown begins: Here’s what’s to know – NPR

Politics

What to know about the partial government shutdown

January 31, 202612:01 AM ET

By Lexie Schapitl

The U.S. government has entered a partial shutdown after Congress failed to meet a deadline of midnight on Friday to complete work on a spending package to prevent funding from running out across multiple federal departments.

While funding has technically expired, Congress appears within striking distance of breaking the impasse that has led funds to expire across large stretches of government, including the Department of Defense, the State Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

On Friday, the Senate approved legislation to fund each of these remaining government agencies through the end of the fiscal year in September, while also agreeing to a two-week stopgap bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. That two-week continuing resolution is designed to allow lawmakers to negotiate reforms at the agency after federal immigration officers in Minnesota killed two U.S. citizens this month.

However, the legislation must now be approved by the House, which is on recess until Monday. President Trump has already endorsed the package, and lawmakers in the lower chamber are expected to vote on it soon after their return to Washington.

Politics

Senate passes funding deal, as lawmakers hope for only a short-term partial shutdown

Just a week ago, Congress appeared on track to approve nearly $1.3 trillion in spending for defense, health, transportation, housing and more in a single package before the deadline.

But the second deadly shooting of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis by federal immigration officers upended those plans, as Democrats pledged to withhold support for the funding package without policy changes on immigration enforcement.

Now that the Senate has voted, the fate of the legislation moves to the House. Here’s what to know:

House recess makes a short-term funding lapse inevitable

Under the Senate agreement, Senators voted on five appropriations bills — Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education; Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; State; and Financial services and general government — to fund those agencies through September. They also approved a two-week extension of Homeland Security funding to give negotiators more time to consider potential reforms.

But the House, which had previously approved a package to fund all six departments, needs to vote again on the amended package.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Partial government shutdown begins: Here’s what’s to know : NPR

Mexican president says her country has paused oil shipments to Cuba
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/28/nx-s1-5691086/mexico-oil-shipments-cuba?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

[very bad news]

from #NPR #NationalPublicRadio [USA]
January 28, 20262:44 AM ET
By The #AssociatedPress

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President #ClaudiaSheinbaum said Tuesday her government has at least temporarily stopped oil shipments to #Cuba, but struck an ambiguous tone, saying the pause was part of general fluctuations in oil supplies and that it was a "sovereign decision" not made under pressure from the United States.

Sheinbaum was responding to inquiries on whether the state oil company #Pemex had cut off oil shipments to Cuba in the wake of mounting pressure from #US President Donald #Trump that #Mexico distance itself from the Cuban government...

#EndTheBlockadeEmbargo
#CubaSolidarity
#LetCubaLive
#EndSanctionsAgainstCuba
#VivaCuba #CubaSí #AbajoElBloqueo #SolidaridadConCuba
#LatinAmerica #Caribbean
#news #politics #USpol

The delightful history behind serendipity suggests it’s not mere luck – NPR

Special Series, Word of the week

The delightful history behind serendipity suggests it’s not mere luck

January 7, 20265:00 AM ET, Heard on All Things Considered

By Juliana Kim, 2-Minute Listen

Transcript

In the new year, we can all use some serendipity, right?

Since the word was coined in the 18th century, “serendipity” has been used to describe all kinds of scientific and technological breakthroughs, including penicillin, the microwave oven and Velcro. (More on these below.)

The whimsical term has also been the title of countless poems, songs and books about remarkable coincidences or eureka moments. And let’s not forget that it was the name of the charming 2001 romantic comedy about two strangers — played by John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale — meeting and reuniting during chance encounters.

“Serendipity” — as the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it — is “the ability to find valuable or agreeable things not sought for” or “luck that takes the form of such finding.”

While the word has often been associated with good fortune or happy accidents, its origin suggests that serendipity goes beyond just happenstance. Some researchers argue that serendipity can be acquired through skill and that opportunities for serendipitous moments occur more frequently than we realize.

In this week’s installment of NPR’s Word of the Week, we dive into the roots of serendipity, its impact throughout history and tips on how we can cultivate it ourselves.

Serendipity’s wayward journey

While serendipity is all about the unexpected, its origins are less mysterious.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: The delightful history behind serendipity suggests it’s not mere luck : NPR

Rahm Emanuel: "This is a referendum election. Keep it focused on the rubber-stamp Republican Congress to Pres. Trump."

Rahm was a Member of Congress, a Chief of Staff, a Mayor, and an Ambassador. This gives him plenty of experience concerning a wide range of issues. He could run for the presidency in 2028.

He explored national and international issues during this interview on #NationalPublicRadio:
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/nx-s1-5685069 #politics #NPR

‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ review – The latest Trek series asks big questions – NPR

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Review, TV Reviews

‘Starfleet Academy’ interrogates the values at the center of ‘Star Trek’ itself

January 15, 20267:00 AM ET

By Eric Deggans, 8-Minute Listen

Transcript

It’s one of the most perilous challenges any crew can take on in the modern Star Trek universe: Building a new series around a bunch of characters who do not include Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock.

The collection of Trek series on Paramount+ have done yeoman’s work in that regard — starting with Sonequa Martin-Green’s principled Starfleet officer Michael Burnham on Star Trek: Discovery way back in 2017, birthing a bold new universe of characters that also made room for superstar supporting actors like Michelle Yeoh and Jason Isaacs.

Divided as fans could be about that series — originally set years before the days of Kirk and Spock, only to jump from the 23rd century to the 32nd century in a wild recalibration of the story — Discovery set the tone for big swings when it came to rebuilding the world of Trek for a modern streaming audience on Paramount+.

Now fans have another big swing coming their way in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, a series set in the 32nd century that Discovery landed in — a time when the venerated Federation of Planets is pulling itself back together after a massive disaster called “The Burn” shattered the alliance. This new Federation is rebuilding the school for starship officers and staff that produced legends like Kirk and Spock hundreds of years earlier.

Many of the best Trek series revolve around intrepid explorers in a starship stumbling on new adventures in new corners of the galaxy in every episode. Starfleet Academy tries to tell that tale in a different way — presenting the Academy as a school that is also a giant starship with a warp drive that gets waylaid while traveling through space to its home on Earth in San Francisco.

The first episode of the series is among its most action-packed, featuring Oscar-winner Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake, the Academy’s chancellor and the starship’s captain. At over 400 years old, she’s part Lanthanite — a particularly long lived alien species introduced on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — so she remembers the pre-calamity days when the Federation was in full bloom and the Academy was regularly churning out ace starship personnel.

Paul Giamatti chews the scenery as Nus Braka, a ruthless criminal who has history with Ake and attacks the Academy for payback. And new face Sandro Rosta plays Caleb Mir, a well-muscled, rebellious kid who was separated from his mom by Ake back in the day and has agreed to attend Starfleet Academy if the chancellor helps him track down his mother (played by, of all people, Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany; be still my sci-fi geek heart!).

TV Reviews

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ ends as an underappreciated TV pioneer

I’m Really Into

Finding your place in the galaxy with the help of Star Trek

If this sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. In fact, over its first few episodes, Starfleet Academy is so stuffed with new characters, subplots and franchise references, it’s not clear this program knows what kind of series it wants to be. Is it a rollicking adventure building out the damaged universe first revealed after Discovery’s time jump? Or is it a bizarre blend of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Beverly Hills: 90210 set in the stars, featuring an idiosyncratic group of young aspirants coming of age in the most bizarre college on television?

Consider this sampling of storylines: Hunter’s hippie-ish leader Ake is struggling to make amends while teaching Caleb the ways of the Federation. Caleb, meanwhile, is on his own journey, trying to find a mom he hasn’t seen for many years, who he learns has escaped from a Federation prison.

He’s surrounded by cadets with their own odd stories, including a sentient hologram trying to learn if her people can trust humanoids and a member of the warlike Klingon race who seems uncharacteristically peaceful and non-combative. Comic Gina Yashere is particularly entertaining as Lura Thok — the cadet master and second-in-command at the academy who also happens to be a hybrid of two of Trek’s most combative races: Klingons and the Jem’Hadar from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Religion – Patrick Stewart says his time on ‘Star Trek’ felt like a ministry

There’s also the requisite fan service, including the return of Robert Picardo as the now-900 year old Doctor, the emergency medical hologram he played on the UPN series Star Trek: Voyager back in 1995. Comic Tig Notaro pops up as Jett Reno, an engineer from Discovery who now teaches at this brand new Starfleet Academy.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ review: The latest Trek series asks big questions : NPR

A court ruling could shrink Black representation in Congress – NPR

Politics

A Supreme Court ruling could bring historic drop in Black representation in Congress

January 8, 2026, 5:00 AM ET

By Hansi Lo Wang

The United States could be headed toward the largest-ever decline in representation by Black members of Congress, depending on how the Supreme Court rules in a closely watched redistricting case about the Voting Rights Act.

For decades, the landmark law that came out of the Civil Rights Movement has protected the collective voting power of racial minorities when political maps are redrawn. Its provisions have also boosted the number of seats in the House of Representatives filled by Black lawmakers.

That’s largely because in many Southern states — where voting is often polarized between a Republican-supporting white majority and a Democratic-supporting Black minority — political mapmakers have drawn a certain kind of district to get in line with the Voting Rights Act’s Section 2 provisions. In these districts, racial-minority voters make up a population large enough to have a realistic opportunity of electing their preferred candidates.

But at an October hearing last year for the redistricting case about Louisiana’s congressional map, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared inclined to issue this year another in a series of decisions that have weakened the Voting Rights Act — this time its Section 2 protections in redistricting.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: A court ruling could shrink Black representation in Congress : NPR

“Hunger can manifest as teenagers too tired to participate in after-school sports or elementary-age students who arrive to class agitated.

"They can't focus. They may be more likely to get in fights with their peers or not be able to listen.

"Even a few days of hunger can affect brain development, especially among babies and toddlers.
…
“There is a collection of myths that fall under the heading of 'What doesn't kill us makes us stronger' or that 'Children are resilient.

"But science tells us that trauma and adversity do not usually make anyone — kids or adults — stronger or better. It far more often does the opposite, causing injury associated with lifelong increased risk for poor health and shorter lifespans.”

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2026/01/05/nx-s1-5655254/hidden-hunger-food-insecurity-us-brain-development-psychological-scars-shame

#NPR #NationalPublicRadio #HungerInAmerica

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack – NPR

Politics

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack

January 3, 202610:27 AM ET, Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

Daniel Estrin 4-Minute Listen Transcript

Kaine is among the lawmakers who have been critical of the Trump administration’s stance toward Venezuela.

DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:

We have been following the extraordinary news out of Venezuela this morning. Overnight, U.S. forces targeted the country, capturing its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife. Some U.S. lawmakers have been criticizing the Trump administration’s stance on Venezuela. Among them is Senator Tim Kaine. The Virginia Democrat is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. He’s a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee as well, and he joins us now. Good morning, Senator.

TIM KAINE: Daniel, good to be with you.

ESTRIN: You were among the lawmakers who said the Trump administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean were illegal. You were even discussing the possibility of those strikes constituting a war crime. So how do you see last night’s operations?

KAINE: Daniel, I think these strikes are clearly illegal. They have not been authorized by Congress, and the Constitution is clear that the U.S. doesn’t engage in military action or war without a vote of Congress, except in cases of imminent self-defense. The Constitution is absolutely clear on that. And so the boat strikes in international waters are illegal. Murdering shipwrecked sailors clinging to wreckage in those waters is illegal. And a U.S. invasion of Venezuela to depose its president and arrest him is illegal. And I have a vote scheduled in the next few days when we get back to Congress on Monday to put all senators on the record as to whether we should be at war with Venezuela without a vote of Congress.

ESTRIN: Senator, many Venezuelans do not support Maduro. Do you see anything positive from this development?

KAINE: Maduro is a disaster, and he’s been disastrous for the country. And we could say the same thing about a hundred and fifty leaders of countries around the world. But our Constitution is very, very clear that we don’t order servicemen and women into harm’s way, risking their lives, unless there is a congressional debate and vote about whether the war is in the national interest. Here, there was no real notification, no real Consultation, no real debate, and definitely not a vote. The president believes he can wage war on his own. And in the last weeks, you’ve seen him use the U.S. military to ostensibly protect Christians in Nigeria and threaten to use the U.S. military to protect Iranian protesters. He’s threatened U.S. military force or suggested he’s open to it to seize Panama, to seize Greenland. It’s time for Congress to get off the couch and exercise the oversight over this president’s desire to wage war on his own.

ESTRIN: What do you think President Trump is actually getting at with this operation?

KAINE: It’s unclear because the president started these operations in international waters, saying it was about narco-trafficking. But now both he and other administration officials have said, we want our oil back, we want our assets back and we also want to change regimes. The U.S. has tried to stand for the proposition that the sovereignty of nations should be respected. That’s why we’ve criticized Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. But we can’t, with a straight face, make the argument that we support the sovereignty of nations if we’re willing to engage in a unilateral presidentially declared war against Venezuela. And thus, he is really undercutting U.S.’ moral and – stance for an international rule of law where nations can invade each other willy-nilly, just because a president decides it’s a good idea to do so.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack : NPR

Steve Inskeep, who reports on issues on #NationalPublicRadio (NPR), shared this good news:
"NPR radio and podcast ratings rose sharply in 2026, which helps us re-evaluate some partisan talking points of recent years."
#media #broadcasting #politics #GoodNews #information

Science funding was hit in 2025. What does that mean for the future? – Consider This from NPR – NPR

Consider This from NPR

Science funding was hit in 2025. What does that mean for the future?

December 23, 20254:27 PM ET, 11-Minute Listen Transcript

2025 was a hard year for science. The Trump administration upended federal funding for all kinds of scientific pursuits, slashing budgets across agencies like NASA, NIH and NOAA. PR’s Rob Stein and Katia Riddle spoke to scientists and officials who worry that those cuts could cause the United States to lose its competitive edge as a global hub for research and innovation, and steer future generations away from careers in science.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or atplus.npr.org. Email us at [email protected]. This episode was produced by Michael Levitt, with audio engineering by Zo vanGinhoven. It was edited by Sarah Handel, Scott Hensley and Amina Khan. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Science funding was hit in 2025. What does that mean for the future? : Consider This from NPR : NPR

‘Lolita,’ passports and more famous figures pictured in latest Epstein photo release | PBS News

Editor’s Note: Some of the images from Friday’s release (December 19, 2025) are included in this post. Please ensure respect for the victims in these photos, and documents. –DrWeb

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‘Lolita,’ passports and more famous figures pictured in latest Epstein photo release

Politics Dec 18, 2025 6:09 PM EST

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released another collection of images from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate Thursday, on the eve of the Justice Department’s deadline to release all of its files on his case.

Around 70 photographs come from Epstein’s computer and email accounts, and shed more light on his lifestyle and social circles. The photographs, among 95,000 handed over by Epstein’s estate last week, were provided to the committee without context.

In this undated photograph from the personal collection of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is standing next to a woman whose face has been redacted. The photo, from Epstein’s estate, was released Thursday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

One image shows former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates standing next to a woman, whose face is redacted. Another shows Noam Chomsky seated next to Epstein on a plane. Several images show a social gathering over a meal and several faces of powerful or public figures, including Epstein. A separate image that appears to be from the same room shows Google co-founder Sergey Brin and New York Times columnist David Brooks, who is a regular contributor to the PBS News Hour. The photos are undated.

In this undated photograph from the personal collection of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, New York Times columnist and PBS News contributor David Brooks is seen seated next to Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The photo, from Epstein’s estate, was released Thursday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

A New York Times spokesperson said in a statement, “As a journalist, David Brooks regularly attends events to speak with noted and important business leaders to inform his columns, which is exactly what happened at this 2011 event. Mr. Brooks had no contact with him before or after this single attendance at a widely-attended dinner.”

In this undated photograph from the personal collection of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Google co-founder Sergey Brin is seen smiling. The photo, from Epstein’s estate, was released Thursday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

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Several images in the new release show Epstein photographed with women whose faces have been redacted. One photograph appears to show three women with Epstein, with an open computer nearby. One of the women has her arm around his shoulder. Another photo shows Epstein seated on a plane, pointing out a window while a woman sits closely beside him. Her face has also been obscured.

In this undated photograph from the personal collection of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender is seated on a plane next to a woman whose face has been redacted. The photo, from Epstein’s estate, was released Thursday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

In this undated photograph from the personal collection of Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender is seen with three women whose faces have been redacted. The photo, from Epstein’s estate, was released Thursday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

Some photos in this batch show closeups of a foot and a neck. In both images, quotes from the book “Lolita” appear to have been written in black pen on the person’s body.

In this undated photograph from the personal collection of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a quote from Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” is seen written on someone’s foot. The book appears in the background. The photo, from Epstein’s estate, was released Thursday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

In this undated photograph from the personal collection of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a quote from Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” is seen written on someone’s neck. The photo, from Epstein’s estate, was released Thursday by Democrats on the House Ov

Continue/Read Original Article Here: ‘Lolita,’ passports and more famous figures pictured in latest Epstein photo release | PBS News

National parks fee-free calendar drops MLK Day, Juneteenth and adds Trump’s birthday – NPR

Politics

National parks fee-free calendar drops MLK Day, Juneteenth and adds Trump’s birthday

December 6, 2025, 5:20 PM ET

By Alana Wise

The Trump administration has removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from next year’s calendar of entrance fee-free days for national parks and added President Trump’s birthday to the list, according to the National Park Service, as the administration continues to push back against a reckoning of the country’s racist history on federal lands.

In addition to Trump’s birthday — which coincides with Flag Day (June 14) — the updated calendar of fee-free dates includes the 110th anniversary of the NPS (August 25), Constitution Day (September 17) and President Teddy Roosevelt’s birthday (October 27). The changes will take effect starting January 1.

Non-U.S. residents will still be required to pay entrance fees on those dates under the new “America-first pricing” policy. At 11 of some of the country’s most popular national parks, international visitors will be charged an extra $100, on top of the standard entrance fee, and the annual pass for non-residents will go up to $250. The annual pass for residents will be $80.

The move follows a July executive order from the White House that called to increase fees applied to non-American visitors to national parks and grant citizens and residents “preferential treatment with respect to any remaining recreational access rules, including permitting or lottery rules.”

The Department of the Interior, which oversees NPS, called the new fee-exempted dates “patriotic fee-free days,” in an announcement that lauded the changes as “Trump’s commitment to making national parks more accessible, more affordable and more efficient for the American people.”

The Interior Department did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: National parks fee-free calendar drops MLK Day, Juneteenth and adds Trump’s birthday : NPR

#Calendar #DaysEnterWithoutFee #FeeFree #JuneteenthDropped #MLKDayDropped #NationalParks #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Politics #TrumpSBirthdayAdded

5 Startling Truths Behind the U.S. Showdown with Venezuela – A DWD Special Report

5 Startling Truths Behind the U.S. Showdown with Venezuela

Introduction: Beyond the Headlines

The news cycle is saturated with reports of escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela. A significant U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, officially dubbed “Operation Southern Spear,” is underway, featuring warships, advanced aircraft, and thousands of troops. President Trump has hinted that the days of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian regime are numbered, while Caracas has denounced the American presence as a prelude to an illegal intervention.

Behind the headlines of tough talk and naval movements, however, a far more complex and consequential story is unfolding. This is not just another geopolitical standoff. It is a flashpoint testing the very boundaries of international law, redefining the nature of modern conflict, and signaling what may be a dramatic and assertive shift in American foreign policy for years to come.

This confrontation is therefore a crucible for the future of warfare, one where legal definitions are being rewritten on the fly to justify lethal force, where sovereign airspace is treated as a bargaining chip, and where a massive military deployment becomes a high-stakes test of geopolitical will. To understand what is truly at stake, one must look beyond the immediate conflict and examine the startling truths that define this high-stakes confrontation.

Special Editor’s Note: https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/bf1cb435-c733-4fd9-8c75-e30386b55563 takes you to my shared NotebookLLM on this matter and post. There you will find audio and video overviews; notebook notes; a mindmap; reports; flashcards; and, a quiz. I hope that helps you dig deeper into this major issue for America and Americans. –DrWeb

——————————————————————————–

1. An Alleged “Kill Them All” Order Pushes Legal and Moral Boundaries

At the heart of the escalating military action is a deeply disturbing allegation. Reporting from Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse details a verbal directive allegedly given by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a September strike on a suspected drug boat. According to two individuals with direct knowledge of the operation, the order was stark: “kill everybody.”

This directive reportedly led to a second strike after the initial attack. A live drone feed showed two survivors clinging to wreckage in the water; the special operations commander, to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, is said to have ordered a follow-on strike that “blew apart” the two men.

The legal and moral gravity of such an order is immense, a point articulated with startling clarity in an impassioned op-ed on the social platform Reddit by a respected, retired senior naval officer known as ‘SWO6’. Under the Geneva Conventions and the Law of Armed Conflict, attacking defenseless survivors is explicitly forbidden. Shipwrecked individuals are considered hors de combat—literally “out of the fight”—and must be treated as noncombatants. An order to show “no quarter,” or take no prisoners, has been prohibited for over a century. A former military lawyer, Todd Huntley, underscored this point:

“Even if the U.S. were at war with the traffickers, an order to kill all the boat’s occupants if they were no longer able to fight ‘would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime.’”

This principle is not an abstract concept. A key historical precedent is the Peleus trial of 1944, where the captain of a German U-boat was convicted of war crimes for ordering his crew to fire on the survivors of a sunken Greek merchant ship. The charges were specifically for attacking the survivors, not for sinking the ship itself, establishing a clear red line that has been upheld in international tribunals ever since.

The seriousness of the current allegations is not lost on Washington. The report has prompted bipartisan calls for “vigorous oversight” from the Senate Armed Services Committee, signaling that a full accounting of the September strike and the orders behind it will be sought at the highest levels.

2. It’s Not a “War on Drugs”—It’s a War on “Narco-Terrorists,” and the Distinction Matters

A critical element of the Trump administration’s strategy has been to officially reframe the conflict. The Maduro-tied Cartel de los Soles has been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), a move that fundamentally changes the legal and operational landscape.

Traditionally, international law views maritime drug interdiction not as combat, but as a law enforcement activity regulated by international human rights law. According to legal analysis on maritime security, this framework dictates that the use of deadly force is an absolute last resort, permissible only in cases of armed resistance or an imminent threat to life.

By relabeling the target from “criminal” to “terrorist,” the administration is shifting the legal paradigm from law enforcement to armed conflict. The FTO designation is not merely semantic; the Wikipedia entry on the administration’s foreign policy notes the designation is intended as a way to unlock additional powers to combat them, including military force. This move provides a legal justification for kinetic military strikes that would otherwise be considered illegal under the framework of maritime law enforcement. However, this FTO designation is disputed by experts who argue the gangs are motivated by money, not political ideology.

3. The Standoff is a “Giant Game of Chicken” with 15% of the Navy’s Deployed Fleet

Jeremy McDermott, co-director of the organized crime analysis group Insight Crime, has captured the core dynamic of the U.S.-Venezuela standoff with a simple but powerful metaphor:

“a giant game of chicken”

The scale of the U.S. commitment gives this metaphor its weight. As part of “Operation Southern Spear,” President Trump has dispatched the largest U.S. naval flotilla to the Caribbean since the Cuban Missile Crisis. According to reporting from The War Zone, the assets involved are staggering:

• Approximately 15% of the entire U.S. Navy’s deployed surface fleet.
• The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group.
• A formidable array of aerial assets, including F-35B stealth fighters, MQ-9 Reaper drones, P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, AC-130 Ghostrider gunships, and B-52 bombers.
• Roughly 15,000 U.S. personnel deployed to the region.

The “chicken” dynamic is a test of wills and resources. The U.S. is betting that this overwhelming pressure will either provoke a coup from within Maduro’s regime or force him to capitulate to U.S. demands. Maduro, on the other hand, is betting that he can simply “hang on.” He knows the U.S. cannot sustain such a massive and costly deployment indefinitely. So long as Maduro doesn’t blink, time is on his side.

4. Airspace is Being Weaponized, Turning the Sky into a Political Battlefield

The confrontation is not limited to the seas; it has extended into the sky above. President Trump declared on social media that “THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.” The Venezuelan government immediately denounced this as an “illegal and unjustified aggression” that violates the UN Charter and amounts to an explicit threat of force.

This political declaration is backed by real-world actions. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) warning civilian pilots to exercise caution in the region. The notice cites heightened military activity and interference with Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) that could impact critical aircraft systems.

As an academic study on the Russia-Ukraine conflict published in PubMed Central illustrates, airspace bans are a potent tool of “aero-political conflict.” They are non-kinetic weapons that have severe effects, forcing commercial flights to undertake costly and time-consuming rerouting. One example from the study showed a flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo having its flight time extended by nearly two hours to avoid Russian airspace. This tactic shows that the sky itself has become a domain for exerting political pressure and a key battlefield in this modern, multi-domain standoff.

5. This Isn’t Just About Venezuela; It’s About a New “Monroe Doctrine”

The pressure campaign against Venezuela is not an isolated incident but rather the opening move in a muscular reinterpretation of the Monroe Doctrine for the 21st century. According to analysis of the second Trump administration’s foreign policy, these actions are part of a dramatic pivot to prioritize the Western Hemisphere.

Administration officials have explicitly stated their overarching goal is to “reassert American dominance over the Americas.” This ambition has led some foreign policy experts to believe the moves express a desire to divide the world into distinct “spheres of influence” between America, Russia, and China.

This broader strategic goal reframes the entire conflict. The military buildup is not just an isolated action against a single rogue regime. It is a potential opening move in a new, more assertive era of U.S. foreign policy—one in which the U.S. seeks to re-establish and enforce its primacy in its own hemisphere.

——————————————————————————–

Conclusion: Who Blinks First?

The showdown with Venezuela is far more than a simple military standoff. It is a flashpoint where profound legal questions about the rules of engagement are being tested, new forms of political and economic warfare are being deployed, and a fundamental realignment of U.S. global strategy may be underway. The legal distinction between drug traffickers and terrorists, the use of airspace as a weapon, and an alleged order to kill defenseless survivors all point to a conflict that is pushing established norms to their breaking point.

This is not just about one country or one leader; it is about setting precedents for a new era of international relations. As this high-stakes game of chicken plays out off the coast of South America, the world watches to see who will blink first—and what the rules of this new era will be when they do.

Source: https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/bf1cb435-c733-4fd9-8c75-e30386b55563

#2025 #america #cnn #departmentOfDefense #donaldTrump #establishedNorms #health #history #joyceVance #lettersFromAnAmerican #libraries #library #libraryOfCongress #nationalPublicRadio #opinion #peteHegseth #politics #resistance #science #television #theNewYorkTimes #trump #trumpAdministration #unitedStates #venezuela #youtube

Pete Hegseth, No Boy Scout, Reportedly Wants to Put the “Boy” Back in Scouts – Vanity Fair

SCOUT’S DISHONOR

Pete Hegseth, No Boy Scout, Reportedly Wants to Put the “Boy” Back in Scouts

The Department of Defense won’t comment to VF on the possibly leaked “predecisional” documents, which would push Congress to cut ties with Scouting America

By Kase Wickman, November 25, 2025

Remember the good old days, when men were men and scouts were boys? US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth apparently does, and believes that, in fact, the sun set on those golden days in 2018, when the organization then known as Boy Scouts of America amended its rules to allow girls to join. Things got darker still on February 5, 2025, when the entity officially changed its name to Scouting America.

Hegseth is now reportedly prepared to order the government to cut all ties with the organization, ending a relationship that dates back more than a century.

NPR reported Tuesday that the outlet had received drafts of memos Hegseth intends to send to Congress mandating a severing of ties with Scouting America. Hegseth, who never participated in Boy Scouts, wrote in the draft that the organization now serves to “attack boy-friendly spaces,” accusing the group of being “genderless” and promoting “gender confusion.”

“The organization once endorsed by President Theodore Roosevelt no longer supports the future of American boys,” Hegseth reportedly wrote in a memo.

According to the Scouting America website, “The mission of Scouting America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.”

Hegseth, however, reportedly believes that the group’s mission is to “cultivate masculine values,” per one memo, and that they are failing at it.

When contacted by Vanity Fair for comment, an official from the Department of Defense said, “The Department will not comment on leaked documents that we cannot authenticate and that may be predecisional.” Representatives for Scouting America did not immediately respond to Vanity Fair’s request for further comment.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Pete Hegseth, No Boy Scout, Reportedly Wants to Put the “Boy” Back in Scouts | Vanity Fair

#adolesecence #boy #boyScout #boyScoutsOfAmerica #departmentOfDefense #girls #growingUpMale #masculinity #meritBadges #nationalPublicRadio #npr #peteHegseth #presidentTheodoreRoosevelt #scoutingAmerica #scouts #teens #uSCongress #vanityFair #youngMen

We encourage listening not just to 7-mins but entire 35:26 interview by Steve Inskeep of #NationalPublicRadio w/ Governor Spencer Cox at Western Governors Conference, for Nov 25 #NPR https://www.npr.org/2025/11/25/nx-s1-5615342/spencer-cox-utah-trump-charlie-kirk-civility

On USA social change 31:56-35:26.

On Artificial Intelligence 24:46- 31:50— a snippet @ 30:49:
“We’ve gotten into this mode, I’d say on both the right and left, where we’ve become subservient to technology. Instead of technology serving us, we’ve become slaves to the #technology. And I think that’s going to happen with #AI if we’re not very careful….We’ve started an AI policy lab in Utah, it’s the #first of its kind anywhere in the world, where we have experts now, in the government, working directly with the companies, to make sure their products are safe, passing legislation that gives them a safe harbor so that they can do what they wanna do, as long as it protects our #people.”
#DataScience #connection #SocialMedia #Meta #ChatBots #loneliness #BowlingAlone #MentalHealth #BlueCollar #WhiteCollar #job

One of our favorite #NPR Tiny
Desk Concerts.
Robert Plant: vocals, harmonica
Suzi Dian: vocals, accordion
Matt Worley: guitar, banjo, cuatro, background vocals
Tony Kelsey: guitar
Barney Morse-Brown: cello
Oli Jefferson: drums

"Gospel Plough"
"Higher Rock"
"Everybody's Song"
"It's a Beautiful Day Today"
"Gallows Pole"

Wonder how much time it takes the dusters to maintain those packed shelves

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/21/g-s1-97414/robert-plant-tiny-desk-concert

Giving thanks for #NationalPublicRadio : https://www.npr.org/donations/support

Will millennials be able to buy homes? – It’s Been a Minute – NPR

It’s Been a Minute

Do you want out of The Cult of Homeownership?

November 21, 20253:00 AM ET

By Brittany Luse. Scott Horsley, Rhaina Cohen, Alexis Williams, Neena Pathak, and Mika Ellison 19-Minute Listen

Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or the FHFA, said the administration is “working on” a plan to introduce 50 year mortgage terms for homebuyers. But some Americans have already been working on their own plans towards homeownership… and it’s not the ‘nuclear family’ route.

NPR Embedded producer and editor and author of The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center, Rhaina Cohen and NPR chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley join the show to get into the cult of homeownership in America and how we may have to reframe our ideas of what ‘adulthood’ looks like.

Episode Highlights, Whether 50-year mortgages are a solution

Economy

3 questions about Trump’s 50-year mortgage plan

HORSLEY: The 50-year mortgage is sort of a superficial way to try to make homeownership seem more affordable. But if you scrape just a smidge below the surface, there’s not a lot of substance here. Housing affordability is a real challenge. A 50-year mortgage is not a real solution. It would have the effect, potentially, of lowering people’s monthly payments a little bit…

LUSE: But you have that payment way longer, right?

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Will millennials be able to buy homes? : It’s Been a Minute : NPR

#2025 #50YearMortgage #america #cult #donaldTrump #history #homeownership #itsBeenAMinute #nationalPublicRadio #npr #opinion #pocast #politics #resistance #rhainaCohen #science #scottHorsley #trump #trumpAdministration

How to work with your social anxiety – Life Kit – NPR

Life Kit

How to work with your social anxiety

November 18, 2025, 3:00 AM ET, 23-Minute Listen

It’s easy to spiral and feel anxious when you’re on a first date, at your office holiday party or heading to your high school reunion. The stakes feel high and you want to make a good impression. But social anxiety can get in the way of connection, fun and feeling good. In this episode, we give you tools to survive small talk, practice social courage and embrace the awkward.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: How to work with your social anxiety : Life Kit : NPR

#anxiety #connecting #embraceTheAwkward #lifeKit #nationalPublicRadio #npr #others #socialAnxiety #socialCourage

Trump Defends Ordering Epstein Investigation: “I’m Allowed To” https://drwebdomain.blog/2025/11/14/trump-defends-ordering-epstein-investigation-im-allowed-to/ #2025, #America, #CNN, #DonaldTrump, #Education, #Epstein, #EpsteinFiles, #Health, #History, #KaitlanCollins, #Libraries, #Library, #LibraryOfCongress, #NationalPublicRadio, #Politics, #Resistance, #Science, #Spotify, #Technology, #TheSource, #Trump, #TrumpAdministration, #UnitedStates

Today is a very special day for a very special radio host. 40 years ago, Scott Simon began broadcasting on #NationalPublicRadio. When he mentioned it to his audience today, Scott said that broadcasting is fun and it's an honor. His intelligence, sense of humor, good judgment, and pleasant speaking voice combined to make his broadcast #WeekendEditionSaturday a '40 years and counting' success.
#media #NPR #entertainment

When to step back from a difficult relationship – National Public Radio (NPR)

Life Kit, Tools To Help You Get It Together

How to decide whether to step back from a difficult relationship — or stick it out

October 28, 20254:01 PM ET, By Marielle Segarra, Clare Marie Schneider, and Malaka Gharib

You have a strained relationship with your father, but he recently developed health issues and needs someone to care for him. You don’t feel emotionally fulfilled in your marriage, but you’ve been with your partner for 10 years. You’ve made a new friend who’s nice most of the time, but is mean when she’s angry.

Life Kit, Frustrated by a relationship? Questions to ask yourself to move forward

Should you step back from these relationships or stick them out?

These are the kinds of dilemmas that therapist KC Davis tackles in her book published earlier this year, Who Deserves Your Love: How to Create Boundaries to Start, Strengthen or End Any Relationship. It offers practical advice on how to move forward when relationships with family members, romantic partners or friends become difficult.

The book features a flowchart that Davis calls “The Relationship Decision Tree.” It consists of questions that Davis asks clients when their loved ones are behaving in a way that bothers them. It helps them “make decisions about whether to lean into this relationship or disengage,” she says.

Davis, author of the best-selling book How to Keep House While Drowning, talks through a few questions adapted from her framework.

Why is this behavior objectionable to you? 

This question can help you pinpoint exactly what’s “bothering you about a person you love,” Davis says, because often there are many reasons. Parsing through the “why” can help you decide how to proceed.

Let’s say your roommate isn’t doing their chores. Ask yourself what annoys you specifically about that behavior, Davis says. Is it just something you don’t like, or is it actually hurtful or harmful?

Are they willing to change? 

Once you start digging deeper, you might find that those dirty dishes in the sink “actually directly impacts me negatively,” Davis says. Maybe they’re starting to attract bugs.

Your next move is to have a conversation with your roommate. Are they willing to change their behavior? They may not do things exactly your way, so work on a solution together. Maybe you strike a deal where they cook and you clean, or they commit to doing the dishes before the end of the night.

Life Kit, This 5-step method can quickly get a messy house back in order

Does staying in this relationship violate my values?

Your most important values are your physical safety, your psychological safety and the physical and psychological safety of minor children, Davis says. “If I cannot meet those responsibilities, then it’s against my values to continue in this relationship.”

You may have other core values as well, like the safety of a dependent parent or sibling, or the keeping of your sobriety.

Would leaving this relationship violate my values? 

What happens if staying in the relationship doesn’t violate your values, but you still don’t want to maintain the relationship?

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: When to step back from a difficult relationship : NPR

#2025 #Behavior #Change #Education #Health #KCDavis #Libraries #Library #LifeKit #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Relationships #Science #StepBack #StrainedRelationship #UnitedStates #values #WhoDeservesYourLove

One of music’s best kept secrets celebrates 100 years, quietly – NPR

Music

One of music’s best kept secrets celebrates 100 years, quietly

The story of Coolidge Auditorium, at the Library of Congress, is one of American ingenuity, cultural integrity and a century of free concerts.

October 25, 20258:18 AM ET, Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

Tom Huizenga 6-Minute Listen Transcript

The year is 1925. The Great Gatsby is published, the jazz age is swinging, and on October 28th, a new concert hall opens at an unlikely spot — the Library of Congress, in Washington D.C. If only its cream-colored walls could talk. For 100 years, performers of all stripes have graced the Library stage, from classical music luminaries like Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky to Stevie Wonder, Audra McDonald and Max Roach. Today, it remains one of the capitol city’s most beautiful, best sounding and perhaps best kept secrets.

The idea for a concert hall at the Library of Congress did not stem from congress. It came from philanthropist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge — and one bespoke piece of bipartisan legislation. “She was indefatigable and intrepid,” says Anne McLean, senior producer for concerts at the Library, “a remarkable woman, six feet tall, a brilliant pianist.” McLean is sitting with me on the stage, overlooking the empty auditorium. To mark the centennial, celebratory concerts and commissions have been heard in the hall all year. But not now. The government shutdown has forced the hall to close its doors, and unless a deal is reached before Tuesday, it’ll be closed on the anniversary itself.

Coolidge was born into a wealthy Chicago family in 1864. She studied music, traveled abroad, married a Harvard-trained orthopedic surgeon and, in 1924, came to Washington to establish a foothold in the nation’s capitol. She approached Carl Engel, the Library’s music chief, about the possibility of adding a small concert hall to the Library’s voluptuous — and voluminous — Thomas Jefferson building, designed after the Paris opera house and completed in 1897. You can’t see the hall from the outside, as it’s tucked inside the building’s Northwest Courtyard.

Eager to get started, Coolidge wrote a check for $60,000 to the Librarian of Congress, Herbert Putnam, on Nov. 12, 1924. And yet there was no legal mechanism in place for a civilian to make such a monetary gift to the U.S. government. Congress worked quickly, taking only a little over a month to pass a bill allowing such a contribution.

It took less than six months to build the hall itself — the intimate, 485-seat Coolidge Auditorium, with its warm precise acoustics. “There are a lot of secrets to it,” McLean says. “The back wall of the auditorium is slightly shaved to be concave and extremely responsive to string sound. Underneath the stage is hollow. But that hollowness is a factor, as is the cork floor, which was very unusual for its time.” McLean says the sound blossoms in the hall. Keen to spread the sound far and wide, Coolidge even had the building wired for the relatively new medium of radio. She added to her initial sum to establish a fund for the commissioning of new music. Engel dubbed her “The Fairy-God-Mother of Music.”

Coolidge was well-connected and fiercely advocated for music. In 1944, she took to the local Washington airwaves with another bold idea. “I could wish for music, the same governmental protection that is given to hygiene, education or public welfare,” she said over WTOP. “How wonderful, if we could have in the cabinet, a secretary of fine arts.”

Coolidge never got her wish, but what she had already created was arguably more important — a living, breathing concert hall that serves as a cultural beacon — preserving history and cultivating new music through commissions.

Perhaps the most famous commission became one of America’s most iconic pieces of music. Aaron Copland‘s ballet Appalachian Spring, written for dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, received its world premiere at Coolidge Auditorium on Oct. 30, 1944. “I think people knew what they were hearing,” McLean says. The ballet would win the Pulitzer prize for music the following year, along with the New York Music Critics Circle Award. It’s hard to imagine a full ballet produced on Coolidge’s modestly-sized stage.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: One of music’s best kept secrets celebrates 100 years, quietly : NPR

#100Years #AaronCopland #CoolidgeAuditorium #Culture #FreeConcerts #Ingenuity #LibraryOfCongress #MarthaGraham #Music #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #TomHuizenga #WeekendEdition

How Trump Upended 60 Years of Civil Rights – The New York Times

How Trump Upended 60 Years of Civil Rights

The White House’s assault on federal protections may bring about a new era of unchecked discrimination.

Get the Transcript: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/podcasts/trump-civil-rights-dei.html?showTranscript=1

Continue/Read Original Article Here: How Trump Upended 60 Years of Civil Rights – The New York Times

#2025 #America #AmericansRights #Books #CivilRights #CNN #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #NationalPublicRadio #Opinion #Politics #Reading #Resistance #RuleOfLaw #Science #Technology #TheNewYorkTimes #Trump #TrumpAdministration #TrumpDestroys #USConstitution #UnitedStates #VotingRightsAct #YouTube

"Too many people are trying to tear us apart, and we need to find new ways to come together. We're all Americans, and we're all patriotic. There is no 'us and them' – that's not who we are, nor is it what we should be. It's all of us. We're in this together, and it is my hope that we can embrace music as a way of celebrating and uniting each and every one of us.”—Kenny Loggins
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/20/nx-s1-5580328/kenny-loggins-donald-trump-ai-video
#KennyLoggins #musician #NationalPublicRadio #NPR