Trump pardons convicted drug trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández
After spending months saying that he wants to protect the U.S. from drug smugglers, Donald Trump has given a presidential pardon to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted last year in a U.S. court of drug smuggling charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison. He had been in a federal prison in West Virginia and now has been released. In addition to the prison sentence, he was fined $8 million. Hernández was convicted of conspiring with drug cartels during his tenure as president as they moved more than 400 tons of cocaine through Honduras toward the United States. Hernández received millions of dollars in bribes. Trump ally Roger Stone has been among those pushing for Trump to pardon him.
Storm hits East Coast
Severe winter weather continues to unleash travel chaos across the U.S., causing widespread flight delays and road accidents. The storm is expected to strengthen rapidly into a bomb cyclone as it tracks up the East Coast today. Air travel was hit especially hard on Monday, with Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport reporting the most disruptions. Over 1,500 flights were delayed and more than 300 were canceled. Road conditions are also deteriorating in multiple states. Police in Missouri received numerous calls about accidents amid heavy snow and slick roads. Farther east, around a quarter-inch of ice could glaze parts of North Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia in the coming hours.
Swamp Sweep starts
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is preparing to deploy 250 agents in Louisiana this month as part of an immigration operation called “Swamp Sweep.” Some businesses in New Orleans have already closed so that their employees do not have to show up for work and risk being taken away by ICE agents staging raids on those businesses. On Monday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said that she is recommending a “full travel ban” on “every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.” When asked which countries would be included in the potential ban, DHS said in an email, “We will be announcing the list soon.” Despite claims such as made by Noem, most people arrested by ICE have no criminal record and some are U.S. citizens.
White House blames admiral for second strike on boat
The White House is blaming Vice Admiral Frank Bradley for ordering the second strike that killed survivors of a U.S. military attack on a boat in the Caribbean in September, even though it was Defense Secretary Hegseth who gave him the order to kill any survivors, according to The Washington Post. Killing survivors is a war crime if there’s a war in progress and murder if there is no war. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read a carefully worded statement that explained that Bradley was using his authority to order the second strike while failing to mention that it was Hegseth who had given Bradley the authority to do so in a verbal order as the Post reported. Hegseth, meanwhile, admitted that he watched the attack in question in real time through a video feed and therefore knew exactly what was unfolding.
Asia floods prove deadly
More than 1,200 people have been killed by flooding and landslides caused by heavy rainfall in parts of Asia. The cyclone-fueled downpours have battered Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia in recent days. Sri Lanka was struck by a separate storm, leaving some areas submerged and creating the most difficult rescue operation the country has ever seen, according to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Hundreds more are still missing as crews work to airlift patients and fly critical supplies, including oxygen tanks, to submerged areas.
Trump kills World AIDS Day commemoration
The U.S. did not commemorate World AIDS Day this week, for the first time since 1988. The Dec. 1 commemoration was canceled this year by the Trump administration. The day is intended to raise awareness of efforts to fight HIV/AIDS and remember the lives lost to the disease. The Trump administration has ended the distribution of medicines that have saved the lives of millions of people afflicted with AIDS. The U.S. effort known as PEPFAR was launched by Republican President George W. Bush in 2003. The Trump administration has been cutting funding for U.S. foreign aid, especially programs that provide food and medicine for poverty stricken parts of the world.
