Trump shares racist video depicting Obamas as apes
Donald Trump shared a racist video on his social media platform Thursday night that depicted former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes in a jungle. Trump previously had made racist posts on the internet, including one against President Obama and one against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The latest post showing President Obama and his wife as apes promotes Trump’s lies that he and not President Biden won the 2020 election. In a statement to CNN today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the outrage being expressed at what Trump did “fake outrage.” The office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the post by Trump as “Disgusting behavior by the president. Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”
Search for Nancy Guthrie continues
The search for Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie, has entered its sixth day after she was abducted from her Arizona home. Investigators beleive she still is alive, but have not named any suspects in the case. The FBI, now working alongside local authorities, announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to her recovery. Nancy Guthrie’s son, Camron, issued a plea Thursday to anyone who may be holding her captive, saying, “We are waiting for contact.” Meanwhile, several media outlets have received ransom notes demanding millions of dollars in bitcoin for Guthrie’s return. Authorities are working to determine whether the notes are legitimate.
TrumpRX debuts but has few drugs and doesn’t take prescriptions
The Trump administration’s prescription drug platform, TrumpRX.gov, is now live but it only lists a handful of drugs and doesn’t allow people to buy drugs directly from the website. According to a question and answer section of the website, there is a complex procedure for purchasing prescription drugs at the discounts supposedly available through the website. Rather it tells people to contact drug manufacturers or have their pharmacists try to get the discounts. Trump said of TrumpRx, “You’re going to see numbers that you’re not going to believe.” It remains unclear if the platform will deliver any real savings based on what the website showed as of Feb. 6.
Republicans reject ICE reforms
The White House said President Trump considers some of the demands by Democrats for reforms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as “non-starters.” Democrats said they will not back a full-year spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security if “dramatic changes” aren’t made to ICE, drawing a firm line as funding for the agency is set to expire next Friday. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has rejected two key Democratic demands: banning agents from wearing face masks and requiring judicial search warrants for immigration enforcement operations. Trump’s announced reduction in the number of his agents in Minneapolis so far has resulted in no change in what’s been going on in that city, according to some residents and local officials.
U.S. continues attacking boats
The U.S. military conducted a strike against another boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, killing two people, according to U.S. Southern Command. At least 119 people have been killed since September in strikes on boats in international waters by the U.S. The Trump administration says it is part of a campaign aimed at curbing narcotics trafficking but so far has produced no evidence of the boats being sunk and people killed as being involved in narcotics trafficking or even having drugs on board.
Frigid conditions in the East, warmth in the West
Parts of the West are seeing late-springlike warmth, with temperatures 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above average, while parts of the East are set to experience their coldest temperatures so far this season this weekend. In the warm category is Great Falls, Montana, for example. Residents there are seeing five straight days with a high temperature exceeding 60 degrees Fahrenheit this week, which would be the warmest five-day stretch on record for the month of February. In Los Angeles, the temperature on Wednesday reached a record high of 88 degrees, which beats their typical highs in July and August. The cold East, warm West pattern comes courtesy of the contortions of the jet stream, and it is noteworthy for being so pronounced and enduring. Washington, D.C., for example, saw its sixth longest stretch of consecutive hours below freezing from Jan. 24 to Feb. 2. At one point Juneau, Alaska, was warmer than central Florida.
