Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The kind of attack that disrupts global food supply chains: “As families strolled along a promenade in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa recently, a lone cargo ship sailed in the distance. Suddenly, a drone dropped out of the clear blue sky and slammed into the vessel, sending smoke billowing across the horizon. The attack, which I witnessed in late July, was part of a Russian campaign targeting cargo vessels that has halted nearly all shipping in and out of Odesa, Ukraine’s most crucial link to the world economy.”
* Among Donald Trump’s most outlandish recent lies: “President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. has total control of the Strait of Hormuz. The reality on the water tells a different story. Ship-tracking data shows that just 14 vessels on Tuesday crossed a waterway that routinely handled more than 130 a day before the war. Eleven of those ships took the route administered by Iran.”
* Speaking of Iran, this should get the White House’s attention: “Iran is set to join the BRICS New Development Bank, the country’s central bank chief said Thursday, as Tehran seeks to shore up its economic alliances almost six months into its war with the U.S. and Israel.”
* If this report is correct, it’s a doozy: “The mysterious strikes targeting multiple Ecuadorian fishing boats near the Galápagos Islands this year were carried out as part of a covert CIA program, The Washington Post has learned.”
* Speaking of the CIA: “U.S. intelligence officials were skeptical of an Iranian assassination threat against President Donald Trump that was relayed by Israel and prompted an extraordinary clandestine maneuver that saw him secretly fly out of Turkey in an alternate military aircraft, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence said.”
* The list of countries the Trump administration has bombed appears likely to grow: “New Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has asked the Trump administration to bring its deadly military campaign against drug trafficking groups to his country, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.”
* The need for an investigation seems obvious: “A federal agent on Monday brandished a gun at a Virginia woman who had shouted at him, according to videos of the encounter, the latest in a string of clashes between immigration agents and drivers. The woman, Carolina Molina, 36, said in an interview that around 3 p.m. on Monday, several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surrounded her car in a shopping center in Falls Church, Va., after she had yelled at them as they detained people on a sidewalk nearby.”
* A lawsuit on a gambit that I’ve been covering quite a bit lately: “President Donald Trump is being sued over a new service from his social media platform, Truth Social, that charges customers up to $100,000 for early notifications to his posts, with plaintiffs arguing ‘the scheme is extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional.’”
* The administration’s diplomats could stand to be more diplomatic: “More than 60,000 Canadians are backing an effort to remove U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra from the country, accusing him of undermining relations between the neighboring countries and interfering in Canadian politics. The online petition calls on Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to declare Hoekstra ‘persona non grata’ and seeks his removal as President Trump’s ambassador to Canada.”
See you tomorrow.
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