Politics

Meeting with Congress, Zelensky asks for more jets and a no-fly zone.

Published

3 years ago

March 7, 2022

Meeting with Congress, Zelensky asks for more jets and a no-fly zone.

WASHINGTON — President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine spoke with greater than 300 members of Congress on Saturday, imploring them to ban the importation of Russian oil and to ship extra jets to his nation, in response to lawmakers on the decision.

The assembly, conducted via Zoom, was the primary time Mr. Zelensky had addressed each homes of Congress since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Through the name, Mr. Zelensky waxed defiant, in response to lawmakers on the decision. He advised the lawmakers it may be the final time they see him alive, echoing feedback he made final month on a name with European Union leaders.

Mr. Zelensky reiterated a listing of his long-sought after calls for, together with the imposition of a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Western governments have rebuffed the concept as all however inconceivable, citing the danger of direct battle between NATO and Russian forces.

“He’s standing robust, however pleaded for extra assist,” Consultant Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, mentioned of Mr. Zelensky. “Planes, oil embargo, continued navy support.”

Mr. Zelensky advised lawmakers {that a} ban on Russian oil can be “much more highly effective” than eradicating some Russian banks from the SWIFT monetary messaging system, in response to Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska. This previous week, Republicans and Democrats ratcheted up strain on the White Home to ban the importation of Russian vitality merchandise, despite the fact that consultants have mentioned such a transfer can be largely symbolic.

Lawmakers have additionally been urging the administration to ship extra navy tools to arm the Ukrainians, even after Mr. Biden final weekend licensed the cargo of a $350 million package deal of weapons to the nation, a package deal that represented the most important single licensed switch of arms from U.S. navy warehouses to a different nation.

On Saturday, Mr. Zelensky careworn the necessity for extra planes and drones within the absence of a NATO-led no-fly zone, lawmakers on the decision mentioned. His plea got here after Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia mentioned they might not ship fighter jets to Ukraine.

“Zelensky’s message is easy: ‘Shut the skies or give us planes,’” Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, mentioned in a press release after the assembly. “Let’s be cleareyed about our choices: A no-fly zone means sending American pilots into fight in opposition to Russian jets and air defenses — in a battle between nuclear powers that might spiral uncontrolled shortly.”

Mr. Sasse added that the US “ought to completely ship Ukrainians planes, helicopters and U.A.V.s,” or unmanned aerial autos.

In an interview after the decision, Consultant Tom Malinowski, Democrat of New Jersey, recommended that Congress shortly approve funding to reimburse Japanese European allies if they supply Ukraine with planes — or extra feasibly, he mentioned, surface-to-air missiles.

“We must be signaling to the Poles and Romanians and others that that is one thing we might wish to assist them do,” Mr. Malinowski mentioned.

Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the bulk chief, pledged to Mr. Zelensky through the name that he and Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority chief, had been working “very onerous in a bipartisan style” to shortly approve the $10 billion support package deal to Ukraine that the Biden administration requested this previous week.

“President Zelensky made a determined plea for Japanese European international locations to offer Russian-made planes to Ukraine,” Mr. Schumer mentioned in a press release. “These planes are very a lot wanted. And I’ll do all I can to assist the administration to facilitate their switch.”

On the decision, Mr. Zelensky additionally requested for Western governments to impose further sanctions on Russia. And in a tart apart, he mentioned he believed that Russia wouldn’t have invaded Ukraine if the penalties lately imposed by the Biden administration and European governments had been enacted within the fall, in response to two folks acquainted with the feedback.

Politics

Why Nevada Latinos Are Losing Faith in Government

Published

2 mins ago

October 11, 2024

Press Room

Why Nevada Latinos Are Losing Faith in Government

Las Vegas is best known for its glittering casinos along the Strip, but it is also a perennial political battleground. That is partly because it is a transient region inside a transient state — a place where people move in and out with rapid speed, adding a new crop of voters with every election cycle.

Adding to that volatility is the fact that the state’s demographics skew young, and that the number of new voter registrations keep growing. Much of that growth comes from Hispanic voters, who make up more than 20 percent of the Nevada electorate.

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For nearly two decades, Nevada Democrats have eked out wins in the state, making it an essential part of the path to win the White House. But Democrats’ popularity here has slipped recently. Latino voters frequently cite the economy and housing as their top concerns, and many say they are deeply frustrated with the party they once supported.

A Struggling Economy

No other issue is as important in Las Vegas as the economy: Spend a few minutes with any voter and they will tell you about the price of groceries or gas or rent or electricity — or all of the above.

Working-class voters are especially concerned about the cost of housing, with renters struggling to keep up with their monthly payments and increasingly seeing homeownership as out of reach.

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Livier Maxwell, a 41-year-old stay-at-home mother, moved from San Diego to Las Vegas more than a decade ago largely because she believed that the economic opportunities would be better. Here, her family can comfortably live on her husband’s salary alone.

Ms. Maxwell says she plans to enthusiastically vote for former President Donald J. Trump this year, because she believes he will help improve the economy.

“Things were better for me when he was in office, I had more money in the bank,” she said.

The pandemic particularly ravaged Las Vegas, as casinos on the Strip shut down for months in 2020 and brought the economy, dependent on tourism, to a standstill. Though the situation has dramatically improved from four years ago, when roughly 90 percent of the members of the powerful Culinary Workers Union were out of work, many workers say they haven’t recovered.

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Suldenil Alvarez-Loriga, 45, emigrated from Cuba nearly a decade ago, coming to Las Vegas because she had seen the glittering Strip in TV shows. But in recent years, Ms. Alvarez-Loriga has been shocked to see she needs to hold down two or three jobs just to pay her bills.

“I have to work all the time, with no time to see my family,” she said. “But what other choice do I have?”

For weeks now, Ms. Alvarez-Loriga has joined other members of the Culinary Workers Union, including Joleen Reyes, who works at the Cosmopolitan hotel, knocking on doors to drum up support for Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats.

“I think she understands what we are going through, and will make it better for people like us,” Ms. Reyes said.

Politics

Mayorkas grabs high-end sushi from DC Nobu directly after quick stop in Hurricane Helene-hit North Carolina

Published

42 mins ago

October 11, 2024

Press Room

Mayorkas grabs high-end sushi from DC Nobu directly after quick stop in Hurricane Helene-hit North Carolina

After a visit to Hurricane Helene-hit North Carolina on Thursday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made a stop to Washington, D.C.’s ritzy sushi restaurant Nobu.

Mayorkas visited North Carolina and delivered an update to Thursday afternoon’s White House press briefing via satellite, asserting that the federal government can handle both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton relief.

“No resources needed for Hurricane Helene response will be diverted to respond to Hurricane Milton,” said Mayorkas. “We have made it clear we will be there for every impacted community, every step of the way.”

MAYORKAS DOUBLES DOWN, HAMMERS ‘PERNICIOUS’ MISINFORMATION AMID FEMA CRITICISM

According to the DHS’ update on Thursday, search and rescue teams have rescued over 4,300 people stranded or lost due to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina so far. More than 220 people have died from Helene across the Southeast, according to current numbers.

Mayorkas announced via X that he arrived in the Tar Heel state around 10:00 am on Thursday.

Directly after his visit to storm-torn North Carolina, Secretary Mayorkas jetted back to Washington, D.C., where a photographer with the NYPost caught the DHS head whisking away a dinner order.

NC LAWMAKER ACCUSES MAYORKAS OF POLITICIZING ‘TRAGEDY FOR PERSONAL GAIN’ AFTER FEMA FUNDING ALARMS

The Post showed snaps of Mayorkas bringing out several to-go bags from the restaurant at around 5:15 pm.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, left, turns to the screen to introduce Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, on screen, who joined the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Nobu is a high-end international sushi chain, with Wagyu beef retailing for $40 per ounce. Their D.C. location has advertised a chef’s tasting menu that costs $200 per person, called “Omakase.” Nobu is best known for its association with world-famous Japanese “Iron Chef” Masaharu Morimoto.

Mayorkas has recently come under fire for going shoe shopping after Hurricane Helene had made landfall and before his visit to the Tar Heel State.

Secretary Mayorkas visited with officials on the ground in Helene-hit North Carolina on Thursday, including officials from FEMA. (@SecMayorkas via X)

Elon Musk made a post on his site X on Tuesday the 8 saying, “Maybe Mayorkas could take a break from shoe shopping to look into this,” citing reporting from Fox News’ Chad Pergram on untapped FEMA funds.

In another post on X from earlier on Thursday, Mayorkas wrote, “This morning, I spoke with @NC_Governor Roy Cooper, @SenThomTillis, and @SenTedBuddNC, and reiterated the full force of our @DHSgov and federal support to the people of North Carolina as we work to recover and rebuild. We will be there every step of the way.”

Nobu restaurants did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Jasmine is a writer at Fox News Digital and a military spouse based in New Orleans. Stories can be sent to jasmine.baehr@fox.com

Politics

Disasters like Helene and Milton test leaders. Trump fails every time

Published

1 hour ago

October 11, 2024

Press Room

Disasters like Helene and Milton test leaders. Trump fails every time

In 2019, residents of Alabama were unnecessarily alarmed after then-President Trump incorrectly said Hurricane Dorian was headed their way. However, instead of acknowledging he made a mistake, Trump questioned the National Weather Service and showed Americans a falsified weather map — which is against the law.

Opinion Columnist

LZ Granderson

LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports and navigating life in America.

Today the former president is spewing lies about relief efforts and federal resources at a time when those affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton need guidance and aid. State and local Republicans have asked him to stop, because apparently misinformation mucks up rescue and relief efforts. Of course, Trump doesn’t care so long as his lies also muck up the election.

What can I say? Same Trump, different year.

After he intentionally played down the threat of COVID-19 in those initial months of 2020, Trump said he purposefully misled the public to prevent panic. As a result, we were ill-prepared as a country. Our hospitals became quickly overrun, with people dying in school gyms and bodies held in refrigerated trucks as morgues overflowed.

The pandemic began with him lying to us about the severity of the virus. Four years later, and once again Trump’s instinct as a leader during a national crisis is to lie to the American people and complain about “The View.”

Elections have consequences. The first Trump term added $8.4 trillion to the national debt and forced rape victims to give birth after the overturning of Roe vs. Wade by Trump justices. If you flip through Project 2025, the plan conservatives put together to reshape the federal government under a second Trump administration, you’ll see that Round 2 would be much worse.

Trump would even make natural disasters worse.

The 2025 blueprint calls for chopping up and selling off large chunks of the federal government’s agency devoted to gathering data about weather — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That’s where the National Hurricane Center is housed. The expert who suggested that Trump scrap this agency for parts, Thomas F. Gilman, was a lifer in the automobile industry before joining Trump’s Commerce Department in 2019, the same year Trump redrew the route of a hurricane with a Sharpie.

Project 2025 sets out to replace tens of thousands of experienced civil servants who have relevant expertise with political appointees who are first loyal to Trump — people like Gilman. If you’re still wondering how bad that could be, consider that while the nation was bracing for Hurricane Milton — on the heels of Hurricane Helene — one of Trump’s allies, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), used her platform to tell Americans “they” control the weather.

She didn’t say who “they” are, how “they” are doing it or what House Republicans would do to stop … “they.” It sounds nonsensical because it is. But do not conflate nonsensical with inconsequential. Elections have consequences.

Greene might believe 9/11 was a hoax, but Republicans who know better placed her on the Homeland Security Committee to appease Trump. The committee’s official website states that it was formed “in 2002 in the aftermath of September 11, 2001,” and yet GOP leadership put a denier on the panel to appease someone who they know is lying about hurricane relief efforts right now. Loyalty to Trump is the only currency that matters to some of these people. Not expertise, not traditional conservative values, not integrity.

That’s how the party of Lincoln has sadly become the party that responds to national emergencies by scapegoating others: claiming “they” control the weather; “they” are eating pets; “they” are paid actors rather than traumatized survivors of a school shooting. To this day, House Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to say who won the 2020 election. Instead when reporters ask, he accuses them of hurling “gotcha questions” at him, which may be good for his relationship with Trump but doesn’t help the country in any way.

All of which brings me here: For more than 50 years, since Richard M. Nixon faced off against John F. Kennedy, televised debates have been a benchmark in presidential politics. With Trump at the center of attention, the first Republican primary debate of 2016 gave Fox the most-watched nonsports event in cable history. The second debate also brought high ratings. Trump didn’t start skipping debates in the primary until Fox News announced it would be using video of previous appearances to hold candidates accountable for their words.

That’s why he and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), oppose fact-checking during debates and interviews. Accountability is why Trump avoided debating Ambassador Nikki Haley during the 2024 primary. It’s why he got into a fight with journalists at a news conference this past summer. It’s why he’s afraid to debate Vice President Kamala Harris again.

When a businessman is accustomed to escaping consequences for his misdeeds by filing for bankruptcy as often as Trump has, I can see why he’d be uncomfortable with being held accountable.

However, a president or candidate doesn’t get to avoid accountability any more than the country can escape the consequences of an election. Trump’s lies in office did damage. His lies today are hurting people who need help. And no one should be surprised: In every crisis, Trump has shown himself to be a liar, not a leader.

@LZGranderson