hookaleft
hookaleft's JournalU.S. says Cuba is prohibited from taking Russian oil as two tankers head to island
Source: CNBC
The U.S. Treasury Department has said Cuba won’t be allowed to take delivery of Russian crude, even as the fuel-starved island appears poised to receive two tankers carrying oil and gas.
In a general license published Thursday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Cuba to a list of countries that would be blocked from transactions involving the sale, delivery or offloading of crude or petroleum products that originate from Russia.
The U.S. had temporarily authorized the purchase of Russian oil stranded at sea last week, as part of an effort to stabilize energy markets during the U.S. and Israeli-led war on Iran. The short-term measure suspended sanctions that were first imposed on Moscow following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The update comes as maritime intelligence providers have been tracking two tankers carrying Russian oil and gas heading toward Cuba.
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Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/20/cuba-crisis-fuel-tankers-russia-oil-gas-energy-us-trump.html
I heard that Pam Bondi notified Congress that
she is going to appear behind closed doors with them tomorrow at 5PM. She let them know after learning about her subpoena to appear in front of them on April 14. I wonder what is going on?
I heard it from listening to Legal AF
Chief Justice John Roberts warns personal attacks on judges have 'got to stop
Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday said that personal criticism of judges is dangerous and urged prominent figures to dial down the rhetoric just days after President Donald Trump launched his most recent broadside against the Supreme Court.
Roberts, the head of the federal judiciary, said in public remarks at Rice University in Houston that critiques of the substance of Supreme Court rulings are part of the job but that some more pointed comments have gone too far. He did not mention Trump specifically.
"The problem sometimes is that the criticism can move from a focus on legal analysis to personalities. And you see from all over, I mean, not just any one political perspective on it, that it's more directed in a personal way, and that, frankly, can be actually quite dangerous," Roberts said.
"Personally directed hostility is dangerous and has got to stop," he added.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/chief-justice-john-roberts-warns-personal-attacks-judges-got-stop-rcna263927
Oil Begins Flowing Through California Pipeline Under Trump Order
Oil had not flowed through the pipeline since a 2015 rupture caused an environmental disaster on California’s Central Coast. It sets up a new fight between the Trump administration and state officials.
Oil has begun flowing through a pipeline near Santa Barbara, Calif., for the first time in more than a decade after the Trump administration ordered offshore production to resume there despite strong objections from California officials.
The pipeline had been shut down since 2015, when a rupture caused one of the worst oil spills in state history, releasing more than 100,000 gallons of oil onto California’s Central Coast and covering birds and beaches in tar.
The new owner of the pipeline, Sable Offshore, announced on Monday that it had resumed oil production on Saturday at the direction of Energy Secretary Chris Wright and after Mr. Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, which the Trump administration said superseded state laws.
snip> https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/us/santa-barbara-oil-pipeline-trump.html
UK security adviser attended US-Iran talks and judged deal was within reach
Exclusive: Jonathan Powell thought Tehran’s ‘surprising’ offer on its nuclear programme could prevent rush to war, sources say
Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian can reveal.
Powell thought progress had been made in Geneva in late February and that the deal proposed by Iran was “surprising”, according to sources.
Two days after the talks ended, and after a date had been agreed for a further round of technical talks in Vienna, the US and Israel launched the attack on Iran.
Powell’s presence at the talks, and his close knowledge of how they were progressing, was confirmed by three sources.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/17/uk-security-adviser-attended-us-iran-talks-and-judged-deal-was-within-reach
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Trump Administration Moves to Allow Intelligence Agencies Easier Access to Law Enforcement Files
The Trump administration is loosening restrictions on the sharing of law enforcement information with the CIA and other intelligence agencies, officials said, overriding controls that have been in place for decades to protect the privacy of U.S. citizens.
Government officials said the changes could give the intelligence agencies access to a database containing hundreds of millions of documents — from FBI case files and banking records to criminal investigations of labor unions — that touch on the activities of law-abiding Americans.
Administration officials said they are providing the intelligence agencies with more information from investigations by the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to combat drug gangs and other transnational criminal groups that the administration has classified as terrorists.
But they have taken these steps with almost no public acknowledgement or notification to Congress. Inside the government, officials said, the process has been marked by a similar lack of transparency, with scant high-level discussion and little debate among government lawyers.
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https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-cia-law-enforcement-records-privacy-intelligence-community
Breaking: Netflix backs out of bid for Warner Bros
Netflix said on Thursday that it had backed away from its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, a stunning development that paves the way for the storied Hollywood media giant to end up under the control of a rival bidder, the technology heir David Ellison.
Netflix said that it would not raise its offer to counter a higher bid made earlier this week by Mr. Ellison’s company, Paramount Skydance, adding in a statement that “the deal is no longer financially attractive.”
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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/business/warner-bros-discovery-paramount-deal-netflix.html?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=gnews&utm_campaign=CDAQi5Wps4rD3udyGKGI45SKwrb9tAEqDwgAKgcICjCO64oDMJavPA&utm_content=rundown&gaa_at=la&gaa_n=AWEtsqemZMTYB2YR-H6fbt-O6aeZvIonuriqz5I3fapjD7jGHwLgzNKeZjHPMPWd3vWRRnKDXFQqs6089B3b&gaa_ts=69a0e43b&gaa_sig=bTgp7eGdfTzYhFVmLi9-MxGGZX5ACrLx5Gz2pUtHYuIOYnoSucFCylzTknAoMUPzfUADRdCP8IeUbgC00zXk8g%3D%3D
'We got hooked': arrests on US army base spark fear of military coordination with ICE
Francisco Galicia paced his cell at Fort Hunter Liggett, a vast army base 160 miles south of San Francisco, on a Friday evening in January. His mind raced with thoughts of his five daughters waiting for him at home.
Over several hours, immigration agents brought six more men into the frigid, cement-walled cell. As the men shared eerily similar stories of their arrests, Galicia realized they had all driven straight into a trap.
All seven had been driving home from fishing at a popular county lake when an official in a white truck had pulled them over along the same stretch of Jolon Road, a public, two-lane road that, unbeknown to Galicia, cuts through a corner of the military installation.
The traffic stops appeared routine at first: a light out, an open gas cap, a trunk door ajar, driving over the line. But then the officer asked for a social security number. In each case, when the men didn’t give a number, immigration agents arrived within minutes to make arrests, then drove the men to a detention site on the base where they were held overnight before being transferred to an immigration facility, Galicia said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/24/us-army-base-arrests-ice-military
Trump officials to release only some Epstein files as midnight deadline looms
Source: BBC
The US justice department says it will begin releasing long-awaited files related to Jeffrey Epstein as mandated by a new law, though not all documents would be made public on Friday.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department expects to publish "several hundred thousand pages" initially, followed by more over the coming weeks.
The Friday deadline was mandated by a bill that got near-unanimous support in Congress, and was later signed into law by President Donald Trump, after he reversed his earlier opposition to its release.
The files relate to investigations into the disgraced late sex offender, but it's likely that much of the content will be heavily redacted.
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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg9plrkl8no
I knew it.
Exclusive: US to launch new phase of Venezuela operations, sources say
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov 22 (Reuters) - The United States is poised to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations in the coming days, four U.S. officials told Reuters, as the Trump administration escalates pressure on President Nicolas Maduro's government.
Reuters was not able to establish the exact timing or scope of the new operations, nor whether U.S. President Donald Trump had made a final decision to act. Reports of looming action have proliferated in recent weeks as the U.S. military has deployed forces to the Caribbean amid worsening relations with Venezuela.
Two of the U.S. officials said covert operations would likely be the first part of the new action against Maduro. All four officials quoted in this article spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of impending action by the United States.
The Pentagon referred questions to the White House. The CIA declined to comment.
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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-launch-new-phase-venezuela-operations-sources-say-2025-11-22/
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