United States | News & Politics

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is set to order a vast arsenal of chemical grenades, sprays, projectiles, and other weapons, according to procurement materials reviewed by The Intercept. The purchase follows months of abuse of these very munitions on American streets.

CBP will spend up to $50 million on what it refers to as “Less Lethal Specialty Munitions,” a euphemism for weapons intended to merely hurt or disable a target rather than killing them. The agency is looking for a vendor who can supply vast quantities of 123 different types of munitions across 10 different categories, the contracting document says.

“The sheer quantity and the myriad different weapons is the most remarkable thing to me,” Rohini Haar, an emergency physician and researcher of less lethal ordnance told The Intercept. “When there’s so many different kinds, it makes you question, tactically, what’s the goal there?”

The purpose: oil and gas extraction for export.

US President Donald Trump has told the "crazy bastards" in Iran to open the "fuckin' Strait" of Hormuz or face "hell" in an expletive-laden Truth Social rant.

He signed off the post with "Praise be to Allah".

Officials detained Salah Sarsour, the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, saying he had been convicted of crimes by Israel and had lied on a green card application in the 1990s.

April 2, 2026

The president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents this week after the authorities said he had been convicted of crimes by Israel more than three decades ago and had lied on his American green card application.

The president, Salah Sarsour, 53, has led the group, which is the largest Islamic organization in Wisconsin, for five years. In a statement on Thursday, the group said that he was a legal permanent resident who had lived in the United States for more than three decades.

US supreme court justice Samuel Alito was reportedly taken to a hospital after becoming sick at a Federalist Society dinner in Philadelphia in March, further fueling speculation that Donald Trump could have more chances to shape the land’s highest court through new appointments.

A CNN report said Alito was checked by medical staff and given fluids due to dehydration. He later returned to his home in Virginia that same night with his security detail. In the weeks since, Alito has resumed his duties, including participating in oral arguments.

The supreme court’s public information officer, Patricia McCabe, confirmed the incident and shared a statement with the Guardian that said, “On the evening of Friday, [20 March], Justice Alito felt ill during an event in Philadelphia. Out of an abundance of caution, he agreed with his security detail’s recommendation to see a physician before the three-hour drive home.”

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday submitted a budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2027 seeking $1.5 trillion in defense spending, a roughly 44% increase over 2026 levels, while proposing a 10% reduction in non-defense discretionary spending totaling $73 billion in cuts.

The proposed defense budget includes funding for Trump's Golden Dome missile defense system, a pay raise of 5% to 7% for military personnel and $65.8 billion for 34 new combat and support ships. The White House said the request "advances President Trump's delivery of peace through strength."

According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota warmed by 3 degrees Fahrenheit between 1895 and 2020, and "the most dramatic changes have come in the past several decades."

"Although climate conditions will vary from year to year, these increases are expected to continue through the 21st century," the DNR said.

This is part of a broad closure of US Forest Service research stations in order to prevent research on the link between a warmer world and more wildfires.

Just so we all understand, this is the point we are at. The US military is undergoing a competency collapse imposed from the top down.

The break may only be temporary and would give the new DHS secretary time to review policies, Homeland Security officials say.