Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey there, it's Shamita. I've got a quick request for you. If Apple News Today is an essential part of your morning routine, follow the show in Apple Podcasts. And if you have another 30 seconds, leave us a rating and a review too. It helps other people find our show and it helps us know what you like about it. Thanks. Good morning. It's Thursday, December 11th. I'm Shamita Basu.
This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the Republican state pushing back on Trump, why the U.S. won't make its roads safer, and the trend that's causing major headaches at In-N-Out Burger. But first, to yesterday's serious escalation of U.S. military pressure on Venezuela.
We've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela. Large tanker, very large. Largest one ever seized, actually. And other things are happening.
The White House later released a video of troops dropping from a helicopter onto the tanker, reportedly called the Skipper, and taking control. This large-scale operation marks a new chapter in President Trump's operations in the Caribbean. Bloomberg State Department reporter Eric Martin was first to the story and explained for us the significance.
This is an extraordinary event that we have never seen in the Caribbean before. And what makes it extraordinary is that this seizure of this oil, this Venezuelan oil, is going to put a chill on insurers who insure these kind of cargos. And this would be really tightening the grip of the U.S., the pressure on the Maduro regime.
The administration has been building its military presence there for weeks now as it expands what it says is an operation against drug cartels. But this intervention appears to be much broader, targeting the country's economic lifeblood.
Oil is really one of the main, if not the only thing that Venezuela really sells. And it's the main revenue generator for this economy. We've seen this economy shrink drastically in the last several years because of the sanctions and because of the difficulty for Venezuela to find a market for its oil.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the tanker was involved in an illicit network and that it was transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. Bloomberg and elsewhere quoted sources suggesting the shipment itself was heading for Cuba, which depends on Venezuela to sustain power.
US officials have long suspected the Maduro regime of selling sanctioned crude oil through Cuba illegally in order to benefit from the profits and also making the sales harder to trace. So in the view of US officials, this was one way that they were able to carry out corruption was by taking oil to Cuba and selling it on the black market.
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Chapter 2: Why did the U.S. seize an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast?
And I don't think we've articulated that goal in a way that passes muster with the public, with the Congress, and Lord knows with the world.
Meanwhile, Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said their inquiry into the strikes that killed two shipwrecked survivors was done and that he had the information he needed. As for the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, he offered a different diplomatic tack, singing.
At a rally on Wednesday in what he described as a message for Americans wanting peace, Maduro opted for a moment of acapella.
Don't worry, be happy. La la la la la la. Just peace, not war.
Taking some liberty with the melody there, but at the end he said, just peace, not war, in case you missed that. It's not clear whether Maduro already knew about the oil tank seizure at that point, but the language from his government has since hardened, with his interior minister calling the U.S. murderers and thieves.
It's been a year of intense political battles to redraw congressional maps in time for the midterms, first kicked off by Texas Republicans. But for at least one state, things haven't gone exactly as President Trump hoped. Today, the Indiana Senate is expected to vote on a new map that could potentially give Republicans two more seats in the U.S. House.
The goal and the explicit ask from the White House is for Indiana to draw a map that's nine Republican-favorite districts and zero Democratic-favorite districts.
Kayla Dwyer is the statehouse reporter for the Indianapolis Star.
The way they achieve that is by carving up the two Democratic districts we have now are very urban areas. And Up near Gary, the Chicago suburbs, that is split in half and paired up with more conservative areas. And Indianapolis, which is the most heavily urban blue area, is carved up into four new districts.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of the U.S. military's actions in Venezuela?
The fact that we are even meeting seems to be in response to the violent threats.
Dwyer told us the statehouse prides itself on civility. But during this process, a number of Indiana Republicans have received threats of violence for voicing dissent. Greg Walker, a state senator from the same town as former Vice President Mike Pence, was one of those targeted.
On Monday, he gave a speech in front of his colleagues opposing the measure, visibly choking up at times, before it ultimately passed out of committee.
I will not let Indiana or any state become subject to the threat of political violence in order to influence legislative product.
Meanwhile, public sentiment has been mixed. Hundreds of people showed up to the statehouse in Indianapolis, mostly to voice their concerns about the bill. Though Indianapolis is a deep red state, Trump carried it by 19 percentage points in the 2024 election. Redistricting seems to be a thornier issue.
Polling alone shows that the majority of Hoosiers don't like this, even among Republicans. Support for Trump is still very, very strong here. You know, 90 percent of polled Republicans will say they love the president, but that does not translate into support for redistricting.
Trump has called out individual lawmakers and threatened to endorse challengers if they don't back his efforts. But in at least one case, his connection to the bill has made things worse. One state senator whose daughter has Down syndrome pulled his support after Trump used an offensive slur. Nationwide, redistricting debates rumble on.
Lawmakers in Missouri and North Carolina have targeted Democratic seats with new maps. And in California, where a hearing on the legality of a new voter-approved map that could result in five more Democratic seats will take place next week. The U.S. is something of a global outlier when it comes to traffic deaths.
In most developed countries, fatalities have dropped and the roads have gotten safer. But here, the trend has been going in the opposite direction. The Washington Post has been looking at one idea, Vision Zero, that some cities were pinning their hopes on to reverse the trend. Rachel Weiner and her colleagues have the story.
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