Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This week on the NPR Politics Podcast, Iran, Greenland, Venezuela. How does all of that square up with America first?
It's not that Trump's ideology changed. Trump has really just gotten better at using the levers of power and he's just doing a lot more.
Listen to the NPR Politics Podcast every weekday afternoon on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Immigration officers are demanding people show identification and questioning them about their citizenship during President Trump's immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin says law enforcement are using the proper procedures.
We have incredibly targeted immigration enforcement operations. So what's happening there is there is reasonable suspicion. If somebody is in the vicinity of this operation, of this target, then they could be asked for their identification.
NPR has witnessed multiple instances where federal agents questioned people about their immigration status. Minnesota is suing the Trump administration over the crackdown, arguing agents are violating people's First Amendment rights, racial profiling, and making unconstitutional stops and arrests.
Six Senate Democrats are introducing a bill that would bar presidents from naming their own political appointees to serve as independent watchdogs. NPR's Kerry Johnson reports the move follows the firing of several inspectors general last year.
President Trump dismissed watchdogs at more than a dozen federal agencies shortly after he returned to the White House last year. Those inspectors general are responsible for policing waste, fraud and abuse and for investigating the claims of whistleblowers. They're only supposed to be fired for cause.
But some lawmakers and nonprofit groups say Trump overrode that law and replaced the IGs with some of his own loyalists. Now, Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, and several others are backing a new bill that would prohibit any president from nominating their own political appointees to serve in those roles. So far, the bill has no Republican sponsors.
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Chapter 2: What are the latest immigration policies under President Trump?
Local media reported South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said Iran must sit the exercises out over concern about antagonizing the U.S. However, Iran did take part in the drills, and the government is now investigating why the president's orders were ignored. Iranian vessels have been in South Africa as part of a maritime exercise that also includes Russian and Chinese ships.
The countries are all members of the BRICS group of developing economies. The U.S. embassy on Thursday accused South Africa of, quote, cozying up to a state sponsor of terrorism. It said Iran's participation in the exercises was especially egregious given Tehran's deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters this week.
South Africa's presidency also released a statement condemning the crackdown on protesters in Iran. Kate Bartlett, NPR News, Johannesburg.
Stocks edged a bit lower on Wall Street today. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both slipped a fraction. This is NPR News. A federal judge has ruled that work on a Virginia offshore wind project can resume. It's the third project this week to successfully challenge the Trump administration in court.
The administration announced last month it was suspending leases on five East Coast offshore wind projects because of national security concerns. Federal judges ruled this week that construction could also resume on a wind farm for New York and another for Rhode Island and Connecticut. South Carolina health officials reported 124 new measles cases today.
The state has now reported more than 550 cases in a fast-growing outbreak that began in October. NPR's Maria Godoy has more.
The epicenter of the outbreak is in Spartanburg County, which is in the northwest part of South Carolina. Most of the cases are kids and teens who are unvaccinated. Officials say exposures have happened in lots of public places, including schools, churches, restaurants, and healthcare settings.
The vaccination rate in Spartanburg County is 90%, which is under the 95% threshold considered necessary to prevent measles outbreaks. The county also has a relatively high rate of non-medical exemptions to school vaccination requirements. These kinds of exemptions have been growing in the majority of U.S. counties, a trend that's accelerated in the last few years. Maria Godoy, NPR News.
OpenAI plans to introduce ads for ChatGPT users who aren't paying for the premium version. The company announced that it will start testing ads in the coming weeks. OpenAI has more than 800 million users, most of whom use it for free. This is NPR News from Washington.
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