Putin and Xi hail their friendship and growing energy trade at their meeting in Beijing
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed their strategic ties and growing energy trade as they met in Beijing Wednesday only days after a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to China.Putin and Xi oversaw the signing of more than 40 cooperation agreements in areas such as trade, technology and media exchanges. They stressed their growing trade, particularly in oil and natural gas, and declared themselves aligned on international relations.
The countries’ ties have reached “the highest level in history,” Xi said after the signing ceremony, speaking to members of the delegations and journalists. The two sides also agreed to extend a friendship treaty first signed in 2001.
and then, we have the sad fact that not only is Trump causing us to get weaker (because of his incompetence), but the weakness is also coming from his hand-picked people for their cabinet positions, such as Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel.
Hegseth Clashes with Congressmembers Who Accuse Him of Lying and Incompetence over Iran
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faces a second day of questioning under oath on Capitol Hill today, where he’s due to testify to a Senate committee about the Pentagon’s record-shattering $1.5 trillion budget request.Hegseth also faced questions about the Pentagon’s targeting of civilian boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which U.S. Southern Command says has killed nearly 200 people. The Pentagon has said, without providing evidence, that the boats were all carrying drugs.
The FBI Director Is MIA
Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.On Friday, April 10, as FBI Director Kash Patel was preparing to leave work for the weekend, he struggled to log on to an internal computer system. He quickly became convinced that he had been locked out, and he panicked, frantically calling aides and allies to announce that he had been fired by the White House, according to nine people familiar with his outreach. Two of these people described his behavior as a “freak-out.”
Patel oversees an agency that employs roughly 38,000 people, including many who are trained to investigate and verify information that can be presented under oath in a court of law. News of his emotional outburst ricocheted through the bureau, prompting chatter among officials and, in some corners of the building, expressions of relief. The White House fielded calls from the bureau and from members of Congress asking who was now in charge of the FBI.
And here is SNL's take on Hegseth and Patel