First Thoughts: External Affairs

President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would move to try to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” a name he said has a “beautiful ring to it.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] It’s his latest suggestion to redraw the map of the Western Hemisphere. Trump has repeatedly referred to Canada as the “51st State,” demanded that Denmark consider ceding Greenland, and called for Panama to return the Panama Canal. Read More: Trump Is Treating the Globe Like a Monopoly Board Here’s a look at his comment and what goes into a name. Why is Trump talking about renaming the Gulf of Mexico? Since his first run for the White House in 2016, Trump has repeatedly clashed with Mexico over a number of issues, including border security and the imposition of tariffs on imported goods.

DENVER — The U. S. Justice Department is suing several large landlords for allegedly coordinating to keep Americans’ rents high by using both an algorithm to help set rents and privately sharing sensitive information with their competitors to boost profits. The lawsuit arrives as U. S. renters continue to struggle under a merciless housing market, with incomes failing to keep up with rent increases.

The highly decorated soldier who exploded a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI including ChatGPT to help plan the attack, Las Vegas police said Tuesday. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Nearly a week after 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger fatally shot himself, officials said according to writings, he didn’t intend to kill anyone else. An investigation of Livelsberger’s searches through ChatGPT indicate he was looking for information on explosive targets, the speed at which certain rounds of ammunition would travel and whether fireworks were legal in Arizona. Kevin McMahill, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, called the use of generative AI a “game-changer” and said the department was sharing information with other law enforcement agencies. “This is the first incident that I’m aware of on U.

A 77-year-old Jefferson County man who served as the mayor, police and fire chief of the tiny town of Lakeside pleaded guilty on Tuesday to embezzlement and official misconduct in a car-flipping scheme. Robert Joel Gordanier pleaded guilty to one felony and one misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to four years of probation, the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office said. Gordanier’s other charges — two counts of embezzlement, two counts of official misconduct and felony theft — were dismissed as part of the plea agreement. Gordanier also received a deferred sentence and must pay the town $26,088. Investigators accused Gordanier of buying police vehicles from other jurisdictions and selling them to his daughter, former Town Clerk Brenda Hamilton, for a fraction of their market value.

8212; Wildlife officials and several climbers rescued a bull elk by lowering it down a cliff after the animal became entangled in a rope at a popular ice climbing area in southwestern Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said a group of ice climbers in Lake City encountered the distressed elk Friday morning, and a CPW biologist darted the ungulate with a tranquilizer and covered part of its head with a ski mask to protect its eyes during the rescue. The team cut the rope away from the elk’s antlers but needed a way to get the 700-pound (318-kilogram) animal down from the climbing wall. That’s when the ice climbers who reported the stranded elk came to the rescue by helping state wildlife officers rig a system that used two ropes — one under its chest and another along its antlers — to lower it to the base of the route.

DEKALB, Ill. — Northern Illinois has accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West for football only in 2026, the school and conference announced Tuesday. The Huskies will go from the Midwest-based MAC to a conference in which the easternmost school is in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They will join Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, UTEP and Wyoming in the Mountain West. “This move will open new opportunities for our student-athletes, expand the reach and strengthen the national brand of Huskie Football as they represent NIU and compete for championships the hard way, and the right way,” NIU president Lisa C.