Commentary accompanies some of the photos. Some photos show Minneapolis residents erecting barricades so that ICE cannot enter their neighborhood. Some photos show protestors blocking ICE vehicles with their bodies.
Placards include:
ICE is Trump’s Gestapo
TRUMP REGIME KILLING US
In a world full of Trumps and Norms, be good.
GET THE FUCK OUT
ICE = RACIST MURDERERS
ICE ARE THE TERRORISTS
[…] Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is the latest Republican to join President Donald Trump in stumping for a regime change in Cuba.
Appearing on “Fox & Friends” Friday, Cruz called it “the most promising time of our lifetimes,” and suggested that wealthy Cuban Americans would jump for a chance to transform their nation into “an island paradise.” [video]
Cruz’s remarks come days after Trump himself told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he believes “Cuba is ready to fall,” which was met with a salivating response from GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida..
Similarly, GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida, a Cuban exile, gleefully shared a perverse illustration of Cuba plastered with corporate branding.
“When the inevitable happens in #Cuba & the narcoterrorist dictatorship is no more, there won’t be a company that won’t want to invest in the stunning, beautiful island of my birth,” he wrote. [image at the link]
[…]
Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with a new hypersonic ballistic missile, only its second use of an advanced weapon it says can travel up to 10 times the speed of sound and is unstoppable by air defenses.
This is occurring only days after Trump assured everyone that Putin is interested in peace.
whheydtsays
Re: Lynna, OM @ #2…
On that last bit, it is–perhaps–worth noting that Ted Cruz was born in Canada, not Cuba. His father was born in Cuba.
The United States seized an oil tanker in the Caribbean overnight as the White House seeks to assert control over Venezuelan oil.
The oil tanker Olina was seized after the U.S. Coast Guard and Marines from Joint Task Force Southern Spear boarded and ‘apprehended’ the vessel just before dawn on Friday, the U.S. military’s Southern Command confirmed in a statement.
[…] The seizure of the Olina marks the fifth known capture of a vessel linked to Venezuela by U.S. forces in recent weeks.
It comes days after the military seized the Russian-flagged Bella 1 in the North Atlantic, a tanker it had been chasing for weeks over allegations that it was in violation of U.S. sanctions.
U.S. Southern Command announced the seizure of another oil tanker, the Sophia, in international waters near the Caribbean early Wednesday. The military said the Coast Guard was escorting the ship to the U.S.[…]
Five states controlled by Democrats sued the Trump administration on Thursday for freezing $10 billion in funding for child care subsidies, social services and cash support for low-income families, asking a federal judge to declare the pause illegal and restore the money. […]
See also: Comment 474 in the previous set of 500 comments on The Infinite Thread:
Fresh off the Trump administration’s failed attempt to indict her on mortgage fraud allegations, New York Attorney General Letitia James is back in court—but this time, she’s suing the White House. […] seeking to block the Trump administration from freezing roughly $10 billion in federal funding for social assistance and child care programs.
In other news, as reported by The Washington Post:
Visitors traveling to the most popular national parks are facing a new question at the gate: Are you a United States resident? That question is already causing longer wait times to enter parks and is leading some foreign tourists to turn away at the gates.
President Donald Trump’s plan to stage an Ultimate Fighting Championship match for his 80th birthday has reportedly triggered a ripple effect few world leaders could have anticipated.
According to Politico, the president’s proposal to turn the White House lawn into a UFC arena on June 14 has prompted a calendar reshuffle: France has now adjusted plans for this year’s G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains after the starting date was set to overlap with Trump’s proposed mixed martial arts spectacle.
“This is an actual headline not a joke,” former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger wrote on X, reacting to Politico’s headline about the situation: “France delays G7 to avoid clash with White House cage fighting on Trump’s birthday.”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced last June that the 2026 G7, which brings together leaders known as the Group of Seven from the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the European Union, would run from June 14-16.
But just weeks later, Trump publicly floated the idea of staging a “big UFC fight” as part of America250, a slate of events marking 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The proposed G7 date—June 14, which is also Trump’s birthday and Flag Day—was the same day Trump and UFC CEO Dana White had targeted for the event. The world leader summit was later pushed back by a day. […]
“The state has confirmed 99 new cases since Tuesday. Arizona, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah are also reporting cases.”
The number of reported measles cases in South Carolina is skyrocketing — and spilling into other states.
On Friday, the South Carolina Department of Public Health said it’s confirmed 99 new cases of the disease since Tuesday, bringing the state’s total number of cases to 310.
Another 200 people who’ve been exposed to the virus — the most contagious known on the planet — are in quarantine. The outbreak is centered in the northwest part of the state, Spartanburg County.
[…] On Tuesday, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced three children, siblings living in Buncombe County, were diagnosed with measles after visiting Spartanburg.
On Thursday, Washington’s Snohomish County Health Department said three people visiting the area from South Carolina over the holidays have since been diagnosed with measles. […]
“The family visited multiple locations” near Seattle while contagious, the department said, including a McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, church and trampoline park.
Elsewhere, an ongoing outbreak centered along the border of Arizona and Utah has reached 390 cases — 214 in Arizona and 176 in Utah. […]
Last year, the U.S. had 2,144 measles cases — the highest number since 1991. The majority, 93%, were either unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccine status.
It was only the second time Russia has fired the Oreshnik at Ukraine, and came amid a night of air attacks that Ukrainian authorities said also killed four people in Kyiv, knocked out power in the capital and damaged the Qatari embassy there.
The Oreshnik is supposed to be a multiple warhead nuclear missile system and isn’t accurate enough to be effective with conventional warheads. The one that hit Ukraine appears to have only been loaded with dummy warheads. In any case it was clearly meant as a threat, not an active weapon. The Oreshnik is a big expensive way to deliver a small amount of inaccurate warheads if loaded with conventional warheads.
johnson catmansays
re Lynna @3:
This is occurring only days after Trump assured everyone that Putin is interested in peace.
Because, as everyone knows, The Orange Turd knows everything about peace since he is The Peace President. You know, the one who is bombing countries all over the world, trying to seize the assets of sovereign countries, pissing off all of our allies, and killing peaceful protesters in his own country.
Not for everyone! Especially the fetish of episode 6.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
@16: I see. Familiar slapdash implementation.
X users were previously able to ask Grok—by tagging @grok in a tweet—to edit or create images on the platform. Users now attempting this are met with an automated response […] “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers.” […] Interacting with Grok through replies on X is just one of several ways to use the AI chatbot. […] These remain readily available to free users
NASA will return four astronauts to Earth early from the International Space Station due to a medical concern with one of the Crew-11 astronauts. Here’s the latest news.
Plus another sepaarate article now giving the date :
We now know when the first medical evacuation in the history of the International Space Station will take place.
On Friday night (Jan. 9), NASA announced that it’s targeting Wednesday (Jan. 14) for the earlier-than-expected departure of SpaceX’s four-person Crew-11 mission from the orbiting lab.
Crew-11’s Crew Dragon capsule will leave the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT) and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at around 3:40 a.m. EST (0840 GMT) on Thursday (Jan. 15). This schedule is contingent, however, on good weather in the splashdown zone.
The mission transported four crew members – NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov – to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission launched on August 1, 2025 and docked with the ISS the next day. On January 8, 2026, NASA announced that the mission would end early due to an undisclosed “medical situation” involving a crew member.
Morbid thought occurs that no doubt NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin etc .. will have contingency plans for astronauts dying aboard the ISS and during lift-offs, landings and spacewalks..
Can you guys do something about removing this evil klown & his puppetmasters before we’re – and you’re – in WWIII please!
StevoRsays
Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah has asked for an apology and “accountability” after she was axed from Adelaide Writers’ Week, as dozens of authors cancel their appearances at the event.
But SA Premier Peter Malinauskas has backed the board’s decision, on Friday morning telling ABC Radio Adelaide that Abdel-Fattah has “advocated in writing explicitly against the cultural safety of those who believe in Zionism”.
On Thursday, the Adelaide Festival Board released a statement in which it said it was not suggesting Abdel-Fattah or her writing has any connection to the Bondi attack, but based on her past statements, it would “not be culturally sensitive” to go ahead with her appearance at the festival, scheduled to begin on February 28. The author, lawyer and activist was due to talk about her new novel Discipline.
Since the announcement, dozens of authors have cancelled their appearances in support of Abdel-Fattah.
Speech by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei: Iran is a unified nation and there are only “pockets of rioters”. [Photo of several burning cars]
More on the “pockets of rioters” from Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani: “They attacked hospitals and 2 medical centres, 26 banks, 25 mosques, Basij bases, and law-enforcement facilities…”
Security forces have opened fire on a protest march by the Baloch people after Friday prayers in Zahedan. Iranian opposition journalist Ilia Hashemi believes more than 400 people were killed by regime forces during the communications blackout overnight.[*]
[…]
Communications blackout ongoing.
* Mark Chadbourn: “an opposition journalist who visited hospitals and estimated 400+ murders. It’s hard to get reliable estimates because the regime has banned every organisation that might be able to do it.”
Following last night’s regime violence, the crowds on Iran’s streets are said to be even larger tonight. Push hard and people push back. Protesters have set fire to a government building in Karaj. Tehran’s main highways are fully blocked by protesters. […] Banks have been set on fire in Shiraz.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council says the country is at war. It called protesters a quasi-terrorist group seeking weapons and attempting to spark a civil war. […] More than 2500 citizens have been arrested in Iran during the protests
on Thursday night, the regime responded in many places by opening fire. A Tehran doctor told TIME on condition of anonymity that just six hospitals in the capital had recorded at least 217 protester deaths, “most by live ammunition.” […] presaged by the regime’s near-total shutdown of the nation’s Internet and phone connections since Thursday night.
[…]
The demonstrations, which now span all 31 provinces […] have been largely peaceful, with chants of “Freedom” and “Death to the Dictator,” some government buildings have been vandalized.
[…]
“There is a lot of disagreement now among security forces” over whether a massive crackdown will restore order or further inflame public anger […] unlike […] protests that swept across Iran in 2022, the current demonstrations were launched by bazaar merchants and spread to working-class communities—groups the authorities are wary of alienating […] The elected President, Masoud Pezeshkian, has taken a conciliatory line in public, but his cabinet favors a crackdown, two cabinet members said on condition of anonymity.
[…]
While observers saw few significant signs of defection at the leadership level, they said every round of protests sees more rank-and-file police and members of the Basij (a volunteer militia of regime loyalists) refusing to take part in a crackdown.
birgerjohanssonsays
Meidas Touch:
“Trump Gets UNEXPECTED BACKLASH from ENTIRE WORLD over ICE Murder”
In its preliminary data release, taken from just seven nights of observations, the powerful Vera C. Rubin Observatory has discovered an enormous, fast-spinning asteroid that sets a new record.
The record-breaking space rock, called 2025 MN45, is larger than most skyscrapers on Earth at about 2,300 feet (710 meters) wide. The massive rock completes a rotation in about 113 seconds — making it the fastest-spinning known asteroid over 1,640 feet (500 meters) in diameter.
A new analysis of enigmatic skulls from the Republic of Georgia suggest that Homo erectus wasn’t the only human species to leave Africa 1.8 million years ago.
… (snip)..
Scientists investigated fossils excavated from the medieval hilltop town of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia. Archaeological excavations there about 35 years ago unexpectedly revealed that Dmanisi is one of the oldest-known sites for ancient human species outside Africa, with the five skulls recovered from there dating to approximately 1.8 million years ago.
The fossils of Dmanisi have drawn intense debate because of the unusual level of variation they display. Many researchers have suggested these specimens all belong to H. erectus, with the anatomical diversity seen between the specimens resulting from factors such as natural differences between the sexes. Other scientists have argued that the Dmanisi fossils represent two distinct human species. One, dubbed Homo georgicus, seemed more closely related to predecessors of humans known as australopiths, while the other, Homo caucasi, appeared more similar to early human species.
Resolving this controversy might reveal whether H. erectus was the first human species to leave Africa, or if others preceded it, study co-author Victor Nery, a historian and archaeologist at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, told Live Science.
A new analysis of enigmatic skulls from the Republic of Georgia suggest that Homo erectus wasn’t the only human species to leave Africa 1.8 million years ago.
… (snip)..
Scientists investigated fossils excavated from the medieval hilltop town of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia. Archaeological excavations there about 35 years ago unexpectedly revealed that Dmanisi is one of the oldest-known sites for ancient human species outside Africa, with the five skulls recovered from there dating to approximately 1.8 million years ago.
The fossils of Dmanisi have drawn intense debate because of the unusual level of variation they display. Many researchers have suggested these specimens all belong to H. erectus, with the anatomical diversity seen between the specimens resulting from factors such as natural differences between the sexes. Other scientists have argued that the Dmanisi fossils represent two distinct human species. One, dubbed Homo georgicus, seemed more closely related to predecessors of humans known as australopiths, while the other, Homo caucasi, appeared more similar to early human species.
Resolving this controversy might reveal whether H. erectus was the first human species to leave Africa, or if others preceded it, study co-author Victor Nery, a historian and archaeologist at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, told Live Science.
I contacted the retired professor John S Lewis about it. He wrote that a fast-spinning asteroid might be made of metal as it is strong enough not to fall apart (the forces of the spin are far greater than the local gravity). This would make it more interesting for space resource extraction than a rocky, slow-rotating ‘rubble pile’ object.
birgerjohanssonsays
Trump RUNS AWAY to Florida as ADMIN is FALLING APART (and Labour Secretary is under internal investigation for shenagians)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=PsCybfyu3ns
‘I’m not mad at you’: Renee Good’s last words captured by ICE agent who killed her. “What we got today was a cellphone recording captured by the man who killed her. The first look we have gotten of Renee Good alive—and then dead,” says Chris Hayes.
On Thursday, the U.S. House narrowly failed to override a rare veto by President Donald Trump of a Colorado water project located in arch-conservative Rep. Lauren Boebert’s district. Thirty-five Republicans, many of them from Western states, joined all Democrats in the override effort.
The bill would have cost the federal government less than $500,000 and originally passed the House and Senate unanimously, which tells you just how uncontroversial it was. Trump justified the veto by claiming that “[e]nding the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the nation.” [!]
In reality, Trump is carrying a vendetta both against Colorado for refusing his demands to release election-tamperer Tina Peters from prison, and against Boebert for voting to release the government’s files on accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
“Nothing says ‘America First’ like denying clean drinking water to 50,000 people in southeast Colorado, many of whom enthusiastically voted for him in all three elections,” Boebert said when Trump first vetoed the legislation. And after the override failed, she was even more bitter, telling reporters, “Folks are afraid of getting a mean tweet or attacked.” [True. Boebert actually spoke truthfully in this case.]
Trump’s petty vindictiveness, however, hurts more than just the Trump-voting, poverty-stricken residents of Boebert’s district. It may well imperil Colorado’s entire Republican congressional delegation heading into November. [I snipped statistical details.]
[…] Trump’s pettiness could easily put even Colorado’s supposedly safe Republican districts into play.
[…] Here’s the video, which needless to say you don’t have to watch. Chris Hayes noted on All In Friday night that a version of the video released by the government is a few seconds shorter than the Alpha News version, and doesn’t include the opening image of the dog sitting in the back seat of Good’s Honda Pilot. He speculated that might be deliberate, since seeing a dog calmly sitting in a car doesn’t advance the official story that Good was a domestic terrorist planning to ram an ICE officer.
You’ll also be shocked to learn that Fox News has been playing the video without the officer’s benediction — “fuckin’ [B-word]” — at the end. [video]
As Ross circles around the front of the SUV and approaches Good’s open window, she smiles at him and says, “That’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you.” He continues around to the back of the vehicle, getting a shot of the license plate and the national park stickers on the rear window.
At that point, Good’s wife, Becca Good, is seen recording the agent and saying to him, sarcastically, “We don’t change our plates every morning, just so you know. It will be the same plate when you come talk to us later.” She adds that she’s a US citizen and a veteran, and taunts him — which is legal — saying, “You want to come at us? You want to come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy. Go ahead.”
As that’s happening, the phone briefly points away from the scene as Ross moves it to his left hand, freeing his right hand to grab his gun. At the same time, a second ICE officer can be seen approaching Renee Good, yelling at her, “Get out of the car. Out of the car. Get out of the fucking car. Get out of the car.”
At that point, the video shows that Ross again walks in front of the SUV. The camera captures Good backing up, then turning the steering wheel sharply to the right to go around him. Becca Good shouts, “Drive, baby, Drive,” and the car moves forward slowly.
The phone suddenly points at the sky as Ross fires his gun; other video of the shooting shows that at the time he shoots, Ross has already stepped to the side of the vehicle. At most it may have brushed him, but if it did, it was at low speed. Ross remained standing throughout, and certainly didn’t get “run over” as Donald Trump keeps lying.
The camera does not show Ross shooting at Good, although other videos plainly show that his second and third shots came as he stood perpendicular to the driver’s seat, firing through the window at her. [Bellingcat social media post and video. This video is useful. More video and analysis is available from Bellingcat: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:sb54dpdfefflykmf5bcfvr7t/post/3mbwmvgypqc2x ]
[…] As several people point out on social media, the interaction changes and escalates rapidly when Becca Good makes fun of Ross and the other agent arrives, demanding Renee Good get out of the fucking car. Rightwingers on Twitter, particularly the vile Katie Miller and Matt Walsh, have fixated on Becca Good’s unkind words to Ross (Xcancel link), because how dare that lesbian belittle a brave ICE agent who’s keeping America safe? Maybe the video doesn’t provide any proof that Good was trying to run over Ross, but it sure showed that neither she nor her wife were intimidated or respectful, and that’s plenty to reinforce MAGA’s certainty that Renee Good had it coming. She smirked even. And that’s a capital offense.
In a statement to Minnesota Public Radio yesterday, Becca Good thanked the many people who have expressed their sympathies and outrage over the murder of her wife, writing,
This kindness of strangers is the most fitting tribute because if you ever encountered my wife, Renee Nicole Macklin Good, you know that above all else, she was kind. In fact, kindness radiated out of her.
Renee sparkled. She literally sparkled. I mean, she didn’t wear glitter but I swear she had sparkles coming out of her pores. All the time. You might think it was just my love talking but her family said the same thing. Renee was made of sunshine.
Renee lived by an overarching belief: there is kindness in the world and we need to do everything we can to find it where it resides and nurture it where it needs to grow. Renee was a Christian who knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole.
She added that on the day of the shooting, “we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns.” […]
birgerjohanssonsays
Good news for once.
“California is completely drought-free for the first time in 25 years
“Such an agreement would involve tariff-free trade with the U.S. and would give Ukraine “very serious cards,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Bloomberg.”
Kyiv is in talks with the United States about a possible free-trade agreement, as Ukraine seeks to entice a reluctant Washington to provide firm security guarantees, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Such a deal would involve tariff-free trade with the U.S. and would give Ukraine “very serious cards,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Bloomberg published late Friday.
He has not yet discussed it directly with U.S. President Donald Trump, Zelenskyy said, adding that he expects to meet with Trump either in the U.S. or at the Davos conference in Switzerland, which starts on Jan. 19.
[…] Europe and the U.S. presented a plan for Ukraine in Paris earlier this week, including security guarantees with American backing and a promise to deploy British and French troops after a ceasefire.
But Washington did not sign on to join a multinational force for Ukraine, raising concerns about its level of commitment. The offer of a free-trade deal could act as an additional incentive for the U.S. to remain committed to protecting Ukraine after the end of the war.
Zelenskyy said in the Bloomberg interview that he wants specific commitments from Washington. “I don’t want everything to end up in them merely promising to react,” he said. “I really want something more concrete.”
Zelenskyy said his negotiator, Rustem Umerov, had a call on Friday with Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and that U.S. representatives have been in contact with Russia recently in “some kind of format.” Ukraine has given its views on territorial proposals, which the U.S. side will share with Russia for its own responses, Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine also is considering a plan, proposed by the U.S., to create a buffer zone between the two sides after troops pull back. “The format is difficult but fair,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy added that he is not opposed to European leaders talking to Russia. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday joined French President Emmanuel Macron in calling for dialogue with Moscow.
birgerjohanssonsays
StevoR @ 30
A fast-spinning space rock has to be solid to avoid flying apart. If it is a metal asteroid, mining the metal may create a cavity protected from cosmic radiation suitable for a space station outpost.
Here is a reply from professor John S Lewis on the matter.
“Half of my PhD research concerned cosmic ray penetration of iron meteorites. One meter of iron gives good protection against CR primaries. Digging a 1 m hole in an Fe-Ni asteroid is another challenge!
John
[…] this dangerously undertrained goon squad has a lot of Americans left to execute in the street yet, so you may as well agree up front that every single victim will turn out to be a terrorist, folks, 100% of them, because our unaccountable secret police force doesn’t make mistakes, nosireebob, not after 47 whole days of training.
[Senator Amy Klobuchar made the point that there are now more ICE/DHS doofuses in Minneapolis than the combined police forces of both St. Paul and Minneapolis!]
Why 47? You know why. Our government basically only does two things now: branding and bloodshed. [!!]
Anyway, should you feel like protesting this erosion of your civil liberties, well, maybe you can turn out to be a terrorist, too.
Might be interesting, I suppose. To think about all the cabinet secretaries you’ll have slandering you before your next of kin is even notified. “Golly, I wonder which social media posts Jesse Watters will use to demonize me to Fox’s prime-time audience?”
[…] We conquered Venezuela, though. Had to. Cuz of the dancing, you see. Can’t have that. Not in your sphere of influence.
Anyhoo, it’s ours now. The process is way simpler than you’d think. You give an order, they show you part of a Tom Clancy movie, and then everybody in a whole-ass country has to do what you say forever.
Plus you get all their natural resources. Oil, babes, whatever. Forever. Cuz you can always order another Tom Clancy movie, see? They don’t cost anything. Apparently.
This is the “Don-roe Doctrine” (another gem from the visionary name-caller behind “Gavin Newscum”) in action: via the mechanism of kidnapping, you simply cycle through heads of state until the law of averages delivers one willing to trade their nation’s mineral wealth for a handful of shiny beads. […]
So they staged Maduro’s perp walk pageant and felt like big, tuff men indeed. […]
Especially with Lindsey Graham bounding about like a Christmas morning puppy, yapping about all the wars he wants to start next.
Yes, though “Don’t worry, Marco Rubio’s in charge” is a perfect six-word geopolitical horror story, somehow these goofballs have convinced themselves this stuff is easy and they’re good at it.
So naturally they can’t wait to do it again.
[…] pick the next target. Cuba or Colombia or OOO OOO WE SHOULD TOTALLY INVADE GREENLAND YOU GUYS!
Sure. Let’s just do it and be legends.
Though I confess I’m having trouble mustering the requisite patriotic bloodthirst […] I can’t get worked up about being a “dominant predator” because of the “iron laws of the world” when the messenger is Stephen Miller. […]
Can we not end NATO on the whim of a deteriorating rapist, actually? I just thought the post-WWII order was pretty cool […] but…no, you’re right, we should listen to the fellow who is, after all, passing all the cognitive tests.
In fact, why don’t we give him this $600 billion budget increase he wants to build his “dream military,” which he shall then deploy hither and yon, restrained only by his “own mortality”? He just wants triumphal arches and as much of an empire as the cankles and/or the Constitution will permit, you guys.
Stop worrying so much. [Trump is] just joking about canceling the midterms. He’s got all kinds of funny, funny jokes about mob violence and subverting democracy, and have you heard the one about Paul Pelosi and the hammer?
Let him go on seizing oil tankers and cutting off funding to blue states. Let him rub his filthy name all over our country and our culture, from the Kennedy Center to our national parks to the Smithsonian. Let him spill blood from Caracas to Minneapolis.
At a certain point, it’ll be enough, and he’ll stop. Surely. Susan Collins assured me he’d learned his lesson.
The official White House website debuted their grade school shoebox diorama attempt to rewrite the history of the Capitol Riot. They’ll paint Ashli Babbitt on the ceiling of the Oval Office before they’re through, but Renee Good was a terrorist. Got it.
Credit where it’s due, I’m officially Distracted From the Epstein Files. You know, the ones the government continues to illegally withhold. Yeah, I’m more worried about said government killing me now, so…nice work?
I kinda can’t wait to see which MAGA legal luminary gets the Maduro prosecution. I hope it’s Habba or the insurance lady, and that they stick with the accusations of heading that fake cartel they made up. Shit, if you draw Aileen Cannon, you probably get away with it.
I’m glad CBS’ rightward lurch is off to such an embarrassing start. Corruption should be humiliating, don’tcha think?
Understanding his bullshit case against Mark Kelly would get laughed out of court, Secretary Funsoxx announced that he would pursue petty bureaucratic retribution instead, restoring masculinity to the Pentagon at long last.
Kari Lake bought a condo in Iowa, hoping to repot her batshit brand under even softer light, no doubt. […]
We’re about to see more kids with meningitis; that’ll be…gut-wrenching. Yeah, the brainworm guy wants more meningitis, so that’s what we’re doin’. Oh, and 2025 was the worst year for job growth since the pandemic, and over in the corner, you’ll notice Elon Musk rambling about “white solidarity,” so that’s enough news for one week, I think. […]
She is my new hero. Sheriff Bilal started her press conference with “Say her name. Renee Good. Renee Good. Renee Good.” She goes on to say, “Law enforcement professionals, real ones, not the fake made up ICE, probably Trump’s new army to attack citizens of the United States…no law enforcement professional wears a mask. None.” She goes on to say, “Law enforcement professionals do not shoot at moving vehicles…Law enforcement professionals do not stand in front of moving vehicles invoking action that is illegal.”
She makes the stand that if the “made up fake wanna-be law enforcement comes to Philadelphia and commits a crime, you don’t want this smoke”, and …“the criminal in the White House would not be able to keep you from going to jail.” […]
s the war in Venezuela to distract from the war in Ukraine to distract from the DHS war at home to distract from the Epstein Files to distract from The Groceries? It is a Zen koan! But Trump’s approval rating on the economy (along with everything else) has been steadily sinking, and lately is underwater 14 percent, with a 55.5 percent disapproval of how he is handling The Groceries.
Now, according to the Trump Labor Department’s own jobs data published Friday (and also leaked early by Trump on Thursday), 2025 was the worst year for hiring since 2020, and what the Wall Street Journal says is the worst year for annual job growth outside of a recession since 2003.
The percentage of unemployed people who’d been without a job for 27 weeks or longer climbed to 26 percent in December, the highest since early 2022, meaning millions of people are working multiple part-time jobs to get by. It’s a K-shaped economy: things are getting better at the top, and worse at the bottom. You can see it in car prices: while the average cost of a new car went above $50k for the first time last year, at the same time, auto loan defaults and repossessions are on the rise for people with lower pre-purchase credit scores.
Yet on Friday, the Dow and S&P hit record-high closing levels! Because weak jobs means no interest rate hike, which means rich people can still borrow from Peter to pay Paul leverage their assets on the cheap. And earnings for defense and AI-chip companies are just swell.
Even everybody on Fox News except Steve Moore knows a stagnant labor market is not a good thing. [video]
What’s more, according to the National Women’s Law Center, the job losses were women’s. In 2025 the women’s labor force increased by just 184,000, while men’s increased by 572,000, meaning men joined the labor force at three times the rate of women last year. And the unemployment rate for Black and Latina women also increased disproportionately to other demographics. Feature, not bug, as they aim to shut down all the daycares and put women back where we belong.
Hit hardest in 2025 were states with large numbers of federal workers — California, Maryland, Virginia and Texas — as more than 317,000 federal jobs (out of about 2.1 million) were eliminated in 2025.
Just the economic stewardship you’d expect from the guy who bankrupted six companies, including two casinos, is an adjudicated con man and fraud, and is even trying to peddle fake-gold watches to suckers.
[…] next week could bring big economic news: The Supreme Court might rule Wednesday on the legality of Trump using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to levy all of those tariffs that have been driving consumer prices through the roof over the past year. Or they might not! They just love to keep everybody guessing.
Reports are due out on the Consumer Price Index for December, the budget deficit, and new and existing home sales for October and December. And all signs point to outlook not good for those. House prices hit record highs in 2025 and are up more than 50 percent nationally since 2019. [!] And low interest rates means prices will stay high.
[…] The median age of a first-time homebuyer is now 40. […]
Trump also announced that he directed Fannie and Freddie Mac to buy $200 million more in mortgage bonds. Housing speculation, what could go wrong? And he also said this week that he was “taking steps” to ban large investors from buying single-family homes, which we will believe never. Ban large investors other than his best friends, that we could believe.
Friday he threw more “affordability” spaghetti at the wall, this time ripped straight from a Bernie Sanders proposal (do it, Trump! Be a legend!).
Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be “ripped off” by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%, and even more, which festered unimpeded during the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration. AFFORDABILITY! Effective January 20, 2026, I, as President of the United States, am calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%. Coincidentally, the January 20th date will coincide with the one year anniversary of the historic and very successful Trump Administration. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
Not a law, not even an executive order. But he’s calling now with an incredible offer! Concepts of frameworks of steps of the affordability. Throw in $6 and you’ll get a dozen eggs for free!
“Unexploded missiles, witnesses undercut Trump account of Nigeria strike”
“Of the 16 U.S. Tomahawk missiles fired at militants in Nigeria, at least four appeared not to explode, according to officials and imagery reviewed by The Post.” Photos at the link.
When President Donald Trump announced U.S. airstrikes in Nigeria on Christmas night, he declared that his newly rebranded War Department had conducted “numerous perfect strikes” against “ISIS Terrorist Scum.”
But warheads in four of the 16 Tomahawk missiles that were fired that night appeared not to explode, according to Nigerian officials, analysts and imagery reviewed by The Washington Post. Residents said one of the unexploded munitions landed in an onion field in the village of Jabo, in northwest Nigeria, while another hit residential buildings in Offa, around 300 miles to the south. The third Tomahawk crashed in an agricultural field outside Offa, according to a state police official, and the fourth was recovered by Nigerian police in a forest in Zugurma, 120 miles to the north.
It is unclear why the four Tomahawks didn’t detonate. Experts suggested a few possibilities, including mechanical failures or a decision by commanders to crash them because conditions at the target sites may have changed.
The target of the remaining missiles and the damage they inflicted remain unclear, with U.S. officials and analysts casting doubt on their effectiveness. As Trump resorts to force against Islamist militants who he says are persecuting Christians in Nigeria, the first strikes in the campaign illustrated the limits of American intelligence and military capabilities in West Africa.
[…] In linking the targets to the Islamic State, AFRICOM overstated its confidence in the identity of the fighters, one of the U.S. officials said, speaking like others in this article on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. The operation, the official said, “was likely not very effective and did not remove any camps or capabilities.”
[…] But the other U.S. official noted that the decision to target Lakurawa, a relatively minor militant group, seemed to have been driven by Nigeria’s own internal calculations. “It’s not clear if it’s incompetence or intention” on the part of the Nigerian government, said a former U.S. official with experience in the region, saying Washington had placed too much confidence in its counterparts in Abuja.
“I’m not sure,” the former official added, if the fighters targeted “are worth the price of one Tomahawk.”
On Nov. 1, Trump threatened to go “guns-a-blazing” into Nigeria if its government did not stop the killing of “our CHERISHED Christians!” by “Islamic Terrorists.” The sudden threat alarmed Nigerian officials, who said they would welcome help from the United States in addressing terrorism but rejected the notion that Christians were being killed disproportionately — or that the state was allowing it to happen. [Trump spouted overly-simplified propaganda.]
Violence in Nigeria — a nation of 230 million struggling to maintain security on multiple fronts — is more complex than Trump and his allies have suggested, according to Nigerian and Western analysts. Although Islamist militants aligned with the Islamic State and Boko Haram have killed Christians, they said, their attacks have targeted moderate Muslims as well. And in central Nigeria, where fighting between Muslim herders and Christian farmers has intensified, the battle is more over resources than religion, analysts said.
[…] An individual Tomahawk costs around $2 million, according to estimates from the Defense Department, which means the strike on Nigeria used more than $30 million in weaponry.
The 16 missiles U.S. and Nigerian officials said were fired on Christmas night came from a Navy ship in the Gulf of Guinea. If four did not explode, as the evidence suggests, that would place the failure rate at 25 percent — a surprisingly elevated figure for a missile that reported a 90 percent success rate more than two decades ago, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.
In the immediate aftermath of the strike, images began circulating on social media claiming to show unexploded American weaponry. Hany Farid, a digital forensics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, reviewed photos of the four unexploded Tomahawk warheads at The Post’s request and said he did not see “any evidence of manipulation or AI-generation.” […]
[…] Darren Woods, who leads the largest U.S. oil company, Exxon Mobil, was especially blunt during a televised portion of the meeting [a White House meeting with Trump].
“We’ve had our assets seized there twice, and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes,” he said. “Today it’s uninvestable.”
For the company to return to Venezuela, legal changes would have to be made, and there would need to be “durable investment protections,” Mr. Woods, Exxon’s chief executive, said. But he offered an olive branch to the White House, saying Exxon was prepared to send an exploratory team to Venezuela within the next few weeks if it received security guarantees.
Exxon and ConocoPhillips, another large American oil company, have been pursuing substantial claims against Venezuela’s government for assets it seized during a nationalization wave two decades ago.
Recouping that money seemed on Friday to be of little interest to Mr. Trump, who said, “We’re not going to look at what people lost in the past, because that was their fault.” He suggested the $12 billion in claims that ConocoPhillips has been pursuing might make a good write-off, a term for when companies recognize losses in a way that lowers their taxable income.
“It’s already been written off,” Ryan Lance, the company’s chief executive, said in response to Mr. Trump.
[…] The question of how much money oil companies may spend in Venezuela will come down to how those investments are defined. Simply maintaining Venezuela’s oil output at current levels, around one million barrels per day, would cost more than $50 billion over the next 15 years, according to estimates from the consulting firm Rystad Energy.
But nobody is talking about very large sums yet. After Mr. Trump promised the $100 billion in investments by Big Oil, two people close to the companies attending Friday’s meeting cautioned that they were not aware of any such commitment by the businesses. [Trump either lied outright or he exaggerated wildly.]
Executives and analysts widely agree that there is room to boost Venezuela’s production by several hundred thousand barrels per day within the next two years, at modest cost. But raising output above 1.4 million barrels per day most likely would require an additional $120 billion or more between now and 2040, Rystad estimated.
To put those numbers in context, the largest U.S. oil company, Exxon, has said it expects to spend around $28 billion this year on big projects around the world. […]
The energy secretary, Chris Wright, suggested earlier Friday on Fox News that the U.S. Export-Import Bank might provide “credit support” for companies making large investments in Venezuela. The independent federal agency offers financing when private capital is not available.
Mr. Trump said the U.S. government was prepared to provide security guarantees, but not money for oil projects.
“Our giant oil companies will be spending at least $100 billion of their money, not the government’s money. They don’t need government money,” he said. “But they need government protection.”
More at the link, including a discussion of Chevron’s unique position.
birgerjohanssonsays
BTW I owe this blog – and the blig of the late Ed Brayton – for personal growth. I used to avoid conflict. But when Ed Brayton’s friend who worked for the rights of religious minorities in the military starred to forward racist hate mail to the blog, we had fun picking apart the logic and the spelling errors.
This gradually taught me that aggressive assholes very often are so very wrong and it is OK to dismiss them.
[…] Trump’s pursuit of Greenland will not end up as it should have, an obscure footnote […]
On Tuesday, giddy after the success of a daring weekend raid to capture the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, Trump’s White House put out a statement threatening Denmark, a nato ally, with military action if it did not hand over Greenland—a threat so reminiscent of Vladimir Putin’s bald demands in the run-up to his invasion of Ukraine that it had Russian officials openly cheering. [!]
In the days since, Trump has insisted that the United States simply must have the vast, sparsely populated, and resource-rich territory. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet with Denmark’s leaders next week to present terms. [!] Seven European nations put out a joint statement condemning the threats, leading to yet another Trump statement claiming that it was the Europeans who could not be trusted to defend their fellow alliance members.
What some of Trump’s own senior officials once viewed as the delusional musings of a dilettante have now become a genuine international crisis, one that could lead—or maybe it already has led—to the effective end of nato. […]
Greenland, it turns out, is not a punch line but a template that explains much about Trump’s foreign policy: it’s about a power-grabbing President who looks at territory on a map and says he wants to own it. Trump could not articulate a rationale for acquiring Greenland—“from a strategic standpoint, from a locational standpoint, from a geography standpoint, it’s something that we should have,” he told us—any more than he can elaborate on what his plan is for Venezuela now that he’s toppled the country’s leader and seized some of its oil. Asked by reporters from the Times, on Wednesday, why he couldn’t just settle for the terms of the existing 1951 treaty with Denmark, which grants the U.S. military nearly unlimited use of Greenland’s territory, Trump replied, “Ownership is very important.” He added, “because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success.” There are no limits to his global powers, Trump said, except one thing: “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
Trump’s approach to the world is not the isolationism that many of his supporters celebrated when he returned to the White House, […] but a narcissistic form of unilateralism that says, loudly, I can do whatever I want, whenever and however I want to do it. Unrestrained power wielded for its own sake is the theme [!], and, along with Trump himself, his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, is its muse. Miller’s snarling enunciation of this doctrine, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday, during which he asserted America’s right to do as it wished with Greenland, has justifiably been taken as an important statement of the world view underpinning this Administration. “We live in a world, the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” Miller said. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”
Counting last weekend’s daring commando raid on Maduro’s compound, Trump has now ordered U.S. military attacks on seven different nations since returning to the White House: Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. “Trump is tough with the weak but weak with the tough,” as Raphaël Glucksmann, a French member of the European Parliament, put it to the Wall Street Journal. […] In the days since the Venezuela attack, Trump has explicitly threatened not only Greenland but also Colombia, Iran, and Mexico. Why? Because he can. A decade into Trump’s political career and nearly a year into his second term, we can now say definitively that the President’s signature geopolitical move is not withdrawing the United States from the world but performative displays of force to impose his will on it.
For a man who’s also spent the past year proclaiming himself the “President of PEACE,” this seems like an almost inconceivable twist. It’s not—Trump views these dramatic military actions as stand-alone accomplishments in their own right. The use of force is, for this President, not so much a means of achieving American national-security goals as an end in itself. Trump’s reaction to observing the Venezuela attack unfold in real time is worth remembering in the context of an operation that, according to the latest U.S. estimates, killed some seventy-five people, including both Maduro’s security detail and local residents. “I mean, I watched it, literally, like, I was watching a television show,” he marvelled in an interview with Fox News, on Saturday. “And if you would have seen the speed, the violence.”
The situation we now find ourselves in—of an unrestrained Trump, seemingly intoxicated with the use of military force and determined to swaddle his Presidency in its reflected glory—is exactly why Europe is right to fear for Greenland. There are few who think it would take more than a few minutes and a few helicopters for Trump to take possession of it, thus writing himself into history as a leader who remade the map of North America.
Those who oppose such a move are left to take comfort in the minor signs of institutional resistance that have emerged in recent days—those sternly worded European statements, the mumblings of dismay about the President’s Greenland threats from nine Republican senators, and a vote by five of them, on Thursday, to demand that Trump consult Congress before any further military action in Venezuela. As if that would matter. I can remember a time when all fifty-three Republican senators would have said that the mere hint of an American military attack on Greenland was crazy, outrageous, and in and of itself an impeachable offense. When was this long-ago time, you might ask? I can give a very specific answer: 11:59 a.m. on January 19th of last year.
Welcome to 2026. Trump’s apologists may be right when they say that the martial bluster is no more than a bargaining tactic. It appears that’s what Maduro thought, too, right up until the moment Trump sent the Delta Force into his bedroom in the middle of the night.
Russia can cause blackouts in Ukrainian cities but it can’t keep the lights on in its own.
Belgorod has reverted to the 18th century thanks to HIMARS strikes on the city’s power infrastructure. [social media post and image. “It’s pitch black in Russia’s Belgorod region after Ukrainian HIMARS strikes hit key energy infrastructure, sparking fires at the Luch and Belgorod thermal power plants and the main substation. Governor Gladkov urged residents to buy generators, admitting there’s no clear timeline for restoring power.”]
[…]
[At the link, here’s also a social media post, with video, showing African mercenaries recruited by Russia being ambushed by Ukrainian drones.]
Regarding Russia’s use of an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile against Lviv [see JM @10]:
It seems that just like the first use of the Oreshnik against Ukraine in November 2024, this missile did not carry explosives in its warheads. It relied on the kinetic energy of the multiple warheads to penetrate its target, which was either a very large underground gas storage site or an aircraft repair plant. Fortunately, that failed.
Russian bloggers say Russia wasn’t trying to hit anything, just show Europe what big cojones they have.
Russia doesn’t have many Oreshniks, not enough to make regular use of them. But Oreshnik has the advantage of not facing defenses that can bring it down. The Patriot system is not designed to intercept missiles moving at Mach 10 and descending from high altitudes.
The American THAAD system and the Israeli Arrow-3 can bring it down (in theory, since it hasn’t been tried in combat), but Ukraine doesn’t have those systems. And even if they acquired some, they couldn’t acquire enough to cover the entire country.
Having said all that, Oreshnik is not the dire threat to Ukraine it seems […] simply because there are so few of them. Russia has a battery in Kapustin Yar, which is a shithole of a town about 100 km east of Volgograd. And supposedly some have been supplied to Belarus.
Overall, the use of a single Oreshnik IRBM without warheads and the possibility that nothing of military value was hit, suggests that the missile was primarily used as an instrument of intimidation. It’s also unclear how many of these expensive IRBMs have actually been manufactured at this point, and whether Russia would even be able to fire multiple examples in any kind of sustained campaign. According to an assessment from the U.K. Ministry of Defense, Russia currently has only a handful of Oreshniks.
[…]
🇺🇦🇮🇶 The Republic of Iraq is creating a special commission to investigate and eliminate the phenomenon of recruiting Iraqi youth to participate in the war against Ukraine.
[…]
Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service reports over 1,000 civilians killed or injured by ex-combatants, including at least 551 dead, many after murders, beatings, or crashes.
Linda McMahon, the nation’s secretary of education, says public schools are failing.
In November, she promised a “hard reset” of the system in which more than 80% of U.S. children learn. But rather than invest in public education, she has been working to dismantle the Department of Education and enact wholesale changes to how public schools operate.
“Our final mission as a department is to fully empower states to carry the torch of our educational renaissance,” she said at a November press conference.
To help her carry out these and other goals, McMahon has brought at least 20 advisers from ultraconservative think tanks and advocacy groups who share her skepticism of the value of public education and seek deep changes, including instilling Christian values into public schools.
ProPublica reporters Jennifer Smith Richards and Megan O’Matz spent months reporting and reviewing dozens of hours of video to understand the ideals and ambitions of those pulling the levers of power in federal education policy. They found a concerted push to shrink public school systems by steering taxpayer dollars to private, religious and charter schools, as well as options like homeschooling. […]
They also found top officials expressing a vision for the remaining public schools that rejects the separation of church and state and promotes a pro-America vision of history, an “uplifting portrayal of the nation’s founding ideals.” Critics argue the “patriotic” curricula downplay the legacy of slavery and paper over episodes of discrimination. [Yep. As expected.]
Since its establishment in 1979, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has served as an enforcer of anti-discrimination laws in schools and colleges around the country. It’s the place parents turn to when they believe their schools failed to protect children from discrimination or to provide access to an equal education under the law.
The Trump administration laid off much of the office’s staff in its first months and prioritized investigations into schools that allegedly discriminated against white and Jewish students and accommodated transgender students. McMahon and the department have framed this as a course correction in line with efforts to be more efficient and curb diversity, equity and inclusion policies from prior administrations. It has left little recourse for those seeking to defend the rights of students with disabilities, students of color and those facing sex discrimination.
In this video, Smith Richards and O’Matz explain how McMahon and her advisers are reenvisioning the nation’s educational system and what that could mean for the future. [video]
birgerjohanssonsays
This is just to give you a brief paus from MAGA
David Bowie – I’m Afraid of Americans”
Yeah, some of them, for sure
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=LT3cERVRoQo
.
The scenes from Lucy are a good match for Robyn’s song. The God’s Finger scene is as effective as the end of ‘2001’.
In Which The Kennedy Center Stars As The Empty House In ‘The House On The Hill’ ”
Ah, the Kennedy Center. Longtime jewel for Washington DC. The premier performing arts space in America. Upon its boards have trod some of the world’s greatest performers. It has hosted production after production of some of the greatest plays ever written. Kings and queens have been entertained within its walls. It has enriched its surrounding community with classes and outreach, sowing seeds for future generations of artists.
And at the rate it has been shedding performers since the current president took it over, it might be emptier than Donald Trump’s brainpan by March. […]
The latest group to leave the Kennedy Center is a big one: the Washington National Opera, which has made the Center its home almost since the moment the building opened in 1971. On Friday, the board of trustees approved a resolution to move all the opera’s performances elsewhere.
Why is the opera leaving? Its leaders told the Times about what you would expect: a “tumultuous year in which both groups have faced cancellations by artists, empty seats and the retrenchment of donors protesting Mr. Trump’s intervention.”
In other words, it was Trump, it is always Trump, he’s poison. Everything he touches dies, no one wants anything to do with a Kennedy Center defiled by that boor and imbecile. Not performers, not audiences, not donors. Hell, at this point we’d be surprised if the Center’s head and least charming psychopath on any cell block, Ric Grenell, could get a pizza delivered.
For what it’s worth, Grenell on X on Friday claimed it was he who had initially asked the Opera to leave, and this was it complying. Which given that everyone in Trump World lies about as often and as easily as they blink, we don’t believe. But fine, every breakup needs one party yelling You didn’t break up with me, I broke up with you.
We’re not sure why Grenell thinks his asking the opera to leave makes him sound good, anyway. The Washington National Opera was one of the Center’s biggest partners. […]
The opera was just the biggest of the artists to cancel on the Center this week. On Tuesday, musician Béla Fleck cancelled three shows set for later in January:
“I have withdrawn from my upcoming performance with the NSO at The Kennedy Center. Performing there has become charged and political, at an institution where the focus should be on the music. I look forward to playing with the NSO another time in the future when we can together share and celebrate art.”
This prompted one of Grenell’s patented snarly responses on X, where he excoriated Fleck caving to “the woke mob who wants you to perform for only Lefties.” This was followed by his usual whine about how Republicans love the arts and want acts that aren’t political but just want to “perform for regardless of who they voted for.”
We think the two are often inextricable, but we’re not a Grenell-level idiot.
The day after Fleck’s announcement, a singer named Sonia De Los Santos also canceled an upcoming show. Santos is a Mexican-American who says she wants to uplift immigrant stories:
“Unfortunately, I do not feel that the current climate at this beloved venue represents a welcoming space for myself, my band, or our audience.”
[…] Grenell didn’t say anything about Santos, but one of his lickspittles, the PR director for the Kennedy Center, was performatively mad:
“This country was built on legal immigrants and as a first generation American, I find her statement highly offensive,” wrote [Roma] Daravi, 32, who is of Persian Jewish origin and served in the first Trump White House. “Refusing to engage with an institution open to everyone is, in fact, a step towards discrimination.”
Ma’am, if we may speak for the room: We’ll risk it.
To top off the Center’s week, a story appeared in the outlet Notus on Friday. It seems members of the National Symphony Orchestra are freaking out about their careers now that they play in a building with Trump’s name on it, a move that “has already damaged their orchestra’s reputation and finances.”
The NSO, with which Fleck was scheduled to perform, has been a mainstay of the Center for 40 years. […]
“Even the most far-right conservative, Trump-loving members of the orchestra who’ve loved the takeover are disgusted and terrified by the recent move of renaming the center,” one member of the National Symphony Orchestra, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, told NOTUS. “They just know inherently how difficult that’s gonna make every aspect of our lives by putting the man’s name on the building.”
[…] At the risk of beating a dead horse here, may we suggest to the MAGA-fied Kennedy Center that its leaders refrain from being such [doofuses]? That’s why no one wants anything to do with you, it’s not your immoral politics. Well, it is your immoral politics. But also the part about being [doofuses]. So long as you keep that up, we’re all just marking time until three years from now when can chisel the atrocity that is the name Donald Trump off your precious building.
The U.S. has carried out what it called “large-scale strikes” against ISIS in Syria, U.S. Central Command announced Saturday afternoon.
The strikes, conducted at around 12:30 p.m. ET, were part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, which the Pentagon said was ordered by President Donald Trump on Dec. 19 in response to an ISIS ambush near Palmyra on Dec. 13. That attack killed two U.S. soldiers and a U.S. civilian interpreter, U.S. officials said.
The military in December launched strikes against Islamic State group infrastructure and weapons.
CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins told NBC News that more than 35 targets were struck in Saturday’s operation. More than 90 precision munitions were fired, and more than 20 aircraft were involved.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted about the strikes on X, saying, “We will never forget, and never relent.”
The military said the strikes targeted ISIS “as part of our ongoing commitment to root out Islamic terrorism against our warfighters, prevent future attacks, and protect American and partner forces in the region.”
“Our message remains strong: if you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” CENTCOM’s statement said.
Three other U.S. personnel were wounded in the December ambush, prompting Trump to vow retaliation, calling it “an ISIS attack against the U.S.” The Defense Department said the incident happened during a counterterrorism engagement.
[…] Hegseth said in December that the operation was not “the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance.”
LONDON (The Borowitz Report)—In a move that was widely hailed across the free world, on Friday King Charles III of the United Kingdom reasserted British rule over the colonies formerly known as the United States of America.
“In recent days, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller have been advocating a muscular return to colonialism,” the monarch said. “I couldn’t agree more with those chaps.”
“We lost the colonies because our King went insane,” Charles added. “But now the shoe’s on the other bloody foot, isn’t it?”
As for what this change in status would mean for Trump, the King said, “Perhaps he could room with his old chum, my idiot brother.”
Your choice of descriptions … is obscene, probably defamatory …
I’m glad I live in a nation with at least some worthwhile protections for speech, instead of the unending nightmare under Stevo’s absolute rulership where I would be thrown in prison for my doubleplusungood crimethink.
chigau (違う)says
you are so weird
Jeansays
About the potential military intervention to take over Greenland, Democrats should promise and make it clear that any member of the military that gives or follows orders to attack a NATO ally is giving or following an illegal order and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law as soon as that becomes possible. (It should actually be about any country that Congress has not made a declaration of war against but a NATO ally should be even clearer).
Of course, Trump would declare that he would pardon everyone but Democrats should make clear that every punishment still possible will be applied. That should make at least some individuals think twice before going along with this dangerous stupidity.
Iranians opposing the regime are protesting all over the world today—big turnouts in Tokyo, Perth, Auckland and Budapest.
[…]
Iran’s Attorney General Movahedi Azad said protesters will now be considered “enemies of God”. That charge carries the death penalty. […] Up to 1.85 million Iranians are out on the streets across 512 locations in 180 cities tonight. All 31 provinces are covered, Iranian news agency Iran Spectator reports.
Trump just now: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
Not sure what he thinks he can do. […] It would be on brand for Trump to whip up the Iranians out on the street, then do nothing and leave them to face the guns.
[WSJ article]: Trump administration officials have had preliminary discussions about how to carry out an attack on Iran if needed to follow through on Trump’s threats […] there wasn’t a consensus on what course of action to take, and no military equipment or personnel had been moved in preparation for a strike. The officials cautioned these conversations are part of normal planning. There is no sign of an imminent attack on Iran, they said.
[…] The regime has cut power across Tehran. Protesters have lit up the streets with their phones. TwitterX is banned in Iran like all other forms of social expression, but Musk is allowing Khamenei to tweet out vile propaganda on an hourly basis.
2000 people killed by the regime in the last 48 hours, according to opposition news agency Iran International.
* A surgeon told WSJ that he’d extracted Kalashnikov bullets and birdshot from patients. So that’s what the shotguns were firing.
Rando: “Is this the same [Trump] whose regime refused to allow Iranian Christians to apply for asylum in the US and sent them to Panama? Now he wants to help Iranian freedom seekers?”
Leah McElrath: “Some videos of large protests in Tehran are emerging via Starlink, as Iran continues to endure a comms blackout affecting internet/cell phone functioning. This screenshot shows a protest in Tehran in which people are raising their cell phones with the lights on as torches (via IranIntl_En on X)”
* That video (warning loud). https://xcancel.com/IranIntl_En/status/2010056491445957082
Thousands of people have marched in Minneapolis to protest the fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration officer there and the shooting of two protesters in Portland, Oregon, as Minnesota leaders urge demonstrators to remain peaceful.
The Minneapolis gathering was one of hundreds of protests planned in towns and cities across the country over the weekend.
It came in a city on edge since the killing of Renee Nicole Good on Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.
“We’re all living in fear right now,” said Meghan Moore, a mother of two from Minneapolis who joined the protest on Saturday.
“ICE is creating an environment where nobody feels safe, and that’s unacceptable.”
The first crewed moon mission in more than 50 years remains on track to launch as soon as Feb. 6.
NASA announced on Friday evening (Jan. 9) that it plans to roll the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft that will fly the Artemis 2 moon mission out to the pad for prelaunch checks on Jan. 17, weather and technical readiness permitting.
Queensland insect enthusiasts are using their cameras to help researchers study bug populations, as part of a national citizen science project.
Bug Hunt, developed by the Invasive Species Council and Invertebrates Australia, is a new program that seeks to create a nation-wide catalogue of critters using the online platform iNaturalist.
The project gathers pictures and observations from thousands of participants to create a database for scientists to monitor native species and identify invasive pests.
US citizens in Venezuela should leave the country immediately […] There are reports of groups of armed militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence of US citizenship or support for the United States.
[…]
Intermittent power and utility outages continue throughout the country. […] Venezuela has the highest Travel Advisory level—Level 4: Do Not Travel—due to severe risks to Americans, including wrongful detention, torture in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, and poor health infrastructure.
Mark Chadbourn: “Oops. Going to be good for all those oil executives and workers going out there to “rebuild” the industry.”
Rando: “Wait. Armed militias search vehicles for evidence of US citizenship? They will likely encounter the same situation if they return to the United States.”
a hotel maintenance man who came to the agent’s room to unclog a toilet.
“This case makes clear that we can obtain civil accountability for the unlawful actions of rogue federal agents, even if it takes nearly six years,”
[…]
[Agent Jones] had called down to the front desk to report a malfunctioning toilet. Christopher Frison […] arrived at Jones’ room [20 mins later] and knocked several times. Frison also called out “maintenance,” gave his name and waited, holding a plunger
[…]
The judge found that Frison’s lawyers didn’t need to prove that Jones intended to shoot Frison or cause him physical injury. It didn’t matter if the gun was loaded or not, according to her opinion. It was clear Jones “intended” to place Frison in fear of imminent harm, she ruled.
“Simply put, that Jones opened the door quickly and pointed a gun at plaintiff is sufficient to establish defendant’s liability for civil assault,”
President Donald Trump’s new executive order on Venezuelan oil revenue is meant to ensure that the money remains protected from being used in judicial proceedings.
The executive order, made public on Saturday, says that if the funds were to be seized for such use, it could “undermine critical U.S. efforts to ensure economic and political stability in Venezuela.”
The order says the oil revenue is property of Venezuela that is being held by the United States for “governmental and diplomatic purposes” and not subject to private claims.
Its legal underpinnings are the National Emergencies Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Trump, in the order, says the possibility that the oil revenues could be caught up in judicial proceedings constitutes an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the U.S.
I don’t know if the executive order will stand up, though it sounds really thin. I do know that the courts will make the determination, the president doesn’t get to decide what the court is allowed to rule on. And notice also that Trump has said this money will be under his control, this act will shield it from any oversight if accepted.
Rep. Ilhan Omar said she and Reps. Angie Craig and Kelly Morrison were initially permitted to enter the building before being told they were not permitted to tour the facility.
[…]
Members of Congress are permitted to conduct unannounced visits to federal detention facilities as part of their oversight powers over congressionally-appropriated funds. A DC court affirmed this right in a ruling last December
[…]
Craig called the refusal “completely nonsensical.”
The congresswoman said she brought a copy of a DC court ruling to show agents at the facility but that “they said they didn’t care.”
“We were told because this facility is being funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill, not the Congressional Appropriations Act, that we would not be able to enter the facility,”
* Based on MS NOW interviews with the three congresswomen here.
[TV Audio Podcast] Velshi – Trump’s quest for Venezuela’s Oil (17:37 to 37:09)
The scene outside the facility was tense, as a gang of masked federal agents gripped their weapons while standing in front of a crowd of press, protesters, and the members of Congress.
At one point, after things had quieted slightly, an agent, without any provocation, pepper-sprayed two journalists while driving out of the federal building parking lot.
@419 StevoR “Your choice of descriptions … is obscene, probably defamatory …”
(My full text @#419 reads : “Your choice of descriptions wrongly and without any justification using “killer” in front of her (Kamala’s – ed) name is obscene, probably defamatory and utterly false and anyone can tell they are Megaparsecs apart in ethics and on the scale of good to evil with Kamala at the good end and Trump at its furthest ethical opposite. You call her a “killer” yet refuse to note and accept and call out Trump as a genocidaire and only attack the Democratic party and its leaders as your focus and that says everything we need to know about you and your real politics here.” Note the amount of material and key points omitted & unaddressed by #56. beholder.
I’m glad I live in a nation with at least some worthwhile protections for speech, instead of the unending nightmare under Stevo’s absolute rulership where I would be thrown in prison for my doubleplusungood crimethink.
Glad to see that compulsive liar, convicted serial killer, Russian agent fired for gross incompetence and person most notorious for their regularly indulging in public necrophilia during funerals and cremations “beholder” thinks that making up and saying absolutely anything about anyone without any regards to its veracity is totally cool and acceptable.
(No one really needs a sarc tag for this do they? Okay, maybe beholder & Silentbob do?)
Sorry Lynnna – I hope you see my point in how I’ve written and phrased that above. Subtlety does not work with the likes of “beholder” altho’ I hope even they might understand it when put in that form. Most of what I said about “beholder” there is a joke although obviously we do not know for sure that all of it is untrue & it is certainly a more humorous and accurate joke and less absurd than labelling former Democratic Presidential Nominee Harris a “killer.” *
Of course, it is obviously untrue that I am any sort of “absolute ruler”, I don’t have any power here other than commenting & expressing my views let lone much elsewhere or that I would imprison “beholder” merely for their thoughts.
What we do know as a matter of factual record now is that Kamala Harris has NOT killed anyone nor sexually abused them and that Trump is a convicted felon and known rapist who is responsible for millions of deaths and incalculable human suffering.
Yet “beholder” supported Trump in reality voting for him & Fascism over the non-Fascist Democratic party and “beholder” views Kamala Harris who, again, has committed no crimes and seems like a perfectly reasonable, rational and decent human being especially compared with Trump as being equally “irredeemably evil”** as he is! How absolutely ludicrous is that!?
.* Before beholder or anyone else tries to argue it, NO Kamala is NOT responsible for what Netanyahu chose to do in Gaza. Kamala particularly never had any power over the Israeli PM or the Israeli govt that she and Biden criticised, begged to show restraint and withheld some weapons from.
Beholder & ilk literally thinks a confirmed utterly evil, racist, misogynist, rapist, literal nazi responsible for millions of human individuals dying is equally as bad as the person who was chosen to oppose him by the majority of the members & the former POTUS of the relatively left wing progressive, ONLY DAMN alternative you have party in the fouled up, stinking sewer of a political system the USoA has (& DO FN reform it ASAP FFS!!!) & we have to put up with their bulldust? Really? Sigh.
Sure wish the collapse of the USA wouldn’t take everything and everyone on the planet down so horribly far with it.
Especially when it was so avoidable if everyone there who could’ve done so had just voted for Kamala. United behind and supported her 100% & condemned and refuted and rejected every evil, thoughtless wilfully ignorant klown that did not until they did.
Worst & most consequential nation~wide, ethical, rationality test FAIL ever.
Albeit again, Kamala did win but was robbed by voter suppression and very likely also by Musk too.
Do people in the USA know how much they are globally detested & viewed with contempt by the rest of the planet that they have screwed up by this for this and more?
I doubt it.
I so wish good Americans would do something about this but I really do not know or see what they can do now given their disgrace of a governance system.
Wish I had something to offer beyond despair and fury.
That a military coup & reboot seems the very best remaining realistic option is such a condemnation of y’all &, well, give me an alternative to that right now please?
I’d so very much prefer it.
What is it?
I doubt there will even be mid terms now. They’ll be rigged AF if there even are.
Congress is as relevant as the ancient Roman Senate under the Ceasars. I.e. NOT at all.
SCOTUS is rigged. (Yay those who opposed HRC in 2016 – you misogynist scumbags. Berniebros – who did NOT listen to Bernie when he said “Vote HRC.” Will future historians say that’s when the USA really died? Perhaps. Thanks Stein. Thanks Nader for 2000 too. Ya could’ve had POTUS Al Gore. But, again, the absolute stinking, overflowing sewer of a USA political system & EC.)
Civil War? Too likely & too horrendous to contemplate and too many good people who don’t deserve to will die. Quite possibly without the best or even just relatively better result with it. Quite possibly with the very worst of the worst “winning.”
Taking so much else planet wide with it.
I am so angry. I .. no words suffice..
Rest of our lives. Rest of our futures. Children’s futures, grandchildren’s futures, great x infinite grandchildren’s futures..
For everyone. On our shared Pale Blue Dot that, for now, has two ice caps at each pole but won’t for too much longer.
Look at trends and the screaming graphs and just ..
Dunno what.
Get a time machine, make Gore win, make HRC win, make Kamala win.. somehow.
Our luck it’d be a different better alternative timeline anyhow.
So what do we (?) do in this one where we all actually live?
Our best.
Wise-est.
Kindest.
Please.
What else can we do?
KGsays
Washington did not sign on to join a multinational force for Ukraine, raising concerns about its level of commitment. The offer of a free-trade deal could act as an additional incentive for the U.S. to remain committed to protecting Ukraine after the end of the war. – Lynna, OM@42 quoting Politico
Zelenskyy needs to rename Kyiv after Trump.
birgerjohanssonsays
After the shooting. The 80-year era of American greatness is over.
StevoR, regarding the extended disagreement up-thread, I think it may be best to ignore the posts of beholder and Silentbob at this point.
I doubt that anything other than increasing insults will result from engagement. Let’s tone it down and let The Infinite Thread roll on without giving attention to those trying to inflame the situation.
“Noem Says ‘Hundreds More’ Agents Will Be Sent to Minnesota”
The homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said she will send “hundreds more” federal agents to Minneapolis “today and tomorrow” to support the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Noem made the remarks in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, days after an ICE agent shot and killed a protestor, Renee Good, in the city. Noem cited a major welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota that rocked the state as the reason for the surge in federal law enforcement in the liberal city, characterizing the deployment as a mission “to uncover the true corruption and theft that has happened.”
In a heated exchange on CNN, the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem defended her previous remark that Renee Good, who was shot and killed by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis, had engaged in “an act of domestic terrorism” and that Good had attempted to “run over” agents with a vehicle. Noem claimed everything she said “has been proven to be factual,” but her statements conflict with The New York Times video analysis of the killing, which appears to show that Good was turning away from the federal officer as he opened fire.
That order, put into effect Thursday by the Trump administration and revealed in court late Saturday, forces lawmakers to seek a week’s advance notice before conducting oversight visits to ICE facilities. That new policy appears to explain a conflict that unfolded Saturday, when three House Democrats from Minnesota were denied entry
[…]
A federal judge rejected a nearly identical policy last month, noting that federal spending laws require unrestricted congressional visits to ICE detention facilities without advanced notice, a key part of congressional oversight responsibilities.
In her new order, Noem said she disagreed with the decision of U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb. But she said she would work around it by using only funds from a separate law—the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—to manage congressional visits, sidestepping the restrictions contained in annual spending laws.
[…]
The three lawmakers had not been informed of the new policy when they went to visit […] [Rep. Angie Craig] presented the December court ruling to the agents at the facility, but “they refused to look at it,” she said on MS NOW. “I informed them that they were violating the law. They said they didn’t care.”
In the lawsuit requiring ICE to provide access, the Trump admin made rumbles about raising this argument. Looks like they’re leaning in. I find it very difficult to believe that they have perfectly avoided commingling funds in the custody operations account.
For context, the appropriations provision which bars ICE from turning away members of Congress from detention centers is only contained in the annual appropriations bill, and limits it to “funds made available … by this act.” So ICE is arguing that if they only use OBBBA funds, it doesn’t apply.
None of the funds […] made available to [DHS] by this Act may be used to prevent any of the following persons from entering […] Nothing in this section may be construed to require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “Trump’s signature reconciliation bill […] was rammed through with zero significant debate and virtually no democratic involvement at all. I do not think that bill ever would have included any oversight of ICE.”
Peter Orlowicz (Admin law attorney): “Oh, NOW the language in appropriations acts matters, huh?”
birgerjohanssonsays
AnimarchyHistory:
“Operation Just BeCause:
A Full Breakdown on Venezuela and Maduro’s Capture” – an angry and sarcastic Australian milblogger provides his take.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=AxgNGiuxly0
Erich von Däniken has died.
Good times.
Thank you Mordred for the information.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Comment 87 had a truncated link. This one works.
Maximilien Robespierre – Expert SCHOOLS Trump Supporter On Greenland! (7:54)
* It’s only a slightly trimmed version of the original, with Robespierre nodding along.
Host: What you’re saying is, “This is the deal that’s done. This is what’s going to happen.” Do the people of Greenland have a choice in all of this?
Carla Sands (Fmr Trump Ambassador): Of course Greenlanders have a voice in all this, but here’s the problem. Denmark has been gaslighting them. They now have Stockholm syndrome. Because Denmark has been saying America is bad ever since they got a whiff that president Trump thought that they couldn’t secure Greenland. They’ve been filling the heads of these poor Greenlanders with all kinds of terrible stories.
The host asked whether Greenlanders have a CHOICE. Guess not.
birgerjohanssonsays
Musk makes horrible sexualised AI images a lotalty test, due to become a diplomatic problem between USA and UK.
Thank you! My unwieldy fingers pushed the wrong tangents.
You know, any goddamn Trump follower who supports this should be forced to serve in a re-opened Greenland base (there are lots of them from the cold war).
birgerjohanssonsays
Scientists call for ‘systems reset’ to redefine sustainable development
Trump’s ‘Superstar’ Appellate Judges Have Voted 133 to 12 in His Favor
“President Trump promised to fill the appeals courts with ‘my judges.’
[…] Trump has found a powerful but obscure bulwark in the appeals court judges he appointed during his first term. They have voted overwhelmingly in his favor when his administration’s actions have been challenged in court in his current term, a New York Times analysis of their 2025 records shows.
Time and again, appellate judges chosen by Mr. Trump in his first term reversed rulings made by district court judges in his second, clearing the way for his policies and gradually eroding a perception early last year that the legal system was thwarting his efforts to amass presidential power.
When Mr. Trump criticized a ruling from a so-called “Obama judge” in 2018, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. responded that “we do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.”
But the data suggests that in the 13 appellate courts, there is increasingly such a thing as a Trump judge. The president’s appointees voted to allow his policies to take effect 133 times and voted against them only 12 times. Ninety-two percent of their total votes were in favor of the administration. That figure far outstrips support for Mr. Trump’s agenda from appeals court judges appointed by other Republican presidents, and from Mr. Trump’s appointees to the district courts.
The Times analyzed every judicial ruling on Mr. Trump’s second-term agenda, from Jan. 20 to Dec. 31 of last year, or more than 500 orders issued across 900 cases. About half of rulings at the appellate level were in Mr. Trump’s favor — better than his performance with the district courts, though worse than his record at the Supreme Court, where the rulings on his agenda have almost all been on a preliminary basis in response to emergency applications.
[…] The correlation between ideology and voting among judges in the Times analysis extended beyond those appointed by Mr. Trump. Appellate judges appointed by Democratic presidents voted against Mr. Trump’s agenda 73 percent of the time, compared to 32 percent of the time by appellate judges appointed by Republicans.
But the impact of Mr. Trump’s appeals judges on his own agenda has been hard to overstate, given the glut of litigation over the president’s expansive executive actions and the pushback they have encountered from district court judges.
[…] Mr. Trump’s appellate appointees allowed him to deploy the National Guard in cities over the objections of state and local leaders. They delayed for more than six months a judge’s inquiry into why planes carrying Venezuelan immigrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador did not turn around, despite a court order. They signed off on the withholding of millions of dollars in federal funds from public school districts.
Changes to the judicial confirmation process have made it easier for more ideologically extreme judges to win Senate approval. Mr. Trump has nominated judges who are aligned with his maximalist view of presidential power, part of a long-running conservative project to concentrate more authority within the White House. And a trio of Trump appellate appointees in Washington, where many lawsuits over the administration’s agenda have been filed, have voted for a large number of rulings in his favor.
Mr. Trump has also taken an unusually active role in trying to shape judicial behavior.
He has called judges who ruled against his administration “radical” and “lunatic.” He has praised judges who rule the way he wants, calling them “highly respected” and “brilliant.”ve formed a nearly united phalanx to defend his agenda from legal challenges.
[…] When Mr. Trump’s policies are temporarily blocked by district court judges, appeals courts can issue “administrative stays,” temporary rulings that effectively reverse the lower court’s orders and let contested policies take effect. Administrative stays are supposed to be temporary but can remain in place for weeks or even months. In many cases, they are replaced by a more lasting stay, known as a “stay pending appeal,” that remains in place while the appellate court considers the case.
The Times analysis tracked both kinds of stays, as well as the final rulings that appellate courts made after considering arguments from both sides.
Mr. Trump’s nominees sided with him consistently across all three kinds of rulings, voting in his favor 97 percent of the time on administrative stays, 88 percent of the time on stays pending appeal, and 100 percent of the time on final rulings.
[…] the appeals courts — which handle more than 40,000 cases annually — are powerful gatekeepers that serve as the main check on district court judges. And the legal precedents they set are binding on the individual circuits they oversee. […]
birgerjohanssonsays
The actor Derek Martin has died at 92.
He was in several Doctor Who episodes and in the soap opera Eastenders.
“Anthropic’s new offerings allow users and providers to work with medical data, mimicking similar moves by OpenAI.”
Anthropic announced a new suite of health care and life sciences features Sunday, enabling users of its Claude artificial intelligence platform to share access to their health records to better understand their medical information.
The launch comes just days after rival OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Health, signaling a broader push by major AI companies into health care, a field seen as both a major opportunity and a sensitive testing ground for generative AI technology.
Both tools will allow users to share information from health records and fitness apps, including Apple’s Health app, to personalize health-related conversations. At the same time, the expansion comes amid heightened scrutiny over whether AI systems can safely interpret medical information and avoid offering harmful guidance.
Claude’s new health records functions are available now in beta for Pro and Max users in the U.S., while integrations with Apple Health and Android Health Connect are rolling out in beta for Pro and Max plan subscribers in the U.S. this week. Users must join a waitlist to access OpenAI’s ChatGPT Health tool.
[…] Anthropic emphasized privacy protections around its new offerings. In a blog post accompanying Sunday’s launch, the company said health data shared with Claude is excluded from the model’s memory and not used for training future systems. In addition, users “can disconnect or edit permissions at any time,” Anthropic said.
Anthropic also announced new tools for health care providers and expanded its Claude for Life Science offerings that focus on improving scientific discovery.
Anthropic said its platform now includes a “HIPAA-ready infrastructure” — referring to the federal law governing medical privacy — and can connect to federal health care coverage databases, the official registry of medical providers and other services […]
These new features could help automate time-consuming tasks such as preparing prior authorization requests for specialist care and supporting insurance appeals by matching clinical guidelines to patient records.
[…] The rollout comes after months of increased scrutiny of AI chatbots’ role in dispensing mental health and medical advice. On Thursday, Character.AI and Google agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging their AI tools contributed to worsening mental health among teenagers who died by suicide.
Anthropic, OpenAI and other leading AI companies caution that their systems can make mistakes and should not be substitutes for professional judgment. [!]
Anthropic’s acceptable use policy requires that “a qualified professional … must review the content or decision prior to dissemination or finalization” when Claude is used for “healthcare decisions, medical diagnosis, patient care, therapy, mental health, or other medical guidance.”
“[…] We’re not claiming that you can completely remove the human from the loop. We see it as a tool to amplify what the human experts can do.”
Hours after the Senate voted to advance the war powers resolution rebuking the White House’s current and future actions in Venezuela, President Donald Trump placed “angry” calls to each of the five Republicans who crossed the aisle […]
Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Todd Young, R-Ind., voted with Democrats to require the administration to get congressional approval for future military action in Venezuela.
Thursday’s vote was a procedural motion, and it advances the legislation to a full Senate vote that will require a simple majority.
Soon after the vote, Trump threatened each senator with primary challenges, vowing to unseat them, the people said. […]
Trump said on Truth Social after Thursday’s vote that all five senators “should never be elected to office again.”
“This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief,” he wrote. “In any event, and despite their ‘stupidity,’ the War Powers Act is Unconstitutional, totally violating Article II of the Constitution, as all Presidents, and their Departments of Justice, have determined before me.” […]
Poland’s nationalist President Karol Nawrocki on Friday sided with his ally U.S. President Donald Trump to veto legislation on enforcing the EU’s social media law, which is hated by the American administration.
Trump and his top MAGA officials condemn the EU’s Digital Services Act — which seeks to force big platforms like Elon Musk’s X, Facebook, Instagram to moderate content — as a form of “Orwellian” censorship against conservatives and right-wingers.
The presidential veto stops national regulators in Warsaw from implementing the DSA and sets Nawrocki up for a a clash with centrist pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Tusk’s parliamentary majority passed the legislation introducing the DSA in Poland. […]
Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot has drawn outrage and calls for investigation after being used to flood X with “undressed” images […] However, that’s not the only way people have been using the AI […] Grok’s website and app, which are are separate from X, include sophisticated video generation that is not available on X and is being used to produce extremely graphic, sometimes violent, sexual imagery […] It may also have been used to create sexualized videos of apparent minors. Unlike on X, where Grok’s output is public by default, images and videos created on the Grok app or website using its Imagine model are not shared openly. If a user has shared an Imagine URL, though, it may be visible to anyone.
Warning: Descriptions of that content at the link.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned on Saturday that Tehran could carry out preemptive strikes against Israel and U.S. military assets in the region, sharply escalating rhetoric as tensions rise across the Middle East.
Speaking during a session of parliament broadcast live on Iranian state television, Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Israel — which he referred to as “the occupied territory” — as well as U.S. military centers, bases and ships would be considered “legitimate targets” in the event of an attack on Iran, according to media reports.
“We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action,” Qalibaf said. “We will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”
The remarks followed media accounts that U.S. President Donald Trump had been presented with military options for a possible strike on Iran, though no final decision had been made. Trump has warned Tehran that Washington would intervene if protesters were killed in the ongoing demonstrations across Iran.
“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before,” Trump posted on Truth Social late Saturday, adding that the U.S. “stands ready to help.”
Israel is on high alert for the possibility of any U.S. intervention in Iran, Reuters reported. […]
It is a HUGE but faint supernova remnant that is 10° across and encloses most of Orion. It is theoretically visible to the naked eye. Preliminary dating puts It at roughly the same time as a supernova event that left decay radionucleids in sediment.
President Trump’s call for Sen. Susan Collins (R) to be ousted in November tossed a monkey wrench into the high-stakes Maine Senate race, raising further questions about the GOP’s most vulnerable incumbent and whether she will be able to pull off another high-wire act in the blue-leaning state this year.
“There were a lot of people shaking their heads and a lot of eye rolls,” one Senate Republican said of the reaction in the conference to the attack on Collins. “[You] probably ought [to] not take on the chair of Appropriations, who’s a little bit pissed off about not getting regular-order appropriations done. And now you’re s—ing on her on this sort of stuff?”
Senate GOP leaders have long been protective of Collins, a Maine centrist who has frequently drawn Trump’s ire, given what both sides readily acknowledge: Collins is the lone Republican who can win the seat next year. Without her, the seat is likely lost for good, similar to what Democrats experienced in Montana and West Virginia in recent years.
That protectiveness extended to recent days after a furious Trump said that Collins and four colleagues “should never be elected to office again,” prompting top Republicans to rush to her side to give her backup in the midst of the latest dust-up. Trump also went so far as to call Collins directly to voice his displeasure in what was described as a “profanity-laced rant,” according to two sources.
Trump’s handlers are moving in to smooth things over and keep him from doing anything more. No telling if that will work, the people trying to keep him on a coherent path have not had much success recently.
The Republican’s margin in the Senate is not so big that they can afford to lose any votes and if Collin’s decides not to run or gets pressured by Trump the state is far more likely to go Democrat.
That Trump called her to rant at her is a sign he is losing what little self control he had and is more concerned with Republicans being loyal to him then strategic planning. If he was more organized about what he is doing I would say he isn’t concerned with Congress votes go down the road but Trump isn’t on some cunning plan for dictatorial power. Despite some people behind him that are thinking along those lines, Trump isn’t. Trump is more like Mussolini, stumbling his way to power by ignoring precedent and law at whim and daring people to stop him.
JMsays
@103 birgerjohansson: FIFA is one of the most corrupt organizations around. They are only tolerated because it’s soccer, not industry and they do keep the games honest even if they are entirely corrupt. FIFA mostly likes Trump because he is the sort of person they can deal with. That they will get backstabbed at idle whim at some point because Trump has the memory of goldfish and the ethics of a warlord has not occurred to them yet.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Mark Chadbourn (Journalist): “Iran has been offline for 60 hours. […] The Iranian regime is now jamming Starlink. They don’t want the world to see the atrocities they’re unleashing.”
The Trump administration is preparing for possible cyber attacks against Iran to punish the regime […] The US president has been presented with military options to attack but has been warned by officials that it is too early.
US media reported that officials would on Tuesday give Mr Trump options for a number of non-lethal measures, including amplifying anti-government criticism online and deploying secretive cyber weapons against Iranian military and civilian sites.
[…]
Commanders in the region have told officials that they need to “consolidate US military positions and prepare defences” before carrying out any military strikes against security services
[…]
The Trump administration is also considering sending Starlink terminals to Iran
* The regime presumably exempts itself from the power/internet blackouts. So cyber attacks would have viable targets.
* An earlier comment noted, “Musk is allowing Khamenei to tweet out vile propaganda”. I assume Khamenei is in Iran. There was a flee-to-Moscow contingency plan I haven’t heard carried out.
“Silence, 9s; a 10 is speaking!”
“I’m an 11 but please continue”
beholdersays
@94 birger
Perovskite solar cells maintain 95% of power conversion efficiency after 1,100 hours at 85°C with new molecular coating
Someone’s looking for grant money. It’s not as impressive of a headline when you realize 1,100 hours is a little less than 46 days, and you compare that to the typical residential solar panel, which degrades to 95% performance after 10 years.
There are critical ways to support Iranian protesters other than using the US military:
– ramp up internet censorship circumvention tools
– lift the visa ban on Iranians seeking asylum in US
– diplomacy to rally int’l condemnation (but harder to do with US pulling out of democracy/human rts orgs)
beholdersays
@110 Sky Captain
It’s cute that you think America gives a shit about the Iranian people. Our ruling class only cares about installing a compliant puppet regime (Shah 2.0) and plundering their resources.
birgerjohanssonsays
JM@ 106
Agreed, but John Cleese is a comedian. The corruption of FIFA is known even in Britain. You might say DJT runs on FIFA principles, only dumber.
.
Beholder @ 109
True, but a step on the road. I did not expect a world-altering technology to emerge next week.
birgerjohanssonsays
Dang. Who would have tought typing at 02 local time would result in typos and other mistakes.
.
Hossenfelder alert
“This is why I believe that the future already exists”
This is weird. It is essentially Slaughterhouse Five but without the ability to re-experience the good times.
The trolls of Discworld had a better explanation. We can see the past but not the future because we are travelling through time backwards!
(pause)
I re-watched the video. The future is determined by the decisions we make in the present, so – if you introduce quantum ‘wiggling’ at that point – the future is not predetermined. I think. Maybe…
birgerjohanssonsays
Russia’s Troop Strategy Isn’t Working Anymore” (the interesting part begins at ca. 8 minutes in)
It seems that if you send infantry on foot, the drone hit mortality rate approaches 100 %. And armoured troop carriers simply aren’t viable anymore.
birgerjohanssonsays
Re. @ 115.
With a kill rate approaching 1 K per day, the Russian efforts to grow the army by recruiting are getting less successful. And considering that this year only led to the conquest of ca. 1% of Ukraine … Putin’s contempt for the lives of his own soldiers is not a successful strategy.
I am not adressing the slow erosion of the Russian economy here, it would take pages.
whheydtsays
Re: birgerjohansson @ #116…
It’s frequently over 1K per day. As for the economy, one of the jokes that goes around is that Ukraine is applying “kinetic sanctions” to the Russian oil export business.
Federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve’s $2.5 billion renovation of its headquarters in Washington, DC.
In an extraordinary video posted by Powell on Sunday night, he called the investigation “pretext” resulting from his ongoing struggle with the administration over interest rates, saying it was a consequence of broader “threats and ongoing pressure” by the administration.
Powell knows exactly where this is going and why. It’s just putting pressure on Powell or likely more importantly whoever comes after. Powell’s term is up soon but the Fed Chair is a job Trump will have trouble getting a flunky through Congress. Trump wants to make clear that he should have a hand in Federal Reserve decisions to whoever comes next.
The accusation itself seems silly, the project is big and for a huge federal project not that far over cost. There are likely arguments to be made that costs should be controlled better but nothing to suggest personal responsibility by Powell and Trump’s White House project would be vastly further over budget except they have not published an exact plan at all.
In some ways this whole thing seems like power going to Trump’s head. Since capturing Maduro, Trump seems to feel like he can implement every idea and project he has at once. This is something Trump has been considering for some time but gave up last year because Powell was close to the end of his term, no chance of getting him removed from office before then anyways. Now suddenly he is opening a huge investigation clearly aimed at Powell.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Aaron Rupar: “Trump posts that he’s ‘Acting President of Venezuela’ [Screenshot]”
Rando: “This will just make it easier for [Delcy Rodríguez] to rally Venezuelans and paramilitary gangs around hunting down and killing or kidnapping anyone with ties to America or the opposition.”
[The US] Announced last week […] RSV shots are now recommended only for high-risk babies, instead of all infants. […] [Pregnant people can get the shot instead—some countries recommend that—but in the US, only 1/3rd do.]
[…]
The vast majority (81%) of babies hospitalized with RSV have no underlying conditions. Giving the shot only to children with existing health issues will “miss a large majority of the potential cases” […] “That’s very concerning, and that’s why a universal recommendation was made,”
[*snip*: very effective. RSV’s the most common hospitalization for under 5yos.]
While officials have said the restricted shots will still be available through Medicaid and other federal programs, experts worry that could change
[…]
There’s also another complication […] It’s not clear exactly which children are now recommended to get the RSV shot. “There’s no defined ‘high risk’,” […] Because of the high hospitalization rate for babies with no preexisting conditions, simply being an infant should make them eligible for the shot
birgerjohanssonsays
ABC_explainer:
“Every Sacred Text That Was Too Dark to Survive — Explained”
Why the EU Finally Approved its Trade Deal with South America
(Meanwhile, Britain is taking baby steps towards greater integration after Boris Johnson blew up everything)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=z3fbqYyopIE
As DJT continues the tariff idiocy, he makes other nations slowly but surely building alternatives to trade with USA.
birgerjohanssonsays
Beitaun: Farage raging at new EU deal
“The “Farage Clause” Has Reform UK In a Twist” 😀
It’s cute that you think America gives a shit about the Iranian people. Our ruling class only cares about installing a compliant puppet regime (Shah 2.0) and plundering their resources. – beholder@112
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain@108 (not 110 – #110 was a comment from you) did not say anything that suggests they think America gives a shit about the Iranian people. Why not try reading what is written?
KGsays
Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned on Saturday that Tehran could carry out preemptive strikes against Israel and U.S. military assets in the region, sharply escalating rhetoric as tensions rise across the Middle East. – Lynna, OM@102 quoting politico
In other news, my Jack Russell terrier barked at two rottweillers today. But she had the sense to do it from a safe distance and while they were on leads.
“When Brendan Carr said, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” it sparked a controversy. It was no better when the president used the same phrase.”
Related video at the link.
In the recent past, we might have expected to see foreign critics referring to the United States as a “predator” nation, a label many Americans would have seen as insulting.
But last week, Republican Rep. Andy Ogles appeared on Fox Business, where the scandal-plagued congressman described the U.S. “the dominant predator” in the Western Hemisphere — and he meant it as a compliment. [!]
The larger question, however, is whether Donald Trump shares his perspective. [video]
At a White House event on Friday, ostensibly about domestic oil companies and Venezuela, the president took the opportunity to share some fresh thoughts about his crusade to acquire Greenland, including his insistence that his administration intends to “do something” on the Arctic island, “whether they like it or not.”
The Republican added that he likes Denmark, but “The fact that they had a boat land [on Greenland] 500 years ago doesn’t mean they own the land. I’m sure we had lots of boats go there also.” (As Trump probably ought to know, the United States didn’t exist 500 years ago.)
My favorite moment was when the president said, “If we don’t take Greenland, you’re going to have Russia or China as your next-door neighbor. That’s not going to happen.” [video]
It was a comment that suggested (a) he doesn’t know that Russia or China couldn’t seize Greenland without triggering a NATO response; (b) Greenland is not the United States’ next-door neighbor; and (c) Russia already is the United States’ next-door neighbor.
But the pièce de résistance was Trump declaring, “I would like to make a deal the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”
In September, when the Trump administration went after late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, the president’s Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, appeared on a far-right podcast and mentioned his agency’s role in granting broadcast licenses. Referring specifically to Kimmel’s monologue related to Charlie Kirk, Carr added, “When we see stuff like this, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Marveling at Carr’s choice of words, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas described Carr’s threats as reminiscent of organized crime. “He says, ‘We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way,” the senator said on his podcast, quoting Carr. “And I’ve got to say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’ That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, ‘Nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it.’”
Four months later, the president is using virtually identical phrasing in pursuit of Greenland.
In November, The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer labeled Trump’s second term as the “mafia presidency,” in which the Republican essentially tells his targets, “If you don’t want to get hurt, you’ll do what I say.” […]
birgerjohanssonsays
New Evidence Reveals Vikings Were in America Much Longer Than We Thought
“If the president is looking to give consumers a break, great. But pretending tweets and laws are the same thing won’t help anyone.”
As Election Day 2024 approached, Donald Trump started throwing around weird promises at a frantic pace. His list of random, poorly thought-out gimmicks offered in the final weeks of the contest included offering free IVF treatments, defraying the costs of child care expenses with imaginary tariff money, cutting consumers’ car insurance bills in half and even eliminating the Department of the Interior for reasons that didn’t make any sense.
But among the deluge of panic-stricken proposals, one stood out for me: In September 2024, the then-candidate declared that he wanted to see a temporary 10% cap on credit card interest rates — an idea he appeared to take seriously for a day or two before quietly dropping it.
Evidently, it’s back. On Friday night, the president published an item to his social media platform that read, in part:
Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be ‘ripped off’ by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%, and even more, which festered unimpeded during the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration. AFFORDABILITY! Effective January 20, 2026, I, as President of the United States, am calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%.
At this point, we could talk about how, if Trump were serious about helping consumers who’ve been ripped off by credit card companies, he could try protecting, instead of destroying, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. [Correct!] We could also talk about the fact that there’s been pending legislation on this for months, which the White House could endorse but hasn’t. [!]
We could even talk about how Joe Biden did a heck of a lot more to help credit card customers than Trump has ever done.
But there’s a more foundational problem to consider: Compelling financial giants to lower their interest rates requires an act of Congress, a regulatory action or both. [!]
[…] Whether the president understands this is an open question. [social media post and video]
Trump spoke briefly with reporters on Sunday night aboard Air Force One, where someone asked him, “The announcement on the cap on credit card interest rates that you put out on Friday, what happens if the credit card companies don’t comply?”
The Republican replied, “Well, then they’re in violation of the law,” adding that those who fail to comply should expect “very severe things.”
Except that’s not how we do things in this country. A president can’t publish a vague and poorly written statement to social media, expressing a policy preference, and then tell a private industry that the missive reflects “the law.” [!]
[…] pretending tweets and laws are the same thing won’t help anyone.
If your headline on the bogus pre-textual “investigation” of the Federal Reserve is indistinguishable from what you would have used for a good old-fashioned political scandal, then you are 100% doing it wrong:
WSJ: U.S. Prosecutors Are Investigating Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
WaPo: Justice Department opens a criminal investigation of Fed chair
NYT: Federal Prosecutors Open Investigation Into Fed Chair Powell
CNN: Federal prosecutors open criminal investigation into the Fed and Jerome Powell
Link.That link leads to a collection of news reports, including a discussion of Powell’s direct and public appeal to financial markets and central bankers to take notice of Trump’s moves to undermine Fed independence.
[…] Powell, originally appointed as Fed chair by Trump, was unabashed in saying that the criminal investigation into his testimony to Congress about renovations to the Feds’ D.C. headquarters is pre-textual, a poorly veiled attempt to muscle the independent Federal Reserve into lowering interest rates in the short term, as Trump wants, and subordinating monetary policy to the political exigencies of the sitting president in the long term. [True]
“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” Powell said. [Well said. Very direct.]
[…] While Powell is the proximate target of this retaliatory criminal investigation, he may not be the ultimate target. Powell’s term as Federal Reserve chairman ends in May, and Trump says he’s already decided on a successor for Powell, though he hasn’t divulged yet whom it will be. As the Wall Street Journal’s Greg Ip notes, the subpoenas are a message to new incoming chair and the other fed governors (Powell’s term as a governor doesn’t end until 2028) that the president has them on a short leash.
Among the details:
– Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte was a “driving force” behind the subpoena, Bloomberg reports. For his part, Pulte said, “I don’t know anything about it, and I would defer (sic) you to the DOJ.”
– “I don’t know anything about it,” Trump told NBC News, using an oft-repeated phrasing that has sometimes proven in the past to be patently false.
– D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro “approved” on the investigation in November, the NYT reports, and prosecutors in her office have made “multiple” document requests of Powell’s staff regarding the renovation project.
– “I will oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed—including the upcoming Fed Chair vacancy—until this legal matter is fully resolved,” Sen. Thom Tillis said on X.
– In a ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge John Chun of Seattle blocked the Trump administration from threatening to withhold federal election funding for states that refuse to alter their voter registration forms or voting systems to comply with a Trump executive order.
The WaPo has a rundown of the many unprecedented ways Trump is trying to manipulate the outcome of the 2026 midterms
The administration has gutted the role of the nation’s cybersecurity agency in protecting elections [! That looks like an invitation for Putin to meddle.];
stocked the Justice Department, Homeland Security Department and FBI from top to bottom with officials who have denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election; given a White House audience to people who, like the president, promote the lie that he won the 2020 election;
sued over state and local election policies that Trump opposes; and called for a new census that excludes noncitizens.
The wide-ranging efforts seek to expand on some of the strategies he and his advisers and allies used to try to reverse the 2020 results that culminated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021
President Trump’s comments were a blunt distillation of his administration’s racial politics, which rest on the belief that white people have become the real victims of discrimination in America.
[…] Speaking to The New York Times on Wednesday, Mr. Trump echoed grievances amplified by Vice President JD Vance and other top officials who in recent weeks have urged white men to file federal complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
When asked whether protections that began in the 1960s, spurred by the passage of the Civil Rights Act, had resulted in discrimination against white men, Mr. Trump said he believed “a lot of people were very badly treated.”
“White people were very badly treated, where they did extremely well and they were not invited to go into a university to college,” he said, an apparent reference to affirmative action in college admissions. “So I would say in that way, I think it was unfair in certain cases.”
He added: “I think it was also, at the same time, it accomplished some very wonderful things, but it also hurt a lot of people — people that deserve to go to a college or deserve to get a job were unable to get a job. So it was, it was a reverse discrimination.” […]
“The Fascist Murders Will Continue Until You Stop Calling Them Fascist Murderers!”
“Faux ‘calls for unity’ on the Sunday shows.”
Last Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer named Jonathan Ross murdered Renee Good in Minneapolis. And as footage has continued to come out contradicting the Trump regime’s lies about what happened that day, the regime has responded by continuing to lie through it, while declaring open season on anyone who protests their fascism.
That continued on the Sunday shows. Let’s dive in.
Kristi Noem
We begin with former South Dakota governor, noted puppy murderer, and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on CNN’s State Of The Union. [video]
Host Jake Tapper began the interview by asking for details about the investigation of the ICE shooting of Renee Good. Tapper asked why the federal government was shutting the local Minnesota police out of the investigation.
Noem wore her condescending face for this interview, and started gaslighting:
NOEM: I would say that these locals, if you look at what Governor [Tim] Walz has said, if you look at what Mayor [Jacob] Frey has said, they have extremely politicized and inappropriately talked about the situation […] They have inflamed the public. […] and I would encourage them to grow up, get some maturity, act like people who are responsible, who want people to be safe and the right thing to be done. [JFC!]
Two things:
– Pretty rich to work for Donald Trump while asking others to “grow up” and act with maturity and responsibility.
– Before we even knew Renee Good’s name (or Jonathan Ross’s), Noem herself was calling Good a “domestic terrorist” while JD Vance whined like a petulant child that people didn’t believe their gaslighting, but were choosing instead to believe their own lying eyes.
Tapper pressed Noem on the stark differences between what Trump officials like herself said happened and all the footage of what actually occurred:
NOEM: Well, everything that I have said has been proven to be factual and the truth. […]
TAPPER: With all due respect, Secretary, […] That’s not what happened. We all saw what happened.
NOEM: It absolutely is what happened.
This continued back-and-forth, with Noem insisting that Good “weaponized” her car by trying to drive away from the Ross as he shot her three times in the face. Tapper again asked how one can assert no ambiguity while no investigation has happened yet. Noem’s reasoning was not very compelling.
NOEM: I had just been in Minneapolis and had been with those officers, had seen what they were facing on the streets every day.
What does being there previously have to do with understanding something that happened afterward? Is she saying she knew her ICE-stapo legion were itchy-triggered cowards looking for a justification to murder people that civilly disobey them?
In footage from his own cell phone, Ross is heard calling Good a “fuckin’ [B-word]” right after he murdered her. Jake Tapper asked Noem about this, and she smirked, played coy and answered, “It could be, sir,” when asked to confirm that it was Ross’s voice. [video]
Her smirk didn’t last long, as Tapper played a video of federal officers being attacked on January 6, leading to this final exchange.
TAPPER: Those are law enforcement officers being physically attacked. By this standard, would any of those officers been justified in shooting and killing the people causing them physical harm?
NOEM: Every single situation is going to rely on the situation those officers are on.
[…] know that, when people are putting hands on them, when they are using weapons against them, when they are physically harming them, that they have the authority to arrest those individuals and make sure that they’re facing consequences […]
TAPPER: The president pardoned every single one of those people.
NOEM: … and — and make sure that they’re getting justice for their actions going forward.
TAPPER: President Trump pardoned every single one of those people.
NOEM: And every single one of these investigations comes in the full context of the situation on the ground. […]
TAPPER: I just showed you video of people attacking law enforcement officers, undisputed proof, undisputed evidence. […] President Trump pardoned all of them. And you said […] Trump is enforcing all the laws equally. It’s just not true. There’s a different standard for law enforcement officials being attacked if they’re being attacked by Trump supporters.
Not the first time Kristi Noem has looked like a complete dumbass on this particular show: [social media post, with video]
[…] Tom Homan
The Border Czar appeared on both NBC’s Meet The Press and Fox News Sunday to angrily chastise everyone for calling murder “murder”: [video]
“The murders will stop when you stop calling us murderers!” is not a very compelling argument. He’s also upset about people calling fascists fascists and terrorists terrorists and Nazis Nazis: [social media post and video]
We’ve also seen these types of fake calls for unity from fascists before. [Screen grab of 1933 newspaper article]
Homan continued this [complaining] on Fox News, arguing that ICE has been around for “40 years” (it hasn’t) while defending ICE’s tactics and training.
A lot of the Trump administration has stressed that Ross is a federal law enforcement veteran and highly experienced, in order to justify the murder he committed. It’s not the flex Trumpers think it is.
According to an NBC News report, Ross was with US Border Patrol from 2007 to 2015, and he joined ICE later that year. Not incidentally, a 2013 CBP-commissioned report by the independent Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) found a disturbing pattern that sounds eerily familiar to us today: [Screen grab of “Use of Force Review” that says, in part, “It appears that CBP practice allows shooting at the driver of any suspect vehicle that comes in the direction of agents. It is suspected that in many vehicle shooting cases, the subject driver was attempting to flee from the agents sho intentionally put themselves into the exit path of the vehicle, thereby exposing themselves to additional risk and creating justification for the use of deadly force.”]
[…] Jonathan Ross may well have done as he was trained to do when he killed Renee Good, but that is the problem. That’s why they have zero remorse when they kill you, call you a “fucking [B-word]” and smear your entire life’s legacy.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Rando: “This is how I find out Alan Greenspan is still alive? He will be one hundred in two months time!”
[Fmr Fed Gov Board Chairs] Bernanke, Yellen, Greenspan, [Treas Secs] Geithner, Lew, Paulson, Rubin, five [Chairs of the Council of Economic Advisors], and a UN economist – Statement on the Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve’s independence and the public’s perception of that independence are critical for economic performance […] The reported criminal inquiry into Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell is an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine that independence. This is how monetary policy is made in emerging markets with weak institutions, with highly negative consequences for inflation and the functioning of their economies more broadly.
Rando 1: “Having all the living Fed chairmen yell at you collectively sure is an accomplishment.”
Ryan Beckwith (MS NOW): “For those who don’t follow the Fed closely, this is a sick burn and basically the meanest thing they would ever say while still using their hard-to-parse Fed-ese language.”
Rando 2 (evergreen tweet from 2021): “American *sees something American happening americanly in America*: What are we, a bunch of ASIANS?!?!???”
Trump has attempted to fire Lisa Cook. Chairman Powell has not said anything in her defense as of this writing. The Federal Reserve Board has given this [weak and anodyne] statement […] The Federal Reserve’s official statement doesn’t even come close to suggesting that the allegations are false or a pretext. […] Powell already made the critical error of “hanging separately” from the rest of the administrative state. […] He seems to have made the choice for each governor of the Federal Reserve to now hang separately from each other. Powell will, in turn, hang both separately and alone.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
PZ’s post mentioned hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman promoted and donated $10k to a GoFundMe for the killer of Renee Good. I added in the comments that the GFM is worse and dumber than reported.
A record-high 45% of U.S. adults identified as political independents in 2025, surpassing the 43% measured in 2014, 2023 and 2024. Meanwhile, equal shares of U.S. adults — 27% each — identified as either Democrats or Republicans.
Several interesting things going on here. The obvious one is the portion of the population that is registering Democratic continues to go down. The younger generations are going independent while older people are more likely to be in a party. The number of independents that say they lean Democratic is going up and the portion leaning Republican going down. This says that even if people are voting against Trump they are not fans of the Democratic party and the party will have to work to keep their votes long term.
In addition to asking Americans for their party identification and leanings, Gallup asks respondents in each survey to describe their political views using a scale ranging from very liberal to very conservative. As usual, more Americans in 2025 described their views as “very conservative” or “conservative” (35%) than as “very liberal” or “liberal” (28%), with 33% identifying as “moderate.” However, the seven-point conservative advantage over liberals in 2025 is the smallest Gallup has measured in annual averages dating back to 1992. It is only the third time the conservative lead has been less than 10 points.
There has been a slow but steady shift with more people identifying as liberal. Breaking it down by party it becomes clear that the Republicans have slightly moved towards identifying as conservative but the Democrats have sharply moved towards identifying as liberal. Among independents is hard to see any move even though more are saying they will vote Democratic.
Robert McBride, 64, a Justice prosecutor and former Navy lawyer, was brought into the prominent satellite office of the Justice Department to serve as first assistant to U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan and took a more prominent role as her status was in question and after a judge ruled in late November that she was not legally appointed to run the office.
McBride, a prosecutor and former supervisor in a U.S. attorney’s office in Kentucky, had been asked in recent days to run the Comey case, and told top Justice officials he felt it would be difficult to do that and also run the office, according to the people.
If they keep this up and the courts stick with forcing Halligan out they Eastern District may not be able to function at all. That would be a significant and unusual problem.
Halligan had also recently learned that McBride held private meetings with federal judges in the Eastern District of Virginia, according to a source familiar with McBride’s removal.
And there you have it. Likely McBride was making a case for the judges to do their duty and appoint him to fill the office. The Trump officials won’t tolerate that sort of undermining their authority even if it follows the law. It would be really funny if the judges go ahead and appoint McBride.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Commentary on 141.
Trump said the civil rights movement resulted in white people being “very badly treated.”
Lindsay Beyerstein (Journalist): “Trump and his father were busted by the DOJ for refusing to rent to Black people. They were guilty but they avoided responsibility by aggressively litigating. It was one of the formative experiences of his life.”
A photo of a polar bear accompanies this Borowitz Report.
NUUK, GREENLAND (The Borowitz Report)—In a friendly gesture by Greenland, on Monday a special envoy from the territory offered to meet White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
“Our envoy has expressed a strong desire for face-time with Mr. Miller,” said Greenlandic government spokesman Hartvig Dorkelson. “He’d like to meet Mrs. Miller as well.”
The spokesman did not elaborate on logistics for the meeting, saying only that it would “most likely involve lunch.”
“If the meeting goes well, we hope it will whet our envoy’s appetite for other members of the Trump administration,” Dorkelson said. “We would enthusiastically welcome JD Vance.”
“Confronted with dreadful news, the Republican did what he tends to do on economic matters: He played make-believe.”
On Friday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest employment report, and the news was deeply discouraging. Hours later, Donald Trump was asked for his reaction.
At that point, the president had a few options: He could’ve dodged the question. He also could’ve asked for Americans’ patience and argued there are better days ahead. He could’ve tried to make excuses for his failures.
But the president did none of these things. At a White House event, Trump instead did what he tends to do on economic matters: Trump played make-believe. [social media post, with video]
When a reporter asked for his response to the data, the president said the deeply discouraging jobs report was “amazing,” adding that the “employment numbers are very good.”
That’s demonstrably ridiculous.
I’m mindful of the fact that Trump doesn’t appear to know very much about economic policy or recent history, but White House officials have described him as a “visual learner,” so I’ve updated a chart showing job growth by year since the Great Recession, with red columns representing Republican administrations and blue columns representing Democratic administrations. [chart]
That small red column on the right side of the image? That’s 2025, when the U.S. job market added 584,000 jobs for the whole year. That might sound like a decent number until you compare it to recent history: In 2024, when Trump said the economy was terrible, job growth topped two million. A year earlier, the total was almost 2.6 million jobs.
I saw some headlines on Friday that told the public that 2025 was the worst for U.S. job creation since the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s true, but it understates matters. If we exclude 2020 because of the havoc Covid wreaked on the global economy, the first year of Trump’s second term was the worst for job creation since 2009.
What’s more, if we exclude years in which the economy fell into recession, 2025 was the worst year for U.S. jobs since 2003.
For American workers, this is awful, but for the president’s political standing, it’s a disaster: Trump spent the 2024 election season assuring voters that he’d deliver an economic “boom,” starting on “Day One” of his second term.
Trump, after having failed spectacularly to deliver on those promises, has tried to rebrand failure as “amazing.” No one should be fooled by such nonsense.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) sued Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Monday for directing the U.S. Navy to “reconsider” his rank and pay grade.
Hegseth’s retribution followed Kelly’s participation in a video reminding members of the military that they cannot follow illegal orders. While other lawmakers were also featured, Kelly — with his possible presidential ambitions and military pension — became the administration’s target.
Kelly is suing Hegseth for both constitutional and statutory violations, including infringement on his freedom of speech.
“It appears that never in our nation’s history has the Executive Branch imposed military sanctions on a Member of Congress for engaging in disfavored political speech,” the lawsuit said.
It warned that the administration’s attempt to punish Kelly signals “to retired service members and Members of Congress that criticism of the Executive’s use of the armed forces may be met with retaliation through military channels.”
It also makes a separation of powers argument, pointing out that the Executive Branch is using military channels to punish a member of Congress who is charged with overseeing and investigating the president’s use of the armed forces.
The complaint documents President Trump’s prolonged bout of rage-posting on Truth Social after the video was published, accusing the lawmakers of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
Kelly and other members received so many threats that they, their staff and their families were given special security, per the complaint. Kelly himself, it said, “received numerous death threats.”
Kelly is asking for Hegseth’s actions to be declared unlawful, along with a permanent injunction on any future action that would make good on Hegseth’s threats of further criminal and administrative retribution.
“Pete Hegseth wants our longest-serving military veterans to live with the constant threat that they could be deprived of their rank and pay years or even decades after they leave the military just because he or another Secretary of Defense doesn’t like what they’ve said,” Kelly tweeted Monday afternoon. “That’s not the way things work in the United States of America, and I won’t stand for it.”
Read the lawsuit here: [PDF is available at the link]
President Donald Trump on Sunday moved the goalposts in order to defend the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot and killed unarmed protester Renee Good in Minneapolis last Wednesday.
Notably, Trump backed off of his lie that the ICE officer was injured, instead saying the agent was justified in using deadly force because Good was being “disrespectful.” [Disrespectful!? You can be shot in the face for being disrespectful?]
“The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One after being asked if he thought the officer’s use of force was warranted. “You saw that. They were harassing, they were following for days and for hours, and I think, frankly, they’re professional agitators. And I’d like to find out and we are going to find out who’s paying for it, with their brand new signs and all these different things. But these are professional agitators and law enforcement should not be in a position where they have to put up with this stuff. What that woman and what her friend … were doing to law enforcement … is outrageous.” [video]
Of course, Good and her wife were not paid protesters. They were concerned citizens appalled at the immigration raids Trump’s ICE goons are carrying out across the country.
Even putting that aside, being “disrespectful” to law enforcement is not a crime punishable by death in the United States—at least not when the United States is run by a leader who respects the Constitution and isn’t a wannabe dictator hell-bent on hurting anyone who looks or thinks differently.
As Trump shifted his rationale for why it was okay for federal agents to kill unarmed citizens, new videos of ICE’s broader actions in Minneapolis appear to show that officers are using Good’s death to try to deter Minnesotans from filming and protesting their conduct—a sickening escalation that further delves this country into autocracy.
In one recorded interaction, a masked agent with Border Patrol tells a woman in her car to stop following agents and honking her horn, telling her she has a “very high probability of making a really bad decision,” adding that she could “ruin” her life if she continued. That sure sounds like a threat. [Yikes] [Video]
In another video, an agent tells a woman recording his actions, “Listen, have y’all not learned from the past couple of days, have you not learned?” When the woman asks what lesson she is supposed to take, the agent then tries to take her phone away.
And in yet another video, a Border Patrol agent seemingly starts a confrontation with a protester filming ICE’s conduct—something Americans are legally allowed to do thanks to the First Amendment. After the agent forcibly pushes the man away, a group of ICE agents then run up to violently tackle and subdue the man.
It should go without saying that filming ICE’s conduct or protesting their actions is not grounds to be violently manhandled, arrested, or killed.
Yet Republicans continue to excuse ICE’s actions, lining up to defend the agent and Trump’s own policies
“This protesting that goes on, honking of horns, obstructing federal law enforcement should not be tolerated, and it is my hope that our men and women who are in ICE will continue to keep their cool about what they do,” Rep. Pete Sessions, Republican of Texas, said in an interview on Newsmax.
But while Trump and Republicans excuse ICE’s abhorrent behavior, even some law enforcement officers say ICE’s actions are making this country less safe.
“This is what breaks down the trust of law enforcement across the board. Everybody pays a price for what you just saw,” said Chris Swanson, the sheriff of Michigan’s Genesee County and a Democratic candidate for governor. “When you have the authority over people, and it’s used as a weapon, not a tool, it hurts all of us. That’s what’s happened.”
RFK Jr, lecturing a health minister in Germany: “Reports coming out of Germany show a government sidelining patient autonomy and limiting people’s abilities to act on their own convictions when they face medical decisions. That is why I sent a letter to Germany’s Federal Minister of Health, Nina Warken. In my letter, I made it clear that Germany has the opportunity and the responsibility to correct this trajectory, to restore medical autonomy, to end politically motivated prosecutions, and to uphold the rights that anchor every democratic nation.”
German historian Rob Schafer responded: “You seem to be laboring under the delusion that Germany is a colony for your conspiracy theories. Let me be blunt: Your brand of ‘freedom’ — the freedom to die of preventable 19th-century diseases — is an export we have no interest in buying. We established the world’s first universal social healthcare system under Bismarck in 1883. You still do not have anything comparable.” …
“We […] have spent 140 years using state power to defeat disease through science AND solidarity. You, meanwhile, preside over a system where insulin is rationed like gold dust and medical bankruptcy is a national pastime. The fact that you think you have the moral standing to lecture […] is not just arrogant; it is grotesque! Keep your chaos on your side of the Atlantic. Mind your own business.”
[…] According to data compiled by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC):
In 2022, the median White household held $284,310 in wealth, more than six times that of the median Black household at $44,100 and 4 times that of Hispanic households at $62,120. Black households have a wealth gap of 85% compared to White households, and Hispanic households have a wealth gap of 78%.
Gee, I don’t know, but it seems like white people are doing pretty okay! Is it that they just thrive in the face of all of this incredible adversity and “reverse discrimination,” or is it perhaps that there are still lots of white privilege to go around?
When it comes to jobs, we know for a fact that white people have an advantage. People tend to hire people who remind them of themselves (and are more likely to mentor them once they are hired), so given the fact that most people with that power for a very long time were white men, guess who they were hiring? They’re also likely to give more consideration to someone in their fraternity or sorority (still very much majority white, outside of specifically Black Greek organizations) or to the kid of someone they know or golf with.
And while things have improved a bit in this area, a resumé with a white-sounding name on it is still more likely to get a call for an interview than the exact same resumé with a Black name. (Unless that name is difficult to pronounce — swear to God, back when I was unemployed, I didn’t get any responses from places I applied to until I “changed” my last name to Penn, and there are studies backing this up as well. It’s all subconscious bias about the familiar vs. the unfamiliar.)
Oh! And you know who benefits the most from diversity programs, right? White women. So this idea that white people are somehow losing out due to civil rights laws really only makes sense if you believe that white people are inherently entitled to every job on earth.
The idea that, outside of “diversity hires,” everyone who gets a job is always the “most qualified” is straight-up nonsense. Hell, Donald Trump exclusively hires unqualified people that he just happens to like personally. You think Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel got their jobs through “merit”? Really?
[…] the real big irony here is that, for several years now, schools have actually been accepting men at higher rates than women in order to keep a more balanced gender ratio. Right now, women outnumber men at colleges by 40 percent, and that number is going to increase by a lot should the schools abide by Trump’s directive to not consider race or gender in admissions.
The big fear that bigots have always had, with regard to equal rights, is that those they have oppressed will turn around and do the same thing to them, as revenge. Why? Because that is exactly what they would do. In fact, it’s what they’re doing now. They think that if they repeat often enough that they are the real victims of discrimination (indeed, the only victims of discrimination) that eventually everyone will go along with them and they will then be the recipients of all the empathy and goodwill and understanding they believe women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people and others have unfairly siphoned from society. They want their traditional power […]
The only way they see to get their power back is to claim that everyone else is oppressing them. To repeat it ad nauseam to the point that it feels true, even though it obviously isn’t. […]
On the bright side, this still seems completely absurd to most people. But if they’re going to hammer it on their side, we must hammer it on ours as well.
Donald Trump’s mounting threats toward Greenland are irking even his potential allies in Europe.
Jordan Bardella, president of France’s far-right National Rally opposition party, criticized the U.S. president’s pledge to seize the autonomous Danish territory as “a direct challenge to the sovereignty of a European country” in his New Year’s address to the press on Monday.
He also cited the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro as an example of recent U.S. hawkish moves he opposes, warning against “a return to imperial ambitions” and a world in which “the law of the strongest trumps respect of international rules.” […]
Even putting that aside, being “disrespectful” to law enforcement is not a crime punishable by death in the United States—at least not when the United States is run by a leader who respects the Constitution
Border Czar Tom Homan: “We gotta stop the hateful rhetoric. Saying this officer is a murderer is dangerous. It’s just ridiculous. It’s gonna infuriate people more which means there’s gonna be more incidents like this.” [Video clip]
Commentary
“If you call these officers murderers, they are going to murder people in response.”
Nobody would be calling him a murderer if he wasn’t a murderer but murdering someone makes you a murderer so here we are.
They called the murder victim a “domestic terrorist” within hours.
[Video clip] The important thing to remember about this interaction is that cops/ICE can lie to you and you can just call their bluff. They threatened to arrest her multiple times as an intimidation tactic and when she didn’t fold, they just walked away.
Nathaniel Green (History prof):
Notice what this brave woman does. She repeats the truth over and over again. She doesn’t accept the premise that she has to show them anything. She doesn’t have to tell them where she was born. She repeats that she’s a citizen, and doesn’t back down.
Listen to the ICE agent’s hesitation at 1:27. “You realize that if you lie that you’re a U.S. citizen, then it… then you could get, uh, federal charges.” She talks over him, “Minneapolis is my home,” not even letting him finish his sentence.
You can hear him wilt in real time.
Joanne Freeman (Historian): “Note the people honking horns and blowing whistles in the background, making it clear that this was being witnessed by many people.”
Eric Umansky (ProPublica): “There are three immigration officers here. Each of them is wearing a body cam. None of them are on.”
Kevin Kruse (Historian): “the irony of masked agents of the state with no name plates demanding *other* people identify themselves?”
Katie Mack (Cosmologist): And the fact that they’re apparently using a facial recognition app on her (to bypass her refusal to provide ID) while keeping their own faces covered.”
Rando: “The fact that he has a badge on his chest that says “POS” is also beyond parody.”
George (Immigration lawyer): “‘Am I free to leave? Am I under arrest?’ If not, walk away.“
birgerjohanssonsays
Kitten eats salmon with doom music
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=SLEBlJ9DTAI
The next video ought to be a beaver munching on cabbages.
.
Republicans Face a Nightmare Scenario in Iowa as Kari Lake Enters the Senate Race.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=V3g3Cd7TZr4
As Trump wants loyalty above all else he might change his endorsement to her favor.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Minnesota and Illinois are suing to bar federal immigration ops from their regions, but Aaron Reichlin-Melnick says, “given the precedent, I wouldn’t get your hopes up on this”
birgerjohanssonsays
Sinking boreal trees in the deep Arctic Ocean could remove billions of tons of carbon each year
Sky Captain @158, it is surprising how many MAGA cult followers are convinced that Jonathan Ross was provoked into murdering an unarmed woman. And they think it is likely to happen again.
The U.S. has carried out ‘large-scale strikes’ against multiple Islamic State targets in Syria along with partner forces, U.S. Central Command said on Saturday. The attack is a part of an operation launched on Dec. 19, when U.S. forces struck ‘more than 70 targets’ in central Syria as retaliation for the killing of three Americans by an ISIS gunman in early December.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration on Friday from enforcing part of an executive order directing the government to withhold federal election funds to states that do not alter their voting procedures in line with the president’s demands.
Top Border Patrol goon Gregory Bovino stopped at the Midway Target in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday—to use the bathroom. Sadly, the angriest government stooge had to do so under duress as people in the store shouted a relentless barrage of well-earned invective until he and his Immigration and Customs Enforcement squad exited the store.
Footage shared by Ford Fischer of News2Share shows ICE agents clustered around a bathroom hallway like an invading army. Then Bovino emerges from the restroom and heads toward the store’s exit. [video]
Activists continued in the parking lot, filming the encounter and forcing them out of the area. [video]
This kind of confrontational, public dissent is exactly the form of free speech that the GOP claims to support—until it’s directed at them.
“Why is ownership important here?” Times national security correspondent David E. Sanger asked.
“Because that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success,” Trump, 79, replied. “I think that ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do, whether you’re talking about a lease or a treaty. Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document, that you can have a base.”
So you can’t be happy unless you get the piece of paper that says deed? And what the people who live there think doesn’t matter? And of course the rich mineral reserves that don’t get mentioned by Trump? I would say he needs to grow up but it’s far too late for that.
Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill to make Greenland the 51st state in the U.S., following President Trump’s recent push to acquire the Danish territory.
The “Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act” was introduced by the Florida Republican on Monday, his office said in a press release. The bill’s goals, according to its text, include enabling “the annexation and subsequent admission to statehood of Greenland.”
After the U.S. owns Greenland, under the bill, Trump then has to send a report to Congress featuring possible federal law changes “as the President may determine necessary to admit the newly acquired territory as a State.”
Doesn’t have a chance of passage, I’m not even sure he can get enough Republican votes and likely it’s kept from a vote at all. I love that he tries to slip in that bit about changing the laws. If Greenland was somehow made a state it would make the Democrats look right wing. The Republicans would need to tweak the laws so that Greenland somehow doesn’t give the Democrats any advantage. More likely it would end up like Puerto Rico, not a state, the people there are citizens but they don’t get a federal vote.
“America cannot leave that future in the hands of regimes that despise our values and seek to undermine our security,” he added.
Hopefully somebody has the guts to ask him if that means he plans to impeach Trump.
whheydtsays
Re: JM @ #169….
I have a vague recollection that there is a minimum population for a territory to become a state…and it’s quite a bit more than the 57,000 that live in Greenland…
Quick search reveals a 1787 law requiring a minimum of “60,000 free adult males”.
Some senior administration aides, led by Vice President JD Vance, are urging Trump to try diplomacy before retaliating against Iran for killing protesters […] Tehran messaged Washington a day earlier that it was willing to enter negotiations over its yearslong nuclear program […] Trump currently favors attacking Iran, officials said, but could change his mind
Mark Chadbourn: “In other words, protesters go fuck yourselves.”
The risk now is that Trump will sell out the Iranian protesters for a financial deal. […] Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said lines to Trump envoy Steve Witkoff were open. Witkoff has already done his best to sell out Ukraine for a cash deal.
The worst case scenario is Khamenei remains. The second worst case scenario is he’s ousted and replaced by another regime figure with a few minor cosmetic concessions so the system continues. That would be a complete betrayal of the Iranian people and all the lives lost.
[…]
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola says she has “taken the decision to ban all diplomatic staff and any other representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran from all European Parliament premises.” “This House will not aid in legitimising this regime that has sustained itself through torture, repression and murder.”
The remaining members of the Adelaide Festival board will step down and this year’s Writers’ Week event has been cancelled, after days of furore regarding the decision to cancel a scheduled appearance by Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah.
The Adelaide Festival board has also apologised to Abdel-Fattah “for how the decision was represented”.
“This is a deeply regrettable outcome,” the board said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.
“We recognise and deeply regret the distress this decision has caused to our audience, artists and writers, donors, corporate partners, the government and our own staff and people.
“We also apologise to Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah for how the decision was represented and reiterate this is not about identity or dissent but rather a continuing rapid shift in the national discourse around the breadth of freedom of expression in our nation following Australia’s worst terror attack in history.”
It follows the resignation of AWW director Louise Adler on Tuesday morning and the withdrawal of more than 180 participants from this year’s event.
At least four leaders of a Justice Department unit that investigates police killings have resigned in protest […] the most significant mass resignation at the Justice Department since February. At that time, five [quit over dismissing NYC mayor Eric Adams’ bribery case]
[…]
On Jan. 10, the FBI announced it would be handling the investigation of Good’s shooting on its own and blocked Minnesota authorities from their typical role in reviewing evidence and investigating the shooting themselves. […] [Asst. AG for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon] had decided the office would not conduct a separate DOJ investigation
Federal agents ram a man’s vehicle demanding ID at Park/35th in Minneapolis today. The man says he was let go once they realized he was a US citizen. Crowd grew w/ agents then releasing tear gas & pepper spraying some along w/ press and their cameras.
Commentary
2 blocks away from where they murdered Renée.
Is this the “brief stop” Kavanaugh was describing? “Hey, that guy looks foreign, let’s smash up his car.”
Thinking about how most Americans’ don’t have $400 bucks for an emergency expenditure and thinking about how many vehicles ICE is ramming.
agents made similar claims during operations in Chicago last year. […] DHS claimed immigration agents were rammed “every day” during Operation Midway Blitz. To prove this, DHS provided the court with body camera videos […]
But instead of showing that, U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis said the video “suggests that the agent drove erratically and brake-checked other motorists in an attempt to force accidents that agents could then use as justifications for deploying force.”
Witnesses claimed an ICE vehicle caused an accident last Friday after it slammed on its brakes […] A woman, recording on her cell phone, yelled […] agents removed two people from the car who claimed to be citizen observers.
Before ripping the phone out of her hands, the agent asked the woman, “Have you all not learned from the past couple of days?”
The Pentagon used a secret aircraft painted to look like a civilian plane in its first attack on a boat that the Trump administration said was smuggling drugs, killing 11 people last September […] The aircraft also carried its munitions inside the fuselage, rather than visibly under its wings
[…]
the administration has argued its lethal boat attacks are lawful—not murders—because […] the United States is in an armed conflict with drug cartels. But the laws of armed conflict prohibit combatants from feigning civilian status to fool adversaries into dropping their guard, then attacking and killing them. That is a war crime called “perfidy.”
[…]
The boat had turned back toward Venezuela, apparently after seeing the plane, before the first strike. Two survivors of the initial attack later appeared to wave […] the military killed them in a follow-up strike
[…]
The military has since switched to using recognizably military aircraft for boat strikes, including MQ-9 Reaper drones
Southpaw (Lawyer): “I mean, sure, if there was a war and they snuck up on some soldiers by adopting the trappings of civil aviation, you might call it a war crime. But since there wasn’t one, and they snuck up on some civilians who were probably fishermen and at worst drug dealers, it’s just fuckin murder.”
Rando: “Not only did they do an illegal sneak attack, they killed them as the people were fleeing. And then bragged about it.”
Rod Schoonover-Rey (NatSec expert): “it also makes attacks on civilian aircraft exceedingly more likely. Is there no one in the Pentagon with any sense?”
Pete Hegseth announced the integration of Elon Musk’s xAI platform, Grok, into military networks as part of a new “AI acceleration strategy” during a visit to SpaceX.
Nicholas Slayton (Journalist): “The Pentagon announced this last month, on Dec. 22, but the fact that it’s sticking with it given, oh the INTERVENING NEWS ABOUT GROK, is wild.”
“At long last, we have created AM from the hit novel I have no mouth and I must scream.
As an atheist, it’s very frustrating to have my non-belief in the antichrist tested in this way. […] after living through a satanic panic, it’s very weird that everyone is suddenly extremely cool with everything running on ouija board technology. Oh and we’re also giving it all of the world’s wealth too? Neat
birgerjohanssonsays
Pissed off world delivers blow to US economy.
At 6.30 we learn of a new digital currency allowing international trade to bypass the dollar as default currency, the BRICS Unit.
At 9.30 coverage of a new free trade agreement between EU and an existing union in South America, MERCOSUR.
For those in or who will be in Adelaide,. South Oz anytime in next few days the Adelaide Botanic Garden’s Titan arum dubbed “Smellanie” (I kid you not) is about to flower – and stink :
Horticultural Curator at the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium of South Australia (BGSH), Matt Coulter, said the bloom represents a significant milestone in a plant conservation journey that began two decades ago.
“We received a donation of three seeds in 2006, and from that small starting point have grown a collection of around 250 Titan Arum plants,” Mr Coulter said.
“Approximately 100 have been propagated from leaf cuttings and 150 through cross-pollination, in addition to the original three plants. This bloom has emerged from a tuber generated by one of those original seeds and marks the second time this particular plant has flowered, following its last bloom in 2021.”
Currently standing at approximately 1.5 metres tall, and affectionately named by staff as Smellanie, the bloom highlights the importance of long-term plant conservation efforts. Titan Arums are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, with fewer than 1,000 plants remaining in the wild.
Habitat loss from deforestation for palm oil plantations, illegal logging, theft and climate change continues to threaten the species, making the ex-situ conservation role of botanic gardens increasingly critical.
Haven’t seen it myself yet – also watching Adelaide Strikers BBL T20 cricket game now – but see also Taken by ICE & Detained | Breaking the News Plus (17 mins long) interview with the eyewitness there in #181.
birgerjohanssonsays
Interesting!
Rachel Maddow
“Trump Rebuked at every turn;
Courts and Congress show new spine as Americans take to the streets.
Josh Cavallo, Australia’s first openly gay male professional footballer, has alleged his former club was homophobic, something it denies.
In a statement posted on social media, the 26-year-old described the circumstances surrounding his departure from Adelaide United in May 2025.
“It’s hard to swallow when I realised my own club was homophobic,” he said.
…(Snip)…
..”For the first time, I actually questioned if I should have kept my sexuality a secret,” he said.
“This brought up fears I had about coming out publicly, that being myself would affect my career.”
In a statement, Adelaide United said it was “extremely disappointed by the claims made and categorically rejects the allegations, including any suggestion that Adelaide United is homophobic”.
Really thought, really expected we were better than that. I believe Josh Cavallo. I don’t know if other soccer clubs are much better. I hope they are but doubt it.
StevoRsays
Homeless Gazans are begging the Israeli Government to allow proper shelters into the strip as winter storms batter the enclave and destroy many people’s tents.
About 1.5 million Gazans — three-quarters of the population — are living in tents or makeshift shelters, but the Israeli government is refusing to allow caravans, temporary housing or building materials into the strip.
Aid agencies said that decision had left most of the population cold and struggling in miserable conditions, exposed to hypothermia and disease in unsanitary conditions.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza says at least three children have died so far this winter from hypothermia due to inadequate shelter.
The BBC will file a motion to dismiss US President Donald Trump’s $US10 billion ($15 billion) lawsuit over its editing of a speech that made it appear that he had directed supporters to storm the US Capitol.
In a filing late on Monday, local time, the broadcaster argued that the court in Florida lacked personal jurisdiction in the case because it did not broadcast the programme in Florida, and that the president could not prove damages because he was re-elected after it aired.
StevoR @ 30 – I contacted the retired professor John S Lewis about it. He wrote that a fast-spinning asteroid might be made of metal as it is strong enough not to fall apart (the forces of the spin are far greater than the local gravity). This would make it more interesting for space resource extraction than a rocky, slow-rotating ‘rubble pile’ object.
That makes a lot of sense. Thanks.
Of course I suspect the same rapid spin that indicates its likely metallic woud also quite probably make accessing & mining it harder. Maybe the old idea of using space tethers could do something there? See :
RACHEL MADDOW
ICE intimidation tactics backfire as Americans rally to defend communities. ICE agents dressed in paramilitary costume and terrorizing communities with heavy-handed tactics appear to have thought their abuses would earn them respect and obedience. On the contrary, Americans are only becoming more agitated and inclined to resist ICE’s overstepping. Amanda Otero, co-executive director of Take Action Minnesota, talks with Rachel Maddow about organizing anti-ICE protests and other activism as Donald Trump surges troops of border patrol agents into her town.
Maddow: Repeated bungling exposes cluelessness of Trump’s ICE secret police. Rachel Maddow reviews recent examples of ICE agents overstepping their legal authority and making a chaotic mess of the job they’re meant to be doing, all of which paints them not as actual professional immigration enforcement, but as Trump’s untrained secret police force dressed up in military gear.
Trump rebuked at every turn; Courts and Congress show new spine as Americans take to the streets. Rachel Maddow rounds up a litany of recent court losses Donald Trump has suffered, as even some Republicans in Congress are agreeing to block or otherwise mitigate the damage Trump’s policies are inflicting on their constituents, all while Americans rally in protest of abuses and outright crimes committed by Trump’s ICE agents.
Video is 7:51 minutes.
Maddow’s coverage is excellent in all three segments.
In late October, Donald Trump threw a surprisingly big fit because a Canadian province aired a television commercial that hurt the president’s feelings. The commercial wasn’t especially provocative — it noted Ronald Reagan’s concerns about trade tariffs — but it apparently triggered the American president.
As part of his episodic harangue against the ad, the Republican specifically whined, “Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country.”
That didn’t make a lot of sense, in part because nothing suggested the high court justices were the commercial’s intended audience and in part because trying to persuade the Supreme Court is not “illegal.”
But the complaint gave away the game: As convoluted as this might seem, Trump was apparently afraid that justices might see the ad, put aside legal reasoning, agree with Canada, and rule against the White House’s tariffs agenda.
Nearly three months later, as much of the world waits for the high court’s ruling, the president’s anxiety appears to have reached a new level of panic. Trump published a related tirade to his social media platform on Monday afternoon that read in part:
The actual numbers that we would have to pay back if, for any reason, the Supreme Court were to rule against the United States of America on Tariffs, would be many Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and that doesn’t include the amount of ‘payback’ that Countries and Companies would require for the Investments they are making on building Plants, Factories, and Equipment, for the purpose of being able to avoid the payment of Tariffs. When these Investments are added, we are talking about Trillions of Dollars! It would be a complete mess, and almost impossible for our Country to pay.
The missive added several more sentences along these lines before concluding, “[I]f the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America on this National Security bonanza, WE’RE SCREWED!”
As a rhetorical matter, it would appear that Trump was trying to “influence the Supreme Court,” no less than the Canadians ostensibly were. As a practical matter, the argument was difficult to take seriously. If the high court sides with lower courts and rules against the White House, U.S. policy would revert to where it was before Trump’s tariffs were imposed. There would be some messy complications, to be sure, but if the president wants to reimpose his policy, he can always ask the Republican majorities in Congress to approve his agenda.
But Trump doesn’t want to do that, likely because he fears lawmakers won’t rubber-stamp his plan. Rather, the president wants the Supreme Court to make his life easier, so he’s lobbying the justices the only way he knows how: by trying to sway them with pitiful online appeals — despite the likelihood that a ruling in this case is almost certainly already locked in.
[…] the DOJ appears to be an agency in crisis, rapidly unraveling before our eyes.
Consider some of the more notable developments from just the last week:
– At least four leading officials from the criminal section of the Civil Rights Division resigned in protest after Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon decided not to investigate the fatal shooting of Renee Good.
– The Justice Department fired Robert McBride, a veteran prosecutor, after he declined to lead the controversial prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey.
– The Justice Department opened an unprecedented criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, sparking widespread and bipartisan criticisms.
– Vice President JD Vance announced that the administration would soon have a new assistant attorney general, but his or her work will be “run out of the White House” instead of Main Justice, reinforcing concerns that the West Wing has effectively seized control of the DOJ, which had largely functioned as an independent entity since Watergate.
– The New York Times reported on the gutted state of the Justice Department, which is plagued by systemic vacancies and prosecutors who fear they’ll be fired for working on cases the right might not like. Complicating matters, the article added, “[P]ersonnel typically deployed to national security and fraud cases are being diverted to focus on other priorities, including the president’s demands for investigations into his perceived enemies.”
– The Justice Department has suffered a series of defeats in court over the last few days, including embarrassing setbacks in cases related to renewable energy, Energy Department grants to blue states, federal funding for child care and social services in blue states, and as of late Friday, federal election funds.
– The Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump has “repeatedly” complained to aides in recent weeks about Bondi, “describing her as weak and an ineffective enforcer of his agenda.”
Each of these stories is important in its own right, but taken together, the emerging picture is one of a Justice Department that appears to be coming apart at the seams.
There’s no great mystery as to why. On the one hand, we see a president who views the DOJ as his personal law firm; on the other, we see an attorney general who spends an inordinate amount of time in Fox News greenrooms, but who’s no longer calling the shots at the department she ostensibly leads.
This, coupled with a hollowed out and terrified workforce, has created a Justice Department that’s struggling with basic tasks and lacking in credibility.
Rebuilding the DOJ will be an enormous undertaking, which likely won’t begin until 2029 at the earliest.
birgerjohanssonsays
Apple TV will broadcast William Gibson’s Neuromancer in 2026.
Facebook owner Meta launched itself deeper into the Republican orbit on Monday, tapping former Trump administration adviser Dina Powell McCormick as its new president and vice chair.
The move is the latest step in the tech giant’s effort to smooth relations with President Donald Trump and the GOP as Washington’s balance of power shifts.
Powell McCormick’s resume straddles finance and government. According to The Wall Street Journal, she spent 16 years at Goldman Sachs, most recently held a senior role at BDT & MSD Partners, and served as Trump’s deputy national security adviser during his first term. Earlier in her career, she served under President George W. Bush.
She joined Meta’s board last April, part of a broader push by the company to bring prominent Republicans into the fold following Trump’s return to the White House. Monday’s promotion elevates her from board member to one of the most powerful executives inside the company.
[…] Trump, for his part, wasted no time embracing the appointment. In a post on Truth Social, the president congratulated Powell McCormick and said Zuckerberg had made a “great choice,” calling her “a fantastic, and very talented, person, who served the Trump Administration with strength and distinction!”
[…] Zuckerberg had a front-row seat to Trump’s inauguration in January—alongside Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk—after donating $1 million to the inaugural fund, and has made multiple trips to Florida to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Meta has also adjusted its policies to better align with Republican priorities. Last year, the company scrapped its independent fact-checking program and rolled back diversity initiatives, both moves intended to curry favor with Trump. And after Zuckerberg raised concerns about digital services taxes at a White House meeting, Trump publicly threatened tariffs on countries that impose them.
Powell McCormick’s appointment fits neatly into that pattern. Since Trump’s election, Meta has steadily stocked its leadership ranks with GOP veterans. The company elevated former Republican official Joel Kaplan to serve as its global affairs lead, while naming Kevin Martin, a former Republican chair of the Federal Communications Commission, as his deputy.
[…] Taken together, the moves suggest a company working hard not to end up on the wrong side of a combative White House. Once again, Silicon Valley looks less inclined to resist Trump’s Washington than to adapt to it.
This latest development is yet another reason to limit one’s interactions with Facebook. Don’t support Zuckerberg. It’s as if Facebook is becoming part of the Trump administration.
The plan, when I went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Career Expo in Texas last August, was to learn what it was like to apply to be an ICE agent. […] I figured I could maybe get through an initial interview. […] The catch, however, is that […] it takes about five seconds of Googling to figure out how I feel about ICE, the Trump administration, and the country’s general right-wing project. […] my military background would be enough to get me in the door for a good look around ICE’s application process, and then even the most cursory background check would get me shown that same door
[…]
the entire [interview] process took less than six minutes. […] I could talk to a current deportation officer about what the job would be like. […] I shouldn’t expect to hit the streets right away, the agent told me. Odds were good I’d get a support position first […] If the cops suspect they’re dealing with an immigrant who doesn’t have permanent legal status, they alert ICE, whose agents conduct interviews and run record checks. […] “What you see on TV, with us arresting people and doing all kinds of crazy things, that’s maybe 10 percent. The other 90 percent is essentially doing a bunch of paperwork,” the agent said. “It takes a lot to remove somebody from the United States. Some people are subject to due process.” […] other departments I might end up in: Prosecutions, Removal Coordination Unit, or Detention.
[…]
I told him that I was fine with office work—with my analyst background, it seemed like a better fit for my skill set anyway. His attitude shift was subtle, but instant and unmistakable; this was the wrong attitude and the wrong answer. “Just to be upfront, the goal is to put as many guns and badges out in the field as possible,”
[…]
The aspiring officers fall broadly into three categories: thick-necked law enforcement types who look like they do steroids but don’t know how to work out, bearded spec-ops wannabes who look like they take steroids and do know how to work out, and dorks. Pencil-necked misfits. I couldn’t tell whether there were more white or Hispanic people waiting for their email, but it was close. A few Black applicants rounded out the overwhelmingly male group.
[…]
I completely missed the email when it came. […] I had 48 hours to log onto USAJobs and fill out my Declaration for Federal Employment, then five additional days to return the forms attached to the email. Among these forms: driver’s license information, an affidavit that I’ve never received a domestic violence conviction, and consent for a background check. […] I did exactly none of these things.
[…]
three weeks later […] “Thank you for confirming that you wish to continue with the hiring process,” […] “Please complete your required pre-employment drug test.” [Having smoked cannabis,] I traveled to my local LabCorp, peed in a cup, and waited for a call telling me I’d failed.
[…]
Somehow, despite never submitting any of the paperwork they sent me—not the background check or identification info, not the domestic violence affidavit, none of it—ICE had apparently offered me a job. […] I hit “Decline,” closed my browser, and took a long, deep breath.
Rando: “Ok then. SHOW US THE F+%KING BADGES!!!!!!!!!!!”
The department shared on [Twitter], an 11-second montage of American artwork captioned: “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage.” It added: “Remember who you are, American.”
The language immediately drew damning comparisons to the Nazi Germany slogan “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer,” which translates to “One People, One Realm, One Leader,”
Then there’s this [Jan 9th DHS] tweet from Friday, an ICE recruitment ad featuring the turn of phrase “We will have our home again” […] a reference to the song “We’ll Have Our Home Again,” a white supremacist anthem favored by the Proud Boys.
Another image [from DoL Jan 8th] tells supporters to “Trust the plan,” the slogan of the right-wing conspiracy theory known as QAnon
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Commentary on 200.
Kel McClanahan (National Security Counselors) – Fed HR Incompetence Thread:
I joined the USAF. However, […] before my service started, […] I resigned my commission. Easy peasy. I got a check for my reserve service a few months later. I figured it was an error so I sent it back. Then I got another check. I called them and told them it was an error. Then I got another check. And another.
Then I called them again. And found out that I had completed basic training already. Which was news to me. […] almost two years later, I finally stayed on the phone for literally 6 hours, working my way up to the personal office of the Secretary of the AF. Where his assistant promised me I would be honorably discharged. And then it finally happened.
[…]
Fast forward a few years, and I’ve applied to Army JAG out of law school. One day, I (and about 40 others) get an email congratulating us […] After some discussion, I am advised that I was not supposed to get that email. That the list of people she sent it to was the people who were NOT selected.
[…]
There are more that have happened to my clients […] which share the same basic characteristics:
1) Agency makes a stupid mistake.
2) It is practically impossible to rectify Agency’s stupid mistake.
3) Agency denies it made said stupid mistake.
And that was when most agency employees were competent. Now imagine what happens when all the competent people are stripped out.
Following nearly a week of Trump and his minions smirking some wild don’t-believe-your-lying-eyes alternative facts about the killing of Renee Nicole Good at the hands of DHS agent Jonathan Ross, they and the old man have coalesced on one narrative. The refined White House/DHS party line is now that Good was shot three times because she was part of a “coordinated campaign” of radical domestic terrorism, “classic terrorism.” [JFC]
And Mike Johnson claimed, without evidence, that Good had taunted the patient agents. [video]
Seems even the humpiest Trumpers felt too stupid repeating Trump’s lie that Ross had been run over and was in the hospital and Good was “unbelievably bad, badly behaved.” At no point did Good even express any sentiments about Trump or DHS at all, her last words to the man who shot her were even “that’s fine, dude, I’m not mad at you.”
She was shot for not having a Trumpy enough aura, and because the DHS agent, who had no legal role in traffic enforcement to begin with, thought she and her wife were not respectful enough of his non-authority […]
Nor is there evidence that any other person or group was involved in the incident that left Good dead, or that the Goods were members of any organized groups. No one in the government has even bothered to try to name any! Still, they’re going to investigate every single insufficiently Trumpy group in the state (as if they weren’t doing that already), just to make sure no group is guilty of the capital crime of not loving Trump enough, and collectively punish them as Trump’s own morality sees fit.
In the US of old, speech was free. Now you will pay for suspected Trump-hating with your life! It is also not illegal to be a member of a group that opposes the current government […]
The FBI will not be investigating the shooting at all (or working on redacting and releasing those 5.2 million remaining EPSTEIN FILES), nor will it let anybody else investigate; at Trump’s demand Kash Patel has been blocking local officials from investigating on their own, and six top officials at the DOJ Civil Rights Division have already resigned over it. Though Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison are attempting to pursue an independent investigation anyway. [!!]
Professional agitators online have been inventing lies about Good and her widow Becca, like that they are criminals, and that children had been removed from their care by social services for child abuse. (In reality, Renee had a single speeding ticket.) […]
The only terrorists inciting violence are Minnesota are the DHS agents, who have been picking up what Trump has been laying down loud and clear, and harassing and gassing citizens they suspect of doing bad free speech and/or following and filming them. Watch one taunt a protestor in Minnesota with “have y’all not learned from what just happened?” [video]
Noem says she has sent hundreds more agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area on top of the 2,000 she says she sent last week, and DHS has been double-extra wilding out with no end date in sight. It sure seems like they are trying to incite some kind of reaction that will allow them to justify killing more people!
Soon after Good’s shooting, DHS gassed protestors who arrived on the scene, and they’ve been gassing and shooting rubber bullets at protesters though they have no civil law enforcement authority to do that. They descended on a school, gassing students and detaining a staff member. They have terrorized Somali-owned businesses, people filling up at gas station[…], and Door Dash drivers, and kidnapped a US citizen 17-year-old from his job at Target — he was one of two US citizens allegedly taken from that Target at that time; ICE reportedly beat on and/or otherwise injured both of them — then dumped him bleeding in a parking lot. [video]
Yet in spite of Trump only being shown whatever selectively edited videos Stephen Miller and Natalie Harp stick under his nose, he has apparently come to realize that he is not winning the propaganda war with the people of Minnesota, and not just the COMMUNIST SCUM ones, either. He took to his platform to plead for their approval, though if he gets that or not a DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING! [social media post]
[…] he also followed up an hour later with a message to the people of Iran to protest their tyrannical government some more. [social media post]
The flamboyantly dense New York Times claims Trump’s stance “raises the specter that forms of political protest traditionally protected by the First Amendment could be criminalized.” No, Alan Feuer, Glenn Thrush, and Devlin Barrett, it displays the flesh-and-blood reality, right now, this minute, that the regime’s reckless goons can and will shoot anybody in the face, that means citizens and white women too, and blame Free Speech later. The only specter now is a future where festooning your vehicle with Trump flags and enthusiastically barking “HAIL TRUMP!” at every federal agent you see is your best hope to not get targeted and save your life, so long as agents do not detect a hint of sarcasm!
[…] Justice on earth is so often elusive, especially in the US after July 1, 2024, and the Six Federalist Society weirdos on the Supreme Court ending the principle of equal protection under the law to make Donald Trump and his Executive Branch pigs more equal than others, even explicitly gifting Donald Trump permission to order Seal Team Six to shoot people in the face in the street, because The Holy Executive Emperor knows best!
Then Brett Kavanaugh explicitly gave the executive branch permission to stop and detain ANYONE off the street with no due process, as long as the masked goons claim that the person had a foreign and therefore suspicious vibe. […]
But Renee Good did not have a foreign vibe. Jesse Watters moaning about Renee Good having “pronouns in bio” sounds more like a plea for MAGA to trust that the legally unaccountable DHS is not and won’t keep on killing the wrong people. Good was never going to have a MAGA baby anyway […] Jesus probably would have shot Renee Good himself, if he got the chance.
Don’t you feel silly now, people who said […] the world was over-reacting! Is there a single checkbox on any fascism list that hasn’t been checked yet?
If so, we give him a week.
Minnesota and Illinois are also separately suing to get ICE out of their states, and protests continue. But DHS is only raging harder, seemingly confident SCOTUS won’t stop them, and accountability will never come.
Minneapolis, St. Paul and the state of Minnesota have sued […] the Department of Homeland Security for its daily terror attacks against the Security of the Twin Cities part of the “Homeland.” […]
ICE Nazis and terrorists are reportedly very scared of backlash, now that they’ve started murdering US citizen mommies in the streets and people seem kinda PO-ed about it! So while Nazi Puppykiller Barbie is bragging that she’s going to surge more fed thugs into Minneapolis, sounds like not many fed thugs actually want to volunteer for the assignment. An excerpt:
“There might be some immature knuckleheads who think they are out there trying to capture Nicolas Maduro, but most field officers see a clear need for deescalation,” a high level career official at Homeland Security headquarters in Washington also told me. “There is genuine fear that indeed ICE’s heavy handedness and the rhetoric from Washington is more creating a condition where the officers’ lives are in danger rather than the other way around.”
[…] Meanwhile, here’s some more highly trained behavior from Donald Trump’s Gestapo: [social media post and video]
And here is some more: [social media posts and two videos]
Also at Target, here are a bunch of ICE Nazis protecting little Greg Bovino while he does a poopy, if you haven’t seen it [social media post and video]
And here is Greg Bovino — hopefully after his poopy! — telling Hannity last night that “90 percent” of people actually really love him and ICE, which sounds like one of those things he tells himself in front of the mirror […] [video]
AND here is Bovino also telling Hannity “hats off” to the cowardly [person] who murdered Renee Good, while Hannity [recites] the Trump Regime White Supremacist Misogynist Lie version of what happened. […] [social media post and video: “Hats off to that ice agent.”]
[…]
Bessent: “For individuals who want to wire money out of the country, they’re gonna have to tick a box whether they are or are not on public assistance. Then we’re going to start pushing over the coming days and weeks that if you’re on public assistance, you cannot wire money out of the country.” [video]
[…] This is just a very good Daily Show clip: [video]
“Rubio says court hearings no longer possible for deported Venezuelans”
“A judge’s order to provide hearings to dozens of hastily deported migrants would upset U.S. foreign policy in the wake of Maduro’s ouster, officials said”
The Trump administration said it cannot comply with a federal judge’s order to provide dozens of deported Venezuelan migrants the opportunity to challenge their removals in an American court, saying in a legal filing late Monday night that such efforts would be impossible after U.S. forces deposed the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro this month.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a sworn declaration that efforts to bring 137 of the more than 250 deportees from Venezuela to the United States for court hearings, or to arrange remote hearings from their native country, “would risk material damage to U.S. foreign policy interests in Venezuela.” [I snipped more blather and word salad from Rubio.]
It is not the first time Trump administration officials have refused an order from Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia since the case began in March.
Immigration officials had flown four planeloads of Venezuelan migrants to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador after President Donald Trump invoked a rarely used statute, the Alien Enemies Act, and claimed the migrants were gang members. Those deportees, who were not given advance notice or an opportunity to challenge their removals in federal court, were sent to El Salvador despite an order from Boasberg not to do so and were then transferred to Venezuela in July.
The case has been winding through the courts for nearly a year. Boasberg issued a ruling last month saying the migrants were “denied their due-process rights” and had to be located and given the chance to challenge their deportations in federal court. “Our law requires no less,” the judge said, suggesting that U.S. officials could set up remote hearings from Venezuela.
But Rubio and the Justice Department said that after U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife and transported them to Manhattan to face drug-trafficking charges, the logistics of setting up in-person or remote hearings for the migrants had become untenable. Civilian travel out of Venezuela has been restricted since Maduro’s ouster, Justice Department lawyers said, and remote hearings for 137 people would be unprecedented and subject to tampering.
The dispute over due process focuses on the 137 of 252 Venezuelan deportees who were removed from the United States solely under the Alien Enemies Act, Boasberg ruled.
“Given the passage of time, the U.S. government does not know — nor does it have any way of knowing — the whereabouts of class members, including whether anyone has departed Venezuela or whether the regime subsequently took anyone back into custody,” Rubio said.
Attorneys at the ACLU and Democracy Forward Foundation said that even after their release from El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, the deported migrants “now face the risk of persecution and serious harm in Venezuela” because of the administration’s unlawful maneuvers. […]
Trump: “I feel I won Minnesota. I think I won it all three times. Nobody has won it since Richard Nixon won it many many years ago. I won it all three times in my opinion. It’s a corrupt state … I did so well in that state. The people were crying every time after.” [video]
FUN FACT: The Liar-in-Chief lost Minnesota 50.92% – 46.68% in 2024, 52.40% – 45.28% in 2020, and 46.44% – 44.93% in 2016.
Joseph H. Thompson, who was second in command at the U.S. attorney’s office and oversaw a sprawling fraud investigation that has roiled Minnesota’s political landscape, was among those who quit […] The other senior career prosecutors who resigned include Harry Jacobs, Melinda Williams and Thomas Calhoun-Lopez. Mr. Jacobs had been Mr. Thompson’s deputy overseeing the fraud investigation, which began in 2022. Mr. Calhoun-Lopez was the chief of the violent and major crimes unit.
[…]
The fraud cases, which involve schemes to defraud safety net programs managed by state agencies, were the chief reason the Trump administration launched an immigration crackdown in the state.
Eric Columbus (Obama DHS/DoJ): “the WH might have ordered this idiotic investigation. But DOJ officials—knowing what the WH would want—might have done so on their own. Indeed, the Powell subpoena may have happened that way.”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “The Trump administration is psychologically incapable of backing down, which means that I would give it even odds that they attempt this. The biggest obstacle would be that it will be very hard to find a grand jury in Minneapolis to approve it.”
JMsays
RFU News: African soldiers are deployed en masse by the Russian army
More African soldiers are turning up in fighting for Russia. This is across the entire front, not limited to a few units. Russia is making up the shortfall in soldiers with increasing recruitment in Africa. Not only that but there are reports of Africans who are in Russia for other reasons are being forced into the Army.
Not surprisingly the recruitment efforts are largely based on lies and these soldiers are treated badly. This recruitment is often illegal in Africa but enforcement is often lax, particularly in areas with other ties to Russia.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
* I botched the title doing revision: “push to investigate Renée Good’s widow”
“They said it couldn’t be done. But Congress is waking up, the courts are waking up — and the people are absolutely fully awake.
Related video at the link.
Amid the blitz of headlines, you might not have seen the news that on Monday, a federal court blocked the Trump administration from cutting billions of dollars Congress had appropriated for clean energy in blue states.
The administration admitted that it wanted to cut funding for states that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, and leave in place funding for states that voted for Donald Trump. But a federal court has now ruled that illegal.
That ruling came after another federal court on Monday stopped Trump from shutting down a big offshore wind farm in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Just one day prior, yet another federal court blocked Trump from cutting funding to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The group criticized the flock-of-ducks-level insane quackery at Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services, under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the president responded by canceling its grant. But a judge has now ruled that was illegal retaliation, and so the funding has to be reinstated.
On Friday, a federal judge in Washington blocked Trump from cutting off federal election funds to states in retaliation for them not changing their election rules in ways that he wants. The judge said, “The Constitution assigns no authority to the president over federal election administration.”
On the same day, another federal court blocked Trump from freezing billions of dollars for child care and social services for kids — again — apparently in Democratic-run states.
He’s losing all the time and everywhere now. There may still be people who are shocked that Trump keeps breaking the law over and over and over again, blatantly and insistently. But the courts are not shocked anymore, and they just tell him “no” every single day — often multiple times a day.
It’s not just the courts. Last week, in one 48-hour stretch, we had a Senate vote for a war powers resolution to block Trump from any further military action in Venezuela, with five Republican senators siding with Democrats to pass that. It was enough to advance that resolution, and it will get another vote this week.
That came right on the heels of 17 Republicans in the House breaking ranks with Trump and siding with Democrats on the Affordable Care Act to try to at least temporarily undo the disastrous decision by Trump and Republicans in their so-called One Big Beautiful Bill to send tens of thousands of Americans’ health insurance rates through the roof.
Trump is already whining about how he might have to veto it, if and when it passes the Senate — because he definitely wants to make sure that people’s health insurance premiums double or triple in cost because of something he personally did.
It’s the worst rebuke Trump has had from congressional Republicans since he has been back in office in this disastrous year.
This didn’t get as much attention as it should have, but right on the heels of the Senate giving Trump a one-finger salute on Venezuela and the House giving him a one-finger salute on what he did to people’s health insurance, Congress also rejected his steep budget cuts to federal science programs.
Trump is trying to cut the National Science Foundation by 56%, but Congress is saying it will cut it by less than 1%. He wants to slash NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Congress wants no cuts.
Trump wants to cut basic research, which has been the lifeblood of American technological innovation since World War II; Congress instead is bumping it up more than 2%.
This is a bipartisan thing. It started in the Senate as a bipartisan agreement, and last week the House voted for it as well.
I know it’s like muscle memory to assume that: a) Congress does nothing; and b) If they defy that rule and do something, it’s always terrible, but something is changing.
Republicans in the House are now down to such a slim margin that if every Democrat is there, at the moment, Republicans can afford only one defection on any given vote.
They know they’re going to get walloped in the midterms. With moderate Democrat Mary Peltola announcing on Monday that she’s going to run against the unpopular Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, that means Democrats are getting pretty close to a shot at taking over the Senate in the midterms as well.
Also on Monday, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona brought a high-powered lawsuit against the administration and Pete Hegseth, suing to block their efforts to reduce his rank and dock his retirement pay, all for saying the true statement that service members are supposed to disobey illegal orders.
The state of Illinois, now joined by the city of Chicago, and the state of Minnesota, along with the city of Minneapolis, have also brought major lawsuits against the Trump administration to stop the attack by Trump’s federal agents against their constituents.
Now, if the administration was hoping its shambolic violence would discourage Americans from standing up to them, they do not understand Americans.
There were huge protests last weekend against the Trump administration in Minneapolis, where Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer last week. There were also protests in downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado, where Good is from originally.
People took to the streets in places all across the country, not just in major cities such as New York City or Boston, but in places including Clayton, Missouri; Carson City, Nevada; Huntington Beach, California; San Antonio; and even in Fairbanks, Alaska, where the temperature was minus 25 degrees.
Usually, when we have this many protests to cover all across the country, it’s because there’s been some long-planned thing, where people had weeks of notice. That was true with the first No Kings Day or the second.
What happened these past few days was not that; it was essentially spontaneous, everywhere. There were well over a thousand protests taking place in every state in the country.
The American people are reacting instinctually to what Trump is doing to us, using our small-d democratic muscle memory to use our right of free speech, our right to freedom of assembly, to say no.
They said it couldn’t be done. But Congress is waking up, the courts are waking up — and the people are absolutely fully awake.
Iran on Tuesday allowed citizens to call internationally after days of phone and internet outages amid violent protests.
More than 2,000 Iranians have been killed amid anti-government protests, activists told The Associated Press.
Some in Tehran told the news wire they were able to call abroad for the first time on Tuesday but could not receive international phone calls.
Iranians have only been permitted to visit government-approved websites with little access to the outside world as Islamic Republic leaders attempt to deflate national demonstrations amid international support for protesters threatened with violence. […]
Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on Tuesday said his people “choose Denmark” and “choose NATO” instead of the United States, amid President Trump’s calls for the island territory to be annexed into the union.
“If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” Nielsen said at a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen. “We choose NATO, the Kingdom of Denmark and the European Union.”
“The time has come to stand together,” Nielsen added. “Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”
Nielsen said Greenland is facing a “geopolitical crisis,” and Frederiksen added that it has not been easy facing “completely unacceptable pressure from our closest ally,” Al Jazeera reported.
The two spoke ahead of Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s upcoming visit to Greenland on Wednesday. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen requested a meeting with Rubio following President Trump’s intensifying rhetoric over the U.S. acquiring Greenland.
“U.S. Vice President JD Vance also wanted to participate in the meeting, and he will host the meeting, which will therefore be held at the White House,” Rasmussen said to reporters in Copenhagen earlier Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Nielsen and Frederiksen said their governments will remain united following their meeting with Vance and Rubio, with Frederiksen adding, “We come together, we stay together, and we leave together,” according to The New York Times. […]
“Our general view here is that we do our viewers the best service by presenting them with the full context they need to assess the story of why Bari Weiss sucks so bad.”
When Bari Weiss decided that she couldn’t possibly run a 60 Minutes segment on the horrific CECOT rape and torture prison in El Salvador where Donald Trump and his top Nazis sent hundreds of Venezuelans with no criminal records, she told staffers in a memo that “[her] general view is that we do our viewers the best service by presenting them with the full context they need to assess the story. In other words, I believe we need to do more reporting here.” Typical wankery we expect from her.
The piece just wasn’t ready, we guess, unless Stephen Miller was allowed to give his side of the story […]
After the humiliation started to spread, Weiss went off on CBS staffers, saying that in any newsroom she runs (as if this wasn’t her first), she finds it “absolutely unacceptable” not to “assume the best intentions of our colleagues” AKA herself, Bari Weiss, Known Hack And Eager Fascist Bootlicker.
The good news is that we all saw that 60 Minutes piece anyway, because Bari Weiss is a fucking moron who’s out of her league trying to do TV news, who didn’t understand that the piece was signed, sealed and delivered, in particular to Canadian affiliates, who went ahead and pressed play on the fucking thing.
[…] More good news? The New York Times is doing its readers the best service, by presenting them with the full context they need to assess the story of why Bari Weiss sucks so bad and who she’s blaming for that (spoiler not her).
[…] The Times piece purports to be one of those “inside the news” thingies, “inside Bari Weiss’s bumpy revamp,” yadda yadda. […] But it’s great for great quotes.
“We need to *be the news*” saith Bari Weiss about the CBS Evening News starring […] Tony Dokoupil. You might think Weiss is off to a good start here, understanding that “news” is her job now. But no, as NYT explains: “Ms. Weiss has achieved that goal — perhaps not in the way she hoped.”
Hahaha, it means there are lots of headlines where everybody is laughing at Bari Weiss’s obvious and early failures. And she is MAD ABOUT THAT.
They made fun of her shit network on the Golden Globes, which were on her shit network, and Mister Airhead on the Evening News had a bad first night with teleprompter, because Bari Weiss wouldn’t stop rewriting it at the last minute, etc., and so forth […]
Privately, Ms. Weiss has been deeply frustrated by the negative reaction to her decisions, and has blamed some subordinates for not stanching the criticism, three people familiar with internal discussions said.
What did she want the subordinates to do to stop the criticism? Go out and make people stop laughing at her?
Anyway, please note that it bothers Bari Weiss when people publicly make fun of her bad decisions and utter lack of journalistic acumen, like the internet is always doing, and like Nikki Glaser did at the Golden Globes.
So keep it up! It’s working!
Here is the part about Bari Weiss’s wife Nellie Bowles, who sucks too:
Ms. Weiss’s wife, Nellie Bowles, a former reporter at The Times, openly mocked the objections of the “60 Minutes” staff who had clashed with her spouse in a column published by The Free Press, which Ms. Weiss continues to oversee.
“My lovely wife asked some 60 Minutes producers to report out a story a little more, literally Hey guys make a couple more phone calls and then we’ll run the piece in a week or two,” Ms. Bowles wrote. “No! the media collectively shrieked. We shan’t!” […]
[…] The point is that Bari Weiss is bad at this, and it’s your fault, and not Bari Weiss’s fault, it is absolutely unacceptable to say it is her fault, and it is certainly not her wife Nellie’s fault […]
Fail harder, Bari Weiss! We’re sure that Pulitzer is right around the corner.
“Israeli officials have suggested the Trump administration delay large-scale strikes until the Iranian regime is even more strained, while one Arab official said there is ‘lack of enthusiasm from the neighborhood’ for American military action in Iran right now.”
Israeli and Arab officials have told the Trump administration in recent days that they believe the Iranian regime may not yet be weakened to the point where U.S. military strikes would be the decisive blow that topples it, according to a U.S. official, a former U.S. official briefed on the discussions, a person familiar with the Israeli leadership’s thinking and two Arab officials.
The Israeli and Arab officials have suggested that President Donald Trump, who is weighing military action in Iran in response to the regime’s deadly crackdown on protesters, hold back on large-scale strikes for now […] They also noted the situation in Iran is rapidly developing, with the stability of the regime potentially changing quickly in one direction or the other.
The conversations, which have involved American political and military leaders, underscore the complex dynamic Trump faces as he weighs possible options for U.S. action in Iran. Trump, who is expected hold a meeting Tuesday with his national security team to review options, has threatened Iran with U.S. military action if the regime is killing protesters.
[…] Members of Trump’s national security team held a meeting Tuesday morning on Iran that he did not attend, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
[…] A White House official said in a statement, “All options are at President Trump’s disposal to address the situation in Iran. The president listens to a host of opinions on any given issue, but ultimately makes the decision he feels is best.” The official added that Trump “means what he says,” pointing to military action he ordered against Iran in June and earlier this month to capture the leader of Venezuela.
Trump posted a message to protesters in Iran on social media Tuesday urging them to “KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS” and telling them “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
[I snipped blather from Leavitt] Iran has signaled a willingness to negotiate with the Trump administration to avert strikes, but Trump posted on social media Tuesday that he’d canceled all meetings with Iranian officials “until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS.” The president told reporters on Sunday that a summit between U.S. and Iranian officials was being arranged.
One of the Arab officials said there is a “lack of enthusiasm from the neighborhood” for U.S. strikes in Iran right now. Another expressed concern that “any attack or escalation by Israel or the U.S. will unite Iranians” and noted there was a rally-around-the-flag effect in Iran after the American and Israeli attack there in June.
[…] Israelis have suggested other types of U.S. action aimed at destabilizing the regime and supporting the protesters could […] weaken the regime […]
Those possible actions include boosting communications for Iranians around the country to circumvent the regime’s internet blackout, increasing or strengthening economic sanctions, launching a cyberattack, or even taking very targeted military action against specific Iranian leaders — that could help facilitate a broader breakdown in the regime, the sources said.
The protests, which were sparked by economic grievances as the rial currency crashed and inflation soared, have now morphed into one of the biggest challenges the Iranian regime has faced in the theocracy’s 47-year history, as thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand the end of the ruling clergy.
[…] The Iranian government cut internet access and phone service in the country last week, making it more difficult for protesters to organize and for the world outside of Iran to see what is happening there and assess the numbers of dead, wounded and imprisoned.
Reports from inside Iran indicate a rising number of protesters have been killed, with many more injured or arrested, as Iranian security forces continue a bloody crackdown that’s included opening fire on crowds using live ammunition. […]
The U.S.-based organization Human Rights Activists News Agency said Tuesday morning that about 2,000 people have been killed. More than 16,000 people have been detained, according to the group.
Iran’s Parliament speaker said Sunday that if the U.S. attacks Iran, the American military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” for retaliation.
Asked Sunday about Iranian threats of retaliation, Trump told reporters, “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
The Supreme Court majority’s radicalization on trans issues has become apparent not just in its unusual willingness to take up so many cases on the topic, but in its eagerness to shoehorn anti-trans refrains into unrelated cases.
Justice Samuel Alito, dissatisfied with the double header cases on trans women in sports before him, pivoted to an anti-trans monologue Tuesday that had nothing to do with the facts at hand.
“This does present a particular factual situation and we have to decide that case, but looking to the broader issue that a lot of people are interested in,” he began ominously, “there are an awful lot of female athletes who are strongly opposed to participation by trans athletes in competitions with them. What do you say about them? Are they bigots? Are they deluded in thinking that they are subjected to unfair competition?”
He seems to be referring to the women, including former collegiate swimmer-turned-MAGA star Riley Gaines, who have made something of a career out of the anti-trans women in sports speaking circuit. He, tellingly, omits the hundreds of women athletes who support the inclusion of trans competitors, but who are less likely to be featured so prominently in conservative media.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, sensing that the Court was taking a break from the actual legal challenges presented, chimed in with a gentler sounding old anti-trans chestnut.
“One of the great successes in America over the last 50 years has been the growth of women and girls’ sports — it’s inspiring,” he said. “There are some states and the federal government and the NCAA and the Olympic Committee — these are a variety of groups that study this issue — think that allowing transgender women and girls to participate will undermine or reverse that amazing success and will create unfairness.”
Both the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the NCAA banned trans women from participating due to President Trump’s executive orders. It’s unclear which studies he’s referring to; the IOC has funded several on trans women athletes, which have found mixed results on questions such as the advantages and disadvantages to cisgender women in areas including handgrip and lung function.
Kavanaugh also bemoaned the fate of the individual cis girl who loses a game or a spot on the team because of a trans girl’s participation.
“No one likes to lose, no one likes to not make the team. Cisgender girls don’t make the team when competing against other cisgender girls all the time,” Joshua Block, lawyer for a trans middle schooler in West Virginia, replied. “The question, I think, is whether it’s an unfair advantage to not make the team because a transgender girl participated — and if there is no sex-based biological distinction there, then I think it’s an unfortunate situation, but it’s an unfortunate situation that comes with having a zero sum game.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett played a supporting role, repeatedly bringing up a scenario of a cisgender boy who fails to make the boys’ team trying for the girls’ instead. Chief Justice John Roberts warned that greenlighting these challenges to the trans women in sports bans would create a slippery slope, inviting challenges to anything that differentiates between girls and boys.
Still, they’re all competing for most bad faith anti-trans jab with Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote multiple pages in 2025’s U.S. v. Skrmetti fearmongering about the use of surgery for trans minors.
“The use of surgery to treat gender dysphoria, which Justice Thomas addresses in some detail, is not at issue in this case,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in a curt footnote.
The State Department is issuing a blunt warning to the United Kingdom: Ban Elon Musk’s X, and the United States could retaliate.
The threat follows increased concern in Britain over a flood of AI-generated sexualized deepfakes circulating on X, including non-consensual images and material that could violate child-safety laws. [!]
U.K. regulators are now considering whether the platform ran afoul of the country’s Online Safety Act […]
on Tuesday, the State Department’s Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, Sarah B. Rogers, suggested that the Trump administration is prepared to push back aggressively if Britain takes action against Musk’s platform.
“With respect to a potential ban of X, [U.K. Prime Minister] Keir Starmer has said that nothing is off the table. I would say from America’s perspective, nothing is off the table when it comes to free speech,” she said. […]
Ofcom, the U.K.’s online safety regulator, is investigating whether any of that material produced and spread by X’s Grok AI chatbot crossed into illegal territory involving minors. The chatbot, developed under Musk, recently admitted to producing explicit images of infants. [!!]
But Rogers cast the inquiry less as a question of child protection than as a political fight […] X, she added, has a “political valence that the British government is antagonistic to, doesn’t like, and that’s what’s really going on.”
[…] Rogers, a Trump appointee, also claimed that President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are “huge champions” of free speech. [Unless you are “disrespectful” to ICE agents.]
“Our leadership understands this because President Trump was himself a target of censorship,” she said. “President Trump was banned by Twitter—the old regime before Elon bought it.” [aiyiyi, incomplete information that is designed to gaslight the public. Disingenuous complaint.]
[…] Since returning to the White House, Trump has repeatedly attacked the press over unfavorable coverage and moved to punish critics across government and civil society, often under the banner of fighting bias or disloyalty. [True]
British officials, for their part, reject the idea that the dispute is about suppressing political views. Through a spokesperson, Starmer said that it is “not acceptable” for AI-generated sexual images of “children and women” to proliferate on a major platform.
Behind closed doors, Starmer has been even more explicit. At a meeting with Labour lawmakers on Monday, he said: “If X cannot control Grok, we will—and we’ll do it fast, because if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self-regulate.”
The Labour Party announced this week that it plans to criminalize the creation of non-consensual sexualized images, extending legal responsibility not only to creators but also to platforms that provide the tools to generate them.
The State Department stepping in on Musk’s behalf isn’t a one-off. It follows a recent push by the Trump administration to enlist the tech billionaire’s help in restoring internet access in Iran—an effort cast as aiding protesters trying to get around a government-imposed blackout.
It’s also not the first time that the department has intervened in matters concerning Musk’s business interests. According to The New Republic, U.S. officials pressured at least one foreign government to approve a license for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, in which Musk retains a massive financial stake.
House Republicans are also rallying behind Musk. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida said last week that she is drafting legislation to sanction the U.K. if X is banned.
Musk’s brief stint in Trump’s White House may be over, but his influence clearly is not. […]
Now, as X confronts its most serious regulatory test to date, the State Department seems poised to step in yet again—this time to shield Musk’s business interests as the platform becomes increasingly saturated with AI-driven abuse.
Militant Agnosticsays
Sky Captain @174
Thinking about how most Americans’ don’t have $400 bucks for an emergency expenditure and thinking about how many vehicles ICE is ramming.
Anyone who incurs $400 damage from an ICE ramming is getting off lucky.
I just got quoted $1200 Canadian just to paint a $200 aftermarket front “bumper”* for a 2017 Nissan Pathfinder. This is for a front corner scrape – no bent metal and I am supplying remove and install labour.
*Actually the plastic nose that covers the bumper and holds the front lights.
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said they would not show up for their closed-door depositions this week as part of a House committee’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he’s cutting off the prospect of talks with Iranian officials amid a protest crackdown, telling Iranian citizens ‘help is on its way.’
Iranian citizens should not believe a word Trump says.
Sounds to me like Trump is cutting of talks with Iranian officials prematurely.
Summarized by Steve Benen from a Truth Social post:
Donald Trump published an item to his social media platform on Tuesday morning that concluded, in a message directed at Minnesotans, “THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!”
Fewer Americans are signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans this year, new federal data shows, as expiring subsidies and other factors push health expenses too high for many to manage.
“The president criticized a group of U.S. attorneys at a photo shoot, a day before Federal Reserve subpoenas”
President Trump criticized a group of U.S. attorneys at a White House event last week, calling them weak and complaining they weren’t moving fast enough to prosecute his favored targets, according to people familiar with the exchange.[…]
“The two newest appointees are both obstetrician-gynecologists who at times have challenged broad medical consensus.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed two new members to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee who have challenged broad medical consensus on vaccines and antidepressants in pregnancy.
Kennedy on Tuesday announced he is adding two obstetrician-gynecologists to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the body that recommends to the CDC who should get certain vaccines. They join 11 other members selected by Kennedy after he fired the previous panel of experts in June.
The newest appointees are Dr. Adam Urato, who specializes in maternal-fetal medicine and has practiced at Boston-area hospitals; and Dr. Kimberly Biss, who is based in St. Petersburg, Florida, and has held various leadership positions at an Orlando-area hospital. […]
Biss has been a vocal skeptic of Covid vaccines. In 2023, she told the GOP-led House subcommittee on Covid vaccines that some patients in her practice had faced irregularities with their menstrual cycles after receiving the shots that were so severe she’d had to perform surgeries and hysterectomies. [WTF?] Biss also testified that the miscarriage rate at her practice went up each year from 2020 to 2022 and suggested the vaccines might have been responsible for some women entering early menopause.
Pediatrician and former ACIP member Paul Offit blasted Biss’ testimony in a post on Substack at the time, pushing back on her claims about Covid vaccine safety risks and her suggestion that breastfeeding was unsafe for women who have been vaccinated.[!!]
“Perhaps most outrageous was Biss’s stance on vaccinating children,” Offit wrote, referring to her claim that the death rate among children was low enough that vaccines weren’t needed. Biss falsely claimed that only 3 in 1 million children die from Covid, when the actual rate at the time was 10 in 1 million. Covid shots have also been demonstrated to reduce the severity of illness and lower the risk of hospitalization.
[…] Biss advocated against what she characterized as an “instant rejection” of alternative medical ideas […]
[Oh, that is a telling detail. “Alternative medical ideas.”]
[…] Urato, meanwhile, has also questioned the safety of vaccines administered during pregnancy — including for flu, RSV and Covid — as well as the use of antidepressants among pregnant women. He has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to add a warning to a class of antidepressants known as serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, stating that they cause pregnancy complications and alter fetal brain development. [nope]
Robust scientific studies have not found a definitive link between antidepressant use in pregnancy and autism or birth defects. Some research have found a slightly elevated risk of miscarriage, while others have found no association.
[…] Kennedy has said he overhauled the committee because the prior members were “plagued with persistent conflicts of interest.” […] Many of the current advisory group members have expressed skepticism of vaccines — in particular, Covid shots.
[…] the panelists discussed a number of fringe ideas that aren’t supported by scientific evidence, including claims that injuries caused by Covid vaccines aren’t well-documented and that the shots can lead to cancer or birth defects. Studies have continuously demonstrated the safety of Covid vaccines. Though they carry a very small risk of myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — the risk is far higher after an infection with the virus itself. [True, and an important fact.]
In December, the advisory panel reversed a decadeslong recommendation that all infants be vaccinated against hepatitis B shortly after birth, recommending instead that women who test negative for hepatitis B talk to their doctors about whether to give their newborn the first dose right away. [not a good idea]
The panel had been planning to evaluate the full childhood immunization schedule, but — in an unprecedented move — Kennedy altered the schedule last week without consulting the advisers. The new schedule has fewer universal recommendations for children, dropping the number of diseases targeted from 18 to 11. For example, the CDC now advises parents to talk to a doctor about whether their child should get the flu or Covid shots. The American Academy of Pediatrics has opposed the overhaul and encouraged people to follow its own schedule instead.
Militant Agnostic @218: “Anyone who incurs $400 damage from an ICE ramming is getting off lucky.”
Yes, I thought the same thing. Only $400? That’s just not in the realm of reality.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: Lynna @225, Militant Agnostic @218:
The $400 was an economic benchmark, not a car repair bill. Though good that you occasioned my reexamination of the trivia. Most Americans CAN afford that amount, but a great many cannot.
For its annual report on America’s economic well-being, the U.S. Federal Reserve surveyed more than 12,000 American adults and found that for the third year in a row, 63% of Americans said they could pay for an unexpected $400 expense with cash, savings, or a credit card paid off as soon as possible.
That means 37% said they either couldn’t pay it, would turn to a credit card with plans to pay it off later, sell something, borrow money from a friend or relative, or take out a loan of some kind. About 13% of the entire survey said they wouldn’t be able to cover the expense at all.
Good! Seems the law has worked then – but he members of that still need to be carefully kept under surveillance in my view :
Neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network has announced it will disband in response to proposed new hate speech laws by the federal government.
In a statement posted to Telegram, the group announced the closure of the National Socialist Network would also spell the end of “co-projects” White Australia, the European Australian Movement and the White Australia Party.
“If the laws pass, there will [be] no way to avoid the organisation being banned,” the statement said.
“This disbandment is being done before the laws take effect to avoid former members of the organisations from being arrested and charged.”
The statement, which said the groups would close down late Sunday, was signed by leader Thomas Sewell and other high-profile white nationalists.
Latest twist inthe Randa al-Fattah wriers festival controversery -she’s suing SA’s premier (the State governor basically in USA terms) :
Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah says her lawyers have threatened defamation proceedings against South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas following his public commentary about her scheduled appearance at Adelaide Writers’ Week.
In a social media post, Abdel-Fattah said her lawyers on Wednesday issued a concerns notice on Mr Malinauskas under the Defamation Act.
… (Snip)..
For the past week since I was cancelled by the Adelaide Festival Board, the South [Australian] Premier Peter Malinauskas has made many public statements about me and my character,” she wrote in her statement today.
“We have never met and he has never attempted to contact me.
“Yesterday Mr Malinauskas went even further. He made a public statement. This was a vicious personal assault on me, a private citizen, by the highest public official in South Australia. It was defamatory and it terrified me.
“Enough is enough. I am a human being, not a punching bag. My lawyers have today issued a concerns notice under the Defamation Act on Peter Malinauskas, This is his opportunity to undo some of the harm he has inflicted and stop punching down.”
The action is in response to comments made by Mr Malinauskas at a press conference on Tuesday in which he asked reporters to imagine if a “far-right Zionist walked into a Sydney mosque and murdered 15 people”.
“Can you imagine that as premier of this state I would actively support a far-right Zionist going to Writers’ Week and speaking hateful rhetoric towards Islamic people,” he said.
“Of course I wouldn’t but the reverse has happened in this instance and I’m not going to support that either and I think that’s a reasonable position for me to have. It’s a view that I believe.”
Sure, it’s a group that is easy to dislike and attracts universal condemnation. The tricky business with anti-speech laws, though, is that the government rarely stops there. They’ll be headhunting for any orgs critical of the state of Israel soon enough.
@229. Problem is that group was NOT attracting enough or entirely “universal” condemnation really. Actually, lately, there’s been a rise in fascism and support for it which you should be aware of. Others certainly are.
Thanks in large part to Trump’s avoidable victory in the USA and him and his cult followers promotiong far reichwing hate and destruction and ideology globally. If only more Americans had voted and acted more wisely specifically fully suipporting and backing Kamala Harris the vastly better and more left-wing of.the only two choices Americans had rather than supporting the outright fascist one and undermining & arguing against the only alternative to the Fascist party as you did.
Also that’s NOT what the term “headhunting” means.
I do not think you mean to say they’ll be actively trying to recruit and promote leaders of organisations critical of Israel.
JMsays
Meidas Touch: Trump DOJ Walks RIGHT INTO TRAP of Judge HE APPOINTEDM
The Trump administration replies to Judge Novack’s questioning of Lindsey Halligan trying to remain in office. Essentially it amounts to the DOJ saying it’s OK because the DOJ approved it. It’s legally evasive and intentionally missing the point, the sort of behavior you would expect from a Trump lawyer trying to stall a case. The court will have to respond more directly or just give up trying to enforce court orders.
beholdersays
@231 StevoR
Also that’s NOT what the term “headhunting” means.
False. “Headhunting” has several definitions. It’s fairly obvious what I meant in context.
StevoRsays
@ ^ No. No it was not.
StevoRsays
Latest on the ISS medical return flight :
On Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 14), SpaceX’s Crew-11 mission will perform the first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station (ISS).
The quartet — NASA’s Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Kimiya Yui of Japan and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov — are cutting their planned six-month mission short by about a month due to a medical concern affecting one of them. NASA has not revealed that astronaut’s identity or the nature of the medical issue, citing privacy concerns.
Read on for details about Crew-11’s first-of-its-kind return to Earth.
NASA is serious about setting up a nuclear power plant on the moon by 2030.
For a few years now, the agency has been working to develop a nuclear reactor that could power one or more bases on the lunar surface, which NASA wants to establish via its Artemis program.
This past December, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling to begin construction of such a base by 2030 — and for a nuclear reactor to be ready to launch toward the lunar surface by that same year.
NASA is serious about setting up a nuclear power plant on the moon by 2030. – StevoR quoting space.com@236
No they’re not, unless they’re being run by an idiot – which is quite possible since Jared Isaacman is a Trump crony who knows almost nothing about space technology (having been an astronaut no more qualifies him in that area than driving a car makes you an automotive engineer). It’s possible the actual experts in NASA have told him that date is absurd, and he’s just placating the dementing fuckwit in the White House.
KGsays
On Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 14), SpaceX’s Crew-11 mission will perform the first-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station (ISS).
The quartet — NASA’s Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Kimiya Yui of Japan and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov — are cutting their planned six-month mission short by about a month due to a medical concern affecting one of them. – StevoR quoting space.com@235
Just as well they’re not on the way to Mars.
KGsays
SteveoR@230,
Huh. Isaacman spent much of the interview arselicking Trump – which I suppose is his real job. It would be interesting to know whether he realises the “plan” to send astronauts to Mars is absolute bullshit, but I guess we’ll have to wait for his memoirs.
KGsays
The tricky business with anti-speech laws, though, is that the government rarely stops there. They’ll be headhunting for any orgs critical of the state of Israel soon enough. – beholder@229
That’s a real concern, but does not imply that there should be no legal restrictions on hate speech. That conclusion would only follow if it was reasonable to believe that hate speech does no harm to vulnerable groups, which is not the case.
KGsays
British officials, for their part, reject the idea that the dispute is about suppressing political views. Through a spokesperson, Starmer said that it is “not acceptable” for AI-generated sexual images of “children and women” to proliferate on a major platform…
The Labour Party announced this week that it plans to criminalize the creation of non-consensual sexualized images, extending legal responsibility not only to creators but also to platforms that provide the tools to generate them. – Lynna, OM@217 quoting Daily Kos
I recently sent a comment to The Guardian in relation to this, saying X should be blocked from the UK forthwith, because it’s a cesspit of hatred and lies which a multi-billionaire is using to propagate his vile ideology and incite violence in the country. Ironically, The Guardian blocked my comment – their moderators are absurdly restrictive, which I’ve often thought not only about my own comments, but about comments I strongly disagree with!
KGsays
Asked Sunday about Iranian threats of retaliation, Trump told reporters, “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.” Lynna, OM@215 quoting NBC News
I’m convinced Trump is itching for an excuse to use a nuke. During his first term, he was reported to have asked why he couldn’t, and what was the point of having them if they weren’t used. He’d probably “discover” – what the experts know anyway – that his bombing of nuclear-related sites last year didn’t halt Iran’s nuclear program, and use H-bombs (he wouldn’t be satisfied with a piddling-little A-bomb) against them.
Akira MacKenziesays
As much as I loathe the current Islamic theocracy that is currently in power, I noticed that the protestors are rallying behind the Shah’s brst as their prospective ruler.
They’re just going to trade one brutal tyrant for another.
On Jan. 8, the White House announced the creation of a new division in the Department of Justice for “national fraud enforcement,” to be headed by an assistant attorney general. What makes this move notable is that it will be run out of the White House, under the direct supervision of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Never before has the politicization of justice been so blatant or so dangerous.
Having a prosecutor directly answerable to the president and vice president crosses a line that no other administration has dared to cross. It is the kind of thing one might expect in an autocratic or totalitarian regime, but not in the United States.
Having a DOJ department report directly to the White House is very UN-American, very bad and not illegal because these things are organized by tradition and prevented by Congress doing their job. Trump is setting up an entire department of the DOJ that exists only to punish his political opponents and implement his will.
Trump gives middle finger to heckler at Ford plant after apparent ‘pedophile’ comment. TMZ has obtained video of Trump giving the middle finger to a heckler at a Ford plant in Detroit who shouted what appeared to be the phrase “pedophile protector” at him.
Mississippi synagogue burned in 1967 weathers new attack. Mississippi’s largest synagogue, Beth Israel—firebombed by the KKK in 1967—was burned again this weekend amid a surge in antisemitic attacks.
ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES: ‘We want this terror to stop’: Ilhan Omar calls for ICE to leave Minnesota. “We want ICE out of our district. We want them out of our state. We want this terror to stop. The lives of people are being interrupted, and it is not justifiable for the president to target our state,” says Rep. Ilhan Omar.
It’s not just Mark Kelly that Pete Hegseth plans to prosecute.
[…] Kelly isn’t the only target of the crusade. The New York Times reported:
Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan says she has learned that federal prosecutors are investigating her after she took part in a video urging military service members to resist illegal orders.
Ms. Slotkin, a Democrat, said in an interview on Monday that she found out about the inquiry from the office of Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and a longtime ally of President Trump’s. In an email sent to the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms, Ms. Pirro’s office requested an interview with the senator or her private counsel.
Ms. Slotkin, a former CIA officer who served three tours in Iraq, told the Times that she sees the investigation as an effort by an authoritarian president to weaponize the federal government and intimidate her into silence. […] “The threat of legal action; the threat to your family; the threat to your staff; the threat to you [matters quite a bit].”
For now, it’s not at all clear what kind of allegations Trump’s Justice Department might be pursuing, since there’s nothing illegal or improper about officials telling service members to follow the law.
The brazen weaponization of the federal levers of power, however, is unmistakable.
“[I]t’s not just about me and my family,” Slotkin added in her comments to the Times. “It’s what happens when the commander in chief takes the arms of the government and turns them against basic free speech and against his own people. And it’s not going to stop with me.”
Mass resignations at the Justice Department over its handling of the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good extended into a second day and spread from Washington, D.C., to Minnesota.
In D.C., the number of reported resignations in the criminal section of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division rose from four to six — a reaction to the decision by assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon not to investigate the Minneapolis shooting. Most of the resignations were by supervisor-level prosecutors, according to CBS News, which had previously reported that career prosecutors in the section had offered to drop all of their work to help investigate the shooting. […]
In the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office, an additional six career prosecutors — a majority of the leadership team — resigned over the decision to squeeze state investigators out of the federal investigation into the incident and a related DOJ request to investigate Good’s widow for her protest activities, according to the Star Tribune.
Among the resignations in Minnesota was Joe Thompson, who as the first assistant U.S. attorney was the No. 2 in the office and had previously served as acting U.S. attorney. Ironically, Thompson was the lead prosecutor on the big fraud case in the state that had swept up a number of Somali-Americans and was loudly trumpeted by President Trump and the right wing. The chief of the criminal division also resigned.
Of particular concern is the Trump DOJ’s decision to launch an investigation into the political protest activities of Rebecca Good for possible federal charges. According to the NYT:
Mr. Thompson strenuously objected to the decision not to investigate the shooting as a civil rights matter, and was outraged by the demand to launch a criminal investigation into Becca Good, according to the people familiar with the developments, who were not authorized to discuss them publicly.
[…] Mass Deportation Watch: Somali Edition
Somali refugees in Minnesota legally in the country are being rounded up and shipped to detention centers in Texas, according to reports and refugee advocates. […]
“ICE Arrested Dozens of Refugees in Minnesota and Sent Them to Texas, Lawyers Say”
Federal immigration agents in recent days have arrested dozens of refugees in Minnesota who had passed security screenings before being admitted to the United States, according to their lawyers and immigrant rights advocates.
The arrests of the refugees, who are mainly from Somalia and include children, come after an announcement last Friday that the Trump administration would “re-examine thousands of refugee cases through new background checks,” focusing on people who have yet to obtain green cards after arriving in the United States. But that announcement, by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, did not say that the refugees would be subject to arrest and transfer to immigrant detention facilities. […]
Michele Garnett McKenzie, executive director at the Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis, said most of the detainees were being transferred to facilities in Texas. She estimated that at least 100 people had been detained. […]
The Trump administration’s all-out war on Somali people continues.
In the latest move, […] White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on X that President Donald Trump is ending Temporary Protected Status for Somalis.
“Somali migrants with TPS will be required to leave the country by March 17,” she wrote.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services also made this announcement on X—because this is how we live now, with the government making official proclamations on Elon Musk’s Nazi/CSAM haven.
“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status,” Leavitt said.
She also added some straight-up nationalist racism to the mix, just to make sure everyone knows exactly why the Trump administration is doing this.
“Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first,” she said.
Huh. I wonder why the State Department still designates Somalia with a “Do Not Travel” advisory because of “crime, terrorism, civil unrest, health, kidnapping, piracy, and lack of availability of routine consular services.” [Good question.]
It’s so risky that the Federal Aviation Administration bans certain U.S. flights from traveling to and near Somalia. [!]
[…] The problem for the Trump team is that nearly all Somalis in the United States are citizens […]
Nationwide, roughly 22,000 Somalis are noncitizens, but that doesn’t mean that they are undocumented. That number includes people with green cards, those protected under TPS, and others with legal status.
[…] Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has ended TPS for more than 1.5 million immigrants. But while ending TPS for Venezuelans and Haitians affects hundreds of thousands of people, only a vanishingly small number of Somalis have TPS.
In Minnesota, where the Trump administration has concentrated and escalated its war on Somali residents, a whopping 0.5% have TPS. Nationwide, it’s roughly 2,500 people—all of whom will become deportable come March 17.
[…] The Trump administration is no doubt furious that it can’t strip citizenship from the 58% of Somalis in Minnesota who were born in the state—or the 39% who were born in the United States. […]
Even if ending TPS is somewhat symbolic given the relatively small number of people it would affect, that makes it no less terrible. The Trump administration is pulling out all the stops to drive Somalis out of the country—including laying siege to Minneapolis.
Ending TPS is just the administration’s latest racist, nationalist attack. […]
In an interview on “CBS Evening News” on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump mocked anchor Tony Dokoupil for having a job due to the network’s rightward shift following the 2024 election. The exchange comes as it was revealed that the network’s ratings have collapsed under the new conservative regime. [video]
During the interview, Dokoupil discussed the ailing economy under Trump. Responding to growing concerns about rising prices as he imposes tariffs, Trump said, “A year and a half ago, our country was dead. We had a dead country. You wouldn’t have a job right now. If she [former Vice President Kamala Harris] got in, you probably wouldn’t have a job right now.”
Trump went on to praise conservative David Ellison, chairman and CEO of CBS parent company Paramount, as “an amazing guy.” The president also reiterated to Dokoupil that he “wouldn’t have this job” unless Trump had won.
On the same day that CBS aired the Trump interview, it was revealed that Dokoupil’s first week anchoring the broadcast has been a ratings disaster.
Compared with a year ago, when Norah O’Donnell was anchoring the show, Nielsen ratings were down 23% in the first five days of Dokoupil’s run. Over the comparable five-day stretch, O’Donnell had an average of almost 5.4 million viewers. Dokoupil is averaging just under 4.2 million viewers.
By contrast, ABC’s “World News Tonight” had roughly 8.1 million viewers and “NBC Nightly News” scored about 6.7 million viewers over the same period.
[…] The fall for CBS comes after Paramount chose to pay out $16 million to Trump to settle a frivolous lawsuit, after which the Trump administration approved Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
The action, characterized by many as a bribe, is under investigation by congressional Democrats.
In another widely criticized pro-Trump move, CBS announced last July that it would cancel “The Late Show,” hosted by comedian and longtime Trump critic Stephen Colbert. A few months later, conservative activist Bari Weiss was installed as the editor-in-chief of CBS News.
Even Trump had a laugh at the expense of the network’s drift to the right, noting in a November interview with “60 Minutes” that the network “paid me a lot of money.” Conveniently, the mockery was omitted from the show’s broadcast.
A few weeks later, Weiss pulled a report from “60 Minutes” that highlighted the systematic abuse of inmates at El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, a Trump administration destination for migrants abducted from their families.
Things have gotten so bad at CBS that the network was mocked during its own broadcast of the Golden Globes on Sunday. During her monologue, host Nikki Glaser described the network as “America’s newest place to see B.S. news.” [LOL]
[…] even Trump is noting the network’s subservience to him, the bad news is unlikely to stop.
That interview was painful to watch. Trump kept correcting Dokoupil and instructing him on how to present both sides. It looked like Trump was in charge. Trump was the boss.
Posted by readers of the article:
The “new direction” at CBS has one goal: to destroy any residual credibility or legacy of trust built up over the decades by the network of Murrow, Cronkite, and 60 Minutes, and replace it with just another propaganda echo chamber for the Republicans, fascists, and oligarchs.
————————————-
Here are some new maybe more appropriate renames for CBS:
[…] Two ex-ICE workers I spoke with described an agency that, in pursuit of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation mandate, is engaging in reckless and risky behavior.
“They’re essentially operating now in a constraint-free environment and doing very dangerous things,” said Scott Shuchart, who previously worked at the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties within DHS and more recently as ICE’s assistant director for regulatory affairs and policy under the Biden administration. Violent interactions with the public aren’t surprising, he added. “That’s sort of by design.”
Dan Gividen, an immigration lawyer who acted as deputy chief counsel for ICE’s Dallas field office between 2016 and 2019, compared what the agency is doing as akin to running into a crowded movie theater and yelling “fire.” “You’ve got these ICE officers that are pouring out of these vehicles, pointing guns at US citizens—people who’ve done absolutely nothing wrong—and causing chaos.”
ICE removal agents charged with doing administrative arrests, he said, lack the tactical training to safely do operations out in communities. “It’s not at all surprising that this is happening with these ICE ERO officers being sent out to basically treat people terribly,” he said, anticipating more escalation of violence.
[…] In Gividen’s view, the federal immigration agents didn’t have a reason to interact with Good to begin with. “He had no reason to believe she had committed any offense that he actually has the authority to investigate,” Gividen said of Ross. “They murdered her, plain and simple. That is all there is to it. The notion that they were in any way, shape, or form acting in self-defense to put three bullets in that woman is absolutely absurd.”
[…] “The question isn’t: Was he in any danger?” Shuchart said. “The question is: Was the use of force the only thing he could do to address the danger? And was the use of immediate deadly force the appropriate level of force?”
One of the videos shows that Ross appeared to move out of the way to avoid possible contact with the car. “I don’t understand how you get from there to the idea that deadly stop and force against the driver was necessary to protect the officer from serious bodily harm,” added Shuchart, who until January 2025 was part of a team that handles ICE-wide policy and regulations.
[…] “The fact that their feelings are hurt by US citizens disapproving of what they do loudly is completely irrelevant,” Shuchart said. “The point of the job is not to have your feelings well-cared for by the public.”
[…] “I would be skeptical of anyone who would take a job with an agency that is willing to defend behavior this unprofessional,” Shuchart said. “There are thousands of law enforcement agencies in this country. If you’re a decent recruit, go work for one of the others that has more reasonable standards and expectations.”
The Supreme Court on Wednesday revived an Illinois Congress member’s lawsuit over a state mail-in ballot law, paving the way for political candidates nationwide to challenge election laws more easily in their states.
The justices ruled 7-2 that Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) has the legal right to sue Illinois over its ability to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day, a practice targeted by President Trump and his allies.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion over the dissents of two of the court’s liberals: Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
[…] The legality of the Illinois mail-in ballot practice was not before the justices. But lower courts ruled Bost did not have standing to bring the case after finding the votes likely would not much impact his own race.
Roberts said unlawful election rules can injure candidates in several ways, from lost elections and spent resources to decreased vote shares and damaged reputations. But candidates also have an interest in fair processes, he said.
“Win or lose, candidates suffer when the process departs from the law,” the chief justice wrote. […]
By letting Bost’s suit move forward, the high court may be opening the floodgates for candidates across the country — and political spectrum — to fight election rules in the courts.
Illinois argued “chaos” could ensue for election officials if the justices sided with Bost. More than a dozen states, plus the District of Columbia, let mail-in ballots be received after Election Day so long as they were postmarked or certified by the time polls close.
Jackson called the decision a “dubious departure from settled law” in a dissenting opinion joined by Sotomayor. She noted that standing requires a “personal stake” in the alleged dispute and suggested the majority agreed to do away with that requirement for political candidates.
“[The court] declares that all candidates have standing to challenge election regulations in light of their interest in a ‘fair process,’” Jackson wrote. “No matter that, in a democratic society like ours, the interest in a fair electoral process is common to all members of the voting public. The Court thus ignores a core constitutional requirement while unnecessarily thrusting the Judiciary into the political arena.” [I agree with Justice Jackson.]
[…] Roberts […] wrote in a footnote that the court’s decision only addresses candidates’ standing to challenge rules that govern the counting of votes in their elections.
[…] Justices Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative, and Elena Kagan, a liberal, wrote in a concurring opinion that they agreed with the court’s judgment but not its reasoning.
Bost’s standing stems from a “traditional pocketbook injury” he has faced, and would continue to face, from the costs of paying poll watchers to monitor ballot-counting after the election and ensure votes with discrepancies aren’t tallied — not his status as a candidate, they said.
The Trump administration took Bost’s side. Trump signed an executive order in March seeking to require all votes to be “cast and received” by Election Day, but it has been challenged in court. […]
[…] While homeland secretary Kristi Noem and others in the administration preen about justifying last week’s shooting and trumpet their war on “domestic terrorism,” DHS is privately divided and hesitant about the latest deployments. According to documents leaked to me, not only is the Department seeking “volunteers” for the apparently unpopular mission, it is urging its agents to maintain a low profile and comply with the use of force policies. […]
Today, Border Patrol Tactical Commander Greg Bovino circulated a “legal refresher” for agents in the field including on the use of force — not a move that screams certainty about their conduct. And the Department has sent memos to volunteers for Minneapolis warning about their “operational security,” covering everything from removing any signs of law enforcement affiliation when they are around their hotels to turning off location settings on their phones so that they can’t be tracked.
The guidance also reminds agents that things like profanity, insults and rude gestures directed at them are not illegal […]
“The estimate is part of planning around Trump’s efforts to bring Greenland into the U.S. fold, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio tasked with crafting a proposal to purchase the semi-autonomous Danish territory.”
The United States could have to pay as much as $700 billion if it were to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of buying Greenland, according to three people familiar with the cost estimate.
The estimate was generated by scholars and former U.S. officials as part of planning around Trump’s aspiration to acquire the 800,000-square-mile island as a strategic buffer in the Arctic against America’s top adversaries […] It attaches a price tag of more than half the Defense Department’s annual budget to Trump’s national security priority, which has stoked anxiety across Europe and on Capitol Hill amid his rhetoric about seizing Greenland since he ordered a U.S. military raid to capture Venezuela’s president and his wife.
Greenland, the semi-autonomous territory of the kingdom of Denmark, is not for sale. Officials from Denmark and Greenland have rejected Trump’s claims that the U.S. will acquire Greenland “one way or the other.” A senior White House official, however, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been directed to come up with a proposal in the coming weeks to purchase Greenland, describing such a plan as a “high priority” for Trump.
On Wednesday, Rubio and Vice President JD Vance are scheduled to meet with officials from Denmark and Greenland, who traveled to Washington seeking a better understanding of Trump’s intentions and proposals. The meeting follows lower-level discussions last week between officials from Denmark and Greenland and the White House National Security Council.
“I’d love to make a deal with them,” Trump told reporters Sunday when he was asked whether there is a deal Greenland could offer. “It’s easier. But one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”
[…] “Greenland does not want to be owned by, governed by or part of the United States,” Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said as she arrived in Washington on Tuesday. “We choose the Greenland we know today — as part of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
Greenland’s minister for business and mineral resources, Naaja Nathanielsen, said Tuesday that the messages from the U.S. are causing such concern for Greenlanders that they are having trouble sleeping.
[…] Despite the anxiety, Nathanielsen said, “we have no intentions of becoming American.”
The U.S. can already put more troops in Greenland and expand its military and security capabilities there under the current agreement between the two governments, a U.S. official familiar with the issue said.
[…] Another option under consideration includes forming what is known as a compact of free association with Greenland, an agreement that would include U.S. financial assistance in exchange for allowing it to have security presence there, NBC News has reported. The U.S. has similar agreements with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau. Adding Greenland to the mix could satisfy part of Trump’s broader vision for American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere […]
The U.S. in 1916 agreed to buy islands in the Caribbean from Denmark and, in turn, acknowledged that the U.S. “will not object” to the Danish government’s holding political and economic interests to all of Greenland, according to the agreement at the time.
[…] there is a growing sense of inevitability in Europe and the U.S. that Trump will gain some ground in his Greenland aspirations as he seeks to expand American influence in the Western Hemisphere. The question is how — economic coercion, diplomacy, military force — and how much.
[…] On Tuesday, a bipartisan duo of senators introduced legislation that would prohibit the Defense Department from using funds to assert control over the sovereign territory of a NATO member state without that state’s authorization or approval by the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s principal political decision-making body, a clear message of opposition to Trump’s rhetoric about acquiring Greenland.
Greenland, which Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, visited last year, hosts a small U.S. military footprint at Pituffik Space Base. The base includes a contingent of U.S. Space Force and other military personnel who staff radar systems that serve as an early warning system for any attacks from Russia. The U.S. and Denmark also share intelligence regularly about what the military sees in the region.
Greenland has long been receptive to hosting more U.S. military assets or to negotiating over its strategic resources, which include rare earth minerals.
[…] And last week, America’s European allies, including Denmark, said in a joint statement that they would “not stop defending” the values of sovereignty and Greenland’s territorial integrity.
“The nation’s largest wireless provider said that its engineers ‘are working to identify and solve the issue quickly.’ ”
Verizon said on Wednesday that its wireless service was suffering an outage impacting cellular data and voice services.
[…] Verizon, which has more than 146 million customers, appears to have started experiencing services issues around 12:00 p.m. ET, according to comments on social media site X.
Users also reported problems with Verizon competitor T-Mobile. But the company said on social media said that it was not having any service issues.
In Washington, D.C., the District’s official emergency notification system sent out a message to residents saying that the Verizon outage was “nationwide.”
“If you have an emergency and can not connect using your Verizon Wireless device, please connect using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police district or fire station to report the emergency,” the AlertDC system told recipients.
New York City’s Office of Emergency Management also said it was aware of the outage without mentioning Verizon by name. The city said it was “working closely with our partners” to review the outage and “assess any potential effects on city agencies & essential services.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Denmark and allied countries said Wednesday they will increase their military presence in Greenland as part of expanded exercises, amid intensifying pressure from Washington over the Arctic island’s sovereignty.
[…] In a statement, Denmark’s defense ministry said additional Danish aircraft, naval assets and troops will be deployed in and around Greenland starting immediately as part of expanded training and exercise activity. The effort will include “receiving allied forces, operating fighter jets and carrying out maritime security tasks,” the ministry said.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on X that Swedish officers are arriving in Greenland as part of a multinational allied group to help prepare upcoming phases of Denmark’s Operation Arctic Endurance exercise, following a request from Copenhagen.
A European diplomat said that troops from the Netherlands, Canada and Germany were also taking part. The diplomat and another official with first-hand knowledge said France was also involved. […]
[…] “The goal is to show that Denmark and key allies can increase their presence in the Arctic region,” said a third person briefed on the plans, demonstrating their “ability to operate under the unique Arctic conditions and thereby strengthen the alliance’s footprint in the Arctic, benefiting both European and transatlantic security.”
The announcement landed the same day U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers in Washington […]
Trump escalated the dispute earlier Wednesday in a Truth Social post, declaring that “the United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security,” calling it “vital” for his planned “Golden Dome” missile defense system. [Oh FFS. The effing “golden dome”?!]
[…] “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland’s prime minister, said at a press conference Tuesday.
In response, Trump said, “That’s their problem. I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is. [!] Don’t know anything about him, but that’s going to be a big problem for him.”
Those hoping to see American consumers catch a break received another round of discouraging news this week, specifically related to grocery prices. Axios reported:
Grocery prices (or “food at home,” as the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls it) rose by 0.7% in December, the largest monthly gain since the peak inflation period in August 2022. Food inflation was evident at restaurants, too: Costs for dining out (or “food away from home”) rose by a similar amount, the largest monthly gain in three years. […]
Grocery prices were up roughly 2.4% in December compared to the prior year. But that masks double-digit price increases for a slew of household staples over the past 12 months, including coffee (+20%), beef (+16%) and candy (+10%).
With these numbers having been released by his own administration on Wednesday morning, Donald Trump had little choice but to acknowledge reality a few hours later during his speech in Detroit about the economy.
No, I’m just kidding. The president lied again anyway. [video]
“Grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down,” Trump boasted, the same day his own administration told the public that grocery prices are now rising faster than at any time since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. [!]
[I snipped past statements from Trump regarding “winning on groceries,” and including a vow to bring food prices “way down.”]
More than a year later, the president keeps pretending he has successfully delivered on that promise — reality be damned.
And while Trump’s dishonesty is obviously one of his defining traits, this specific deception remains one of his most self-defeating lies.
American consumers go to grocery stores all the time, and they know that prices haven’t gone “way down.” Trump can’t simply wave his hand and Jedi mind-trick the public into being happy about rising costs.
[…] Trump, reluctant to acknowledge his long list of failures, has instead decided to tell grocery-buying Americans not to believe their lying eyes — or wallets.
Is there ever a right time to lie about grocery prices? Still, this timing on Trump’s part was particularly bad.
“Hey, If You Want To ‘Treat’ Your Autistic Kid With Dangerous Snake Oil Cures, That Is Fine By The FDA”
How is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Making America Healthy Again this week? Is it by declaring “steak” to be the healthiest food of all? No, that was last week. Is it by no longer recommending children and adolescents get vaccinated against Hepatitis A or B, the flu, COVID-19, rotavirus, and meningitis? No, that was also last week! Is it appointing a vaccine “skeptic” and a(nother) self-described anti-vaxxer to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)? Yes, but that’s not what we’re on about right now.
Hey, it’s not my fault the man is an ongoing train wreck.
This week, the FDA removed a webpage devoted to discouraging parents from giving their autistic children ineffective and dangerous treatments, including one that literally killed a child last year. […]
The page, “Be Aware of Potentially Dangerous Products and Therapies that Claim to Treat Autism,” provided a list of some of the more prominent therapies, along with the dangers associated with them. It’s probably not a huge coincidence that these therapies are frequently championed in the “wellness”/”batshit ideas about autism” spaces by some of Kennedy’s friends and recent hires … and by Kennedy himself.
Before it was taken down, the first thing the site warned about was “chelation therapy,” meant to remove heavy metals and toxins from the body. Now, there is a legitimate use of chelation therapy — for people who get lead poisoning or OD on iron — that is approved by the FDA and for prescription use only. There are also OTC “chelation therapies” promoted by wellness gurus that people use on their autistic children in hope of curing them. Not only does this therapy not work, it rids the body of essential minerals and can cause kidney damage. [!] […]
Previously, it read:
These products claim to cleanse the body of toxic chemicals and heavy metals by binding to them and “removing” them from circulation. They come in a number of forms, including sprays, suppositories, capsules, liquid drops and clay baths. FDA-approved chelating agents are approved for specific uses that do not include the treatment or cure of autism, such as the treatment of lead poisoning and iron overload, and are available by prescription only. FDA-approved prescription chelation therapy products should only be used under professional supervision. Chelating important minerals needed by the body can lead to serious and life-threatening outcomes. [!]
And now it says nothing because the page does not exist. [!]
David Geier, who was hired by RFK Jr. last year to “investigate” whether the government had covered up evidence that vaccines cause autism, is a major proponent of chelation therapy. [!] As you may recall, Geier got in trouble with the Maryland State Board of Physicians back in 2011 for practicing medicine without a license, and this was one of the treatments he offered.
Next, the FDA recommended against hyperbaric chambers […]
Like chelation therapy, hyperbaric chambers have their legitimate uses. As the FDA previously pointed out, they are used for “treating decompression sickness suffered by divers.” They do not, however, cure or treat autism and can be dangerous. Last January, five-year-old Thomas Cooper was on his 36th hyperbaric chamber treatment for ADHD and sleep apnea when he died in a fire caused by static electricity. There are other risks as well, including oxygen toxicity and lung damage, especially when used regularly. [!]
While there is some evidence (not a lot) that suggests it could be helpful for ADHD and sleep apnea (though neither is currently recommended by the FDA), there is none suggesting that it would do anything for autism — so putting your child at risk for something that is probably not going to work and will also be quite expensive seems like a bad idea. [understatement]
The site also previously noted that “detoxifying clay baths,” raw camel milk, magical miracle bleach (MMS or chlorine dioxide), and essential oils will also not treat autism. It did not mention some other shady treatments, like giving children borax, colloidal silver, zeolite, bleach enemas, homeopathy, or the rest of the seemingly endless list of fake autism treatments, all with their own dangers.
I have a lot of empathy for parents who want to help their kids and are “willing to try anything” to do so, but many of these treatments are, if not actual child abuse, something close to it. […] Autism isn’t a disease, it’s not an illness, it’s a neurodevelopmental difference. It cannot be cured with magic beans or magic hyperbaric chambers or magic bleach.
There is a lot of bad information out there and it is part of the government’s job to counter that. Or at least it was. Those scared, confused parents need solid information they can rely upon to help them make good choices that will help them raise happy, healthy children. It sucks that they can no longer rely on the FDA to help them do that.
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS (The Borowitz Report)—A new study published on Wednesday by Harvard Medical School has found a link between the overuse of Botox and pathological lying.
“Repeated injections of Botox to the face interact with proteins in the brain,” Professor Harland Dorrinson, who supervised the study, said. “The result is an acute allergic reaction to the truth.”
Though over-injecting Botox makes it difficult for a user to move the facial muscles necessary for speech, he said, “to the extent that the person’s mouth is capable of moving, it will be lying.”
The study revealed other negative side effects of Botox, such as swelling in the cranium that requires the user to wear an enormous hat.
The satirical report is accompanied by a photo Kristi Noem wearing an enormous cowboy hat. The photo was taken when she was lying about the murder of Renee Good.
beholdersays
@242 KG
The tricky business with anti-speech laws, though, is that the government rarely stops there. They’ll be headhunting for any orgs critical of the state of Israel soon enough. – beholder@229
That’s a real concern, but does not imply that there should be no legal restrictions on hate speech. That conclusion would only follow if it was reasonable to believe that hate speech does no harm to vulnerable groups, which is not the case.
I don’t remember explicitly stating there should be no restrictions on hate speech. I said it was tricky business, and the tricky part is acheiving your goal in punishing hate speech while exhaustively preempting every potential misidentification of speech that isn’t hateful, and in providing pathways for appeal.
But since you mentioned it, anti-speech law can possibly do good by mitigating harm to vulnerable groups and still be outweighed by the harm caused to a formerly liberal society by silencing dissenting voices.
Courts provide extraordinary protection to the police. Courts provide extraordinary protection to agents of the federal government. Is it still possible to prosecute ICE agents for assault and murder?
For anyone who has watched the many videos showing ICE agent Jonathan Ross shooting and killing Minnesota mom Renee Nicole Good, the conclusion is obvious: This is murder.
Under ordinary circumstances, the Department of Justice would be investigating this incident, and Ross would be suspended awaiting the outcome of that investigation. But we are nowhere near ordinary circumstances. Instead, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has labeled Good a “domestic terrorist” and blessed Ross’s shooting without bothering to conduct any review, talk to any witnesses, or apparently watch any of the videos clearly showing that Ross was never under any conceivable threat.
Instead of investigating Ross’s clearly unjustified action, they’re going after Good’s widow.
Both Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have issued statements that are completely at odds with what happened on January 7. Noem has also stated that Ross “followed his training protocol” and was justified in his actions.
As far as the White House is concerned, Good is a dead terrorist and Ross is a hero. Fortunately, Noem and Trump don’t have the final say on who gets prosecuted.
Good’s tragedy—a young mother killed for no reason after dropping off her 6-year-old at school—is not a solitary event. Since Trump reentered the White House and began his immigrant pogrom, ICE agents have fired their weapons at civilians at least 16 times. As The Trace notes:
Renee Good was one of four people who have been killed. Another seven people have been injured.
At least 15 other civilians have been held at gunpoint. In addition, ICE has routinely brutalized both protestors and bystanders. That includes incidents such as shooting a priest in the head with pepper balls and teargassing infants.
Every day, ICE agents seem determined to show that they sincerely believe American citizens have no recourse but to submit to their abuse. [video]
What’s most disheartening about all this is that so far … ICE is right. While several agents have been arrested for off-duty crimes, abusive behavior and deadly force have earned only praise from Trump, Noem, Vance, and other Republicans. Attorney General Pam Bondi has taken up none of these cases for review, and Trump has made it clear that he expects Americans to surrender their First Amendment rights … or else. [video]
But if no one in the Justice Department will stand up for the Constitution—and they won’t—what’s left? Can state and local officials bring a rogue agency to heel? [Good question.]
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty have announced that they are investigating Good’s death. This is being made much more difficult because the FBI has taken apparently unprecedented action to block access to any evidence collected by federal officers.
Moriarty is soliciting additional videos and statements from witnesses. Ross or other ICE agents do not appear to have been made available to speak to state or county officials. How likely is it that charges will be leveled against Ross, or any of the other ICE agents involved in incidents of deadly force, assault, and abuse?
[…] there’s the question of whether or not an ICE agent involved in an immigration raid qualifies as a “peace officer.” It may seem like an obvious question, but relevant case law is pretty thin on the ground. ICE agents are federal officers, but the Venn diagram of their authority doesn’t cover the general enforcement powers of FBI agents or federal marshals. Their training is on immigration enforcement, and doesn’t include general public safety or community policing. They are not agents under the Department of Justice, but facilitators under DHS.
As an employee of ICE, Ross’s role is limited to carrying out immigration arrests. He’s certainly not empowered to stop or arrest people for partially blocking a street for a few minutes. The whole initial basis of the encounter is unjustifiable. [!]
Best guess? No. ICE agents are not “peace officers,” no matter how many times they stencil “POLICE” on their vests. However, in any case against Ross or another ICE agent, the “peace officer” status is likely to draw a fresh review from the courts. That question will get definitively resolved, but probably only after working its way to the Supreme Court.
Even assuming that Ross is a peace officer under Minnesota state law, that doesn’t cut off the chance of prosecution.
In general, to bring charges against any law enforcement officer for using deadly force, the State has to show that the officer’s use of force was not justified. Justification can include any circumstance where the officer is under threat, or others may be under threat without immediate action. This alone is an enormous hurdle, because courts have repeatedly ruled that this doesn’t just protect officers who were genuinely under threat, but also those who felt threatened. [!]
However, in a rare instance of the current Supreme Court not making things worse, last year’s Barnes v. Felix ruling tossed a decision from the hyper-conservative Fifth District. This ruling restricted the circumstances in which an officer can apply deadly force—or, at least, kept those circumstances from ballooning absurdly.
The description of the case by the Cato Institute makes it clear why Barnes may be very relevant to Good’s shooting.
In 2016, Ashtian Barnes was killed by Harris County, Texas, Deputy Constable Roberto Felix, following a traffic stop for unpaid tolls. As Barnes apparently tried to drive away, Felix jumped onto the moving car and indiscriminately opened fire, killing Barnes instantly.
The Fifth Circuit cleared Felix’s actions, writing that in the “moment of threat,” the officer was clearly in danger and was justified in shooting Barnes. However, the Supreme Court reversed that ruling. [!]
Last spring, the Supreme Court unanimously held that a full review of the “totality of the circumstances,” including the nature of the offense and the events leading up to the incident, is relevant to determining the reasonableness of force.
In Barnes, the initial charges were barely sufficient to warrant a traffic stop in the first place, and Felix was under no threat until he placed himself in peril by grabbing onto Barnes’ car. He may have been frightened in the moment, and for the Fifth Circuit, that was enough, but in the totality of circumstances, it’s not enough.
That “totality of circumstances” requirement also happens to align with Minnesota law. [video]
The circumstances in Barnes seem to almost perfectly overlap with what happened with Renee Good. As multiple videos have shown, Good’s car had only partially obstructed a residential street for a handful of minutes. Other vehicles were still getting by. She was already in the process of moving completely out of the way when Ross and other ICE agents approached the car, and would have been gone had she not stopped to wave another vehicle to pull around her. Her last exchange with Ross was, at worst, snarky, but non-confrontational and contained no threats. [!!]
It’s hard to believe that an actual police officer, authorized to deal with traffic situations, would have retained Good. [Good point]
Assuming Ross was in front of her vehicle at all, he was only there because he violated DHS procedures by placing himself in front of the vehicle after Good was already attempting to leave the area. Good was traveling at low speed, was turned away from Ross and other officers, and had barely begun to move when Ross opened fire.
Good’s offense, if any, was minor. The threat against Ross, if any, was of his own making. The totality of circumstances in this case is not in Ross’s favor. That’s especially true of additional shots he fired at Good from beside or behind the vehicle. There are no reasonable grounds for these shots.
Hennepin County police, like those in many other jurisdictions, are actually forbidden from shooting into a moving vehicle in any circumstance. under the very reasonable understanding that a vehicle in motion doesn’t automatically stop if the driver is dead. The DHS issues these same guidelines to its agents.
This doesn’t mean that a Grand Jury might not still determine that Ross had a reason for his action. The number of cases in which officers have walked away from the use of deadly force seems almost limitless.
Another potential complication comes from the discovery that this is not the first time Ross has been involved in an incident with a car. Federal court records show that last June, Ross approached a car driven by a Guatemalan man, Roberto Carlos Muñoz, and attempted to apprehend him.
According to court testimony, Ross arrived in an unmarked vehicle, approached Muñoz, and ordered him to exit his car. When Muñoz didn’t respond, Ross punched through the side window and attempted to wrest control of the car. Muñoz responded by hitting the gas. As NBC News reported, Ross claimed to have used a taser in an attempt to stop Muñoz.
“I was yelling at him to stop,” Ross testified of Robert Muñoz-Guatemala, who was found guilty last month of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous or deadly weapon. “Over and over and over again at the top of my lungs.”
Ross said in his testimony that he feared for his life and fired his Taser repeatedly at Muñoz-Guatemala.
“It didn’t appear that it affected him at all,” Ross said.
Vance raised this incident as a defense of Ross.
“That very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car six months ago with 30 stitches in his leg, so he’s a little sensitive about being rammed by an automobile,” Vance said at the White House on Jan. 8.
However, what this testimony actually shows is that Ross already had a history of dealing poorly with people inside vehicles and of violating DHS guidelines. He either didn’t know how to properly and safely deal with such a situation or deliberately ignored the rules. If he was truthful in his claim that he attempted to use a taser in the earlier incident, this also shows an agent primed to skip over any attempt at non-lethal force and go straight for his gun.
Videos show that Ross pulled his gun before Good had begun to move forward, and fired even as he was still holding up his phone in his other hand. […]
In addition to murder, there are additional charges that could be levied against both Ross and other ICE agents on the scene—and these charges apply equally to peace officers and civilians.
Videos show that ICE agents refused to allow a doctor who was on the scene to approach the vehicle and blocked ambulance access to the area. Both of these are felony violations of Minnesota law with penalties up to five years imprisonment. If Good’s death was found to be connected to the delay of treatment, all involved could face additional charges of manslaughter.
However, there’s still one more hill to climb before charging Ross, and it’s a steep one.
Whether or not Ross is a peace officer, he certainly is a federal agent. Vance and others have claimed this gives him “absolute immunity” from state prosecution.
This is, in legal terms, utter bullshit.
Federal officers are broadly immune from state prosecution for taking actions specifically authorized by federal law in a case that goes back to an 1890 incident in which a federal agent shot a man who was threatening a member of the Supreme Court.
Neagle established a two-prong test for this type of immunity from state criminal law: (1) Was the officer performing an act that federal law authorized him to perform? (2) Were his actions necessary and proper to fulfilling his federal duties? If the federal officer satisfies this test, he or she is immune from prosecution for violation of state law.
The DOJ would certainly argue that Ross was acting to perform his duties as an ICE agent. Any State prosecution would need to show that Ross’s actions were excessive or unjustified.
This could be much harder than getting past the leeway given to police use of deadly force. Like the question of whether or not an ICE agent is a peace officer, there are few recent cases to reference, especially when it comes to an agent who was on duty. In short, States simply haven’t done much to test the immunity of federal officers, even when those officers have performed unnecessary acts of violence.
The murder of Good was clearly not required to enable the immigration enforcement actions of the ICE officers. That doesn’t mean a judge, jury, or federal court might not see a way to grant Ross his magic get-out-of-everything card.
Is Ross a peace officer? Probably not. Was this a justified shooting? No. Can he be prosecuted? Yes.
Will those charges survive federal challenges? Let’s find out.
The FBI raided Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home Wednesday morning to seize her personal and work-related devices […]
According to the Privacy Protection Act of 1980, it is “unlawful for a government officer or employee, in connection with the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense, to search for or seize any work product materials possessed by a person reasonably believed to have a purpose to disseminate to the public a newspaper, book, broadcast, or other similar form of public communication.”
But that didn’t stop Bondi and the FBI from seizing Natanson’s work […]
“The investigation marks the first major U.S.-based government action into the issue.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Wednesday that he is launching an investigation into xAI and Grok after the Grok artificial intelligence model produced sexualized images of women and children.
The investigation will look at “the proliferation of nonconsensual sexually explicit material produced using Grok,” Bonta said in a statement.
He said xAI, Elon Musk’s company that created Grok, “appears to be facilitating the large-scale production of deepfake nonconsensual intimate images that are being used to harass women and girls across the internet, including via the social media platform X.”
[…] Grok’s image generation model now includes a “spicy mode,” created specifically to produce explicit content […]
One analysis cited in Bonta’s release states that more than half of the 20,000 images that were generated by the program from Christmas to the New Year “depicted people in minimal clothing, and some of those appeared to be children.”
“The avalanche of reports detailing the non-consensual, sexually explicit material that xAI has produced and posted online in recent weeks is shocking,” Bonta said in the statement, noting that these photos are used to harass people online.
[…] After blowback from X users, the company appeared to restrict these permissions on the social media app, while keeping them available on the Grok standalone app, website and the Grok tab on X.
By Friday, the number of explicit images created by X’s reply bot appeared to have been dramatically reduced. The same cannot be said for the Grok platforms.
A number of U.S. lawmakers have called on Musk and X to take down these images and prohibit the programs from producing more, but Bonta’s investigation Wednesday marks the first major U.S.-based government action on the issue.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: Militant Agnostic @257, Lynna @252:
DailyKos made each of those phrases links. Those both cite the American Community Survey from the Census Bureau. They’re described like the same statistic, but I couldn’t determine why they’re different numbers.
the 58% of Somalis in Minnesota who were born in the state
PBS (Dec 2025): “An estimated 260,000 people of Somali descent were living in the U.S. in 2024 […] The largest population is in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, home to about 84,000 residents, most of whom are American citizens.
[…]
Almost 58% of the Somalis in Minnesota were born in the U.S. Of the foreign-born Somalis in Minnesota, an overwhelming majority—87%—are naturalized U.S. citizens.”
the 39% who were born in the United States.
MN Reformer (Dec 2025): “around 22,000 Somalis in America—8.4%—are not citizens. In Minnesota, around 5,000 people of Somali descent are not citizens
[…]
Among Somalis in Minnesota, the number of Somali non-citizens went from over 76% in 2001 to 9% in 2023. In the same period, U.S.-born people of Somali descent rose from 19% to nearly 39% of all Somalis as families settled here and had children.”
* From the chart therein: I think “all” = naturalized + USborn + noncitizen Minnesotans with Somali ancestry.
For a separate statistic, there was enough redundancy that I WAS able to cross-check a national count of Somalis (260k) from PBS against a non-citizen percentage of Somalis nationwide (8.4%) in MN Reformer to yield the same written subpopulation count (~22k) in MN Reformer, so they ought to be using the same data.
President Donald Trump made a vague statement that he’s been told ‘on good authority’ that plans for executions in Iran have stopped, even as Tehran has indicated fast trials and executions ahead in its crackdown on protesters.
Steve Benen adds: “On violence in Iran, there’s no reason to take Trump’s dubious claims at face value”
The State Department said Wednesday it will suspend the processing of immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and Somalia, whose nationals the Trump administration has deemed likely to require public assistance while living in the United States.
Renee Good’s family is accusing federal immigration officers of killing the Minneapolis mother as she attempted to follow agents’ instructions, and said Wednesday they have hired the same law firm that represented George Floyd ’s family to press for answers and accountability.
The world is rapidly closing in on the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit that serves as a threshold for ever more dangerous climate change, European scientists have warned. Average global temperatures are now around 1.4C higher than during the pre-industrial era, according to data released Wednesday by the European Union’s Copernicus planetary observation service. The scientists also found that 2025 was the third-hottest year on record.
The Republican-controlled House on Tuesday advanced legislation aimed at fulfilling President Donald Trump’s long-running desire to ‘make showers great again’ by voting to loosen federal efficiency standards for showerheads.
“An AI tool used to help ICE identify potential new recruits with law enforcement experience wrongly categorized some potential new officers, sources say.”
As Immigration and Customs Enforcement was racing to add 10,000 new officers to its force, an artificial intelligence error in how their applications were processed sent many new recruits into field offices without proper training, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the error.
The AI tool used by ICE was tasked with looking for potential applicants with law enforcement experience to be placed into the agency’s “LEO program” — short for law enforcement officer — for new recruits who are already law enforcement officers. It requires four weeks of online training.
Applicants without law enforcement backgrounds are required to take an eight-week in-person course at ICE’s academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia, which includes courses in immigration law and handling a gun, as well as physical fitness tests.
[…] The officials said the AI tool sent people with the word “officer” on their résumés to the shorter four-week online training — for example, a “compliance officer” or people who said they aspired to be ICE officers.
[…] “They now have to bring them back to FLETC,” said one of the officials, referring to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
The AI tool was initially the mechanism used to categorize résumés, the officials said. The officials weren’t sure how many officers were improperly trained. It’s also not clear how many may have been sent out to begin immigration arrests.
As the immigration agency surges agents into American cities, their enforcement tactics are increasingly questioned by local law enforcement, community groups and lawmakers following the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis by ICE officer Jonathan Ross.
Ross had more than 10 years of experience with ICE and wouldn’t have been subject to the AI screening for new recruits.
[…] In Minneapolis alone, more than 2,000 ICE officers have been sent to the area to boost arrests, and they have apprehended over 2,400 people since Nov. 29, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. Minnesota has sued to try to remove DHS.
ICE had a mandate to hire 10,000 new officers by the end of 2025 and offered new recruits $50,000 signing bonuses using the money Congress allocated under the One Big Beautiful Bill. One of the officials said that although ICE met the goal on paper, bringing back people who were misidentified for more training means it didn’t successfully add 10,000 ICE officers on the street in 2025.
“It will see the beginning of the ‘demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel,’ Trump’s envoy said.”
The United States will push forward with the next phase of its plan for peace in Gaza, moving toward “demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction,” President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday.
The second phase will see the establishment of a “transitional technocratic Palestinian administration” in Gaza, Witkoff said in a post on X, as well as the beginning of the “demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel.”
The technocratic committee set to oversee Gaza will be headed by Ali Abdel Hamid Haath, a former deputy minister of Palestinian planning, a statement from mediator Qatar said. [video that shows winter weather destroying Gazan's makeshift homes.]
[…] The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, welcomed the development and the formation of bodies intended to administer Gaza. Egypt and Turkey, which helped broker the agreement, also welcomed the announcement.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem told Al Jazeera the announcement was a positive development and said the group is willing to hand over control of Gaza. The group said it would engage in discussions on the future of its weaponry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his “top priority” remains the return of the final Israeli hostage body held in Gaza, saying “the declarative move to establish a technocratic committee” would not affect the effort.
A ceasefire has largely held in Gaza since the first phase of the peace plan was unveiled by Trump in October [?] Israel and Hamas have both accused each other of breaching the ceasefire and failing to honor their commitments under the agreement. Nearly 450 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began [!], according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The first phase was expected to see Hamas release all the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza, while an increased amount of aid would flow into the Palestinian enclave, around half of which has remained under Israeli military control.
ll living hostages have been freed and almost all the bodies of dead hostages handed over. The body of hostage Ran Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer killed during the attack, has yet to be returned to Israel. Hamas has said it is still searching for his body. […]
The flow of aid into Gaza has increased since the ceasefire came into effect, but the United Nations warned last week that some essential supplies are still being denied.
Famine conditions in Gaza City have eased since the ceasefire began in October, but the situation remains critical, with the entire strip still at risk of starvation, according to a report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the world’s leading authority on food crises.
“As U.S. imports from China have declined amid the two countries’ trade war, China has sent more exports to Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere.”
China had its biggest trade surplus ever last year at almost $1.2 trillion, according to data released Wednesday, defying tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed on the world’s second-largest economy.
[…] China’s foreign trade in goods last year totaled 45.47 trillion yuan ($6.51 trillion), up 3.8% from the year before, state media reported, citing figures from the General Administration of Customs. That included 26.99 trillion yuan ($3.8 trillion) in exports and 18.48 trillion yuan ($2.6 trillion) in imports.
Exports grew 6.1% compared with the previous year, while imports grew 0.5%.
Export growth rates to emerging markets such as Latin America, the Middle East and Africa were all faster than the overall rate, said Wang Jun, a vice minister at China’s customs administration.
“Trade partners are more diversified, and the ability to resist risks has significantly increased,” he said at a news conference in Beijing, adding that the fundamentals of China’s foreign trade “remain solid.”
Stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong were up after the trade data was reported, with the Shanghai Composite index reaching its highest level in more than a decade.
[…] China, a manufacturing giant and one of the U.S.’ biggest trading partners, heavily depends on exports for growth because of sluggish domestic demand and a long-running crisis in its property sector.
[…] Trump has imposed steep tariffs on Chinese goods since he returned to office last January, blaming the U.S. trade deficit with China on unfair trade practices. Several rounds of retaliatory tariffs by both countries brought tariffs as high as 145%, amounting to an effective trade embargo.
Though Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in October to extend a trade truce for one year, the U.S. tariff rate on Chinese goods remains at 47.5% [!], which experts say is too high for Chinese exporters to make a profit.
Chinese exporters have navigated the U.S. tariffs by tapping into other markets “with great success,” said Tianchen Xu, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. They have also restructured supply chains by shifting lower-end manufacturing to third countries in Southeast Asia and elsewhere that face lower U.S. tariffs.
[…] U.S. exports to China have also fallen amid the trade tensions. Those tensions could be further inflamed by Trump’s threat on Monday to impose a 25% tariff on countries that do business with Iran amid a deadly government crackdown on protesters.
A spokesperson for the foreign ministry of China, Iran’s biggest trading partner, said Tuesday that “there are no winners in a tariff war, and China will firmly safeguard its own legitimate and lawful rights and interests.”
Trump said Tuesday that he thought China could further open its markets to U.S. goods, once again citing his “great relationship” with Xi.
“I think it’s going to happen,” he said, without elaborating.
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is demanding the university turn over names and personal information […] to combat antisemitism on campuses.
[…]
“These requests would require Penn to create and turn over a centralized registry of Jewish students, faculty, and staff—a profoundly invasive and dangerous demand that intrudes deeply into the freedoms of association, religion, speech, and privacy enshrined in the First Amendment,”
[…]
Instead, the university offered to inform all its employees of the EEOC investigation, inviting those interested to contact the agency directly.
But that was not enough for the commission, which brought the university to court to seek to enforce the subpoena. […] “An employer’s obstruction of efforts to identify witnesses and victims undermines the EEOC’s ability to investigate harassment.”
birgerjohanssonsays
When Sex Goes Wrong: ER Doctors Share The Most WTF Injuries They’ve Treated
The last Russian units have been cleared out of Kupyansk.
birgerjohanssonsays
The obvious explanation for the Trump self-own as he investigates Jerome Powell
.https://youtube.com/shorts/9ggdxoS5aS0
.
Also, the Dems take the lead in Alaska senate poll.
Silentbobsays
@ 231 StevoR
If only Kamala Harris had acted more wisely specifically offering a vastly better more left-wing choice to Americans so that more Americans voted for her rather than undermining one of the only two choices and effectively supporting the outright fascist one.
“This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers,” reads an announcement on X […] The change was announced hours after California’s top prosecutor said the state was probing […] “We now geoblock the ability of all users to generate images of real people in bikinis, underwear, and similar attire via the Grok account and in Grok in X in those jurisdictions where it’s illegal,” X said […] It also reiterated that only paid users will be able to edit images using Grok on its platform.
[…]
Over the weekend, Malaysia and Indonesia became the first countries to ban the Grok AI tool
TJ McIntyre (Law prof): “Notice the limitation—this only applies to the @Grok X account, not the ‘Grok Imagine’ tool which is where the full nudes and hardcore video are being generated.”
Tatum Hunter (WaPo): “X says Grok account will stop undressing women. I just tested the standalone Grok app, which immediately complied with my request to undress a photo of me. This is illegal, according to the legal experts I spoke with.”
Commentary
Good grief. So not, heaven forbid, blocked everywhere, and accessible to anybody with a VPN.
It will frustrate British users who want to commit this crime, but it won’t prevent British people from being the victim of it.
So people in other jurisdictions can still generate them, and post them where people in our jurisdiction can see them. Doesn’t sound exactly compliant with our law.
You can run the biggest CSAM site in the world for like 3 weeks totally unregulated and going “sowwy, bot’s fixed now” will (probably) get you to escape consequences completely.
[Re: ‘our Safety team are working around the clock’ in the announcement]
Didn’t he fire most of the safety team when he took over?
No mention of the alternate ways of using the chatbot on Twitter @ 19, 17.
US military intervention on Iran could come in the next 24 hours, European officials tell Reuters. […] Spain, Poland and Italy have urged citizens to leave Iran. UK Government spokesperson: “We have temporarily closed the British Embassy in Tehran.[“]
Trump told reporters that he has been told that killings in the Iranian government’s crackdown on the protests were subsiding and that he believes there is currently no plan for large-scale executions.
Asked who told him that the killings had stopped, Trump described them as “very important sources on the other side.” The president did not rule out potential U.S. military action, saying “we are going to watch what the process is” before noting that his administration had received a “very good statement” from Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on [Fox News] “there is no plan” by Iran to hang people, when asked about the anti-government protests. […] hangings are common in Iranian prisons.
GottaLaff: “Trump lives for violence, cruelty. He thrives on it. Makes him feel like a big tough guy. But he uses spackle on his hand to cover his bruises.”
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Mark Chadbourn: “The Senate voted 51–50 against an effort to block Trump from further Venezuela military action without Congress’ authorisation. Vance broke the tie.”
Rando 1: “It came down to Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.).”
NYT article: “Mr. Hawley and Mr. Young were part of a group of five Republicans who last week joined all Democrats in supporting the measure”
Eric Columbus: “Folks focus on Hawley but the other caver, Todd Young, has been a huge disappointment. He literally didn’t vote for Trump in 2024 and isn’t on the ballot until 2028. Yet he was fully supine for all of 2025. I believe this was the first time he stood up to Trump 2.0 and now he stood down. Pathetic.”
Rando 2: “Todd Young wrote in his newsletter this week that one of his top ten books of 2025 was “A Fever in the Heartland”—which is an excellent historical account of the 1920s rise of con man, rapist, and Klan leader DC Stephenson in Indiana politics. Young obviously missed the whole damn lesson.”
Trump signed an executive order on Friday that provided some details on how the US plans to block courts or creditors from tapping any revenue from those oil sales. Venezuela owes international bondholders, oil companies and others as much as $170 billion—one reason why US firms have been reluctant to help rebuild the country’s infrastructure.
[…]
Revenue from the oil sales is currently being held in bank accounts controlled by the US government […] located in Qatar […] where money can flow freely with US approval and without risk of seizure. […] Trump’s order noted that at least some of the revenue would be held in US Treasury accounts.
[…]
“There is no basis in law for a president to set up an offshore account that he controls so that he can sell assets seized by the American military,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren [said].
Rando: “Paying back Qatar for the ‘free’ airplane?”
Allison Gill: “Who among us hasn’t sold stolen oil and stashed the profits in a bank in the country that bailed out our son-in-law’s building at 666 Fifth Avenue?”
A man from Venezuela was shot by ICE in north Minneapolis Wednesday night after federal officials say they attacked an officer following a traffic stop. This comes exactly a week after an ICE officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good [4.5 miles away].
Protesters clashed with law enforcement in the area in the hours after the shooting, lighting off fireworks and throwing snowballs. Law enforcement responded with chemical irritants [and flash bangs]. […] Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara called it an unlawful assembly, and urged people to “leave immediately.”
[…]
DHS said in a statement federal law enforcement officers stopped a person from Venezuela who was in the U.S. illegally. The person drove away and crashed into a parked car before taking off on foot, DHS said. After officers reached the person, two other people arrived from a nearby apartment [with a snow shovel and broom handle] and all three started attacking the officer, according to DHS. “Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” DHS said.
The man who was shot suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to the hospital, the City of Minneapolis said […] The officer involved was also taken to the hospital, DHS says. The extent of the officer’s injuries are not known. The two other people involved in the incident were arrested, DHS says.
[…]
[Mayor Frey said,] “And I have seen thousands of people throughout our city peacefully protesting. For those that have peacefully protested, I applaud you. For those that are taking the bait, you are not helping and you are not helping the undocumented immigrants in our city,”
One interesting thing about the Minnesota ICE/CBP deployment: as far as I can tell, there hasn’t been a surge of Section 111 charges (for assaulting a federal officer) like we saw in other cities targeted by federal forces. I can only find one case since the MN surge began at the end of December.
Nicksb (Trial Lawyer): “What grand jury would indict at this point?”
REMINDER. “To all ICE officers: You have federal imminuty in the conduct of your dutues. Anybody who […] tries to stop you […] is committing a felony. You have immunity […] no one—no city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist—can prevent you […] the [DoJ] has made clear that if officials cross that line into obstruction, into criminal conspiracy against the United States or against ICE officers, then they will face justice.” —Stephen Miller
Brendan Nyhan (PoliSci): “There is nothing complex or subtle or hard to understand about what is happening here.”
Dan Silverman (PoliSci prof): “ICE’s message to its agents: ‘Do whatever the f*%# you want. There are no limits on your power. Anyone in your way is a criminal obstructor. You are the law.'”
Yoshiko Herrera (PoliSci prof): “The ‘justice’ that Miller speaks of is summary execution at the discretion of any ICE officer.”
Hunter Walker (Reporter): “REMINDER: Stephen Miller is not a lawyer. Also, if you work for a government agency, *their* lawyers are not *your* lawyer.”
Southpaw (Lawyer): “He also doesn’t work at DHS.”
Rando: “the Department of Justice has made clear… they will face justice.”
agencies spent much of 2025 struggling to determine whether TdA even functioned as an organized entity in the US at all—let alone as a coordinated national security threat.
[…]
the FBI described TdA as an unsophisticated compared to traditional “South American theft groups,” finding its members favored “opportunistic,” often “spontaneous” crimes, with a focus on retail theft from big-box stores and exploiting other Venezuelan and South American migrants. While the bureau consistently warned of TdA’s propensity for violence, it failed to find any coordination among members inside the US or note any evidence of complex, preplanned operations.
[…]
reports of sporadic crimes being loosely attributed to the group using vague attribution and low-confidence language.
Brian Finucane (Just Security): “Recall that the notion that TdA is an ‘organized armed group’ was one of the administration’s predicates for the killing spree at sea.”
Rita Moore (PoliSci): “Memberhip in TdA currently being used in Oregon as the justification for CBP stopping & shooting two people last week.”
birgerjohanssonsays
I see X/Twitter has backed down about making sexualised images.
Yay, pressure!
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: birgerjohansson @295: “I see X/Twitter has backed down”
Only marginally, see 288. It’s still trying to avoid fixing the problem.
birgerjohanssonsays
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain @ 296
Goddammit ! Of course the South African snake tries to wriggle out of committments.
.
Lazy phrasing. It should be 1,5 the rate per mass unit. So if the sun fir instance contained 1% oxygen Jupiter would be 1,5 % . The issue is, Jupiter has more oxygen than the solar system average, which is not expected considering how gas giants form.
birgerjohanssonsays
2010:
“How The Sequel To The All-Time Best* Space Movie Was Kneecapped”
Ford worker who called Trump ‘pedophile protector’ has ‘no regrets whatsoever.’ “As far as calling him out, definitely no regrets whatsoever,” TJ Sabula—the Ford employee who was suspended after heckling Trump—told the Washington Post.
ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES
Chris Hayes’ map-based theory behind Trump’s Greenland obsession. Chris Hayes argues that Trump’s fixation on owning Greenland is driven by ego, distorted maps, and a willingness to risk a historic geopolitical crisis.
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In a counterproposal designed to ease tensions with the United States, on Thursday Greenland suggested that Donald J. Trump acquire Jeffrey Epstein’s island instead.
“President Trump has no roots on our island,” Greenlandic government spokesman Hartvig Dorkelson said. “Epstein’s island, on the other hand, must stir many happy memories for him.”
Acknowledging that Epstein’s island “could benefit from rebranding,” Dorkelson said, “More than the Kennedy Center, this is a place that should have Trump’s name on it.”
Meanwhile, Trump ramped up his imperialist rhetoric, declaring that the US needed to own Lapland in order to corner the world market in laptops.
On Christmas Eve, The Washington Post’s Hannah Natanson wrote a terrific report in which she described herself as the newspaper’s “federal government whisperer.” It was a worthy title: Natanson positioned herself as the go-to reporter covering federal employees struggling with Donald Trump and his team’s radical efforts to transform the government.
Three weeks later, the FBI showed up at her home. MS NOW reported:
The FBI searched the home of a Washington Post reporter early Wednesday in connection with a criminal case involving a leak of classified information.
Hannah Natanson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, was at her Virginia home when FBI agents executed a search warrant and seized her cellphone, two laptops and a Garmin watch, the Post said.</blockquote. Officials confirmed that Natanson was not part of a criminal investigation and that she’s not facing any charges. Rather, the administration believes she received information from Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a systems engineer in Maryland who allegedly leaked classified information.
Indeed, the White House defended the developments by emphasizing Trump’s “zero tolerance” attitude on failing to protect classified information — a rather hilarious claim in light of the president’s track record of blurting out sensitive secrets and storing classified files in the bathroom of his glorified country club. [LOL. True.]
[…] Given the nature and breadth of Natanson’s work, it’s easy to imagine the Trump administration could use her electronic devices to identify other former or current federal officials who have contacted her with confidential information the White House would prefer to keep from the public.
The FBI’s search of a reporter’s home is extraordinarily unusual — and was enabled by a decision Attorney General Pam Bondi made shortly after taking the reins at the Justice Department.
In early 2021, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland established a policy that prohibited federal prosecutors from going after reporters’ private information or forcing them to testify about confidential sources. [!]
Even at the time, this wasn’t especially controversial. In fact, there was bipartisan legislation in Congress, called the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act (the PRESS Act), that would have codified Garland’s policy into federal law. In early 2024, House Republicans agreed to bring the bill to the floor, where it passed without objection.[!]
[…] Though there was a companion bill in the Senate, which was co-authored by two conservative Republicans and which enjoyed the backing of far-right media figures such as Tucker Carlson, then-candidate Donald Trump told GOP senators to reject the legislation, and it died soon after.
A year later, Trump returned to the White House, at which point Bondi decided to turn back the clock, revoked the Biden-era policy, and ended the media protections. [!]
Eight months later, we’re seeing the results of that shift, and if recent history is any guide, Natanson won’t be the last journalist to find FBI agents waiting at their door.
Donald Trump has spent quite a bit of time lately trying to lower expectations ahead of this year’s midterm elections. When the president sat down with Fox News’ Sean Hannity last week, for example, he said it’s an “amazing phenomena” that the party that controls the White House so often fares poorly in the midterms.
“There’s something down deep psychologically with the voters that they want, maybe a check or something?” he asked rhetorically.
This week, Trump raised a similar observation during an Oval Office interview with Reuters’ Steve Holland — but this time, Trump offered one additional thought. From the Reuters report:
The president expressed frustration that his Republican Party could lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives or the Senate in this year’s midterm elections, citing historical trends that have seen the party in power lose seats in the second year of a presidency.
‘It’s some deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don’t win the midterms,’ Trump said. He boasted that he had accomplished so much that ‘when you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.’
Trump’s incessant focus on the historical pattern seems designed to avoid blame: If and when Republicans fare poorly, the president apparently wants to be able to say, “No one should blame me, this is what always happens.”
But it is that other part of the quote that is especially important.
Broadly speaking, there are three core problems with his suggestion that his accomplishments negate the need for national elections. The first is that Trump is an unpopular president who’s failing spectacularly at practically every aspect of his job. That he has a record of accomplishments worthy of pride is absurd.
Second, the people have a right to weigh in on the nation’s direction and its future, regardless of the sitting president’s track record. Elections are not punishments, they’re governing opportunities to which Americans are entitled. That Trump continues to struggle with this foundational idea is a reminder of his aversion to democracy.
Finally, what makes the rhetoric especially jarring is the familiarity of the circumstances. It was just last week that the president spoke to House Republicans and briefly mentioned “canceling” the 2026 elections before backing off.
In August, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — whose country cannot hold elections during Russia’s deadly war — Trump said, “Say, three and a half years from now, so you mean, if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections.” [!]
A year earlier, in the run-up to Election Day 2024, the then-candidate reflected on his professed popularity and asked, “So why are we having an election?”
Conservatives are likely to see the quote Trump offered to Reuters and shrug, brushing it off as a harmless aside. But throughout his career, he’s repeatedly rejected the idea that Americans can resolve their differences at the ballot box and asserted that he’d only accept election results that align with his hopes and expectations.
Every time he muses about the United States not having elections, his authoritarian vision comes into sharper focus.
“Trump threatens Insurrection Act to use troops to quell Minnesota ICE protests”
President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota on Thursday, raising the prospect of sending U.S. troops into Minneapolis to quell protests over a recent federal immigration enforcement surge.
Trump […] put the onus on Minnesota politicians to stop protesters from “attacking” Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Trump wrote that if the state couldn’t calm the protesters, whom he referred to as “insurrectionists,” he would “institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State.”
The Insurrection Act enables a president to deploy the military on U.S. soil in extraordinary circumstances: to quell an insurrection, civil disorder or armed rebellion. By invoking the Insurrection Act, a president empowers the military to make arrests and perform searches domestically, functions that the military is generally otherwise prohibited from performing in the United States.
[…] Trump raised the prospect of deploying the Insurrection Act previously, as well, but didn’t formally invoke it. He threatened to do so in 2020, during his first term, saying he would deploy troops if governors did not calm civil unrest after the death of George Floyd, a Black man whose killing by Minneapolis police ignited national protests. And in June, after protests in Los Angeles over immigration raids, he said he would “certainly” invoke the act “if there’s an insurrection.”
It is not clear how or if the federal government would deploy U.S. troops in Minneapolis, which is part of a broader metro area with nearly 3.8 million residents.
The Insurrection Act has been invoked more than 30 times in its more than 200-year history. It was last invoked in 1992 during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles and has not been used without the consent of a state’s governor for 60 years.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem told reporters at the White House that she spoke with Trump on Thursday morning about invoking the Insurrection Act [!], calling the option his “constitutional right” but adding that she does not know whether he’s likely to follow through on the threat. […]
On Wednesday night, protesters gathered in the city to denounce immigration agents’ actions. Footage from the streets showed protesters shouting, blowing whistles, filming ICE officers with their cellphones and calling for them to leave the city amid bursts of tear gas and stun grenades.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said a crowd near the scene of Wednesday’s shooting was “engaging in unlawful acts,” including throwing fireworks at officers, as he urged them to disperse.
“The situation we are seeing in our city is not sustainable,” Frey said on X. “ … We cannot respond to Donald Trump’s chaos with our own chaos.
[…] “We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another,” Frey added. He said that he hoped to force ICE out of the state through a lawsuit he and other Minnesota officials filed Monday.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche referred to the protests in Minneapolis on Wednesday as an “insurrection” and blamed the unrest on Walz and Frey, who he said were “encouraging violence against law enforcement” [lie] in a situation that has escalated since the fatal shooting of Renée Good last week by an ICE officer.
The person who was shot in the leg Wednesday was from Venezuela and was in the country illegally after coming to the U.S. in 2022, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. [I snipped further details. See comment 292 from Sky Captain.]
Walz urged those who felt angry to remain peaceful.
“I know you’re angry. I’m angry,” Walz said on X. “What Donald Trump wants is violence in the streets. But Minnesota will remain an island of decency, of justice, of community, and of peace.”
Federal agents’ activity has disrupted life across the Twin Cities and suburbs, from retail parking lots where agents have stopped workers to residential neighborhoods where officers have knocked on doors looking for undocumented immigrants. Federal officers have deployed pepper spray and irritants against protesters, including outside a church whose pastors said they were among those “pepper-bombed” Tuesday, and at a high school last week.
The federal government has sent thousands of additional officers to the city in the days since Good was shot in her car, leading to complaints from residents that the operation to detain undocumented immigrants instead resembles an armed occupation. Good’s family has hired lawyers to investigate her killing, including one of the lawyers who represented the family of George Floyd.
On Wednesday, a federal district court judge in Minneapolis declined to issue a temporary restraining order against federal immigration operations in Minnesota, in a case filed this week by the state of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The same judge, Katherine Menendez, is expected to decide this week on whether to issue a preliminary injunction against ICE activity in the Twin Cities in a case brought by six Minneapolis-area residents represented by the ACLU of Minnesota.[…]
[…] We are edging closer to crossing that fateful line when the military is called to put down civil unrest that has not just been provoked but sought after by a president eager to use retributive violence against his political foes while DHS puts out snuff videos that are, as Greg Sargent put it, “consciously depicting the unleashing of ICE on wicked, urban, cosmopolitan, non-MAGA America as a sustained act of cleansing, restorative violence.”
The six federal prosecutors in the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office who resigned rather than investigate the political activities of Good’s widow have been deemed “fired” by at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi, the NYT reports: “That move cut off pay and benefits they would otherwise have received for weeks after having resigned.”
“Well Of Course They’re Raiding The Washington Post! Did Jeff Bezos Think They Would Do Not That?”
On Wednesday, Day 359 of the Donroe Doctrine for Don-minating all that He surveys, the FBI descended on the Virginia home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, seizing her phone, her personal laptop and her work one, and a Garmin watch. And the Post got a subpoena too, though the feds are insisting that the reporter and Post are not the targets.
What flicked the feds’ balls? They told Natanson they were investigating one Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a contractor and systems administrator in Maryland with a Top Secret security clearance that they suspect of accessing and taking home military classified intelligence reports that the FBI claimed in an affidavit had been found during a search of his lunchbox and his basement. [social media post]
[…] And hmm, the affidavit in support of the retaining-information charge does not accuse Perez-Lugones of leaking information to a journalist or anyone else, just that he viewed and printed out pages of secret materials that he shouldn’t have, then took and retained them in his home. Perez-Lugones has notably not been charged with espionage […]
maybe superseding espionage charges are coming because Perez-Lugones did some real bad thing, like leaking Pentagon secrets about a cocktail of outrageous war crimes, sloppy OPSEC, and/or petty internal drama going on in Pete Hegseth’s department of War […]
Or mayyybbee Kash Patel et al. just wanted to get their greasy paws on whatever is in Natanson and the Post’s boxes, and finally found an excuse to let them go raid their enemies at the Fourth Estate. [seems likely] A year ago, Natanson was mostly an education reporter, but then DOGE struck, and the whistleblower-protecting life chose her. Her Signal became a go-to outlet for traumatized civil servants across federal agencies, at least 1,169 of them. And Natanson has also contributed to several articles about the American pressure campaign on Venezuela […]
The 1980 Privacy Protection Act generally bars search warrants for reporters’ work materials, unless the reporters themselves are suspected of committing a crime, which is not the case here. [!]
But hoo boy how Kash Patel, Hegseth, and all of Trump’s [lackeys] want to know who in the Pentagon and all the letter agencies have been blowing whistles on them!
[…] Trump, Hegseth, Patel, and friends are surely in a paranoid fit […]
What warfighter(s) at the Pentagon war-crimed in Venezuela in ways even more disgusting than we already know? Who at the FBI has been ratting out a certain superduperinvestigator at a three-letter agency for using government planes to pitch woo to his much-younger girlfriend, who else at the FBI knew about the time Patel wouldn’t get off his plane until agents found him a women’s jacket and sewed on some patches so he would look like a Big Boy Agent? Where is Russia’s dream date Tulsi Gabbard getting her toenails clipped these days? Which naughty DOGE boys were stalking whistleblowers with drones and taping threatening notes to their doors for narc-ing on their secret servers connected to Russia? […]
For the sake of poor whistleblowers, let’s hope Post reporters practiced better OPSEC with their data than the Pentagon has with their war plans […]
“Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans, not just to establish a record for posterity but to bank evidence for future prosecution,”
the car rental market in Minneapolis is reportedly totally screwed up right now because ICE has cleared the inventory. Rental companies should have to answer for supplying vehicles used in terror.
I rode passenger today on a patrol watching for ICE in my neighborhood in Minneapolis.
Our ride was mostly uneventful, the neighborhood we patrolled has been a target but just not this afternoon. It took me a while to follow everything that is going on, and I felt rather incompetent even as a passenger. These communities are rapidly developing processes and their own kind of professional standards even as new people are constantly joining in. There is a large set of Signal groups covering different portions of the city and into the suburbs, as well as many subdivisions for reactive response. There’s a schedule of dispatchers who run calls, formal handoff, other support people to take notes and follow the chat. Drivers are trying to spot ICE, peering into the tinted windows (so many people have tinted windows!), looking up license plates.
There’s a protocol that I don’t yet understand for what to do when you encounter an ICE vehicle. Several times a day I hear the caravans of ICE and observers honking as they go down one of the streets by my house; protocol is only to do that after a direct encounter and ICE officers leaving their vehicle. I’m not sure what that implies in terms of numbers.
Throughout the neighborhood many corners had people in hi-viz jackets on guard. It was around the time kids were coming home from school. These are being organized separately, by schools, community organizations, churches, and the many ad hoc groups that are popping up block by block.
This is all heartening, and impressive, and also sad because it’s not nearly enough.
Ryan Broderick (Journalist) – Four days on the ground in Minneapolis
The days of the hashtag and the Facebook Event are over. Instead, anti-ICE organizing is done quietly, via word-of-mouth or (theoretically) untraceable Signal groups. […] “A lot of the rental cars around here have been used by ICE,” one of the volunteers told us, before using a walkie talkie to tell other volunteers to stand down and stop monitoring our car.
[…]
ICE agents are, simply put, fucking clowns. […] The ones I spent the weekend following around didn’t even have proper uniforms, with some wearing sneakers. In Minnesota. In January. These dipshits are also wearing camo in the snow. They clearly do not have any training when it comes to their own weapons either. Multiple times over the last few days, I watched officers fire pepper spray balls at the feet of protestors barely a few inches away from them. These weapons are basically paintball guns full of concentrated pepper spray. So when they hit a target, they explode into the air. Which meant ICE agents regularly ended up poisoning themselves with their own weapons. I also watched two agents ask each other if a canister they were about to fire at the crowd was tear gas or a stun grenade. (It ended up being a stun grenade that then ignited the tear gas they had already shot at us, which started a fire in the street that a protestor had to help them put out.)
[…]
According to The Washington Post, the agency is under pressure from The White House to create as much content as possible. Which is why ICE agents have a phone in one hand and a gun in the other. But it goes beyond that. […] I watched as one ICE officer fist-bumped a pro-Trump content creator once he learned he was there to support them. I also watched as a gang of groyper livestreamers, led by January 6th insurrectionist Jake Lang, rile up a crowd of protestors, creating the perfect pretext for ICE agents to fire pepper spray balls and tear gas at the crowd. To say nothing of the other right-wing media networks […]
But the most egregious example I saw of how tightly connected these two worlds are happened on Saturday morning. As a convoy of vehicles driven by ICE agents arrived at the federal building, a woman punched the window of one of the cars. Close to two dozen agents jumped out of the convoy and tackled her and her friend to the ground. Immediately following them, coming out of the same car as the agents, was Fox News national correspondent Matt Finn, who filmed the whole altercation with a massive shit-eating grin on his face. When I started filming him and asked who he was with and what he was using that video for, he turned his back towards me and tried to hide his face.
[…]
It’s hard to overstate how efficient Trump’s shock tactics are and how existentially terrifying they are to oppose. […] any form of anti-ICE protest can be labeled as terrorism, including filming them. […] You can’t dox agents and you’ll get hit with federal charges if you post anything that’s deemed to be threatening them. ICE also recently purchased two new surveillance systems, Tangles and Webloc, which can track phone activity without a warrant. […] Kristi Noem announced that DHS plans to launch its own drone program
Uninteresting footage at the scene after yesterday’s ICE shooting in Minneapolis.
Feds cleared out from this road but left one vehicle. It’s been broken open.
Another vehicle opened. Back was full of license plates, gear, various fed patches.
Fox9 local news – Hours of raw footage https://youtu.be/YK74amyWLZ0?t=7908
* A crowd rummaging through a car’s contents at 2:11:48 to 2:13:45, filming documents (a stack of non-judicial administrative warrants, I think) and going WTF. This camera doesn’t see much.
A potential 3,000 federal agents from ICE and CBP is equivalent to five times the manpower of the Minneapolis Police Department. It’s close to the total headcount of sworn officers among the region’s largest 10 law enforcement agencies and equals nearly one agent for every 1,000 of the Twin Cities’ 3.2 million residents.
[…]
The Pew Research Center estimated in 2023 that Minnesota is home to 130,000 immigrants without legal status—less than 1% of the nation’s total.
About 9% of ICE’s 22,000 personnel are currently in Minnesota. “There are countless more people who are undocumented in Florida and Texas and Utah,”
for new recruits who are already law enforcement officers. It requires four weeks of online training. Applicants without law enforcement backgrounds are required to take an eight-week in-person course […] which includes courses in immigration law and handling a gun, as well as physical fitness tests.
[…] the AI tool sent people with the word “officer” on their résumés to the shorter four-week online training—for example, a “compliance officer” or people who said they aspired to be ICE officers.
[…]
The AI mistake was identified in mid-fall—over a month into the recruitment surge […] officials weren’t sure how many officers were improperly trained.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Follow-up to 313.
The abandoned documents turned out to be MUCH more interesting, this time with close-up footage and narration. Someone posted screenshots and made the following mirrored clips of a livestream.
These were the vehicles that were here for the shooting. Too many protesters came up. They couldn’t move their vehicles. They fled on foot. These are the officers involved. They left all of this behind. This is [a map of] where they take the transports of their immigration “targets”. They’re calling people targets now. This is maps to where they’re staying […] again full names, emails, phone numbers. […] When they kidnap you, this is what they fill out on their booking form. […] They’re staging ICE agents in Wisconsin at this hotel [a Baymont receipt] and then sending them into Minneapolis. The name of the person who registered this room
Donald Trump keeps insisting that the USA absolutely must have Greenland, and his threats of taking over the island haven’t let up. Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met with JD Vance and Marco Rubio at the White House, but the prospects of dissuading the administration from Trump’s weird fantasy seem no better.
“We didn’t manage to change the American position,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters after the meeting. “It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland.”
Vivian Motzfeldt, Greenland’s foreign minister, likewise said that her country — a semiautonomous part of Denmark — wants to keep cooperating with the US, but added that doesn’t mean that Greenland wants to be “owned by the United States.” The USA already has a major military base there, for stashing JD Vance away, and as a member of NATO, the US also has a treaty obligation to defend Greenland, which is rather the opposite of what we’re talking about now. Trump isn’t very hot on NATO, though, so he pretends that the US actually needs to take over Greenland to “defend” it from Russia or China.
Trump’s continued threats may be delusional, but he has a long history of doing the stupidest possible thing in every circumstance, so to be on the safe side, Denmark and other European nations are sending contingents of military forces to Greenland to have some boots on the ground in hopes of at least making Trump think twice before launching a war against our NATO allies.
This raises the interesting class discussion question of what might happen if the US invades Greenland anyway, triggering Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which treats an attack on any NATO member as an attack on all. Would Trump then be obliged to send the US military to kidnap himself?
Prior to the White House meeting, Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said at a press conference with his Danish counterpart, “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark.”
Nielsen continued, “One thing must be clear to everyone. Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”
Asked about Nielsen’s remarks, Trump went Full Dipshit, explaining, “Well, that’s their problem. I disagree with him. I don’t know who he is, don’t know anything about him. But that’s going to be a big problem for him.” [video]
So far, the NATO deployments to Greenland have been pretty limited: 15 French mountain infantry members were there already for training exercises, and President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that additional “military elements are already en route,” with others to follow. The German Defense Ministry said it will send 13 military personnel to Greenland on Thursday. Norway and Sweden have also pledged to send troops, and Denmark is stepping up its military presence in Greenland too.
The European troops will in part be getting logistics in place for larger deployments of troops who will participate in defense drills to come a little later this year.
The NATO troops aren’t being sent in large enough numbers to repel an American invasion, certainly, but to serve as a strategic “tripwire” that could deter Trump from invading at all, and to underline that if he attacked Greenland and killed allied troops, it would be a publicity disaster, and almost certainly the end of NATO — which Trump doesn’t give two shits about, unfortunately. This week he also said that while he “liked” NATO, he thinks it needs the US more than the other way around, and he dismissed Greenland’s defenses as “two dog sleds,” Ha! Ha!
Whether Trump remotely understands how much blowback there’d be is anyone’s guess. But there’s at least the remote chance some of his advisers would point out that if a Greenland invasion led European countries to cut off trade with the US, he wouldn’t be able to impose tariffs on them anymore.
[…] Trump posted on his stupid fake Twitter Wednesday that He’s Gotta Have It (Greenland) and that “anything less than that is unacceptable.” [social media post]
[…] maybe Trump will simply decide he can’t bring himself to go to war with Peter Boysen, the head of Denmark’s Army, who as this Atlantic article makes clear (gift link available at the main link) is a lean mean fighting machine who’s straight out of central casting. [social media post, highlighting Atlantic report, and photo of Peter Boysen]
We’ll keep you updated on whether we’re at war again, assuming the internet isn’t shut down when Trump invokes the Insurrection Act in Minnesota.
As this week got underway, Republican Rep. Jimmy Patronis appeared on Newsmax and expressed concern about the looming Supreme Court ruling on Donald Trump’s tariffs agenda. “The president has been leveraging tariffs in order to strengthen the manufacturing base,” the congressman said.
It was a curious boast, given that the U.S. manufacturing sector has been shedding thousands of jobs over the past several months. But Patronis’ claim was certainly in line with the talking points the White House wants the public to hear. In fact, in his economic speech in Detroit this week, the president appeared eager to emphasize domestic manufacturing, prompting The New York Times to note, “Nationally, the manufacturing sector has cut jobs for eight straight months, and automakers alone have cut about 28,000 jobs in the past year.”
Hours later, Trump nevertheless told Americans by way of his social media platform that the nation is currently enjoying “a Manufacturing Renaissance.”
By any fair metric, this simply doesn’t exist, at least when it comes to job creation. The Washington Post reported:
The trade measures that the president said would spur manufacturing have instead hampered it, according to most mainstream economists. That’s because roughly half of U.S. imports are ‘intermediate’ goods that American companies use to make finished products, like aluminum that is shaped into soup cans or circuit boards that are inserted into computers.
So while tariffs have protected American manufacturers like steel mills from foreign competition, they have raised costs for many others. Auto and auto parts employment, for example, has dipped by about 20,000 jobs since April.
It was April, of course, when Trump unveiled his trade tariffs on his so-called Liberation Day. Since then, how many months have seen job losses in the domestic manufacturing sector?
All of them.
That’s in contrast to the steady job growth in U.S. manufacturing during Joe Biden’s presidency. That progress came to an abrupt end shortly after Trump returned to power.
[…] Trump appears to prefer to play make-believe, pointing to a “renaissance” that exists only in his imagination.
Just two months into Donald Trump’s second term, the president’s administration announced that it would withhold Title X funds from Planned Parenthood clinics that provide contraception, STI testing and other health services.
Not surprisingly, this sparked a legal fight and a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, though the case was withdrawn earlier this week — not because the ACLU lost interest, but because the underlying dispute became moot. As Politico reported, the Department of Health and Human Services recently “quietly released the money” that had been frozen months earlier.
The same report added, “Though the Trump administration is still defending in court far bigger federal cuts to Planned Parenthood that Congress approved last summer, the release of the Title X funds gives the clinics a crucial lifeline. It is also likely to inflame existing tensions between the administration and anti-abortion conservatives who will rally in Washington later this month for the annual March for Life.”
Two days later, the developments came up during a brief Q&A in the Oval Office. [video]
A reporter asked the president why HHS released the federal funds to Planned Parenthood, and he replied, “I don’t know anything about that.” He then asked HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to respond to the question.
“I haven’t heard of that,” RFK jr. said of the restored money.
[…] RFK Jr. couldn’t answer the reporter’s question because he doesn’t keep up on developments at the agency he ostensibly leads.
Last spring, for example, when RFK Jr. sat down with CBS News, the network’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook pressed the Cabinet secretary on some of his most controversial decisions. RFK Jr., however, repeatedly said he wasn’t aware of the actions LaPook was describing.
A month later, the HHS secretary ran into a similar problem during back-to-back appearances before House and Senate committees: Lawmakers kept asking RFK Jr. about steps he and his department had taken, and he kept responding with answers such as, “When did I do that?” and “I don’t know about that.”
Soon after, it happened yet again, during an appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, for example, asked about HHS cutting funding for ALS research. The secretary said the senator’s question was the first he had heard about this. [!]
As the hearing progressed, and the problem persisted, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington raised a highly provocative point.
“Secretary Kennedy, listening to your testimony last week frankly left me pretty confused and concerned about what’s happening at your department,” the senator said. “You repeatedly claimed that staffing and funding cuts that have been reported on publicly and even confirmed by your department staff are not happening. So either you’re lying or you’re not the one making decisions.”
Months later, the salience of Murray’s pushback lingers for a reason.
Is RFK Jr. that clueless? Is he following Trump into dementia land? What the heck is going on at the Department of Health and Human Services?
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Oh, I remember the glitch @315. Past me hit that corner case on a similar occasion trying to avoid creating too many clickable links. HTML ‘code’ tags around a YT url, alone on a line, will embed anyway, and embeds don’t manifest in previews, so it comes as a surprise.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt lost her cool during a press conference on Thursday, when a reporter asked how Renee Good being “shot in the head and killed by an ICE agent” fits with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s assertion that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are “doing everything correctly.”
“Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?” Leavitt responded.
“Are you asking me my opinion?” the reporter replied. “Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably.” [video]
“Oh, okay, so you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion,” Leavitt shot back, then proceeded to call the reporter “a left-wing hack” who is “posing in this room as a journalist.”
Leavitt worked herself up into a lather of slander, lashing out even as the reporter attempted to ask her: “What was inaccurate in what I said?”
There is nothing inaccurate in the reporter’s question about Good’s killing, but Leavitt’s response tells you everything you need to know about the Trump administration’s unwillingness to address its violent attacks on American cities.
[It] let Republican-led Mississippi off the hook last year for one of the biggest welfare fraud scandals of all time. […] The Mississippi TANF scandal drew national attention because one of the recipients of the improper payments was former NFL star Brett Favre, who was not charged with a crime and has maintained he had no idea it wasn’t OK for him to receive the money.
The broad outlines of the Mississippi and Minnesota cases are similar. The way TANF and many other federal social service programs work is that states get funds from the federal government, then issue grants to nonprofits that provide the actual services, such as nutrition and child care, to low-income families. Lawmakers promoted the grant scheme as an alternative to giving money directly to poor people. In Mississippi and Minnesota, nonprofits took money without providing services.
Rando: “Trump personally pardoned or commuted the sentences of individuals convicted of Medicaid and Medicare fraud in states including Florida, Arkansas, Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, and California. At the end of his last term.”
* I couldn’t find all those states at the link, but big frauds for sure.
“EXCLUSIVE: Medical examiner believes death of man in ICE custody was homicide”
“A fellow detainee says he witnessed Geraldo Lunas Campos being choked to death by guards at an ICE detention center in Texas on Jan. 3.”
When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the Jan. 3 death of detainee Geraldo Lunas Campos at a Texas detention camp, the agency said “staff observed him in distress,” and it gave no cause of death.
An employee of El Paso County’s Office of the Medical Examiner told Lunas Campos’s daughter this week that, subject to results of a toxicology report, the office is likely to classify the death as a homicide, according to a recording of the conversation.
In the recording, which the daughter shared with The Washington Post, the employee said a doctor there “is listing the preliminary cause of death as asphyxia due to neck and chest compression,” which means Lunas Campos did not get enough oxygen because of pressure on his neck and chest. Pending the results of a toxicology report, the staffer said on the recording, “our doctor is believing that we’re going to be listing the manner of death as homicide.”
[…] A homicide ruling would almost certainly draw attention to Camp East Montana, a colossal makeshift tent encampment on the Mexican border where migrants have reported substandard conditions and physical abuse, and ICE’s own inspectors have cited dozens of violations of federal detention standards.
[…] Court records show Lunas Campos has been convicted of several crimes, including for aggravated assault with a weapon and, in 2003, first-degree sexual abuse involving a child under 11 years old. ICE arrested Lunas Campos in a “planned enforcement operation” in July, saying in a news release that his criminal record spans from at least 1997 through 2015 and that “his luck has finally run out.”
Lunas Campos had been placed in a segregated housing unit after becoming “disruptive” while waiting in line for medication at the Camp East Montana facility in El Paso, ICE said in a statement last week. Later the same day, staff observed Lunas Campos “in distress” and contacted emergency medical personnel, who were unable to save his life and pronounced him dead, according to the statement.
ICE’s statement did not contain any detail about the cause of death. An internal ICE log reviewed by The Post documented a series of events about Lunas Campos’s case, noting his death, an attempt to contact his family, the notification of the Cuban Consulate and the transportation of his body by the medical examiner. The last event logged, six days after his death, references an “immediate” use-of-force incident but provides no date of that incident or any details.
In an interview with The Post, Santos Jesus Flores, a man who says he was detained in the segregation unit the day Lunas Campos died, said he saw at least five guards struggling with Lunas Campos after he refused to enter the segregation unit, complaining that he didn’t have his medications. Flores said he saw guards choking Lunas Campos and heard Lunas Campos repeatedly saying, “No puedo respirar” — Spanish for “I can’t breathe.” Medical staff tried to resuscitate him for an hour, after which they took his body away, Flores said.
“He said, ‘I cannot breathe, I cannot breathe.’ After that, we don’t hear his voice anymore and that’s it,” said Flores, who had contacted a family member of Lunas Campos, who in turn put him in touch with a Post reporter. The Post confirmed Flores was in Camp East Montana through ICE’s detainee locator.
Deaths in ICE detention centers have occurred with increasing frequency in recent months, as President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown floods these facilities with record numbers of detainees. At least 30 people died in detention last year — the highest in two decades — and Lunas Campos is one of four who died in the first nine days of 2026 alone […] [chart]
[…] Lunas Campos’s death raises new questions about ICE’s reliance on private detention contractors, which the government entrusts to manage security, food, transportation and medical care for the vast majority of immigrant detainees. Those companies have taken on a larger role during Trump’s second term, winning contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to reopen former private prisons and build makeshift tent encampments to accommodate the surge in detainees.
[…] Lunas Campos is the second detainee to die in Camp East Montana, which now ranks as the largest ICE detention facility, according to internal ICE records, with more than 3,800 detainees.
In interviews with the American Civil Liberties Union and other nonprofit groups in November, several immigrants detained at Camp East Montana claimed they were beaten by guards for complaining, demanding medical treatment, refusing to eat or for resisting deportation. […]
johnson catmansays
re Lynna @319:
Is RFK Jr. that clueless? Is he following Trump into dementia land? What the heck is going on at the Department of Health and Human Services?
The answer is that this administration is the most clueless, incompetent, evil, racist, uncaring, unqualified, and absolutely the stupidest ever in the history of the US (and probably the entire world). From the top to the bottom, every one of them is as stupid as the one who went bankrupt running a fucking casino.
Pacheco had left the comment about a post from [Miami Beach] Mayor Steven Meiner, in which he called his city a “safe haven for everyone.” Meiner, who is Jewish, contrasted Miami Beach with “places like New York City,” where he accused officials of discriminating against Jews and “promoting boycotts” of Jewish and Israeli-owned businesses.
In a series of replies, Pacheco called him racist and criticized his actions toward a number of communities, including Palestinians and LGBTQ people. She said she felt his words of welcome were superficial.
At her door, […] Pacheco refused to answer [the officers’] questions without an attorney present, and the officers left within minutes.
[…]
“This is freedom of speech, this is America, right? I’m a veteran,” she told the officers […] the officers told her she was not going to jail and that they were “just here to have a conversation.” […] an officer tells Pacheco: “I would think to refrain from posting things like that, because that can get something incited.”
[…]
While she described herself as progressive, she said she is “conservative when it comes to the Constitution,” a document she had come to revere since moving to the United States from Portugal in the 1980s. […] And the next time she sees a social media post from her mayor, or other elected officials for that matter, Pacheco said she knows what she will do: open the comment section, type her thoughts and hit send.
At the link: quotes of the exchange and background of the mayor’s actions that she referenced. Another unusual detail: besides being an immigrant, she “has run for local elected office three times as a Democrat”, at least once for state senate. The mayorship is nonpartisan, and she regretted voting for him when he acted Trumpy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has asked President Trump to postpone any plans for an American military attack on Iran, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday, even as the Iranian government continues to grapple with nationwide protests. … Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt, all partners of Washington, have also been asking the Trump administration not to attack Iran.
The United States military seized a Venezuela-linked oil tanker in the Caribbean early Thursday, according to the U.S. Southern Command, hours before Venezuelan opposition and government officials were headed to Washington. It’s the sixth such seizure in recent weeks as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure on the Venezuelan government even after a U.S. commando raid that captured President Nicolás Maduro.
A day after the Department of Health and Human Services implemented a late-night rollback of $2 billion in mental health and substance use funding, an administration official confirmed late Wednesday that the grants are now being restored.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he was blocking Louisiana’s attempt to extradite a doctor in the Golden State accused of mailing abortion pills.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking Democrats on the House and Senate Armed Services committees, told MS NOW that the Pentagon has declined to answer repeated requests from congressional oversight committees for the cost of U.S. military operations in Venezuela and the Caribbean.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado told the press on Thursday that she “presented” President Donald Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 2025. It was the latest example of the groveling Trump demands—which is usually accompanied by further public humiliation down the line.
“I presented the President of the United States the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize,” Machado told reporters after her meeting with Trump, before launching into a tortured historic analogy involving Simón Bolívar and the Marquis de Lafayette circa 200 years ago. [video]
While Trump is finally in physical possession of the Nobel Peace Prize he has long coveted, this does not mean he has actually earned the honor—a distinction the Nobel Committee has emphasized. The egomaniacal Trump may pretend this doesn’t matter to him, but it most certainly does.
Despite Machado’s display of deference in light of the U.S. military operation that unseated Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, the White House reiterated Trump’s previous assessment: that Machado lacks the “respect” of the Venezuelan people and is not fit to lead the country.
U.S. officials said his stance had not changed as he headed into the meeting with the increasingly obsequious opposition leader.
“Activists spent years preparing for a communications blackout in Iran, smuggling in Starlink satellite internet systems and making digital shutdowns harder for the authorities to enforce.”
Iran’s communications blackout last week seemed complete. Internet and cellular networks had been shut down by the authorities. Online banking, shopping and text messaging services stopped working. Information about the growing protests was scarce.
Yet a ragtag network of activists, developers and engineers pierced Iran’s digital barricades. Using thousands of Starlink satellite internet systems that they had quietly smuggled into the country, they got online and spread images of troops firing into the streets and families searching for bodies.
[…] The authorities deployed military-grade electronic weaponry designed to disrupt the GPS signals that Starlink equipment needs to function, a step that activists and civil society groups said was rarely taken outside of battlefields like in Ukraine.
[…] Since 2022, activists and civil society groups have worked on sneaking Starlink terminals into the country, aided by a U.S. government sanctions exemption for Starlink and American companies to offer communication tools in Iran. About 50,000 of the terminals are now in Iran, according to digital activists, in defiance of an Iranian law passed last year that bans the systems […]
“You need to plan to have that infrastructure in place,” said Fereidoon Bashar, the executive director of ASL19, a digital rights group focused on Iran. “This is because of years of planning and work among different groups.”
The hidden networks of Starlinks — and the Iranian government’s aggressive response against them — shows how national digital blackouts are becoming harder for authorities to enforce. Governments have long used internet disruptions to suppress dissent in countries like India, Myanmar and Uganda. But the spread of tools like satellite internet have complicated the shutdowns and created a cat-and-mouse hunt against new technologies.
Starlink, provided by Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, beams an internet connection from satellites to terminals on Earth, bypassing any land-based censorship infrastructure. That has helped the service play an outsize role in Iran’s protests […]
Starlink is still available only to a sliver of the Iranian population and information about the protests, which have left an estimated 3,000 dead, remains limited. For most people, the internet continues to be heavily restricted, even as some domestic services have reopened. Video game services have removed chat options, while e-commerce platforms have blocked messaging features, researchers said, an effort to keep the economy going while limiting communication.
[…] The reliance on Starlinks underscores Mr. Musk’s geopolitical influence. This week, the world’s richest man said all Starlink services in Iran would be free of charge. President Trump has also emphasized the importance of satellite internet technology.
[…] Iran has long been a practitioner of internet blackouts, with its online censorship system considered one of the most sophisticated in the world outside of China. The government has built a state-run internet, called the National Information Network, which is essentially walled off from the rest of the world. Authorities tightly control access to global internet content, while providing smooth connections for approved domestic services like banking, shopping, transportation and entertainment.
[…] on Jan. 8, as mass protests swelled, Iranian officials turned off the internet altogether, sending the country of 90 million people into a digital blackout. VPNs stopped working. Iran’s internet traffic dropped 99 percent, according to the monitoring group Netblocks.
[…] The State Department coordinated with SpaceX on the sanctions exemption for digital communication tools in Iran. It also provided support to civil society groups about how to hide the systems from government detection, according to a Biden administration official involved in the plans. […]
Mr. Ahmadian, now executive director of the rights group Holistic Resilience in Los Angeles, said he helped others get some of the first Starlink terminals across the border. “We turned it on and it just worked like a charm,” he said.
Encouraged by the success, Mr. Ahmadian said he helped build a smuggling network. Clustering on Telegram channels and other online platforms, merchants sold Starlink units and coordinated delivery routes through the United Arab Emirates, Iraqi Kurdistan, Armenia and Afghanistan.
[…] The roughly 50,000 Starlink terminals now in Iran are hidden on rooftops and discreet locations. Developers have built tools so a Starlink connection can be shared, turning a single terminal into a gateway for others further away to access the service.
The Iranian government was aware of Starlink’s growing presence, but did not do much to curtail the use until recently […]
The latest electronic jamming efforts against Starlink worked in certain areas, but the terminals are too numerous and dispersed to block completely, researchers said. An Israeli intelligence official said Iran’s government appeared to focus on blocking Starlink terminals in neighborhoods close to the largest universities, to force students offline.
The authorities have flown drones to find the Starlink units, activists said. […]
“Access to satellite communications used to be for the military. That paradigm is changing.”
Several activists said Starlink has been vital, but they were concerned that Mr. Musk might one day change his mind and turn off the service. In authoritarian countries where Mr. Musk has business interests, like China, he has said the service is unavailable.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Missed opportunity to lure him into Venezuela with the Nobel medal on a weight-triggered plinth.
So changing species names is a pet gripe of mine – botantists do it far too frequently – but when you have both an Izecksohn’s treefrog – Bokermannohyla izecksohni, :
Xenohyla truncata, commonly known as the Izecksohn’s Brazilian Tree Frog, may not seem particularly unusual, but this unique species is the only known frugivorous frog in the world. The species, one of two in its genus, lives in the restingas of Rio de Janeiro, an environment threatened by human occupation. While taking an inventory of the fauna in the municipality of Búzios, a research group composed of technicians and graduate students from various universities recorded the vocalizations of these animals for the first time, and was surprised to observe that they jump into flowers and spend up to 15 minutes drinking the nectar. This is a unique food preference among amphibians, which could benefit plants through pollination and seed dispersal. Whether the frogs act as pollinators depends on whether the pollen reaches other flowers of the same species intact, which needs to be confirmed by further studies. It is possible that the pollen is damaged by substances secreted by the tree frogs’ skin. “We don’t know what led these animals to adopt this diet,” says zoologist Luís Felipe Toledo of the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), who supervises two of the students involved in the discovery. “We continue to find animals doing unexpected things,” he points out (Food Webs, March 28).
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Daniel Suitor (Attorney):
For giving, this is a very good resource for mutual aid orgs, personal fundraisers, and nonprofit/community org donations. https://www.standwithminnesota.com/
Besides that, the best thing you can do is prepare your own communities. If it can happen here or Lewiston, Maine, it can happen anywhere.
At one point today, there were 283 Minnesota attorneys doing a training on how to file emergency habeas petitions to keep our neighbors from being shipped out of state and held indefinitely.
[Enough attornies that it] would be the second largest law firm in the state. And that training was just put together this week.
[…]
These efforts are intended to train up attorneys of all backgrounds to prepare and file. The experience of groups that are up-and-running is that they have to be filed incredibly fast, but that if you can get them in (sometimes with a TRO) judges will often sign off and release them with no bail.
So, ongoing representation is not usually needed and can ethically be limited in any case. The key to the cases is fast intake with friends and family, since the detainee can rarely be reached and ICE is very often moving them out of state in a day or so. There are very strong templates out there.
Daniel Suitor: “there will be more offered by various organizations. In particular, the UMN Law Detainee Rights Clinic is working to get lots of trainings going. Info in here.”
The mayors of Maine’s two largest cities say they believe federal immigration agents will soon arrive. […] Portland Mayor Mark Dion […] expects ICE to be in the city next week.
[…]
Neither Sheline’s statement nor Dion’s offered further details as to how they got this information. There has been consistent but targeted enforcement across Maine since Trump took office, but the mayors’ extraordinary moves to raise the possibility of increased action comes at a tense time for the Somali community on the heels of intense enforcement in Minnesota. […] Maine has a Somali community that has been growing in power and prominence in recent years. It is centered in Lewiston and Portland and took root in the early 2000s. Most of them were either born in the U.S. or have become citizens.
[…]
MaineCare providers based in Lewiston and Portland have been at the center of widespread allegations of fraud within the state’s version of Medicaid in recent weeks and months. Reporting in May from The Maine Wire, the media arm of the conservative Maine Policy Institute, led Republican lawmakers to call for more investigations and further scrutiny of the state’s payments via MaineCare for interpreting services. Those calls have intensified in recent weeks following the state’s pause in payments to [one such provider].
ACLU class action lawsuit in Minnesota seeks to bar ICE from stopping Latino and Somali residents without probable cause.
Some of the stories in here are absolutely chilling. One US citizen of Somali descent was just riding an elevator with ICE agents, and then they detained him [outside] for almost half an hour in the freezing cold [19°F] despite him showing agents his passport card. [Allegedly awaiting more info from HQ for 25+ mins, threatening him with detention.] They only let him go once protestors showed up.
birgerjohanssonsays
Don’t worry, Seth Meyers ‘ got this.
Trump Flips Off Auto Worker Who Called Him a “Pedophile Protector,” Push Whole Milk.
Just so people outside of MN know—a lot of the US citizens getting “arrested” by ICE never get processed at Whipple. They are roughed up during the arrest and then often dropped off miles from where they were picked up. It means we don’t know the true scale of what ICE is doing based on ICE stats. Just another aspect of this operation that shows you it’s about intimidation and not immigration.
Chris Geidner (Law Dork): “There were reports of this in LA, Portland, and Chicago, at least, as well.”
Rando 2: “none of those raids were happening in subzero weather. People freeze to death every winter, I’m going to text my parents to put spare coats in the car and keep an eye out.”
Rando 1: “It’ll be dangerously cold this weekend in the Twin Cities. Windchills will reach -20°. With how violently ICE is grabbing people, they might not be dressed for the weather, especially if ICE keeps dumping people miles from their home or car without their phone. Frostbite hits quickly at these temps.”
ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES
‘Not welcome here’: Maine governor draws line as ICE surge looms. “We will resist any attempt to take away the civil rights and liberties of our residents in Maine or to use provocative actions to terrorize people on the streets of our cities,” says Gov. Janet Mills as Maine braces for new ICE operations.
ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES
‘This is by design’: Hayes on Trump engineering chaos to ‘sic the Army’ on Americans. “The Trump administration is now threatening to put down the people of Minneapolis with military force as if they were rebels against the United States government,” says Chris Hayes. Renowned civil rights expert Sherrilyn Ifill joins to discuss.
Video is 12:31 minutes. This video is thorough, and Chris Hayes presents the facts expertly. Video clips showing Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem, as well as other Trump lackeys, speaking are also included.
Goddamn. The medical report on the Renee Good shooting has been released, and it’s too gross and horrifying for me to link to it. She had 4 gunshot wounds, 2 to the chest, one to the head, and one through the arm; she was not breathing when pulled out of the car, but had a weak pulse. She was still alive (but probably doomed) when the passing civilian doctor was turned away from treating her.
“Karoline Leavitt was appalled that people would equate federal agents with the Gestapo, seemingly unaware that Trump has done the same thing.”
As crisis conditions grip Minneapolis in the wake of the Renee Good shooting, Trump administration officials have repeatedly suggested that the left needs to lower the rhetorical volume.
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, for example, insisted this week that “rhetoric does cause violence.” Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, similarly condemned “heated rhetoric” shortly after White House border czar Tom Homan declared, “There will be more bloodshed unless we decrease the hateful rhetoric.”
There was a degree of irony to the circumstances. After all, the White House has spent the last week condemning Good as a “deranged lunatic” and a “terrorist,” both characterizations that suggest it has no problem with “heated rhetoric.”
Similarly, given the widespread violence and unrest in Minneapolis, singling out word choice as the principal problem is hard to take seriously.
And yet here was White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stressing a related point at Thursday’s briefing. [video]
“The Democrat [sic] Party has demeaned [ICE agents],” she said. “They’ve even referred to them as Nazis and as the Gestapo, and that is absolutely leading to the violence we’re seeing in the streets.” [Bullshit. ICE agents acting like the Gestapo is the problem.]
The president’s chief spokesperson went on to show reporters photographs of people using the f-word and giving the middle finger. [Reminds me of PZ’s post Oh dearie me. Oh me oh my. ]
What Leavitt didn’t mention was that just 48 hours earlier, Donald Trump also used the f-word and pointed his middle finger at someone who dared to criticize him.
And while the White House press secretary seemed appalled that people would equate federal agents with the Gestapo, Leavitt might not be aware that Trump, in 2022 and 2023, also referred to federal agents as the “Gestapo” — 20 times.
If Leavitt is correct and such comparisons “absolutely” lead to violence, why did her boss make the comparison so frequently? To date, she hasn’t said.
The broader problem comes up all the time. Vice President JD Vance appeared on Fox News after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed to comment about incendiary rhetoric: “What is it that you want them to do when you call them ‘fascist’?”
It might have seemed like a reasonable point, except Trump has called his political opponents “fascists” many times.
Similarly, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters, “You can’t call the other side ‘fascists’ and ‘enemies of the state’ and not understand that there are some deranged people in our society who will take that as cues to act.”
But not only has Trump repeatedly called Democratic leaders “fascists,” he’s also condemned his perceived political foes as “enemies of the people,” “the enemy within,” “threats to democracy” and “evil.” [!]
The underlying point is simple: The White House and its Republican allies believe everyone would be better off if the left didn’t sound so much like Trump.
“The White House’s health care gambit isn’t just a sham, it also diverts the process from an actually helpful solution.”
Donald Trump has talked about unveiling a health care plan of his own for about a decade, only to consistently miss self-imposed deadlines. Trump famously assured the public in 2024 that he has “concepts of a plan,” but when it came to doing the hard work of crafting a policy blueprint, the president has never delivered.
After seeing the new proposal billed by the White House as “The Great Healthcare Plan,” it’s fair to say Trump and his team still haven’t delivered. The New York Times reported:
Under pressure to address affordability issues in the country, President Trump on Thursday released his long-awaited health care plan, urging Congress to pass measures that would codify steps his administration has already taken to try to lower drug costs and providing what a White House official called ‘broad direction’ to back health savings accounts.
The plan was short on specific details and left much of the direction for how to finalize it up to Congress. It amounted to a few paragraphs on a webpage.
To characterize the document the White House produced as a health care “plan” is overly generous. The entirety of the proposal — literally, from start to finish — is 386 words. […]
(An accompanying White House “fact sheet” is about 800 words […])
In a prerecorded video, the president said, “I’m calling on Congress to pass this framework into law without delay, have to do it right now, so that we can get immediate relief to the American people.”
But there is nothing to pass. There is no bill. The plan, for all intents and purposes, does not exist.
Moreover, the White House document is little more than a hodgepodge of conservative ideas, packaged together on a short website. A Washington Post report noted, “The administration released no legislative text nor timeline for related congressional action. … Asked how the proposal would advance in Congress, administration officials said it was a ‘broad architecture’ intended to guide lawmakers on next steps.”
“Broad architecture” is a nice euphemism for “we couldn’t actually come up with anything more than vague goals.”
At the heart of the proposal was a demand for one significant change: The administration wants federal funds that are currently going to insurance companies to go instead to consumers — who in turn would give the money to insurance companies.
Why would that be better than the status quo? I honestly have no idea, and neither the president nor anyone on his team have made any effort to answer questions along those lines.
If one were to stop here, one could simply conclude that Trump, after years of effort, has presented the public with a pitiful outline. But it’s actually worse than that, because of the context in which it was presented.
As much of the public knows, insurance subsidies for Affordable Care Act coverage (known as enhanced premium tax credits, or PTCs) expired on New Year’s Eve, which has imposed drastic price hikes on roughly 24 million Americans. There are, however, ongoing efforts in Congress to restore the benefits, with the House passing a bill last week to revise and extend the subsidies for three years, as the Senate is at least trying to forge a related compromise.
The White House “plan,” however, throws a wrench into those efforts, condemning the ACA as a “scam” and excluding the subsidies from Trump’s “broad architecture.”
Which makes Trump’s gambit not merely a pitiful sham, but also a tactic that pushes the political process away from any solution that might actually help people. [All too true.]
President Trump on Friday floated slapping potential tariffs on countries that oppose the U.S. acquiring the Danish territory of Greenland.
Trump made the remarks after describing threatening European allies, including France and Germany, with 25 percent tariffs if they did not pay more for prescription drugs. [FFS]
“I went through country after country,” Trump said at a White House roundtable on rural health care. “I just went one after another.”
“I may do that for Greenland on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland because we need Greenland for national security,” he said.
The president’s remarks come one day after troops from various European countries, including the U.K., France, Germany, Norway and Sweden, arrived in Greenland amid Trump’s intensifying calls for the U.S to control the territory. On Wednesday, Denmark announced it was increasing its military presence in and around Greenland.
Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with their Danish and Greenlandic counterparts at the White House on Wednesday, but the two sides did not come to an agreement over the future of Greenland.
Trump said hours before the meeting that anything less than U.S. control of Greenland was “unacceptable.”
Nearly a century ago, during Prohibition, federal officials passed a law to prohibit Americans from using the U.S. Postal Service to send concealable firearms through the mail. Ninety nine years later, a group called the Gun Owners of America — an organization best known for arguing that the National Rifle Association isn’t quite far enough to the right — is challenging that law in court.
This week, it picked up a powerful ally: Donald Trump’s Justice Department. The Hill reported:
A nearly 100-year-old federal ban on mailing handguns through the U.S. Postal Service is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced, according to an opinion released Thursday by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The 15-page opinion concluded that a 1927 law, which made it illegal to use the Postal Service to mail concealable firearms, such as pistols and revolvers, infringes on the Second Amendment.
According to the filing from T. Elliot Gaiser, the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, restrictions on sending handguns through the mail are unenforceable because such firearms “fall within the core of the ‘arms’ protected by the Second Amendment.”
Time will tell whether this claim fares well in the courts, but one might also note that it was just last month when Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Justice Department had opened a new office focused exclusively on the interests of gun owners. [!]
Months earlier, The New York Times reported that the Bondi-led Justice Department was moving forward with plans to slash the number of inspectors who monitor federally licensed gun dealers by two-thirds [!]
[…] The month before that, the Trump administration also decided it would permit the sale of “forced reset triggers,” which can turn semiautomatic weapons into guns that can fire more bullets, more quickly and easily. (Bondi said the move would “enhance public safety,” which seemed to turn reality on its head.)
[…] as recently as his first term, the president at least briefly sought ambitious gun reforms, up to and including extrajudicial gun confiscations.
Last year, after a deadly on-campus shooting at Florida State University, Trump said, “I have an obligation to protect the Second Amendment.” But in the recent past, when he had those same responsibilities, it didn’t stop him from endorsing measures that might have saved lives.
Now, Trump and his administration not only don’t want to bother, they’re moving aggressively in the opposite direction.
The Trump administration, in its ceaseless quest to blanket the country with guns, has taken the innovative and exciting step of saying that the federal ban on mailing concealable guns is unconstitutional.
Yes, a 99-year-old law that prohibited people from sending pistols and revolvers through the mail has apparently been wrong all along.
The Department of Justice memorandum outlining this explains all of the sad and horrible things that happen if you can’t pack up a pistol and drop it at the post office.
What if you want to mail yourself a gun ahead of time so it’s at your travel destination when you arrive? What if you want to mail yourself a gun because you might be forced, horror of horrors, to drive through a state with laws that don’t let you just wander around with all your guns? What if you want to mail yourself a gun in case you have to travel on a Greyhound bus and they won’t let you come strapped?
This was inevitable after December’s announcement that the DOJ created a special Second Amendment Task Force because, per Attorney General Pam Bondi, “the Second Amendment is not a second-class right.”
[…] So while you can now get a handgun in the mail anywhere in the country regardless of your state’s gun laws, if you live in a state that bans abortion, you cannot get abortion pills through the mail. And if an out-of-state doctor mails them to you? Well, that doctor faces criminal charges in absentia by a red state, which then demands extradition.
That’s exactly what’s happening right now in Louisiana.
Liz Murrill, the state’s rabidly anti-choice attorney general, has indicted California doctor Remy Coeytaux for allegedly mailing abortion pills to someone in Louisiana, where abortion is almost entirely banned.
The move garnered a nearly immediate lol nope from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said that he was “declining this extradition request from another state that seeks to prosecute a person for providing, receiving, or assisting with reproductive health care that is legal in California.”
But unfortunately, this isn’t the first instance of this happening.
Texas’ equally rabidly anti-choice Attorney General Ken Paxton went after a New York doctor earlier this year, filing a civil lawsuit against Margaret Daley Carpenter for allegedly mailing abortion pills.
[…] Just as much as the DOJ is now stuffed with gun nuts, it’s now also stuffed with rabid anti-abortion types who are poised to try to enforce the 153-year-old Comstock Act, which bans the mailing of “obscene” materials.
Comstock is a zombie law, one that’s still on the books but is no longer enforced, but the law’s definition of “obscene” includes both birth control and abortion pills. And now, if the Project 2025 zealots who now run the country get their way, Comstock enforcement will be back, baby.
This would mean that abortion pills could not be mailed anywhere—even in states where it is legal. It’s functionally a backdoor nationwide abortion ban, but since we no longer have a constitutional right to abortion, it may very well happen soon.
But, hey, at least you’ll be able to mail all the pistols your heart desires.
Jonathan Ross, the ICE thug who murdered Renee Good, was NOT TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL according to police reports. He was taken to the Federal Building. He was NOT INJURED. [NYT article]
In an ambulance en route to the hospital, medics performed CPR on Ms. Good. About 10:30 a.m., resuscitation efforts were stopped.
Jonathan Ross […] was still on the scene, according to a report from the Minneapolis Police Department. About 15 minutes later, he was taken to a federal building.
Tom Homan: The ICE agent struck by Renee Good’s vehicle during the January 7 incident in Minneapolis suffered internal bleeding in the torso.
–
Karen Tang: Physician here, reiterating that no medical professional would say he had “internal bleeding in the torso.” [unamused emoji] Hemothorax, or pericardial tamponade are what “internal bleeding in the torso” are, and those are *life-threatening emergencies* that wouldn’t have just been sent home the same day.Those also require actual severe blunt force or penetrating trauma to the chest, which we all used our eyeballs to confirm didn’t occur.
I’m going to put this ratio on my CV, under my degrees from University of Chicago, Columbia, and Harvard [wink emoji].
whheydtsays
Re: Lynna, OM @ #354…
(Second part.) Just wait until some state passes a law declaring that use of handguns is a form of abortion….
Zack Beauchamp (Vox): For an authoritarian, getting troops on the streets is not an end in itself. They are supposed to impose *control* on a society, using force to engineer compliance with government dictates. That is failing in Minnesota, just like it failed in cities like LA and Chicago.
This is an important point. There will always be some sociopaths who enjoy the spectacle of cruelty and violence. But most people just want to live their lives.
The authoritarian social contract is, I give you the peace and stability to do that, you give me power and impunity. This isn’t that.
a tool […] that populates a map with potential deportation targets, brings up a dossier on each person, and provides a “confidence score” on the person’s current address […] ELITE is what ICE sometimes uses to track the apparent density of people at a particular location to target […] ICE is paying skip tracers, private investigators, and bounty hunters to help verify peoples’ addresses.
[…]
Senator Ron Wyden [said] “The fact ICE is using this app proves the completely indiscriminate nature of the agency’s aggressive and violent incursions into our communities. This app allows ICE to find the closest person to arrest and disappear, using government and commercial data, with the help of Palantir and Trump’s Big Brother databases. It makes a mockery of the idea that ICE is trying to make our country safer. Rather, agents are reportedly picking people to deport from our country the same way you’d choose a nearby coffee shop.”
I suspected that Tom Homan and others were making up that “taken to the hospital” story.
Also, the video analysis from the New York Times, (see comment 353), shows Jonathan Ross’s left foot slipping backward on the ice at one point, and Ross reaching out to steady himself with his left hand, the hand that was holding his phone at the time. It is possible that one of the sounds we hear on the video is the phone hitting the hood of Renee Good’s car, NOT Jonathan Ross being hit by the car.
Extended video of the encounter shows other ICE agents slipping on the ice that covered the pavement. Ross not only placed himself in a precarious position, he did so in slippery circumstances.
Tethyssays
ICE is absolutely lying about internal bleeding since the murderer wasn’t even touched by her vehicle. In the video, you can him pulling out his gun when she hasn’t even moved, and he is no danger whatsoever.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Marcy Wheeler (EmptyWheel): “Remember when Trump demanded the petroleum industry give $1B to his campaign fund? You’ll never guess how that worked out.”
When Alice Valentine heard ICE agents were swarming a shopping center […] she woke up her girlfriend Sofia, grabbed a backpack with respirators and whistles that they put together based on an protest preparedness article they read last week, and immediately drove over to help. The St. Cloud, Minnesota couple who are both American citizens are not seasoned protesters; they’re new to this type of action, which they learned about from a ICE watch Signal group chat formed in the wake of Renee Good’s recent murder. And within a few moments of arriving at the parking lot, they were shoved to the ground by agents, pepper sprayed, thrown in a van and hauled away.
[…]
Once they reached the Whipple Building, Alice and Sophia were given one water bottle which they immediately drank. It left them with nothing to treat their tear gas wounds, and when Alice called to ask for more water and additional treatment, she said they were instead met with more casual cruelty. […] The two were questioned separately by ICE officers, and Sofia was subjected to particularly invasive and humiliating questions.
[…]
it didn’t occur to her until she had time to reflect in the van. She said to Sofia “You know, I just realized that they probably knew Renee was a lesbian before they shot her.” […] That realization continued to fester while Alice was locked up […] “When I was in the cell, I overheard a woman asking to call her girlfriend, and I started crying […] I was like, ‘Why are so many lesbians being fucked up by ICE right now?'”
[…]
After several hours in a cell with untreated wounds, Alice and Sofia were released from ICE custody. They were given no reason for their release, nor were they told what comes next. All of their personal belongings were returned to them except their cell phones, which remain with ICE.
[…]
St. Cloud Mayor Jake Anderson has kept his response passive and tepid: “There’s a lot of folks that are telling me that I should pull a [Minneapolis Mayor Jacob] Frey and tell them to get the F out. […] I don’t want to attempt to step into lanes we can’t do anything about, because I don’t think it’s necessarily helpful.”
[…] “In retrospect, I would have done it again,” Alice told me. “Like, it was the most miserable day of my whole life. But I would do it again because I think that people need to know how evil ICE is […] and we need to do anything we can to stop it.”
Marisa Kabas: “What struck me in my conversation with Alice was how quickly this organizing came together in St. Cloud. She went from never having done this to starting an ICE watch Signal group and putting together a protest backpack based on an article about what ppl in other cities recommended in the last WEEK.”
Rando: “As a trans person I was super skittish to read this, and I want to thank you for reporting clearly but not sensationally. Different writing about the same incident could have been so triggering, but this never crossed that line for me. I am so grateful.”
“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. still doesn’t understand why his “do your own research” mantra is both dangerous and ridiculous.”
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared on Katie Miller’s podcast this week, and the host asked what kind of advice he’d give a new young mother about what to give a newborn. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, initially responded by acknowledging that he’s not a physician and doesn’t give out medical advice.
And if he’d stopped there, his comments would’ve been wholly unremarkable. The Cabinet secretary, however, did not stop there. [video]
Kennedy Jr. went on to encourage new parents to “do their own research,” then quickly added, “This idea that you should trust the experts — a good mother doesn’t do that.”
The hapless secretary tried to bolster his point by arguing that families do their own research on consumer products all the time (he twice referenced the magazine Consumer Reports by name) and suggested that such poking around is no different from going online to look up information on vaccinations.
This comes months after RFK Jr. appeared on a different podcast, where he also said, “We need to stop trusting the experts.”
It’s worth unpacking this, if for no other reason than to help those who might’ve heard Kennedy Jr.’s comments and now find themselves unsure of what to think.
Right off the bat, it was odd to hear the secretary condemn expertise while simultaneously touting Consumer Reports, which hires experts in product analysis and consumer safety. In other words, Kennedy Jr. was telling the podcast’s audience that a “good mother” doesn’t trust experts, then implied she can turn instead to product reviews in a magazine — written by experts.
Just as notably, the nation’s health secretary is painting an absurd picture by equating consumer products with vaccines. The Washington Post’s Monica Hesse wrote a compelling column on this topic last spring:
It probably goes without saying, but just in case: Researching a vaccine is substantially more complicated than researching a stroller. You research strollers by typing ‘best strollers’ into Wirecutter and buying whichever one has cupholders. You research a vaccine by getting a PhD in immunology or cellular and molecular biology, acquiring a lab in which you can conduct months or years worth of double-blind clinical trials, publishing your findings in a peer-reviewed academic journal, and then patiently navigating the government and industry regulations that are required to make sure your vaccine is safe and effective. [True]
[…] If Kennedy Jr. and his allies want to single out experts who’ve made mistakes in the past, I’ll concede the point. But it’s also true that those with expertise in their fields have far better track records for accuracy and reliability than anyone else.
I don’t have a background in medicine or scientific research, so I’m not in a position to go online and make competent assessments on matters related to immunology. Instead, I rely on the scientific consensus crafted by knowledgeable and experienced professionals whose work has been subject to extensive scrutiny by other knowledgeable and experienced scientific professionals.
I can’t do my own research, because I’m not qualified to do that research. […]
Kennedy Jr. appears to approach these issues with the assumption that the scientific canon is inherently suspect because it’s crafted by those who reject his conspiratorial and unscientific perspective. [! important point] When he advises Americans to “do their own research,” it’s a recommendation rooted in the idea that the internet is a reliable source of information where people can poke around until they find sites that give them information that seems true — or that they want to be true.
But that’s not a responsible approach to public health. On the contrary, it’s madness. [I agree.]
As my MS NOW colleague Zeeshan Aleem explained last year, “Laypeople cannot understand more technical information about vaccine ingredients, efficacy reports or safety assessments on their own, since understanding that information requires specialized knowledge and a broader contextual understanding of the diseases they guard against. Instead, people have to rely on expert intermediaries to interpret and explain that information for them.”
That the incumbent U.S. secretary of health and human services understands this fact seems evident in his own disclaimer that he’s not a physician and therefore isn’t qualified to dispense advice. That he seems incapable of extending that logic any further should be a cause of widespread concern.
Militant Agnosticsays
Lynna @358, Thetys @359
It is possible that the car may have: clipped Jonathan Ross or he may have slid into it. If that was the case it would not have caused any injury. The car was moving slowly and the angle was shallow. When I was 17 and working as a Flagman on road construction, I was clipped by a flatbed semi trailer travelling at 20 – 30 km/h. I caught some air and scraped my hands on the landing and had a sore shoulder from the impact when the trailer launched me. I was able to get to my feet immediately. Any impact between the ICE agent and the car would have been at worst mildly painful.
lumipunasays
Hello. I’ve been way too obsessed with the Greenland shitshow, and I have trouble working out blockquotes on my new laptop¨s keyboard. From the NBCnews quote at 260:
“The United States could have to pay as much as $700 billion if it were to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of buying Greenland, according to three people familiar with the cost estimate.
The estimate was generated by scholars and former U.S. officials as part of planning around Trump’s aspiration to acquire the 800,000-square-mile island as a strategic buffer in the Arctic against America’s top adversaries”
No mention of how this estimate was supposedly “generated”, what it practically entails for Greenland’s hypothetical future economy and self-government under the US, and whether Donald Trump is personally involved in this planning. He apparently hasn’t publicly discussed at all what he thinks Greenland might gain from joining the US. Granted, it must be difficult to make plans for this purchase when the Danish and Greenlandic government are flat out refusing to negotiate on it.
MAGA asshats on social media keep asserting the (very American) principle that everything is for sale, if you offer a price high enough. Trump admin seems to be relying on the corollary that everything is for sale at a reasonable price, if you pressure the seller hard enough.
BTW, Greenland is already a “strategic buffer” for the US. The common implication that it wouldn’t be regarded as more than that as a part of the US is probably not very enticing to the locals.
Quoting the end of a guest opinion column by Greenlandic writer Malu Rosing:
“For a while, Greenland has been a warning sign to the rest of the world as to what to expect with the climate crisis, and unfortunately Greenland is now becoming a warning sign for what is happening in the world order. Things have changed in geopolitics. We’re hearing warnings on how democracy is at risk, how this decade everything is being reshaped. We witness how one Nato ally threatens another and gets away with it. This is alarming. So I think it is important to ask ourselves: what comes next? How far should we be willing to go to keep an unpredictable, insatiable ally content? And could this moment perhaps be seen as a chance for a critical self-reflection in colonial history?”
Tethyssays
@militantagnostic
Renee’s vehicle never even touched him, so no need to invent hypothetical scenarios. He is a cold blooded murderer, period. Otherwise he wouldn’t be in hiding like a coward.
Militant Agnosticsays
Also if was clipped it was after he fired the first shot.
Eric Trump […] is heading to Doonbeg, Ireland, to stump for local approval to build a big ugly ballroom at the Trump family golf resort, Trump International Golf Links, there.
And guess what? Just like daddy, American taxpayers will get to foot the bill for part of this debacle as well. [!]
And why is this our problem, fellow taxpayers? Because also just like daddy, Eric gets Secret Service protection wherever he goes. For that, you’re going to pay $21,449.01.
It’s unreal that the Trump family is still doing this pissant upcharge Secret Service grift thing. Eric has literally gotten ten times richer over the last year, now clocking in with a net worth of around $400 million. If that were his yearly wage for an actual job—not a thing he has ever had—dude would be making over $1 million per day. […]
Dude ratchets up roughly $45,000 every hour. In other words, it would cost him less than 30 minutes of his time to make that $21,449.01, but why would he do that when he can have your money? Might as well soak us all for every last drop. [$21,000.00 is a lot of money to me.]
To be fair, we don’t actually know if that money will be going right back into the Trump family coffers by making the Secret Service stay at Doonbeg. Well, we don’t actually know because the Secret Service contract has no breakdown of costs, no explanation, and no location. […]
Though it is probably news to the Trump family, most government contracts actually do require all those boring details before the government opens its coffers. But not if you are a Trump. Eric apparently doesn’t have to disclose where his agents are going to stay so sure, yeah, they could totally be staying somewhere else, right?
Oh, you sweet summer child. We paid almost $28,000 for Eric’s Secret Service detail to stay with him in Doonbeg back in 2017. Not that Eric or his dad made it easy for anyone to find that out, but ProPublica managed to shake it loose.
Eric is positively frugal versus dad, however. Trump’s 2019 Ireland stay—at his own property, mind you—ran up a Secret Service bill of over $500,000. [!] And that was for a two-day stay. [!]
Remember the first term when the Trump family kept lying and declaring that the Secret Service totally got to stay for super cheap at the family digs, and it just made sense? And then we found out Trump routinely upcharged them by about 300%? [!!]
Now, unlike the big dumb American ballroom, where Trump just YOLOed [You Only Live Once] his way into destroying the East Wing without checking in with anyone, it appears that for Eric’s smaller but no less dumb Irish ballroom, the family did actually seek government approval.
If you were curious about just how much this project apes his father’s, know that Eric’s plans involve demolishing a bunch of existing stuff, including an event marquee, a concrete yard, a boiler, and more.
Eric is also going to demolish the existing 260-person ballroom so he can build a bigger 320-person ballroom. [!]
[…] at least you will have an ugly ballroom to call your own. And at least we will get to pay for your Secret Service detail forever.
This was an extremely tasteless joke and subsequent half-hearted apology by Billy Long, a newly nominated US ambassador to Iceland. No point for the Senate to confirm him now, because Iceland will likely reject his appointment. Some important points quoted below:
“On Thursday, Sigmar Guðmundsson, an MP for Iceland whose centrist Liberal Reform party is part of the country’s governing coalition, described the remarks as “not a particularly funny joke” given the tensions over Greenland.
“It goes without saying that this is extremely serious for a small country like Iceland,” he told the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið. “We must realise that all the security arguments that the Americans cite regarding Greenland also apply to Iceland. This is about the location of these two islands.”
He described the comments as a sign of the growing disrespect in the US towards the sovereignty of small states. “Icelanders also have to have the courage, despite our very friendly relations with the United States, not least through Nato, to discuss where and how our security interests are best served in this changing world.””
The Education Department said Friday it would be delaying plans to garnish the wages of federal student loan borrowers who are in default.
The department said it will temporarily delay wage garnishment for those who haven’t paid toward their loans in more than nine months as new student loans reforms are implemented this year. It previously sent notices to defaulted borrowers that wage garnishment would begin this month, which could take up 15 percent of a person’s paycheck.
[…] “The Department determined that involuntary collection efforts such as Administrative Wage Garnishment and the Treasury Offset Program will function more efficiently and fairly after the Trump Administration implements significant improvements to our broken student loan system,” Kent added.
The department is waiting for student loan reforms passed in the reconciliation bill last year to go through over the summer, which will dwindle the number of repayment options down to two.
Borrowers will either be able to enter a standard plan or a new income-driven repayment plan that will waive unpaid interest and adjusts a person’s payments based on their income.
The new law also gives a person a second chance to rehabilitate their loans, with the previous rule allowing one-time rehabilitation on defaulted loans.
The department said defaulted borrowers should take this time to work out a plan with their loan servicer as they will continue to be reported to credit reporting agencies, which can impact a person’s credit score.
John Moralessays
[lumipuna]
Markdown works here. The greater‑than sign > opens a quote span.
However, there is no closer like on markup.
It terminates on a blank line (two newlines).
So if you remove blank lines (or pad the blank lines with non-breaking spaces ) you can quote a full span.
(You can practice using the ‘preview’, it works there)
Militant Agnosticsays
Tethys @ 365
Yes, the vehicle only accelerated rapidly after the murderer was beside it and Renee Good was no longer conscious.
Anyone who lives in the southwest (including colorado) should find the article below an important perspective on a problem that has been ‘kicked down the road’ for too long and is soon going to be a huge problem.
In scarizona, read about all the new data centers that use massive amounts of water, the ever-growing population using so much more water, all the water parks, golf courses, lush lawns and huge number of fountains in phoenix and I can only conclude they are playing shuffleboard on the sinking titanic that is the desert southwest.
“Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do not “go along” with his plan to annex Greenland, increasing pressure on European allies who have opposed his effort to take over the Arctic territory.
After a tense week in which Nato allies deployed troops to the largely autonomous territory, which is part of the Danish kingdom, the US president announced he might punish countries that do not support his plans to take over Greenland, using force if necessary.”
Finland is now (minimally) contributing to the ragtag band of international NATO soldiers who are gathering in Greenland. Our government is repeating the common official line that this jamboree is not meant to send a message to the US, but any hostile powers outside NATO. Of course, what is unsaid that it looks like that that might soon include the US…
“Gov. Tim Walz Urges Minnesotans To Keep Calm, Carry Phones. Trump Freaks The F*ck Out.”
“We know, any story on anything could be headlined ‘Trump Freaks Out.’ ”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday gave a brief prime-time speech calling on the people of the state to keep resisting Donald Trump’s invasion of Minneapolis. In response to Trump’s threat the day before that a “DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING,” Walz pointed out that the massive deployment of federal agents to the Twin Cities “long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. Instead, it is a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.”
He also told Trump it was time for him to take his tin soldiers and GTFO, although Walz used somewhat more tempered language: “Let me say, once again, to Donald Trump and Kristi Noem: End this occupation. You’ve done enough.”
[…] Here’s the video, and Walz’s office also helpfully provided a transcript [embedded links are available at the main link], too. [video]
Walz followed up with a version of the main points on social media, writing, “I’m making a direct appeal to the President: Let’s turn the temperature down. Stop this campaign of retribution. This is not who we are.”
Predictably, Trump on Thursday made clear that’s exactly who he is, threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, because Americans who oppose his ethnic cleansing agenda (or simply didn’t vote for him) are traitors who must be be crushed by military force. But there’s no insurrection in Minneapolis. The violence is coming almost exclusively from the [ICE forces] Trump sent there.
[…] Walz’s speech is especially remarkable because it sounds so much like “remarks a wartime president or prime minister would give on national television, rather than those of a state governor.” […]
Walz [noted] that Trump “intends for it to get worse” [unfortunately true] and quoting his threat that “the day of retribution and reckoning is coming.” […] Walz correctly identified that talk as dangerous, and urged Minnesotans to keep responding as they have so far: By bringing their best values to the fight against fascism.
[…] All across Minnesota, people are stepping up to help neighbors who are being unjustly, and unlawfully, targeted.
They’re distributing care packages and walking kids to school and raising their voices in peaceful protest even though doing so has made many of our fellow Minnesotans targets for violent retribution.
As evidence of that last point, consider this Minnesota Public Radio story about a south Minneapolis church that, in the six weeks since the DHS goons started roundups, has delivered more than 12,000 boxes of food to families that are hiding in their homes, regardless of whether they’re church members (only about one percent are).
Walz reminded Minnesotans that they are not powerless or alone, and that they can resist, by helping others, and to have their phones ready to record ICE, to “establish a record of exactly what’s happening,” to create a record not only for history, but also for future prosecutions, because this shit is not going to last forever.
“Accountability is coming, at the voting booth and in court. We will reclaim our communities from Donald Trump. We will re-establish a sense of safety for our neighbors. We will bring an end to this moment of chaos and confusion. We will find a way to move forward — together.”
The governor also warned that Trump is looking for any pretext to increase attacks on civilians, saying, “Donald Trump wants this chaos. He wants confusion, and yes, he wants more violence on our streets. We cannot give him what he wants. We can’t. We must protest loudly, urgently, but also peacefully.”
Damn right; as analyses of civil conflicts suggests, nonviolent resistance campaigns are twice as likely to succeed as violent resistance, because they attract a wider range of participants, and because if the state reacts with violence, that’s far more likely to result in the public seeing the violence as an unjustifiable overreaction. This isn’t about being “polite” or restrained — resistance has to be real, and to get in the way of oppressive action.
That said, we would also be glad to see Walz mobilize the Minnesota National Guard to protect the people who are out there protesting this madness — although we fully comprehend that that would just bring a shooting war that much closer.
We’ll just close with this video from Minneapolis in which a wonderful Minnesotan hero — she actually exclaims “oh, ya, jeeze!” — embodies exactly what Walz was talking about. [social media post and video]
Wiping her eyes from ICE’s use of tear gas, she explains why she was yelling “Shut up!” at the goons. “Well, I couldn’t just sit home. I’ve been in marches and stuff, I had to do something. You know, what can you do, until we vote again. This is just crazy!” As an ICE chud with a bullhorn orders protesters to get out of the road or be arrested, she shouts again, “Oh shut up! I’d like to meet him in person.”
Don’t buy the bullshit about Tim Walz inciting a rebellion. [!] He’s encouraging us to tell all these bastards to shut up and leave our neighbors alone. That’s as patriotic as it gets.
“The Commission of Fine Arts will discuss the controversial project at a meeting next week. White House officials hope to win approval in two months.”
[…] Trump has installed four allies on a federal commission set to review his White House ballroom plan, including its former chief architect — his latest move to secure rapid approval for the controversial project.
Trump appointed architect James McCrery II and art critic Roger Kimball to the Commission of Fine Arts this week, according to court documents filed late Thursday. Trump also tapped two officials for the panel who already serve in his government: Mary Anne Carter, who chairs the National Endowment for the Arts, and Matthew Taylor, an official serving at the National Endowment for the Humanities, according to the White House.
The fine arts commission, which is charged by Congress with advising the president on major design projects in Washington, is one of two independent federal agencies scheduled to review the ballroom and weigh in on its size, design and other aesthetics. The National Capital Planning Commission, which focuses on urban planning, is also reviewing the project, which would be the most significant change to the White House in decades.
Administration lawyers told a federal court that they hope to win the two commissions’ approval for the ballroom project in March, and that they intend to begin aboveground construction on the ballroom in April. Construction crews are currently working on underground elements of the project — work that the White House has defended as a matter of national security while declining to provide details. A presidential emergency bunker has been located on the site for decades.
Trump has proceeded as if the ballroom project will go forward, purchasing marble on a recent trip to Florida that White House officials said would be used for the ballroom and describing events he plans to hold in the space. [!]
“I’m under budget and ahead of schedule,” Trump said at a news conference last month, a phrase he’s repeated in recent interviews.
[…] The National Trust for Historic Preservation last month sued the administration over its rapid demolition of the East Wing annex, calling it illegal and asking for a halt to construction until the review panels complete their work. A hearing in the case is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29 in U.S. District Court in Washington.
[…] The commissions are also expected to review other projects that would shape Washington’s landscape, including Trump’s planned triumphal arch and planned sculpture garden of notable Americans.
Last year, Trump fired Biden holdovers on both commissions and has now stocked them with allies […]
Leaders of the other panel with a central role in approving the ballroom, the National Capital Planning Commission, already appear fully supportive of the project. Will Scharf, the president’s staff secretary, chairs that panel, and James Blair, the president’s top legislative aide, serves as its vice chair. […]
“U.S. citizens who are out walking or standing in public are not required to provide documentation or provide identification, one legal expert says.”
The officers and agents the Trump administration has unleashed in Minneapolis and nearby communities have turned to stopping U.S. citizens, apparently at random, demanding identification and grilling them about their citizenship, residents who have recorded these encounters on video say.
The “show me your papers” encounters are showing up on social media and have even prompted podcaster Joe Rogan, a Trump backer in the 2024 campaign, to ask, “Are we really going to be the Gestapo?”
One man, Gage Diego Garcia, said he was held for six hours on Monday in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, after an encounter with officers that he told NBC News began when he was leaning into his friend’s car in an alleyway.
“They came off pretty aggressive and asking for my ID. I refused because I had done nothing wrong,” Garcia said. He said that, as he started to blow a whistle draped around his neck, agents “got angry and grabbed him.”
Video recorded by a friend shows officers pushing Garcia onto the side of a car and pointing a Taser at him. The video does not show what happened before the officers grabbed Garcia. Garcia told NBC News later that officers grabbed him when he was trying to blow his whistle and an officer accused him of committing assault by spitting at him.
“All I needed was your f—ing ID,” a masked officer said. Garcia responds to the officer using expletives. The officer responds, “You’re a f—ing b— and you are gonna learn the f—ing hard way.”
As officers search his pockets, one finds his firearm, saying, “He has a gun on him! Look at that.” Garcia interjects, saying, “a fully registered firearm ‘cause I’m a U.S. citizen.” […]
Garcia said that as he was being driven to the Whipple Building in Minneapolis, officers told him in response to his question that he was picked up because he looked like someone who committed a crime. “When I asked what crime, I was told, ‘we’ll figure it out,’” he said. [Making it up as they go along.]
He also said officers told him, “I could have f—ing smoked you,” and that things “could have gone really south for you like those agents did to Renee Good.” [video of Minnesota residents sharing their stories of ICE encounters]
The Department of Homeland Security said the media is “peddling a false narrative” and “attempting to demonize” law enforcement, which it says are being attacked and assaulted at significantly higher rates.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said […] the Fourth Amendment allows law enforcement to use “reasonable suspicion” to make arrests,” and that the Supreme Court recently affirmed its authority to do so.
McLaughlin was referring to a September 2025 Supreme Court ruling that allowed immigration officers to continue immigration patrols using race, ethnicity and language as factors in stopping individuals. Opponents have said it allows for racial profiling. […]
The Fourth Amendment also protects individuals from unlawful search and seizure.
David Schultz, an attorney and legal studies professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, said U.S. citizens do not have to provide identification or prove their citizenship when out walking or standing in a street or in public.
“We have a First Amendment right of association, to be out on the street and we don’t have any requirement to have an ID,” Schultz said.
In one encounter Sunday, a woman was stopped and grilled about her citizenship while walking in her neighborhood. Nimco Omar of Minneapolis said she was confused when, as she started walking after parking her car, she heard commands for her to stop. Suddenly several people she thought were soldiers began running toward her.
“I was like, what’s going on? Did I do something? Is something happening? Is it war?” she told NBC News in an interview in Minneapolis.
She said when she heard someone ask for her citizenship she realized they were immigration officers. Fearing she’d be “kidnapped,” she pulled out her phone to record the encounter.
The video shows a masked officer threatening to put her in a vehicle to ID her if she doesn’t provide identification. Omar calmly responds that she doesn’t need an ID to walk around her city and that she is a U.S. citizen, declining to provide her identification.
The officer continues to insist on identification and says, “We are doing an immigration check. We are doing a citizen check.” He repeatedly asks where she was born and informs her that if she’s lying about being a citizen, she can face federal charges.
Other such encounters were recorded in Minneapolis.
Last weekend, officers walked up to a man pumping gas and asked if he was a U.S. citizen, demanding to see documentation. The man responds, “I don’t have to show you.” As with Omar, the officer in this encounter states that the man can show him ID there or he can take him aside. The man provides what appears to be a license, but the officer continues to ask whether he is naturalized, where he was born and when he was naturalized. In another incident, officers questioned a man at a vehicle charging station.
[…] The administration has sent about 3,000 officers and agents to Minneapolis, a city of 430,000. Much of the enforcement activity has taken place in south Minneapolis, where a federal officer fatally shot Good.
Schultz advised that U.S. citizens who are stopped should keep their composure, as Omar did. They should ask why they are being stopped and they should ask if they are under arrest. If the officers say no, they should then ask if they are free to leave.
He said he would never turn over ID and “we don’t have any requirement in our society to prove who we are to walk the streets,” he said.
When driving a car and if pulled over for probable cause, showing a driver’s license is required. But he said you are not required to say whether you are a citizen, though some states, not including Minnesota, have laws that allow authorities to question immigration status.
“More than 500 people are in a 21-day quarantine and about 200 are ‘actively infected.’ The largest current outbreak in the U.S. has spread to at least three other states.”
The South Carolina measles outbreak is growing at an astounding speed.
“Over the last seven to nine days, we’ve had upwards of over 200 new cases. That’s doubled just in the last week,” Dr. Johnathon Elkes, an emergency medicine physician at Prisma Health in Greenville, South Carolina, said during a media briefing Friday. “We feel like we’re really kind of staring over the edge, knowing that this is about to get a lot worse.”
On Friday, the state’s health department said that 124 measles cases had been diagnosed since Tuesday, bringing the state’s total since the outbreak began last fall to 558.
[…] The number of cases is expected to grow. The health department’s report only reflects the number of people whose illness has been confirmed as measles by a lab.
Because measles is so contagious and people can spread the virus up to four days before symptoms appear, each sick individual has the potential to infect 12 other people, LaCroix said during the briefing.
“The numbers that you see are actually an undercount,” said Dr. Deborah Greenhouse, a Columbia, South Carolina-based pediatrician, in a separate interview. “The reality is that there’s a lot more. Not everyone with measles is going to see a physician.” […]
Dr. Helmut Albrecht, an infectious disease specialist at Prisma Health, said during the briefing that, in general, people who are admitted to the hospital are often critically ill. “[…] [South Carolina map showing vaccination rates.]
The majority of patients reported in South Carolina are children and teenagers. Most are unvaccinated.
No vaccine is 100% effective, but the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine comes close. Two doses, usually given around age 1 and then again around age 4, are 97% effective at preventing measles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to NBC News data, the K-12 vaccination rate for measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) in Spartanburg County was 90% for the 2024-25 school year, below the 95% level doctors say is needed to protect against an outbreak. In neighboring Greenville County, the MMR vaccination rate was 90.5%.
Few people in the outbreak zone are taking advantage of free shots provided by the state health department. [!]
On Wednesday and Thursday, the South Carolina Department of Public Health deployed mobile health units to Spartanburg offering free measles vaccinations. [Sounds like good idea” [But] just 18 people showed up to get the shots: nine adults and nine kids […]
Dr. Eliza Varadi, a pediatrician in private practice in South Carolina, said the outbreak is centered around a community largely populated by people who immigrated from Ukraine to Spartanburg County within the past few decades. Many came to the U.S. with a level of vaccine distrust based on their experiences under Soviet control […]
[…] On Wednesday, health officials said that someone visited the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia on Jan 2 while they were infectious. NBC affiliate station WIS reported that nearly 1,000 people visited the museum that day.
Anyone who is unvaccinated and exposed to the virus would need to quarantine for 21 days, the time it takes for symptoms to develop. There’s a work-around, however: Get the shot as soon as possible.
“If we can identify that exposure within a short window, 72 hours, basically three days, we can give you an immunization, and your body will make its own defensive antibodies to protect you from this virus, and you can avoid quarantine,” LaCroix said. [Important point]
Three other states have been affected by the South Carolina outbreak, including Ohio, [North Carolina and Washington State]
This week, Washington state’s Snohomish County Health Department confirmed three measles cases this week in children who had direct contact with a family visiting from South Carolina over the holidays.
[…] “We have right now, the largest outbreak in the U.S., and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” [said a Prisma Health official in South Carolina]
Canada will lower tariffs on some Chinese electric vehicles and China will do the same for Canadian canola products, a major shift in policy that was announced on Friday during a landmark state visit by Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada to Beijing.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Re: lumipuna:
I have trouble working out blockquotes on my new laptop’s keyboard.
If you’re having trouble typing greater-than symbols, blockquotes will be unavailable via both markdown and html. However, you CAN do markdown equivalent of ‘code’ tags without it. It looks like this.
Put a backtick ( ` not an apostrophe) on each end of a block of text with no blank lines. You can unobtrusively fill a blank line with “ ” or a period.
If you had a typical QWERTY keyboard, backtick would be the unshifted tilde key.
For greater-than, your keyboard might require a combination of a fn key and/or shift? You might look for a software on-screen keyboard included for accessibility. Or worst case, copy-paste from a “character map” tool or existing text somewhere and keep a text file to crib from. < >
A federal judge on Friday cleared U.S. power company Dominion Energy to resume work on its Virginia offshore wind project, the third legal blow this week to President Donald Trump’s anti-offshore wind agenda.
New York Times reports this good news:
California scored a key victory on Thursday against the Trump administration over access to the names and personal information of the state’s 23 million voters, persuading a federal judge to dismiss a Justice Department lawsuit filed last year demanding the data.
Kari Lake — the figurehead tapped by Donald Trump to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, where her leadership may not even be legally sanctioned — admitted this week that she had prevented Radio Free Europe from broadcasting into Iran, as she faces ongoing allegations of hampering the congressionally funded organization in ways that undermine U.S. diplomacy.
The Food and Drug Administration quietly removed webpages saying cellphones aren’t dangerous as the Department of Health and Human Services under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launches a study on cellphone radiation.
OK. Green smoke. […] They are for signalling purposes. They are not meant for riot control purposes. As with any smoke, they are irritating, but they are not meant for that purpose […] Such grenades were prolifically used without particular incident in the Vietnam war, unlike, say, tear gas or defoliants.
Practically every coloured smoke grenade on the market for policing in the USA is either an M18 smoke grenade or a near copy. These things tend to come in four basic colours, yellow, red, purple, and green. There are also white smoke grenades, but they burn for longer and are for making thick smokescreens, not for signalling. I’ve seen no reporting of the latter in use in the USA, but a few times in Iran.
The chemistry on the smoke grenades vary based on age and color. […] the “old” formula colored smoke grenades don’t turn up much any longer. […] I will step you through the chemistry of the modern M18 green smoke grenade. […] It’s smoke, and you should avoid getting lung-fulls of any kind of smoke. It’s important to not get alarmist about it. It smells funny but is not anywhere near as nasty as tear gas.
[…]
As several commentators have pointed out, this stuff is not dissimilar to the chemistry of 4th of July fireworks. You don’t really want to be breathing the smoke from that stuff long term either, but people put up with it for a few minutes every year.
[…]
If you get close to these smoke grenades, you can get stained by the dyes, because they are, well, dyes. […] Indeed, the tell-tale staining of the ground next to the grenade is (so far) a sure sign that you are dealing with colored smoke grenades and not something more sinister.
[…]
there’s a widespread belief that colored smoke grenades are zinc chloride smoke, based on hexachlorethane. No. Such grenades make white smoke, much thicker and longer burning. There’s some reports of such smoke in Iran. The zinc chloride smoke is slightly more irritating than the colored smoke, but not some wunderwaffen. It’s still less irritating and honestly still less dangerous than CS tear gas. […] Earlier in my career, I’d literally been told that the coloured smoke grenades were HC smoke with dyes added. Turns out, like a number of things I got taught in training, it was not actually true
[…]
The usual reasons why police/feds throw coloured smoke are either dumbassery (they think it’s the same as tear gas because the grenades look similar) or they have literally run out of tear gas. […] If they set off a fire with plastic, rubber, other stuff (like a car, house, or dumpster), THAT smoke is bad. Very bad. Way worse than any of this other stuff.
[…]
There is some evidence that a few white smoke grenades were used in Portland in 2020. However, it’s misrepresentation to point to a green smoke grenade in 2025-2026
That explains why I couldn’t find a decent source for ‘green’ HC.
birgerjohanssonsays
The last time a nobel medal was gifted to a politician…
Judge enters TRO blocking feds from interfering with or arresting peaceful protesters in Minnesota. Judge Kate Menendez, Biden appointee.
[Enjoined from retaliating against, using less-lethal munitions on, arresting, detaining, or stopping vehicles of protesters/observers w/o suspicion of a crime.]
[Drivers] following [agents] at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop.
Ian Bassin (Fmr WH council): “Huge win here by ACLU. Similar to a court order we and our partners obtained recently in Chicago in a similar case. It’s important not just because of the order itself, but because it creates a forum for accountability for federal officers who violate it who can now be held in contempt.”
Someone excerpted this.
this Court notes that every other Court of Appeals to have considered the issue has found that the First Amendment protects a right to peacefully observe and/or record law enforcement
Folks are about to learn a lot about the Eighth Circuit (the federal appeals court the jurisdiction of which includes Minnesota).
It has 11 active judges; 10 appointed by Republican presidents (including four by Trump). And the one senior judge still hearing cases is also a Republican appointee.
The president issued a raft of clemency grants this week, including pardoning a woman he had given relief to once before and a man whose daughter had donated millions
birgerjohanssonsays
Tory asshole defects to Nigel Farage.
“Jenrick’s incredible journey – from self-centred halfwit to self-centred halfwit”
While flares are easy to observe, coronal mass ejections have not been observed until now, and the violence of this event was not anticipated.
It pretty much rules out the majority of red dwarf systems as being of interest for astrobiology.
Humanity dodged a bullet metaphorically speaking in that era.
Wil lwe keep on metaphorically dodging it and having that risk lessen or .. ? The threat still there &can’t see hwo it willgoaway now. Djinns and bottles, and problem of ever getting them back inside. Metaphorically speaking.
StevoRsays
^ was @396 birgerjohansson : obvs. Also could swear I’d typed that right and the words have been changed by the computer after I typed them, sigh.
Clarity fix : Will we keep on metaphorically dodging it and having that risk lessen or .. ? The threat still there & can’t see how it will go away now.
@397. birgerjohansson : Red dwarfs do differ widely amongst themselves but yeah. Not good news at all albeit something that’s been feared and thought to be the case for a while. Still an awful lot we don’t yet know and individual stars are also individual but yeah.
KGsays
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain@385
Truly surreal that “Bong Bong” Marcos is showing the way to stand up to Musk and Trump, while European leaders bleat out protests, and take half-measures at best.
Just came home from the “Hands off Greenland” protest at the American Embassy in Copenhagen. In excess of 15k people showed up. A very diverse crowd, with people of all ages.
A few notable signs were “Make America Smart Again”, “No more EGO wars”, “Yankee go home”, and, honorable mention: “Let’s not forget the Epstein Files”.
Thousands of protesters gathered across Denmark on Saturday in solidarity with Greenland amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to annex the Arctic island, demanding that the United States respect Greenlanders’ right to self-determination.
…
Chanting “Greenland is not for sale” and holding banners with slogans such as “Hands off Greenland” alongside Greenland’s red and white “Erfalasorput” flag, demonstrators assembled in Copenhagen’s City Hall Square before marching towards the U.S. embassy.
“I am very grateful for the huge support we as Greenlanders receive … we are also sending a message to the world that you all must wake up,” said Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, an organization for Greenlanders in Denmark.
“Greenland and the Greenlanders have involuntarily become the front in the fight for democracy and human rights,” she added.
Here’s a good top-down photo, to give a sense of the crowd. That’s in front of city hall, before the march to the embassy.
StevoRsays
Chanting “Greenland is not for sale” and holding banners with slogans such as “Hands off Greenland” alongside Greenland’s red and white “Erfalasorput” flag, demonstrators assembled in Copenhagen’s City Hall Square before marching toward the US embassy.
Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, an organisation for Greenlanders in Denmark said they were grateful for the “huge support”.
“We are also sending a message to the world that you all must wake up,” she said.
“Greenland and the Greenlanders have involuntarily become the front in the fight for democracy and human rights.”
There were protests in other locations across Denmark, and more are planned to take place in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.
Lawyers, human rights advocates and civil libertarians have appealed directly to the NSW Police Commissioner, urging him not to extend a ban on authorised public assemblies in Sydney when it lapses on Tuesday.
Commissioner Mal Lanyon declared the first 14-day ban on Christmas Eve, using new powers created in response to the Bondi terrorist attack on December 14, before extending it on January 6 for another fortnight.
In a letter to the commissioner, civil society organisations led by the Australian Democracy Network (ADN) raised concerns about the ramifications of a further extension on annual Australia Day protests.
“We are concerned about the impact these restrictions will have on the capacity of communities to gather, particularly around the traditionally significant First Nations protests on January 26,” the letter states.
The White House has announced names of the so-called “Board of Peace” that will, under President Donald Trump’s plan, supervise the temporary governance of Gaza.
The names included US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, the White House said.
Mr Trump is the chair of the board, according to his plan revealed late last year.
The committee’s leader, Ali Shaath, an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza, pledged to get to work quickly to improve conditions.
He expected reconstruction and recovery to take about three years and plans to focus first on immediate needs, including shelter.
Dunno how many more chances for seeing aurora you’ll get but note:
The northern lights may appear in skies across the northern U.S. tonight (Jan. 16), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center.
Earth is currently being buffeted by a high-speed solar wind stream from a colossal coronal hole on the sun. When this speedy solar wind arrives at Earth, it can impact our magnetosphere enough to cause periods of geomagnetic storming at the minor (G1) to moderate (G2) levels. This, in turn, can lead to impressive aurora displays.
According to NOAA’s SWPC, this current speedy solar wind stream could trigger minor (G1) geomagnetic storm conditions with a chance of isolated moderate (G2) storming at times through Jan. 18. If G2 levels are reached, auroras could extend farther south than usual, with possible visibility as far south as parts of the northern U.S., including states like Idaho and New York, as well as Canada and northern Europe.
“The agency is shunning norms of law enforcement and becoming a militarized wing of Trump’s political agenda — and it’s going to get worse.”
The federal government’s aggressive immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis is looking more and more like a siege on a city than an effort to enforce the law there.
Masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are using extraordinary violence to detain residents. They are pepper-spraying and smashing the car windows of observers and activists, and tear-gassing street intersections. They are patrolling streets with rifles. Schools have shuttered because of safety concerns. […] “This is a military occupation, and it feels like a military occupation,” Elliott Payne, the president of the Minneapolis City Council, told The New York Times. […]
Despite lawsuits from Minnesota and objections from civil liberties groups and local residents, the Trump administration has consistently denied that ICE is behaving inappropriately and has defended its repressive tactics — including killing Renee Good, whom it preposterously labeled a “domestic terrorist.”
Something sinister is emerging. ICE isn’t behaving like a normal arm of federal law enforcement. Instead, it’s increasingly acting like a secret police force or paramilitary on behalf of President Donald Trump as it uses surveillance and violence to enact a political agenda of domination. Unfortunately, there are reasons to believe things will only get worse. [Something sinister has already emerged.]
First, there is a trend toward the deprofessionalization of ICE agents during Trump’s second term. [I snipped details.]
Juliette Kayyem, an assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs at the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, told NPR: “You’re starting from a pool of people who are not getting the training, don’t have the time to have judgment, who are being launched in missions that are hard to describe, with a political overlay.”
Journalist Laura Jedeed applied for a job with ICE in order to assess its hiring process, and described surprise at how easy it was to get in — she said she was given a job after a six-minute interview and despite not filling out a background check form. “ICE’s recruitment push is so sloppy that the administration effectively has no idea who’s joining the agency’s ranks,” Jedeed wrote in Slate. “We’re all, collectively, in the dark about whom the state is arming, tasking with the most sensitive of law enforcement work, and then sending into America’s streets.”
(DHS posted on X that Jedeed was “NEVER offered a job at ICE” and said that she had gotten a “tentative selection letter” instead of a final one. A Slate spokesperson told The Guardian that Slate stands by its reporting and that it had evidence Jedeed was given a final offer letter and a start date.)
Moreover, DHS has gutted most of the office tasked with addressing civil rights complaints, monitoring ICE agents’ behavior, and keeping them in compliance with the law. [I also think there is a lack of organization and pre-planning when it comes to arresting people who have actually committed crimes.]
Put the reduction in training, the apparent poor screening, and the decreased oversight together, and you get what appears to be a more ragtag force that’s less likely to comply with policing protocols and the law and more likely to improvise based on instinct and fear. Indeed, there is evidence that ICE agents are consistently disregarding the most basic practices of policing and are using banned chokeholds and recklessly boxing in vehicles, among other things.
Second, as the Trump administration is deprofessionalizing ICE, it’s also politicizing the agency.
DHS uses social media to present ICE as a flashy, stereotypically masculine force that personally serves Trump.
The Trump administration also constantly pushes out white nationalist propaganda in its communications with the public, implying that ICE agents are at the forefront of an operation to reshape American culture. A few days after an ICE agent killed Good, Trump’s Department of Labor posted on X, “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage. Remember who you are, American.” Christopher Hayes, a labor historian and professor at Rutgers University, told the Guardian that the post’s similarity to a Nazi slogan was “bad” and expressed concern over “the motivation behind it, the message, the sentiment and desired outcome.
[…] The White House has also posted images and videos mocking chained and crying immigrants who have been detained.
The Washington Post reports that during Trump’s second term, ICE’s public affairs arm “has rapidly transformed into an influencer-style media machine” that has tried to glamorize the detainment of immigrants through extensive video footage of raids.[…] this veers into propaganda, into creating fear.
ICE’s ranks more than doubled in 2025 alone, so a majority of its forces came on during an administration that wants officers to see their jobs through an overtly political, militarized lens.
Third, the Trump administration also appears to be giving ICE officers carte blanche to use force and protecting it from legal accountability. After Good was killed, the Trump administration swiftly sided with the ICE officer who pulled the trigger, deeming Good a “terrorist,” and blocking Minnesota officials from investigating the shooting, claiming they couldn’t be trusted. […]
The message is clear: The Trump administration is encouraging ICE officers to view themselves as beholden to the standards of the Trump administration rather than the law.
[…] ICE is transforming before our eyes into a secret police force. Its officers largely operate with their faces covered, making it impossible for the public to link individual officers with specific acts of abuse. The agency’s work is increasingly political and unprofessional, and the administration encourages it to see the law as an inconvenience instead of a hard line.
One wonders how far Trump will allow ICE to go in its ostensible mission of enhancing immigration enforcement. But it’s already clear that it has no problem with creating a shadowy security force that does the administration’s bidding, to the great harm of the American public.
[…] Trump announced Saturday that he will implement a 10 percent tariff on Denmark and its European allies starting next month, ratcheting up the pressure in his bid to acquire Greenland.
“We have subsidized Denmark, and all of the Countries of the European Union, and others, for many years by not charging them Tariffs, or any other forms of remuneration. Now, after Centuries, it is time for Denmark to give back — World Peace is at stake!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump said that the new import taxes, which apply to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland, will start at 10 percent on Feb. 1 and increase to 25 percent on June 1.
He added that the levies “will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” saying the U.S. had been “trying to do this transaction for over 150 years” but Denmark refused.
“Now, because of The Golden Dome, and Modern Day Weapons Systems, both Offensive and Defensive, the need to ACQUIRE is especially important,” the president wrote.
The announcement comes just days after troops from several European countries, including France and Sweden, arrived in Greenland to participate in joint exercises organized by Denmark, as Trump’s calls for U.S. control of the Arctic territory intensify. The Danish government has also boosted its own military presence in and around the country.
“These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable,” Trump wrote Saturday. “Therefore, it is imperative that, in order to protect Global Peace and Security, strong measures must be taken so that this potentially perilous situation end quickly, and without question.” […]
Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed those concerns in a meeting with Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen at the White House on Wednesday.
Rasmussen later described the meeting as a “brilliant opportunity for us to share our view with our American friends,” but said there was disagreement between the two countries on the path forward.
““We share, you know, the challenges linked to the situation in the Arctic,” the foreign ministry told Fox News. “We didn’t agree that it can only be achieved if [the] U.S. conquer[s] Greenland.”
Trump said Saturday there was “not a thing” Denmark could do about China and Russia’s perceived aspirations in the region.
“Only the United States of America, under PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, can play in this game, and very successfully, at that!” he wrote. “Nobody will touch this sacred piece of Land, especially since the National Security of the United States, and the World at large, is at stake.”
The Trump administration has not ruled out the possibility of using military force inside Greenland, despite strong opposition from Americans and warnings from Denmark, its allies, and some Republicans that such action could spell the end of the longstanding NATO alliance.
Trump concluded that the U.S. was “immediately open to negotiation” with Denmark or any other European country.
“MN: ICE Gasses Suspected ANTIFA Babies With Flashbangs”
It’s not right to call what is happening in Minnesota a war. Wars have rules of engagement! This is an invasion by roving bands [..] some with no more than eight weeks of training (US police officers average 21), and no legal constraints on them. They are gassing civilian populations, flash-banging and shooting guns at moving cars, and desperate to try to make immigrant arrest quotas Dear Leader has set for them! […].
However bad it is on the ground, Trump intends for it to get worse. Two days ago he warned THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING.
Soon after, DHS agents gassed a high school, then shot a man in the leg — DHS says during a traffic stop and after the man beat them with a shovel and broom handle, and/but witnesses and the 911 call say he was shot through the door of his house. And following that shooting, in the “agitation” afterwards, a family of six going home from a basketball game at a middle school was sent to the hospital after flash-bang grenades and tear gas were deployed under their car, setting off the airbags and trapping them in the gas. [video]
There’s video of ICE wilding out that led to this, and they are not your mother’s flash-bangs. […] it is a miracle that no one has been maimed or killed yet! Especially infants, the elderly, and people with respiratory issues who cannot take military-grade gas shot at them or seeping through the windows of their car or house. [video]
It was not the first or dozenth time ICE terrorists have set off gas canisters around where children might be. They’ve done it in just about every state they’ve blitzed. In Chicago, Greg Bovino himself chucked gas canisters at high school students, then lied under oath that he did that in response to being hit in the head with a rock, and agents gassed a kids’ Halloween parade. In Portland, California, Minneapolis, and Chicago, goons have fired chemical agents around schools, school bus stops, and residential neighborhoods, leaving gas canisters and munitions littering playgrounds and parks.
Friday, DHS posted, then deleted: “It is horrific to see radical agitators bring children to their violent riots. PLEASE STOP ENDANGERING YOUR CHILDREN.” [social media post]
Newsmax did their own research! [social media post and video: NEWSMAX host Carl Higbie: “This 6 month old who unfortunately got tear gassed by ICE… That sucks 🤷🏼 , but why was a 6 month old near tear gas in the first place?”
The live there Carl, you soulless puppet]
[…] The DHS X account took a break from posting creepshots of handcuffed people with a foreign vibe to turn its attention for the first time to WHITE MAN AGITATORS. [social media post, with photos]
ICE, both the toughest people alive and broken by Frozone disguised as a literature professor, a high school wrestler just out of detention for taping another guy’s buns together, and two [others]
[…] It’s war on ANYBODY who leaves the house, no doubt about it. Especially if they won’t produce papers or demand, or if they film ICE, or happen to be riding too close behind their unmarked cars in traffic. They are not Nazis, they are equal opportunity haters, you see. They’re dehumanizing everyone and they have the AI memes to prove it. [social media post from Homeland Security]
And, but, also, racist. [social media post, with video featuring Jasmine Crockett.]
How does this end? Well, in Tincher v. Noem on Friday Judge Katherine Menendez granted a preliminary injunction, ordering the government not to arrest or retaliate against people who are “engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” not use pepper spray to disperse crowds for doing their First Amendment, and not to detain protestors for just doing free speech. Will the goons obey? What will happen when/if they don’t? […]
“President Trump’s Daily Intel Briefing On Situation In Minnesota”
“In MN, the insurrectionists are confronting our officers on the street. They’re being arrested. This is a natl security priority. Arrests of insurrectionists are made every day, and each provide us an opportunity to learn about the network from a law enforcement & natl security standpoint.” — Stephen Miller to The Charlie Kirk Show, 1/15/2026
Mr. President, our actions in Minneapolis are yielding a wealth of information about the networks that are training and supporting the insurrectionists. It really is a widespread conspiracy of leftist organizations that are driving them into the streets to confront our brave ICE officers.
But we are pushing back very powerfully, sir. We successfully infiltrated and destroyed the Edina Hockey Moms Facebook group, which had become a locus of planning operations to deliver groceries to dark-skinned neighbors too terrified of our agents to leave their houses. Unfortunately, we think the group may have reconstituted as a Discord chat, but we have no doubt our signals intelligence group will be able to track down and destroy this new threat. [LOL]
Sir, we have also inserted our agents at local Starbucks here, here, and here. So far, we have uncovered a group of several Midwestern grandmothers gathering to plot vicious raids under the guise of knitting scarves for protesters. Our brilliant cryptologists have managed to partly decode their conversations. We believe yarn is code for illegal criminal aliens. Purling means that an insurrectionist is planning on pouring water on the street in front of our detention facility so that our vehicles will spin out at 5 miles per hour and likely kill us. Weft, we believe, is a fat joke about some of our agents.
We’re still working on the rest of the code, though we are fairly sure niddy noddy is either gibberish to throw us off the trail, or some strange Minnesota term for sex. The NSA promises to have more information on that by Monday.
Either way, we recommend ICE field agents go on super-high alert for attacks involving grandmothers armed with soft Merino. Though we have only uncovered this one knitting group, we believe such cells are operating all throughout the greater Twin Cities area. Unfortunately, almost all the Starbucks are now closed because the employees are too afraid to come to work, so we lost that source of intel.
Yes sir, these people are very nasty.
Yes sir, it was you who said the government should hire people who can crack codes that our enemies may use to communicate, and all of America is super grateful for that.
Our counterintel guys have also been working on disrupting the insurgents’ whistle distribution networks. As we told you, Mr. President, the Behavioral Sciences folks at the Bureau think part of the reason our agents are behaving as violently and irrationally as they are, is the tone of whistles is rather shrill. Hauntingly piercing, you could say. As if sung from the shoals of Erin by the demonic Sirens themselves to lure all who hear it to their doom. This seems to have an aggravating effect on male agents.
Ha ha, yes, especially the married ones, sir. You should be hosting The Jimmy Kimmel Show, and not that un-American communist Democrat swine Jimmy Kimmel.
Sir, its title is The Jimmy Kimmel Show. No sir, I’m not calling it that because I can’t think of the correct name right now. I’m not saying it, like, “Whatever the Jimmy Kimmel show is really called.” Its title is literally The Jimmy Kimmel Show. Think of it like how your show was titled The Apprentice. If people couldn’t remember the title The Apprentice, they might just say “the Donald Trump show.”
Yes sir, I know no one could ever possibly forget the title. It’s a hypoth- … Yes sir, I’ll call Bob Iger and ask him.
There are some other rumors we’re chasing down. You know that thing the insurrectionists are doing where they honk their car horns while following agents around? Our domestic intel team has assessed with high confidence that Minnesotans are secretly changing their horn sounds from a beep to a mariachi band playing “The Mexican Hat Dance.” Frankly, sir, everyone down at DHS is hoping desperately the guys are wrong on that one. If ICE guys hear that over and over all day, you’ll have to send in a full battle-strength division to deal with them.
Yes sir, your order that all agents in the field must wear MAGA hats with their camo goes into effect tomorrow. If I may say, Mr. President, that is truly a genius style choice. If we’re making the streets of Minneapolis safe from marauding bands of illegals, we should grab the opportunity to advertise.
It would be funny if some of the men wore the Trump 2028 hat instead of the MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN logo, you’re right, sir. I’ll get a message to our guys in the field.
There has been one setback. Oh no, Mr. President, nothing that anyone in this administration would ever blame on you. You’re the greatest leader the country has ever had. No, these setbacks only happen because someone woke probably failed you.
We sent an agent to infiltrate the Minnesota Moms Against ICE WhatsApp, where we believe many attacks have been planned. She was feeding us a good stream of intel. She was our source on getting all the agents spiked boots so they won’t keep slipping and falling like they’re remaking a Buster Keaton movie.
Yes sir, we have teams appropriating every pair they can find at every Dick’s Sporting Goods in a 100-mile radius.
Unfortunately, though, we have lost contact with the agent. Unconfirmed reports indicate she has been lured to the mothers’ side by a particularly tasty recipe for hot dish.
I’m afraid I can’t say more about her cough DEI hire cough cough but clearly she was not good at her job.
Abigail Davis Spanberger, a former Democratic member of Congress and undercover operative for the CIA, became Virginia’s 75th governor Saturday as the first woman chosen to lead a state that waited until 1952 to ratify the federal amendment giving women the right to vote. [I snipped Spanberger’s remarks.]
Spanberger, 46, won a 15-point victory last fall after promising to address the rising consumer costs, job insecurity and lack of access to health care that she blamed on policies enacted in Washington and by the Republican administration of President Donald Trump.
[…] “The history and the gravity of this moment are not lost on me,” Spanberger said to a crowd of several thousand. “I maintain an abiding sense of gratitude to those who worked generation after generation to ensure women could be among those casting ballots, but who could only dream of a day like today.”
The chilly, occasionally drizzly day held a series of historic firsts. Former state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi was sworn in as the first Muslim and first person of Indian descent to serve as lieutenant governor, taking the oath of office on the Koran. Former state Del. Jay Jones took office as the first Black person elected Virginia attorney general, holding his young son as he was inaugurated.
Politically, the group marks a sharp left turn from the Republican executive branch that governed in Virginia over the past four years.
[…] A blue “tsunami” in last fall’s elections — as House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) put it — gave the party a 64-36 majority in the House of Delegates to go with a 21-19 majority they already hold in the state Senate. […]
“If American officials approve the proposals, the U.S. and Ukraine could sign the documents next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.”
A Ukrainian delegation arrived in the United States for talks Saturday on a U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly 4-year-old war as Russian attacks again took aim at Ukraine’s power grid, cutting electricity and heating in freezing temperatures.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said he arrived in the U.S. to discuss “the details of the peace agreement.”
Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Budanov said he, together with Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Davyd Arakhamia, would meet with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.
Zelenskyy said Friday that the delegation would try to finalize with U.S. officials documents for a proposed peace settlement that relate to postwar security guarantees and economic recovery.
If American officials approve the proposals, the U.S. and Ukraine could sign the documents next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelenskyy said at a Kyiv news conference with Czech President Petr Pavel.
Trump plans to be in Davos, according to organizers.
Russia would still need to be consulted on the proposals.
Russia struck energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Kyiv and Odesa regions overnight into Saturday, the Ministry of Energy said. More than 20 settlements in the Kyiv region were left without power following the attacks, the ministry wrote on its official Telegram channel.
Russia has hammered Ukraine’s power grid, especially in winter, throughout the war. It aims to weaken the Ukrainian will to resist in a strategy that Kyiv officials call “weaponizing winter.”
Ukraine’s new energy minister, Denys Shmyhal, said Friday that Russia had conducted 612 attacks on energy targets over last year. That barrage has intensified in recent months as nighttime temperatures plunge to minus 18 degrees Celsius (0 Fahrenheit).
Ukraine has introduced emergency measures, including temporarily easing curfew restrictions to allow people to go whenever they need to public heating centers set up by the authorities, Shmyhal said. He said hospitals, schools and other critical infrastructure remain the top priority for electricity and heat supplies.
Officials have instructed state energy companies Ukrzaliznytsia, Naftogaz and Ukroboronprom to urgently purchase imported electricity covering at least 50% of their own consumption, according to Shmyhal.
The Insurrection Act is not “martial law.” It doesn’t displace civilian law, it doesn’t suspend habeas corpus, it doesn’t alter or suspend state and local government, and it doesn’t make anything newly illegal. It allows using the military to enforce existing law, it doesn’t change what the law is. Trump talks about it like some kind of general suspend all other laws provision […]
The Insurrection Act unlocks manpower […] But it doesn’t give them any extra powers beyond that. It doesn’t let them do anything e.g. an FBI agent couldn’t already do right now. None of which is to say it wouldn’t be a very bad thing to, in effect, deputize soldiers to be cops, but that’s *all* it does.
[Photo] Independent photographer John Abernathy being detained during a demonstration outside the Whipple federal building in Minneapolis. Pierre Lavie’s stunning image captures John throwing his camera to another photographer to make sure it wouldn’t be confiscated.
I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye.
Rando 2: “Leica owners understand the severity of the situation.”
Rando 3: “That camera has been fighting Nazis since the beginning!!”
The German industrialist [Ernst Leitz II], whose father revolutionized photography with his iconic 35mm Leica rangefinder camera, and daughter […] started covertly “transferring” the firm’s Jewish workers to far-flung Leitz company offices in France, Britain, Hong Kong, the United States—anywhere but Germany […] Those disembarking […] at a Manhattan pier made their way to the company’s U.S. head office, where local Leitz staff helped them find jobs. Each new arrival was given a Leica camera. […] The Leica Freedom Train reached its peak in 1938 and early 1939, delivering groups of refugees to New York every few weeks until the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, when Germany closed its borders.
Sky Captain @419, I wonder if Trump knows that. From the way Trump talks about the Insurrection Act, I assume that he doesn’t know about the limitations.
Sky Captain @420, that was quick thinking on photographer John Abernathy’s part. And he did that in a very stressful situation. Thanks also for the historical “Leica Freedom Train” information!
A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from withholding tens of millions of dollars in funding for Minnesota’s food stamp program amid [exaggerated!] claims of fraud.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins directed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) in a letter last month to recertify the eligibility of nearly 100,000 households in four counties within 30 days or risk losing federal funding from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The request came amid an ongoing probe into the state and its welfare programs, which President Trump said in late November had become a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
Minnesota promptly sued, arguing that Rollins’ demand was unlawful and went beyond the scope of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) authority. The deadline was “impossible” to meet, and any changes to funding the state’s SNAP funding would “wreak massive harms” on hungry Minnesotans, state Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) argued.
U.S. District Judge Laura M. Provinzino sided with Minnesota, writing in a 50-page order that the USDA had “failed entirely to provide a reasoned explanation for how this pilot project will help it assess fraud in Minnesota,” questioning why a compressed timeline was needed.
Her order barred the administration from taking any action while the lawsuit is pending, including withholding money for the first quarter of 2026, which Rollins said last Friday would no longer be distributed.
“Today, @USDA is SUSPENDING FEDERAL FINANCIAL AWARDS to Minnesota and Minneapolis, effective immediately, until sufficient proof has been provided that the fraud has stopped,” the agriculture secretary wrote on social platform X. “No more handouts to thieves! Time to drain the Minnesota swamp and put American taxpayers first.” [Blustering doofus!]
[…] Trump has used the fraud investigation, in which dozens have been charged, to ramp up attacks on Somali immigrants and justify the surge of federal law enforcement officers to the state for immigration enforcement operations.
Minnesota separately sued the Trump administration earlier this week in an effort to block the influx of federal agents, citing the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer earlier this month.
“Let’s be clear: it never should have started,” Ellison said Monday. “These agents have no good reason to be here.”
Denmark leaders are refusing to “back down” to the Trump administration after President Trump announced plans Saturday to impose new tariffs on the country and seven of its allies next month amid his push to acquire Greenland.
Danish lawmaker Pelle Dragsted, in a translated post on social platform X, urged European leaders to demonstrate “solidarity and resistance” to Trump’s import taxes.
“Trump must not be allowed to divide us,” Dragsted continued. “The EU must respond united and hit back hard. Go hard after the tech oligarchs in Trump’s inner circle. Enough is enough!”
[…] Danish Chamber of Commerce CEO Brian Mikkelsen rebuffed the threat, saying, “Trump’s farce continues.”
“The American president is once again using tariffs as a threat,” Mikkelsen wrote on X in a translated post. “As so many times before, it is damaging to confidence in world trade and damaging to the American and European economies.”
“There is a need for a coordinated European response — and there is a need for a coordinated response from the American Congress,” he continued. “It is surreal that we have come to this point, but it is unfortunately the new reality — and it is one we all must address.” […]
Militant Agnosticsays
Lynna @415
witnesses and the 911 call say he was shot through the door of his house
WTF – they took a blind shot. It is only a matter of time before they shoot a bystander by accident. The bystander will of course then be labeled a left wing terrorist.
you have probably seen large crowds surrounding ICE agents, blowing whistles, honking horns and yelling for the agency to leave the state. They are chaotic scenes, which has led a lot of people to raise the alarm that ICE Watch could spark more retaliatory violence from agents.
[…] these concerns are misguided. […] ICE Watch does not spur violence; it reduces it. […] Researchers have known for decades that there are two primary types of people who perpetrate violence. The first is the small fraction who are independently motivated to commit violent acts. The second, and much larger group, are those who commit violence to seek approval and status from others. This is especially true among men who use violence to affirm their masculinity.
[…]
To put it another way, the vast majority of men are only willing to engage in public violence if they feel like the people around them will approve of—and reward them for—that violence.
ICE Watch works because it surrounds men seeking approval with people loudly expressing their disapproval. And the noise has the added benefit of drawing large crowds
[…]
There are countless videos from ICE Watch observers that show agents leaving without detaining anyone after they encounter resistance. There are currently about 3,000 ICE agents in Minnesota, but [DHS] claims they have only arrested 2,400 people—less than one person per agent.
ICE Watch organizers have also observed that it takes many more agents to make a single arrest when they are around. In other cities, ICE traveled in groups of two or three, but in Minneapolis, we primarily see groups of 6 to 12 agents. The Department of Homeland Security has pulled agents from other cities to ramp up efforts in Minnesota, which guarantees there will be fewer deportations from the places they left. Plus, ICE’s fixation on breaking up ICE Watch groups and detaining observers—often white citizens—has interrupted its original mission.
Tethyssays
We are teaching ICE about the physics of supercooled water. It’s completely non- violent to precool containers of water to 28 degrees F and then watch the magic of instant freeze when we pour it on the pavement. cue Benny Hill theme
“The pact, designed to avoid hefty tariffs on European exports, cannot be passed in light of Washington’s threats against Greenland, lawmakers say.” [!]
A landmark transatlantic trade deal will not be approved by EU lawmakers after U.S. President Donald Trump hit European countries with new tariffs as part of his efforts to wrest control of Greenland from Denmark.
Confirmation that the European Parliament will not move forward with ratification of the agreement, signed by Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July last year, casts the future of the trade-war truce into uncertainty.
In a statement online, Manfred Weber, the president of the European People’s Party (EPP), said that the escalating U.S.-Europe tensions meant the Parliament would not vote in favor of the pact, which sets U.S. tariffs on imports from the EU at 15 percent in exchange for the bloc not applying levies on American exports.
“The EPP is in favor of the EU-U.S. trade deal, but given Donald Trump’s threats regarding Greenland, approval is not possible at this stage,” Weber wrote. “The 0 percent tariffs on U.S. products must be put on hold.”
[…] The EU’s so-called trade “bazooka,” or Anti-Coercion Instrument, offers a range of punitive measures that can be used against trade rivals that try to threaten the bloc. Among them are restrictions on investments and access to public procurement schemes, as well as limits on intellectual property protections.
Renew leader Valérie Hayer called Trump’s moves “unacceptable” and said “it is now time to move from reliance to deterrence.”
“The EU should be prepared to deploy targeted and proportionate countermeasures,” Hayer said in a post on X. “The activation of the EU Anti-Coercion Instrument should be explicitly considered, as it was designed precisely for situations of economic intimidation of this nature.”
Bernd Lange, a German S&D MEP and chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee, also backed the unprecedented deployment of the “bazooka” in comments to POLITICO. “What we had in mind when we drafted the Anti-Coercive Measures Act is now coming to pass: If trade policy is used as a political lever, we can resist it with various measures. I therefore call on the EU Commission to initiate proceedings and an investigation immediately,” he said.
The S&D’s vice president for trade, Kathleen Van Brempt, also joined the calls for the use of the Anti-Coercion Instrument. “It is nothing short of outrageous that Donald Trump is using tariffs and economic threats to force through an illegitimate territorial claim,” Van Brempt said in a statement. Approving the trade deal, she said, “would not be ‘pragmatic’, but downright foolish,” she said. […]
a day of “no work, no school, no shopping” on January 23 to oppose the ferocious assault on the state […] [“]We are asking every single person, every family member, every teacher, every bus driver, every childcare worker, to come together, to be in community, to stand with one another.
Commentary
Note that unions can’t say “strike” for contractual reasons. […] contracts have dates, it’s not just whenever you feel like.
Taft Harley [Act] made unions liable for damages for the breach of collective bargaining agreements and illegal strikes/secondary boycotts.
I was confused for a while at the function of the shutdown. No positive call to action, just ceasing services and patronage for a day. Like the opposite of mutual aid. It wouldn’t intimidate or evoke sympathy. Isolating at home would make ICE’s task easier, not harder, but they didn’t say to do that. They also didn’t say stop protesting, so a synchronized day off would implicitly free up everyone to hit the streets. Then I saw this other article.
Minnesota is home to a large number of brand name headquarters, especially considering its small size. To name a few: 3M. Target. Best Buy. General Mills. UnitedHealth Group. Ecolab. Hormel. For decades, executives at these firms have been part of the state’s civic backbone—serving on nonprofit boards, weighing in on workforce issues, joining task forces focused on solving major social issues and tapping into their corporate foundations and personal pockets to financially support community initiatives.
[…]
The silence marks a sharp turn away from what has been called the era of CEO activism in the 1990s and early 2000s. Prominent executives often styled themselves as global problem-solvers […] Today’s CEOs seem far less interested in saving the world than in surviving the many radical uncertainties, including tariffs, mass deportations, and geopolitical upheavals. […] executives could have concerns that if they forcefully and publicly raise objections […] their company could find itself staving off political retaliation, regulatory scrutiny, or consumer boycotts
[…]
Yet for a state that prides itself on a long history of ethical corporate leadership, the silence is notable.
[…] Remember when the Third Circuit Court of Appeals told Alina Habba that, yes, actually, the lower court did not stutter, and the administration could not just keep her in the role of U.S. attorney in New Jersey indefinitely without having her confirmed by the Senate?
Well, the administration is back and demanding the full court to rehear the case … for reasons.
Those reasons boil down to arguing that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act doesn’t mean what it says it means, and that the DOJ can keep unqualified stooges like Habba without a Senate confirmation. How? Because Bondi can “delegate” her authority to anyone, and she wants it delegated to Habba, so there. […]
It’s time for another U.S. attorney disqualification!
This is the … hmm, let’s see … sixth disqualification. SIXTH.
U.S. attorneys keep being found to be illegally in their roles because Trump knows that they won’t make it through a Senate confirmation, so he keeps trying to stitch together temporary appointments.
So now New Mexico’s Ryan Ellison joins the inauspicious ranks of Alina Habba, Bill Essayli, Sigal Chattah, and Lindsey Halligan—all of whom have been told to stop cosplaying as U.S. attorneys.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Nuffer of Utah told Ellison that, no, he also could not stay indefinitely in an interim role that is limited by law to 120 days. Nevertheless, Ellison is still running around bragging that he’s “the top federal prosecutor in New Mexico” as he gets to stay on as first assistant anyway.
[…] DOJ to Minnesota: We will tell you what to do, and we are not sending our best
Not content to just surge trigger-happy federal agents to Minnesota, the DOJ is now going to pile 25 military lawyers into the state as special U.S. assistant attorneys.
This is not a new technique for the Trump administration, nor, regrettably, are military lawyers barred from being civilian prosecutors. This is how U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro sought to fill her thinned-out ranks after the massive exodus of actually qualified federal prosecutors.
There’s no doubt that this is, in part, because the Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office just lost six top prosecutors who refused to participate in the disgusting attempt to criminally investigate Renee Good’s widow, Becca Good.
But it’s also pretty clear that the office is gearing up to make sure that federal agents get to commit crimes, while Minnesota residents get jammed up with charges.
Shoving military lawyers in as immigration judges was clearly designed to get more deportations done faster rather than engage in actual judging.
One lawyer, Christopher Day, seemed to believe that his job was to evaluate things fairly and grant asylum when appropriate. So, of course, the administration fired him.
This is an amusing roundup of awards supposedly presented to Trump.
Hot off his receipt of the Nobel and FIFA peace prizes, other award winners are lining up to give Trump their medals.
Of course his new toy is his new Nobel — given to him by actual winner Maria Corina Machado. [Photo, with Trump smiling his broadest and most fucking awful grin.]
That has triggered a flood of new awards. Jimmy Kimmel offered Trump his 2015 award from Soul Train as White Person of the Year. [social media post with video]
Denmark gives Trump the Greenland Peace Prize. [social media post, with funny image]
Jabba the MAGA pays homage too. [social media post with image]
Hero of Russia? [social media post, with image]
Thor’s hammer. [social media post, with image]
Taylor Swift too? [social media post, with image]
Trump also gets his very own Precious. [social media post, with image]
[…]
Lots more at the link, including Trump accepting the Wimbledon Women’s Singles tennis championship from Serena Williams, a Special Olympics bowling trophy from a disabled kid, and so forth.
The European Union and the Mercosur bloc on Saturday signed their long-awaited trade agreement, sealing one of the world’s biggest free-trade deals after more than 25 years of negotiations and repeated political standoffs.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa attended the ceremony in Asunción, Paraguay, alongside Mercosur leaders from Argentina, Uruguay and host country Paraguay. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a key proponent of the pact, did not attend, delegating representation to his foreign minister.
“This agreement sends a strong signal to the world,” von der Leyen said at the ceremony. “It reflects a clear and deliberate choice. We choose fair trade over tariffs, we choose a productive, long-term partnership.”
The signing marks the culmination of a bruising political battle inside the EU that only cleared its final hurdle last week, when member states backed the agreement by a qualified majority following a flurry of last-minute concessions. France, Poland, Austria, Ireland and Hungary opposed the agreement, while Belgium abstained.
Attention now turns to ratification.
The deal must still be approved by the European Parliament and national legislatures on both sides of the Atlantic, where opposition — particularly from farming groups — is expected to remain fierce.
If fully ratified, the agreement would create a free-trade area covering more than 700 million people across Europe and Latin America. More than 90 percent of tariffs on EU exports would be phased out over time, opening new markets for European manufacturers, especially in industrial sectors.
Mercosur countries, meanwhile, would gain greater access to the EU market for agricultural products under strict quota systems designed to protect sensitive European sectors such as beef and poultry. […]
Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor said Friday that a judge lacks the authority to appoint a neutral expert to oversee the public release of documents in the sex trafficking probe of financier Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
Clayton, though, said Khanna and Massie do not have standing with the court that would allow them to seek the “extraordinary” relief of the appointment of a special master and independent monitor.
Engelmayer “lacks the authority” to grant such a request, he said, particularly because the congressional representatives who made the request are not parties to the criminal case that led to Maxwell’s December 2021 sex trafficking conviction and subsequent 20-year prison sentence for recruiting girls and women for Epstein to abuse and aiding the abuse.
Letting the judge appoint an independet master of some sort to supervise the Epstein files and their redaction would get in the way of the DOJ taking as long as it can, covering up as much as it can and not really complying with the law. So the DOJ has filed an emergency petition trying to keep Judge Engelmayer from doing anything. The argument sounds like a usual Trump lawyer appeal, it doesn’t make much sense, it’s more to tie the situation up in court even longer.
birgerjohanssonsays
About the Mercosur agreement – it has taken literally a quarter century to get this close to an agreement, which shows the time scale of real politics, as contrasted with Trump’s imaginary “first day in office” plans.
“The U.S. administration caused a frenzy last year when it discouraged pregnant women from taking Tylenol.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s assertion that taking paracetamol during pregnancy is linked to autism in kids has been debunked by a large evidence review.
Researchers say the new study published Saturday should put women at ease should they need to use these painkillers.
Last year, Trump warned pregnant women against using Tylenol — a U.S. brand name for paracetamol — during pregnancy, arguing that its use “can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.”
The position was driven by Republicans pushing the MAHA — Make America Healthy Again — movement led by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But it has split politicians and health experts on both sides of the Atlantic and confused citizens.
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered a new safety warning be added to Tylenol leaflets, the European Medicines Agency said at the time there was no evidence of a link between paracetamol use in pregnancy and autism. Medical professionals raised concerns that pregnant women would have no treatment for fever or pain, and may be vilified for the rise in autism in recent decades.
Now, a large review of 43 studies, published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women’s Health, found there is no evidence of a link — contradicting the U.S. studies used to recommend against its use in the U.S.
“We found no clinically important increase in the risk of autism, [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)] or intellectual disability of the children where the mothers took paracetamol during pregnancy,” said Asma Khalil, a consultant obstetrician and fetal medicine specialist at St George’s Hospital in London, who led the study
.
“The important message to the millions of pregnant individuals is the fact that actually paracetamol is safe to use in pregnancy,” she added. “It remains to be the first line of treatment that we would recommend if the pregnant woman has pain or fever in pregnancy.”
While previous studies did suggest small associations between paracetamol in pregnancy and increased risks of autism and ADHD, the Lancet researchers said these were often based on studies prone to biases. [!!]
[…] The Lancet’s evidence review instead focused on studies with the most rigorous research methods, such as those at low risk of bias, those with sibling comparisons and with at least five years of follow up — and found no link. […]
Immigration agents have put civilians’ lives at risk using more than their guns.
An agent in Houston put a teenage citizen into a chokehold, wrapping his arm around the boy’s neck, choking him so hard that his neck had red welts hours later. A black-masked agent in Los Angeles pressed his knee into a woman’s neck while she was handcuffed; she then appeared to pass out. An agent in Massachusetts jabbed his finger and thumb into the neck and arteries of a young father who refused to be separated from his wife and 1-year-old daughter. The man’s eyes rolled back in his head and he started convulsing. [Embedded links to sources are available at the main link.]
After George Floyd’s murder by a police officer six years ago in Minneapolis — less than a mile from where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good last week — police departments and federal agencies banned chokeholds and other moves that can restrict breathing or blood flow.
But those tactics are back, now at the hands of agents conducting President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
Examples are scattered across social media. ProPublica found more than 40 cases over the past year of immigration agents using these life-threatening maneuvers on immigrants, citizens and protesters. The agents are usually masked, their identities secret. […]
We reviewed footage with a panel of eight former police officers and law enforcement experts. They were appalled.
This is what bad policing looks like, they said. And it puts everyone at risk. […]
Our compilation of incidents is far from complete. Just as the government does not count how often it detains citizens or smashes through vehicle windows during immigration arrests, it does not publicly track how many times agents have choked civilians or otherwise inhibited their breathing or blood flow. We gathered cases by searching legal filings, social media posts and local press reports in English and Spanish.
Given the lack of any count over time, it’s impossible to know for certain how agents’ current use of the banned and dangerous tactics compares with earlier periods.
But former immigration officials told us they rarely heard of such incidents during their long tenures. They also recalled little pushback when DHS formally banned chokeholds and other tactics in 2023; it was merely codifying the norm.
That norm has now been broken.
[I snipped an account of agents using a chokehold on a 16-year-old kid]
After agents used another banned neck restraint — a carotid hold — a man started convulsing and passed out.
In early November, ICE agents in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, stopped a young father, Carlos Sebastian Zapata Rivera, as he drove with his family. They had come for his undocumented wife, whom they targeted after she was charged with assault for allegedly stabbing a co-worker in the hand with scissors.
Body camera footage from the local police, obtained by ProPublica, captured much of what happened. The couple’s 1-year-old daughter began crying. Agents surrounded the car, looking in through open doors.
According to the footage, an agent told Zapata Rivera that if his wife wouldn’t come out, they would have to arrest him, too — and their daughter would be sent into the foster system. The agent recounted the conversation to a local cop: “Technically, I can arrest both of you,” he said. “If you no longer have a child, because the child is now in state custody, you’re both gonna be arrested. Do you want to give your child to the state?” [video]
Zapata Rivera, who has a pending asylum claim, clung to his family. His wife kept saying she wouldn’t go anywhere without her daughter, whom she said was still breastfeeding. Zapata Rivera wouldn’t let go of either of them.
Federal agents seemed conflicted on how to proceed. “I refuse to have us videotaped throwing someone to the ground while they have a child in their hands,” one ICE agent told a police officer at the scene.
But after more than an hour, agents held down Zapata Rivera’s arms. One, who Zapata Rivera’s lawyer says wore a baseball cap reading “Ne Quis Effugiat” — Latin for “So That None Will Escape” — pressed his thumbs into the arteries on Zapata Rivera’s neck. The young man then appeared to pass out as bystanders screamed.
The technique is known as a carotid restraint. The two carotid arteries carry 70% of the brain’s blood flow; block them, and a person can quickly lose consciousness. The tactic can cause strokes, seizures, brain damage — and death.
“Even milliseconds or seconds of interrupted blood flow to the brain can have serious consequences,” Dr. Altaf Saadi, a neurologist and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, told us. Saadi said she couldn’t comment on specific cases, “but there is no amount of training or method of applying pressure on the neck that is foolproof in terms of avoiding neurologic damage.”
In a bystander video of Zapata Rivera’s arrest, his eyes roll back in his head and he suffers an apparent seizure, convulsing so violently that his daughter, seated in his lap, shakes with him.
[…] In a social media post after the incident and in its statement to ProPublica, DHS did not cite a deadly threat. Instead, it referenced the charges against Zapata Rivera’s wife and suggested he had only pretended to have a medical crisis while refusing help from paramedics. “Imagine FAKING a seizure to help a criminal escape justice,” the post said.
“These statements were lies,” Zapata Rivera alleges in an ongoing civil rights lawsuit he filed against the ICE agent who used the carotid restraint. His lawyer told ProPublica that Zapata Rivera was disoriented after regaining consciousness; the lawsuit says he was denied medical attention. ([…] His wife has been released on bond, and her assault case awaits trial.)
A police report and bodycam footage from Fitchburg officers at the scene, obtained via a public records request, back up Zapata Rivera’s account of being denied assistance. “He’s fine,” an agent told paramedics, according to footage. The police report says Zapata Rivera wanted medical attention but “agents continued without stopping.”
Saadi, the Harvard neurologist, said that as a general matter, determining whether someone had a seizure is “not something even neurologists can do accurately just by looking at it.”
[I snipped details of other encounters.]
[…] Protesters have also been choked and strangled.
In the fall, a protester in Chicago refused to stand back after a federal agent told him to do so. Suddenly, the agent grabbed the man by the throat and slammed him to the ground.
“No, no!” one bystander exclaims. “He’s not doing anything!”
Along with two similar choking incidents at protests outside of ICE facilities, this is one of the few videos in which the run-up to the violence is clear. And the experts were aghast.
“Without anything I could see as even remotely a deadly force threat, he immediately goes for the throat,” said Ashley Heiberger, a retired police captain from Pennsylvania who frequently testifies in use-of-force cases. Balliet, the former immigration official, said the agent turned the scene into a “pissing contest” that was “explicitly out of control.”
“It’s so clearly excessive and ridiculous,” Murphy said. “That’s the kind of action which should get you fired.”
“How big a threat did you think he was?” Brown said, noting that the officer slung his rifle around his back before grabbing and body-slamming the protester. “You can’t go grab someone just because they say, ‘F the police.’”
[…] Experts told ProPublica that if officers are targeting a specific individual, they can minimize risks by deciding when, where and how to take them into custody. But when they don’t know their target in advance, chaos — and abuse — can follow.
“They are encountering people they don’t know anything about,” said Scott Shuchart, a former assistant director at ICE.
“The stuff that I’ve been seeing in the videos,” Kerlikowske said, “has been just ragtag, random.” [Yep. As was pointed out earlier, very little organization or pre-planning.]
[…] We also sent every video cited in this story to the White House, DHS, CBP, ICE, border czar Tom Homan and Border Patrol’s Gregory Bovino. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin provided a statement responding to some of the incidents we found but she did not explain why agents used banned tactics or whether any of the agents have been disciplined for doing so.
Much more at the link.
lumipunasays
Re: 414, 423, 427
In recent weeks on Finnish Twitter I’ve seen the criticisms of Trump increase exponentially. Not that most Finns didn’t dislike him before, but now he’s really a talking point the like of which I’ve never seen before (as Trump himself might put it).
Incidentally, just a few months ago Finland celebrated a major export deal of icebreaker ships to United States. This is something the Finnish machine industry really has experience and expertise for. Most of the world’s current icebreakers were built in either Russia or Finland.
The deal involves the construction of four ships here in Finland (delivery starting in 2028) and seven on a US-based production line that is currently being set up with help from Finnish companies. Trump is said to be planning to eventually increase the US icebreaker fleet to 40 ships – currently there are only a couple such ships. Just the first four ships are expected to provide a significant boost for Finland’s faltering economy.
Now, while icebreakers are mainly used for commercial and coast guarding purposes, they potentially have various military uses in northern seas. The ships provided by Finnish companies will be basically swimming platforms, that can be equipped with all kinds of weapons or surveillance systems. Mostly, they’d be useful for Arctic logistics. There is a discussion brewing along the lines of “Do we actually want to be selling weapons for Arctic warfare to the United States?”.
The expert opinion seems to be that Finnish icebreakers wouldn’t really make any difference for US ability to attack Greenland – certainly not until they’re delivered in 2-3 years from now. That’d be pretty much the time Trump supposedly has left in office. I’m personally slightly concerned, however, because I wouldn’t trust the US to stop being a rogue state in January 2029, with or without Trump. At this rate, anything could happen.
I think the the private companies involved would be very reluctant to cancel the deal, and the Finnish state wouldn’t or couldn’t pressure them, regardless of public opinion. That is, assuming Trump himself won’t threaten to cancel the deal if he realizes it’d actually hurt Finland’s export industry more than the tariff circus.
Steve Morrisonsays
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain@428:
It happens I was at a Target store today in suburban Minneapolis, and a man was handing out leaflets urging us to tell management that:
Target Corporate should: 1) call for ICE to leave MN immediately 2) don’t allow ICE into Target stores without a warrant signed by a judge 3) publicly call for Congress to stop funding ICE
People were passing the leaflets around in the checkout lanes.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
Steve Morrison @439:
I was at a Target store today in suburban Minneapolis, and a man was handing out leaflets
One high-profile ICE incident took place at a Target store in the suburb of Richfield, where a pair of workers—both U.S. citizens—were taken by ICE agents. One of those arrested was a 17-year-old […] Target has not issued any public statement about the ICE raids; it declined to comment for this story.
Michael Howard, a Democratic state representative, whose district includes parts of Minneapolis and Richfield, said he has been trying to learn more about Target’s protocols related to ICE. He is urging them to “exert more clearly their private property rights and Fourth Amendment rights to request that if ICE is going into their public-private spaces that they present a judicial warrant.”
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
FAA warns Latin America, Trump might try something viciously stupid in the next couple months. Business as usual.
The FAA issued on Friday afternoon a series of seven Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) advisories, spanning parts of Mexico and Latin American countries, including Panama, Ecuador, Colombia and sections of airspace over the Pacific Ocean. “Potential risks exist for aircraft at all altitudes[“] the advisories, which run through Mar. 17, said.
[…]
Airlines regularly adjust […] to avoid higher-risk airspace. As of Saturday morning, no U.S. airlines had issued public statements or travel advisories concerning flying in the region. […]
Mexico […] said in a statement that the FAA’s notice only applies to U.S. aircraft and does not warrant “operational changes for aviation in our country,” calling it “a preventive advisory” rather than a “flight prohibition” and reiterating “there is no impact whatsoever on civil aviation in Mexico.”
JMsays
@440 CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain: Trump’s personally vindictive and petty policy towards people, governments and companies is very effective at getting companies to shut up. Even more then people and governments, companies just don’t want to get involved in that sort of thing.
lumipuna @438, we can also hope that Trump and his lackeys are not competent enough to turn icebreakers from Finland into effective weapons. Another thing to consider is that Trump always exaggerates, (when he is not blatantly lying), so it is unlikely that he will order 100 icebreakers. Still, that news you posted is worrying. Four icebreakers is enough to worry me. However, I like the fact that you are seeing more criticism of Trump on Finnish Twitter. People are paying attention, and that makes it less likely Trump will get away with some of his fuckery.
President Trump will ask countries that want to join his “Board of Peace” to oversee Gaza to pay $1 billion for membership, according to reporting from Bloomberg and The Atlantic on Saturday.
A draft charter seen by both outlets showed that Trump will serve as the executive board’s inaugural chairman, who will approve which member states can join on the board. The board will become official after three member states agree to the charter.
“Each Member State shall serve a term of no more than three years from this Charter’s entry into force, subject to renewal by the Chairman,” the draft reads, according to Bloomberg. “The three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force.”
Member states will be able to vote on board decisions, but Trump will have sole authority to approve them, the outlets reported.
What the $1 billion for membership will fund remains unclear. The Atlantic reported that the draft charter does not address where membership fees go, only that funding for board expenses will be “through voluntary funding from Member States, other States, organizations, or other sources.”
The draft charter’s preamble states that the board will “depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed” and will operate as “a more nimble and effective international peace-building body, which the magazine indicated was a dismissal of the United Nations.
The draft charter also makes no mention of the Gaza Strip, The Atlantic wrote.
[…] The board was designed to oversee and implement Trump’s 20-point peace plan in Gaza set in place after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire to end a bloody two-year-long conflict in the Gaza Strip. Trump recently announced that Phase 2 of the peace plan had begun, which requires Hamas to have its militants disarm and Israel to pull back its forces out of Gaza.
Trump said that the board was formed this week, later announcing that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and billionaire investors Robert Gabriel and Marc Rowan will be on the board. […]
StevoRsays
A good musical twist on some pretty bitter colonial history well sung by Foil Arms and Hog The Brexit Song – Live Sketch Comedy covers alot more than just Brexit. (Under 5 mins long.)
Tensions are flaring in Minneapolis as protestors decrying ICE and its agents’ use of force face off with federal law enforcement and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz mobilizes the state National Guard to stand ready to assist.
Crowds of bundled-up demonstrators chanted and waved signs Saturday in subfreezing temperatures in downtown Minneapolis and at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building. Extra measures were put in place in downtown Minneapolis with blocked roads and at least one hotel bolstering security due to the protests.
Walz called up the guard but only to stand ready in case police need support. Protests have been mostly peaceful with few arrests. I would guess part of the reason he called them up is to preempt Trump from doing so. Walz likely has lawyers ready to interrupt any attempt by Trump to invoke the insurrection act or otherwise command the guard himself.
Federal agents from Operation Metro Surge – which involves thousands of federal agents dispatched to the Twin Cities to target undocumented Somali immigrants – are not allowed to arrest or retaliate against peaceful protesters or use “pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools” against them, US District Judge Katherine Menendez ruled in a preliminary injunction issued Friday.
Really shouldn’t need to be said that ICE isn’t allowed to attack peaceful protestors. The problem is that under Trump the ICE has a really broad idea of what is not allowed.
Take note of what the National Guard is being tasked with [quoting coverage from kstp.com]:
The Department of Public Safety in Minnesota says the National Guard has been mobilized and is staging to support local law enforcement.
DPS clarified that the National Guard was not being deployed to city streets, but said it was ready to help support public safety, including the “protection of life, preservation of property, and supporting the rights of all who assemble peacefully.”
According to the DPS, the mobilization was at the direction of Governor Tim Walz.
I’m worried but have some faith since Gov Walz is retired National Guard and likely on top of how to handle this. And the fact that the statement says “supporting the rights of all who assemble peacefully” gives me some hope.
I would bet he felt he had no choice but to call them up given that there are more than twice as many ICE agents in the Twin Cities area (according to various people on MSNOW) than there are police. The Minneapolis Police Chief talked about this in an interview with the NY Times and how he simply doesn’t have enough officers to deal with the chaos ICE is causing in his city. [Important point.]
StevoRsays
This is seriously worrying for us all here – and I don’t think it’ll be limited to just Australia either :
Facing ‘a new enemy’
The Natimuk blaze shows how climate-fuelled grassfires are outrunning warnings, defences — and time.
… (Snip).. on Friday, January 9, on the back of days of intense heat, a ferocious, fast-moving grass fire flattened 17 homes and tore through 8,000-hectares of land.Fire crews could not match the speed of the blaze as it ran straight towards the small town.
The anatomy of this fire offers a glimpse into a new and faster kind of bushfire — and the growing vulnerability of communities as climate change fuels dangerous conditions.
… (Snip).. “Even now, it’s hard thinking about it too much,” she (Bushfire victim Jo Hick – ed.) says.
“Realising that if we were here, even if we had a car packed, we did not have any time to even throw the kids in the car and go. We wouldn’t have been able to get out of the driveway.
“Our house was gone by the time we got the alert to leave.”
Town under siege
The fire travelled so quickly that there was no time to evacuate the 36 residents of the aged care home or its staff, where the fire hit at about 1:40pm — less than an hour after it was first called in.
^ Huh. Lats paragrpah wasn’t meant to be in bold there. Sorry.Dunno what happened there.
The Aged Care whome and its residenst were saved BTW folks – this time.
StevoRsays
@ ^ Aged Care Home.
.***
NASA is preparing to roll out its towering Artemis 2 moon rocket to Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 17, and we will have full coverage of the major event here.
The Artemis 2 moon rocket consists of NASA’s second Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, and is scheduled to launch four astronauts around the moon as early as Feb. 6.
The world’s first legally binding agreement to protect marine life in international waters has taken effect, marking a historic moment for ocean conservation after nearly two decades of negotiations.
The High Seas Treaty or Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions (BBNJ) Agreement, will govern about two-thirds of the planet’s oceans including vast areas beyond any country’s borders. The treaty entered into force 120 days after it reached the threshold of ratification by 60 countries in September. As of January, 83 countries had ratified it, including the recent addition of major maritime powers such as China and Japan on December 16.
The high seas face mounting threats from destructive fishing practices, shipping, plastic pollution, overfishing and potential deep sea mining, all compounded by climate change.Currently, only about 1 per cent of these international waters are protected.
the crowd chased him off before he carried out his plan to burn a Qur’an and march to the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, home to the city’s highest concentration of Somali American residents.
Instead, he was pulled off a City Hall window ledge where he was standing to speak. A crowd then followed him four city blocks to a hotel where he retreated, bleeding from a head wound and soaking wet from water balloons hurled by counterprotesters. A handful of Lang’s supporters were vastly outnumbered
[…]
City and community leaders had prepared for clashes between protesters and Lang, who spent four years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was convicted of 11 charges including assault for attacking Capitol police officers with a baseball bat. He was pardoned
[…]
In November, Lang planned but failed to burn the Qur’an in Dearborn, Mich., at an anti-Islam rally. Afterward, Lang filed a federal hate crime lawsuit against the city, claiming he was attacked.
Protesters on Saturday chanted that Lang was a Nazi and blasted “Let It Go” from the Disney movie “Frozen.” The song drowned out “Ice Ice Baby” […] that Lang played on repeat
[…]
protests continued Saturday evening outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building […] where people are being detained […] Federal agents outside Whipple deployed chemical irritants and detained protesters a day after a federal judge prohibited such tactics
There was footage of Lang at City Hall trying to speak to a camera, and a protester beside him kept obscuring his face with a garbage can lid, which had a clenched solidarity fist painted on it.
A photo therein was captioned: “A Lang supporter walks back to his car with a bloodied head after being hit with an American flag”. Lang’s head injury was not shown but the author’s blurb linking to the article called it a cut.
NBC News could not independently verify his claim
[…]
hundreds of counterprotesters converged […] Counterprotesters could also be seen hurling water balloons at Lang, leaving him soaked in water in the freezing cold. They also threw snowballs at other pro-ICE protesters, soaking them
[…]
the Minneapolis Police Department, said […] it was “aware of social media accounts of him being assaulted,” referring to Lang, but that a police report has not been filed.
In its ruling, the [EPA] revised the policies around [methane] gas turbines, saying that operating the machines still requires air permits even if they are used on a portable or temporary basis, as had been the case.
[…] [xAI] took advantage of a local county loophole allowing the operation of generators without permits so long as the machines did not sit in one place for more than 364 days. At one point, up to 35 of these generators […] Under the EPA’s new ruling, the permitting for these turbines would fall under federal law. It is unclear how or whether the government will penalize companies who are not in compliance.
[…] reflects Cabinet officials’ wealth — and disconnect from the economic struggles of ordinary Americans.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, responding to a question about grocery prices, said a meal consisting of a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla and “one other thing” could cost as little as $3. Photo at the link.
The latest example of Trumpian economic cluelessness came this week courtesy of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. While promoting the new federal nutrition guidelines on Thursday, Rollins — estimated net worth: $15 million — took pains to point out that it doesn’t cost much to eat healthy.
After all, she said, a meal consisting of a piece of chicken, a “piece” of broccoli, a corn tortilla and “one other thing” could cost as little as $3.
Rollins, seemingly unaware that this meal sounded like the dinnertime version of sackcloth and ashes, added that the Agriculture Department had run “over 1,000 simulations” to come up with the meal.
Apparently, no one involved in the project thought to interview actual Americans to see what they thought […]
The contretemps was a gimme for online masses, who swiftly began guessing what that optional fourth item might be while cooking up quips like “let them eat broccoli” and speculating what would happen if, a la Oliver Twist, a cash-strapped diner had the temerity to ask for seconds.
President Donald Trump, who has assembled the wealthiest presidential cabinets ever, has said that it’s best to take economic advice from a rich person. As Rollins’ remark showed, vast wealth can leave its possessors blind to the economic struggles and reality of ordinary American life.
[…] Trump himself — who inherited his fortune yet convinced himself he had earned it — has struggled to address Americans’ unhappiness with cost of living. He’s alternately told people to sacrifice and buy less stuff […] and other times flat-out lied, claiming, for example, that food prices are falling.
In fact, the price of beef, fish and chicken has increased almost 7% over the past year. Beef alone is up by slightly more than 16%, while the price of coffee has increased almost 20%.
Meanwhile, Trump has made it harder for Americans to pay for groceries. He signed off on cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — the formal name for food stamps — in favor of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in his signature One Big Beautiful Bill legislation, increasing food insecurity for millions of Americans. And his administration has not hesitated to use Americans’ food needs as a political bargaining chip, during the federal government shutdown and beyond. Last month Rollins threatened to withhold SNAP funds from states unless they revealed who was receiving the benefit and their immigration status.
In a country where an estimated 1 in 8 people is already experiencing food insecurity, this is — dare I say it? — tasteless behavior at minimum.
There are, of course, things Trump could do to tackle food inflation — and he should know because his administration has done so in the past. Last year, he directed the Justice Department to open an investigation into major egg producers, questioning whether they used market power to increase prices and their own corporate profits. Lo and behold, the wholesale cost of eggs dropped rapidly, something some observers attributed, at least in part, to the sudden investigative interest in the topic.
The Trump administration could also take on the hot topic of algorithmic pricing. A joint investigation by Consumer Reports and the left-leaning think tank Groundwork Collaborative reported in December that Instacart was charging some customers up to 23% more for grocery items ordered through its platform. Instacart almost immediately ceased selling the technology that allowed grocery stores to charge different prices for the same product at the same time, but clearly we can’t rely on voluntary actions by big business to get a grip on this burgeoning technology. Legislation is needed.
But back to Brooks’ chicken imbroglio. It shouldn’t take much in the way of political smarts to know that when you are peddling budget-saving tips in lieu of real action, it’s best to offer up suggestions people might actually want to try. Somehow it doesn’t seem likely that chicken with a piece — just one piece! — of broccoli is on the menu at the White House or at a Mar-a-Lago fete. […]
But that’s the thing about government by the wealthiest of Americans, for the wealthiest of Americans. They don’t realize their so-called financial advice is ineffective, in bad taste — and a recipe for political unhappiness.
The Pentagon has ordered roughly 1,500 active-duty soldiers to ready for a possible deployment to Minnesota, according to several media reports, citing unnamed defense officials.
The move comes after President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act amid widespread protests in Minneapolis and nearby areas following two officer-involved shootings, including one that was fatal.
News outlets reported that the troops come from the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, based at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska, which specializes in cold-weather operations.
The unnamed defense officials said the Army placed its units on standby in case the violence in Minnesota escalates, saying it’s unclear whether the soldiers will be sent to the state.
[…] “The Department of War is always prepared to execute the orders of the Commander-in-Chief if called upon,” chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement to The Hill. […]
“Canada Hooks ICE Up With Some Sweetass Naziwagons”
“Sorry, eh.”
When pioneering white rapper Vanilla Ice wrote the opening line “stop, collaborate and listen” for his only hit, he was just asking for people to listen to the “Under Pressure” ripoff without prejudice rather than encouraging a binding arrangement with a paramilitary death squad. Which is worth keeping in mind no matter how often the guy gets booked to play Mar-a-Lago or it becomes Trump’s new theme song if someone ever explains why “YMCA” is hilarious.
Most decent Canadians feel pride our government has sent more than 2,000 domestically made Roshel Senator armoured vehicles to the frontlines in Ukraine to help a fellow Western democracy fend off an unhinged, blood-thirsty neighbor, but the news we’re also handing over a bunch of them to our own unhinged, blood-thirsty neighbor isn’t going over as well.
Roshel Defence Solutions’ agreement with ICE to sell them 25 Senator Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) worth $10 million CAD was announced a few weeks ago but is getting renewed public scrutiny now that it’s becoming clear any untrained incel behind the wheel seems unlikely to have a problem with rolling over actual people along with their human rights.
The vibe up here is meant to be“elbows up,” not “shareholder profits up,” and nobody wants to be an accessory to murder. Or see the damned things turned against us now that Grampa Hitler is spitballin’ the idea of going to war with NATO.
Military procurements are infamous for taking years to come through but this isn’t the case with Roshel, and the justification for the sole-source contract posted on a US federal procurement website is because they’re supposedly the only ones who can complete orders within 30 days, which they’re able to do because they’re basically just beefed-up Ford F-550s with Batmobile add-ons. […] here’s some of the pitch in the company’s own words:
In addition to standard security features such as perimeter gun ports, escape hatches, advanced locks, external view cameras, siren/PA system, emergency lighting, Roshel equips its vehicles with advanced smart capabilities to enhance our clients’ ability to accomplish every mission securely and efficiently. Roshel incorporates innovative and proprietary intelligence solutions, including remote surveillance, monitoring, access controls, which are customizable for specific operational requirements.
One person who doesn’t see a problem with this is Conservative Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who called it “fantastic news” for a province with a current jobless rate hovering around 7.9 percent.
“I know it’s ironic, but that’s all right,” said Ford. “We’ll take orders anywhere in the world and thank goodness that the Americans are ordering it off us.”
(A note for non-Canadian readers: Dougie is the less charismatic older brother of the late crack-smoking Toronto mayor Rob Ford, whose tailcoats he rode to higher office and was caught on a hot mic saying he was “one percent” happy Trump won in 2024. An alleged hash dealer in his younger days when it was still illegal, the community college dropout would seem a cartoon version of a corrupt politician if not for our current Twilight Zone reality.)
[…] the hypocrisy is extra-thick coming from a guy who sold himself as Captain Canada in the early days of the trade war and even gave the bear a superpoke with an ad during the World Series using a speech by the Gipper himself about the mutually assured destruction of tariffs.
You are perhaps wondering how buying military-grade hardware from Canada is compatible with Dear Leader’s America-first trade policy or even how a deal could’ve been made in the first place given the insane tariffs situation. Oh you sweet summer child! The obvious solution is for private Canadian manufacturers to simply pretend they’re American.
Trucks have rolled out of Roshel factories in the Toronto area for the past decade after founder Roman Shimonov immigrated from Israel without leaving much of a digital footprint, but they’re also coming soon from a new facility in Michigan because the guy saw this shit coming.
“Tariffs played a vital role in our decision,” Shimonov recently told the Globe and Mail. “Without being able to overcome it by having a facility in the US, I doubt that many companies that rely on exports will be able to survive.”
Roshel still claims headquarters are in Brampton on its website but an address in Delaware is what’s given on the sales agreement with ICE [!], which is apparently close enough for government work. No word on what might become of the roughly 400 workers in Ontario factories who’ll find themselves under pressure if production shifts south of the border […]
It might be some consolation if the badass Zambonis sent to kill us weren’t made at home […]
Roshel’s “Smart Armored Vehicles” video is available at the link.
‘SNL’ skewers the Trump cabinet over Venezuela and ICE
For this season of “Saturday Night Live,” James Austin Johnson has dominated the cold open segments, more often than not kicking off the show with a dose of his President Donald Trump impression.
The first SNL episode of 2026, hosted by “Stranger Things” star Finn Wolfhard, saw Johnson’s Trump cede a bit of the spotlight to his Cabinet in a recap of all of the “legal-ish things,” as Johnson put it, that Trump did during the winter break. In introducing various high-ranking officials, Johnson called them “little freaks, various monsters and nightmares from the mind of Guillermo Del Trump.”
Speaking from a set of the White House, Johnson described the toppling of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as pulling a “reverse Santa on him: We came down the chimney with a bag and took him away.”
To elaborate on the situation, he brought Secretary of State Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernández) and Vice President JD Vance (Jeremy Culhane). But when Hernández, asked to address the people of Cuba, started off in Spanish, Johnson interrupted him: “Not in here, big guy. No, no, no, I didn’t like that at all.”
In the first Vance sketch since Bowen Yang left the cast, Culhane stepped into the role. After allowing Culhane to share a few words with the country, Johnson wandered around the White House set, looking out the windows and commenting on birds in the distance. “I came here to do two things: kick bubblegum and chew a–,” Culhane said, inverting the famous “They Live” quote. “And I’m all out of bubblegum.”
He was followed by Ashley Padilla, who appeared as Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi L. Noem. In a cowboy hat and hoop earrings, Padilla rattled off a series of questions for potential ICE recruits. “Is your neck wider than your head? Are you currently wearing a Punisher T-shirt? Have you ever punched a hole in the wall because your son took a dance class?” Padilla asked. “If the answer is yes, then grab a gun — any gun — and saddle up, big boy.”
To wrap things up, Colin Jost returned as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as he usually does, swaggering out to metal music before insulting the audience. Jost went on to brag about the military operation in Venezuela.
“We only had to send in a couple of helicopters, all of them blaring ‘Welcome to the Jungle,’” Jost said, before jumping into an Axl Rose impression, “and the Maduro regime was brought down to its sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na, knees, knees.”
Jost then began to describe their next operations beyond Venezuela, with a warning for Iran: “You don’t dare kill your protesters,” he whined. “That’s our thing!”
“White House told CBS to run Trump interview unedited or get sued.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CBS News to air an interview with President Donald Trump in full or face a lawsuit, according to an audio recording of the exchange reviewed by The Washington Post. [eyebrow raising]
“He said, make sure you guys don’t cut the tape. Make sure the interview is out in full,” Leavitt told new CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil, relaying a message from the president ahead of the interview last week. “He said, if it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.”
Dokoupil responded with levity: “He always says that!” […]
Dokoupil, who became the anchor of CBS’s storied evening news program earlier this month, has made a point of taking a different tack on the air, saying “People do not trust us like they used to.”
Trump has expressed criticism of CBS News since it came under the new owners and Weiss’s editorship began. “THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP, who just paid me millions of Dollars for FAKE REPORTING about your favorite President, ME!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in December. “Since they bought it, 60 Minutes has actually gotten WORSE!”
[…] on Thursday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters that the Danes and Greenlanders had agreed “to continue to have technical talks on the acquisition of Greenland,” which Denmark and Greenland said was not the case at all.
Mr. Trads, the political commentator, had been skeptical that the meeting would produce anything. On Wednesday over coffee near the Danish Parliament, he said that the only thing that Denmark had on its side against Mr. Trump was time.
The Danish government hopes that Mr. Trump’s party will lose the midterm elections, he said.
“If that doesn’t happen, then we’re just waiting for the three years to pass,” Mr. Trads said. “It’s a long time, but we don’t have anything else. So that’s the whole tactic, just to make sure it goes on and on and on, and somehow he is preoccupied with something else.”
Denmark colonized Greenland in 1721, and over the centuries, Greenlanders often felt mistreated by the Danes, particularly by a past policy of forcing contraception on young women and girls. In recent decades, the island has moved to home rule. Denmark, which still sends the island of 56,000 people large economic subsidies, now supports its gradual path to independence.
There have been tensions along that road, but Mr. Trump has had the effect, Danes said, of pushing the former colonizer and the colonized closer together. “If we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark,” Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen of Greenland said last week.
What is extraordinary about Mr. Trump’s involvement, said Martin Breum, an Arctic expert and TV journalist and the author of “Cold Rush: The Astonishing True Story of the New Quest for the Polar North,” are the president’s repeated falsehoods about Greenland.
“There is extreme consternation that your president appears completely immune to data, facts, arguments and common knowledge,” Mr. Breum said. “He continues to state what is obviously, factually wrong. This seems unbelievable to many people in this country. We cannot understand what is happening. We wonder what is next.” […]
When Washington, D.C., agreed to hand over billions in land and tax breaks for a new Commanders football stadium, experts thought it would long remain an outlier in sweetheart deals for sports teams.
But just months later, attention turned to Kansas, where officials in December announced plans to fund 60% of a new stadium for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. The state committed to spending up to $1.8 billion — the largest-ever professional sports subsidy. [!]
Geoffrey Propheter, who studies stadium deals as an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver, thought the Commanders deal would stand out for years to come “for how ludicrous it was.”
The D.C. Council in September finalized a plan to dedicate more than $1 billion in public funds to move the Commanders some 7 miles from a suburb in Maryland to a new facility planned for the old RFK Stadium site.
The city’s deal, which offers free riverfront land and exclusive development rights, means the district could forgo between $6 billion and $25 billion in revenue over time, Propheter said. By his calculations, that makes the planned Commanders stadium project the most valuable package ever awarded to a sports team. The team is primarily owned by Josh Harris, an investor with a net worth above $11 billion who also owns majority stakes in the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
The stadium deals in Washington and Kansas — both involving relocations within the same metropolitan area — have set separate records for taxpayer subsidies to sports teams. They serve as further evidence that public officials are uninterested in curbing giveaways to billionaire team owners, despite decades of research suggesting stadiums are a wasteful use of limited tax dollars. […]
Decades of research has found stadium subsidies are a poor investment of public dollars. Yet the median, inflation-adjusted stadium subsidy amount has ballooned over time. [I snipped dollar-amounts-over-time details.]
THE KANSAS DEAL
Kansas officials pushed aggressively to lure the Chiefs some 20 miles from their longtime home at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
Officials maintained the new stadium would spur billions of dollars in economic activity despite serious questions from experts and local officials about taxpayers’ ability to cover the massive new debt. […]
But officials also acknowledged the pursuit was about more than economics: Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said landing the NFL team would make Kansas a tourist destination, help retain young people and defy stereotypes of Kansas as a flyover state.
“And what could be cooler than being home to the Kansas City Chiefs?” she said.
[…] The Chiefs are owned by the Hunt family of Texas, one of the nation’s wealthiest families, estimated by Forbes to be worth nearly $25 billion. [!]
[…] To fund Kansas’ expected $1.8 billion share of the new Chiefs stadium, state officials will divert sales taxes from a wide swath of the metropolitan area to pay back stadium debt. Officials say that won’t cause tax increases, but those tax diversions could cut deep into other city and state spending priorities.
[…] The new Chiefs stadium will be owned by the state, meaning the team won’t be subject to property taxes, a lucrative perk. The Chiefs will pay rent, but those funds will go into an account that can be used for ongoing facility maintenance and security. The state will also contribute millions to that fund every year.
The Chiefs will keep all revenue from ticket sales, parking and concessions, including for nonfootball events such as concerts and Final Four basketball games.
[I snipped details regarding charitable contributions from the Chiefs. There is no enforcement mechanism in the deal, and nothing to keep the Chiefs from calling branded fitness clubs, etc., “charitable” contributions to the community.]
Kansas will receive some access to its stadium for events including graduation ceremonies and free concerts, but those are subject to team-determined availability, and the state must cover all costs. [!]
State officials are guaranteed one stadium suite for most events. But the term sheet notes that state officials must pay for their own food, except for free soda and water. […]
‘IT’S ABOUT PANIC’
The lopsided deal in Kansas will likely boost efforts by other team owners looking to update their facilities, deMause said.
“For whatever reason, we’re in a moment where team owners feel entitled to demand a lot more billions of dollars than anybody else has,” he said. “And the more they get away with that, the more their fellow owners are going to be emboldened to ask for the same thing.” [Yes. That seems likely.]
In Illinois, lawmakers have discussed for years an effort to relocate the NFL’s Chicago Bears from Soldier Field to a new site along Lake Michigan in Chicago or in the suburb of Arlington Heights. For decades, the team has been primarily owned by the McCaskey family. Last month, Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren cited a lack of “legislative partnership” in announcing the team would explore a potential stadium in neighboring Indiana.
That news received an icy reception from Illinois lawmakers, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
[…] “What happened in Kansas is exactly what Illinois should not do,” he [llinois state Rep. Kam Buckner] said. “Kansas is preparing to hand billions of public dollars to one of the wealthiest ownership families in professional sports history — not for schools, not for transit, not for housing, but to subsidize a stadium for a team that’s already printing money.”
“It’s about panic. It’s about fear,” he said. “It’s about this system that we’ve created, where, if you don’t overpay, a billionaire might just take his toys and leave town, and folks are scared of that.”
[…] Federal and state officials are seeking a broad swath of health policy changes, including rolling back routine vaccinations and expanding the use of drugs such as ivermectin for treatments beyond their approved use. State lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills targeting vaccines, fluoridated water, and PFAS, a group of compounds known as “forever chemicals” that have been linked to cancer and other health problems.
In addition to West Virginia, six other states have targeted food dyes with new laws or executive orders, requiring warning labels on food with certain dyes or banning the sale of such products in schools. California has had a law regulating food dyes since 2023.
Most synthetic dyes used to color food have been around for decades. Some clinical studies have found a link between their use and hyperactivity in children. And in early 2025, in the last days of President Joe Biden’s term, the Food and Drug Administration outlawed the use of a dye known as Red No. 3.
Major food companies including Nestle, Hershey, and PepsiCo have gotten on board, pledging to eliminate at least some color additives from food products over the next year or two.
[…] John Hewitt, the senior vice president of state affairs for the Consumer Brands Association, a trade group for food manufacturers […] called on its members to voluntarily eliminate federally certified artificial dyes from their products by the end of 2027.
[…] Although Democrats have joined Republicans in some of these efforts, Kennedy continues to drive the agenda. He appeared with Texas officials when the state enacted a package of food-related laws, including one that bars individuals who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — SNAP, or food stamps — from using their benefits to buy candy or sugary drinks. In December, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved similar waivers sought by six states. Eighteen states will block SNAP purchases of those items in 2026.
There are bound to be more. The Rural Health Transformation Program [part of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,”] also offers incentives to states that implemented restrictions on SNAP.
[…] In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that sets a legal definition for ultraprocessed foods and will phase them out of schools. It’s a move that may be copied in other states in 2026, while also providing fodder for legal battles. In December, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sued major food companies, accusing them of selling “harmful and addictive” products. The lawsuit names specific brands — including cereals, pizzas, sodas, and potato chips — linking them to serious health problems.
Kennedy has also blamed ultraprocessed foods for chronic diseases. But even proponents of the efforts to tackle nutrition concerns don’t agree on which foods to target. […] The parties have also butted heads over some Republicans’ championing of raw milk, which can spread harmful germs, and the consumption of saturated fat, which contributes to heart disease.
[…] Moves by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that are making vaccine access more difficult have led blue states to find ways to set their own standards apart from federal recommendations, with 15 Democratic governors announcing a new public health alliance in October. Meanwhile, more red states may eliminate vaccine mandates for employees; Idaho made them illegal. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is pushing to eliminate school vaccine mandates. [Yikes]
Even as Kennedy advocates eliminating artificial dyes, the Environmental Protection Agency has loosened restrictions on chemicals and pesticides, leading MAHA activists to circulate an online petition calling on President Donald Trump to fire EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
Congress has yet to act on most MAHA proposals. But state lawmakers are poised to tackle many of them.
“If we’re honest, the American people have lost faith in some of our federal institutions, whether FDA or CDC,” said Burkhammer, the West Virginia lawmaker. “We’re going to step up as states and do the right thing.”
A senior Russian general, once favored by the Kremlin but unpopular with troops for his brutal frontal assaults, has been dismissed after four years in top command roles in Ukraine.
Lt. Gen. Sukhrab Akhmedov, 51, a Dagestan native born into a military family, was first reported to have been removed from command and service in Ukraine on Tuesday by the Russian mil-blogger channel Dva Mayora, an information platform closely linked to the Kremlin.
Russia’s independent Astra news agency and Ukrainian mainstream news reported the decision on Wednesday. However, there has been no official statement from the Russian army on Akhmedov’s status.
No official statement yet but several reports that he was personally removed by Putin. He is so high ranked and so associated with the war in Ukraine that it’s likely that Russia will try to bury it if he is removed. If it’s true he should be careful to avoid leaving the ground floor of buildings, he is exactly the sort that the Russian government may want to quietly dispose of later.
Akhmedov was a leader of using human wave assaults and their big badly planned attacks. He got away with it for a long time because he lied to his superiors to inflate success and reduce losses of gear and men. As long as he could point to enough real successes his superiors didn’t look too closely at his losses.
His downfall comes from the failure of the Dobropillia assault. He didn’t lead the initial attack but was put in command as the attack stalled. Rather then adapt to the situation he reverted to his previous tactics. He ordered a series of bigger and bigger attacks with less and less gear as he got together whatever resources he could scrape up. The end result was a huge loss for the Russians, with a front so weak they couldn’t hold on to the land they had taken and the front had to be moved back, leaving Russians behind.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain spoke to President Trump on Sunday afternoon, telling him that “applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is wrong,” Starmer’s spokesman said. The call followed separate conversations Starmer conducted with the prime minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen; the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; and the NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte.
“In all his calls, the prime minister reiterated his position on Greenland,” the statement said. “He said that security in the High North is a priority for all NATO allies in order to protect Euro-Atlantic interests.”
“The Deadhead community, including musicians Joan Baez and John Mayer, gathered to remember the late guitarist, who died last week at 78.”
Thousands of people gathered Saturday at San Francisco’s Civic Center to celebrate the life of Bob Weir, the legendary guitarist and founding member of the Grateful Dead who died last week at age 78.
Musicians Joan Baez and John Mayer spoke on a makeshift stage in front of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium after four Buddhist monks opened the event with a prayer in Tibetan. Fans carried long-stemmed red roses, placing some at an altar filled with photos and candles. They wrote notes on colored paper, professing their love and thanking him for the journey.
Several asked him to say hello to fellow singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia and bass guitarist Phil Lesh, also founding members who preceded him in death. Garcia died in 1995; Lesh died in 2024.
“I’m here to celebrate Bob Weir,” said Ruthie Garcia, who is no relation to Jerry, a fan since 1989. “Celebrating him and helping him go home.”
Saturday’s celebration brought plenty of fans with long dreadlocks and wearing tie-dye clothing, some using walkers. But there were also young couples, men in their 20s and a father who brought his 6-year-old son in order to pass on to the next generation a love of live music and the tight-knit Deadhead community.
The Bay Area native joined the Grateful Dead — originally the Warlocks — in 1965 in San Francisco at just 17 years old. He wrote or co-wrote and sang lead vocals on Dead classics including “Sugar Magnolia,” “One More Saturday Night” and “Mexicali Blues.” He was generally considered less shaggy looking than the other band members, although he adopted a long beard like Garcia’s later in life.
The Dead played music that pulled in blues, jazz, country, folk and psychedelia in long improvisational jams. Their concerts attracted avid Deadheads who followed them on tours. The band played on decades after Garcia’s death, morphing into Dead & Company with John Mayer.
[…] A statement on Weir’s Instagram account announced his passing Jan. 10. It said he beat cancer, but he succumbed to underlying lung issues. He is survived by his wife and two daughters, who were at Saturday’s event.
“Sunday’s meeting of EU ambassadors concluded the bloc could impose hard-hitting economic measures if talks with the White House fail.”
The EU is considering far-reaching trade measures — including €93 billion worth of tariffs against the U.S. — to deter Donald Trump from trying to wrest control of Greenland, according to eight diplomats and officials.
During a three-hour meeting in Brussels on Sunday, diplomats from the bloc’s 27 governments underscored the importance of readying tangible options to fight back against Trump in case talks with Washington over the coming week don’t lead to a swift resolution, the officials said.
The talks were hastily arranged after the U.S. president threatened 10 percent tariffs from Feb. 1, rising to 25 percent on June 1, on six EU countries plus the U.K. and Norway, which he considers to be standing in the way of his designs on the Artic territory, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. As the sense of crisis grows, European Council President António Costa said he would call a summit of EU leaders this week.
“It’s clear that a line has been drawn and enough is enough,” said one diplomat with knowledge of Sunday’s talks. “But at the moment we are discussing options — if Trump’s tariffs are imposed, then then we will be discussing not what options there are but which options to use.”
The €93 billion in retaliatory tariffs would be a reactivation of measures that the EU put on hold after the signing of a trade deal with the U.S. in July. Such a move could be taken “very quickly,” compared to some of the other options being discussed, according to a second EU diplomat briefed on the talks. [Important point.]
An alternative would be to use the EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), the EU’s “trade bazooka,” designed to penalize countries that use their markets as a tool for geopolitical blackmail, several officials said. This is a stronger measure and would come up against some concern from more cautious members of the bloc. Governments did not ask the European Commission to move forward with the deployment of the tool at this stage, according to three diplomats.
Before Sunday’s discussions, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Brussels to activate the ACI, which includes restrictions on foreign direct investment and intellectual property protections. Two diplomats said France’s envoy raised the prospect in the room.
Macron’s office said in a statement issued while the ambassadors were meeting that the president had spoken with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO chief Mark Rutte, and reaffirmed the importance of a “firm, united, and coordinated European response through the activation of the anti-coercion instrument should the United States carry out its tariff threat.”
“There are many ways forward,” said an EU diplomat. “There are other diplomatic and economic possibilities to act. Some can be spoken about publicly, others can’t.”
[…] European leaders will meet Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos this week. The U.S. president is expected to attend on Wednesday, before the 27 leaders work out their response at the EU summit, which will probably be scheduled for Thursday, according to two officials familiar with the planning. […]
“António José Seguro looks set to compete against far-right leader André Ventura when the country holds a runoff election on Feb. 8.”
António José Seguro, a former head of Portugal’s Socialist Party, is projected to have secured a surprise victory in the first round of the country’s presidential election, according to exit polls released Sunday evening.
Expected to win 30 percent to 35 percent of the total votes cast, Seguro’s projected triumph would be an unforeseen upset for André Ventura, leader of the far-right Chega party. Pre-election surveys had consistently shown him enjoying the strongest support among eligible voters.
As none of the candidates secured an absolute majority, Seguro faces a runoff election Feb. 8 against the second-place finisher. [I snipped more election statistics and exit poll information.]
[…] Portugal is a semi-presidential republic in which the president serves as the country’s head of state and has the power to appoint the prime minister and dissolve parliament.
The president also has the right to veto laws, ratify international treaties, appoint some members of key state and judicial bodies, and issue pardons. Moreover, as supreme commander of the country’s armed forces, the president wields significant influence on Portuguese military deployments. […]
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captainsays
This rabbit hole turned out way more Republican than I expected.
Jayden Scott, the 23-year-old MAGA hero who went viral for taunting protesters at the site where ICE shot and killed a woman, is now facing a warrant threat after failing to report for jail. […] Using a bullhorn, he shouted “We executed one of you yesterday” at demonstrators and declared “The storm is here. When we come, no one can stop what is coming.”
[…]
The fallout from Scott’s viral moment has been swift. He resigned as CEO of Harmony Investment Group […] He was fired from Anthony Hudson’s gubernatorial campaign in Michigan. And he’s no longer on the executive committee of the Bay County Republican Party.
Scott is not in charge of Harmony Investment Group. […] The current CEO is Zain Sikander […] He says Scott is an [imposter] who created a fake website for the company that included details about him working at the firm. […] he has known Scott for a long time because both lived in the Saginaw-Bay City area […] for some reason, Scott had claimed he had an affiliation with his companies before.
* I’m sure THAT likely-20-something CEO of a healthcare investment firm is legit.
[*snip*] the use of multiple identities, the creation and dissemination of false information, the intimidation attempts, and the rapid escalation in behavior […] I have SEVERAL direct messages by individuals who I do not know advising me he is 100% a con artist sociopath, narcissistic and violent. […] this aligns with what I have experienced.
* I confirmed a Republican named Sheila Johnroe exists on a Bay county .gov site.
* Amazon does have a fake-looking listing for the book slandering her as DSA, authored by the alias she alleged “Shep Greene”.
He went from organizing an Islamophobic march to sympathizing […] it took him just a few visits to mosques to change his mind. But his use of anti-LGBTQ+ slurs raise[d] questions about the sincerity
[…]
one day after the [change of heart] article was published—he posted about the march and said, “WE WILL NOT ALLOW SHRIA [sic] LAW IN THIS COUNTRY![“] Someone in the responses asked him about his visits to Dearborn mosques, and he responded: “Think chess not checkers! You have to outsmart your opposition![“] Hudson ran for Congress in 2024 [and lost the primary badly with 10%]. Hudson is one of several Republicans running to replace outgoing Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), who is term-limited.
birgerjohanssonsays
This Is Why Cats Don’t Work Together 😂 No AI, No Music
Helen Kennedy: “This is such a cool illustration of how the Mercator map distorts the size of Greenland, which looks as big as the whole continent of Africa on that map but is actually the size of Mexico. [Video]”
The Times (London) has an article that responds to many of my checkpoints
[…]
Having a resource in the ground means next to nothing. [*snip*] The ore is said to be mostly the mineral eudialyte, for which no processing has been developed. […] there is a very good chance that those Greenland deposits may not be attractive commercially. […] Mines take years to develop and longer to turn a profit. So the political situation must be stable, which is less likely if the US takes Greenland by force.
Brandon Bishop (Seismologist): “You *have* to have a scalable processing method”
Rando: “I mean, all of this yes, but also, the US doesn’t have to ‘own’ Greenland for US companies to make a profit mining it, assuming such profits are there to be had? Like, I don’t think the hold-up is onerous Danish regulations, right? […] economic development is one of their goals! And they’re an ally. They’ll talk to you!”
Radley Balko (Journalist): “It takes a particularly virulent strain of sociopathy to sit and let hard-working people serve you a meal knowing that you plan to arrest them and send them off for deportation once they’re off of work.”
Anjali Dayal: “It’s one of those fundamentally cursed hospitality violations that you read about in ancient texts.”
Kiona Smith: “Anthropologist here: can confirm.”
Rando 1: “It is also eerily similar to what Hans Landa does in the opening moments of Inglorious Basterds […] What these officers did was textbook on how to establish a person as profoundly evil and cruel.”
Julie DiCaro (Journalist): “There were several videos floating around of ICE/CBP hitting up taquerias in and around Chicago, and the audacity is mind-blowing.”
Rando 2: “ICE Agents brave/stupid enough to still be eating anything that they didn’t prepare & pack themselves… much less going to an ethnic restaurant.”
X’s [new terms of service] are insanely agressive, and basically represent an effort to force every litigation against Musk—even ongoing suits—into Reed O’Connor’s courtroom.
all disputes […] must proceed exclusively in the federal U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas
[…] Anyways, that concept led me to look up the governing law provision in the Starlink terms of service. And here’s where the legal drafting veers into mania.
the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities.
Mike Masnick (TechDirt): “You mean Tesla shareholder ‘I see no conflict of interest in adjudicating every Elon case’ Reed O’Connor.”
Rando 1: “They’ve declared Mars to be a sanctuary planet.”
Rando 2: “This is actually not, like, legal under the Outer Space Treaty.”
birgerjohanssonsays
The Search for a Massive Meteorite Impact With No Crater
This video is worth watching just for hearing the Australian accent.
birgerjohanssonsays
Hanna Reitsch flying a Fieseler Storch aircraft and landing in Berlin to evacuate Hitler in the film Downfall is based on a real event. She was a test pilot who became the only woman in Germany to be awarded an iron cross.
#2 Norway is not Denmark and has no connection with Greenland.
Trump has entered the ‘insane Roman emperor’ phase of his presidency.
.
I recall there was an Equadorian president once that displayed mental instability. He was apparently removed from office without problems, but then again Equador is one of those “shithole countries” America does not learn anything from.
StevoRsays
Oh and Trump wants our Aussie PM on board – make that on the Gaza Peace Board!?
Australia and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have been asked by US President Donald Trump to join his “Board of Peace”, as the White House tries to push the fragile ceasefire in Gaza into its next phase.
A draft charter for the organisation, which will be chaired by Mr Trump, has been sent to a number of world leaders — including Canada’s Mark Carney, Türkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Argentina’s Javier Milei.
It is unclear exactly how many countries have received invitations, but reports suggest dozens are on the list.
The text of the document, first revealed by Bloomberg, stated that each country that accepted the invitation would be represented by its leader and would be given a term of “no more than three years”.
If a country wants to stay as part of the Board of Peace beyond that, it would have to make a cash contribution to its efforts of $US1 billion ($1.49 billion).
The Kremlin has announced that Vladimir Putin has been invited to join Donald Trump’s “board of peace”, set up last week with the intention that it would oversee a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists on Monday that Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, before giving its response.
…(Snip)…
The invitation to Putin, which has yet to be confirmed by Washington, raises more questions about the intended agenda for the board. It was originally part of Trump’s ceasefire proposals for the Gaza war, and was supposed to oversee the transition to a lasting peace in the territory and supervise the work of a committee of Palestinian experts, also announced last week, who would take care of the day-to-day running of Gaza. The vaguely described scheme was endorsed in a UN security council resolution in November.
The first appointments to the board, announced on Friday, included Trump himself as chair, the former British prime minister Tony Blair and the current US secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Also appointed were Trump’s troubleshooting envoy, the property developer Steve Witkoff, the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and the president of the World Bank, Ajay Banga.
It has emerged over the weekend that Trump had also sent invitations to the leaders of states including Argentina, Paraguay, Turkey, Egypt, Canada and Thailand. Belarus announced that its leader, Alexander Lukashenko, had been invited and that he welcomed the invitation.
The invitation letters included a “charter” saying the board would seek to “solidify peace in the Middle East”, and at the same time “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict”.
So, a vast number of leaders and people all around the globe are invited to rule Gaza – but no Gazans or even Palestinians at all? Holy Flying Fox feces Batman!!
StevoRsays
Hate speech laws designed to help combat antisemitism in the wake of the Bondi beach terror attack are set to pass after Sussan Ley agreed to cut a deal with Anthony Albanese.
Ahead of a Coalition partyroom meeting to settle a final position, Liberals MPs agreed late on Monday to back Labor’s revised bill after talks between the prime minister and opposition leader.
The Nationals were pushing for further protections around proposed new powers to ban hate groups on Monday night, raising the prospect of a Coalition split when the laws are put to a vote on the second and final day of the emergency sitting.
But even if the Nationals crossed the floor in the Senate, Liberal sources confirmed the bill would still be able to pass with Labor and Liberal votes.
A separate set of gun control laws will also pass on Tuesday with the support of the Greens, establishing the biggest gun buy-back since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, and requiring intelligence agencies, including Asio, to conduct criminal background checks when individuals apply for a firearms licence.
As the first year of Donald Trump’s second term progressed, and the list of scandalous presidential pardons grew, the White House confronted a question without modern precedent: Were pardons effectively for sale?
The question became unavoidable after Trump started rewarding generous donors with clemency, culminating in a Wall Street Journal report, published shortly before Christmas, that described a dynamic that has “spawned a pardon-shopping industry where lobbyists say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal, according to people familiar with the offers.”
Last week, these concerns reached a new level. The New York Times reported:
In late 2024, while [Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan-Italian banker] was facing felony bribery and other charges in the case, his daughter, Isabela Herrera, donated $2.5 million to MAGA Inc., a super PAC devoted to Mr. Trump and run by his allies.
In May, her father’s lawyer, Christopher M. Kise, who had served on Mr. Trump’s legal defense team, negotiated an unusually lenient deal with the Justice Department. Under the deal, which was authorized by a top Trump appointee, Mr. Herrera agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor campaign finance charge, disappointing career prosecutors who had pushed for a harsher sentence.
Two months later, Isabela Herrera donated another $1 million to MAGA Inc., culminating in a pardon from Trump late last week. (The White House claimed the political contributions did not lead to the pardon. [scoff])
The Times’ Peter Baker summarized the circumstances this way: “Her father faced bribery charges. She donated $2.5 million to a pro-Trump Super PAC. Trump’s Justice Department gave her father a lenient deal, overruling prosecutors. She gave another $1 million. Now Trump has pardoned her dad.”
[…] The Times’ Thomas Edsall recently noted that in late 2008, George W. Bush pardoned Isaac Robert Toussie, a developer in Brooklyn who had pleaded guilty to mail fraud and making false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. One day later, the then-Republican president revoked the pardon — because Toussie’s father had contributed $28,500 to the Republican Party, and Bush concluded the circumstances “might create an appearance of impropriety.” [Oh those innocent days not so long past.]
[…] The White House announced Friday that Trump is also pardoning former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, who pleaded guilty to a corruption charge related to her 2020 campaign — a scandal that also included campaign contributions from the aforementioned Julio Herrera Velutini.
An NBC News report noted, “President Donald Trump’s pardon of former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced did not include all of the criminal cases she’s faced, and the White House is planning to make a fix out of an abundance of caution, an official said Sunday.”
Last fall, during a briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “When it comes to pardons, the White House takes them with the utmost seriousness.” The president’s top spokesperson added that each pardon is subjected to “a very thorough review process,” conducted by a team of “qualified lawyers.”
I continue to believe this was one of the more unintentionally amusing things Leavitt has ever said.
[…] Trump is abusing his pardon power; he apparently knows that he’s abusing his pardon power; he knows that we know he’s abusing his pardon power; and he just doesn’t seem to care.
“These Cabinet secretaries have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution,” Judge William Young concluded.
It’s not every day when a sitting federal judge refers to an incumbent American president as an “authoritarian,” so when it happens, it tends to raise some eyebrows. The Washington Post reported:
A federal judge Thursday decried what he said were ‘breathtaking’ constitutional violations by senior Trump administration officials and called the president an ‘authoritarian’ who expects everyone in the executive branch to ‘toe the line absolutely.’
In remarks laced with outrage and disbelief, U.S. District Judge William Young said Donald Trump and top officials have a “fearful approach” to freedom of speech that would seek to ‘exclude from participation everyone who doesn’t agree with them.’
At issue was a federal case dealing with the administration’s treatment of pro-Palestinian students. Young, appointed to the bench by Ronald Reagan, was unrestrained in his criticisms of the administration, declaring, “The big problem in this case is that the Cabinet secretaries and, ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment.”
As part of a condemnation that accused Donald Trump of being an “authoritarian” — a word, Young said, he chose “carefully” — the jurist also concluded that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio engaged in an “unconstitutional conspiracy to pick off certain people.”
“These Cabinet secretaries have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution,” Young added.
The judge’s outrage was striking, but it’s worth emphasizing that Young has plenty of company.
Last year, for example, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, another Reagan appointee, not only rejected Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, he also took aim at the president’s twisted approach to the law.
“It has become ever more apparent that to our president, the rule of law is but an impediment to his policy goals,” Coughenour wrote. “The rule of law is, according to him, something to navigate around or simply ignore, whether that be for political or personal gain. Nevertheless, in this courtroom and under my watch, the rule of law is a bright beacon which I intend to follow.
“The Constitution,” the judge added, “is not something the government can play policy games with.”
Soon after, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell felt compelled to remind the administration in a ruling, “An American President is not a king.”
As the year neared its end, U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf, yet another Reagan appointee, described Trump and his team as an “existential threat to democracy and the rule of law.” He also resigned from the bench so he can condemn the White House and its radicalism more freely and frequently.
Over the course of the last year, the White House and its allies have launched a variety of efforts that appeared designed to intimate the judiciary. There’s a growing body of evidence to suggest those tactics have failed.
“One day after unveiling a purported health care “plan,” the president had an opportunity to tout its virtues. It did not go well.”
[…] The White House touted a blueprint it described as “The Great Healthcare Plan” (the italics were in the original), which was little more than a hodgepodge of conservative ideas, packaged together on a brief website, a bit shorter than the blog post you’re reading right now. It was accompanied by a prerecorded video, in which the president said, “I’m calling on Congress to pass this framework into law without delay, have to do it right now,” despite the fact that there’s nothing to pass.
There’s no bill or legislative text. There are no substantive details. There’s no timeline. The whole thing is only a small handful of paragraphs.
The White House told The Washington Post that it was a “broad architecture” — an apparent euphemism for “we couldn’t actually come up with anything more than vague goals” — and it’d be up to congressional Republicans to do the actual work.
Or put another way, those waiting for Trump to come up with a health care plan are still waiting.
The day after unveiling the faux “plan,” the president hosted an event at the White House about rural health care, and it stood to reason that he’d take the opportunity to tout the proposal he’d unveiled a day earlier. But he didn’t: Trump spoke with enthusiasm about the name of his pseudo “plan,” and he bragged at length about his personal role in the rhetorical labeling, but at no point did the Republican explain anything about his proposal, who it would benefit, how it would work, how much it would cost or why it would be an improvement over the status quo.
Hours later, during a Q&A with reporters, someone asked the president an excellent question: “Can you explain how your Great Healthcare Plan will impact Americans’ health insurance premiums?” [video]
“It is a tremendous thing,” Trump replied. “It’s called the Great Healthcare Plan, and we’re gonna get tremendous, uh, reductions, as you know, through, uh, if you look at, uh, medicines and prescription drugs, they’re gonna come down by numbers that have never been seen before.”
First, pharmaceutical companies are raising, not lowering, their prices. [!!]
Second, the question was about insurance premiums, and the president didn’t even try to answer it.
And third, after unveiling a purported health care “plan” on Thursday, it seemed painfully clear that Trump struggled to talk about its merits on Friday. The next time Republicans anywhere suggest the president came up with a meaningful health care proposal, keep this in mind.
whheydtsays
Re: birgerjohansson @ #476…
Hanna Reitsch was a fascinating person. She was not only a test pilot, she was in command of a unit of test pilots. She was the first person to successfully (in the sense of making a landing she could walk away from) a jet-propelled aircraft. It was an Fi-103 (usually called V-1) with a cockpit and manual controls. They developers were trying to diagnose a guidance system instability. After losing some of the pilots under her command, Reitsch decided to do the test flight herself.
She was the first person to fly a glider across the Alps.
Photos: Anti-ICE Protests Erupt Nationwide After Minneapolis and Portland Shootings
Commentary accompanies some of the photos. Some photos show Minneapolis residents erecting barricades so that ICE cannot enter their neighborhood. Some photos show protestors blocking ICE vehicles with their bodies.
Placards include:
ICE is Trump’s Gestapo
TRUMP REGIME KILLING US
In a world full of Trumps and Norms, be good.
GET THE FUCK OUT
ICE = RACIST MURDERERS
ICE ARE THE TERRORISTS
For the convenience of readers, here are some links back to the previous set of 500 comments on The Infinite Thread.
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/12/30/infinite-thread-xxxviii/comment-page-1/#comment-2289179
Trump succeeds in uniting our traditional allies — against the United States
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/12/30/infinite-thread-xxxviii/comment-page-1/#comment-2289175
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani put aside their differences and got together to announce the launch of the 2-Care program, which will make child care free for two-year-olds across the city
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/12/30/infinite-thread-xxxviii/comment-page-1/#comment-2289169
The Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture World Liberty Financial today applied for a national banking license.[…] They plan to put the money raised from their seizure of Venezuelan oil into […] “off-shore’ accounts.”
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/12/30/infinite-thread-xxxviii/comment-page-1/#comment-2289164
ICE agent who reportedly shot Renee Good was a firearms trainer
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/12/30/infinite-thread-xxxviii/comment-page-1/#comment-2289163
X didn’t fix Grok’s ‘undressing’ problem. It just makes people pay for it.
Infamous vacationer Ted Cruz wants Cuba to be his ‘island paradise’
NBC News:
This is occurring only days after Trump assured everyone that Putin is interested in peace.
Re: Lynna, OM @ #2…
On that last bit, it is–perhaps–worth noting that Ted Cruz was born in Canada, not Cuba. His father was born in Cuba.
MS NOW:
New York Times:
See also: Comment 474 in the previous set of 500 comments on The Infinite Thread:
Thanks, whheydt, in comment 4 for that reminder.
In other news, as reported by The Washington Post:
G7 summit delayed so Trump can watch men wrestle at the White House
South Carolina measles outbreak surges past 300 cases
“The state has confirmed 99 new cases since Tuesday. Arizona, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah are also reporting cases.”
@3 Lynna, OM
Reuters: Russia fires hypersonic missile at target in Ukraine near NATO border
The Oreshnik is supposed to be a multiple warhead nuclear missile system and isn’t accurate enough to be effective with conventional warheads. The one that hit Ukraine appears to have only been loaded with dummy warheads. In any case it was clearly meant as a threat, not an active weapon. The Oreshnik is a big expensive way to deliver a small amount of inaccurate warheads if loaded with conventional warheads.
re Lynna @3:
Because, as everyone knows, The Orange Turd knows everything about peace since he is The Peace President. You know, the one who is bombing countries all over the world, trying to seize the assets of sovereign countries, pissing off all of our allies, and killing peaceful protesters in his own country.
Owen Jones 45 mins long interview clip Is Iran’s Regime About To Fall – And What About Trump, Israel? – w/. Sina Toossi – here.
7 Sci-Fi Movies Adapted from Stanislaw Lem
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=J4nbHpd32AU
The Russian military is not the first to suffer from bad quality of equipment.
“British Radar Teams Opened the Hohentwiel U-boat Radar — and Learned Why It Was A ‘Phantom Eye’ ”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=iqgqaLsCT1Y
JD Vance says the assassination was really awesome
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=hZU2pp68K2I
@ 1 Lynna, OM
This claim is false.
https://www.theverge.com/news/859309/grok-undressing-limit-access-gaslighting
(I don’t mean they fixed it, I mean CASM is still freely available.)
Gushing Over Magical Girls REVIEW
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=LsW3rKtSeTk
Not for everyone! Especially the fetish of episode 6.
@16: I see. Familiar slapdash implementation.
Most Alzheimer’s cases linked to variants in a single gene
.https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-alzheimer-cases-linked-variants-gene.html
@ 違う
いい日を過ごせ、息子よ。大人は話している
Scott manley on some rather dramatic and unfortunate ISS news NASA Astronaut Medical Emergency – What We Know – 40 mins long.
Silentbob @20: Now you’re addressing, and still misgendering, someone who hasn’t even commented in this thread.
Context for 20, 22.
[one-off]
Been going on for literally years.
Here’s mid-stage context: https://proxy.freethought.online/singham/2023/09/07/that-israel-is-an-apartheid-state-has-become-undeniable/#comment-5239136
(It goes back more)
Space dot com has a live updates news thing for the crew 11 medical emergency return story noted in #21 here :
https://www.space.com/news/live/astronaut-medical-evacuation-on-iss-jan-9-2026
Plus another sepaarate article now giving the date :
Source : https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/nasa-will-evacuate-spacex-crew-11-astronauts-from-international-space-station-on-jan-14
Oh and from theCrew 11 wikipage :
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Crew-11
Morbid thought occurs that no doubt NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin etc .. will have contingency plans for astronauts dying aboard the ISS and during lift-offs, landings and spacewalks..
TYT (yeah, they have some issues I know but..) Trump Promises Land STRIKES In MEXICO! (11 mins long.)
Attacking Mexico!? Wow.
Can you guys do something about removing this evil klown & his puppetmasters before we’re – and you’re – in WWIII please!
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-09/sa-palestinian-author-calls-for-apology-over-writers-week-axing/106212878
Ongoing Iran protests since yesterday.
Mark Chadbourn (Journalist):
* Mark Chadbourn: “an opposition journalist who visited hospitals and estimated 400+ murders. It’s hard to get reliable estimates because the regime has banned every organisation that might be able to do it.”
Mark Chadbourn:
Time – Doctor says more than 200 reported dead in Tehran
Meidas Touch:
“Trump Gets UNEXPECTED BACKLASH from ENTIRE WORLD over ICE Murder”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=lQwIu6VXV6k
Source : https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/vera-c-rubin-observatory-discovers-enormous-record-breaking-asteroid-in-first-7-nights-of-observations
Source : https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/human-evolution/homo-erectus-wasnt-the-first-human-species-to-leave-africa-1-8-million-years-ago-fossils-suggest
Source : https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/human-evolution/homo-erectus-wasnt-the-first-human-species-to-leave-africa-1-8-million-years-ago-fossils-suggest
StevoR @ 30
I contacted the retired professor John S Lewis about it. He wrote that a fast-spinning asteroid might be made of metal as it is strong enough not to fall apart (the forces of the spin are far greater than the local gravity). This would make it more interesting for space resource extraction than a rocky, slow-rotating ‘rubble pile’ object.
Trump RUNS AWAY to Florida as ADMIN is FALLING APART (and Labour Secretary is under internal investigation for shenagians)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=PsCybfyu3ns
The Republican Party Just Released Its Own AUTOPSY
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=2hf15TRKqvc
A Different Bias:
“Court Action to Force Epstein Files Release”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=8sMum3xOVxY
Sky Captain @18, thank you for the explanation.
Thanks also for providing context in comment 23.
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/i-m-not-mad-at-you-renee-good-s-last-words-captured-by-ice-agent-who-killed-her-2480617539987
Video is 7:15 minutes
Petty Trump screws Colorado Republicans
https://www.wonkette.com/p/lesbians-taunted-ice-goon-smirked
Good news for once.
“California is completely drought-free for the first time in 25 years
.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/09/california-completely-drought-free
“Health by stealth: the rise of drinkable no- and low-alcohol beer”
.https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/jan/08/rise-of-drinkable-low-alcohol-beer-kate-hawkings
“Freedom from China? The mine at the centre of Europe’s push for rare earth metals” [North Sweden].
.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/10/china-mine-europe-rare-earth-metals-swedish-producer
Ukraine is discussing trade deal with US, Zelenskyy says
“Such an agreement would involve tariff-free trade with the U.S. and would give Ukraine “very serious cards,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Bloomberg.”
StevoR @ 30
A fast-spinning space rock has to be solid to avoid flying apart. If it is a metal asteroid, mining the metal may create a cavity protected from cosmic radiation suitable for a space station outpost.
Here is a reply from professor John S Lewis on the matter.
“Half of my PhD research concerned cosmic ray penetration of iron meteorites. One meter of iron gives good protection against CR primaries. Digging a 1 m hole in an Fe-Ni asteroid is another challenge!
John
Link
Embedded links to sources are available at the main link.
“You don’t want this smoke” Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal warning to fake law enforcement ICE
https://www.wonkette.com/p/oh-hey-hows-the-jobs
“Oh Hey, How’s THE JOBS?”
Washington Post link
“Unexploded missiles, witnesses undercut Trump account of Nigeria strike”
“Of the 16 U.S. Tomahawk missiles fired at militants in Nigeria, at least four appeared not to explode, according to officials and imagery reviewed by The Post.” Photos at the link.
Much more at the link.
New York Times link
More at the link, including a discussion of Chevron’s unique position.
BTW I owe this blog – and the blig of the late Ed Brayton – for personal growth. I used to avoid conflict. But when Ed Brayton’s friend who worked for the rights of religious minorities in the military starred to forward racist hate mail to the blog, we had fun picking apart the logic and the spelling errors.
This gradually taught me that aggressive assholes very often are so very wrong and it is OK to dismiss them.
New Yorker link to a report by Susan B. Glasser
Link
Vouchers, patriotism, and prayer: The Trump administration’s plan to remake public education, by ProPublica
This is just to give you a brief paus from MAGA
David Bowie – I’m Afraid of Americans”
Yeah, some of them, for sure
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=LT3cERVRoQo
.
The scenes from Lucy are a good match for Robyn’s song. The God’s Finger scene is as effective as the end of ‘2001’.
“Röyksopp – Monument”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=WNQdp-Kh_Ic
https://www.wonkette.com/p/in-which-the-kennedy-center-stars
In Which The Kennedy Center Stars As The Empty House In ‘The House On The Hill’ ”
U.S. launches large-scale strikes on ISIS targets across Syria
Related video at the link.
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/king-to-restore-british-rule-over
@419 StevoR
I’m glad I live in a nation with at least some worthwhile protections for speech, instead of the unending nightmare under Stevo’s absolute rulership where I would be thrown in prison for my doubleplusungood crimethink.
you are so weird
About the potential military intervention to take over Greenland, Democrats should promise and make it clear that any member of the military that gives or follows orders to attack a NATO ally is giving or following an illegal order and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law as soon as that becomes possible. (It should actually be about any country that Congress has not made a declaration of war against but a NATO ally should be even clearer).
Of course, Trump would declare that he would pardon everyone but Democrats should make clear that every punishment still possible will be applied. That should make at least some individuals think twice before going along with this dangerous stupidity.
Ongoing Iran protests, adding to 28.
Mark Chadbourn (Journalist):
* A surgeon told WSJ that he’d extracted Kalashnikov bullets and birdshot from patients. So that’s what the shotguns were firing.
Rando: “Is this the same [Trump] whose regime refused to allow Iranian Christians to apply for asylum in the US and sent them to Panama? Now he wants to help Iranian freedom seekers?”
Leah McElrath: “Some videos of large protests in Tehran are emerging via Starlink, as Iran continues to endure a comms blackout affecting internet/cell phone functioning. This screenshot shows a protest in Tehran in which people are raising their cell phones with the lights on as torches (via IranIntl_En on X)”
* That video (warning loud).
https://xcancel.com/IranIntl_En/status/2010056491445957082Lynna #55
Dog save the king
Aussie ABC news reporting onthe anti-ICE protests :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-11/anti-ice-protesters-gather-around-the-us/106217540
Source : https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/nasa-to-roll-out-rocket-for-artemis-2-moon-mission-on-jan-17
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-09/qld-bug-hunt-insects-photos-research-citizen-scientists/106171252
Good News for P.Z.
Canada is taking over Minnesota
US Embassy in Venezuela
Mark Chadbourn: “Oops. Going to be good for all those oil executives and workers going out there to “rebuild” the industry.”
Rando: “Wait. Armed militias search vehicles for evidence of US citizenship? They will likely encounter the same situation if they return to the United States.”
Oregonian – Feds pay $125K after Border Patrol agent pointed gun at Portland hotel worker
AP News: Trump signs executive order meant to protect the money from Venezuelan oil
I don’t know if the executive order will stand up, though it sounds really thin. I do know that the courts will make the determination, the president doesn’t get to decide what the court is allowed to rule on. And notice also that Trump has said this money will be under his control, this act will shield it from any oversight if accepted.
The Hill – Minnesota reps denied access to ICE facility as protests persist
* Based on MS NOW interviews with the three congresswomen here.
[TV Audio Podcast] Velshi – Trump’s quest for Venezuela’s Oil (17:37 to 37:09)
Zeteo
NB
A real law enforcement officer’s take on the videos about the shooting.
.https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1MivFeQxs1/
A wholesome nature video.
“Kayaking the Frozen River to Help Family — A Fox running over the Ice” [ at 7.40 onwards]
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=dVmG1EZ9Sps
A sample of Swedish progressive rock/ jazz bands of the 1970s
“10 Swedish Prog Bands From the 70s You Were Never Told About”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=s0xaCWEb–s
@56. beholder
Glad to see that compulsive liar, convicted serial killer, Russian agent fired for gross incompetence and person most notorious for their regularly indulging in public necrophilia during funerals and cremations “beholder” thinks that making up and saying absolutely anything about anyone without any regards to its veracity is totally cool and acceptable.
(No one really needs a sarc tag for this do they? Okay, maybe beholder & Silentbob do?)
Sorry Lynnna – I hope you see my point in how I’ve written and phrased that above. Subtlety does not work with the likes of “beholder” altho’ I hope even they might understand it when put in that form. Most of what I said about “beholder” there is a joke although obviously we do not know for sure that all of it is untrue & it is certainly a more humorous and accurate joke and less absurd than labelling former Democratic Presidential Nominee Harris a “killer.” *
Of course, it is obviously untrue that I am any sort of “absolute ruler”, I don’t have any power here other than commenting & expressing my views let lone much elsewhere or that I would imprison “beholder” merely for their thoughts.
What we do know as a matter of factual record now is that Kamala Harris has NOT killed anyone nor sexually abused them and that Trump is a convicted felon and known rapist who is responsible for millions of deaths and incalculable human suffering.
Yet “beholder” supported Trump in reality voting for him & Fascism over the non-Fascist Democratic party and “beholder” views Kamala Harris who, again, has committed no crimes and seems like a perfectly reasonable, rational and decent human being especially compared with Trump as being equally “irredeemably evil”** as he is! How absolutely ludicrous is that!?
.* Before beholder or anyone else tries to argue it, NO Kamala is NOT responsible for what Netanyahu chose to do in Gaza. Kamala particularly never had any power over the Israeli PM or the Israeli govt that she and Biden criticised, begged to show restraint and withheld some weapons from.
.** See :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/12/30/infinite-thread-xxxviii/comment-page-1/#comment-2288948 & note my actual evidence based rebuttal at #419 to which beholders only reply is, well, see quoted start of this.
The Working Class Uprising They Don’t Teach You About (North Carolina in the 1760s)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yr5Hv_DuedY
A magical rock in northern Minnesota
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=HEXJYSzq6DI
@72. See also :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2025/12/30/infinite-thread-xxxviii/comment-page-1/#comment-2289010
Beholder & ilk literally thinks a confirmed utterly evil, racist, misogynist, rapist, literal nazi responsible for millions of human individuals dying is equally as bad as the person who was chosen to oppose him by the majority of the members & the former POTUS of the relatively left wing progressive, ONLY DAMN alternative you have party in the fouled up, stinking sewer of a political system the USoA has (& DO FN reform it ASAP FFS!!!) & we have to put up with their bulldust? Really? Sigh.
Sure wish the collapse of the USA wouldn’t take everything and everyone on the planet down so horribly far with it.
Especially when it was so avoidable if everyone there who could’ve done so had just voted for Kamala. United behind and supported her 100% & condemned and refuted and rejected every evil, thoughtless wilfully ignorant klown that did not until they did.
Worst & most consequential nation~wide, ethical, rationality test FAIL ever.
Albeit again, Kamala did win but was robbed by voter suppression and very likely also by Musk too.
Do people in the USA know how much they are globally detested & viewed with contempt by the rest of the planet that they have screwed up by this for this and more?
I doubt it.
I so wish good Americans would do something about this but I really do not know or see what they can do now given their disgrace of a governance system.
Wish I had something to offer beyond despair and fury.
That a military coup & reboot seems the very best remaining realistic option is such a condemnation of y’all &, well, give me an alternative to that right now please?
I’d so very much prefer it.
What is it?
I doubt there will even be mid terms now. They’ll be rigged AF if there even are.
Congress is as relevant as the ancient Roman Senate under the Ceasars. I.e. NOT at all.
SCOTUS is rigged. (Yay those who opposed HRC in 2016 – you misogynist scumbags. Berniebros – who did NOT listen to Bernie when he said “Vote HRC.” Will future historians say that’s when the USA really died? Perhaps. Thanks Stein. Thanks Nader for 2000 too. Ya could’ve had POTUS Al Gore. But, again, the absolute stinking, overflowing sewer of a USA political system & EC.)
Civil War? Too likely & too horrendous to contemplate and too many good people who don’t deserve to will die. Quite possibly without the best or even just relatively better result with it. Quite possibly with the very worst of the worst “winning.”
Taking so much else planet wide with it.
I am so angry. I .. no words suffice..
Rest of our lives. Rest of our futures. Children’s futures, grandchildren’s futures, great x infinite grandchildren’s futures..
For everyone. On our shared Pale Blue Dot that, for now, has two ice caps at each pole but won’t for too much longer.
Look at trends and the screaming graphs and just ..
Dunno what.
Get a time machine, make Gore win, make HRC win, make Kamala win.. somehow.
Our luck it’d be a different better alternative timeline anyhow.
So what do we (?) do in this one where we all actually live?
Our best.
Wise-est.
Kindest.
Please.
What else can we do?
Zelenskyy needs to rename Kyiv after Trump.
After the shooting. The 80-year era of American greatness is over.
.http://youtube.com/post/UgkxGdyjGCofA5_ipRCEyMhBf2MRpdWnelz7
A Different Bias:
“Trump Loses Grand Venezuelan Oil Prize”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=gMDk6DpT2RI
StevoR, regarding the extended disagreement up-thread, I think it may be best to ignore the posts of beholder and Silentbob at this point.
I doubt that anything other than increasing insults will result from engagement. Let’s tone it down and let The Infinite Thread roll on without giving attention to those trying to inflame the situation.
Thank you.
Cartoon: Since the precedent has been set …
Black Music Sunday: Remembering Howlin’ Wolf
Many videos and lots of good commentary.
New York Times link
“Noem Says ‘Hundreds More’ Agents Will Be Sent to Minnesota”
re Lynna @80: YES!!! Make it so!!
Follow-up to 68.
Politico – Day after Minneapolis shooting, Noem ordered new restriction on congressional oversight
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (American immigration Council):
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “Trump’s signature reconciliation bill […] was rammed through with zero significant debate and virtually no democratic involvement at all. I do not think that bill ever would have included any oversight of ICE.”
Peter Orlowicz (Admin law attorney): “Oh, NOW the language in appropriations acts matters, huh?”
AnimarchyHistory:
“Operation Just BeCause:
A Full Breakdown on Venezuela and Maduro’s Capture” – an angry and sarcastic Australian milblogger provides his take.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=AxgNGiuxly0
The truth about self-reliance.
.https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16qGPA4F2d/
Expert SCHOOLS Trump Supporter On Greenland!
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=mPtoqfIWRM
Trump said Denmark does not own
Greenland land just because some boat landed there 500 years ago and the irony meter exploded.
.https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C136GFimw/
So… the Injuns own all of America now.
Erich von Däniken has died.
Good times.
Thank you Mordred for the information.
Comment 87 had a truncated link. This one works.
Maximilien Robespierre – Expert SCHOOLS Trump Supporter On Greenland! (7:54)
* It’s only a slightly trimmed version of the original, with Robespierre nodding along.
Times Radio – Trump ally clashes with Scott Lucas over US annexation of Greenland (10:29)
A moment that got cut.
The host asked whether Greenlanders have a CHOICE. Guess not.
Musk makes horrible sexualised AI images a lotalty test, due to become a diplomatic problem between USA and UK.
“The hypocrisy of AI abuse on the far right”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=ET7kTJjAWCgYours Birger Johansson
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain @ 90
Thank you! My unwieldy fingers pushed the wrong tangents.
You know, any goddamn Trump follower who supports this should be forced to serve in a re-opened Greenland base (there are lots of them from the cold war).
Scientists call for ‘systems reset’ to redefine sustainable development
.https://phys.org/news/2026-01-scientists-reset-redefine-sustainable.html
New Zealand’s rare flightless parrot begins breeding again
.https://phys.org/news/2026-01-zealand-rare-flightless-parrot.html
Perovskite solar cells maintain 95% of power conversion efficiency after 1,100 hours at 85°C with new molecular coating
.https://techxplore.com/news/2026-01-perovskite-solar-cells-power-conversion.html
Perovskite cells are much cheaper but have a degradation problem that must be solved before they become commercially viable.
New York Times link
Trump’s ‘Superstar’ Appellate Judges Have Voted 133 to 12 in His Favor
“President Trump promised to fill the appeals courts with ‘my judges.’
The actor Derek Martin has died at 92.
He was in several Doctor Who episodes and in the soap opera Eastenders.
Anthropic joins OpenAI’s push into health care with new Claude tools
“Anthropic’s new offerings allow users and providers to work with medical data, mimicking similar moves by OpenAI.”
Trump threatened GOP senators who voted for war powers resolution in ‘angry’ calls
Politico link
More at the link.
Wired – Grok is generating sexual content far more graphic than what’s on X
Warning: Descriptions of that content at the link.
https://www.politico.eu/article/iran-israel-us-bases-preemptive-strikes/
Meidas Touch
“Trump Has Bad Sunday as ALL Plans BACKFIRE”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=XCCnysSgAJk
The posted slogans of the US department of labor…
Ein homeland
Ein people
Ein heritage ???
John Cleese suggested FIFA should reconsider holding soccer games in the USA.
(My input: we know what they do to soccer moms)
Astronomy: Once Around Barnards Loop
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=qzFKgsPpI3A
It is a HUGE but faint supernova remnant that is 10° across and encloses most of Orion. It is theoretically visible to the naked eye. Preliminary dating puts It at roughly the same time as a supernova event that left decay radionucleids in sediment.
The Hill: Trump’s call for Collins’s ouster throws wrench into Maine Senate race
Trump’s handlers are moving in to smooth things over and keep him from doing anything more. No telling if that will work, the people trying to keep him on a coherent path have not had much success recently.
The Republican’s margin in the Senate is not so big that they can afford to lose any votes and if Collin’s decides not to run or gets pressured by Trump the state is far more likely to go Democrat.
That Trump called her to rant at her is a sign he is losing what little self control he had and is more concerned with Republicans being loyal to him then strategic planning. If he was more organized about what he is doing I would say he isn’t concerned with Congress votes go down the road but Trump isn’t on some cunning plan for dictatorial power. Despite some people behind him that are thinking along those lines, Trump isn’t. Trump is more like Mussolini, stumbling his way to power by ignoring precedent and law at whim and daring people to stop him.
@103 birgerjohansson: FIFA is one of the most corrupt organizations around. They are only tolerated because it’s soccer, not industry and they do keep the games honest even if they are entirely corrupt. FIFA mostly likes Trump because he is the sort of person they can deal with. That they will get backstabbed at idle whim at some point because Trump has the memory of goldfish and the ethics of a warlord has not occurred to them yet.
Mark Chadbourn (Journalist): “Iran has been offline for 60 hours. […] The Iranian regime is now jamming Starlink. They don’t want the world to see the atrocities they’re unleashing.”
Telegraph – US prepares for cyber war with Iran
* The regime presumably exempts itself from the power/internet blackouts. So cyber attacks would have viable targets.
* An earlier comment noted, “Musk is allowing Khamenei to tweet out vile propaganda”. I assume Khamenei is in Iran. There was a flee-to-Moscow contingency plan I haven’t heard carried out.
[My Anaconda Don’t Want None!] Toonami Sailor Moon Abridged 2 Team Four Star Reaction, by Chelzor the Destroyer
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=HC8GA-RQcsc
“Silence, 9s; a 10 is speaking!”
“I’m an 11 but please continue”
@94 birger
Someone’s looking for grant money. It’s not as impressive of a headline when you realize 1,100 hours is a little less than 46 days, and you compare that to the typical residential solar panel, which degrades to 95% performance after 10 years.
Dalia Kaye (Middle East analyst):
@110 Sky Captain
It’s cute that you think America gives a shit about the Iranian people. Our ruling class only cares about installing a compliant puppet regime (Shah 2.0) and plundering their resources.
JM@ 106
Agreed, but John Cleese is a comedian. The corruption of FIFA is known even in Britain. You might say DJT runs on FIFA principles, only dumber.
.
Beholder @ 109
True, but a step on the road. I did not expect a world-altering technology to emerge next week.
Dang. Who would have tought typing at 02 local time would result in typos and other mistakes.
.
Hossenfelder alert
“This is why I believe that the future already exists”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=um6BmPo5PZc
This is weird. It is essentially Slaughterhouse Five but without the ability to re-experience the good times.
The trolls of Discworld had a better explanation. We can see the past but not the future because we are travelling through time backwards!
(pause)
I re-watched the video. The future is determined by the decisions we make in the present, so – if you introduce quantum ‘wiggling’ at that point – the future is not predetermined. I think. Maybe…
Russia’s Troop Strategy Isn’t Working Anymore” (the interesting part begins at ca. 8 minutes in)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Lz0IuC_hLSA
It seems that if you send infantry on foot, the drone hit mortality rate approaches 100 %. And armoured troop carriers simply aren’t viable anymore.
Re. @ 115.
With a kill rate approaching 1 K per day, the Russian efforts to grow the army by recruiting are getting less successful. And considering that this year only led to the conquest of ca. 1% of Ukraine … Putin’s contempt for the lives of his own soldiers is not a successful strategy.
I am not adressing the slow erosion of the Russian economy here, it would take pages.
Re: birgerjohansson @ #116…
It’s frequently over 1K per day. As for the economy, one of the jokes that goes around is that Ukraine is applying “kinetic sanctions” to the Russian oil export business.
CNN: Federal prosecutors open criminal investigation into the Fed and Jerome Powell
Powell knows exactly where this is going and why. It’s just putting pressure on Powell or likely more importantly whoever comes after. Powell’s term is up soon but the Fed Chair is a job Trump will have trouble getting a flunky through Congress. Trump wants to make clear that he should have a hand in Federal Reserve decisions to whoever comes next.
The accusation itself seems silly, the project is big and for a huge federal project not that far over cost. There are likely arguments to be made that costs should be controlled better but nothing to suggest personal responsibility by Powell and Trump’s White House project would be vastly further over budget except they have not published an exact plan at all.
In some ways this whole thing seems like power going to Trump’s head. Since capturing Maduro, Trump seems to feel like he can implement every idea and project he has at once. This is something Trump has been considering for some time but gave up last year because Powell was close to the end of his term, no chance of getting him removed from office before then anyways. Now suddenly he is opening a huge investigation clearly aimed at Powell.
Aaron Rupar: “Trump posts that he’s ‘Acting President of Venezuela’ [Screenshot]”
Rando: “This will just make it easier for [Delcy Rodríguez] to rally Venezuelans and paramilitary gangs around hunting down and killing or kidnapping anyone with ties to America or the opposition.”
The Guardian – Evidence shows benefit of RSV vaccines as Trump officials push restrictions
ABC_explainer:
“Every Sacred Text That Was Too Dark to Survive — Explained”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=yG6PUZo6iQg
Why is the Gospel of Thomas Not in the Bible? (Video 1 hour 24 minutes)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ZHvARQz5M
A wholesome intermission
“A Winter Walk In the Snowy Forest With My Cat”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=p8F-GFc8_u0
Cat in a fish bowl (this predates AI slop tech)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=9FjGP4t2zKY
This is about ICE rules about not standing in front of vehicles, and why the rules were changed in 2018
.https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1PZrVXawTp/
Radio waves enable energy-efficient AI on ‘edge’ devices without heavy hardware.
.https://phys.org/news/2026-01-radio-enable-energy-efficient-ai.html
Cat vs nature
.https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CxsCUaZRo/
Bushtits flash mob the birdbath
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=yXsN2Ly59JM
15 Russian 60s Sci-Fi Films That Americans Missed
NB! 99% of the footage has absolutely nothing to do with the films diacussed, just go with the audio and ignore the video!
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=g8bo1qNYr8c
Why the EU Finally Approved its Trade Deal with South America
(Meanwhile, Britain is taking baby steps towards greater integration after Boris Johnson blew up everything)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=z3fbqYyopIE
As DJT continues the tariff idiocy, he makes other nations slowly but surely building alternatives to trade with USA.
Beitaun: Farage raging at new EU deal
“The “Farage Clause” Has Reform UK In a Twist” 😀
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=okmKDLWiMD8
The Sutton Hoo Dig Series 1 from 2024 | Time Team | Feature Length
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=ovPuXeqNGhA
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain@108 (not 110 – #110 was a comment from you) did not say anything that suggests they think America gives a shit about the Iranian people. Why not try reading what is written?
In other news, my Jack Russell terrier barked at two rottweillers today. But she had the sense to do it from a safe distance and while they were on leads.
New Jersey finally stops Christians from blocking access to a public beach on Sunday mornings.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=3X9_-H_RXKw
‘Whether they like it or not’: Trump ups the ante in his crusade for Greenland
“When Brendan Carr said, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” it sparked a controversy. It was no better when the president used the same phrase.”
Related video at the link.
New Evidence Reveals Vikings Were in America Much Longer Than We Thought
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=FTTNUCdEyAA
The problem(s) with Trump’s radical pitch on credit card interest rates
“If the president is looking to give consumers a break, great. But pretending tweets and laws are the same thing won’t help anyone.”
Follow-up to JM @118.
Link.That link leads to a collection of news reports, including a discussion of Powell’s direct and public appeal to financial markets and central bankers to take notice of Trump’s moves to undermine Fed independence.
Link. Same link as in comment 139.
In a NYT interview, Trump said the civil rights movement resulted in white people being “very badly treated.”
New York Times link
Emergency meetings
Cartoon panel by Tom Tomorrow.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/the-fascist-murders-will-continue
“The Fascist Murders Will Continue Until You Stop Calling Them Fascist Murderers!”
“Faux ‘calls for unity’ on the Sunday shows.”
Rando: “This is how I find out Alan Greenspan is still alive? He will be one hundred in two months time!”
[Fmr Fed Gov Board Chairs] Bernanke, Yellen, Greenspan, [Treas Secs] Geithner, Lew, Paulson, Rubin, five [Chairs of the Council of Economic Advisors], and a UN economist – Statement on the Federal Reserve
Rando 1: “Having all the living Fed chairmen yell at you collectively sure is an accomplishment.”
Ryan Beckwith (MS NOW): “For those who don’t follow the Fed closely, this is a sick burn and basically the meanest thing they would ever say while still using their hard-to-parse Fed-ese language.”
Rando 2 (evergreen tweet from 2021): “American *sees something American happening americanly in America*: What are we, a bunch of ASIANS?!?!???”
Nathan Tankus: “I regret to say, I told you so.”
Powell will hang separately (2025-08-29)
PZ’s post mentioned hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman promoted and donated $10k to a GoFundMe for the killer of Renee Good. I added in the comments that the GFM is worse and dumber than reported.
Gallup: New High of 45% in U.S. Identify as Political Independents
The first thing to note that this via phone polling. The error margin of phone polling is unavoidably climbing as more and more of the population doesn’t have a land line.
Several interesting things going on here. The obvious one is the portion of the population that is registering Democratic continues to go down. The younger generations are going independent while older people are more likely to be in a party. The number of independents that say they lean Democratic is going up and the portion leaning Republican going down. This says that even if people are voting against Trump they are not fans of the Democratic party and the party will have to work to keep their votes long term.
There has been a slow but steady shift with more people identifying as liberal. Breaking it down by party it becomes clear that the Republicans have slightly moved towards identifying as conservative but the Democrats have sharply moved towards identifying as liberal. Among independents is hard to see any move even though more are saying they will vote Democratic.
MS Now: Trump DOJ fires prosecutor who declined to pursue James Comey case
If they keep this up and the courts stick with forcing Halligan out they Eastern District may not be able to function at all. That would be a significant and unusual problem.
And there you have it. Likely McBride was making a case for the judges to do their duty and appoint him to fill the office. The Trump officials won’t tolerate that sort of undermining their authority even if it follows the law. It would be really funny if the judges go ahead and appoint McBride.
Commentary on 141.
Lindsay Beyerstein (Journalist): “Trump and his father were busted by the DOJ for refusing to rent to Black people. They were guilty but they avoided responsibility by aggressively litigating. It was one of the formative experiences of his life.”
A photo of a polar bear accompanies this Borowitz Report.
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/envoy-from-greenland-offers-to-meet
Trump describes his embarrassing failure to create jobs as ‘amazing’
“Confronted with dreadful news, the Republican did what he tends to do on economic matters: He played make-believe.”
Mark Kelly Sues Pete Hegseth in Federal Court for Vengefully Going After His Rank
Link
A follow-up of sorts to Sky Captain @145.
Cartoon: Baby Goebbels
Link
Content in comment 154 is also available here:
https://x.com/GerMilHistory/status/2010391209068417116
Follow-up to comments 141 and 148.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/trumps-heart-goes-out-to-white-male
Politico link
More at the link.
Lynna @152 quoting DailyKos:
Aaron Rupar:
Commentary
Rando:
Nathaniel Green (History prof):
Joanne Freeman (Historian): “Note the people honking horns and blowing whistles in the background, making it clear that this was being witnessed by many people.”
Eric Umansky (ProPublica): “There are three immigration officers here. Each of them is wearing a body cam. None of them are on.”
Kevin Kruse (Historian): “the irony of masked agents of the state with no name plates demanding *other* people identify themselves?”
Katie Mack (Cosmologist): And the fact that they’re apparently using a facial recognition app on her (to bypass her refusal to provide ID) while keeping their own faces covered.”
Rando: “The fact that he has a badge on his chest that says “POS” is also beyond parody.”
George (Immigration lawyer): “‘Am I free to leave? Am I under arrest?’ If not, walk away.“
Kitten eats salmon with doom music
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=SLEBlJ9DTAI
The next video ought to be a beaver munching on cabbages.
.
Republicans Face a Nightmare Scenario in Iowa as Kari Lake Enters the Senate Race.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=V3g3Cd7TZr4
As Trump wants loyalty above all else he might change his endorsement to her favor.
Minnesota and Illinois are suing to bar federal immigration ops from their regions, but Aaron Reichlin-Melnick says, “given the precedent, I wouldn’t get your hopes up on this”
Sinking boreal trees in the deep Arctic Ocean could remove billions of tons of carbon each year
.https://phys.org/news/2026-01-boreal-trees-deep-arctic-ocean.html
.
Also; 60 000 year old poisoned arrows have been found in South Africa
.
Tiny Mars’s big impact on Earth’s climate: How the red planet’s pull shapes ice ages
https://phys.org/news/2026-01-tiny-mars-big-impact-earth.html
.
Asteroid impact simulation reveals the hidden strength of space rocks
https://phys.org/news/2026-01-asteroid-impact-simulation-reveals-hidden.html
Sky Captain @158, it is surprising how many MAGA cult followers are convinced that Jonathan Ross was provoked into murdering an unarmed woman. And they think it is likely to happen again.
MS NOW:
New York Times:
Link
It is surreal to see all those masked agents guarding the door to a Target bathroom.
Lynna @ # 163: And they think it is likely to happen again.
At last, something ICE-ish we can all agree on!
Yahoo: Donald Trump Says He Wants ‘Ownership’ of Greenland Because It’s ‘Psychologically Important for Me’
So you can’t be happy unless you get the piece of paper that says deed? And what the people who live there think doesn’t matter? And of course the rich mineral reserves that don’t get mentioned by Trump? I would say he needs to grow up but it’s far too late for that.
The Hill: Republican introduces bill seeking to make Greenland 51st state
Doesn’t have a chance of passage, I’m not even sure he can get enough Republican votes and likely it’s kept from a vote at all. I love that he tries to slip in that bit about changing the laws. If Greenland was somehow made a state it would make the Democrats look right wing. The Republicans would need to tweak the laws so that Greenland somehow doesn’t give the Democrats any advantage. More likely it would end up like Puerto Rico, not a state, the people there are citizens but they don’t get a federal vote.
Hopefully somebody has the guts to ask him if that means he plans to impeach Trump.
Re: JM @ #169….
I have a vague recollection that there is a minimum population for a territory to become a state…and it’s quite a bit more than the 57,000 that live in Greenland…
Quick search reveals a 1787 law requiring a minimum of “60,000 free adult males”.
Screenshot of Twitter
US Virtual Embassy Iran – Iran Security Alert
Rando: “Geez. This is what the Dutch call, musterd after the meal.”
WSJ
Mark Chadbourn: “In other words, protesters go fuck yourselves.”
Mark Chadbourn (Journalist):
Whoah! Thetcancelled the entire writers week! Update onthe Randa controversy :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-13/adelaide-writers-week-cancelled-randa-abdel-fattah-controversy/106225170
MS NOW – Top DOJ officials quit after their division refused to probe Minnesota ICE shooting
Chad Davis (Photographer):
Commentary
ICE claims about vehicle attacks ‘difficult if not impossible to believe’, says judge
NYT – U.S. attacked boat with aircraft that looked like a civilian plane
Southpaw (Lawyer): “I mean, sure, if there was a war and they snuck up on some soldiers by adopting the trappings of civil aviation, you might call it a war crime. But since there wasn’t one, and they snuck up on some civilians who were probably fishermen and at worst drug dealers, it’s just fuckin murder.”
Rando: “Not only did they do an illegal sneak attack, they killed them as the people were fleeing. And then bragged about it.”
Rod Schoonover-Rey (NatSec expert): “it also makes attacks on civilian aircraft exceedingly more likely. Is there no one in the Pentagon with any sense?”
Stephen Colbert:
ABUSE OF POWELL
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=ru_zrMewNK4
Reuters:
Nicholas Slayton (Journalist): “The Pentagon announced this last month, on Dec. 22, but the fact that it’s sticking with it given, oh the INTERVENING NEWS ABOUT GROK, is wild.”
Randos
Pissed off world delivers blow to US economy.
At 6.30 we learn of a new digital currency allowing international trade to bypass the dollar as default currency, the BRICS Unit.
At 9.30 coverage of a new free trade agreement between EU and an existing union in South America, MERCOSUR.
Neither developments have had much coverage in US media despite the implications for US trade.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=kktlGh2ONHs
Larry, The Downing Street Cat – it’s my 19th Birthday
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=tnrr7-yVYfM
For those in or who will be in Adelaide,. South Oz anytime in next few days the Adelaide Botanic Garden’s Titan arum dubbed “Smellanie” (I kid you not) is about to flower – and stink :
Source : https://www.botanicgardens.sa.gov.au/news/corpse-flower-due-to-deliver-stinky-spectacle-at-adelaide-botanic-garden
See this horrifying account of waht ICE agents are doing via Alt national park serviuce on fb and Brandon Siguenza :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2026/01/12/chaos-continues/comment-page-1/#comment-2289639
Haven’t seen it myself yet – also watching Adelaide Strikers BBL T20 cricket game now – but see also Taken by ICE & Detained | Breaking the News Plus (17 mins long) interview with the eyewitness there in #181.
Interesting!
Rachel Maddow
“Trump Rebuked at every turn;
Courts and Congress show new spine as Americans take to the streets.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=e9pL-pcvhUg
Seth Meyers
Trump Claims He’s Venezuela’s “Acting President”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=epAkogEm7UU
The false savings and damage done by DOGE
(Ironically, one of the people doing this podcast is named Steve Bannon)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=YHTJ4LgVrgw
The iranian troll farms that went silent when Tehran pulled the plug
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=ADLd9lOkCAw
Via Aussie ABC news Louise Adler speaks out after Adelaide Writers’ Week cancelled 10 min long interview.
The law is “fake and gay” ???
.https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-law-is-fake-and-gay
Usually very proud to be Adelaidean.
But then there’s this :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-13/josh-cavallo-calls-out-adelaide-united/106222918
Really thought, really expected we were better than that. I believe Josh Cavallo. I don’t know if other soccer clubs are much better. I hope they are but doubt it.
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-13/gazans-beg-for-shelter-as-winter-storms-batter-millions/106205330
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-13/bbc-seeks-to-have-donald-trump-s-10bn-lawsuit-dismissed/106226538
Why bears are better than ICE
.https://www.facebook.com/share/r/17bV8eaBKE/
@34. birgerjohansson :
That makes a lot of sense. Thanks.
Of course I suspect the same rapid spin that indicates its likely metallic woud also quite probably make accessing & mining it harder. Maybe the old idea of using space tethers could do something there? See :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tether
’10 Lesser-Known Isekai Anime That Are NOT Generic Slop’
-At 7.50 you have The Faraway Paladin, a Tolkienesque anime that does things right.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=G0TY-rkA22A
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/ice-intimidation-tactics-backfire-as-americans-rally-to-defend-communities-2481023555642
Video is 7:03 minutes
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/maddow-repeated-bungling-exposes-cluelessness-of-trump-s-ice-secret-police-2481030723848
Video is 4:58 minutes
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-rebuked-at-every-turn-courts-and-congress-show-new-spine-as-americans-take-to-the-streets-2481027651505
Video is 7:51 minutes.
Maddow’s coverage is excellent in all three segments.
Fearing a defeat in the tariffs case, the president is banking apparently on some 11th-hour whining via social media.
An unraveling Justice Department appears to be coming apart at the seams
Apple TV will broadcast William Gibson’s Neuromancer in 2026.
Zuckerberg kisses up to Trump [again]
This latest development is yet another reason to limit one’s interactions with Facebook. Don’t support Zuckerberg. It’s as if Facebook is becoming part of the Trump administration.
Slate – You’ve heard about who ICE is recruiting. the truth is far worse. I’m the Proof.
Rando: “Ok then. SHOW US THE F+%KING BADGES!!!!!!!!!!!”
HuffPo – Trump Labor Department’s chilling slogan draws damning comparisons
PBS News Hour
Commentary on 200.
Kel McClanahan (National Security Counselors) – Fed HR Incompetence Thread:
https://www.wonkette.com/p/how-are-we-torturing-minnesota-today
“How Are We Torturing Minnesota Today?”
“It’s getting real dark around here, you betcha.”
https://www.wonkette.com/p/we-tried-to-send-these-tabs-without
Washington Post link
“Rubio says court hearings no longer possible for deported Venezuelans”
“A judge’s order to provide hearings to dozens of hastily deported migrants would upset U.S. foreign policy in the wake of Maduro’s ouster, officials said”
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mbzfjcbrhh2h
From the comments: “And no one cried. No one.”
NYT – Six prosecutors quit over push to investigate ICE Renée Good’s widow
Eric Columbus (Obama DHS/DoJ): “the WH might have ordered this idiotic investigation. But DOJ officials—knowing what the WH would want—might have done so on their own. Indeed, the Powell subpoena may have happened that way.”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “The Trump administration is psychologically incapable of backing down, which means that I would give it even odds that they attempt this. The biggest obstacle would be that it will be very hard to find a grand jury in Minneapolis to approve it.”
RFU News: African soldiers are deployed en masse by the Russian army
More African soldiers are turning up in fighting for Russia. This is across the entire front, not limited to a few units. Russia is making up the shortfall in soldiers with increasing recruitment in Africa. Not only that but there are reports of Africans who are in Russia for other reasons are being forced into the Army.
Not surprisingly the recruitment efforts are largely based on lies and these soldiers are treated badly. This recruitment is often illegal in Africa but enforcement is often lax, particularly in areas with other ties to Russia.
* I botched the title doing revision: “push to investigate Renée Good’s widow”
From courts to Congress to communities across the U.S., Americans are telling Trump ‘no’, by Rachel Maddow
“They said it couldn’t be done. But Congress is waking up, the courts are waking up — and the people are absolutely fully awake.
Related video at the link.
Cartoon: ICE, ICE, plushie
Communications update regarding Iran:
Link
Greenlandic prime minister: ‘We choose Denmark. We choose NATO’
https://www.wonkette.com/p/bari-weiss-should-do-cbs-town-hall
“Our general view here is that we do our viewers the best service by presenting them with the full context they need to assess the story of why Bari Weiss sucks so bad.”
EXCLUSIVE: Israeli and Arab officials have privately suggested U.S. hold off on Iran strikes
“Israeli officials have suggested the Trump administration delay large-scale strikes until the Iranian regime is even more strained, while one Arab official said there is ‘lack of enthusiasm from the neighborhood’ for American military action in Iran right now.”
Alito and Kavanaugh Give Fox News-esque Recitation of Anti-Trans Talking Points
Trump team issues bonkers threat against UK over Elon Musk’s creepy AI
Sky Captain @174
Anyone who incurs $400 damage from an ICE ramming is getting off lucky.
I just got quoted $1200 Canadian just to paint a $200 aftermarket front “bumper”* for a 2017 Nissan Pathfinder. This is for a front corner scrape – no bent metal and I am supplying remove and install labour.
*Actually the plastic nose that covers the bumper and holds the front lights.
MS NOW:
Associated Press:
Iranian citizens should not believe a word Trump says.
Sounds to me like Trump is cutting of talks with Iranian officials prematurely.
Summarized by Steve Benen from a Truth Social post:
WTF?
Associated Press:
Trump Blasted Federal Prosecutors at White House Event, Calling Them Weak
“The president criticized a group of U.S. attorneys at a photo shoot, a day before Federal Reserve subpoenas”
More of the same from RFK Jr: worse and worse.
Kennedy adds vaccine advisory panel members with history of opposition to vaccines, antidepressants in pregnancy
“The two newest appointees are both obstetrician-gynecologists who at times have challenged broad medical consensus.”
Militant Agnostic @218: “Anyone who incurs $400 damage from an ICE ramming is getting off lucky.”
Yes, I thought the same thing. Only $400? That’s just not in the realm of reality.
Re: Lynna @225, Militant Agnostic @218:
The $400 was an economic benchmark, not a car repair bill. Though good that you occasioned my reexamination of the trivia. Most Americans CAN afford that amount, but a great many cannot.
Investopedia – Here’s how many Americans can’t afford a $400 emergency (2025)
Federal Reserve – That particular chart
Good! Seems the law has worked then – but he members of that still need to be carefully kept under surveillance in my view :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-13/neo-nazi-group-national-socialist-network-to-disband/106225638
Latest twist inthe Randa al-Fattah wriers festival controversery -she’s suing SA’s premier (the State governor basically in USA terms) :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-14/randa-abdel-fattah-threatens-defamation-proceedings/106227634
@227 StevoR
Sure, it’s a group that is easy to dislike and attracts universal condemnation. The tricky business with anti-speech laws, though, is that the government rarely stops there. They’ll be headhunting for any orgs critical of the state of Israel soon enough.
John Lunnon has an intresting discussion of an interview with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman here – NASA’s New Boss Just Revealed the Real Plan for the Moon and Mars – 8~ish minutes long.
@229. Problem is that group was NOT attracting enough or entirely “universal” condemnation really. Actually, lately, there’s been a rise in fascism and support for it which you should be aware of. Others certainly are.
Thanks in large part to Trump’s avoidable victory in the USA and him and his cult followers promotiong far reichwing hate and destruction and ideology globally. If only more Americans had voted and acted more wisely specifically fully suipporting and backing Kamala Harris the vastly better and more left-wing of.the only two choices Americans had rather than supporting the outright fascist one and undermining & arguing against the only alternative to the Fascist party as you did.
Also that’s NOT what the term “headhunting” means.
I do not think you mean to say they’ll be actively trying to recruit and promote leaders of organisations critical of Israel.
Meidas Touch: Trump DOJ Walks RIGHT INTO TRAP of Judge HE APPOINTEDM
The Trump administration replies to Judge Novack’s questioning of Lindsey Halligan trying to remain in office. Essentially it amounts to the DOJ saying it’s OK because the DOJ approved it. It’s legally evasive and intentionally missing the point, the sort of behavior you would expect from a Trump lawyer trying to stall a case. The court will have to respond more directly or just give up trying to enforce court orders.
@231 StevoR
False. “Headhunting” has several definitions. It’s fairly obvious what I meant in context.
@ ^ No. No it was not.
Latest on the ISS medical return flight :
Source : https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/what-time-is-spacex-crew-11s-medical-evacuation-from-the-iss-on-jan-14
Source : https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/the-us-really-wants-a-nuclear-reactor-on-the-moon-by-2030-achieving-this-future-requires-harnessing-nuclear-power-nasa-chief-says
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple review – Ralph Fiennes is phenomenal in best chapter yet of zombie horror
Clockwork Orange-type terror cult thriving in zombie-infested lands.
.https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jan/13/28-years-later-the-bone-temple-review-ralph-fiennes-is-phenomenal-in-best-chapter-yet-of-zombie-horror
Trump got the idea from this 2003 cartoon.
.https://www.facebook.com/share/1A6xsEZgb5/
No they’re not, unless they’re being run by an idiot – which is quite possible since Jared Isaacman is a Trump crony who knows almost nothing about space technology (having been an astronaut no more qualifies him in that area than driving a car makes you an automotive engineer). It’s possible the actual experts in NASA have told him that date is absurd, and he’s just placating the dementing fuckwit in the White House.
Just as well they’re not on the way to Mars.
SteveoR@230,
Huh. Isaacman spent much of the interview arselicking Trump – which I suppose is his real job. It would be interesting to know whether he realises the “plan” to send astronauts to Mars is absolute bullshit, but I guess we’ll have to wait for his memoirs.
That’s a real concern, but does not imply that there should be no legal restrictions on hate speech. That conclusion would only follow if it was reasonable to believe that hate speech does no harm to vulnerable groups, which is not the case.
I recently sent a comment to The Guardian in relation to this, saying X should be blocked from the UK forthwith, because it’s a cesspit of hatred and lies which a multi-billionaire is using to propagate his vile ideology and incite violence in the country. Ironically, The Guardian blocked my comment – their moderators are absurdly restrictive, which I’ve often thought not only about my own comments, but about comments I strongly disagree with!
I’m convinced Trump is itching for an excuse to use a nuke. During his first term, he was reported to have asked why he couldn’t, and what was the point of having them if they weren’t used. He’d probably “discover” – what the experts know anyway – that his bombing of nuclear-related sites last year didn’t halt Iran’s nuclear program, and use H-bombs (he wouldn’t be satisfied with a piddling-little A-bomb) against them.
As much as I loathe the current Islamic theocracy that is currently in power, I noticed that the protestors are rallying behind the Shah’s brst as their prospective ruler.
They’re just going to trade one brutal tyrant for another.
Edit: …the Shah’s brat…
MS Now: The problem with the new Justice Department fraud division that reports to Trump and Vance
Having a DOJ department report directly to the White House is very UN-American, very bad and not illegal because these things are organized by tradition and prevented by Congress doing their job. Trump is setting up an entire department of the DOJ that exists only to punish his political opponents and implement his will.
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/trump-gives-middle-finger-to-heckler-at-ford-plant-after-apparent-pedophile-comment-2481224259739
Video is 1:59 minutes.
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/mississippi-synagogue-burned-in-1967-weathers-new-attack-2481230915884
Video is 1:28 minutes.
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/we-want-this-terror-to-stop-ilhan-omar-calls-for-ice-to-leave-minnesota-2481230403600
Video is 8:22 minutes.
Follow-up to comment 151.
It’s not just Mark Kelly that Pete Hegseth plans to prosecute.
Link
Link
See also: New York Times link
“ICE Arrested Dozens of Refugees in Minnesota and Sent Them to Texas, Lawyers Say”
Cartoon: Frozen dystopia
Trump goons find new heinous way to attack Somali communities
Cartoon: Minneapol-I.C.E.
Trump loves the new direction at CBS—but nobody else does
That interview was painful to watch. Trump kept correcting Dokoupil and instructing him on how to present both sides. It looked like Trump was in charge. Trump was the boss.
Posted by readers of the article:
Cartoon: Trump’s morality
By Design:
Link
From the Daily Kos article quoted by Lynna 254
This does not make sense – are the percentages reversed?
Expect an attempt to revoke birthright citizenship for specified groups, probably starting with Somalis
Supreme Court rules House Republican can challenge mail ballot deadline
https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/immigration-agents-terrified-by-ice
Screen grabs of the “legal refresher” are available at the link.
EXCLUSIVE: Buying Greenland could cost as much as $700 billion
“The estimate is part of planning around Trump’s efforts to bring Greenland into the U.S. fold, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio tasked with crafting a proposal to purchase the semi-autonomous Danish territory.”
Widespread Verizon outage prompts emergency alerts in Washington, New York City
“The nation’s largest wireless provider said that its engineers ‘are working to identify and solve the issue quickly.’ ”
Denmark and allies boost Greenland military footprint as Trump ramps up pressure
Trump picks the wrong time to lie to the public about grocery prices
Is there ever a right time to lie about grocery prices? Still, this timing on Trump’s part was particularly bad.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/hey-if-you-want-to-treat-your-autistic
“Hey, If You Want To ‘Treat’ Your Autistic Kid With Dangerous Snake Oil Cures, That Is Fine By The FDA”
In Range:
The Racist history of Surveillance
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=ewRiR4sgMDo
Will Democrats vote to give Trump more money to ICE?
.https://zeteo.com/p/will-democrats-vote-to-give-trump
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/new-study-links-botox-to-pathological
The satirical report is accompanied by a photo Kristi Noem wearing an enormous cowboy hat. The photo was taken when she was lying about the murder of Renee Good.
@242 KG
I don’t remember explicitly stating there should be no restrictions on hate speech. I said it was tricky business, and the tricky part is acheiving your goal in punishing hate speech while exhaustively preempting every potential misidentification of speech that isn’t hateful, and in providing pathways for appeal.
But since you mentioned it, anti-speech law can possibly do good by mitigating harm to vulnerable groups and still be outweighed by the harm caused to a formerly liberal society by silencing dissenting voices.
Cartoon: Full transparency
@266 birger
Of course they will. The
deep statemilitary-industrial complex always gets its way.A Supreme Court ruling confirms that ICE agent Jonathan Ross can be charged with murder in Minnesota, by Mark Sumner
Link
More at the link.
California launches investigation into xAI and Grok over sexualized AI images
“The investigation marks the first major U.S.-based government action into the issue.”
Re: Militant Agnostic @257, Lynna @252:
DailyKos made each of those phrases links. Those both cite the American Community Survey from the Census Bureau. They’re described like the same statistic, but I couldn’t determine why they’re different numbers.
PBS (Dec 2025): “An estimated 260,000 people of Somali descent were living in the U.S. in 2024 […] The largest population is in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, home to about 84,000 residents, most of whom are American citizens.
[…]
Almost 58% of the Somalis in Minnesota were born in the U.S. Of the foreign-born Somalis in Minnesota, an overwhelming majority—87%—are naturalized U.S. citizens.”
MN Reformer (Dec 2025): “around 22,000 Somalis in America—8.4%—are not citizens. In Minnesota, around 5,000 people of Somali descent are not citizens
[…]
Among Somalis in Minnesota, the number of Somali non-citizens went from over 76% in 2001 to 9% in 2023. In the same period, U.S.-born people of Somali descent rose from 19% to nearly 39% of all Somalis as families settled here and had children.”
* From the chart therein: I think “all” = naturalized + USborn + noncitizen Minnesotans with Somali ancestry.
For a separate statistic, there was enough redundancy that I WAS able to cross-check a national count of Somalis (260k) from PBS against a non-citizen percentage of Somalis nationwide (8.4%) in MN Reformer to yield the same written subpopulation count (~22k) in MN Reformer, so they ought to be using the same data.
Associated Press:
Steve Benen adds: “On violence in Iran, there’s no reason to take Trump’s dubious claims at face value”
Associated Press:
Associated Press:
Politico:
Associsated Press:
FFS.
EXCLUSIVE: ICE error meant some recruits were sent into field offices without proper training, sources say
“An AI tool used to help ICE identify potential new recruits with law enforcement experience wrongly categorized some potential new officers, sources say.”
Trump’s Gaza peace plan enters second phase
“It will see the beginning of the ‘demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel,’ Trump’s envoy said.”
China reports record $1.2 trillion trade surplus for 2025, defying Trump’s tariffs
“As U.S. imports from China have declined amid the two countries’ trade war, China has sent more exports to Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America and elsewhere.”
The Guardian – UPenn faculty condemn Trump admin’s demand for ‘lists of Jews’
When Sex Goes Wrong: ER Doctors Share The Most WTF Injuries They’ve Treated
.https://www.huffpost.com/entry/emergency-room-doctors-sex-injury_l_69655155e4b0f3f37e7791bd
The last Russian units have been cleared out of Kupyansk.
The obvious explanation for the Trump self-own as he investigates Jerome Powell
.https://youtube.com/shorts/9ggdxoS5aS0
.
Also, the Dems take the lead in Alaska senate poll.
@ 231 StevoR
FTFY
BBC – X to stop Grok AI from undressing images of real people after backlash
TJ McIntyre (Law prof): “Notice the limitation—this only applies to the @Grok X account, not the ‘Grok Imagine’ tool which is where the full nudes and hardcore video are being generated.”
Tatum Hunter (WaPo): “X says Grok account will stop undressing women. I just tested the standalone Grok app, which immediately complied with my request to undress a photo of me. This is illegal, according to the legal experts I spoke with.”
Commentary
No mention of the alternate ways of using the chatbot on Twitter @ 19, 17.
Mark Chadbourn (Journalist):
Mark Chadbourn:
Reuters – Iran warns of retaliation if Trump strikes, US withdraws some personnel from bases
GottaLaff: “Trump lives for violence, cruelty. He thrives on it. Makes him feel like a big tough guy. But he uses spackle on his hand to cover his bruises.”
Mark Chadbourn: “The Senate voted 51–50 against an effort to block Trump from further Venezuela military action without Congress’ authorisation. Vance broke the tie.”
Rando 1: “It came down to Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.).”
NYT article: “Mr. Hawley and Mr. Young were part of a group of five Republicans who last week joined all Democrats in supporting the measure”
Eric Columbus: “Folks focus on Hawley but the other caver, Todd Young, has been a huge disappointment. He literally didn’t vote for Trump in 2024 and isn’t on the ballot until 2028. Yet he was fully supine for all of 2025. I believe this was the first time he stood up to Trump 2.0 and now he stood down. Pathetic.”
Rando 2: “Todd Young wrote in his newsletter this week that one of his top ten books of 2025 was “A Fever in the Heartland”—which is an excellent historical account of the 1920s rise of con man, rapist, and Klan leader DC Stephenson in Indiana politics. Young obviously missed the whole damn lesson.”
Semafor – US gets first $500 million Venezuelan oil deal, holding proceeds in Qatar
Rando: “Paying back Qatar for the ‘free’ airplane?”
Allison Gill: “Who among us hasn’t sold stolen oil and stashed the profits in a bank in the country that bailed out our son-in-law’s building at 666 Fifth Avenue?”
Another Minneapolis ICE shooting.
Agent shoots immigrant, officer also hurt
Quinta Jurecic (Atlantic):
Nicksb (Trial Lawyer): “What grand jury would indict at this point?”
DHS tweet screenshot:
Brendan Nyhan (PoliSci): “There is nothing complex or subtle or hard to understand about what is happening here.”
Dan Silverman (PoliSci prof): “ICE’s message to its agents: ‘Do whatever the f*%# you want. There are no limits on your power. Anyone in your way is a criminal obstructor. You are the law.'”
Yoshiko Herrera (PoliSci prof): “The ‘justice’ that Miller speaks of is summary execution at the discretion of any ICE officer.”
Hunter Walker (Reporter): “REMINDER: Stephen Miller is not a lawyer. Also, if you work for a government agency, *their* lawyers are not *your* lawyer.”
Southpaw (Lawyer): “He also doesn’t work at DHS.”
Rando: “the Department of Justice has made clear… they will face justice.”
Wired – Trump Warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘Invasion.’ US Intel told a different story
Brian Finucane (Just Security): “Recall that the notion that TdA is an ‘organized armed group’ was one of the administration’s predicates for the killing spree at sea.”
Rita Moore (PoliSci): “Memberhip in TdA currently being used in Oregon as the justification for CBP stopping & shooting two people last week.”
I see X/Twitter has backed down about making sexualised images.
Yay, pressure!
Re: birgerjohansson @295: “I see X/Twitter has backed down”
Only marginally, see 288. It’s still trying to avoid fixing the problem.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain @ 296
Goddammit ! Of course the South African snake tries to wriggle out of committments.
.
10 Cheap DIY Cat Hacks That Actually Work (Vet Approved)
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=QZwSZHi8aYk
20 American Comments That Confused the Entire Internet
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=RQBTtZeVzAg
For the record, I do not hold the poor educational system against Americans. It is on the politicians.
“Fork found in kitchen”
.http://youtube.com/post/UgkxH9f_LgCPjxlIBEjENvfQYqc7KC0d0OB3
Jupiter’s hidden depths: Simulation suggests planet holds 1.5 times more oxygen than the sun
.https://phys.org/news/2026-01-jupiter-hidden-depths-simulation-planet.html
Lazy phrasing. It should be 1,5 the rate per mass unit. So if the sun fir instance contained 1% oxygen Jupiter would be 1,5 % . The issue is, Jupiter has more oxygen than the solar system average, which is not expected considering how gas giants form.
2010:
“How The Sequel To The All-Time Best* Space Movie Was Kneecapped”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=UyFL-5DHjaE
Ahem. Personally I prefer the (very slow) Solaris from 1972.
On this date the actor Gordon Jackson (Upstairs Downstairs, The Professionals) died 1990.
Thought provoking bit of history here – The Zionist Who Predicted Zionism’s Self-Destruction – 9 mins long.
Ahad Ha’am, Hannah Arendt, Judah Magnes and more.
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/ford-worker-who-called-trump-pedophile-protector-has-no-regrets-whatsoever-2481461315620
Video is 5:14 minutes.
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/chris-hayes-map-based-theory-behind-trump-s-greenland-obsession-2481449027523
Video is 8:20 minutes.
https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/greenland-suggests-trump-acquire
Bondi revoked protections that prohibited prosecutors from going after reporters’ private information. We’re seeing the consequences.
Related video at the link.
Apologies for messing up the nested block quoting in comment 306.
In other news: Trump muses on midterms: ‘When you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election’ [Again!]
Washington Post link
“Trump threatens Insurrection Act to use troops to quell Minnesota ICE protests”
Link
Same link as in comment 309.
Cartoon: Tom the Dancing Bug looks at a busy, busy immigration enforcement operation
https://www.wonkette.com/p/well-of-course-theyre-raiding-the
“Well Of Course They’re Raiding The Washington Post! Did Jeff Bezos Think They Would Do Not That?”
MN Reformmer – Gov. Tim Walz encourages Minnesotans to film ICE agents for future prosecutions
Marisa Kabas (The Handbasket):
Rando:
Ryan Broderick (Journalist) – Four days on the ground in Minneapolis
Uninteresting footage at the scene after yesterday’s ICE shooting in Minneapolis.
Unraveled (Reporter):
https://bsky.app/profile/unraveledpress.com/post/3mcgrifhi5s2zFox9 local news – Hours of raw footage
https://youtu.be/YK74amyWLZ0?t=7908* A crowd rummaging through a car’s contents at 2:11:48 to 2:13:45, filming documents (a stack of non-judicial administrative warrants, I think) and going WTF. This camera doesn’t see much.
MN Star Tribune – Homeland Security presence in Minnesota dwarfs Twin Cities’ largest police forces
NBC – ICE error meant some recruits were sent into field offices without proper training
Follow-up to 313.
The abandoned documents turned out to be MUCH more interesting, this time with close-up footage and narration. Someone posted screenshots and made the following mirrored clips of a livestream.
ICE papers 1 (2:55)
ICE papers 2 (1:29)
The original 2.5hr livestream from Mercado Media ends before these clips, but the cars are visible at the end. There was a photo ID badge.
Someone referred to the documents as the “CONOPS battle plan for Minneapolis”.
* Odd. That shouldn’t have embedded. Sorry.
Sky Captain @313, the sheer incompetence of many ICE agents still astounds me.
In other news: When Will US Invade Greenland? What Channel Is Greenland Invasion On? Where Can I Get ‘Invade Greenland’ T-Shirts?
AI slop T-shirts are already out there, and they suck.
https://www.wonkette.com/p/when-will-us-invade-greenland-what
The ‘manufacturing renaissance’ exists only in Trump’s imagination
Loser is losing bigly … and is delusional.
RFK Jr. is stumped about developments in his own department (again)
Is RFK Jr. that clueless? Is he following Trump into dementia land? What the heck is going on at the Department of Health and Human Services?
Oh, I remember the glitch @315. Past me hit that corner case on a similar occasion trying to avoid creating too many clickable links. HTML ‘code’ tags around a YT url, alone on a line, will embed anyway, and embeds don’t manifest in previews, so it comes as a surprise.
Link
HuffPo – The Trump admin says it’s cracking down on fraud. It gave a red state a pass.
Rando: “Trump personally pardoned or commuted the sentences of individuals convicted of Medicaid and Medicare fraud in states including Florida, Arkansas, Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, and California. At the end of his last term.”
* I couldn’t find all those states at the link, but big frauds for sure.
Washington Post link
“EXCLUSIVE: Medical examiner believes death of man in ICE custody was homicide”
“A fellow detainee says he witnessed Geraldo Lunas Campos being choked to death by guards at an ICE detention center in Texas on Jan. 3.”
re Lynna @319:
The answer is that this administration is the most clueless, incompetent, evil, racist, uncaring, unqualified, and absolutely the stupidest ever in the history of the US (and probably the entire world). From the top to the bottom, every one of them is as stupid as the one who went bankrupt running a fucking casino.
WaPo – She made a Facebook comment about her mayor. Then the police arrived.
At the link: quotes of the exchange and background of the mayor’s actions that she referenced. Another unusual detail: besides being an immigrant, she “has run for local elected office three times as a Democrat”, at least once for state senate. The mayorship is nonpartisan, and she regretted voting for him when he acted Trumpy.
New York Times:
MS NOW:
Follow-up to comment 319.
Roll Call:
Why were the funds cut in the first place?
Associated Press:
MS NOW:
Venezuelan opposition leader gives big baby Trump her Nobel Peace Prize
JFC
New York Times link
“Inside the Fight to Keep Iran Online”
“Activists spent years preparing for a communications blackout in Iran, smuggling in Starlink satellite internet systems and making digital shutdowns harder for the authorities to enforce.”
Missed opportunity to lure him into Venezuela with the Nobel medal on a weight-triggered plinth.
/ Indy’s idol was Peru.
Steve Shives Renee Good Was Killed for Not Treating Tyranny as Normal – 22 mins long.
So changing species names is a pet gripe of mine – botantists do it far too frequently – but when you have both an Izecksohn’s treefrog – Bokermannohyla izecksohni, :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokermannohyla_izecksohni
and also an Izecksohn’s Brazilian Treefrog – Xenohyla truncata :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenohyla_truncata
I really think its time one of them changed their common name fro clarity’s sake!
I’d suggest calling the Xenohyla truncata species the Frugivorous Frg instead because, well,
This frog may be the first amphibian pollinator. (1 min 10 secs long.)
@ ^ See also :
Source : https://revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/en/a-tree-frog-linked-to-flowers/
Daniel Suitor (Attorney):
Daniel Suitor:
Daniel Suitor: “there will be more offered by various organizations. In particular, the UMN Law Detainee Rights Clinic is working to get lots of trainings going. Info in here.”
Portland and Lewiston are bracing for ICE to come to their cities
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (American Immigration Council):
Don’t worry, Seth Meyers ‘ got this.
Trump Flips Off Auto Worker Who Called Him a “Pedophile Protector,” Push Whole Milk.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=M8cnGQXTHpE
Via PBS Newshour a few days agoTrump administration’s posts echo rhetoric linked to extremist groups – 10 mins long.
Colbert intro classic
Trump-Tosterone Creme – 1 min 15 secs.
Trump Makes Milk Whole Again, Europe Defends Greenland & MAGA Blasts Mamdani
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=rrd2VQJlq4M
StevoR @ 342 “The excess is pooling in his ankles”.
Stephen Colbert:
“The Secret Police Fitness Test | Smoking Diplomacy | Sexualized Human-Dog Hybrids At Mar-A-Lago”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ak11FfvTrMc
Rando 1:
Chris Geidner (Law Dork): “There were reports of this in LA, Portland, and Chicago, at least, as well.”
Rando 2: “none of those raids were happening in subzero weather. People freeze to death every winter, I’m going to text my parents to put spare coats in the car and keep an eye out.”
Rando 1: “It’ll be dangerously cold this weekend in the Twin Cities. Windchills will reach -20°. With how violently ICE is grabbing people, they might not be dressed for the weather, especially if ICE keeps dumping people miles from their home or car without their phone. Frostbite hits quickly at these temps.”
* Wikipedia – Saskatoon freezing killings
* The messed up truth of Canada’s starlight tours
“JWST Uncovers the Truth About Planet Formation”
Annoying AI voice, but informative.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=fCe1Wf6rpiY
Follow-up to Sky Captain @338.
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/not-welcome-here-maine-governor-draws-line-as-ice-surge-looms-2481696835875
Video is 6:47 minutes
https://www.ms.now/all-in/watch/this-is-by-design-hayes-on-trump-engineering-chaos-to-sic-the-army-on-americans-2481692227615
Video is 12:31 minutes. This video is thorough, and Chris Hayes presents the facts expertly. Video clips showing Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem, as well as other Trump lackeys, speaking are also included.
Goddamn. The medical report on the Renee Good shooting has been released, and it’s too gross and horrifying for me to link to it. She had 4 gunshot wounds, 2 to the chest, one to the head, and one through the arm; she was not breathing when pulled out of the car, but had a weak pulse. She was still alive (but probably doomed) when the passing civilian doctor was turned away from treating her.
Fuck ICE.
The White House wants the left to stop sounding so much like Trump
“Karoline Leavitt was appalled that people would equate federal agents with the Gestapo, seemingly unaware that Trump has done the same thing.”
Why Trump’s pitiful new health care ‘plan’ is even worse than it appears
“The White House’s health care gambit isn’t just a sham, it also diverts the process from an actually helpful solution.”
Oh FFS.
Trump floats slapping tariffs on countries against US acquiring Greenland
Excellent video analysis of the ICE shooting:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/video/ice-shooting-renee-good-minneapolis-videos.html
Trump’s Justice Department rejects federal ban on mailing concealable firearms
See also: You can mail guns in Trump’s America—just not abortion pills
Allison Gill (Mueller, She Wrote):
Threads (Jan 14)
Re: Lynna, OM @ #354…
(Second part.) Just wait until some state passes a law declaring that use of handguns is a form of abortion….
Judah Grunstein (World Politics Review):
404Media – ‘ELITE’: The Palantir app ICE uses to find neighborhoods to raid
Sky Captain @355, thanks for that update.
I suspected that Tom Homan and others were making up that “taken to the hospital” story.
Also, the video analysis from the New York Times, (see comment 353), shows Jonathan Ross’s left foot slipping backward on the ice at one point, and Ross reaching out to steady himself with his left hand, the hand that was holding his phone at the time. It is possible that one of the sounds we hear on the video is the phone hitting the hood of Renee Good’s car, NOT Jonathan Ross being hit by the car.
Extended video of the encounter shows other ICE agents slipping on the ice that covered the pavement. Ross not only placed himself in a precarious position, he did so in slippery circumstances.
ICE is absolutely lying about internal bleeding since the murderer wasn’t even touched by her vehicle. In the video, you can him pulling out his gun when she hasn’t even moved, and he is no danger whatsoever.
Marcy Wheeler (EmptyWheel): “Remember when Trump demanded the petroleum industry give $1B to his campaign fund? You’ll never guess how that worked out.”
Financial Times – Trump’s first Venezuela oil sale deal goes to megadonor’s company
The Handbasket – Queer trans ICE protester in small Minnesota city St. Cloud recounts agents’ violence and humiliation
Marisa Kabas: “What struck me in my conversation with Alice was how quickly this organizing came together in St. Cloud. She went from never having done this to starting an ICE watch Signal group and putting together a protest backpack based on an article about what ppl in other cities recommended in the last WEEK.”
Rando: “As a trans person I was super skittish to read this, and I want to thank you for reporting clearly but not sensationally. Different writing about the same incident could have been so triggering, but this never crossed that line for me. I am so grateful.”
RFK Jr: A ‘good mother’ knows not to trust experts on matters of public health [JFC]
“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. still doesn’t understand why his “do your own research” mantra is both dangerous and ridiculous.”
Lynna @358, Thetys @359
It is possible that the car may have: clipped Jonathan Ross or he may have slid into it. If that was the case it would not have caused any injury. The car was moving slowly and the angle was shallow. When I was 17 and working as a Flagman on road construction, I was clipped by a flatbed semi trailer travelling at 20 – 30 km/h. I caught some air and scraped my hands on the landing and had a sore shoulder from the impact when the trailer launched me. I was able to get to my feet immediately. Any impact between the ICE agent and the car would have been at worst mildly painful.
Hello. I’ve been way too obsessed with the Greenland shitshow, and I have trouble working out blockquotes on my new laptop¨s keyboard. From the NBCnews quote at 260:
“The United States could have to pay as much as $700 billion if it were to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of buying Greenland, according to three people familiar with the cost estimate.
The estimate was generated by scholars and former U.S. officials as part of planning around Trump’s aspiration to acquire the 800,000-square-mile island as a strategic buffer in the Arctic against America’s top adversaries”
No mention of how this estimate was supposedly “generated”, what it practically entails for Greenland’s hypothetical future economy and self-government under the US, and whether Donald Trump is personally involved in this planning. He apparently hasn’t publicly discussed at all what he thinks Greenland might gain from joining the US. Granted, it must be difficult to make plans for this purchase when the Danish and Greenlandic government are flat out refusing to negotiate on it.
MAGA asshats on social media keep asserting the (very American) principle that everything is for sale, if you offer a price high enough. Trump admin seems to be relying on the corollary that everything is for sale at a reasonable price, if you pressure the seller hard enough.
BTW, Greenland is already a “strategic buffer” for the US. The common implication that it wouldn’t be regarded as more than that as a part of the US is probably not very enticing to the locals.
Quoting the end of a guest opinion column by Greenlandic writer Malu Rosing:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/15/greenland-denmark-washington-summit-us
“For a while, Greenland has been a warning sign to the rest of the world as to what to expect with the climate crisis, and unfortunately Greenland is now becoming a warning sign for what is happening in the world order. Things have changed in geopolitics. We’re hearing warnings on how democracy is at risk, how this decade everything is being reshaped. We witness how one Nato ally threatens another and gets away with it. This is alarming. So I think it is important to ask ourselves: what comes next? How far should we be willing to go to keep an unpredictable, insatiable ally content? And could this moment perhaps be seen as a chance for a critical self-reflection in colonial history?”
@militantagnostic
Renee’s vehicle never even touched him, so no need to invent hypothetical scenarios. He is a cold blooded murderer, period. Otherwise he wouldn’t be in hiding like a coward.
Also if was clipped it was after he fired the first shot.
Eric Trump gets to build a big dumb ballroom, just like daddy
Cartoon: Who’s hungry?
lumpina @364
Isn’t NATO basically a strategic buffer for the US.
Meanwhile:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/15/anger-iceland-incoming-us-ambassador-52nd-state-joke
This was an extremely tasteless joke and subsequent half-hearted apology by Billy Long, a newly nominated US ambassador to Iceland. No point for the Senate to confirm him now, because Iceland will likely reject his appointment. Some important points quoted below:
“On Thursday, Sigmar Guðmundsson, an MP for Iceland whose centrist Liberal Reform party is part of the country’s governing coalition, described the remarks as “not a particularly funny joke” given the tensions over Greenland.
“It goes without saying that this is extremely serious for a small country like Iceland,” he told the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið. “We must realise that all the security arguments that the Americans cite regarding Greenland also apply to Iceland. This is about the location of these two islands.”
He described the comments as a sign of the growing disrespect in the US towards the sovereignty of small states. “Icelanders also have to have the courage, despite our very friendly relations with the United States, not least through Nato, to discuss where and how our security interests are best served in this changing world.””
Education Department delays wage garnishment for defaulted student loan borrowers
[lumipuna]
Markdown works here. The greater‑than sign > opens a quote span.
However, there is no closer like on markup.
It terminates on a blank line (two newlines).
So if you remove blank lines (or pad the blank lines with non-breaking spaces
) you can quote a full span.(You can practice using the ‘preview’, it works there)
Tethys @ 365
Yes, the vehicle only accelerated rapidly after the murderer was beside it and Renee Good was no longer conscious.
Anyone who lives in the southwest (including colorado) should find the article below an important perspective on a problem that has been ‘kicked down the road’ for too long and is soon going to be a huge problem.
In scarizona, read about all the new data centers that use massive amounts of water, the ever-growing population using so much more water, all the water parks, golf courses, lush lawns and huge number of fountains in phoenix and I can only conclude they are playing shuffleboard on the sinking titanic that is the desert southwest.
https://smdp.com/opinion/native-american-rights-to-colorado-river-water/
Meanwhile:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/16/trump-greenland-envoy-us-denmark
“Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do not “go along” with his plan to annex Greenland, increasing pressure on European allies who have opposed his effort to take over the Arctic territory.
After a tense week in which Nato allies deployed troops to the largely autonomous territory, which is part of the Danish kingdom, the US president announced he might punish countries that do not support his plans to take over Greenland, using force if necessary.”
Finland is now (minimally) contributing to the ragtag band of international NATO soldiers who are gathering in Greenland. Our government is repeating the common official line that this jamboree is not meant to send a message to the US, but any hostile powers outside NATO. Of course, what is unsaid that it looks like that that might soon include the US…
https://www.wonkette.com/p/gov-tim-walz-urges-minnesotans-to
“Gov. Tim Walz Urges Minnesotans To Keep Calm, Carry Phones. Trump Freaks The F*ck Out.”
“We know, any story on anything could be headlined ‘Trump Freaks Out.’ ”
Trump installs loyalists on panel set to review White House ballroom
“The Commission of Fine Arts will discuss the controversial project at a meeting next week. White House officials hope to win approval in two months.”
Immigration officers around Minneapolis are approaching people and demanding proof that they’re U.S. citizens
“U.S. citizens who are out walking or standing in public are not required to provide documentation or provide identification, one legal expert says.”
‘Staring over the edge’: South Carolina measles outbreak doubles within a week
“More than 500 people are in a 21-day quarantine and about 200 are ‘actively infected.’ The largest current outbreak in the U.S. has spread to at least three other states.”
New York Times:
Re: lumipuna:
If you’re having trouble typing greater-than symbols, blockquotes will be unavailable via both markdown and html. However, you CAN do markdown equivalent of ‘code’ tags without it.
It looks like this.Put a backtick ( ` not an apostrophe) on each end of a block of text with no blank lines. You can unobtrusively fill a blank line with “ ” or a period.
If you had a typical QWERTY keyboard, backtick would be the unshifted tilde key.
For greater-than, your keyboard might require a combination of a fn key and/or shift? You might look for a software on-screen keyboard included for accessibility. Or worst case, copy-paste from a “character map” tool or existing text somewhere and keep a text file to crib from. < >
Reuters reports this good news:
New York Times reports this good news:
MS NOW:
Wall Street Journal:
FFS
Philippines blocks AI chatbot Grok
Nothing to excerpt. They did the thing. The article lists other places Grok’s been ‘banned’, but that wasn’t the right word because it counted investigations and such.
Correcting myself.
Dan Kaszeta (CBRN expert, nerve agents):
That explains why I couldn’t find a decent source for ‘green’ HC.
The last time a nobel medal was gifted to a politician…
.https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HJLRNjdz5/
Another political compass (yes, I know Facebook is owned by an asshole)
.https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17t2Me2Gpp/
My God. If David Icke thinks you are talking bollocks then Elon Musk is really talking BS
.https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14VVrUAaeuK/
SF author David Brin weighs in
.https://www.facebook.com/share/17idNkXG4C/
Trump listens to Putin’s Special Military Operation Song
.https://youtube.com/shorts/Xq4TpiKA23c
Josh Gerstein (Politico):
Ian Bassin (Fmr WH council): “Huge win here by ACLU. Similar to a court order we and our partners obtained recently in Chicago in a similar case. It’s important not just because of the order itself, but because it creates a forum for accountability for federal officers who violate it who can now be held in contempt.”
Someone excerpted this.
Steve Vladeck (Law prof):
*headdesk*
NYT – Trump sets fraudster free from prison for a second time
Tory asshole defects to Nigel Farage.
“Jenrick’s incredible journey – from self-centred halfwit to self-centred halfwit”
.https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/16/robert-jenrick-incredible-journey-reform-defection-tories
Everything You Need To Know About the Big Dipper
Neil de Grasse Tyspn is a genius for making stuff interesting
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=GtYauokrOFY
Plate tectonics, Paleogeography, & Ice Ages (dual hemispheres) from the beginning of the Cambrian
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=bzvOMee9D1o
Recommended animation
Over 2000 Nuclear Explosions Mapped
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=Zs-wD6JNPEY
When I was a kid, news of nuclear tests were a frequent backdrop to the space race.
Major Eruptions from a Red Dwarf Spells Doom for Habitability
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=9tnoVS4i-tw
While flares are easy to observe, coronal mass ejections have not been observed until now, and the violence of this event was not anticipated.
It pretty much rules out the majority of red dwarf systems as being of interest for astrobiology.
@ ^ Nort so-coincidentally because rocket = potential missile. Astronauts = potential WMD payload obvs..
Humanity dodged a bullet metaphorically speaking in that era.
Wil lwe keep on metaphorically dodging it and having that risk lessen or .. ? The threat still there &can’t see hwo it willgoaway now. Djinns and bottles, and problem of ever getting them back inside. Metaphorically speaking.
^ was @396 birgerjohansson : obvs. Also could swear I’d typed that right and the words have been changed by the computer after I typed them, sigh.
Clarity fix : Will we keep on metaphorically dodging it and having that risk lessen or .. ? The threat still there & can’t see how it will go away now.
@397. birgerjohansson : Red dwarfs do differ widely amongst themselves but yeah. Not good news at all albeit something that’s been feared and thought to be the case for a while. Still an awful lot we don’t yet know and individual stars are also individual but yeah.
Truly surreal that “Bong Bong” Marcos is showing the way to stand up to Musk and Trump, while European leaders bleat out protests, and take half-measures at best.
Not a historian but think this is a pretty intresting analysis of a some pretty biased analysis here – How bad is the PragerU guide to presidents? (27 mins long.)
Thoughts please folks?
Esp Marcus Ranum.
Ellie in Space here – just over 8 mins long – Will We Really See Humans Go Back to the Moon in 21 Days?
Sure hoping we do. Roll out today..
@ ^ See also – & Imean see becoz no sound aubible & don’t think tat’sjust my hearing this time NASA Artemis II Live Direct from Kennedy Space Center on John Lunnon’s yt channel.
Just came home from the “Hands off Greenland” protest at the American Embassy in Copenhagen. In excess of 15k people showed up. A very diverse crowd, with people of all ages.
A few notable signs were “Make America Smart Again”, “No more EGO wars”, “Yankee go home”, and, honorable mention: “Let’s not forget the Epstein Files”.
News coverage – Protesters in Denmark support Greenland after Trump’s takeover threat
Here’s a good top-down photo, to give a sense of the crowd. That’s in front of city hall, before the march to the embassy.
@ LykeX : Huh. Timing here. Also. Respect. Truth
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-17/us-white-house-gaza-board-of-peace-leaders/106240316
Dunno how many more chances for seeing aurora you’ll get but note:
Source : https://www.space.com/stargazing/auroras/northern-lights-may-be-visible-in-15-states-tonight-jan-16
Warumpi Band sing truth Blackfella / Whitefella (2015 Remaster) – 3 and a half mins long approx.
ICE is morphing into Trump’s secret police force before our eyes
“The agency is shunning norms of law enforcement and becoming a militarized wing of Trump’s political agenda — and it’s going to get worse.”
Cartoon: Goon School
If you see a huge cloud formation that looks as if it may contain the alien creature from “Nope” it is probably a shelf cloud.
Trump announces 10 percent tariffs on Denmark, allies amid Greenland turmoil
https://www.wonkette.com/p/mn-ice-gasses-suspected-antifa-babies
“MN: ICE Gasses Suspected ANTIFA Babies With Flashbangs”
https://www.wonkette.com/p/president-trumps-daily-intel-briefing
“President Trump’s Daily Intel Briefing On Situation In Minnesota”
Good election news:
Washington Post link
Ukrainian delegation arrives in U.S. for security guarantee talks as Russia hammers energy sites
“If American officials approve the proposals, the U.S. and Ukraine could sign the documents next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.”
Andy Craig (Cato Institute):
Rando 1:
Rando 2: “Leica owners understand the severity of the situation.”
Rando 3: “That camera has been fighting Nazis since the beginning!!”
The Leica Freedom Train
Sky Captain @419, I wonder if Trump knows that. From the way Trump talks about the Insurrection Act, I assume that he doesn’t know about the limitations.
Sky Captain @420, that was quick thinking on photographer John Abernathy’s part. And he did that in a very stressful situation. Thanks also for the historical “Leica Freedom Train” information!
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from cutting off Minnesota SNAP benefits
Follow-up to comment 414.
Danish officials react to tariff threat: We will not ‘bow down’ to Trump’s ‘bullying tactics’
Lynna @415
WTF – they took a blind shot. It is only a matter of time before they shoot a bystander by accident. The bystander will of course then be labeled a left wing terrorist.
MS NOW – I’m a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here’s how ICE observers are helping.
We are teaching ICE about the physics of supercooled water. It’s completely non- violent to precool containers of water to 28 degrees F and then watch the magic of instant freeze when we pour it on the pavement. cue Benny Hill theme
Text quoted by Sky Captain @425: “ICE Watch does not spur violence; it reduces it.”
That’s an excellent point.
In other news: EU-US trade deal ‘on hold’ after new Trump tariffs
“The pact, designed to avoid hefty tariffs on European exports, cannot be passed in light of Washington’s threats against Greenland, lawmakers say.” [!]
Unions and community groups call for minnesota shutdown
Commentary
I was confused for a while at the function of the shutdown. No positive call to action, just ceasing services and patronage for a day. Like the opposite of mutual aid. It wouldn’t intimidate or evoke sympathy. Isolating at home would make ICE’s task easier, not harder, but they didn’t say to do that. They also didn’t say stop protesting, so a synchronized day off would implicitly free up everyone to hit the streets. Then I saw this other article.
MPR – Minnesota’s corporate silence on ICE surge
The fight between judges and the DOJ, an update:
Link
Cartoon: Human cost
The major awards keep pouring in for Trump
This is an amusing roundup of awards supposedly presented to Trump.
Lots more at the link, including Trump accepting the Wimbledon Women’s Singles tennis championship from Serena Williams, a Special Olympics bowling trophy from a disabled kid, and so forth.
Politico link
AP via Yahoo: Justice Department says members of Congress can’t intervene in release of Epstein files
Letting the judge appoint an independet master of some sort to supervise the Epstein files and their redaction would get in the way of the DOJ taking as long as it can, covering up as much as it can and not really complying with the law. So the DOJ has filed an emergency petition trying to keep Judge Engelmayer from doing anything. The argument sounds like a usual Trump lawyer appeal, it doesn’t make much sense, it’s more to tie the situation up in court even longer.
About the Mercosur agreement – it has taken literally a quarter century to get this close to an agreement, which shows the time scale of real politics, as contrasted with Trump’s imaginary “first day in office” plans.
Aa Different Bias:
Trump’s Greenland Tariffs: The Reality Check
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=WWIRZ-FyT7s
New study debunks Trump’s theory about paracetamol, pregnancy and autism
“The U.S. administration caused a frenzy last year when it discouraged pregnant women from taking Tylenol.”
More than 40 cases of immigration agents using banned chokeholds and other moves
Much more at the link.
Re: 414, 423, 427
In recent weeks on Finnish Twitter I’ve seen the criticisms of Trump increase exponentially. Not that most Finns didn’t dislike him before, but now he’s really a talking point the like of which I’ve never seen before (as Trump himself might put it).
Incidentally, just a few months ago Finland celebrated a major export deal of icebreaker ships to United States. This is something the Finnish machine industry really has experience and expertise for. Most of the world’s current icebreakers were built in either Russia or Finland.
The deal involves the construction of four ships here in Finland (delivery starting in 2028) and seven on a US-based production line that is currently being set up with help from Finnish companies. Trump is said to be planning to eventually increase the US icebreaker fleet to 40 ships – currently there are only a couple such ships. Just the first four ships are expected to provide a significant boost for Finland’s faltering economy.
Now, while icebreakers are mainly used for commercial and coast guarding purposes, they potentially have various military uses in northern seas. The ships provided by Finnish companies will be basically swimming platforms, that can be equipped with all kinds of weapons or surveillance systems. Mostly, they’d be useful for Arctic logistics. There is a discussion brewing along the lines of “Do we actually want to be selling weapons for Arctic warfare to the United States?”.
The expert opinion seems to be that Finnish icebreakers wouldn’t really make any difference for US ability to attack Greenland – certainly not until they’re delivered in 2-3 years from now. That’d be pretty much the time Trump supposedly has left in office. I’m personally slightly concerned, however, because I wouldn’t trust the US to stop being a rogue state in January 2029, with or without Trump. At this rate, anything could happen.
I think the the private companies involved would be very reluctant to cancel the deal, and the Finnish state wouldn’t or couldn’t pressure them, regardless of public opinion. That is, assuming Trump himself won’t threaten to cancel the deal if he realizes it’d actually hurt Finland’s export industry more than the tariff circus.
CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain@428:
It happens I was at a Target store today in suburban Minneapolis, and a man was handing out leaflets urging us to tell management that:
People were passing the leaflets around in the checkout lanes.
Steve Morrison @439:
Reuters – Small Minneapolis businesses hit hard by ICE crackdown, while corporations stay silent
FAA warns Latin America, Trump might try something viciously stupid in the next couple months. Business as usual.
Forbes – FAA warns airlines of potential ‘military activities’ in Latin America
@440 CompulsoryAccount7746, Sky Captain: Trump’s personally vindictive and petty policy towards people, governments and companies is very effective at getting companies to shut up. Even more then people and governments, companies just don’t want to get involved in that sort of thing.
lumipuna @438, we can also hope that Trump and his lackeys are not competent enough to turn icebreakers from Finland into effective weapons. Another thing to consider is that Trump always exaggerates, (when he is not blatantly lying), so it is unlikely that he will order 100 icebreakers. Still, that news you posted is worrying. Four icebreakers is enough to worry me. However, I like the fact that you are seeing more criticism of Trump on Finnish Twitter. People are paying attention, and that makes it less likely Trump will get away with some of his fuckery.
In other news: Trump puts $1B price tag on Gaza peace board permanent seats
That sounds like more fuckery and grift:
A good musical twist on some pretty bitter colonial history well sung by Foil Arms and Hog The Brexit Song – Live Sketch Comedy covers alot more than just Brexit. (Under 5 mins long.)
CNN: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz mobilizes state National Guard amid ongoing protests
Walz called up the guard but only to stand ready in case police need support. Protests have been mostly peaceful with few arrests. I would guess part of the reason he called them up is to preempt Trump from doing so. Walz likely has lawyers ready to interrupt any attempt by Trump to invoke the insurrection act or otherwise command the guard himself.
Really shouldn’t need to be said that ICE isn’t allowed to attack peaceful protestors. The problem is that under Trump the ICE has a really broad idea of what is not allowed.
Breaking: Gov Walz calls up National Guard
This is seriously worrying for us all here – and I don’t think it’ll be limited to just Australia either :
(Headline in bold.)
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-17/natimuk-fire-shows-new-climate-driven-faster-kind-of-bushfire/106225970
^ Huh. Lats paragrpah wasn’t meant to be in bold there. Sorry.Dunno what happened there.
The Aged Care whome and its residenst were saved BTW folks – this time.
@ ^ Aged Care Home.
.***
Source : https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/historic-artemis-2-moon-launch-may-be-just-1-month-away
Invading Greenland? A Strategic Mistake of a Lifetime – 18 mins long youtube clip by The Military Show channel.
Good news if only it could be properly enforced :
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-18/high-seas-treaty-marine-protection-in-effect/106241974
MN Star Tribune – Jake Lang’s anti-Islam rally chased off by Minneapolis protesters
There was footage of Lang at City Hall trying to speak to a camera, and a protester beside him kept obscuring his face with a garbage can lid, which had a clenched solidarity fist painted on it.
A photo therein was captioned: “A Lang supporter walks back to his car with a bloodied head after being hit with an American flag”. Lang’s head injury was not shown but the author’s blurb linking to the article called it a cut.
NBC – Jan. 6 provocateur says he was stabbed
The Guardian – Musk’s xAI datacenter generating electricity illegally, regulator rules
What the Brooke Rollins $3 meal meme shows about Team Trump’s economic blindness
[…] reflects Cabinet officials’ wealth — and disconnect from the economic struggles of ordinary Americans.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, responding to a question about grocery prices, said a meal consisting of a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla and “one other thing” could cost as little as $3. Photo at the link.
Link
https://www.wonkette.com/p/canada-hooks-ice-up-with-some-sweetass
“Canada Hooks ICE Up With Some Sweetass Naziwagons”
“Sorry, eh.”
Roshel’s “Smart Armored Vehicles” video is available at the link.
Washington Post link
‘SNL’ skewers the Trump cabinet over Venezuela and ICE
Video at the Washington Post link above.
YouTube link to SNL video.
Additional YouTube link.
Washington Post link
“White House told CBS to run Trump interview unedited or get sued.”
New York Times link
Much more at the link.
Sports stadium deals hand even more taxpayer money to billionaires
A different bias:
“Disaster Waiting If Trump Gets Control of the Fed
.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=QPgQWdSaO2Q
StevoR @450
So they really do have dogsled patrols in Greenland.
RFK Jr.’s MAHA movement has picked up steam in statehouses. Here’s what to expect in 2026.
Link
Looks like more chaos on the way. Some good proposals are mixed in with a lot of bad proposals … and every state is different.,
RFU News: Disaster: This general killed more Russians than Ukrainians did
Kyiv Post: Kremlin Sacks Formerly Favored General for ‘Meatgrinder’ Assaults
No official statement yet but several reports that he was personally removed by Putin. He is so high ranked and so associated with the war in Ukraine that it’s likely that Russia will try to bury it if he is removed. If it’s true he should be careful to avoid leaving the ground floor of buildings, he is exactly the sort that the Russian government may want to quietly dispose of later.
Akhmedov was a leader of using human wave assaults and their big badly planned attacks. He got away with it for a long time because he lied to his superiors to inflate success and reduce losses of gear and men. As long as he could point to enough real successes his superiors didn’t look too closely at his losses.
His downfall comes from the failure of the Dobropillia assault. He didn’t lead the initial attack but was put in command as the attack stalled. Rather then adapt to the situation he reverted to his previous tactics. He ordered a series of bigger and bigger attacks with less and less gear as he got together whatever resources he could scrape up. The end result was a huge loss for the Russians, with a front so weak they couldn’t hold on to the land they had taken and the front had to be moved back, leaving Russians behind.
New York Times link
Thousands of fans celebrate life of legendary Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir in San Francisco
“The Deadhead community, including musicians Joan Baez and John Mayer, gathered to remember the late guitarist, who died last week at 78.”
Photos at the link.
EU explores €93B Trump tariff retaliation over Greenland threats
“Sunday’s meeting of EU ambassadors concluded the bloc could impose hard-hitting economic measures if talks with the White House fail.”
Center left wins Portugal presidential election first round, exit poll says
“António José Seguro looks set to compete against far-right leader André Ventura when the country holds a runoff election on Feb. 8.”
This rabbit hole turned out way more Republican than I expected.
BoingBoing – “We executed one of you” guy now facing child custody arrest
Man claiming to run Michigan company before viral ICE protest video lied
* I’m sure THAT likely-20-something CEO of a healthcare investment firm is legit.
Sheila Johnroe (Republicans of Bay County, Nov 25):
* I confirmed a Republican named Sheila Johnroe exists on a Bay county .gov site.
* Amazon does have a fake-looking listing for the book slandering her as DSA, authored by the alias she alleged “Shep Greene”.
LGBTQNation – Anthony Hudson claimed he now respects Muslims then called journalist a “f**king lesbian”
This Is Why Cats Don’t Work Together 😂 No AI, No Music
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=WNApKvqQU3k
Small kid has no patience with Lovecraftian entities.
“Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary” Episode 1 SUB | Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary?
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=pot5jSMfUZQ
Helen Kennedy: “This is such a cool illustration of how the Mercator map distorts the size of Greenland, which looks as big as the whole continent of Africa on that map but is actually the size of Mexico. [Video]”
Lawyers, Guns, Money – Rare earths in Greenland
Brandon Bishop (Seismologist): “You *have* to have a scalable processing method”
Rando: “I mean, all of this yes, but also, the US doesn’t have to ‘own’ Greenland for US companies to make a profit mining it, assuming such profits are there to be had? Like, I don’t think the hold-up is onerous Danish regulations, right? […] economic development is one of their goals! And they’re an ally. They’ll talk to you!”
Independent – ICE agents ate meal at a Minnesota Mexican restaurant—then arrested the staff who worked there
Radley Balko (Journalist): “It takes a particularly virulent strain of sociopathy to sit and let hard-working people serve you a meal knowing that you plan to arrest them and send them off for deportation once they’re off of work.”
Anjali Dayal: “It’s one of those fundamentally cursed hospitality violations that you read about in ancient texts.”
Kiona Smith: “Anthropologist here: can confirm.”
Rando 1: “It is also eerily similar to what Hans Landa does in the opening moments of Inglorious Basterds […] What these officers did was textbook on how to establish a person as profoundly evil and cruel.”
Julie DiCaro (Journalist): “There were several videos floating around of ICE/CBP hitting up taquerias in and around Chicago, and the audacity is mind-blowing.”
Rando 2: “ICE Agents brave/stupid enough to still be eating anything that they didn’t prepare & pack themselves… much less going to an ethnic restaurant.”
Southpaw (Lawyer):
Mike Masnick (TechDirt): “You mean Tesla shareholder ‘I see no conflict of interest in adjudicating every Elon case’ Reed O’Connor.”
Rando 1: “They’ve declared Mars to be a sanctuary planet.”
Rando 2: “This is actually not, like, legal under the Outer Space Treaty.”
The Search for a Massive Meteorite Impact With No Crater
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=HaE25Hl8r0Q
This video is worth watching just for hearing the Australian accent.
Hanna Reitsch flying a Fieseler Storch aircraft and landing in Berlin to evacuate Hitler in the film Downfall is based on a real event. She was a test pilot who became the only woman in Germany to be awarded an iron cross.
.https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1JyahLj8an/
You don’t need another Churchill. You need an Attlee.
.https://www.facebook.com/share/18Dgv2wYxi/
@ ^ Mate I can hear that anyday here! ;-)
Apparently that’s how I sound..
@475. birgerjohansson that is #478
Every Right-Wing Faction Explained in 12 Minutes by
Channel 100 News with Evie, a good taxonomy of the USA’s reichwing lasting a dozen mins.
LIVE: Nigel Farage Heads to Davos to Screw Greenland Over
.https://youtube.com/live/J9iT-oEb4Ac
Poweerful if notably rightly scornful analysis here
Trump Brings Blair In To ‘Fix’ Gaza – And The Fallout Is MASSIVE by KernowDamo a bit over fifteen minutes length.
From the live stream if A Different Bias.
.
Trump has invited Putin to join “Board of Peace” in Gaza.
If this is true every goddamn Republican who keep supporting this traitorous ogre should be impeached along with him.
“Donald Trump links threats to seize Greenland to Nobel prize snub in letter.”
.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/19/donald-trump-greenland-threats-nobel-prize-snub-letter
#1 The Nobel committee is a private foundation.
#2 Norway is not Denmark and has no connection with Greenland.
Trump has entered the ‘insane Roman emperor’ phase of his presidency.
.
I recall there was an Equadorian president once that displayed mental instability. He was apparently removed from office without problems, but then again Equador is one of those “shithole countries” America does not learn anything from.
Oh and Trump wants our Aussie PM on board – make that on the Gaza Peace Board!?
Source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-19/australia-asked-to-join-trump-s-gaza-board-of-peace-/106242966
I assume the cash contribution would go to Trump’s account in Quatar?
.
“Humans Didn’t Evolve Light Skin For The Reason You Think”
.https://youtube.com/shorts/ybTL_zo8Vrw
Space Mog A Vaporized Planet Found in the Ring Nebula?! 5 mins ish.
TV: “Why can’t women enjoy Heated Rivalry without being treated with contempt?”
.
.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/19/why-cant-women-enjoy-heated-rivalry-tv-show
Source : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/19/kremlin-says-putin-invited-join-trump-gaza-board-of-peace
So, a vast number of leaders and people all around the globe are invited to rule Gaza – but no Gazans or even Palestinians at all? Holy Flying Fox feces Batman!!
Kullervo: a truly tragic Finnish myth that inspired Tolkien
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=mfi-1Wb1NPI
Novara media This Film About Hind Rajab Shows the BRUTAL REALITY Of Israel’s War (15 mins) WARNING : Confronting material and reality.
Same WARNING applies for this two minute long Official trailer here – The Voice of Hind Rajab.
Well This old Pink Floyd song sure sounds apt ’bout now!
The controversy surrounding Trump’s pardons goes from bad to worse
Is this the new AI death spiral our society is riding?
“We Are Watching Critical Thinking Disappear in Real Time” Due to AI Addiction: 40% of Kids Can’t Read, Teachers Quitting in Droves
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/01/we-are-watching-critical-thinking-disappear-in-real-time-due-to-ai-addiction-40-of-kids-cant-read-teachers-quitting-in-droves.html
Let’s Talk Elections
“Trump BETRAYS GOP Senator in Stunning Move”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=DjT5qN6kwX4
More a Back- Stabby Move. The orange blob cannot be trusted. Ever.
Reagan-appointed judge slams ‘unconstitutional conspiracy,’ calls Trump an ‘authoritarian’
“These Cabinet secretaries have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution,” Judge William Young concluded.
After unveiling a pitiful health care ‘plan,’ Trump struggles to explain its merits
“One day after unveiling a purported health care “plan,” the president had an opportunity to tout its virtues. It did not go well.”
Re: birgerjohansson @ #476…
Hanna Reitsch was a fascinating person. She was not only a test pilot, she was in command of a unit of test pilots. She was the first person to successfully (in the sense of making a landing she could walk away from) a jet-propelled aircraft. It was an Fi-103 (usually called V-1) with a cockpit and manual controls. They developers were trying to diagnose a guidance system instability. After losing some of the pilots under her command, Reitsch decided to do the test flight herself.
She was the first person to fly a glider across the Alps.
So much for “kinder, kirche, kueche”…