Daily Beast: Pence Fears Terrorist Link to Trump’s $400 Million Qatar Plane Gift

Former Vice President Mike Pence has urged President Donald Trump to reject Qatar‘s offer of a $400 million jumbo jet to replace Air Force One amid fears it could jeopardize the commander-in-chief’s safety.

In an interview with Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, Pence said he was concerned that Qatar supports Hamas, and that the Arab kingdom has supported Al Qaeda.

“But Qatar has a long history of playing both sides,” he continued. “They support Hamas. They supported Al Qaeda. Qatar has actually financed pro-Hamas protests on American campuses across the United States.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pence-fears-terrorist-link-to-trumps-400-million-qatar-plane-gift

Newsweek: Donald Trump Suffers Double Deportation Loss In Hours: ‘Irreparable Harm’

Donald Trump’s administration suffered a double legal blow on Friday when the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift a judge’s injunction blocking the swift deportation of illegal immigrants to a country other than their own, such as El Salvador or Libya.

Also on Friday, the Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision blocked the administration’s request to resume the rapid deportation of Venezuelan nationals using the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used 1798 law.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-suffers-double-deportation-loss-2073578

Trump administration working on plan to move 1 million Palestinians to Libya

Details are murky and no final agreement has been reached, but the plan is under serious enough consideration that the administration has discussed it with Libyan leadership.

The Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate up to 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, five people with knowledge of the effort told NBC News.

The plan is under serious enough consideration that the administration has discussed it with Libya’s leadership, two people with direct knowledge of the plans and a former U.S. official said. 

In exchange for the resettling of Palestinians, the administration would potentially release to Libya billions of dollars of funds that the U.S. froze more than a decade ago, those three people said.

Ethnic cleaning, Trump style — making Gaza safe again for Israelis and a Trump Hotel!

This is just wrong in so many ways. On the plus side, perhaps Trump eventually will be jailed on an I.C.C. warrant!

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna207224

Explicame: Trump proposes $50 tax on every $1,000 sent in remittances

Also billed as the Republican’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” and bullshit like this subtitle:

… the bill actually continues tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of the working poor, those living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck. Buried starting at page 327 of 389 is a new 5% tax on remittances sent to family & friends overseas. This 5% tax is on top of the income taxes and the 15.3% (yes, the actual amount is twice the deduction that appears on your check stubs!) social security and medicare taxes that the sender has already paid, plus 2-4% in currency exchange fees.


Amidst the buzz surrounding the ambitious fiscal plan revealed by Republicans this week, a particular proposal has flown under the radar yet holds the potential to severely impact millions of workers and their families both within and outside the United States: a new tax on remittances sent abroad, costing up to $50 each month.

This initiative is part of the ‘ways and means bills,’ as termed by lawmakers aligned with President Donald Trump. The legislative package seeks to extend and expand tax exemptions implemented during his first term while introducing a series of public spending cuts. However, among the numerous provisions, the remittance tax stands out for its immediate and silent social impact.

The proposal specifically calls for a 5% tax on remittances sent from the United States. This levy would fall on the sender, meaning the worker in the U.S. who sends money to their home country to support loved ones, with an amount of $50 for every $1,000 sent.

With this tax, a monthly transfer of $300 could cost the worker an additional $15 in taxes, a figure that may seem small in macroeconomic terms but represents a significant expense for households living paycheck to paycheck.

https://www.explica.me/en/News/Trump-proposes-50-tax-on-every-1000-sent-in-remittances-20250516-0016.html


https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/05/14/gops-big-beautiful-bill-would-tax-payments-that-many-immigrants-send-back-home


Apparently there are a few Republicans who think the bill is not so big and beautiful.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5304927-trump-agenda-shaky-congress

Newsweek: US Completely Loses Perfect Credit Rating for First Time in Over a Century


The title speaks for itself. Feel free to click the link below and read the article.

Thank you, King Donald, for screwing us over “royally”.

https://www.newsweek.com/moodys-us-credit-rating-negative-2073510

USA Today: Inmate’s last words before execution: ‘President Trump, keep making America great’

Every inmate put to death in the US is afforded the opportunity to say last words. Some apologize, some express anger or words of love for family. Glen Rogers had a message for President Trump.

A serial killer used his last words on Earth to shout-out President Donald Trump on Thursday.

“President Trump, keep making America great. I’m ready to go,” Glen Rogers, known as the “Casanova Killer,” said as he lay strapped to an execution gurney seconds before three drugs coursed through his veins and ended his life at the Florida State Prison in Raiford.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/05/15/florida-death-row-inmate-glen-rogers-donald-trump/83656998007

King Donald vs. The Boss

Trump has no class, no grace, no redeeming characteristics, whatsoever!

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114517896576879203

MSNBC: AG Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3] sold $1 million in Trump Media stock day of Trump tariff announcement

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi [Bimbo #3] sold more than $1 million in Trump Media stock the day President Trump announced sweeping tariffs. NBC News reached out to the Justice Department about Bondi’s [Bimbo #3’s] trades but they declined to comment. ProPublica Money in Politics Reporter Robert Faturechi joins Ana Cabrera to explain more.

Insider trading is illegal!

https://www.msnbc.com/ana-cabrera-reports/watch/ag-pam-bondi-sold-1-million-in-trump-media-stock-day-of-trump-tariff-announcement-propublica-239743557728

MSNBC: Trump’s plan to deport Afghan refugees is a national disgrace

There’s no group more deserving of TPS than the Afghans who are now on the fast track to deportation.

Earlier this month, the United Nations published its latest update on human rights in Afghanistan. Here are a few of the findings: On Feb. 23, 18 people were flogged for “crimes” ranging from homosexuality to extramarital affairs. They then received sentences of between one and five years in prison. On March 3, “Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” agents made a surprise visit to a hospital and ordered staff not to attend women who weren’t accompanied by a male relative. Between Jan. 17 and Feb. 3, 50 men from the Ismaili community were abducted and interrogated on religious subjects. Those who refused to convert to Sunni Islam were beaten and threatened with death.

This is Afghanistan under Taliban rule, and it is where the Trump administration plans to send Afghans who are now living safely in the United States. 

Americans owe a special debt to our Afghan partners, who served honorably in and alongside our armed forces and trusted the United States to stand by them instead of abandoning their country to the Taliban. The Trump administration’s decision to betray the Afghans who thought they were safe on American soil is an act of supreme cruelty and callousness. Our Afghan friends don’t deserve a one-way ticket back to the theocracy they left behind — they deserve to be Americans.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-ends-afghan-protections-afrikaners-rcna207127

MSNBC: The Trump administration is in talks about a disturbing reality TV show idea

A show in which immigrant contestants vie for U.S. citizenship would be a natural extension of Trump’s cruel gamification of social life.

The Department of Homeland Security is in talks with a reality T.V. show producer about a game show in which immigrant contestants would compete for U.S. citizenship. What would be a shocking story for any other White House is a fitting development for an administration fixated on melding policy with sadistic entertainment.

According to The Wall Street Journal, television producer Rob Worsoff says he has been pitching the idea for the show as far back as the Obama administration, but the project didn’t come together. Worsoff, whose credits include the reality show “Duck Dynasty,” told the Journal that the show is meant to be hopeful, that the contestants would be legal immigrants, and that losing would not result in deportation.

It’s unclear how far along the process is, but the Journal reports that DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin “said she had spoken to the producer of the proposed television reality show and that consideration of the idea was ongoing,” and Worsoff described the feedback from DHS as positive.

Huge swaths of the migrant population in the U.S. are made up of people attempting to escape persecution, violence and destitution. It seems cruel to derive entertainment from people desperate to stay in the country as so many others are expelled as part of a right-wing nationalist campaign.

Even if this show doesn’t come to fruition, the fact that the Trump administration is even considering it — and unafraid to admit it to reporters — is damning. It’s also unsurprising, insofar as the administration has often sought to use art and memes that celebrate the pain of migrants to help give license to its brutal mass deportation regime.

Trump and those around him are quick to turn everything into a game or a laugh, most often at the expense of those most vulnerable among us.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/blog/trump-admin-dhs-kristi-noem-reality-tv-us-citizenship-show-rcna207238