Daily Mail: Kristi Noem’s honorary degree event draws scrutiny

Posted on May 13, 2025 by M

Kristi Noem faced the ultimate humiliation as she accepted an honorary degree on stage in South Dakota on Saturday.

On the other side of the state, a woman from India that she has been trying to deport, Priya Saxena, was on stage at South Dakota Mines in Rapid City receiving her doctorate in chemical and biological engineering and a masters degree.

Saxena was introduced to the crowd as Dr. Priya Saxena, sparking cheers from the audience.

Meanwhile, Noem was heckled by protesters who rallied against her honorary degree in light of her work as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, leading the Trump administration’s efforts to carry out the nation’s largest mass deportation scheme.

‘A doctorate in graft I could understand,’ one sign outside the Dakota State University campus hall read as Noem beamed inside.

Saxena has been a target of Noem and her department for weeks. The department maintains she should have her student visa revoked because in 2021 she was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of failing to move over for flashing yellow lights.

Flashing yellow lights? And they all moved away on the Group “W” bench!

Kristi Noem’s ultimate humiliation during honorary degree ceremony

Kristi Noem faced the ultimate humiliation as she accepted an honorary degree on stage in South Dakota on Saturday.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14701131/Kristi-Noem-degree-Priya-Saxena-doctorate.html

Washington Post: This Los Angeles port is among the first casualties of Trump’s trade war

Posted on May 11, 2025 by M

Empty berths and idle cranes show the effects of sky-high tariffs on Chinese goods.

The number of shipping containers that arrived at the nation’s top container port last week was roughly one-third lower than during the same period last year — a sharper decline than during the depths of the Great Recession. More than one-fifth of the giant ships that were scheduled to call in Los Angeles this month have already canceled, and that number is expected to rise.

Trump’s 145 percent tariffs on Chinese goods — and Beijing’s triple-digit retaliation — are bringing a swift halt to the trans-Pacific flow of electronics, clothing, furniture, industrial parts and everything else that the world’s two largest economies exchange.

los-angeles-port-tariffs-trade-tensions

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/05/11/los-angeles-port-tariffs-trade-tensions

Washington Post: U.S. pushes nations facing tariffs to approve Musk’s Starlink, cables show

Posted on May 10, 2025 by M

Some countries have turned to the satellite internet firm in conjunction with trade talks, State Department staffers wrote. The U.S. has a strategic interest in countering Chinese internet providers, but Musk’s role complicates the picture.

Corruption at its finest!

Less than two weeks after President Donald Trump announced 50 percent tariffs on goods from the tiny African nation of Lesotho, the country’s communications regulator held a meeting with representatives of Starlink.

The satellite business, owned by billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, had been seeking access to customers in Lesotho. But it was not until Trump unveiled the tariffs and called for negotiations over trade deals that leaders of the country of roughly 2 million people awarded Musk’s firm the nation’s first-ever satellite internet service license, slated to last for 10 years.

The decision drew a mention in an internal State Department memo obtained by The Washington Post, which states: “As the government of Lesotho negotiates a trade deal with the United States, it hopes that licensing Starlink demonstrates goodwill and intent to welcome U.S. businesses.”

Lesotho is far from the only country that has decided to assist Musk’s firm while trying to fend off U.S. tariffs. The company reached distribution deals with two providers in India in March and has won at least partial accommodations with Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam, although this is probably not a comprehensive count.

Hopefully there will be some prosecutions after the 2028 elections!

U.S. pushes nations facing tariffs to approve Musk’s Starlink, cables show

Some countries have turned to the satellite internet firm in preparation for trade talks, State Department staffers wrote. The U.S. has a strategic interest in countering Chinese internet providers, but Musk’s role complicates the picture.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/05/07/elon-musk-starlink-trump-tariffs

NPR: Vice President Vance says India-Pakistan fighting is ‘none of our business’

Posted on May 10, 2025 by M

Vice President Vance said that the current escalation between India and Pakistan was “fundamentally none of our business,” as they traded blows overnight Thursday and early Friday evening using drones and projectiles, reaching places that have not been targeted in decades on either side.

Vance spoke on Fox News late Thursday, in response to a question about if the Trump administration was worried about nuclear conflict. “We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible,” and added: “We can’t control these countries though.”

“What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit, but we’re not going to get involved in the middle of a war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it.”

Useless apathetic worm! We have two nuclear friends coming to blows, and J.D. Dunce shrugs it off as “none of our business”. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

Vice President Vance says India-Pakistan fighting is ‘none of our business’

Vice President Vance said the fighting between India and Pakistan was “fundamentally none of our business.” Experts say the U.S. used to work hard to de-escalate crises between the nuclear states.

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/09/nx-s1-5393719/vice-president-vance-india-pakistan-crisis

Mediaite: Fox Reporter Says the Trump White House Is Giving Wall Street Executives Inside Info on Tariff Negotiations

Posted on April 26, 2025 by M

Fox Business senior correspondent Charles Gasparino reported on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s administration is privately discussing trade tariff deals with Wall Street executives, sharing insights on their current status — information that wasn’t made public otherwise.

Citing “senior Wall Street execs with ties to the White House,” Gasparino wrote on X that people within Trump’s administration have held private discussions with business leaders about an “agreement in principle with India.” He further reported that the deal could be used as a template for other trade deals the administration is working on with Japan and other countries. Markets have taken sharp hits amid uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs and trade deals.

“People inside the Trump White House are alerting Wall Street execs they are nearing an agreement in principle on trade with India, according to my sources who are senior Wall Street execs w ties to the White House,” Gasparino reported. “No details on timing, and recall that we have been here before with Japan only to have the goal posts changed, and terms renegotiated. But if this holds, the India deal being envisioned will include agreed upon goals, and issues that have been addressed and resolved as well as a deadline for the fully-baked trade pact, my sources say.”

Can you say, “Insider Trading!”

Fox Reporter Says the Trump White House Is Giving Wall Street Executives Info on Tariff Negotiations

Charles Gasparino reported on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s administration is giving insider tips to Wall Street executives about ongoing trade deals.

Fox Reporter Says the Trump White House Is Giving Wall Street Executives Info on Tariff Negotiations

Financial Times: Vance’s trolling audition to be Trump’s heir

Posted on April 24, 2025 by M

The many contradictions of the vice-president should not distract from his ambition

It was inevitable that memes about JD Vance would surface the moment Pope Francis passed away. “It’s good to see you in better health,” the US vice-president told the pope on Sunday. The pontiff died on Monday.

As Donald Trump’s chief attack dog — though not yet his heir apparent — Vance is a prime target of ridicule on liberal social media. But he is also a master troller himself. Vance knows that the surest path to Maga hearts and Trump’s approval is to enrage liberals. The question is whether he means anything by it.

And this:

The answer is unclear. Vance has gone from being a never-Trumper who saw Trump as “America’s Hitler” to an arch-Trumper who sees his boss as part of God’s plan. That is as dramatic a political conversion as can happen. Rather than search for an intellectual key, Vance’s shift can be put down to ambition. The better question is whether there are any limits to his ambition. Judging by his performance so far, the answer is not really.

What this last paragraph indicates is that we can’t trust J.D. Dunce to be the person that he pretends to be. He’s an opportunist, a weasel, pure and simple!

https://archive.is/fyhWg

Fear and Loathing: Mohsen Mahdawi, almost a citizen. Almost.

Posted on April 24, 2025 by M

Mohsen Mahdawi was arrested outside his naturalization interview in Vermont. He was on track to become a U.S. citizen. ICE decided otherwise.

Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge

THE ARCHITECTS OF ERASURE Donald Trump returned to power promising the largest deportation campaign in American history. That wasn’t bluster. It was policy. He brought Kristi Noem into the cabinet…

https://www.facebook.com/FearAndLoathingCloserToTheEdge/posts/665054132830559

Say their names! Remember them!

Rümeysa Öztürk. Artemis Ghasemzadeh. Badar Khan Suri. Yunseo Chung. Ranjani Srinivasan. Kseniia Petrova. Mohsen Mahdawi. Momodou Taal. Felipe Zapata Velásquez. Jerce Reyes Barrios. Francisco García Casique. Andry Hernández Romero. Jessica Brösche. Alireza Doroudi.

These are the names they are trying to vanish.

We won’t let them.

Not today. Not ever.

If they can disappear them, they can disappear you.

Fear and Loathing: Alireza Doroudi, Iranian PhD student, University of Alabama

Posted on April 24, 2025 by M

Alireza Doroudi, an Iranian PhD student at the University of Alabama, was picked up by ICE without charge. No one will say why. He’s still gone.

Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge

https://www.facebook.com/FearAndLoathingCloserToTheEdge/posts/665054132830559

Say their names! Remember them!

Rümeysa Öztürk. Artemis Ghasemzadeh. Badar Khan Suri. Yunseo Chung. Ranjani Srinivasan. Kseniia Petrova. Mohsen Mahdawi. Momodou Taal. Felipe Zapata Velásquez. Jerce Reyes Barrios. Francisco García Casique. Andry Hernández Romero. Jessica Brösche. Alireza Doroudi.

These are the names they are trying to vanish.

We won’t let them.

Not today. Not ever.

If they can disappear them, they can disappear you.

Fear and Loathing: Rümeysa Öztürk, Fulbright scholar, Tufts University

Posted on April 24, 2025 by M

Rümeysa Öztürk was a Fulbright scholar at Tufts University. ICE agents in masks and hoodies grabbed her off the street, shoved her into an unmarked car, and vanished her into a Louisiana detention center. Her crime? Writing an op-ed critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge

https://www.facebook.com/FearAndLoathingCloserToTheEdge/posts/665054132830559

Say their names! Remember them!

Rümeysa Öztürk. Artemis Ghasemzadeh. Badar Khan Suri. Yunseo Chung. Ranjani Srinivasan. Kseniia Petrova. Mohsen Mahdawi. Momodou Taal. Felipe Zapata Velásquez. Jerce Reyes Barrios. Francisco García Casique. Andry Hernández Romero. Jessica Brösche. Alireza Doroudi.

These are the names they are trying to vanish.

We won’t let them.

Not today. Not ever.

If they can disappear them, they can disappear you.

Fear and Loathing: Kseniia Petrova, Russian scientist, Harvard Univeristy

Posted on April 24, 2025 by M

Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist at Harvard, was deported over a technicality involving frog embryo samples. When she said she feared political persecution in Russia, they shrugged and shackled her anyway.

Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge

https://www.facebook.com/FearAndLoathingCloserToTheEdge/posts/665054132830559

Say their names! Remember them!

Rümeysa Öztürk. Artemis Ghasemzadeh. Badar Khan Suri. Yunseo Chung. Ranjani Srinivasan. Kseniia Petrova. Mohsen Mahdawi. Momodou Taal. Felipe Zapata Velásquez. Jerce Reyes Barrios. Francisco García Casique. Andry Hernández Romero. Jessica Brösche. Alireza Doroudi.