Monthly Archives: April 2025

Politico: Trump furious over Europe’s support to Zelenskyy after White House dispute

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US President Donald Trump was reportedly furious over European leaders’ public support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following a dispute at the White House – a reaction that became one of the factors influencing his decision to halt aid to Ukraine, Politico reports.

Would somebody please call a whambulance for this pathetic self-absorbed narcissist?

Trump furious over Europe’s support to Zelenskyy after White House dispute – Politico
US President Donald Trump was reportedly furious over European leaders’ public support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following a dispute at the White House – a reaction that became one of the factors influencing his decision to halt aid to Ukraine, Politico reports. After his visit to the US, President Zelenskyy met with King Charles…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-furious-over-europe-s-support-to-zelenskyy-after-white-house-dispute-politico/ar-AA1D2wD5

Raw Story: ‘The president is in a hell of a pickle right now’ with little way out: Axios founder

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During a break from discussing the Donald Trump administration’s growing battle with the judiciary, Axios founder Jim VandeHei reminded the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the president has a lot on his plate right now with problems of his own making.

According to the Washington insider, Trump’s tariff war has done what appears to be irreparable damage to the reputation of the U.S. and he has put himself into a box he can’t escape from to get the economy back on track.

All I can say is, “Stupid is as stupid does!”

‘The president is in a hell of a pickle right now’ with little way out: Axios founder
During a break from discussing the Donald Trump administration’s growing battle with the judiciary, Axios founder Jim VandeHei reminded the panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the president has a lot on his plate right now with problems of his own making. According to the Washington insider, Trump’s tariff war has done what appears to be irreparabl…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-president-is-in-a-hell-of-a-pickle-right-now-with-little-way-out-axios-founder/ar-AA1D2lBw

Associated Press: Maryland Sen. Van Hollen says he was denied entry to the El Salvador prison holding Abrego Garcia

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Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen says he was denied entry into an El Savador prison on Thursday while he was trying to check on the well-being of of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent there by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

Van Hollen is in El Salvador to push for Abrego Garcia’s release. The Democratic senator said at a news conference in San Salvador that his car was stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint about 3 kilometers from the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, even as they let other cars go on.

“They stopped us because they are under orders not to allow us to proceed,” Van Hollen said.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said this week that they have no basis to send him back, even as the Trump administration has called his deportation a mistake and the U.S. Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return. Trump officials have said that Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland, has ties to the MS-13 gang, but his attorneys say the government has provided no evidence of that and Abrego Garcia has never been charged with any crime related to such activity.

Senstor Van Hollen should ask the International Red Cross to check on the welfare of our prisoners in El Salvador. If their access is denied, the tinpot dictators Trump and Bukele should be charged in an international tribunal.

Maryland Sen. Van Hollen says he was denied entry to the El Salvador prison holding Abrego Garcia
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen says he was denied entry into the El Salvador prison where Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being held.

https://apnews.com/article/abrego-garcia-el-salvador-trump-deportation-van-hollen-senator-81cca0ac24a9a312be97c730679f8dd1

Techdirt: Private Contractors, Fired Cops Are Making ‘Gang Member’ Determinations For ICE

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“Either the background check isn’t actually “rigorous” or multiple instances of police misconduct aren’t considered disqualifying.“

Making matters much, much worse is the latest news. Andry Jose Hernandez Romero — the gay Venezuelan makeup artist the DHS shipped off to an El Salvador prison — was declared a gang member by the extremely dubious assertions of a Milwaukee, Wisconsin ex-cop who was such a terrible cop, he’s now reduced to working for private prison company, CoreCivic, which hired him only four months after he resigned rather than be fired by the PD.

A disgraced former Milwaukee cop with credibility issues helped seal the fate of a gay Venezuelan makeup artist sent to El Salvador’s notorious prison, according to documents reviewed by USA TODAY. 

A report approved by the police-officer-turned-prison-contractor claimed the Venezuelan man was a member of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang. 

But the credibility of Charles Cross, Jr., who signed the report, was so bad, prosecutors flagged him on a list of police who had been accused of lying, breaking the law or acting in a way that erodes their credibility to testify in Milwaukee County.

Former officer Cross was fired from the Milwaukee PD in 2012 for crashing his car into his own home while intoxicated. At the time, Cross was also being investigated for overtime fraud and had already racked up enough misconduct charges that Milwaukee County prosecutors placed him on the “Brady List” — a list of all law enforcement officers the prosecutor’s office felt presented serious credibility issues.

That string of events ended Cross’s law enforcement career, but he’s managed to find a way to keep fucking people’s lives up while working within the confines of the private sector.

Today, Cross, 62, is one of the private prison contractors helping to identify Venezuelan migrants as members of the criminal outfit Tren de Aragua – a designation that’s landing them in a Salvadoran prison without due process. 

Entrusting private contractors – and not federal agents – to determine whether migrants are members of a criminal gang adds a new level of apprehension, migrant advocates and a former ICE official said. 

The documents obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel show Cross made this determination. Whether or not he acted alone is still unknown. The DHS refuses to answer questions about this case, as does CoreCivic. The only other name on the report that turned Andry Romero into a gang member is Arturo Torres, another employee of CoreCivic.

The only statement offered by CoreCivic doesn’t make anyone involved in this deportation look any better. If anything, it makes everyone involved look like functioning cogs in a deliberately broken immigrant justice system.

Ryan Gustin, a CoreCivic spokesman, wouldn’t comment specifically on Cross’s case but said in a statement that all employees “clear a rigorous, federal background clearance process” and must be approved by ICE before being employed at an ICE-contracted facility.

Either the background check isn’t actually “rigorous” or multiple instances of police misconduct aren’t considered disqualifying. That goes for both CoreCivic and the agency that provides the final approval of new hires.

Private Contractors, Fired Cops Are Making ‘Gang Member’ Determinations For ICE
Having turned little-known Venezuelan gang Tren de Agagua (TdA) into the new MS-13 with a few viral videos and extremely questionable assertions, the Trump Administration is now injecting the same …

    https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/16/private-contractors-fired-cops-are-making-gang-member-determinations-for-ice/

    CNBC: Trump tariffs on China will soon bring ‘irreversible’ damage to many American businesses

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    • On Saturday, the Trump administration said it would exempt technology products like the iPhone, PCs and chips from much of the recently imposed Chinese tariffs.
    • But for most businesses in the U.S., orders from China are being canceled and Chinese freight being shipped could be abandoned.
    • Without a wider pause in the trade war with China, the damage will soon be “irreversible” for U.S. businesses, according to a retail expert, including furniture, toys, apparel, footwear, and sports equipment.

    Apple’s iPhone and other technology hardware, from chips to PCs, received a China tariff reprieve from President Trump on Saturday, but for much of the U.S. economy and small business owners, the damage will soon be irreversible from the 145% tariffs being imposed on Chinese imports.

    Canceled freight orders and abandoned freight from China are quickly becoming the norm in the trade war between the U.S. and China, according to supply chain executives, as businesses across U.S. industries put a full stop on container exports, with the tariffs hitting like a ton of bricks.

    “Furniture producers in China have seen a complete halt in orders from U.S. importers, and we’re hearing the same across toys, apparel, footwear, and sports equipment,” said Alan Murphy, founder and CEO of Sea-Intelligence.

    “We had the same across Southeast Asia, but after the 90-day reprieve those bookings have restarted,” said Brian Bourke, chief commercial officer for SEKO Logistics, while the cancelled bookings for containers out of China continue. 

    “Almost everything is on hold as it relates to China business,” said Alan Baer, CEO of OL USA.

    “Trump’s 145% total tariff on Chinese imports would stop most trade between the U.S. and China,” economist Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation’s Center for Federal Tax Policy, said on Thursday on CNBC’s “The Exchange.”

    “There may still be some things without any substitutes that companies just have to foot the bill, but for the most part, that cuts it off,” York said.

    How can Americans possibly benefit from this?

    https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/12/trump-tariffs-on-china-mean-irreversible-damage-for-most-businesses.html

    Financial Times: EU issues US-bound staff with burner phones over spying fears

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    European Commission officials heading to IMF and World Bank spring meetings advised to travel with basic devices

    The European Commission is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage, a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China.

    Commissioners and senior officials travelling to the IMF and World Bank spring meetings next week have been given the new guidance, according to four people familiar with the situation.

    They said the measures replicate those used on trips to Ukraine and China, where standard IT kit cannot be brought into the countries for fear of Russian or Chinese surveillance.

    “They are worried about the US getting into the commission systems,” said one official.

    The treatment of the US as a potential security risk highlights how relations have deteriorated since the return of Donald Trump as US president in January. 

    …

    Officials said the guidance for all staff travelling to the US included a recommendation that they should turn off phones at the border and place them in special sleeves to protect them from spying if left unattended.

    The advice was unsurprising, according to Luuk van Middelaar, director of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics, a think-tank.

    “Washington is not Beijing or Moscow, but it is an adversary that is prone to use extra-legal methods to further its interests and power.”

    https://archive.is/8HLcg#selection-2229.0-2240.0

    CNBC: Billionaire Ray Dalio: ‘I’m worried about something worse than a recession’

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    • Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio said Sunday that he’s concerned that the global monetary system will break down.
    • President Donald Trump’s tariff policies and growing U.S. debt are contributing to a new unilateral world order, Dalio said.
    • Dalio said the fallout from turmoil in bonds could be a more severe shock to the monetary system than the 2008 financial crisis.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/13/billionaire-ray-dalio-im-worried-about-something-worse-than-a-recession.html

    Daily Mail: RFK Jr. drops slur in 40-minute tirade that made staffers leave

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    Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a 40-minute off-the-cuff speech where he nonchalantly dropped the word ‘retarded’.

    His unexpected remarks during his visit to the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, which were meant to be a welcome from the new FDA commissioner, Marty Makary, got several staffers to walk out of the room, two anonymous employees told Politico.

    Perhaps his brainworms are flaring up again?

    RFK Jr. drops slur in 40-minute tirade that made staffers leave
    During his visit to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a 40-minute off-the-cuff speech where he said a slur.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rfk-jr-drops-slur-in-40-minute-tirade-that-made-staffers-leave/ar-AA1CNE8S

    Gay Venezuelan stylist sent to Salvadoran prison after a disgraced cop’s report

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    The imprisoned man sought shelter in the U.S. after he told authorities he was persecuted as a gay man, one of the “particular social groups” allowed to claim asylum.

    • A former Milwaukee police officer with credibility issues played a key role in the deportation of a Venezuelan migrant to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
    • Charles Cross, Jr., a CoreCivic employee, signed a report alleging the migrant’s affiliation with the Tren de Aragua gang based on his tattoos.

    A disgraced former Milwaukee cop with credibility issues helped seal the fate of a gay Venezuelan makeup artist sent to El Salvador’s notorious prison, according to documents reviewed by USA TODAY. 

    A report approved by the police-officer-turned-prison-contractor claimed the Venezuelan man was a member of the notorious gang Tren de Aragua. 

    But the credibility of Charles Cross Jr., who signed the report, was so bad, prosecutors flagged him on a list of police who had been accused of lying, breaking the law or acting in a way that erodes their credibility to testify in Milwaukee County.

    Cross was fired from his position as a Milwaukee police sergeant in 2012 after driving his car into a family’s home while intoxicated. He appealed the decision and resigned in the process, according to the department.

    …

    Earlier misdeeds had landed him on the Milwaukee County Brady List, a compilation of law enforcement officers deemed by county prosecutors to have credibility problems. 

    Being on a Brady List is a kiss of death for most cops. Apparently immigration judges, ICE, and King Donald think that habitual liars are just fine.

    Gay Venezuelan stylist sent to Salvadoran prison after a disgraced cop’s report
    Now a contractor for ICE, the officer was on a list of disgraced cops in Milwaukee. His report helped send a man to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2025/04/10/fired-milwaukee-police-officer-report-gay-stylist-salvadoran-prison/83005721007

    Mediaite: ‘So-Called Secretary of Defense’: Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries Rips Pete Hegseth as ‘Dumb Effing Individual’

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    New York Democrat House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries posted a video on his official House account on X attacking Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as an “extremist” over book removals at the U.S. Naval Academy and promising to “keep the pressure” on until Hegseth is fired from his post.

    …

    The New York Times on Friday reported that, while Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” remains on the shelves, but “Memorializing the Holocaust” by Janet Jacobs on female victims of the Holocaust has been removed.

    “’The Bell Curve,’ which argues that Black men and women are genetically less intelligent than white people, is still there,” the paper reports. “But a critique of the book was pulled.”

    …

    “The outrageous Naval Academy book ban targets Maya Angelou and the Holocaust, but excludes Adolf Hitler,” the Democratic leader said in his post of the video. “This must be reversed immediately.”

    ‘So-Called Secretary of Defense’: Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries Rips Pete Hegseth as ‘Dumb Effing Individual’
    A purge of books at the U.S. Naval Academy for being “DEI” content prompted a furious video from the Democratic leader calling for Hegseth’s ouster.
    ‘So-Called Secretary of Defense’: Dem Leader Hakeem Jeffries Rips Pete Hegseth as ‘Dumb Effing Individual’