Thanks to Trump’s administration, the US could soon have to fight wars to get things that, just a few weeks ago, were there for the asking

The American vice-president, JD Vance, visited a US base in Greenland for three hours on Friday, along with his wife. National security adviser Mike Waltz and his wife also went along. Fresh from using an unsafe social media platform to carry out an entirely unnecessary group chat in which they leaked sensitive data about an ongoing military attack to a reporter, and thereby allegedly breaking the law, Waltz and Vance perhaps hoped to change the subject by tagging along on a trip that was initially billed as Vance’s wife watching a dogsled race.

The overall context was Trump’s persistent claim that America must take Greenland, which is an autonomous region of Denmark. The original plan had been that Usha Vance would visit Greenlanders, apparently on the logic that the second lady would be an effective animatrice of colonial subjection; but none of them wanted to see her, and Greenland’s businesses refused to serve as a backdrop to photo ops or even to serve the uninvited Americans. So, instead, the US couples made a very quick visit to Pituffik space base.

At the base, in the far north of the island, the US visitors had pictures taken of themselves and ate lunch with servicemen and women. They treated the base as the backdrop to a press conference where they could say things they already thought; nothing was experienced, nothing was learned, nothing sensible was said. Vance, who never left the base, and has never before visited Greenland, was quite sure how Greenlanders should live. He made a political appeal to Greenlanders, none of whom was present, or anywhere near him. He claimed that Denmark was not protecting the security of Greenlanders in the Arctic, and that the US would. Greenland should therefore join the US.

It takes some patience to unwind all of the nonsense here.

Vance’s posturing in Greenland was not just morally wrong. It was strategically disastrous | Timothy Snyder

Thanks to Trump’s administration, the US could soon have to fight wars to get things that, just a few weeks ago, were there for the asking, says professor Timothy Snyder of Yale University

Vance’s posturing in Greenland was not just morally wrong. It was strategically disastrous | Timothy Snyder | The Guardian

They admit they screwed up, and they refuse to do anything about it. Unbelievable!

The Trump administration conceded in a court filing Monday that it mistakenly deported a Maryland father to El Salvador “because of an administrative error” and argued it could not return him because he’s now in Salvadoran custody.

Trump administration concedes Maryland father from El Salvador was mistakenly deported and sent to mega prison | CNN Politics

The Trump administration conceded in a court filing Monday that it mistakenly deported a Maryland father to El Salvador “because of an administrative error” and argued it could not return him because he’s now in Salvadoran custody.

Trump administration concedes Maryland father from El Salvador was mistakenly deported and sent to mega prison | CNN Politics

President Donald Trump is attempting to dictate the rules for national elections in violation of both federal law and the U.S. Constitution, a lawsuit filed Monday in Washington, D.C., federal court alleges.

On March 25, the 45th and 47th president issued Executive Order 14248, titled: “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.” The order broadly seeks to reshape how elections are administered in the country by, among other things, purporting to enforce a requirement that all voters prove their citizenship by way of formal documentation and by putting a stop to vote-by-mail systems that count ballots postmarked by, but received after, Election Day.

The plaintiffs, led by the Democratic National Committee, claim in their 74-page lawsuit that the executive order “asserts unprecedented authority” for the presidency over election administration “on a host of topics.” And this effort, the lawsuit claims, contravenes a number of federal laws and the explicit constitutional carveouts for election authority granted to the states and U.S. Congress.

“In the United States of America, the President does not get to dictate the rules of our elections,” the complaint begins. “The Framers of our federal Constitution foresaw that self-interested and self-aggrandizing leaders might seek to corrupt our democratic system of government to expand and preserve their own power. They therefore created a decentralized system of elections based upon separated powers divided among the leaders elected by — and closest to — the people.”

‘The president possesses no such authority’: Lawsuit pits Kavanaugh against 5th Circuit in challenge to Trump’s order that aims to ‘dictate’ new rules for national elections

A Venezuelan man came to the United States to donate a kidney to his brother in kidney failure, but ICE authorities detained him, putting the fate of both brothers in question.

José Alfredo Pacheco, 37, was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure in December 2023, shortly after arriving in the Chicago area from Venezuela, seeking asylum. His older brother, José Gregorio González, 43, hoped to donate his kidney to save Pacheco’s life — but immigration authorities detained him, throwing their plans into disarray.

The pair had an appointment at a hospital ahead of the organ transplant surgery, the Chicago Tribune reported. But those plans are now up in the air after Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested González on March 3 as he was making breakfast at his home for his sick brother.

A man came to the US to donate a kidney to his brother. ICE showing up as his doorstep interrupted that plan

A man came to the US to donate a kidney to his brother. ICE showing up as his doorstep interrupted that plan – ‘We both cried when they arrested him because we both know he is my lifeline,’ said José Alfredo Pacheco, who is suffering from end-stage kidney failure

A man came to the US to donate a kidney to his brother. ICE showing up as his doorstep interrupted that plan

Dogukan Gunaydin, the STEM MBA student at the University of Minnesota who was arrested and detained by immigration officials last week, filed a lawsuit in federal court Sunday alleging the arrest and detention is a violation of his statutory and constitutional rights.

A Department of Homeland Security official said in a statement Monday that Gunaydin’s detention stems from a drunk driving conviction, clarifying that it had nothing to do with political activism on campus that has drawn scrutiny from the Trump administration. Gunaydin’s attorney also says he attended no protests.

Gunaydin is a citizen of Turkey.

Hennepin County Court records show Dunaydin was charged with gross misdemeanor DWI in July 2023. In March 2024, Dunaydin pleaded guilty to 3rd-degree DWI. The petition he signed said, “I understand that if I am not a citizen of the United States, my plea of guilty may result in deportation.

Gunaydin’s attorney Hannah Brown disputes in a petition for writ of habeas corpus that the DWI was a crime that is cause for termination of his student status or renders him deportable under immigration law. 

U of M student detained by ICE for DWI conviction files lawsuit, claiming detention is unlawful

Employees at the Department of Health and Human Services showed up to their offices on Tuesday to learn their fate: If their badges worked, they still had a job. If they didn’t, they had to clean out their desks.

“I was crying the entire drive to work today,” an HHS employee told Business Insider as they waited in line.

The employee said they saw a man walk past, wheeling out his personal belongings on a desk chair after being terminated.

“I’ve seen three people who went in, and then came back out and left with tears in their eyes,” said the employee, who was eventually let into the building. “People behind me are sniffling.”

The same badge-scan strategy used in Tesla layoffs has hit federal workers

The same badge-scan strategy used in Tesla layoffs has hit federal workers

The judge dismissed the case due to prosecutorial misconduct after ICE detained Wilson Martell-Lebron on the first day of his trial.

A man facing criminal charges in Boston was detained in the middle of his trial last week by federal immigration agents, prompting the judge to hold the ICE agent in contempt and dismiss the case.

…

The Boston Globe first reported that Martell-Lebron was detained by ICE agents late Thursday afternoon. Plainclothes ICE agents placed Martell-Lebron in an unmarked van and drove away, according to a video shared by Martell-Lebron’s defense attorneys with multiple news organizations.

Judge Mark Summerville held ICE agent Brian Sullivan in contempt Monday for allegedly obstructing justice, the Globe reported. ICE Agent Sullivan, Steven Wells, and any other agent involved in the arrest were ordered Friday to appear for an evidentiary hearing, and a bench warrant was issued for Sullivan.

…

After dismissing the jurors, Summerville also permanently dismissed the Suffolk County District Attorney’s case against Martell-Lebron due to prosecutorial misconduct.

Boston judge holds ICE agent in contempt after man detained mid-trial

The judge dismissed the case due to prosecutorial misconduct after ICE detained Wilson Martell-Lebron on the first day of his trial.

Judge holds ICE agent in contempt after man detained mid-trial

If you’d like to visit the U.S., be forewarned: Only Trump suck-ups need apply.

Former Costa Rican President and Nobel Prize winner Oscar Arias said Tuesday that the United States had revoked his visa to enter the country, just weeks after he criticized President Donald Trump on social media.

“I received an email from the US government informing me that they have suspended the visa I have in my passport. The communication was very terse, it does not give reasons. One could have conjectures,” Arias told reporters.

In a social media post on Facebook in February, the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner said Trump was behaving like “a Roman emperor.”

“It has never been easy for a small country to disagree with the US government, much less so, when its president behaves like a Roman emperor, telling the rest of the world what to do,” he wrote.

“In my governments Costa Rica never received orders from Washington, as if we were a ‘Banana Republic.'”

Arias’ post, just ahead of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Costa Rica in February, also labelled the US “a nation in search of an enemy.”

Former Costa Rican President Arias says US revoked visa

President Donald Trump’s pick to be chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff refused to lie for the president and instead threw his prospective boss under the bus at a confirmation hearing.

Retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine told a Senate committee on Tuesday morning that he was not wearing a red MAGA hat when he first met Trump in Iraq in 2018—after the president claimed he was.

“For 34 years, I’ve upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission,” Caine told Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican, according to Politico. “And I have never worn any political merchandise.”

Trump’s Joint Chiefs Pick Throws Prez Under the Bus in Confirmation Hearing

Up yours, Musk! Take your money and shove it!

You and your corrupt cronies flushed $81,000,000 down Wisconsin sewers, and you still don’t own a judge on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Wisconsin voters have a lot more brains and integrity than you give them credit for, certainly a lot more than you have.

Susan Crawford, who was endorsed by the Democratic Party, won the closely-watched Wisconsin Supreme Court race Tuesday night in what was the most expensive judicial election in American history. 

What would have normally been a sleepy nonpartisan judicial race turned into an expensive battle between Crawford, a Dane County judge, and Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, who was endorsed by the Republican Party. The campaigns and their supporters have spent more than $81 million, attracting endorsements and campaign appearances from Elon Musk, Vermont Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders and other national political figures.

With 70% of the vote in, Crawford led Schimel by 55% to 44%, a margin of about 189,000 votes. 

Wisconsin Supreme Court race won by Democrat-backed Susan Crawford