Tag Archives: Israel

The Hill: Crockett on [Bimbo #2] Noem trip to Israel: ‘You just had a good photo op’

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Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) slammed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem for her recent trip to Israel, declaring it just another “photo op.”

Crockett said she didn’t think anything substantive would come from the foreign trip scheduled days after two Israeli Embassy staffers were fatally shot outside of a museum in Washington.

“You just had a good photo op. And I think that that’s probably all Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem is good for, is a photo op,” Crockett said Sunday during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Weekends with Alex Witt.”

Crockett on Noem trip to Israel: ‘You just had a good photo op’
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) slammed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem for her recent trip to Israel, declaring it just another “photo op.” Crockett said she didn’t thi…

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5319575-jasmine-crockett-kristi-noem-israel-trip

Talking Points Memo: The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy

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The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.

When top Trump adviser Stephen Miller threatened on May 9 that the administration is “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus in response to an “invasion” from undocumented immigrants, he was operating on a fringe legal theory that a right-wing faction has been working to legitimize for more than a decade.

…

Hard-liners have referred to immigrants as “invaders” as long as the U.S. has had immigration. By 2022, invasion rhetoric, which had previously been relegated to white nationalist circles, had become such a staple of Republican campaign ads that most of the public agreed an invasion of the U.S. via the southern border was underway.

Now, however, the claim that the U.S. is under invasion has become the legal linchpin of President Donald Trump’s sweeping anti-immigrant campaign.

The claim is Trump’s central justification for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport roughly 140 Venezuelans to CECOT, the Salvadoran megaprison, without due process. (The administration cited different legal authority for the remaining deportees.) The Trump administration contends they are members of a gang, Tren de Aragua, that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is directing to infiltrate and operate in the United States. Lawyers and families of many of the deportees have presented evidence the prisoners are not even members of Tren de Aragua.

The contention is also the throughline of Trump’s day one executive order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” That document calls for the expansion of immigration removal proceedings without court hearings and for legal attacks against sanctuary jurisdictions, places that refuse to commit local resources to immigration enforcement.

So far, no court has bought the idea that the U.S. is truly under invasion….

And therein lies the problem: The Trump regime is off pursuing an unconstitutional tangent to solve a problem that is improperly framed as an “invasion”.

It’s a long well-researched article. Please click on the link below and read the entire article.

The ‘Invasion’ Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy
This article first appeared at ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign…

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-invasion-invention-the-far-rights-long-legal-battle-to-make-immigrants-the-enemy

MSNBC: ‘Project Esther’ exposes the reality of Trump’s agenda to fight antisemitism

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The extreme and paranoid policy paper underscores how the right has weaponized antisemitism to serve its political and theological projects.

President Donald Trump has enacted a raft of suppressive policies ostensibly designed to combat antisemitism, such as cutting off funding to universities that he claims haven’t done enough to curb antisemitism on campus. But if you take a look at the little-known playbook that appears to have inspired many of his most aggressive moves, it becomes evident how little it has to do with ending bigotry against Jews.

The playbook is called Project Esther, a policy paper created by the Heritage Foundation, arguably the most influential right-wing think tank of the Trump era. Heritage also produced Project 2025, the extreme policy manifesto that has shaped much of Trump’s agenda. Project Esther is a kind of miniature Project 2025, offering guidance on using authoritarian tools to crush criticism of Israel across the country. Trump has used many of the extreme policies it has recommended, including deporting immigrants who express pro-Palestinian sentiment and attacking academia using public defunding.

There was some reporting on Project Esther before Trump entered the White House, although it got relatively little attention. But new reporting from The New York Times details how it came together and lays out how much Trump appears to have hewed to it. The White House didn’t respond to the Times’ query about Project Esther’s influence on its goals, and Heritage couldn’t confirm its influence, but a co-author of Project Esther told the Times he believed it was “no coincidence that we called for a series of actions to take place privately and publicly, and they are now happening.”

…

In a document that sounds plainly McCarthyist, Project Esther posits that the pro-Palestinian movement in America is “part of a global Hamas Support Network (HSN)” and that this network is “supported by activists and funders dedicated to the destruction of capitalism and democracy.”

It continues: [T]he HSN benefits from the support and training of America’s overseas enemies and seeks to achieve its goals by taking advantage of our open society, corrupting our education system, leveraging the American media, coopting the federal government, and relying on the American Jewish community’s complacency.”

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-antisemitism-project-esther-heritage-palestinian-rcna207935

NBC News: Mike Pence criticizes Trump on tariffs and key foreign policy issues as he watches from afar

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In a “Meet the Press” interview, Trump’s former vice president was careful to balance praise of Trump with specific disapproval in certain areas.

On tariffs:

Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized President Donald Trump’s approach to tariffs, as well as several foreign policy initiatives, in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” airing Sunday.

“The initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country,” Pence told moderator Kristen Welker, referring to the sweeping tariffs Trump imposed on the United States’ largest trading partners in early April.

Days later, the president paused most of the tariffs, a move that Pence on Friday said he was “glad” to see.

On the 747-800 from Qatar:

Pence also spoke about Trump’s approach to foreign policy in this term. He told Welker it’s “a bad idea” for the president to accept a plane as a gift from the Qatari royal family, amid reports that Trump plans to do so, and was critical of Trump’s speech in Saudi Arabia.

The former vice president also questioned the Trump administration’s approach to Iran, as top U.S. officials seek to reach a deal with Iran over the nation’s possession of uranium and nuclear technology.

Pence said he is worried about reports that Iran is seeking to maintain a civilian nuclear program, telling Welker the U.S. “should make it clear in negotiations with Iran that their current nuclear program must be either dismantled or destroyed.”

On Jan. 6:

Pence said Trump was wrong to issue a blanket pardon of people who faced charges for participating in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“I will always believe by God’s grace I did my duty that day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and see to the peaceful transfer of power,” Pence said, later drawing a distinction between some Jan. 6 defendants who “just walked through an open door, meant no harm, did no harm,” and those charged with more serious crimes.

“But individuals who broke into the Capitol, who assaulted police officers, I said that day and I believe to this moment should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Pence said.

Mike Pence criticizes Trump on tariffs and key foreign policy issues as he watches from afar
In a “Meet the Press” interview, Trump’s former vice president was careful to balance praise of Trump with specific disapproval in certain areas.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/mike-pence-criticizes-trump-tariffs-key-foreign-policy-issues-watches-rcna206755

Telegraph: ‘It’s open season for corruption’: How Trump turned the White House into a cash cow

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Naked profiteering by the US president and his family has triggered alarm bells in the Maga movement

Most.

Corrupt.

President

Ever!

Donald Trump caught his first sight of the so-called “palace in the sky” in February as he climbed the red-carpeted steps of the Boeing 747-8.

The Qatari plane was parked at Florida’s West Palm Beach International Airport, and offered a chance for the president to see what a newly refitted Air Force One could look like, easing his frustration with the long-delayed Boeing project.

In the event, it appears to have been more of a test drive. His administration’s plan to accept the $400m (£300m) luxury jet from the Qatari royal family, which he is expected to use after his presidency, is the latest example of what many view as an increased disregard for ethics in Washington under his second term.

During his first term in the White House, foreign governments buying meals and block-booking rooms at Trump hotels set alarm bells ringing.

Yet now the president has created even more opportunities for those looking to curry favour with him – and his children. From pay-to-dine cryptocurrency schemes, a new social media platform that carries advertising and the expansion of their property empire, it has never seemed easier for the Trump family to line their pockets.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/18/trump-turned-white-house-cash-machine

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

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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!

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.

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

CBS News: Left-wing streamer Hasan Piker says he was detained, asked “Do you like Donald Trump?” at Chicago O’Hare

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Popular Twitch streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker, who has more than 2 million followers on the live-streaming platform, said he was detained and questioned by federal authorities at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for more than two hours after arriving in the U.S. on an international flight.

This happened as Piker, 33, was headed to speak at the University of Chicago on Sunday after he returned from a family vacation in Paris. Piker, a prominent Turkish American live streamer who has openly spoken out against the war in Gaza, told the Institute of Politics crowd at UChicago that he believes he was targeted at O’Hare for his criticism of the Trump administration.

…

“They took me to the back room, into a detention center. An agent came out and took me into the interrogation room … and they started asking me about crazy [expletive], like, ‘Do you like Donald Trump?'” he said.

The American-born Twitch streamer and left-wing political commentator recounted at length to his millions of followers his two-hour encounter with federal agents after he arrived in Chicago from Paris. He claims he was asked not only about the president, but he was also questioned about his opinions on Israel, Hamas and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“Everything I’ve done is fully protected under the First Amendment, OK?” Piker said. “And none of these questions are actually valid questions to ask.”

Piker said this applies no matter what one’s political beliefs are.

“It’s illegal for them to even ask me those questions, like, they can’t deny me entry into my own country,” Piker said. “It’s like, even if I was like, ‘I love Hamas,’ they can’t do that. Like, what do you mean?”

And this bullshit from Homeland Security:

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin acknowledged that Piker was detained, but took issue with his account of what happened.

McLaughlin said: “This is nothing but lying for likes. Claims that his political beliefs triggered the inspection are baseless. Our officers are following the law, not agendas.”

Under King Donald, it’s all about agendas — Trump’s agendas.

Left-wing streamer Hasan Piker says he was detained, asked “Do you like Donald Trump?” at Chicago O’Hare
Hasan Piker said he was detained and questioned by federal authorities at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport following a trip to Paris.

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/streamer-left-wing-commentator-hasan-piker-detained-ohare

Washington Post: Georgetown researcher released from ICE custody after judge’s order

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Badar Khan Suri, who has been held in Texas since March, returned to Virginia on Wednesday night after a federal judge found he raised substantial First and Fifth amendment claims.

Badar Khan Suri, the Georgetown University researcher who has been held in an immigration detention center in Texas since March, was released from custody Wednesday, hours after a federal judge ruled that Trump administration officials probably violated his rights in their ongoing attempt to deport him.

Suri, a postdoctoral fellow who lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and three children, says he is being wrongfully targeted by immigration authorities because of his family’s support for the Palestinian people in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. U.S. officials have invoked a rarely used statute as they seek to deport Suri to his native India, calling him a threat to foreign-policy interests.

At a hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ordered Suri released from immigration custody. He was released hours later, his attorneys said. The ruling came days after Giles asserted jurisdiction over the case in Virginia, denying a request from the Justice Department to transfer proceedings to a federal court in Texas.

As a condition of Suri’s release, Giles ordered that Suri reside in Virginia and attend hearings in her courtroom.

Georgetown researcher released from ICE custody after judge’s order
Badar Kahn Suri, who has been held in Texas since March, is expected to return to Virginia after a federal judge found he raised substantial First and Fifth amendment claims.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/05/14/georgetown-researcher-suri-virginia-texas

Daily Beast: MAGA Stars Turn on Trump for Selling Out to Qatar

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MAGA influencers are demanding President Donald Trump turn down a $400 million luxury jet the Qatar royal family is in talks to gift his administration, saying the emirate is “not our friend.”

They’re not concerned about the legality or ethics of a foreign country giving Trump a gift that’s been described as a “palace in the sky,” even though the Constitution expressly prohibits such gifts absent congressional approval.

They’re mostly upset that Qatar—specifically—would be the one donating the luxury Boeing 747-8, which the administration would use as Air Force One for most of Trump’s remaining time in office before transferring it to the Trump presidential library foundation.

“Taking sacks of goodies from people who support Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera, all the rest—that is not America first,” conservative pundit Ben Shapiro said during the most recent episode of his show. “It just isn’t America first in any conceivable way.”

MAGA Stars Turn on Trump for Selling Out to Qatar
Furious Trump superfans say accepting a $400 million gift from the emirate isn’t “America First.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-stars-turn-on-donald-trump-for-selling-out-to-qatar

New York Times: With Trump Visit, Qatar’s Image Makeover Scores Another Success

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The emirate, once called “a funder of terrorism” by President Trump, has spent lavishly on overhauling its global reputation.

The president, who has described the emir as a “great gentleman” and a “friend of mine,” is granting Qatar the honor of hosting one of the first foreign visits of his second term. As for the plane, the president says he would be “stupid” not to accept such a nice gift despite loud objections, not only from Democrats but from some of his most fervent MAGA supporters.

It is a dramatic turnaround for a small Persian Gulf country that Mr. Trump derided eight years ago as “a funder of terrorism at a very high level.” At that time, he cooperated with Qatar’s bitter rivals in the region — who imposed a punishing blockade on Doha — in calling for an end to what he described as the country’s “extremist ideology.”

Impeach! Impeach! Impeach!

https://archive.is/5Xbf6#selection-727.0-738.0