Tag Archives: Russia

Fear and Loathing: Jerce Reyes Barrios, Venezuelan footballer

Posted on by
Reply

Jerce Reyes Barrios, a Venezuelan footballer, was deported because ICE misread his Real Madrid tattoo as gang ink. They sent him to a Salvadoran prison. No charges. No gang ties. Just ink.

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: Felipe Zapata Velásquez, student, University of Florida

Posted on by
Reply

Felipe Zapata Velásquez, a University of Florida student, was arrested for a traffic offense and deported to Colombia. ICE called it routine. His family called it trauma.

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.

NBC News: Trump slams Zelenskyy for rejecting Ukraine-Russia negotiations, saying a deal was ‘very close’

Posted on by
Reply

High-level talks in London aimed at bringing a pause to fighting in Ukraine disintegrated after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff pulled out.

President Donald Trump slammed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, accusing him of derailing negotiations to end the war in Ukraine while a peace deal was “very close.”

In a long post on Truth Social, Trump described Zelenskyy’s rejection of Russia’s takeover of Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, as “very harmful” to achieving peace.

“It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War,” Trump wrote.

Zelenskyy has consistently rejected the suggestion that his country give up its claim to the Crimean Peninsula.

“There’s nothing to talk about here,” he said at a media conference Tuesday. “This is against our constitution.”

It’s “very close” only in Trump’s deranged mind. All parties need to honor the 1990 agreement on the Sovereignty of Ukraine. Russia’s aggression must not be rewarded.

Trump slams Zelenskyy for rejecting Ukraine-Russia negotiations, saying a deal was ‘very close’
High-level talks in London aimed at bringing a pause to fighting in Ukraine disintegrated after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff pulled out.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna202525

Axios World: Hegseth hunkers down as White House accuses “entire” Pentagon of sabotage

Posted on by
Reply

From the “I’m not paranoid, they really are out to get me” department:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is locked in open warfare with his own Pentagon, a hotbed of distrust and dysfunction that commands the most powerful military on the face of the Earth.

No Trump Cabinet official has endured more turmoil in less time than Hegseth, who survived a nasty confirmation battle only to be burned — again and again — by leaks, blunders and now backlash from his own handpicked aides.

Hegseth hunkers down as White House accuses “entire” Pentagon of sabotage
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is locked in open warfare with his own Pentagon, a hotbed of distrust and dysfunction that commands the most powerful military on the face of the Earth. Why it matters: No Trump Cabinet official has endured more turmoil in less time than Hegseth, who survived a nasty confirmation battle only to be burned — again and again — by leaks, blunders and now backlash from his own handpicked aides. President Trump so far is…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ar-AA1DndAo

Mediaite: House Republican Comes Out Swinging Against ‘Amateur Person’ Pete Hegseth and Calls for His Ouster

Posted on by
Reply

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) became the first House Republican to suggest that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is no longer fit to keep his job, in scathing comments made to Politico’s Rachel Bade on Monday.

“I had concerns from the get-go because Pete Hegseth didn’t have a lot of experience,” Bacon told Bade, following the bombshell revelations over the weekend that Hegseth had shared national security details in a second Signal group chat – this time one that included his wife.

Bacon, a retired Air Force general, added, “ … I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it if I was in charge,” …,

House Republican Comes Out Swinging Against ‘Amateur Person’ Pete Hegseth and Calls for His Ouster
“I’m not in the White House, and I’m not going to tell the White House how to manage this … but I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it” The post House Republican Comes Out Swinging Against ‘Amateur Person’ Pete Hegseth and Calls for His Ouster first appeared on Mediaite.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-republican-comes-out-swinging-against-amateur-person-pete-hegseth-and-calls-for-his-ouster/ar-AA1Dl5oC

Kyiv Independent: Trump officials ‘fed up’ with Europe’s efforts to strengthen Ukraine, Economist reports

Posted on by
Reply

Some Trump administration officials are dissatisfied with European countries’ ongoing support for Ukraine, underscoring the growing rift between Washington and Europe, the Economist reported on April 15, citing undisclosed diplomatic sources.

Kyiv’s European partners have sought to present a united front on Ukraine, pledging additional assistance and preparing a “reassurance force” of troops to monitor a potential ceasefire.

As Trump’s Amerika slides into international irrelevance …

Trump officials ‘fed up’ with Europe’s efforts to strengthen Ukraine, Economist reports
Some Trump administration officials are dissatisfied with European countries’ ongoing support for Ukraine, underscoring the growing rift between Washington and Europe, the Economist reported on April 15, citing undisclosed diplomatic sources. Kyiv’s European partners have sought to present a united front on Ukraine, pledging additional assistance a…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-officials-fed-up-with-europe-s-efforts-to-strengthen-ukraine-economist-reports/ar-AA1D2afd

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

Posted on by
Reply

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

USA Today: Tourists detained by ICE say they were treated like ‘the worst criminal’

Posted on by
Reply

Uncommon detainees are bringing new attention to the U.S. immigration detention system

A British backpacker. A Harvard researcher. A Canadian actress. An Australian mixed martial arts coach. Dozens of international college students.

The Trump administration’s sweeping immigration-and-visa crackdown has begun ensnaring a class of people long-accustomed to being welcomed with open arms into the United States.

And those uncommon detainees are bringing new attention to the often-harsh U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention system, where people can be held without charge indefinitely, sometimes in shocking conditions, or abruptly removed from the country.

This type of treatment has long been the case in ICE detention, but the people held by the government often didn’t have the resources ‒ the access, language or middle-class expectations ‒ to denounce the conditions.

Now, with President Donald Trump’s crackdown, native English speakers, people with PhDs, and others are getting the word out to a broader public about a system they describe as arbitrary and punishing ‒ although ICE detention is not supposed to resemble prison.

“It’s insane how easily someone can take away your freedom, lock you in a federal prison, without a clear reason. No explanation. No warning,” ….

Tourists detained by ICE say they were treated like ‘the worst criminal’
Uncommon detainees are bringing new attention to the U.S. immigration detention system

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/04/12/ice-tourist-detention-border-trump-immigration/82740260007

New York Times: Inside Trump’s Plan to ‘Get’ Greenland: Persuasion, Not Invasion

Posted on by
Reply

The island’s population might not be easily convinced as the president tries to clinch one of history’s greatest real estate deals.

Mr. Trump’s advisers have already begun making their public case, arguing that Denmark has been a poor custodian of the island, that only the United States can protect it from encroachment by Russia and China, and that America will help Greenlanders “get rich,” as Mr. Trump has put it.

Given how King Donald has trashed our own economy the past 2.5 months, Greenlanders would be nuts to wish the same upon themselves.

The Trump administration is also studying financial incentives for Greenlanders, including the possibility of replacing the $600 million in subsidies that Denmark gives the island with an annual payment of about $10,000 per Greenlander.

Denmark provides them with a comprehensive health care system. Why would they trust the bozo who plans to destroy Medicaid?

Some Trump officials believe those costs could be offset by new revenue from the extraction of Greenland’s natural resources, which include rare earth minerals, copper, gold, uranium and oil.

Trump officials argue that American capital and industrial might can gain access to the island’s largely untapped mineral wealth in a way that Denmark cannot. “This is about critical minerals,” Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, told Fox News in January. “This is about natural resources.”

Those natural resource belong to the people of Greenland, not to Trump and his billionaire cronies. Only the people of Greenland can decide their future and how to share the wealth, if they even choose to share it.

Trump is drooling over a land that isn’t his and never will be.

http://archive.is/gc3A7#selection-951.0-1026.0

2paragraphs: Kristi Noem [Bimbo #2] “Mistakenly Sent Email” to Ukrainians Terminating Parole in U.S., Say Two U.S. Senators

Posted on by
Reply

U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), who is also Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem calling on Noem “to immediately explain how the Department of Homeland Security mistakenly sent an email to Ukrainians on humanitarian parole in the U.S. that they had seven days to leave the country.”

As seen in the letter below, Murkowski and Shaheen explain that “Ukrainians who have participated in the Uniting for Ukraine program have entered the U.S. lawfully, passed rigorous screening and vetting requirements and have been required to find financial support from private U.S. sponsors.”

The Senators added, “Abruptly and cruelly telling victims of Russia’s war to leave the country would not reflect American values — and it risks emboldening Putin to continue the war, despite President Trump’s stated objectives to establish peace.”

Murkowski and Shaheen wrote that “The fact that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) drafted such a notification is alarming,” noting that Congress has not been notified regarding any proposed changes to the program. The lawmakers said their congressional staff inquiries to DHS “resulted in conflicting responses that demonstrated a disturbing lack of interagency coordination or strategy on the status of humanitarian parole for Ukrainians.”

Why would you expect anything better from a bimbo?

Kristi Noem “Mistakenly Sent Email” to Ukrainians Terminating Parole in U.S., Say Two U.S. Senators
U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), who is also Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem calling on Noem “to immediately explain how the Department of Homeland Security mistakenly sent an email to Ukrainians on humanitarian parole in the […]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kristi-noem-mistakenly-sent-email-to-ukrainians-terminating-parole-in-u-s-say-two-u-s-senators/ar-AA1CyjzQ