HorrorHub Social

Sky DancingLazy Caturday Reads <a href="https://skydancingblog.com/brian-laing/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>By Brian Laing Good Morning!!After Daknikat’s comprehensive post yesterday, it’s hard to imagine there could be any more news to report on today, but I’ve found a few things.There were two notable deaths yesterday, pioneering blogger Kevin Drum and former Senator Alan Simpson, half of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/us/politics/now-touring-the-debt-duo-simpson-bowles.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Simpson-Bowles</a>, who created what came to be known as the <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/erskine-bowles-alan-simpson-deficit-commission/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">“Cat Food Commission.”</a>The New York Times: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/kevin-drum-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.304.ojLS.RMshLU9HeBBO&smid=url-share" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kevin Drum, Influential Early Political Blogger, Dies at 66.</a><blockquote>Kevin Drum, who gave up his day job in software marketing to write online about politics, policy and his cats, quickly becoming a key figure in the vanguard of center-left bloggers during the genre’s heyday in the early 2000s, died on March 7. He was 66.His wife, Marian Drum, <a class="" href="https://jabberwocking.com/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">announced the death on his website</a> but did not say where he died or cite a cause.Mr. Drum, who lived in Irvine, Calif., had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2014 and had recently developed pneumonia. He blogged about those personal challenges openly and with the same insight that he brought to issues like health care policy and urban planning.He spent most of his life in Orange County, Calif., which distinguished him from the majority of early big-name bloggers, many of whom hailed from the Washington-Boston corridor or from academic enclaves.Mr. Drum began blogging in 2002 and quickly developed a large nationwide following. He helped shape what became known as the liberal blogosphere, populated by a broad amalgam of left-of-center thinkers who emphasized policy debates over political horse races.His curiosity was broad, and he wrote on a variety of subjects from a variety of perspectives — sometimes casually observational, sometimes rigorously analytical — in a way that set him apart from the assorted camps that defined the blogosphere, including academics, politicos and ideologues. Four years after that, Mr. Drum moved to Mother Jones, where he wrote not just blog posts but also extensive reported pieces for the magazine. Most notable was <a class="" href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/lead-exposure-gasoline-crime-increase-children-health/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a deep dive in 2013</a> into the theory that the crime wave of the late 20th century was driven in large part by childhood exposure to lead in gasoline and paint, a key factor in the development of behavioral problems and, in turn, delinquency. As lead was phased out, health outcomes improved and crime rates dropped.“He was just able to unpack very complicated — particularly economically complicated — stories in an immensely readable way,” said Clara Jeffery, the editor in chief of Mother Jones. </blockquote> The New York Times: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/alan-k-simpson-dead.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alan K. Simpson, a Folksy Republican Force in the Senate, Dies at 93</a>.<blockquote>Alan K. Simpson, a plain-spoken former Republican senator from Wyoming who championed immigration reforms and conservative candidates for the Supreme Court while fighting running battles with women’s groups, environmentalists and the press, died on Friday in hospice in Cody, Wyo. He was 93.He had been struggling to recover from a broken hip that he sustained in December, according to <a class="" href="https://centerofthewest.org/2025/03/14/buffalo-bill-center-of-the-west-mourns-loss-of-former-chair-alan-k-simpson/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a statement</a> from his family and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, a group of museums of which he was a board member for 56 years. The statement said his recovery had been hindered by complications of a case of frostbite to his left foot that he endured about five years ago and that required the amputation of his left leg below the knee. <a href="https://skydancingblog.com/matt-cauley/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>By Matt Cauley Folksy, irreverent and sometimes cantankerous, a gaunt, 6-foot-7 beanpole with a ranch hand’s soft drawl, Mr. Simpson was a three-term senator, from 1979 to 1997, whom school children and tourists in the gallery sometimes took for a Mr. Smith-goes-to-Washington oddball, especially during his occasional rants against “bug-eyed zealots” and “super-greenies,” as he liked to call environmental lobbyists.The son of a former Wyoming governor and United States senator, Mr. Simpson had been a hell-raiser as a teenager. He and some friends shot up mailboxes, killed a cow with rifles and set fire to an abandoned federal property. He punched a police officer who arrested him. While no one had been seriously hurt, he faced prison. But he was put on probation for two years and paid restitution….Mr. Simpson had love-hate relationships with the press. Many journalists liked his earthy humor and easy accessibility. But his language could be coarse and his tone contemptuous when he attacked the news media, sometimes singling out reporters by name. He crossed a line when he accused Peter Arnett of CNN of being an enemy “sympathizer” for his reporting from Iraq during the Persian Gulf war, and wrongly accused him of bias in the Vietnam War because he had married a Vietnamese woman.His political positions sometimes seemed contradictory, or perhaps personal. He supported abortion rights and right-wing nominees to the United States Supreme Court who might overturn Roe v. Wade. And partly out of a friendship forged when he was a 12-year-old Boy Scout, he called on the nation to apologize to Japanese Americans who were interned as potential security risks during World War II.</blockquote>Read more at the NYT if you’re interested. Frankly, I thought he was a horrible person, but what do I know?Daknikat covered the Republicans’ horrific continuing resolution yesterday. Of course it pass with Democratic help.HuffPost: <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/here-are-the-democrats-who-advanced-a-gop-bill-to-avoid-a-government-shutdown_n_67d4a02fe4b08455bb0719cc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Here Are The Democrats Who Advanced A GOP Bill To Avoid A Government Shutdown</a>. In the end, nine senators who caucus with Democrats joined with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) in voting to advance legislation to avoid a government shutdown, essentially giving up Democratic leverage over President Donald Trump for the foreseeable future. Their support meant the bill was able to break the 60-vote threshold to avoid a filibuster, 62-38…. “The off-ramp is in the hands of Donald Trump and Elon Musk and DOGE. We could be in a shutdown for six months or nine months,” Schumer <a class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/schumer-trump-government-shutdown.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">told The New York Times</a> earlier on Friday, arguing a shutdown would be far too unpredictable. Internal party critics have said Schumer gave up a rare moment of leverage far too easily, misplaying his hand after an often-fractious House Republican Caucus passed a party-line spending bill with Trump’s blessing. Schumer suggested he was willing to face withering criticism from moderate House members to angry progressive activists: “I’ll take some of the bullets.” These nine senators are likely to share in Schumer’s political suffering, though none of them are an obvious target for an immediate primary challenge. <ul><li>Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.): The party’s leading contrarian at the moment, Fetterman has repeatedly said he will never vote for a government shutdown under any circumstances. He’s not up for reelection until 2028.</li><li>Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.): Cortez Masto said her vote was not an “easy decision,” but she was refusing to “hand [Trump and Musk] a shutdown where they would have free reign to cause more chaos and harm.” She’s not up for reelection until 2028.</li><li>Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the party’s Senate leadership, is up for reelection in 2026 but is widely expected to retire.</li><li>Sen. Angus King (I-Maine): King’s state is heavily reliant on government funds, and he said in a statement posted to his <a class="" href="https://www.facebook.com/SenatorAngusSKingJr/videos/616940454436469" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> giving Musk and Trump power would be a “significantly greater danger to the country than the continuing resolution with all of its faults.” King is not up for reelection until 2030.</li><li>Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii): Schatz is known to have leadership ambitions, and taking this vote may show he’s willing to take a political hit for the rest of the caucus. Hawaii is also heavily reliant on federal employees. “Given the number of federal workers in Hawai‘i, mass furloughs would be deeply painful for people across the state,” he said in a statement. Schatz is up for reelection in 2028.</li><li>Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.): The Granite State duo are both moderates, and Shaheen is set to retire rather than run for reelection in 2026. Hassan is up for reelection in 2028. “Allowing the federal government to shut down with this President in charge is too dangerous to risk,” Hassan said in a statement.</li><li>Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.): Peters has already announced his plan to retire in 2026. He said a shutdown under Trump would be “catastrophic”</li><li>Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.): A close ally of her fellow New Yorker, Gillibrand is also the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee this cycle. She’s not up for reelection until 2030.</li></ul>I thought Schumer had some good arguments; but when we are facing a takeover by a dictator, it seems to me the Democrats should fight tooth and nail.The Daily Beast: <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/dem-civil-war-erupts-over-government-shutdown-as-aoc-and-chuck-schumer-go-at-it/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dem Civil War Erupts With ‘Screaming’ and Primary Threats Behind Closed Doors.</a><blockquote>Schumer’s politically dicey decision—ahead of a midnight Friday shutdown deadline—has infuriated Democrats to the point some are suggesting he step aside as leader. He explained on the Senate floor late Friday afternoon that his decision was “a Hobson’s choice,” conjuring images of a chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk.”I believe that allowing Donald Trump to take even more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option,” he said. “The shutdown would allow DOGE to shift into overdrive. It would give Donald Trump and DOGE the keys to the city, the state and the country. And that is a far worse alternative.” <a href="https://skydancingblog.com/vintage-lady-with-white-cat-by-sharyn-bursic/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>Vintage Lady with White Cat, by Sharyn Bursic “Next question,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries answered Friday afternoon when a reporter asked if it was time for new leadership in the Senate. Jeffries said House Democrats are “strongly opposed to the partisan funding bill” that Schumer says he now supports.Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi repudiated Schumer’s choice earlier in the day, saying, “I salute Leader Hakeem Jeffries for his courageous rejection of this false choice, and I am proud of my colleagues in the House Democratic Caucus for their overwhelming vote against this bill.”Rep. <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/keyword/alexandria-ocasio-cortez/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez </a>said Schumer’s “unthinkable” acquiesce was a “betrayal,” adding she was “texting, calling, sending carrier pigeons” to Senate Democrats to beg them to not follow suit.Democratic lawmakers are so “infuriated” with Schumer that some have spoken to Ocasio-Cortez, a New York progressive, about running against him in a Senate primary race, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/13/politics/ocasio-cortez-schumer-democratic-shutdown-plan/index.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNN</a>, which noted even “centrists” are “so mad” at Schumer they are “ready to write checks for AOC for Senate” come 2028 when he is up for re-election.</blockquote>Daknikat wrote quite a bit about the Democrats’ anger yesterday. They were even angrier, if possible, after the bill passed. Schumer should retire anyway. We have to get rid of these old fossils.Remember the days when the Bush administration was disappearing people they decided were terrorists? It looks like Trump is going to follow a similar playbook. I just hope it doesn’t involve torture. The Trump gang are coming down hard on Columbia and other elite universities about protests against the Israel war on Gaza. As you know, they have basically disappeared former Columbia student and protest leader Mahmood Kahlil. ABC News: <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/white-house-allegedly-asked-updates-arrest-activist-mahmoud/story?id=119811712" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">White House allegedly asked for updates on arrest of activist Mahmoud Khalil, his attorney says.</a><blockquote>Mahmoud Khalil — the pro-Palestinian <a class="" href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/ice-arrests-palestinian-activist-green-card-columbia-university/story?id=119616144" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">activist and green card holder</a> detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week — said he overheard federal agents say that the White House was asking for an update on his detention, his attorneys said.“He was surrounded by many DHS agents, or people he believed to be DHS agents, and he believes that he saw or heard, during a call, one of them say that the White House wants an update on what’s going on,” Samah Sisay, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who is representing Khalil, said at a press conference Friday.“We have every reason to believe, as we allege in the petition, that many people within the executive branch of the government were involved, including the White House,” Sisay said.Khalil took part in student protests at Columbia University calling for the institution to divest and cut ties with Israel, and he participated in negotiations with university administration.“His one and only goal was to get Columbia University to divest from its complicity with Israeli government crimes in Gaza and the West Bank,” said Ramzi Kassem, the director of CLEAR, a group representing Khalil….The Trump administration has <a class="" href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/live-updates/trump-2nd-term-live-updates-trump-defends-tariff?id=119625202&entryId=119680465&fbclid=IwY2xjawI_Ky1leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHabwsvL2xICuIpO-o1lsTr0LV1hQvAOetHTYQNvm1rHiFV6z98JfPddgEw_aem_HoxwuDjY4lQmToyMlGh99Q" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">claimed that Khalil distributed</a> “pro-Hamas propaganda fliers with the logo of Hamas,” without providing evidence.</blockquote>The First Amendment is dead, apparently.AP: <a href="https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-arrests-3a8db6e646b786a721089a6f0bc8d9fc" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Justice Department is investigating whether Columbia University hid students sought by the US.</a><blockquote>The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Columbia University concealed “illegal aliens” on its campus, one of its top officials said Friday, as the Trump administration intensified its campaign to deport foreigners who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the school last year.Agents with the Department of Homeland Security searched two university residences with a warrant Thursday evening. No one was arrested and it was unclear whom the authorities were searching for, but by Friday afternoon U.S. officials had announced developments related to two people they had pursued in connection with the demonstrations.A Columbia doctoral student from India whose visa was revoked by the Trump administration fled the U.S. on an airliner. And a Palestinian woman who had been arrested during the protests at the university last April was arrested by federal immigration authorities in Newark, New Jersey, on charges that she overstayed an expired visa.Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking at the Justice Department, said it was all part of the president’s “mission to end antisemitism in this country.”</blockquote>What a bunch of bullshit.<blockquote>“Just last night, we worked with the Department of Homeland Security to execute search warrants from an investigation into Columbia University for harboring and concealing illegal aliens on its campus,” Blanche said. “That investigation is ongoing, and we are also looking at whether Columbia’s handling of earlier incidents violated civil rights laws and included terrorism crimes.”Blanche didn’t say what evidence agents had of wrongdoing by the university. It was unclear whether he was accusing the school itself of “terrorism crimes” or saying that people involved in the protests had committed such crimes.</blockquote> <a href="https://skydancingblog.com/girl-with-a-cat-by-zakir-ahmedov/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>Girl with a Cat, by Zakir Ahmedov The Boston Globe has a scary immigration story today: <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/14/metro/ri-doctor-prevented-from-returning-to-us-after-visiting-parents-in-lebanon/?event=event12" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">R.I. doctor prevented from returning to US after visiting her parents in Lebanon.</a><blockquote>A Rhode Island doctor who had traveled to Lebanon to see her parents was prevented from re-entering the United States at Boston’s Logan International Airport on Thursday evening, her lawyer and a colleague said.<a class="" href="https://brownmed.org/provider-info/?ID=1596" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Dr. Rasha Alawieh</a>, 34, who lives in Providence, has been working at Brown Medicine’s Division of Kidney Disease & Hypertension since last July, and she been part of the transplant service at Rhode Island Hospital, according to Dr. George Bayliss, the organ transplant division’s medical director. She has been studying and working in the United States for about six years, he said Friday.The US consulate in Lebanon had issued her an <a class="" href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/12/31/opinion/trump-immigration-h1b-visa-musk-loomer/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">H-1B visa</a>, which is given to people in specialty occupations requiring expertise. The visa was valid through mid-2027, said Thomas S. Brown, an attorney representing her and Brown Medicine.Alawieh was detained when she returned to Logan airport, and family members are afraid that she is about to be deported to Lebanon, he said.“We are at a loss as to why this happened,” Brown said. “I don’t know if it’s a byproduct of the Trump crackdown on immigration. I don’t know if it’s a travel ban or some other issue.”He said her phone has been seized and he has not been able to contact Alawieh.Bayliss said a lawyer filed a petition with the US District Court in Massachusetts, and Judge Leo T. Sorokin issued an order saying Alawieh should not be moved outside of Massachusetts without 48 hours notice. But he said that message apparently did not reach immigration officials in time, and a plane carrying Alawieh left for Paris.“This is outrageous,” Bayliss said in an interview. “This is a person who is legally entitled to be in the U.S., who is stopped from re-entering the country for reasons no one knows. It’s depriving her patients of a good physician.”</blockquote>This is a creepy story from The Guardian: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/14/israel-betar-deportation-list-trump" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Pro-Israel group says it has ‘deportation list’ and has sent ‘thousands’ of names to Trump officials.</a><blockquote>A far-right group that claimed credit for the arrest of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/14/why-was-mahmoud-khalil-arrested" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Palestinian activist and permanent US resident</a> who the Trump administration is seeking to deport claims it has submitted “thousands of names” for similar treatment.Betar US is one of a number of rightwing, pro-Israel groups that are supporting the administration’s efforts to deport international students involved in university pro-Palestinian protests, an effort that escalated this week with the arrest of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/12/who-is-mahmoud-khalil-arrest-palestinian-activist-columbia" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mahmoud Khalil</a>, an activist who recently completed his graduate studies at Columbia University.This week, Donald Trump said Khalil’s arrest was just “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/10/trump-arrest-palestinian-activist-mahmoud-khalil" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the first of many to come</a>”. Betar US quickly claimed credit on social media for providing Khalil’s name to the government.Betar, which has been labelled an <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2025-02-21/ty-article/.premium/embraces-islamophobia-harasses-muslims-adl-lists-far-right-betar-usa-as-hate-group/00000195-2a1d-d05a-ab9f-2e1d09680000" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League</a> (ADL), a Jewish advocacy group, <a href="https://x.com/Betar_USA/status/1899075454310440964" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said on Monday</a> that it had “been working on deportations and will continue to do so”, and warned that the effort would extend beyond immigrants. “Expect naturalized citizens to start being picked up within the month,” the group’s post on X read. (It is very difficult to revoke US citizenship, though Trump has <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/27/trump-resumes-threat-to-denaturalize-citizens/77905612007/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">indicated</a> an intention to try.)The group has compiled a so-called “deportation list” naming individuals it believes are in the US on visas and have participated in pro-Palestinian protests, claiming these individuals “terrorize America”.A Betar spokesperson, Daniel Levy, said in a statement to the Guardian that Betar submitted “thousands of names” of students and faculty they believe to be on visas from institutions like Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, Syracuse University and others to representatives of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/trump-administration" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Trump administration</a>.</blockquote> <a href="https://skydancingblog.com/by-martin-pierce/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>By Martin Pierce Here’s another immigration horror story from The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2025/03/14/south-milwaukee-woman-deported-to-laos-is-stranded-with-few-options/82369691007/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Milwaukee-area woman deported to Laos though she’s never been there, doesn’t speak the language.</a> <blockquote>A Hmong American woman who has lived in the Milwaukee area since she was 8 months old was deported last week to Laos, a country she has never visited, and says she is stranded in a rooming house surrounded by military guards.Ma Yang, 37, a mother of five, said she does not speak the Lao language, has no family or friends in the country and that the military is holding all her documents. She was born in Thailand, the daughter of Hmong refugees after the Vietnam War, and she was a legal permanent U.S. resident until she pleaded guilty to taking part in a marijuana trafficking operation.“The United States sent me back to die,” she said. “I don’t even know where to go. I don’t even know what to do.”As President Donald Trump pushes the mass deportation of immigrants, Yang believes she is one of the first Hmong Americans to be deported to Laos in recent years. As of November, <a class="" href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-data-reveals-america-has-tens-thousands-noncitizens-from-us-adversary-deportation-orders" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the U.S. considered</a> Laos an “uncooperative” country that accepted few, if any, deportees. Zero people were deported to Laos in the last fiscal year, <a class="" href="https://www.ice.gov/doclib/eoy/iceAnnualReportFY2024.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to federal data.</a>Once she arrived in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on March 6, she said she was questioned by military authorities then sent to a rooming house, where guards did not allow her to leave or contact anyone for five days. She paced in circles around the compound and ate food the guards gave her.A few days ago, she was taken to buy a cellphone and withdraw cash. She could finally reach out to her partner of 16 years, Michael Bub of South Milwaukee, a U.S. citizen. The military official in charge of her situation — she does not know his rank or title — then said she could leave if she wanted. But she is scared to venture out.</blockquote>Trump is apparently planning a new travel ban. The New York Times: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/trump-travel-ban.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Draft List for New Travel Ban Proposes Trump Target 43 Countries.</a><blockquote>The Trump administration is considering targeting the citizens of as many as 43 countries as part of a new ban on travel to the United States that would be broader than the restrictions imposed during President Trump’s first term, according to officials familiar with the matter.A draft list of recommendations developed by diplomatic and security officials suggests a “red” list of 11 countries whose citizens would be flatly barred from entering the United States. They are Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen, the officials said….The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal deliberations, cautioned that the list had been developed by the State Department several weeks ago, and that changes were likely by the time it reached the White House.Citizens on that list would also be subjected to mandatory in-person interviews in order to receive a visa. It included Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan.</blockquote>See the full draft list of countries at the link. I can’t reproduce it here.This is getting too long, but I need to touch on Trump’s speech at the “justice department” yesterday. The speech was supposed to be about fentanyl. <a href="https://skydancingblog.com/mary-sauer-figure-with-black-cat/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"></a>Mary Sauer, Figure with Black Cat Hugo Lowell at The Guardian: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/14/trump-justice-department-speech-criminal-cases" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Trump vents fury about his criminal cases in extraordinary speech at DoJ.</a><blockquote>Taking over the justice department headquarters for what amounted to a political event, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a> railed against the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donald-trump-trials" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">criminal cases</a> he defeated by virtue of returning to the presidency in an extraordinary victory lap the department has perhaps never before seen.The event was billed as a policy address for the administration to tout its focus on combating illegal immigration and drug trafficking, but the majority of the president’s freewheeling remarks focused instead on his personal grievances with the department.Trump spoke from a specially constructed stage in the great hall of the main justice building, backed with blue velvet curtains that underscored the theatrics and symbolism of Trump cementing his control over the justice department, which had tried and failed to hold him to account.The choice of venue carried additional resonance about how Trump has fully implemented his agenda at the justice department, doing away with the longstanding tradition of independence from partisan politics and instead turning it into an extension of the White House.The great hall has historically been used for major law enforcement announcements by the justice department and its senior leaders, and when presidents have delivered speeches at the building, the remarks have been of a national security or non-political stripe.In Trump’s hourlong speech, he repeatedly strayed from his prepared remarks to assail the criminal cases against him, various lawyers and former prosecutors by name and accused the Biden administration of trying to destroy him, declaring <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Joe Biden</a> the head of a crime family.“The case against me was bullshit,” Trump said with fury, in the building where the charges were approved.But he heaped praise on his defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, whom he elevated to in effect run the justice department as the deputy attorney general and the principal associate deputy attorney general respectively, as well as the department’s chief of staff, Chad Mizelle….Trump offered notable praise for the US district judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed his criminal case on charges of mishandling classified documents, over decades of legal precedent. Trump claimed criticism of her made her angry, although he also said he had never spoken to her.“She was brilliant,” Trump said of Cannon, “the absolute model of what a judge should be.”</blockquote>Liam Reilly at CNN: <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/14/media/trump-media-speech/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Trump baselessly accuses news media of ‘illegal’ behavior and corruption in DOJ speech</a>.<blockquote>President Donald Trump launched some of his harshest attacks yet on the media on Friday, using a speech at the Department of Justice to baselessly accuse outlets including CNN of illegal and corrupt behavior.<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i41Av4eYO8" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">In his Friday speech</a>, Trump praised Florida district court Judge Aileen Cannon, whom he appointed in 2020 and who <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/politics/jack-smith-classified-documents-report-aileen-cannon/index.html" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sided with him in January</a>, blocking the DOJ from sharing a report on Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents with members of Congress.But Trump claimed news publishers had gone after Cannon because of the January ruling, alleging “they do it all the time with judges” and that they “will write whatever these people say,” without offering proof.“The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and MSDNC, and the fake news, CNN and ABC, CBS and NBC, they’ll write whatever they say,” Trump said. “And what do you do to get rid of it? You convict Trump.”“It’s totally illegal what they do,” Trump continued, addressing DOJ employees. “I just hope you can all watch for it, but it’s totally illegal.”While Trump did not immediately clarify who “they” are, he later claimed that CNN and MSNBC are “political arms of the Democrat Party.”“In my opinion, they’re really corrupt,” Trump said.</blockquote>He’s doing everything in the dictator’s playbook, folks.That’s it for me. What’s on your mind today? <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/alan-simpson/" target="_blank">#AlanSimpson</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/columbia-university/" target="_blank">#ColumbiaUniversity</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/donald-trump/" target="_blank">#DonaldTrump</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/government-shutdown/" target="_blank">#governmentShutdown</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/house-continuing-resolution-2025/" target="_blank">#HouseContinuingResolution2025</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/immigration/" target="_blank">#immigration</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/justice-department/" target="_blank">#JusticeDepartment</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/kevin-drum/" target="_blank">#KevinDrum</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/ma-yang/" target="_blank">#MaYang</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/mahmoud-khalil/" target="_blank">#MahmoudKhalil</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/rasha-alawieh/" target="_blank">#RashaAlawieh</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://skydancingblog.com/tag/travel-ban/" target="_blank">#travelBan</a>

Recent searches

Search options

Administered by:

Server stats:

#RashaAlawieh