Tuesday Cartoons: Need to escape.

Posted: December 2, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: just because | 9 Comments

Hello, that is a picture of Stonehenge a couple of days ago. From the facebook post:

Sunrise over Stonehenge — 07:49 AM, November 30, 2025 ☀✨
This morning, the world aligned in perfect harmony. At 7:49 AM, the rising sun slipped through the ancient stones of Stonehenge with breathtaking precision, igniting the horizon in gold and carving a luminous path across the frosted earth. 🌅

This beam of light is no trick of the eye — it’s the sun lifting over the horizon at the exact angle its builders anticipated more than four thousand years ago. They placed every stone with intention, crafting a monument that greets the solstice sun with a spectacle that still feels almost otherworldly.

An ancient design meeting a new dawn.
Human hands and cosmic timing working together across millennia. 🌍✨

Innit beautiful?

The news is so fucking depressing. I’m just posting cartoons and memes.

The White House Christmas decorations are out:

Yes, that is a plastic picture of Trump’s mugshot. So damn tacky.

Sadly relevant today.

— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) 2025-12-01T16:04:45.545Z

Here is the updated on the Hegseth fiasco:

Hegseth’s spokesman has now moved to goalposts to another stadium.

— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T02:13:04.546Z

Yep, let’s have the active duty guy take the fall

— Kai Ryssdal (@kairyssdal.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T02:11:20.775Z

He knew exactly what was coming, and how they’d be throwing military leaders like Admiral Bradley under the bus, and wisely decided to retire before it happened.news.usni.org/2025/10/16/a…

— Michelangelo Signorile (@msignorile.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T02:03:50.971Z

🎶Pete Hagueseth is a fucking douche 🎶

— God (@thegodpodcast.com) 2025-12-02T02:17:14.767Z

As Brit Hume says, when Pete Hegseth says he "has the back" of Admiral Bradley, he means he's plunging a knife into it.

— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T01:46:54.521Z

It is just sickening.

If blowing up survivors in the water was the right thing to do because they are “narco-terrorists” (trust us, bro) and deserve no quarter, why did we rescue two other survivors in a different strike, fly them home, and let them go free?

— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T02:16:43.083Z

That is all I can do for now?

Be safe out there…

This is an open thread.

Mostly Monday Reads: Trumperville

Posted: December 1, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: #FARTUS, #We are so Fucked, Disappearing Immigrants, Domestic terrorism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

“That peace prize is a shoo-in next year.” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

I’ve had a rough few days here in my hometown of New Orleans. I’ve been working on getting signal whistle kits together and have enjoyed the camaraderie of brothers and sisters in arms. As the sky has turned quite gray the last few days and temperatures have dropped, it sets a scene that I knew was coming, but now I’ve seen. Of course, the National Guard is overwhelmingly visible in the French Quarter. I’ll share some photos taken by friends who were gigging or living their lives there from Saturday.

Yesterday morning, during my walk, I spoke with the two professors who have a woodworking shop in an old storefront across the street from me. They were given 2 weeks’ notice to move out of the apartment they shared for 31 years. The landlord was eager to renovate the property and convert it into student housing. Today’s walk left me even more stunned.

There was an old black man pushing a luggage cart up and down the street with all of his earthly goods and his cat on top. I didn’t take a photo because it felt too sacred to capture. He headed up towards the Abandoned Navy Base and then up to the bridge area. The large gray Tabby looked like a prince, while the old man just kept muttering Stay, stay, stay. I saw my first real discussion on a group Signal Chat of a large contingent of ICE stooges getting ready to make a raid. There are tears in my eyes as I write this.

I guess making America Great these days means putting old people on the street, ensuring our hard-working neighbors stay holed up in their houses, relying on the good-hearted to protect them and bring them provisions. It means separating families and shipping them off to the swamp hellholes of Louisiana here while everyone desperately searches for their whereabouts. It also means appointing illegal prosecutors to cases “for the people”, massive Bachanalia on the taxpayers’ money in a shit hole in Florida, and an illegal attack on Venezuela. You can also read about it as rural clinics and hospitals shut down, making small-town America unlivable during a time when we’re seeing a plague of measles and other diseases long thought gone.

We’ve never been a perfect union, but I’ve never seen or read about such a great undoing as the one we’re living through now. The midterms are more important than ever.  All of this makes it very scary to go outside. I’m going to continue with the Hegseth/Venezuela disaster that BB wrote about yesterday.

This is from Jennifer Rubin writing for The Contrarian. “War Crime…or Murder? Killing shipwreck survivors is patently illegal and morally abhorrent.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who makes up in false bravado what he lacks in judgment and expertise, appears to have committed an inexcusable, unjustified violation of black-letter international and domestic law, according to a stunning Washington Post story released last Friday. The incident occurred during our Sept. 2 Caribbean military operation against suspected drug traffickers:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive,according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. “The order was to kill everybody,” one of them said.

After the attack, two survivors clung to the “smoldering wreck.” Then, in an action that should shock the conscience, forces murdered the two survivors. “The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack—the opening salvo in the Trump administration’s war on suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere—ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, two people familiar with the matter said,” The Post reported. “The two men were blown apart in the water.”

The Trump regime claims the report is false, but the evidence has not been specifically debunked. No explanation has been given as to why the video was edited to omit this part of the attack.

Putting aside for the moment the legitimacy of the underlying order to shoot these boats out of the water (which, frankly, is hard to justify based on a false theory and made-up facts), it is impossible to imagine any Pentagon lawyer blessing this action. The concept of hors de combat—literally, out of combat—is a fundamental aspect of the law of war that prevents harming those disabled from combat.

If we are at war, this is a shocking violation of the law of war and specifically the Department of Defense Law of War Manual (updated in July 2023). Per the latter, those shipwrecked (or “those in distress at sea or stranded on the coast who are also helpless”) are protected under the Geneva Convention, and in turn, U.S. law. Not only must shipwrecked individuals “not be knowingly attacked, fired upon, or unnecessarily interfered with,” but our military must “without delay, take all possible measures to search for and collect the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked at sea, to protect them against pillage and ill-treatment, to ensure their adequate care, and to search for the dead and prevent their being despoiled.”

Conservative lawyer Jack Goldsmith reiterates, “ The DOD Manual is clear because the law here is clear: “Persons who have been incapacitated by . . . shipwreck are in a helpless state, and it would be dishonorable and inhumane to make them the object of attack.” Todd Huntley, a former Special Operations military lawyer cited in The Post report, agrees that even if the U.S. were at war an order to kill all the survivors “would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime.”

Meanwhile, Trump is saying Hegseth didn’t give that order. They’re also more than doubling down on attacks against Venezuela. This feels like one more thing to get everyone to stop investigating the Epstein Files. However, this is a deadly distraction and one that will tarnish our National image in South America, sending it back to the 1960s. This is from AXIOS. “Trump backs Hegseth as Congress plans boat strike review.” This article was written by Avery Lotz.

President Trump said he believesDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s denial of a report alleging he ordered military forcesto leave no survivors in a strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat from Venezuela.

The big picture: The U.S. has ramped up its military pressure on Venezuela and President Nicolás Maduro despite legal experts and lawmakers sounding the alarm over the legality of the strikes on alleged drug traffickers that have killed dozens.

  • Hegseth slammed The Washington Post’s report that he directed military officials to kill everyone aboard a vessel, which allegedly resulted in a secondstrike to take out two survivors. The Intercept also previously reported on the follow-up attack.
  • He dismissed the allegations as “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory” on X but said “these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes.'”

Driving the news: “He said he did not say that, and I believe him 100%,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.

  • The president added that “we’ll look into it” and thathe wouldn’t have wanted a second strike.
  • “The first strike was very lethal. It was fine. And if there were two people around, but Pete said that didn’t happen,” he said. “I have great confidence.”
  • Trump added, “Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,”

Friction point: But lawmakers have expressed increasing concern over the shadowy operations and are seeking to conduct their own oversight of the strikes.

  • House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said in a Saturday statement that they “take seriously” the reports of follow-up strikes and are “taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question.”
  • Similarly, Senate Armed Services Committee ChairSen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said in a statement the committee will conduct “vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”

What they’re saying: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday that if the allegations are proven true, “this rises to the level of a war crime.”

  • Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, also said on CBS that there “are very serious concerns in Congress about the attacks on the so-called drug boats down in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and the legal justification that’s been provided”

There are many more sad stories about how this cruel administration is turning its back on the GLBT community. If I haven’t been crying about the things above, I’ve also been crying on the Anniversary of AIDS Awareness and World AIDS Day.  Each year reminds me of all my beautiful friends from high school and university who were lost to this disease. Now, I think about the adults and children all over the world who have lost access to medicines. This is from Forbes.  “On This World AIDS Day, The U.S. Declines To Participate.”  This was written by “Dave Wessner, a virologist who covers infectious diseases.”

The United States will not formally commemorate World AIDS Day this year. This decision comes on the heels of recent federal funding cuts that threaten to disrupt hard-earned progress combatting this global epidemic. Despite significant scientific advancements in HIV treatment and prevention, many people worry about our efforts to end this ongoing crisis.

Since 1988, December 1 has been recognized as World AIDS Day by communities throughout the world. It is a day to remember the people who have died of HIV/AIDS, demonstrate our continued support for people living with HIV and strengthen the global efforts to end this epidemic.

U.S. presidents have recognized the day in various ways. Seventeen years ago, President George W. Bush discussed the unparalleled success of his signature initiative, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. He also noted that the red ribbon displayed at the White House was, “a symbol of our resolve to confront HIV/AIDS and to affirm the matchless value of every life.” Just a year ago, President Joe Biden remarked that, “we renew our commitment to accelerating efforts to finally end the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”

This year, the U.S. State Department sent an email to employees that stated, “The U.S. Government will not be commemorating World AIDS Day this year.”

One could argue that a day of commemoration does not save lives. But funding does. And the HIV/AIDS funding landscape has changed dramatically during the Trump administration. Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS, noted in a recently released report that, “this year’s disruption to the global response has exposed the fragility of the progress we have fought so hard to achieve.”

My friend John Autin captured this photo Saturday night in the French Quarter of the National Guard Occupation.

Politico reports today on the number of Trump nominees withdrawing. “Record-setting personnel issues are marring Trump’s second term. The president has nearly doubled Joe Biden’s mark for nominees withdrawn from the Senate in the first year.” Something rotten is in the beltway.

On the surface, President Donald Trump’s second-term personnel operation has been a smoothly running machine. The Senate has confirmed more than 300 civilian nominees since January, even changing the chamber’s rules to move them faster.

But there are clear signs of breakdowns behind the scenes. Trump has withdrawn a record number of nominees for a president’s first year in office as he faces a combination of GOP pushback against some picks, vetting issues, White House infighting and, in some cases, the president’s own mercurial views.

Trump has withdrawn 57 nominations, according to Senate data — roughly double the 22 nominations he withdrew during the first year of his first administration and the 29 his immediate predecessor, Joe Biden, withdrew during his first year.

The pace of withdrawals, the highest since at least the Ronald Reagan presidency, has flown below the radar in the day-to-day churn on Capitol Hill, with many Republican senators expressing surprise at the data in interviews. But they also acknowledged the obvious: In some instances, the White House just isn’t making sure Trump’s nominees can get the votes.

“It would appear that some nominees haven’t been vetted, and … somebody says, ‘Go with them anyways,’” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said in an interview.

After POLITICO reported he made racist comments in a group chat, Ingrassia withdrew despite telling senators he had “no recollection of these alleged chat leaks, and do not concede their authenticity.” But Senate Republicans had already privately telegraphed to the Trump administration for months that his nomination was in serious peril.

Asked about the withdrawals, a person close to the White House granted anonymity to speak candidly about internal dynamics pointed to Ingrassia as a key example.

“Would I say some vetting has been questionable? One thousand percent,” the person said, adding of Ingrassia: “That was a vetting nightmare that was only allowed to happen based on certain relationships and acquaintances with people that are making the decisions.”

DHS outside the Boggs Bldng on Poydras. Downtown New Orleans

The New York Times reports that Alina Haba was found to be an illegal U.S. Attorney by an Appeals Court. “Appeals Court Says Alina Habba Is Unlawful U.S. Attorney. The judges wrote that the Trump administration appeared to have become frustrated by legal and political barriers that have prevented its preferred U.S. attorneys from leading federal prosecutors’ offices.”  All the best people, you know.

A federal appeals court said on Monday that Alina Habba had been serving unlawfully as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, dealing a blow to the Trump administration and most likely setting up a showdown at the Supreme Court.

Ms. Habba is one of a number of U.S. attorneys whom the Trump administration has sought to keep in power through a series of unusual maneuvers even though she was neither confirmed by the Senate nor appointed by district trial court judges — the two traditional pathways. Defendants in New Jersey had challenged her authority as U.S. attorney, leading to Monday’s decision.

In its ruling, the three-judge panel, based in Philadelphia, affirmed an earlier ruling by a Federal District Court judge. The court said that the government’s tactics had violated the law as written and concluded that, overall, the Trump administration appeared to have become frustrated by legal and political barriers to placing its favored U.S. attorneys in charge.

The maneuvers undertaken to keep Ms. Habba in charge exemplified the difficulties the administration had faced, the judges wrote. And yet, they said, “the citizens of New Jersey and the loyal employees in the U.S. attorney’s office deserve some clarity and stability.”

There is no moral, legal, or intellectual clarity to anyone who serves this administration. I firmly believe their goal is instability. This makes the Midterm elections even more significant.

And, again, hello from Occupyied New Orleans.  The national news has started covering us as the movement of ICE goons into the area continues. This is from CNN. “What we know – and don’t know – about the immigration crackdown expected in New Orleans this week.”

As Department of Homeland Security agents are expected to surge into New Orleans this week, the latest Democrat-led city targeted by a federal immigration enforcement crackdown, a common thread has emerged among local officials: They’re being kept in the dark – and it’s spiking fear among the immigrant community.

There is “mass chaos and confusion” as the campaign looms, newly elected Councilmember at-Large Matthew Willard told CNN. He said he and other local officials have received scant details about the operation – and the information they have received “isn’t reassuring.”

“We’re really just fearful of the unknown, and looking at the coverage that we’ve seen in other cities by CNN, we certainly don’t want that here in the city of New Orleans,” he said.

Our new mayor is a Latina who was born in Mexico. This is what Councilwoman Helena Morena had to say.  CNN also talked to Orleans Parish’s Congressman.

New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, who was born in Mexico, has said she’s received limited information about the expected operation but that the fear among immigrant communities is palpable.

“You have parents who are scared to send their children to school,” Moreno, a Democrat, told CNN affiliate WWL. “At my church,” she said, “there is a one o’clock service, Spanish-speaking service every Sunday, that keeps getting smaller and smaller. People are really, really scared.”

Her office has released guidelines for interacting with immigration enforcement agents, urging people to comply with orders from law enforcement and to record with their phones if they feel safe.

US Rep. Troy Carter, who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, told WWL he also wasn’t briefed on any Border Patrol operations and suggested federal agents had profiled people in other cities.

“Turn on the television. Turn on the internet. Pick up a newspaper and you find some people who were profiled because they looked a certain way,” Carter said. “Never mind the fact that they were actually US citizens.”

My Holiday Craft Project

There’s a huge rally this evening at the Park that is deep in the city’s complex of Federal Buildings. When I worked at the New Orleans Fed, my office faced directly towards it. I’m actually hoping they get an overflow of people. It’s right there on St. Charles near the Old City Hall, and you’ve undoubtedly seen it if you’ve watched any Mardi Gras parades on TV.

So, I’m so sorry I’m such a Debbie Downer today. I’m going to go pack up more signal whistle kits for the rally.

I hope you had a wonderful long weekend. I’m not going anywhere. This country is not going down on my watch.  If my Daddy could bomb NAZIs, I can certainly frustrate a few.

Please stay safe out there… these ICE GOONS are serious!  Our legislature and the Governor have empowered them.  I just weep for my city and neighbors today.

What’s on your reading and blogging list today?

Sunday Cartoons: Water Pistols

Posted: November 30, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: just because | 4 Comments

The shit is really coming home to roost…Trump and his regime are truly evil.

Meanwhile, the White House has a new website:

How it started / How it’s going

— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) 2025-11-30T00:49:08.661Z

They never really believed in free speech

— Molly Jong-Fast (@mollyjongfast.bsky.social) 2025-11-30T02:14:48.927Z

The White House web site now includes a "media bias" tracker with a leaderboard and an offender hall of shame. http://www.whitehouse.gov/mediabias/

— Steve Herman (@newsguy.bsky.social) 2025-11-29T02:59:56.510Z

The White House’s new anti-media website includes denunciations of:-ABC, which bribed the president-CBS, which bribed the president and moved away from fact-based journalism trying to appeal to him and his fans-WaPo, which spiked a Harris endorsement and tilts coverage in Trump’s favorFools.

— Nicholas Grossman (@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social) 2025-11-30T03:15:20.472Z

This miserable pig doesn’t enjoy anything in life. The only pleasure he finds in his twisted, perverted soul is making others miserable

— Pat Bagley (@bagleycartoons.bsky.social) 2025-11-29T19:18:45.645Z

So yes, this pic (and the enlargement) was taken today. Yikes! 🧟‍♂️

— Spiro’s Ghost (@antitoxicpeople.bsky.social) 2025-11-30T00:55:57.589Z

Also:

Under Trump, 591 books by Black authors have been banned from Pentagon-run schools and libraries, according to Onyx Impact. @delanomassey.bsky.social http://www.axios.com/2025/11/29/f…

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt.bsky.social) 2025-11-29T15:25:47.433Z

This is the most corrupt, lawless administration in the history of the United States and there’s no close second.

— Andrew Weinstein (@andrewjweinstein.com) 2025-11-29T05:03:30.543Z

Cartoons via Cagle:

Take it easy and be safe…this is an open thread.

Lazy Caturday Reads: Everything is Awful, As Usual

Posted: November 29, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Good Afternoon!!

Shared Reflections, by Rebecca Aldernet

I can’t find any good news this morning–what else is new? The “president” is dangerously demented, his cabinet is full of kooks, his economy is going down the tubes, and he seems determined to start a war in Venezuela. Anyway, here are the stories that caught my attention today.

Venezuela Boat Strikes

I’m sure you’ve heard the reports about Pete Hegseth’s campaign of war crimes against alleged drug boats. Yesterday, The Washington Post published an exclusive report by Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima (gift link): Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all.

The longer the U.S. surveillance aircraftfollowed the boat, the more confident intelligence analysts watching from command centers became that the 11 people on board were ferrying drugs.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken directive,according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. “The order was to kill everybody,” one of them said.

A missile screamed off the Trinidad coast, striking the vessel and igniting a blaze from bow to stern. For minutes, commanders watched the boat burning on a live drone feed. As the smoke cleared, they got a jolt: Two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck.

The Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack — the opening salvo in the Trump administration’s war on suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere — ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, two people familiar with the matter said. The two men were blown apart in the water.

Hegseth’s order, which has not been previously reported, adds another dimension to the campaign against suspected drug traffickers. Some current and former U.S. officials and law-of-war experts have said that the Pentagon’s lethal campaign — which has killed more than 80 people to date — is unlawful and may expose those most directly involved to future prosecution.

The alleged traffickers pose no imminent threat of attack against the United States and are not, as the Trump administration has tried to argue, in an “armed conflict” with the U.S., these officials and experts say. Because there is no legitimate war between the two sides, killing any ofthe men in the boats “amounts to murder,” said Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who advised Special Operations forces for seven years at the height of the U.S. counterterrorism campaign.

Even if the U.S. were at war with the traffickers, an order to kill all the boat’s occupants if they were no longer able to fight “would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime,” said Huntley, now director of the national security law program at Georgetown Law.

Use the gift link to read the rest. We’re going to need prosecutions if we ever get rid of Trump and his goons.

Phillip M. Bailey at USA Today: Pete Hegseth lashes out at ‘kill them all’ report on boat strikes.

U.S Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is lashing out at a report that he ordered military officials to “kill them all” during one of the Trump administration’s strikes in the Caribbean aimed a boat allegedly carrying drug cargo.

Nataliya Bagatskaya, Echo of the black cats

“As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland,” Hegseth, 45, said in a Nov. 28 post on X.

The defense secretary was responding to a Washington Post story citing two anonymous sources that claimed he ordered troops to leave no survivors after a missile struck the vessel, which was traveling off the Trinidad coast, as two individuals were clinging to the smoldering wreckage.

Since September, the Trump administration has attacked at least 21 boats traversing international waters, killing 83 people. Trump and other officials defend the boat strikes as an attempt to crackdown on illegal narcotics flooding into the U.S., but lawmakers from both parties have criticized the administration for providing no intelligence briefings or other evidence about what the vessels are carrying.

“At this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said during an Oct. 26 appearance on Fox News Sunday. “This is akin to what China does, what Iran does with drug dealers − they summarily execute people without presenting evidence to the public. So it’s wrong.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who shared the story about Hegseth’s alleged order, raised similar concerns about the constitutionality of the strikes in an Nov. 28 post on X.

“If you want to know why Hegseth is panicking about reminders that there is accountably for giving or carrying out illegal orders, it’s likely because he knows he has given illegal orders to murder people,” Murphy said.

Victoria Bisset, Alex Horton, Ellen Nakashima, and Noah Robertson at The Washington Post: Senate committee vows ‘vigorous oversight’ in killing of boat strike survivors.

The head of the Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee has pledged “vigorous oversight” after a Washington Post report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken order to kill all crew members during the first U.S. strike against suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean earlier this year.

A live drone feed showed two survivors from the original crew of 11 clinging to the wreckage of their boat following the initial missile attack on Sept. 2, The Post reported on Friday afternoon. The Special Operations commander overseeing the operation then ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation, killing both survivors. Those people, along with five others in the original report, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

Late Friday, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), the committee’s ranking Democrat, issued a statement saying that the committee “is aware of recent news reports — and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels.”

The committee, they said, “has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”

If Trump is so concerned about drugs coming into the U.S. from Latin America, why did he just pardon a Honduran drug kingpin?

The New York Times: Trump Announces Pardon for Honduran Ex-President Convicted in Drug Case.

President Trump announced on Friday afternoon that he would grant “a Full and Complete Pardon” to a former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who, as the center of a sweeping drug case, was found guilty by an American jury last year of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States.

By Louis Valtat

The news came as a shock not only to Hondurans, but also to the authorities in the United States who had built a major case and won a conviction against Mr. Hernández. They had accused him of taking bribes during his campaign from Joaquín Guzmán, the notorious former leader of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico known as “El Chapo,” and of running his Central American country like a narco state.

The judge in his case, P. Kevin Castel, had called Mr. Hernández “a two-faced politician hungry for power” who masqueraded as an antidrug crusader while partnering with traffickers. And prosecutors had asked the judge to make sure Mr. Hernández would die behind bars, citing his abuse of power, connections to violent traffickers and “the unfathomable destruction” caused by cocaine.

The prosecution stretched across Mr. Trump’s first term and concluded during Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s time as president. In the end, Mr. Hernández was sentenced to 45 years in prison in Federal District Court in Manhattan, capping what prosecutors had presented as a sprawling conspiracy.

Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations at the same agency, also reacted with disbelief to the news of the pardon. Mr. Vigil said the move imperiled the reputation of the United States and its international investigations into drug trafficking.

“This action would be nothing short of catastrophic and would destroy the credibility of the U.S. in the international community,” Mr. Vigil said on Friday.

Mr. Trump’s vow to pardon such a high-profile convicted drug trafficker appeared to contradict the president’s campaign to unleash the might of the American military on small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that his administration says, without evidence, are involved in drug trafficking. That campaign has so far killed more than 80 people since it began in September.

There’s probably a bribe involved.

War in Venezuela?

Kelly Rissman at The Independent: Trump tells airlines to consider Venezuela’s airspace closed as US military buildup continues in region.

President Donald Trump told airlines to consider Venezuela’s airspace closed, days after he vowed to take action on land “very soon.”

Following dozens of strikes against alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean that have killed more than 80 people since September, Trump suggested to military service members in a Thanksgiving Day phone call that the U.S. would soon take action “on land.”

On Saturday, he urged the clearing of the airspace near the South American country. “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY,” the U.S. president wrote on Truth Social Saturday morning.

Over the weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration also warned airlines to “exercise caution” when flying over Venezuela “due to the worsening security situation and heightened military activity.”

Several airlines cancelled their flights as a result of the FAA’s warning.

By Salah Hefney

Can he do that? A bit more from the Independent story:

Last week, the White House was reportedly considering having U.S. military planes drop leaflets — containing details about the $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Nicolás Maduro — over Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, the Washington Postreported.

For months, the U.S. government has been building up a military presence in the region to curb what Trump administration officials call “narco-terrorists” and has also made it clear it wants to oust Maduro.

Maduro has been in power since 2013, following the death of Hugo Chavez. The U.S. is among more than 50 countries that have refused to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s head of state, claiming he lost the 2024 presidential election. The State Department has offered rewards for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the Venezuelan president since 2020; the Trump administration raised the reward to $50 million this year.

The U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, which Trump alleges are fueled by Maduro’s government. Last month, the State Department designated Cartel de los Soles as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” claiming it’s headed by Maduro and other high-ranking members of his “illegitimate” regime.

There’s more at the link.

Attacks on National Guard in DC

Jenny Gathright, Emily Davies, and Olivia George at The Washington Post: D.C. police to begin patrolling with National Guard after fatal attack.

National Guard troops patrolling in D.C. will be paired with local law enforcement personnel, at least temporarily, in the wake of the Wednesday attack that killed one National Guard member and critically injured another, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post and two D.C. police officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss planning that is still in progress.

“Officers will conduct high-visibility patrols with the National Guard and provide assistance as needed,” said the email, which was sent to D.C. police leadership Wednesday evening. The email said the situation was “fluid,” and adjustments to the staffing plan could be made in the coming days.

Fabrice Backès, Sandie

If enacted on a long-term basis, the change would significantly shift the way National Guard troops have worked with local and federal law enforcement in the District since their arrival in August. Trump administration officials have credited the troops for helping reduce crime in the city — in part, they argued, because the troops’ presence at Metro stations and on National Park Service lands frees up law enforcement to police other areas of the city. Diverting local police to accompany Guard members would do essentially the opposite by siphoning them from other tasks in D.C. neighborhoods.

The email said the new pairing would start Thursday and Friday.A D.C. police official said some officers had been temporarily detailed to accompany the troops, and a more long-term policy change was under discussion.

The official, who stressed that the discussions were still preliminary, said D.C. police, Metro Transit Police, U.S. Park Police and several other law enforcement agencies were having conversations with the National Guard task force in D.C. about pairing the troops with police officers while they are on city streets. Since their deployment to D.C., groups of National Guard troops have largely operated unaccompanied by police, the official said.

 A judge has already said that putting National Guard Troops in DC was illegal, but Trump filed an “emergency appeal.” Meanwhile, two members of the West Virginia National Guard have been shot. One has died and the other is still in critical condition.

NPR: Where things stand with the National Guard shooting in D.C.

Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of Summersville, W.Va., joined the service in 2023. Beckstrom’s father, Gary, called her his “baby girl” and said she had “passed to glory” in a Facebook post on Thursday.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey on Friday called for residents to hold a moment of silence for the two victims of the shooting, as both were deployed as part of that state’s National Guard.

Morrisey said in a statement Friday that Beckstrom had made the “ultimate sacrifice” in service to her state and the nation. He added that both Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, had stepped forward and volunteered for the mission in D.C.

Morrisey also said that Wolfe remains in “very critical condition.”

“These two West Virginia heroes were serving our country and protecting our nation’s capital when they were maliciously attacked,” Morrisey said. “Their courage and commitment to duty represent the very best of our state.”

Trump’s Attacks on Woman Journalists

Corbin Bolies at The Wrap: Trump Calls CBS News Correspondent ‘Stupid Person’ in 4th Attack on Female Reporters in 2 Weeks.

President Donald Trump attacked another female reporter on Thursday after she asked him about the vetting of the suspect in a Washington, D.C., shooting that killed a National Guardsman, calling her a “stupid person.”

CBS News’ chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes questioned Trump about reports that Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the alleged gunman who entered the U.S. as part of a Biden-era program for Afghan refugees who fled the nation in 2021, was vetted before he allegedly shot at the National Guardsmen on Wednesday.

By Rebecca Aldernet

Reports indicated that Lakanwal was vetted either through his time working with the CIA in Afghanistan, during the removal process from Afghanistan or during his 2024 asylum application, which the Trump administration approved earlier this year.

Cordes, therefore, asked Trump why he blamed the Biden administration if U.S. officials confirmed vetting of the refugees took place. Trump didn’t enjoy the line of questioning.

“Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?” Trump asked. “Because they came into on a plane along with 1000s of other people that shouldn’t be here, and you’re just asking questions because you’re a stupid person. And we — there’s a law passed that it’s almost impossible not to get to get them out. You can’t get them out once they come in. And they came in and they were unvetted. They were unchecked. There were many of them, and they came on big planes, and it was disgraceful.”

The attack was the latest in a series of swipes at female reporters. Trump on Wednesday described a New York Times reporter as “ugly, inside and out” over a reported story on his age. He also called a Bloomberg News reporter a “piggy” and an ABC News reporter a “terrible person” for her questioning of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Catherine Bouris at The Daily Beast: Trump’s Niece Exposes Why Her Uncle Keeps Attacking Female Reporters.

Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, says one of the reasons the president seems to be increasingly lashing out at female reporters is because he is “rattled.

Mary, 60, discussed the rise in incidents on the Wednesday edition of her show, Mary Trump Live. She noted the 79-year-old president calling a reporter “piggy” while telling her to be quiet during a gaggle aboard Air Force One, and a Truth Social post in which he insulted a New York Times reporter’s looks.

“His misogynistic attacks against reporters in particular are increasing and that means a couple of things,” she explained. “It means that he’s increasingly comfortable lodging such attacks, as he’s been openly misogynistic, as he’s been openly racist and openly Islamophobic and openly anti-immigrant and openly antisemitic. There’s no hiding it anymore.”

”I think it’s also a sign that he’s a little rattled. He’s also never clearly heard of the Streisand effect,” Mary said, referring to the internet phenomenon where somebody inadvertently draws further attention to something while attempting to hide it from the public.

“When you call attention to the thing you want people to ignore, it’s probably a terrible idea.”

Trump’s Ballroom Obsession

Luke Broadwater at The New York Times (gift link): Inside Trump’s Push to Make the White House Ballroom as Big as Possible.

I posted about Trump’s conflicts with his architects on Wednesday. This is an extension of that story. After he met with architect James McCreary in August,

McCrery Architects got to work on the initial drawings for the project, sketching out a design with high ceilings and arched windows reminiscent of Versailles’s Hall of Mirrors. It would have the latest security features, including bulletproof glass. Gold furniture, known to please the president, was added to the renderings.

Black cat with cat lady, Dee Nickerson

It was flashy enough to impress a man of Mr. Trump’s tastes, while largely matching the style of the historic White House without overshadowing it.

That’s when things got tricky.

In offering up his initial design, Mr. McCrery could not have known that Mr. Trump’s vision for the project was growing. What started as a 500-seat ballroom connected to the East Wing grew to 650 seats. Next, he wanted a 999-seat ballroom, then room for 1,350. Even as Mr. Trump assured the public in July that the ballroom would not touch the existing structure, he already had approved plans to demolish the East Wing to make way for something that could hold several thousand people, according to three people familiar with the timeline.

The latest plan, which officials said was still preliminary, calls for a ballroom much larger than the West Wing and the Executive Mansion. Mr. Trump has said publicly that he would like a ballroom big enough to hold a crowd for a presidential inauguration.

The size of the project was not the only issue raising alarms. Mr. Trump also told people working on the ballroom that they did not need to follow permitting, zoning or code requirements because the structure is on White House grounds, according to three people familiar with his comments. (The firms involved have insisted on following industry standards.)

In recent weeks, Mr. McCrery has pulled back from day-to-day involvement in the project, two people familiar with the matter told The New York Times. They emphasized that Mr. McCrery was still involved as a consultant on the design and proud to be working for Mr. Trump.

Trump has destroyed our government; now he’s working on destroying the White House. Use the gift link to read the whole awful story.

Those are my recommended reads for today. What do you think?

Finally Friday Reads: Crass Consumerism in a Time of Cruelty

Posted: November 28, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: #FARTUS, hate crimes, ICE Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE raids, New Orleans | Tags: , , | 11 Comments

“For those unclear on what is happening.” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

It’s been a tough few days for a country celebrating a Feast Day and trying to be thankful! This is supposedly the season to celebrate ‘historical’ migration. These stories are heaped with more cultish propaganda than reality. It becomes increasingly difficult to stomach Crassmass in this nation’s day, marked by crass consumerism, during a time when it’s challenging to put food on the table. Watching the news is more difficult than usual. The Statue of Liberty should be wearing a black shroud.

This is from the AP. “Trump says he wants to ‘permanently pause’ migration to the US from poorer countries.” Just what we need. More selfish people. This news is reported by Josh Boak.

President Donald Trump says he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and is promising to seek to expel millions of immigrants from the United States by revoking their legal status. He is blaming immigrants for problems from crime to housing shortages as part of “social dysfunction” in America and demanding “REVERSE MIGRATION.”

His most severe social media post against immigration since returning to the Oval Office in January came after the shooting Wednesday of two National Guard members who were patrolling the streets of the nation’s capital under his orders. One died and the other is in critical condition.

A 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan War is facing charges. The suspect came to the U.S. as part of a program to resettle those who had helped American troops after U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Trump’s threat to stop immigration would be a serious blow to a nation that has long defined itself as welcoming immigrants.

Since the shooting not far from the White House, administration officials have pledged to reexamine millions of legal immigrants, building on a 10-month campaign to reduce the immigrant population. In a lengthy social media post late Thursday, the Republican president asserted that millions of people born outside the U.S. and now living in the country bore a large share of the blame for America’s societal ills.

“Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!”

Be prepared to see the nation’s economy and hope sink even further. My heart just hurts this morning. I woke up feeling that I really don’t belong in this world. It creates constant heartbreak. This autocratic regime is tearing our nation apart and murdering people. This is from Reuters. “Officials criticize Biden vetting, but Afghan shooting suspect was granted asylum under Trump.”

The Trump administration on Thursday blamed Biden-era vetting failures for the admission of an Afghan immigrant suspected of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., but the alleged gunman was granted asylum this year under President Donald Trump, according to a U.S. government file seen by Reuters.

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, entered the U.S. on September 8, 2021, under Operation Allies Welcome. The resettlement program was set up by former Democratic President Joe Biden after the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 that led to the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and the country’s takeover by the Taliban.

FBI Director Kash Patel and Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, both Trump appointees, said during a press conference on Thursday that the Biden administration had failed to conduct adequate background checks or vetting on Lakanwal before allowing him to enter the U.S. in 2021.

Neither official provided any evidence to support their assertion.
Patel said Lakanwal, who had worked with U.S. government forces during the U.S. war in Afghanistan, was improperly allowed to enter the U.S. because “the prior administration made the decision to allow thousands of people into this country without doing a single piece of background checking or vetting.”

The program, which allowed more than 70,000 Afghan nationals into the U.S., according to a congressional report, was designed with vetting procedures, including by U.S. counter-terrorism and intelligence agencies. But the large-scale and rushed nature of the evacuations led critics to say the background checks were inefficient.

You may read more about the suspect’s background at the link. Meanwhile, the young woman who died from the attack was there on a mission that a Federal judge deemed illegal. She died needlessly. My heart aches this morning. This is from the Washington Examiner, as reported by Ross O’Keefe. “Trump announces National Guard soldier Sarah Beckstrom died from her injuries after shooting.”

West Virginia National Guard soldier Sarah Beckstrom has died from her injuries after she and another soldier were shot Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced.

She was 20. Her father, Gary Beckstrom, previously said she wasn’t expected to recover and had a mortal injury.

“I must unfortunately tell you that just seconds before I went on right now, I heard that Sarah Beckstrom of West Virginia, one of the guardsmen that we’re talking about, highly respected young, magnificent person, started service in June of 2023 outstanding in every way. She’s just passed away,” Trump said Thursday evening.

“She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us right now. Her parents are with her. It’s just happened. She was savagely attacked. She’s dead, not with us. Incredible person, outstanding in every single way, in every department, that’s horrible,” he added.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey confirmed that she had died. “Sarah served with courage, extraordinary resolve, and an unwavering sense of duty to her state and to her nation. She answered the call to serve, stepped forward willingly, and carried out her mission with the strength and character that define the very best of the West Virginia National Guard,” he wrote in a post on X.

“Today, we honor her bravery and her sacrifice as we mourn the loss of a young woman who gave everything she had in defense of others. We will forever hold her family, her friends, and her fellow Guardsmen in our prayers as they grieve what no family should ever have to bear,” he added.

The New York Times spoke with her father, Gary, and a former boyfriend, Adam Carr.

“I’m holding her hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom told the outlet earlier. “She has a mortal wound. It’s not going to be a recovery.”

Carr said Beckstrom was “caring and tenderhearted.” He also said she enjoyed nature, road trips and spending time with her family. “As long as she was with people who cared about her, she was having a good time,” he said.

He added that she wasn’t excited to go to the nation’s capital initially because of people who did not want the National Guard there. She then grew fond of spending time in D.C., wandering museums and memorials.

The other soldier, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, is still fighting for his life.

Regarding the judicial ruling, Time Magazine has provided an update today. “What’s the Status of the National Guard in D.C. After Court Ruling and Recent Shooting?”  This analysis is provided by Miranda Jeyaretnam.

Last week, a federal judge ruled that the Trump Administration’s deployment of more than 2,000 National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., was illegal. But after a Wednesday shooting that resulted in one National Guard servicemember being killed and another hospitalized in critical condition, President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of an additional 500 troops.

“America will never bend and never yield in the face of terror, and at the same time, we will not be deterred from the mission these servicemembers were so nobly fulfilling,” Trump said in a video address on Wednesday night.

Trump’s expansive use of military powers has been criticized by legal experts, lawmakers and many others who argue that the President is unlawfully using the military for domestic law enforcement, including in assisting with immigration operations, on the pretext of cracking down on crime. Trump also deployed the National Guard during his first term, when he sent 5,000 troops to D.C. alongside law enforcement officers to crack down on peaceful protests during the Black Lives Matter movement, including clearing Lafayette Park in front of the White House and tear-gassing demonstrators.

Here’s what to know about the current deployments across the country and where things stand after Wednesday’s shooting.

This article contains a wealth of valuable information, including details on the legality of deployment and two notable court decisions.

“On Nov. 10, a West Virginia judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s decision to send troops to D.C. at Trump’s request. The lawsuit, which was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in West Virginia, alleged that the deployment violated state law.”

As stated that one involved state law.

Trump continues to use the military, Homeland Security, and the Justice Department to terrorize the country. This is from Vox. “How Trump made his Justice Department a tool for retribution. Thousands of DOJ attorneys have left since Trump took office. Here’s where that leaves the department. This is reported by Ariana Aspuru and Noel King.

President Donald Trump has been trying to use the Department of Justice as his personal law firm. Under Trump’s DOJ, cases are dropped for personal political reasons or built without evidence. The DOJ has also sought to prosecute Trump’s adversaries and political foes, including James Comey, the former FBI director, and Letitia James, the New York attorney general whose office filed a civil lawsuit against Trump in 2022.

Those cases have faced some challenges: On Monday, a federal judge threw out the government’s charges against Comey and James.

But Trump’s attempts to use the Justice Department for political ends are leaving their mark inside the department as well. Emily Bazelon, a staff writer at the New York Times Magazine, spoke to some of the thousands of DOJ attorneys who have resigned or been fired since January. Through their stories, she navigated us around the turmoil happening at the department, the pushback to Trump’s directives, and where it all leaves us.

Below is an excerpt of the conversation, edited for length and clarity. There is a wealth of valuable information in many specific cases, so you may want to review the entire article. This excerpt focuses on the potential future of the DOJ.

As the year progresses, how does the Trump administration start divvying up resources at the DOJ? What do we see Trump prioritizing?

There’s a really important order that happens where about a third of the manpower and resources of law enforcement agents is supposed to start going to immigration work. And that means that these FBI agents are not going to be doing the things they were doing before because their work hours are a finite resource.

Prosecutors told us that they saw these agents being pulled off of cases involving white collar crime or national security, counter-terrorism, child exploitation. Those are the kinds of big cases that just take a lot of labor. And so if you have your FBI agents out on the street picking up people for immigration detention, then they’re not going to be able to do these more longer-term cases that, in the view of the prosecutors, are very important for keeping Americans safe.

Moving forward to late September, Donald Trump has demanded that the DOJ pay him $230 million for investigations into him that happened during the Biden administration. How does that play out within his Department of Justice?

This is a really unprecedented demand. And also remember that the people who are going to decide whether Trump gets this big payout are his appointees, his former lawyers in the Justice Department, right? Pam Bondi and her deputy, Todd Blanche.

From the point of view of the Justice Department lawyers we interviewed, this just seemed comically corrupt to them. They just really couldn’t imagine how the president could think this was an appropriate use of federal funds.

One of your sources told you it would take a lot of restraint not to retaliate in the next administration. This person said they have a list in their head of career people who are helping the administration they want to hold to account. Did you come away from this reporting concerned that there is a cycle of retribution here that may be becoming entrenched?

It’s too soon to say there is going to be a lot of temptation to move in that direction because some people are going to feel like they’re surrounded by people who they watched do things that were unethical or traitorous to the colleagues around them. It’s hard to let all of that go.

I think there are different ways that could be addressed. There are employment repercussions, like questions of whether everyone gets to stay in the job. And then there’s the much more serious question of whether they’re going to be criminal investigations. That’s the kind of tit for tat retaliation that I think could really send the justice system into a tailspin.

Another of your sources tells you that the average American does not really care what is happening at the Justice Department because we think it doesn’t affect us. Is there an argument that this does in fact affect us, that we should really care what’s going on here?

I think there is: the rule of law. The idea of the stability of law is vital to American prosperity and social well-being, right? I mean, stability is honestly the most important thing we get from law. And when you live in a country where the president can turn the huge might of federal law enforcement against anyone he wants, then you’re kind of betting it’s not going to be you. But the odds are not the same as they were before when this kind of retribution was just off the table.

And since Watergate, we have lived in a country where there was a very deliberate, carefully erected separation between the White House and its political influence and investigations and criminal prosecutions from the Justice Department. So once that is gone, eventually you see that play out in all kinds of ways in Americans’ lives. Even if it starts by seeming it’s just about a few people like James Comey and Letitia James.

Trump calls Tim Walz “seriously retarded”

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-11-28T04:34:57.936Z

There are still a lot of good reporters on the beat. You just have to search for them. Here are some alternative media sources, starting with Paul Waldman of Public Notice. “Why MAGA is coming apart at the seams. Turns out they’re not in it for Trump, they’re in it for themselves.”

Never in modern times has a president enforced absolute loyalty in the way Trump does, not only by attempting to destroy any Republican who opposes him but by demanding regular public displays of sycophancy, such as the North Korean-style cabinet meetings in which everyone competes to see who can offer the most effusive praise of the president’s magnificence.

For the most part, it has worked: The atmosphere of fear surrounding Trump’s cult of personality has kept Republicans from criticizing him even when they think he’s wrong.

But consider the list of issues on which notable Republican officeholders and influencers are now breaking with Trump, or at the very least fighting amongst themselves in ways that weaken his movement:

  • After months of resisting the release of the Epstein files, Trump faced a revolt from his own party in Congress, where both houses voted nearly unanimously for a bill to force a release, which he signed.
  • Ideas Trump has floated recently, including 50-year mortgages and $2,000 checks given to Americans supposedly from tariff revenue, have landed with a thud in Congress, with few members coming out to back them. His demand to eliminate the filibuster has received little support from Republicans in the Senate.
  • Trump’s apparent interest in invading Venezuela has caused a negative reaction from supporters who believed him when he said he wanted to break with our history of foreign adventurism. Republican officeholders have begun raising questions about the Pentagon murdering alleged drug smugglers by the dozens without providing any evidence of who they were or what legal authority the administration is operating under. Sen. Rand Paul, for instance, says “I think you’ll see a splintering and a fracturing of the movement that has supported the president” if he invades Venezuela.
  • While Republican legislators in many states saluted and followed his order to redraw their congressional maps, Republicans in Indiana said no despite intense pressure from the White House. While it received less coverage, Republicans in Nebraska and Kansas also declined to redraw their maps to eliminate Democratic seats.
  • Trump has cheerleaded the unfettered development of artificial intelligence, but many on the right are wary of the technology and the tech companies creating it; when news broke that he wants to prevent any state from adopting AI regulations, state-level Republicans pushed back.
  • The right is currently being torn apart over the question of how friendly it should be to Nazis; while Trump’s own position on the question is a bit muddled, his administration is teeming with white nationalists.
  • Some Republicans are even worried about backlash from the administration’s nationwide campaign of masked thuggery; in response to the recent invasion of North Carolina, former Gov. Pat McCrory told Politico, “From a PR and political standpoint, for the first time, immigration is maybe having a negative impact on my party.”
  • Punchbowl News reports that MTG’s displeasure is just the tip of the iceberg in the Republican caucus in the House. The White House, one anonymous GOP member told them, “has treated ALL members like garbage … More explosive early resignations are coming. It’s a tinder box. Morale has never been lower.

The most immediate explanation for why all this dissension and displeasure is roiling to the surface is that Trump is extremely unpopular right now — especially on the economy, the issue every elected official rightly fears.

My Holiday Craft Project. Whistles for the Whistle Brigade.

ICE has been particularly active at Home Depots around here, but as the National Guard moves in on us today, we’re gearing up for a mess. This is reported by Jenny Taer at the Daily Wire. “Border Patrol Heads To Another Blue City In Latest Round Of Illegal Immigration Sweeps. The city’s Democratic leadership is now bracing for impact.” I must admit that I’m quite anxious. I’m doing my part with the resistance’s Whistle Squad.

Border agents are planning to hit New Orleans with immigration raids after Thanksgiving.

The Democrat-run city is expected to see sweeps similar to the ongoing operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Charlotte, where agents have arrested hundreds of illegal immigrants, according to CNN.

Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who has led the other operations, is expected to descend upon the city with roughly 250 federal agents starting the first week of December in an operation dubbed “Swamp Sweep,” according to multiple reports.

“My first priority is to keep our community safe. The reports of due process violations and potential abuses in other cities are concerning. I want our community to be aware and informed of the protections available under law,” Moreno said in a recent statement.

“We must demand accountability and that people’s rights are not violated. I’m also calling on our legal community to step up and provide whatever assistance they can to help protect and preserve individual rights.”

New Orleans is home to more than 23,000 immigrants who account for roughly 6.5% of the city’s population, according to CNN. Roughly half of the city’s immigrants are noncitizens.

Bracing for impact, some immigrants have already started to call out of work, leaving local businesses scrambling.

Ingrid Ferguson, who owns several grocery stores in New Orleans specializing in Central American products, told CNN that her immigrant employees are fearful to show up to work, forcing her and her family to pick up extra shifts.

Business revenue has been nearly cut in half with fewer Latino customers coming in.

Ferguson has started offering a free delivery service to immigrants hiding out at home and has considered temporarily closing all but one store location next week, according to CNN.

Louisiana is a major staging point for deportation flights and is home to eight federal immigration detention centers. Federal authorities across the country often funnel illegal immigrants with deportation orders to Louisiana as the final step in their one-way journey home.

yup, it's here via friendSo, this isn’t exactly the definition of the United States I thought we’d leave our children and grandchildren. I also intend to continue protecting and supporting my friends. Keep us all in your hearts as this long weekend progresses.

What’s on your reading, blogging, and action list today?

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