Nothing but the truth. Even if against me.

Nothing but the truth. Even if against me.

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Donald Dumb 's Illegal Business from the White House: IMPEACH HIM

Third Time's a Charm. Impeach the Orangutan.
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Sen. Jon Ossoff signals support for Trump impeachment
Nnamdi Egwuonwu
Sat, April 26, 2025


Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga) takes questions from the angry audience at a town hall meeting at the Cobb Civic Center, in Marietta, Ga., on April 25, 2025. He is calling for impeaching Trump.

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., on Friday signaled support for impeaching President Donald Trump, telling attendees at a town hall near Atlanta that the president’s conduct “has already exceeded any prior standard for impeachment.”

“I mean, I saw just 48 hours ago, he is granting audiences to people who buy his meme coin,” Ossoff said. “When the sitting president of the United States is selling access for what are effectively payments directly to him. There is no question that that rises to the level of an impeachable offense.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday night.

Video of the town hall was made available online by NBC affiliate WXIA. Ossoff, who is currently running for re-election to the U.S. Senate, made the remark in response to an attendee who asked why Democrats have not moved to impeach Trump, stating her belief that “everything that Trump is doing is leading us down an authoritative rule.”

“Do more. I like you and I will vote for you if you are brave, and you do what we need,” the attendee said. “We need him impeached, we need him removed.”

Ossoff in response said he “strongly” agreed with the attendee, but told the audience that the move is not currently feasible given the current makeup of the House of Representatives, which is responsible for introducing articles of impeachment.

“The only way to achieve what you want to achieve is to have a majority United States House of Representatives,” Ossoff said. “And believe me, I’m working on it every single day, every single day.”

The Georgia senator also pointed to what he characterized as Trump’s defiance of a federal court order as another potentially impeachable offense. Ossoff did not specify exactly which case he was referring to, but the remark comes as Democrats accuse Trump of disregarding a Supreme Court order requiring his administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native and Maryland resident deported to El Salvador.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, called Ossoff’s remarks “disgusting,” accusing him of attempting to “overturn the will of Georgia voters who just elected President Trump.”

Ossoff now joins a handful of congressional Democrats who have backed calls to impeach Trump in his second term.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who called for Trump’s impeachment several times during his first term and was removed from Trump’s joint address to Congress in March, was the first Democrat this cycle to back the idea.

Additionally, Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., said earlier this month he “fully supports impeaching” Trump, accusing the president of “not abiding by a lawful Supreme Court ruling.”

Trump was impeached twice as a result of actions during his first term, but was acquitted by the Senate following each trial. Ossoff joined all Democrats in voting guilty in Trump’s second impeachment. He was not in Congress during Trump’s first trial.

Impeaching Trump again and convicting would require the support of a majority of the House and two-thirds of the Senate. Because Republicans currently control both chambers of Congress, the effort is a nonstarter, at least until the midterm election cycle.

But still, the support among Democratic voters for impeachment reflects broader calls for the party to more actively and aggressively counter Trump’s agenda, a notion that polling suggests is widespread among the party’s base.

A recent NBC News poll found less than a third of Democrats want their party leaders to make legislative compromises with Trump, while nearly two-thirds would rather congressional Democrats stick to their positions even if that risks sacrificing bipartisan progress.

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Saturday, April 26, 2025

Donald Dumb's Lying, Unqualified, Neoptistic, Charlatan Candidates for Public Office

Trump’s surgeon general pick promotes misleading claims about her education, new investigation shows

Mike Bedigan

Questions are swirling about the background of President’s Donald Trump’s pick for Surgeon General and whether she has presented misleading claims about where she was educated.

Dr Jannette Nesheiwat has been described by the president as “a double board-certified medical doctor,” and a “proud graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.” [LIAR, CHEATER]

Prior to her nomination as Surgeon General she has been employed as a New York City medical director with CityMD, a group of urgent care facilities and also has appeared on Fox News and other TV shows.

However, according to CBS News, Nesheiwat only completed her residency through the university’s family medicine program in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and did not obtain her medical degree there.

She actually earned her degree from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, in St. Maarten, in the Caribbean, [UNQUALIFIED] records reviewed by the outlet have shown. AUC also confirmed to CBS that Nesheiwat was enrolled there for six years, from 2000 to 2006. Typically the program includes four years of study, but Nesheiwat was there for six.

Such lengthier study periods have, in recent years, fueled stigma against medical schools in the Caribbean, which have been perceived by some as a last resort for those unable to get into medical school in the U.S. [UNQUALIFIED]
Dr. Jannette Nesheiwat has been described by the president as a ‘proud graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.’ A new investigation has questioned her schooling and credentials. (Getty Images)

Nesheiwat's LinkedIn profile lists “Doctor of Medicine” from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine among her education. It does not mention the Caribbean school.

In a 2018 social media post, Nesheiwat stated that she had completed her “medical training and residency” at Arkansas as well as serving as Chief Resident.

She also mentioned training at “the American University,” though does not specify which school she is referring to, as well as having completing” the majority of my studies” in London, England, at St. Thomas & Guy's Hospital.

In addition to her media appearances, Nesheiwat has authored a book on the “transformative power of prayer”[CHARLATAN SCIENCE] in her medical career and endorses a brand of vitamin supplements [CORRUPTION].

During the Covid-19 pandemic, she became a public figure on television as well as working on the frontlines in New York, helping patients in the aftermath of Trump's “Historic Operation Warp Speed that saved hundreds of millions of lives,” per the president’s office.

Nesheiwat’s childhood was also beset with tragedy after she was involved in an incident that killed her father. She was 13 years-old when she accidentally knocked a loaded gun over, which fired and fatally shot her father in the head. [STUPID] The incident occurred in February 1990 at her family's home in Umatilla, Florida, according to a report by the New York Times.

Nesheiwat is also the sister-in-law of Michael Waltz, [NEOPTISM] who serves as Trump’s national security adviser and was responsible for accidentally adding a journalist to a private Signal group chat, in which classified war plans were shared.

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The "Soft Damage" Donald Dumb is Doing: They All Hate us Now

Non-Americans Are Getting Brutally Honest About Donald Trump And The US — Here's What They Had To Say

Dannica Ramirez

Within the first 100 days of Donald Trump being in office, his administration has carried out a series of controversial actions: Trump signed an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, he declared US interest in "reclaiming" the Panama Canal and "getting" Greenland, classified information was found being shared in a Signal group chat, and, among many other things, Trump tried placing "reciprocal tariffs" on dozens of nations and trading partners only for him to put a 90-day pause on them, stirring up fears of a recession.

That said, it should be no surprise that people in other countries who are keeping up with what's happening in America have...opinions. Recently, Redditor u/YoungYggdrasil asked the non-Americans of the Reddit community to share what they and their country really think about the US right now, and they did not hold back:

*."I'm from Hong Kong. America is the political equivalent of a dumpster fire. That, and it's unsafe."

*."South African here. Generally, I think we used to view the US as the leader of the free world, and as a country we should look up to... However, over the last few years, there has been a divide. Right-wing conservatives here still view the US as the best country with the best leader. Meanwhile, most liberals think the US is cooked, and despite having many problems in South Africa, they'd never move to America."

*."I'm from Luxembourg. Past seasons of the US were good, but not perfect. Then, 2016 happened, and it received poor ratings. But after 2024, the entire plot was thrown out the window, and now it feels like America is in its final season.

*."As a Chilean, I really admire American culture when it comes to art, music, and movies. It's honestly a 10/10. Unfortunately, the over-consumerist image often associated with Americans can be a bit off-putting, and the political tendency to impose US culture everywhere is somewhat irritating. For example, here in Chile, we have supermarkets owned by Walmart, and it's quite unpleasant to be encouraged to celebrate the Fourth of July. Like, WTF? "

*."I'm from Denmark. My country has always been very loyal to the US, and it took three months to destroy that relationship."

*."Canadian here. It's not so much the tariffs (though they're not helping), but the threats to our sovereignty. This is not how you treat your supposed 'best friend' and greatest ally. So don't mind us while we look elsewhere for a new bestie and trading partner. Voting for Cheeto Don the first time was foolish, but a second time? Well, you Americans have shown the rest of the world what's in your heart...and it's dark, racist, misogynistic, hateful, and ugly. If Americans can right themselves and return to democracy, be prepared to accept the censure of the world for decades to come. America as an ally and trading partner cannot be trusted."

*."Speaking as a Brazilian, I think Americans live in a bit of a bubble."

*."I'm from Italy. I'd say America's general culture has a big influence, but I'd say Americans' over-obsession with social issues and political shit-talking gets made fun of. Personally, I have conflicting opinions. I love the US, and I've dreamed of moving there since I was a little kid. At the same time, I think the country's own success has made Americans the most spoiled, brainless douchebags I could imagine."

*."Most Scots view America as a bunch of arrogant, selfish bastards."

*."Dutch person here. I think many people here think that your democracy is dying and that America has become an oligarchy on the verge of becoming a dictatorship. Also, among my friends, nobody would be surprised if your country descended into civil war. It looks like the extremists would be pardoned anyway, and many, many people in the US carry some of the most outrageous weapons."

*."I'm from Venezuela. My country is under a military dictatorship that is very happy right now since its political propaganda has always been that America is at fault for everything. Personally, I hate the dictatorship of my country with a passion, and I strongly believe that the US is heading toward that exact same type of dictatorship. It doesn't matter if one is left and the other is right; they use the exact same tactics and follow the same patterns. While civilians are yelling at each other because of their political beliefs, the far right and far left politicians seemingly both work for the same fascist piece of shit."

*."Spain here. Personal opinions aside, the general consensus here is: 'So, they shoot themselves in the foot with a shotgun over and over again and are trying to sell it as a master plan?'"

*."I'm from New Zealand. I'm sorry, but I view America now as ruled by an orange dictator who is royally fucking up the world. I've already lost some of my retirement money due to the stock market crashes, and everything is going to be more expensive for everybody on the planet thanks to the gun-toting far-right weirdos who voted for him."

*."UK here. No country is doing particularly well post-COVID and with the war going in Ukraine; however, Trump is royally screwing things up right now. He might think he can do whatever he wants as 'the most powerful man on the planet,' but in real terms, there are and will be consequences to his actions from the rest of the world. He is alienating the US from the rest of the world, and it's a shame. But that's what happens when someone with a power-hungry mindset gets in such a position. I don't think the rest of the world thought it would actually happen a second time, but it did. I wouldn't want to be a US citizen, especially right now. It's very sad."

*."I'm a German who's lived in the US for an extended period. I view Americans as universally extremist and complacent. Both conservatives and progressives are always trying to break new ground by pushing the envelope to see who can piss each other off harder.... I don't want to equivocate too much since fascists and kleptocrats are obviously far more destructive than neoliberal social progressives, but they share this particular feature: they're complacent in that none of them truly believe that anything destructive can happen at home."

*."I was born in communist Romania and lived my teenage and young adulthood years in a fragile Eastern European democracy. For the last 15 years, I've been a grateful Canadian citizen. As someone who knows first-hand the Russian horror, I just can't comprehend what the world is coming to. How can Americans choose to tie the noose around their necks and burn all the bridges between the US and the sane world?"

*."Icelander here. Americans think they're free and talk about freedom all the time, but they're not free. Your systems suck: healthcare, workers' rights, human rights, education, etc. You think you're the envy of the world, but you're not anymore. Mostly, we feel sorry for you because you're delusional. Yes, you are powerful, have a strong army and cultural influence, and have done great things in the past. We appreciate what you did for us during WWII, and we had a good relationship after you helped us build our country. But with all that is happening now — your threats against our dear friends in Denmark and Greenland, trampling human rights, and everything else Trump is doing — we are sad and disappointed. Some of us are scared you will target us as well. It's interesting, I guess, to watch the fall of an empire."


 

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The Economist Cover that Says it All



 

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Trump's Social Engineering Plan



Donald Trump Has a Family Policy. Stop Laughing.
Mona Charen
Thu, April 24, 2025

THE ANIMATING BELIEFS OF THIS ADMINISTRATION range from dangerously wrong to head-spinningly crazy. Tariffs are in the first tranche, along with the myth that NATO has been ripping off the United States for decades, that immigrants commit more crimes than native-born Americans, and that “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law” (just to name four). The beliefs that vaccines cause autism, that fluoridated water is a public-health threat, that threatening allies and neighbors enhances national security, and that taxing foreign holders of Treasuries would be a good way to solve the (nonexistent) problem of trade deficits belong in the second tranche.

The Trump administration marries insane ideas to gross, bullying tactics. But even when this administration stumbles upon an idea that is not deranged, illegal, or immoral, it has the capacity to do great harm. I’m thinking of the apparent plans to encourage marriage and motherhood. The administration is reportedly considering proposals to award mothers $5,000 “baby bonuses,” to reserve 30 percent of Fulbright scholarships to parents, to reduce the costs of IVF (not clear how), and to fund programs to educate women about ovulation cycles (I kid you not).

I’ve been promoting marriage for decades, not as part of a religious agenda but as the result of studying the social-science literature demonstrating that marriage makes adults happier than non-marriage and that stable, two-parent homes are the best environment for raising children, building thriving neighborhoods, and reducing crime, homelessness, and substance abuse.

The Trump administration cannot adopt this message without turning it rancid. If you hope to persuade people, you must start by showing good faith—that your intentions for them are good. This crowd has displayed open contempt for women—at least those women who vote for the other party or otherwise assert their individuality. In light of the president’s apparent requirement that any nominee for a major cabinet role has at least one serious accusation of sexual misconduct, the vice president’s sneers about “childless cat ladies” seem mild. Matt Gaetz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth, and Linda McMahon all trailed accusations that would have been disqualifying in any other administration. (Only Gaetz was undone.)

But then, the thrice-married, adulterous president himself has been found legally liable for sexual assault in the E. Jean Carroll case, and has been accused of similar behavior half a dozen or so times by other women. What that may mean is that Trump must convince himself and others that accusations of sexual misconduct are always and everywhere “fake news.” Also, he just doesn’t give a damn. Trump has endorsed and campaigned with alleged sexual predators ranging from Roy Moore to Herschel Walker, and one of his first acts as president in the second term was to effectuate the release of Andrew and Tristan Tate from custody in Romania on rape and human trafficking charges. (So they can effectuate releases from foreign countries.)

The Trump crowd’s approach to fertility is not the joy of parenthood or the warmth of close families. It’s more like the “Great Replacement” theory made flesh. Give them credit for honesty, I guess. They don’t really claim to be speaking up for family values. Instead, as Elon Musk admits, he wants a “legion” of offspring “before the apocalypse” and is creating a harem to achieve it. He is married, but also father to at least fourteen children by four different women and willing to outsource his semen upon request. “No romance or anything,” he explained to one baby mama, “just sperm.”

It’s remarkable to consider that Musk is a pinup for the GOP these days. I well remember the party of “family values.” Musk is the most famous progenitor of illegitimacy in the world. (William J. Bennett, call your office.)

THE TRUMP CROWD WORRIES about America’s declining fertility rate and yet treats immigration as a mortal threat. So when they encourage childbearing, the not-so-veiled subtext is that they want not more babies but more white babies. Perhaps they will begin awarding “Mother Heroine” honors as the Soviet Union did, or the “Cross of Honor” with which Nazi Germany rewarded fecundity.

You don’t convince women in a free country to have more babies for the sake of the fatherland. If you want to encourage family formation and increase the birth rate, you can’t treat women as breeder mares. It helps to model good behavior. That includes being good husbands who don’t cheat on their wives, good fathers who actually live with their kids, and good parents who don’t commit or condone adultery.

Baby bonuses have been tried in other countries with poor results. Hungary has adopted a suite of policies to support families that are far more generous than what the Trump administration is considering, but the results have been disappointing. Singapore, South Korea, and Russia have seen similar results. Subsidies for babies don’t seem to budge fertility rates much if at all. Poland’s program of incentives showed some early success but more recent data found that childbearing is still trending down.

There are many things governments can do to ease the burden on parents—tax credits, parental leave, and banning smartphones in schools, among other ideas—but policymakers should keep their expectations in check about the effect these initiatives will have on fertility. If they just make family life easier and better, that’s a good start. But frankly, we’d all be better off if the Trump people stay far away from family policy, lest they besmirch it.

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Thursday, April 24, 2025

Donald Dumb Wants "American Women" to Have More Babies

...He actually means "White Aryan American women" because his entire worldview is based on the declining demography of white anglo-saxon Americans to the advantage of "colored" Americans. He did declare that his is a "beautiful white skin".

Let's assume that he decrees in one of his executive orders that white women must make more babies. As he tries to implement this magnificent plan, he will have to discriminate against colored women who are already having far more babies than their white counterparts because he wants only "white women" to have babies. 

I therefore suggest his loyalists should deepen their knowledge of their beloved Führer, read Mein Kampf one more time, and resort to the Hitlerian model of "lebensborn", in which white Aryan German and other European women - all blonde and blue eyed like Marjorie Taylor Greene - were sequestered in special institutions, forced to have sex with SS Nazi officers to get impregnated, then deliver Aryan babies who were immediately handed over to Nazi families to raise them. That would be a grand plan for the billionaire fornicators and adulterers who make up the bulk of the Trump administration. They have the required experience.

The US government has always been obsessed with "race" for the obvious reason that the country was born out of the slave trade and the genocide of the native Amerindians. Below are the contortions that the US government goes through every year trying to fine-tune the categorization of the otherwise bastardized immigrant American population (through repeated rapes and fornications between various "races") into clearly defined "racial categories". 

I note that "race" is not a scientifically recognized category in classifying humans or other animals. All humans belong to one genus and one species. Only stupid racist people rely on the very few "visible" genetic differences (e.g. skin color) to create racial categories, while ignorant of the millions of invisible genetic differences beneath the skin inside our bodies and tissues. Bottom line: there is no such thing as a "race". But the US government persists in its long tradition of violent racism.

1- They recently invented a new "racial" category entitled "Middle Eastern or North African" in order to catch those terrorists that had been previously hiding under the "White Caucasian" category, 

2- The statistics generated by the US Census Bureau are derived from surveys in which people self-identify. So if you are born of parents who themselves are racial bastards, how do you choose which of these categories you belong to? and 

3- What if you are an average dumb American who fears his/her government might deport him/her: you would lie on this stupid survey and claim a category that you do not belong to? Seriously. Who's to know? I used to enter "Caucasian Afro-Semitic" under "other" just to mess with them.



From: The US Census Bureau (2024). https://www.census.gov/about/our-research/race-ethnicity/standards-updates.html

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Johnson rips ‘The View’ hosts as absurd for mocking baby boom effort
Elizabeth Crisp
Thu, April 24, 2025



Johnson rips ‘The View’ hosts as absurd for mocking baby boom effort

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) blasted the ABC daytime talk show “The View” as “absurd” after hosts mocked and questioned the Trump administration’s efforts to increase birth rates.

“‘The View’ is an absurd program,” Johnson told Fox News host Will Cain in an interview Wednesday on “The Will Cain Show.” “Every creative idea that the president and this White House come up with, they pan immediately no matter what merit it may have.”

“The View” hosts on Wednesday discussed reports of the Trump administration’s push for a new “baby boom,” citing declining birth rates.

“I am incredibly insulted by this, because, clearly, they don’t know how women’s bodies work, and they don’t know what it costs to raise a child or just have a child,” co-host and comedian Whoopi Goldberg said during the episode.

In a clip Fox News played before Johnson’s interview, co-host Sunny Hostin noted that birth rates are rising among some minority groups, including Hispanic and Asian women.

“So they don’t seem to be concerned about that increase,” she said. “They seem to be more concerned about a decrease in other populations.”

“I think I’ve said enough,” she said with a smirk as the crowd laughed.

But Johnson defended calls for more babies to be born in the U.S.

“We are the Republican Party. We’re the pro-family party. We always have been,” he said.

The Trump administration is reportedly mulling new policies to encourage American women to have more children, including offering $5,000 bonuses after moms give birth and creating new programs to promote fertility and larger families.

The New York Times reported Monday that the Trump administration “is listening to a lot of different ideas and soliciting input on all of this.”

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Jasmine Crocket (D-TX): Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is Still the Dumbest Person in the House



Jasmine Crockett Says Marjorie Taylor Greene Is 'Winning' When It Comes To One Dubious Honor
Marco Margaritoff
Wed, April 23, 2025

The feud between Reps. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) appears to be alive and well after Crockett mocked Greene for a recent tweet on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Tuesday.

The two lawmakers famously traded barbs during a 2024 House Oversight Committee meeting when Greene insulted Crockett’s appearance and Crockett memorably hit back.

“I mean, did you not see what she had to say about the pope?” she asked Kimmel.

He apparently hadn’t heard, prompting Crockett to inform him: “Oh, it’s cringey.”

Greene shared a cryptic post about "evil" being defeated on the day of Pope Francis' death. Rod Lamkey, Jr./Associated Press

After Pope Francis died on Monday, Greene wrote on her personal X account: “Today there were major shifts in global leaderships. Evil is being defeated by the hand of God.”

Francis ushered in a progressive era for the Vatican — urging the church to stop being “obsessed” with old strictures on issues such as gay marriage and abortion — which seemingly prompted some right-wing figures to bash him following his death.

“She’s dumb and a lowlife,” Crockett said Tuesday of Greene.



Crockett also trolled Greene on CNN’s “Have I Got News for You” last month when Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) was jokingly named a candidate for the recent all-female Blue Origin spaceflight.

“No, no, no, no,” Crockett protested. “Take Marjorie, please.”

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Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Donald Dumb and the Vatican's Late Pope Francis

 









When they met in 2017, Donald Dumb flashed his hypocrite American smile (Americans think they must smile even if they don't mean it) next to Pope Francis who is NOT smiling and is visibly irritated by the orange baboon standing next to him.

The two men could not be more different. 

Also, to the chagrin of Donald Dumb, his Captain Russia buddy Vladimir Putin will not be attending the Pope's funeral in Rome, presumably because he stands to be arrested as a war criminal. 

Not surprisingly, the other war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu has not expressed his condolences at the passing of the Pope. Israeli diplomats around the world were expressly instructed by the terrorist settler government of Netanyahu not to express their condolences on social media or by signing condolences books at Israeli embassies. The Pope had told Netanyahu that his genocide in Gaza "is not war, it is cruelty". Clearly, the terrorist Zionist settlers of Israel are unhappy that Pope Francis repeatedly advocated for the end of the illegal and brutal occupation of Palestine, which counters their murderous plans to ethnically cleanse what remains (~6 million human beings) of Palestine and its people.

According to Israeli media outlet Ynet, diplomats around the world were instructed to delete similar messages and avoid signing condolence books place...

Read more at: https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/world/israel-vatican-relations-pope-francis-death-1.10532226
The Israeli Foreign Ministry’s official account on X reportedly posted a message that read, "Rest in peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing...

Read more at: https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/world/israel-vatican-relations-pope-francis-death-1.10532226

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Blasphemy is coming to St. Peter’s Square as Trump tries to hijack Pope Francis’s funeral to feed his ego

John Casey

It is an abomination that Donald Trump will set foot in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday under the pretense of honoring Pope Francis. He is not there to grieve. He is not there to represent the United States in any meaningful way. He is there because the cameras will be.

Trump will be there for the same reason he rudely pushed Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic out of the way at the 2017 NATO summit. He will be there for the same reason he posts bizarre rants at 3 a.m. on his Truth Social. He will be there for the same reason he’s playing a game of chicken with countries around the world with on-again, off-again tariffs. And on and on and on.

The only reason Trump is attending the funeral of Francis is to hog the spotlight, to feed the bottomless void of his ego, and to turn a moment of global mourning into another grotesque sideshow, all about Trump.

The eyes of the world will be on St. Peter’s Square on Saturday, and Trump wouldn’t miss this colossal media event for anything in the world. And there isn’t a reason in the world that Trump should be there. I think Pope Francis tried to love everyone, and I also think Francis could spot a phony — and a blatant sinner — a mile away, and he no doubt saw the despicable Trump for who he really is.

If you look at the famous 2017 photo from the meeting between Francis and Trump, the pope is noticeably not happy, and if I dare say, angry that he had to stand next to the insidious Trump. If a picture speaks a thousand words, then the rumors that Francis strongly disliked Trump are real and visceral in that photo.

It doesn’t take a religious scholar to determine that Trump is the antithesis of everything Pope Francis stood for. The thought of seeing Trump walk into the massive chapel makes my skin crawl and also makes me think of ruinous thoughts about Trump that would keep me in a confessional for months on end.

Where Pope Francis lifted up the poor, Trump pushes them down. Where Francis preached love, Trump shouts cruelty. Francis, known as the “People’s Pope,” opened Vatican doors to migrants, refugees, and the LGBTQ+ community, including transgender people; in fact, he told a group of transgender women they were “daughters of God.”

Trump, meanwhile, has tried to erase trans Americans from public life and civil rights law. He banned them from serving in the military in his first term, and after President Joe Biden lifted that ban, Trump is at it again, trying to gut their health care protections and using them as punching bags to rile up his base.

Francis reminded us that God loves all people. Trump reminds us daily that he loves only himself.

The pope condemned Trump’s treatment of immigrants more than once. In 2016, he pointedly said, “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”

Just this year, Pope Francis slammed Trump’s renewed push for mass deportations as “a disgrace,” insisting, “It’s the poor wretches who have nothing who pay the bill.” These weren’t veiled criticisms. They were full-throated moral indictments from the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics. And they remain true.

Trump's policies have been a war on the vulnerable. His draconian tariffs have hurt working-class Americans. His persistent efforts to slash Medicaid and Medicare threaten the health and dignity of the elderly, the disabled, and the poor.

His tax cuts padded the pockets of the ultra-rich while leaving crumbs, if anything, for the rest. He leads not with conviction or conscience but with vindictiveness, pettiness, and revenge.

Pope Francis spent his papacy humbling power in service of justice. Trump uses power to punish. Francis kissed the feet of refugees and washed the feet of prisoners. Trump jails the poor and mocks the afflicted. Francis gave voice to the voiceless. Trump silences the press, threatens dissenters, and treats truth as an inconvenience to bulldoze.

And yet on Saturday, this very man, this blustering despot of hubris, cruelty, and fraudulence, will march into Vatican City as if he belongs there. As if he deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with world leaders to celebrate the life of a man who rebuked nearly everything Trump has ever done.

Trump is not attending the pope’s funeral as a statesman. He’s attending as a showman. This is political theater covered in the cloak of mourning. Trump does not represent the American people, not the ones who believe in decency, in mercy, in solidarity with the suffering. He is not our moral ambassador. He is a walking perversion of this solemn moment.

There was a word my great-grandmother used frequently when she saw something that betrayed her faith: “blasphemy.” It is blasphemy, pure and simple, that this man, whose every instinct is inhumane and every motive is self-promotion, will attempt to desecrate the memory of Pope Francis with his presence.

But the majority of the people watching the pope’s funeral are not fools, and Trump's presence will show the world the striking and stark contrast between good and evil.

If Pope Francis was the shepherd, Trump is the wolf. If Francis brought light, Trump deals in shadows. Well, that’s too kind. He deals in a dense darkness. If this funeral is meant to honor a life spent in the service of love, then Trump’s presence is an act of vandalism. And the world will recognize it as that.

And when Trump dies, and someday he will, his legacy will not be one of love or humility. He will most certainly not be mourned in St. Peter’s Square. He will be mourned, perhaps, by sycophants and enablers, by the world’s fellow dictators and murderers, but not by the poor he punished or the communities he terrorized.

If anything, his fitting resting place would be in the prison where he once sought to put those without power, a final, ironic reckoning for a man who spent his life worshipping it. And Trump being buried in a prison, again, seems too kind.

Trump may strut into St. Peter’s Square with gold cufflinks and grievance, but no amount of spectacle can drown out the quiet, radical gospel of mercy that Francis lived. Let the cameras catch not the bluster of a man desperate to be seen but the bowed heads of the poor, the meek, the brokenhearted, and those whom Francis never stopped seeing.

On Saturday, may humility speak louder than hubris. And may the world remember which of the two truly walked in the shoes of the fisherman.

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Sunday, April 20, 2025

Ideology Before Data: Trump Wants to Control What Scientists Publish

The following excerpt from Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism] serves as one historical instance where politics and ideology decided what the research data "ought to be" in order to match the dictator's favorite ideology. In science, it is the experiment that generates data which in turn are used to construct an explanation for we observe in the real world: 

"Lysenkoism - was a political campaign led by the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko against genetics and science-based agriculture in the mid-20th century, rejecting natural selection in favour of a form of Lamarckism, as well as expanding upon the techniques of vernalization and grafting.

More than 3,000 mainstream biologists were dismissed or imprisoned, and numerous scientists were executed in the Soviet campaign to suppress scientific opponents. The president of the Soviet Agriculture Academy, Nikolai Vavilov, who had been Lysenko's mentor, but later denounced him, was sent to prison and died there, while Soviet genetics research was effectively destroyed. Research and teaching in the fields of neurophysiology, cell biology, and many other biologica  disciplines were harmed or banned."

The moron Trump wants to take America back to that time in the 1940s and 1950s: He thinks that little American peasants can be made to work on an assembly line by the thousands to manufacture his stupid MAGA hats (they are now made in China!). What he seems to ignore is that American peasants are not interested in that kind of menial job. They prefer to moonshine and get drunk while robots do all the work.

Back in the 1930s-1950s, the Soviets were screwing with the foundations of science for the sole motive of opposing the West. Whatever advances western science was making had to be opposed in spite and to prove that Soviet science is both "different" and better. But when you let politics and ideology take precedence over what the experimental data is taking you, your version of science becomes charlatanism and religion. Indeed, in religion, "faith" overrides "facts". Faith requires you to to suspend your thinking and your reason and to believe something for which there is no evidence.

Religion is ideology, and ideology is religion: You believe what your "leader" tells you because you have faith in your leader, regardless of whether his/her arguments are grounded in fact.

And that is precisely where Trump is taking the US: A Gulag where ideology precedes and negates facts generated by experminetal research. Just like Lysenko was made to do by his Soviet bosses. As you see, Soviet science went down the drain in the course of the next decades.

Trump is an ignorant idiot who doesn't believe in science because science is difficult and hard. If allowed to persist, his policies, just like those of the Soviet Union, will destroy a vast array of scientific fields in which American science has always been a leader. Don't forget that the seeds of Trump's backwardness with regard to science were planted a few decades back by the numskull charlatan "Creationist Evangelicals" who I am certain are all Trump adorers. The facts say that the earth is several billion years in the making, but creationists believe the fictional garbage literature of the bible that says that the earth was "created" by God some 6,000 years ago against every piece of scientific data.

Not to mention that persecuting and banning foreign students and researchers will have an immensely negative impact on innovation and entrepreneurship. If he thinks that his inbred mongrels from Appalachia with their bigoted devotion to God and religion will lift American science by forcing it to adhere to narrow and obsolete ideological precepts, it wouldn't be long before he sees the devastation he is wreaking on American science.

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The Government Is Now Threatening Academic Journals
Frank Landymore
Sun, April 20, 2025



The Trump administration has slashed funding for universities and scientific research. Now, its lackeys appear to be escalating their tactics by menacing academic journals.

In a letter sent to the editor of CHEST Journal Peter Mazzone, US attorney for the District of Columbia Edward R. Martin, Jr. — a devout Trump appointee — insinuates that the publication is "partisan," presses it for an explanation on how it handles "misinformation," and asks whether it's accepting of "competing viewpoints."

In February, Martin sparked an outcry after he declared himself to be "Trump's lawyer," vowing "to fight to protect his leadership against entities "that refuse to put America first."

With anti-vax crackpots like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. chosen to run this country's public health institutions, and a tide of "anti-woke" sentiment targeting scientists for acknowledging that climate change is real and that trans people exist, it's impossible not to read Martin's letter as a thinly veiled threat: stop being "woke," or face government scrutiny.

"The public has certain expectations and you have certain responsibilities," Martin wrote.

The letter was shared on social media this week by Eric Reinhart, a political anthropologist. MedPage Today reports that it's learned of at least two author journals receiving similar letters.

"A publication's editorial decisions are none of the government's business, whether it's a newspaper or a medical journal," JT Morris, a senior supervising attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told MedPage Today. "When a United States Attorney wields the power of his office to target medical journals because of their content and editorial processes, he isn't doing his job, let alone upholding his constitutional oath," Morris added. "He's abusing his authority to try to chill protected speech."

As part of its DOGE-effort to slash federal expenditures, the Trump administration has cut off billions of dollars in financial support for universities, terminated hundreds of research projects funded by the US National Institutes of Health, and cancelled nearly $3 billion in the agency's contracts.

It has also frozen every single research grant at the US National Science Foundation, one of the largest funders of basic research in the world, in order to review the grants' language for terms related to DEI. Some of the "woke" or "partisan" stuff that's been kneecapped by the sweeping cuts include cancer and Alzheimer's research. If the draconian measures were intended to be an out-and-out assault on the scientific community, it's working: with the money drying up, some of the nation's top scientists are starting to consider leaving the country.

But many are fighting back. In February, publications including the American Journal of Public Health said they would heavily scrutinize papers submitted by government scientists, after the Trump administration carried out a blackout of health administration data and forced CDC scientists to withdraw their work to remove language related to gender.

In response to this latest escalation — siccing a US attorney on individual publications — some in the scientific community are calling for solidarity.

"It is yet another example of the Trump administration's effort to control academic inquiry and stifle scientific discourse — an administration, it warrants mentioning, that has embraced medical misinformation and pseudoscience to reckless effect," Adam Gaffney, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Cambridge Health Alliance in Massachusetts, told MedPage Today. "Journal editors should join together and publicly renounce this as yet more thinly guised anti-science political blackmail."

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Saturday, April 19, 2025

Warning to European Tourists Planning Travel to the US

Wander Worthy

Tourists detained at U.S. airports prompt travel warning updates across Europe

U.S. immigration enforcement policies cause uncertainty for international travelers

Alexandrea Sumuel Groves
·Wander Worthy
March 22, 2025

In recent weeks, several European governments—including the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, and Finland—have updated their travel advisories for citizens visiting the United States following a series of detentions involving European tourists at U.S. ports of entry.

These actions reflect growing concern over the consequences of U.S. immigration enforcement policies and highlight increasing uncertainty for international travelers—even those with valid documents.

The detentions have sparked concern among the affected nations, human rights advocates, and immigration attorneys, who note that the discretionary power of Customs and Border Protection officers at ports of entry can lead to unpredictable outcomes.

Multiple German Citizens Detained

Germany was among the first to revise its travel advisory after at least three German citizens were denied entry and detained upon arrival in the U.S. despite holding what they believed were appropriate travel documents.

One German tourist was held in a U.S. immigration detention center for 16 days after reentering the U.S. from Mexico. Another German citizen spent over six weeks in detention.

The German Foreign Office clarified that having a valid visa or an approved Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) does not guarantee entry. “The final decision on whether a person can enter the U.S. lies with the U.S. border authorities,” the advisory stated.

Travelers are now urged to be prepared for possible secondary screening and to ensure that their travel plans, financial support, and intended activities align with their visa or ESTA conditions.

UK’s Strengthened Travel Warning

The United Kingdom updated its travel advisory after several British citizens were reportedly detained under similar circumstances.

In one case, a British woman was held for more than ten days over concerns she may have breached visa conditions. UK officials emphasized that U.S. immigration laws are “strictly enforced,” and even minor perceived violations can lead to detention or removal.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is now advising UK travelers to double-check their visa conditions and ensure they are not engaging in activities—such as unpaid work or extended stays—that could be interpreted as outside the bounds of their visa or ESTA.

Nordic Countries Warn Transgender Travelers

Denmark and Finland issued targeted warnings for transgender individuals planning to travel to the U.S., citing specific risks tied to documentation and identity recognition.

Travelers whose passports include a gender marker of "X" or who have recently changed gender markers are advised to contact the U.S. embassy before traveling to clarify how border officials will interpret their documents.

Denmark’s advisory highlighted the possibility of entry denial or distressing experiences at airports for transgender travelers. These nations recommend proactive communication with U.S. authorities before travel to avoid unexpected detention or refusal of entry.

New Risks for Travelers at U.S. Borders

Tourists from friendly nations with traditionally uncomplicated entry procedures are now being advised to prepare for increased scrutiny. These updates caution that even routine visits can result in detainment if border authorities suspect a violation—intended or not—of visa terms.

International travelers should now factor immigration risks into their travel planning more than in years past, particularly as U.S. enforcement practices tighten and the threshold for entry denial appears to have lowered.

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Wrongfully Detained UK Tourist Tells of her Ordeal in the US

If you still want to visit the Banana Republic that the US has become under Trump, here is a sample of what you should be prepared for.
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Detained Welsh tourist tells of experience in US
Maria Cassidy - BBC News and Gavin Thomas - BBC News
Fri, April 18, 2025


Becky Burke had planned a "life-changing" trip around North America [Paul Burke]

A Welsh tourist who was detained in a US immigration centre has spoken of her experiences.

Becky Burke, 28, spent 19 days in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing centre in Washington State after being denied entry into Canada, over a "visa mix-up".

Ms Burke believed that her case was "prioritised" following a combination of media, social media and diplomatic pressure since her case was first made public.

A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection previously told the BBC they could not discuss specific cases but travellers were treated with "integrity, respect and according to law".

Tourist in US chained 'like Hannibal Lecter'

Speaking to BBC World Service's Outside Source, Ms Burke said she had planned a four month backpacking trip across North America, Canada and other areas.

She had flown from New York to Portland, Oregon, where she spent time with a host family, helping with household chores in return for accommodation.

At the end of February she travelled to Seattle with plans to travel to Vancouver in Canada to stay with another family.

"After I bought my tickets I saw that Trump had come into power so I was making sure that I left the country well within my ESTA," she said.

She described how she spent six hours at the border waiting while officials were "trying to determine if what I had been doing in America counted as work".

"I was getting quite worried.

"I then had an interrogation for about an hour in a small room where they were asking me loads of details about what I had been doing in America and at the end of that, they had determined that I had been working in America and violated my ESTA."


Becky Burke has been reunited with the family dog Bo Jangles [Paul Burke]

Ms Burke said while in the ICE centre many people were telling her that she was "lucky" to be in this one, as it was known as "one of the better ones".

"A few of the women had come from San Diego and they were telling me how awful [it was] and how they were treated.

"The officers would shout at them and throw them in the shower for like five seconds [max]."

She added that she wanted to use the spotlight on her to share the stories of the other woman in the centre.

Ms Burke believes pressure from the press coverage helped with her early release.

She said an ICE officer told her that her case had been brought to "the top of the pile" after they received an email from the British consulate.

The following day she was told a flight had been booked to take her home on 18 March.

A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) previously said it could not comment on specific cases for privacy reasons, but added: "All persons arriving at a port-of-entry to the United States are subject to inspection.

"CBP officers treat all travellers with integrity, respect, professionalism and according to law."

The spokesperson said in the event of a foreign national being found inadmissible to the United States, CBP would "provide the foreign national an opportunity to procure travel to his or her home country".

"If the foreign national is unable to do so, he or she will be turned over to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) for repatriation," they added.
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How Trump Lied to Working-Class People to Get Elected



Opinion

President Donald Trump’s con of working-class people is starting to unravel
LeBron Antonio Hill
Fri, April 18, 2025


Trump’s promises to working-class voters diverge from his policies. (Samuel Corum/Sipa USA)

President Trump played a con on working-class Americans during last year’s election that is being exposed now, only a few months into his presidency. It seems like every other time you saw Trump on the campaign trail, he was at a grocery store handing out money or a construction site with a hard hat on, selling the idea that he knew what it was like to hold these jobs. And the people ate this shtick up.

Even members of my own family.

I come from a long line of fast food workers. My mother is currently the general manager of a Krystal’s, a burger chain franchise found mainly in the southeastern United States. My sisters also work there and before that, my grandmother served those famous sliders for 20 years. When they saw Trump at a McDonald’s donning an apron while serving fries, they were struck by a rich man performing the same grueling task they do every day. It made a big impression on them. It was as if they thought, “Trump is a man of the people. I want to vote for him.”

Liberals can say what they want, but Trump connects with more voters than Democrats do.

His con worked. A Brookings Institution analysis of campaign exit polls found that workers voters without college degrees chose Trump over former Vice President Kamala Harris by 56% to 42%. “The same polls tell us that white working-class voters favored Trump over Harris by 66% to 32%, and that Trump won a larger share of working-class Black and Latino voters than he did in 2020,” wrote John J Dilulio Jr of the Brookings Institution last December.

Seeing my family come around to Trump made me second-guess myself. Fearing that I was being too close-minded, I began to pay attention to his plans and policies in the hopes that I could rethink my perception of him.

After all, Trump’s a man of the people, right?

A rude awakening

In March, Trump’s administration began making radical changes to federal student loan programs affecting more than 40 million student borrowers. Some borrowers qualified for monthly payments tied to their income and family size, and even the possibility of student loan forgiveness after 20 or 25 years.

These aren’t handouts, it’s the government doing its job by helping people. But after Trump cut off applications for income-driven loan repayment plans and made it harder for loan forgiveness, people began seeing their monthly loan payments skyrocket.

I have student loans and have felt shocked about a huge increase in my monthly payments.

It started when I noticed over the weekend that my credit score had changed. I was suddenly downgraded. Because of the Trump administration, I took a credit score hit of 200 points and my student loans increased by $3,000.

Seeing this information stunned me. “Is this the same guy who went to McDonald’s to seem like a personable guy?,” I thought to myself.

Trump’s con was revealed. There is no hiding behind an apron or a hard hat for Trump now. We see him for who he is, a red tie-wearing bigot whose only focus is to keep the rich on top. He’s as working class as the sky is orange.

Yet, I continued to ponder how so many people voted for this guy. Whatever your political allegiances lie, we have to come to a mutual understanding on some issues, the working class being one of them. Trump is no friend of the working class.

Trump’s focus is on the rich

Trump was able to fool millions of Americans into voting for him because we’ve lost sight of the American Dream.

The American Dream is not obtained solely by the riches that some attain. It’s achieved by a life lived well.

For me, that means being able to take care of myself and my loved ones financially. It means having enough money after paying the bills to go out with friends. It doesn’t mean being some filthy rich investor or developer.

In Trump’s America, we are forced to believe that wealth is all that matters, and if you are struggling, it’s your fault. Increasing payments to federal loans and ending options for people to have their loans forgiven suffocates working-class people.

Are the rich paying their share? It’s flat out ridiculous that Elon Musk, the richest person on the planet, is leading the charge in gutting federal programs and institutions that help working people.

Why don’t Trump and Musk give money to the needy instead of taking away money that would help them?

If someone becomes rich, great. But my hope for a better future shouldn’t be the trade-off to keep that person rich.

I come from a family that made their living doing jobs most wouldn’t do, but it’s what kept the lights on and gave us a home.

Trump can put on whatever working-class uniform he wants, but when he takes it off, he is nothing more than a man from privilege who took advantage of hard-working people.

It shouldn’t be this way, and we are the only ones who can get us out of this mess.

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Donkey-Eared Rubio is Uncomfortable and Dissenting from Donald Dumb

 


‘Little Marco’ Rubio Splits With Trump With Brutal Slapdown on Ukraine
David Gardner
Fri, April 18, 2025

C-Span/Washington Journal

Secretary of State Marco Rubio broke with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Friday in an extraordinary attack on the White House, which has stalled in its peace talks to end the war in Ukraine.

Frustrated with the lack of progress in negotiations, Rubio said that the United States could “move on” from efforts to reach a ceasefire in “a matter of days.”

In pointed criticism of the way the president has conducted his public talks, the secretary of state said that “when you start negotiating these things through the media, they fall apart” during a meeting in Paris.

Although Rubio didn’t explain what he meant, America’s attempts to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine have stumbled since Trump and Vance’s televised Oval Office tirade against Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on February 28. The impetus for negotiation has never recovered.

The split has led to speculation that Rubio, who swapped insults with Trump when he challenged him for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, could be the first victim of a Cabinet reshuffle.

The secretary is a traditional Republican who has courted the party’s MAGA loyalists since being brought into the administration, but he is increasingly seen as out of step with Trump’s hard-line agenda. MAGA leaders have criticized him for trying to retain some programs at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and outspoken Trump supporter (and conspiracy theorist) Laura Loomer has taken sides against him on social media.

Hours after Rubio’s remarks, Vance contradicted the secretary of state after arriving in Rome to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, telling reporters: “We do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this brutal war to a close.”

Speaking at the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said he was still “hopeful of getting it done.”

“I think we have a good chance of solving the problem,” he said, adding that he agreed with Rubio and wanted to strike a deal “quickly” but didn’t have a “specific matter of days” in mind.

Trump vowed to end the war within 24 hours of returning to the White House. Weeks into his presidency, a phone conversation between the president and Russian President Vladimir Putin was heralded as a major breakthrough. But after the Zelensky pile-on in the White House, the talks hit an impasse.

Negotiations with Ukraine and European officials broke off on Friday, with an agreement to meet again in London next week. Rubio hinted that it may be the last chance saloon for a negotiated peace.

“We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not. Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Rubio said. “It’s not our war. We have other priorities to focus on.”

Critics claim that Trump had made Ukraine his war by bringing Putin back into the fold and making achieving peace a priority, discussing the progress of talks at every opportunity.

Back in Washington, Rubio’s decision to axe Peter Marocco, the Trump official who first dismantled USAID, caused a meltdown in MAGA circles and consternation among White House advisers.

According to Politico, Rubio ordered Marocco’s abrupt termination because of his “bulldozer operating style” and disagreements between the two men.

MAGA supporters view Rubio’s actions as disruptive to the president’s government-slashing agenda at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “He’s really not a MAGA guy; he’s a neocon,“ a Trump ally told Politico, adding that Rubio’s move “is gonna bite him.”

Republican presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio and Donald Trump at the Republican presidential primary candidate debate on February 25, 2016. / Telemundo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal

During the 2016 primaries, Trump repeatedly mocked Rubio’s profuse sweating.

There was one famous exchange in which Rubio hit back, saying: “He’s always calling me ‘Little Marco,’ and I’ll admit he’s taller than me. He’s, like, 6’2′‘, which is why I don’t understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5’2.

“And you know what they say about men with small hands?” he told a rally in Virginia. “You can’t trust them.”

At the next debate involving the two men, Trump insisted there was no correlation between his hands and any other body part. “I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee it,” he said.

Nine years later, Trump picked Rubio as his top diplomat, perhaps impressed by his ability to navigate their relationship.

But now Rubio is sweating again over his job.

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Trump Targets Lebanese Christians at US Ports of Entry

A Lebanese Christian couple, both US citizens, is arrested and harassed as they crossed into the US after a family visit to Canada.

Trump has trumpeted in the past that he is "defending" Lebanon's Christians - based on what his right-wing Lebanese whisperers like Massaad Boulos tell him. Lebanon's expatriate community in the US voted en masse for Trump because, just as they do in Lebanon, they love "strong" men who sell them bullshit but then stab them in the back. Lebanon's recent history, beginning in 1975, saw the Christians defend the State against a coalition of Sunni Muslim fundamentalists, Palestinians, Syria's Assad Baathist regime, Saudis, Kuwaitis, Druze, Shiite radicals (e.. Hezbollah), Libyans, European Communists and anarchists, and others who were trying to expel the Christians and transform Lebanon into a substitute Palestine.

Throughout that period, US foreign policy - particularly Republican administrations - consistently opposed the recovery of sovereignty by the Lebanese State and the Christians because the US did not want to displease the oil-soaked Saudis, Libyans, and Kuwaitis who were financially and militarily backing the Muslim-Communist-Palestinian coalition against the Christians. In 1983, Ronald Reagan lost 243 US servicemen and marines in a terrorist attack (second only to 9-11 in numbers of US casualties) mounted by Syria-Iran and Hezbollah in Beirut. What did he do? He withdrew the remaining Marines and fled like a coward. Had he stood his ground against Assad and Khomeini, and backed the nascent government of President Amine Gemayel, Lebanon would have been at peace since 1983 and the region would not be in its current crisis.

This duplicitous game is exactly what the Americans are playing with the Ukrainians: Realpolitik "greater" interests will eventually sacrifice Ukraine in order not to displease Russia's Putin.

And all those imbeciles of the Lebanese Christian community and the Lebanese-American community who "love" the moron Trump are now having to deal with his administration's revocation of student visas, harassment at ports of entry, and eventually sacrificing Lebanon for ISraeli and Saudi interests. We've been there for the past 50 years; nothing indicates a reversal of stupid short-term US policies.
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Christian Lebanese American US citizen couple detained and ill-treated without explanation after returning from Canada


Bachir and Jessica Atallah

A Lebanese American citizen says he and his wife were detained for hours by US border agents when they returned to the United States after a short trip to Canada. Bachir Atallah and his wife Jessica were driving back into the US on Sunday evening after visiting family in Canada for the weekend when U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents stopped them at the Highgate Springs checkpoint in Vermont.

Atallah said he was told to park his Range Rover and hand over his keys. When he asked the officer why, the officer placed his hand on his gun and told him to exit his vehicle, Atallah said. He said he was then handcuffed and led into a cell, where his belongings were confiscated. He said his wife was put into a cell across from his.

“Seeing my wife’s mascara running because she was crying, it was heartbreaking,” Atallah said. “It wasn’t humane.”

While detained, Atallah said he gave CBP agents the passcode to his phone after they asked for it. Despite his pleadings, agents never told him why he and his wife were being detained and never read him his rights.“I feared for my life,” Atallah said.

CBP officials said in a statement that “CBP officers acted in accordance with established protocols. Upon arrival at the port of entry, the traveler was appropriately referred to secondary inspection – a routine, lawful process that occurs daily and can apply for any traveler.”

A mass deportation campaign is being carried out by the administration, seemingly at random and just so Donald Dumb can claim some success in his first 100 days. People from allied countries, like the UK, Germany and others have been arrested and detained for weeks without any due process as they fly into the US or cross the Mexican or Canadian border. Donald Dumb has even issued threats to deport US-born American citizens to offshore prisons.

Without answers as to what was going on, Atallah said he started to have chest pains and felt dizzy, and told CBP to call an ambulance. He thought he was going to end up in a chain gang and flown to El Salvador's prison. He was told by CBP that if he went to the emergency room, an officer would accompany him and then return him to the cell to start the entire process from the beginning. He said he chose to stay, to not to leave his wife.

After he was handcuffed, he was allowed to call his lawyer, his sister Celine Atallah, who is an immigration attorney. A person identifying himself as an officer at US Customs and Border Patrol left a voicemail message on Celine’s phone close to 9 p.m., informing her Atallah and his wife were detained at Highgate Springs CBP and would “be here for a little while".

Eventually, Bachir and Jessica were let go around 11 p.m. Sunday. “Thank God we’re safe,” they said in Arabic once they got into their car to drive home. When reached by phone on Friday, Atallah said he had fled to Lebanon and, after his and wife’s treatment last week by Trump administration border officials, he’s worried about returning to the US and fears retailation. “I hope they don’t retaliate because I’m speaking out,” Atallah said.

This is how the racist xenophobic Donald Dumb administration hopes to "bleach" America into a whites-only country: By harassing, persecuting, deporting, revoking visas and passports, and such other tools against people from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the white supremacist racists of the Donald Dumb administration hope to slow down the erosion of the white anglo-saxon majority demographic advantage they've had so far. Statistical projections indicate that this white majority will no longer be a majority, but only the largest minority, by 2050. In essence, this is what the Zionists have been doing in Palestine: harassing, deporting, killing, massacring, persecuting the indigenous Palestinian population in the hope of "purifying" the land of its "Human animals" (i.e. Palestinians) and replacing them with foreign white Jewish extremists. No wonder the US is the only country on earth to still side with Israel in its genocide in Palestine.


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Friday, April 18, 2025

In Her Own Graceful Words: Selwa Carmen Showker "Lucky" Roosevelt

Anti-Arab racism has long existed in the US for reasons no one has to guess anymore. As Donald Dumb exercises his role as the serf of the Zionist lobby and is deporting-persecuting-harassing anyone or any institution with a hint of fairness and objectivity on the question of Palestine, here's a tiny window on the matter. 

Selwa Carmen Showker "Lucky" Roosevelt was the child of Lebanese immigrants who grew up in Tennessee. She became the Chief of Protocol of the United States under the very Republican Ronald Reagan, serving longer (1982-1989) than any other person in that position.  Read about her in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selwa_Roosevelt

Below is a letter she penned to the New York Times Book Review after reading Joanne Kaufmann's review of Ms. Roosevelt's autobiography entitled, "Keeper of the Gate". You be the judge of the deeply engrained anti-Arab racism in American culture, which makes the US the only country on earth these days to unconditionally back the genocide in Gaza. Ms. Roosevelt's arguments still apply today after nearly 40 years.




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Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Lebanon's Stark Choice: Civil War or Israeli War

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