Anti-Anti-Nazi Barbarian Hordes are Knocking Down the Gates

[admin]

Donald Trump Truth Social Post Re Columbia's Pres. Not Allowing Repatriation Flights to Land
by Donald Trump
Jan 26, 2025

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Truth Social
Jan 26, 2025, 11:28 AM



I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia. This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people. Petro’s denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States, so I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures:

• Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%.
• A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters.
• Visa Sanctions on all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government.
• Enhanced Customs and Border Protection Inspections of all Colombian Nationals and Cargo on national security grounds.
• IEEPA Treasury, Banking and Financial Sanctions to be fully imposed.

These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!

**********************************

Columbia Pres.'s Explanation Why He Returned Repatriation Flights to USA
by Gustavo Petro
1/26/25

Gustavo Petro
@petrogustavo
1/26/25



Un migrante no es un delincuente y debe ser tratado con la dignidad que un ser humano merece.

Por eso hice devolver los aviones militares estadounidenses que venían con migrantes colombianos.

No puedo hacer que los migrantes queden en un país que no los quiere; pero si ese país los devuelve debe ser con dignidad y respeto con llos y con nuestro país. En aviones civiles, sin trato de delincuentes recibiremos a nuestros connacionales. Colombia se respeta.

Translation:

A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves.

That is why I returned the US military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants.

I cannot allow migrants to stay in a country that does not want them; but if that country returns them it must be with dignity and respect for them and for our country. We will receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals. Colombia is respected.

********************************

Trade war with Colombia over Trump’s use of US military to transport deportees
by Paul Campos
Lawyers, Guns and Money
January 26, 2025 / At 6:32 pm



I’m embarrassed to say I know little about Colombian politics, despite the fact that one of my sisters in law’s family is from that country. I will apparently be learning quite a bit more about the subject very shortly:

Colombia refused to accept U.S. military planes deporting immigrants, setting off a furious reaction from President Trump, who on Sunday announced a barrage of tariffs and sanctions targeting the country, which has long been a top U.S. ally in Latin America.

The United States will immediately impose a 25 percent tariff on all Colombian imports, and will raise them to 50 percent in one week, Mr. Trump said on social media.

The Trump administration will also “fully impose” banking and financial sanctions against Colombia, and will apply a travel ban and revoke visas of Colombian government officials, the president said.

Colombia’s leftist president, Gustavo Petro, also hit back at Mr. Trump. In one social media post, he announced retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent on U.S. imports to Colombia and in another, longer post he said those tariffs would hit 50 percent.

Directly addressing Mr. Trump, Mr. Petro also questioned whether the American president was trying to topple him.

“You don’t like our freedom, fine,” Mr. Petro said. “I do not shake hands with white enslavers.”

The feud reflects how Mr. Trump is making an example out of Colombia as countries around the world grapple with how to prepare for the mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants that he has promised.

“This looks like a pretty bold and daring escalation on both sides,” said Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, citing Colombia’s economic reliance on the United States, which is still the South American country’s largest trading partner even as China has been making inroads.

“But equally, for Trump to threaten Colombia this way is pretty bold itself,” Mr. Freeman added. “That’s because Colombia remains historically the longest standing, the deepest, strategic ally in the region.”

Mr. Trump signed an executive order last week authorizing the U.S. military to assist in securing the border, and the Department of Defense said it would use military aircraft to deport people held in U.S. custody along the southern border.

Mr. Petro said earlier Sunday in a series of social media posts that Colombia would not accept military deportation flights from the United States until the Trump administration provided a process to treat Colombian migrants with “dignity and respect.”

Mr. Petro also said Colombia had already turned away military planes carrying Colombian deportees. While other countries in Latin America have raised concerns about Mr. Trump’s sweeping deportation plans, Colombia appears to be among the first to explicitly refuse to cooperate.

Here is President Petro’s longer tweet translated into English:

Gustavo Petro
@petrogustavo
2:15 PM · Jan 26, 2025

Trump, a mi no me gusta mucho viajar a los EEUU, es un poco aburridor, pero confieso que hay cosas meritorias, me gusta ir a los barrios negros de Washington, allí ví una lucha entera en la capital de los EEUU entre negros y latinos con barricadas, que me pareció una pendejada, porque deberían unirse.

Confieso que me gusta Walt Withman y Paul Simon y Noam Chomsky y Miller

Confieso que Sacco y Vanzetti, que tienen mi sangre, en la historia de los EEUU, son memorables y les sigo. Los asesinaron por lideres obreros con la silla eléctrica, los fascistas qué están dentro de EEUU como dentro de mi país

No me gusta su petroleo, Trump, va a acabar con la especie humana por la codicia. Quizás algún día, junto a un trago de Whisky qué acepto, a pesar de mi gastritis, podamos hablar francamente de esto, pero es difícil porque usted me considera una raza inferior y no lo soy, ni ningún colombiano.

Así que si conoce alguien terco, ese soy yo, punto. Puede con su fuerza económica y su soberbia intentar dar un golpe de estado como hicieron con Allende. Pero yo muero en mi ley, resistí la tortura y lo resisto a usted. No quiero esclavistas al lado de Colombia, ya tuvimos muchos y nos liberamos. Lo que quiero al lado de Colombia, son amantes de la libertad. Si usted no puede acompañarme yo voy a otros lados. Colombía es el corazón del mundo y usted no lo entendió, esta es la tierra de las mariposas amarillas, de la belleza de Remedios, pero tambien de los coroneles Aurelianos Buendía, de los cuales soy uno de ellos, quizás el último

Me matarás, pero sobreviviré en mi pueblo que es antes del tuyo, en las Américas. Somos pueblos de los vientos, las montañas, del mar Caribe y de la libertad

A usted no le gusta nuestra libertad, vale. Yo no estrecho mi mano con esclavistas blancos. Estrecho las manos de los blancos libertarios herederos de Lincoln y de los muchachos campesinos negros y blancos de los EEUU, ante cuyas tumbas llore y recé en un campo de batalla, al que llegue, después de caminar montañas de la toscana italiana y después de salvarme del covid.

Ellos son EEUU y ante ellos me arrodillo, ante más nadie.

Túmbeme presidente y le responderán las Américas y la humanidad.

Colombia ahora deja de mirar el norte, mira al mundo, nuestra sangre viene de la sangre del califato de Córdoba, la civilización en ese entonces, de los latinos romanos del mediterraneo, la civilización de ese entonces, que fundaron la república, la democracia en Atenas; nuestra sangre tiene los resistentes negros convertidos en esclavos por ustedes. En Colombia está el primer territorio libre de América, antes de Washington, de toda la América, allí me cobijo en sus cantos africanos.

Mi tierra es de orfebrería existente en época de los faraones egipcios, y de los primeros artistas del mundo en Chiribiquete.

No nos dominarás nunca. Se opone el guerrero que cabalgaba nuestras tierras, gritando libertad y que se llama Bolívar

Nuestros pueblos son algo temerosos, algo tímidos, son ingenuos y amables, amantes, pero sabrán ganar el canal de Panamá, que ustedes nos quitaron con violencia. Doscientos héroes de toda latinoamerica yacen en Bocas del Toro, actual Panamá, antes Colombia, que ustedes asesinaron.

Yo levanto una bandera y como dijera Gaitán, así quede solo, seguirá enarbolada con la dignidad latinoamericana que es la dignidad de América, que su bisabuelo no conoció, y el mio sí, señor presidente inmigrante en los EEUU,

Su bloqueo no me asusta; porque Colombia además de ser el país de la belleza, es el corazón del mundo. Se que ama la belleza como yo, no la irrespete y le brindará su dulzura.

COLOMBIA A PARTiR DE HOY SE ABRE A TODO EL MUNDO, CON LOS BRAZOS ABIERTOS, SOMOS CONSTRUCTORES DE LIBERTAD, VIDA Y HUMANIDAD.

Me informan que usted pone a nuestro fruto del trabajo humano 50% de arancel para entrar a EEUU, yo hago lo mismo.

Que nuestra gente siembre maíz que se descubrió en Colombia y alimente al mundo

Translated from Spanish by Google

Trump, I don't really like travelling to the US, it's a bit boring, but I confess that there are some commendable things. I like going to the black neighbourhoods of Washington, where I saw an entire fight in the US capital between blacks and Latinos with barricades, which seemed like nonsense to me, because they should join together.

I confess that I like Walt Whitman and Paul Simon and Noam Chomsky and Miller

I confess that Sacco and Vanzetti, who have my blood, are memorable in the history of the USA and I follow them. They were murdered by labor leaders with the electric chair, the fascists who are within the USA as well as within my country

I don't like your oil, Trump, you're going to wipe out the human species because of greed. Maybe one day, over a glass of whiskey, which I accept, despite my gastritis, we can talk frankly about this, but it's difficult because you consider me an inferior race and I'm not, nor is any Colombian.

So if you know someone who is stubborn, that's me, period. You can try to carry out a coup with your economic strength and your arrogance, like they did with Allende. But I will die in my law, I resisted torture and I resist you. I don't want slavers next to Colombia, we already had many and we freed ourselves. What I want next to Colombia are lovers of freedom. If you can't accompany me, I'll go elsewhere. Colombia is the heart of the world and you didn't understand that, this is the land of the yellow butterflies, of the beauty of Remedios, but also of the colonels Aureliano Buendía, of which I am one, perhaps the last.

You will kill me, but I will survive in my people, which is before yours, in the Americas. We are peoples of the winds, the mountains, the Caribbean Sea and of freedom.

You don't like our freedom, okay. I don't shake hands with white slavers. I shake hands with the white libertarian heirs of Lincoln and the black and white farm boys of the USA, at whose graves I cried and prayed on a battlefield, which I reached after walking the mountains of Italian Tuscany and after being saved from Covid.

They are the United States and before them I kneel, before no one else.

Overthrow me, President, and the Americas and humanity will respond.

Colombia now stops looking north, looks at the world, our blood comes from the blood of the Caliphate of Cordoba, the civilization of that time, of the Roman Latins of the Mediterranean, the civilization of that time, who founded the republic, democracy in Athens; our blood has the black resistance fighters turned into slaves by you. In Colombia is the first free territory of America, before Washington, of all America, there I take refuge in its African songs.

My land is made up of goldsmiths who worked in the time of the Egyptian pharaohs and of the first artists in the world in Chiribiquete.

You will never rule us. The warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom, who is called Bolívar, opposes us.

Our people are somewhat fearful, somewhat timid, they are naive and kind, loving, but they will know how to win the Panama Canal, which you took from us with violence. Two hundred heroes from all of Latin America lie in Bocas del Toro, today's Panama, formerly Colombia, which you murdered.

I raise a flag and as Gaitán said, even if it remains alone, it will continue to be raised with the Latin American dignity that is the dignity of America, which your great-grandfather did not know, and mine did, Mr. President, an immigrant in the USA,

Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world. I know that you love beauty as I do, do not disrespect it and you will give it your sweetness.

FROM TODAY ON, COLOMBIA IS OPEN TO THE ENTIRE WORLD, WITH OPEN ARMS, WE ARE BUILDERS OF FREEDOM, LIFE AND HUMANITY.

I am informed that you impose a 50% tariff on the fruits of our human labor to enter the United States, and I do the same.

Let our people plant corn that was discovered in Colombia and feed the world.

Trump, I don’t really like travelling to the US, it’s a bit boring, but I confess that there are some commendable things. I like going to the black neighbourhoods of Washington, where I saw an entire fight in the US capital between blacks and Latinos with barricades, which seemed like nonsense to me, because they should join together. I confess that I like Walt Whitman and Paul Simon and Noam Chomsky and Miller I confess that Sacco and Vanzetti, who have my blood, are memorable in the history of the USA and I follow them. They were murdered by labor leaders with the electric chair, the fascists who are within the USA as well as within my country I don’t like your oil, Trump, you’re going to wipe out the human species because of greed. Maybe one day, over a glass of whiskey, which I accept, despite my gastritis, we can talk frankly about this, but it’s difficult because you consider me an inferior race and I’m not, nor is any Colombian. So if you know someone who is stubborn, that’s me, period. You can try to carry out a coup with your economic strength and your arrogance, like they did with Allende. But I will die in my law, I resisted torture and I resist you. I don’t want slavers next to Colombia, we already had many and we freed ourselves. What I want next to Colombia are lovers of freedom. If you can’t accompany me, I’ll go elsewhere. Colombia is the heart of the world and you didn’t understand that, this is the land of the yellow butterflies, of the beauty of Remedios, but also of the colonels Aureliano Buendía, of which I am one, perhaps the last. You will kill me, but I will survive in my people, which is before yours, in the Americas. We are peoples of the winds, the mountains, the Caribbean Sea and of freedom. You don’t like our freedom, okay. I don’t shake hands with white slavers. I shake hands with the white libertarian heirs of Lincoln and the black and white farm boys of the USA, at whose graves I cried and prayed on a battlefield, which I reached after walking the mountains of Italian Tuscany and after being saved from Covid. They are the United States and before them I kneel, before no one else. Overthrow me, President, and the Americas and humanity will respond. Colombia now stops looking north, looks at the world, our blood comes from the blood of the Caliphate of Cordoba, the civilization of that time, of the Roman Latins of the Mediterranean, the civilization of that time, who founded the republic, democracy in Athens; our blood has the black resistance fighters turned into slaves by you. In Colombia is the first free territory of America, before Washington, of all America, there I take refuge in its African songs. My land is made up of goldsmiths who worked in the time of the Egyptian pharaohs and of the first artists in the world in Chiribiquete. You will never rule us. The warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom, who is called Bolívar, opposes us. Our people are somewhat fearful, somewhat timid, they are naive and kind, loving, but they will know how to win the Panama Canal, which you took from us with violence. Two hundred heroes from all of Latin America lie in Bocas del Toro, today’s Panama, formerly Colombia, which you murdered. I raise a flag and as Gaitán said, even if it remains alone, it will continue to be raised with the Latin American dignity that is the dignity of America, which your great-grandfather did not know, and mine did, Mr. President, an immigrant in the USA, Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world. I know that you love beauty as I do, do not disrespect it and you will give it your sweetness. FROM TODAY ON, COLOMBIA IS OPEN TO THE ENTIRE WORLD, WITH OPEN ARMS, WE ARE BUILDERS OF FREEDOM, LIFE AND HUMANITY. I am informed that you impose a 50% tariff on the fruits of our human labor to enter the United States, and I do the same. Let our people plant corn that was discovered in Colombia and feed the world.

If you read Spanish I recommend going to the original, which has been cleaned up quite a bit by the Google translator, which is pretty poor overall, both in terms of accuracy and basic coherence. For example it renders pendejada as “nonsense,” when a more accurate translation would be roughly “fucking bullshit” (pendejo is a slang term of abuse, literally “pubic hair.”).

So things are going just great.

*********************

Colombia Agrees to Accept Deportation Flights After Trump Threatens Tariffs: The country’s leader, Gustavo Petro, backed down after a clash with President Trump, which started when Mr. Petro turned back U.S. military planes carrying deportees.
by Genevieve Glatsky, Simon Romero and Annie Correal
New York Times
Published Jan. 26, 2025
Updated Jan. 27, 2025, 2:03 a.m. ET
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/26/worl ... =url-share

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

President Gustavo Petro of Colombia last year. On Sunday, he said the United States should not treat Colombian migrants as criminals. Credit...Raul Arboleda/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Under threats from President Trump that included steep tariffs, President Gustavo Petro of Colombia has relented and will allow U.S. military planes to fly deportees into the country, after turning two transports back in response to what he called inhumane treatment.

The two leaders had engaged in a war of words on Sunday after Colombia’s move to block Mr. Trump’s use of military aircraft in deporting thousands of unauthorized immigrants.

But on Sunday night, the White House released a statement in which it said that because Mr. Petro had agreed to all of its terms, the tariffs and sanctions Mr. Trump had threatened would be “held in reserve.” Other penalties, such as visa sanctions, will remain in effect until the first planeload of deportees has arrived in Colombia, the statement said.

“Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again,” it added.

Colombia’s foreign ministry released a statement soon afterward that said “we have overcome the impasse with the United States government.” It said the government would accept all deportation flights and “guarantee dignified conditions” for those Colombians on board.

Mr. Petro began the day by announcing that he had turned back U.S. military planes carrying deported immigrants. This set off a furious back and forth with Mr. Trump, who in turn announced a barrage of tariffs and sanctions targeting the country, which has long been a top U.S. ally in Latin America.

Mr. Trump said on social media that the United States would immediately impose a 25 percent tariff on all Colombian imports and would raise them to 50 percent after a week. The Trump administration would also “fully impose” banking and financial sanctions on Colombia, apply a travel ban on Colombian government officials and their associates, and revoke their visas, the president said.

Mr. Petro hit back on social media. In one post, he announced retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent on U.S. imports to Colombia; in another, longer post, he said those tariffs would hit 50 percent.

Directly addressing Mr. Trump, Mr. Petro also questioned whether the American president was trying to topple him.

“You don’t like our freedom, fine,” Mr. Petro said. “I do not shake hands with white enslavers.”

The clash reflected how Mr. Trump was ready to make an example out of Colombia as countries around the world grapple with how to prepare for the mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants that he has promised.

“This looks like a pretty bold and daring escalation on both sides,” said Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, citing Colombia’s economic reliance on the United States, which is still the South American country’s largest trading partner even as China has been making inroads.

“But equally, for Trump to threaten Colombia this way is pretty bold itself,” Mr. Freeman added. “That’s because Colombia remains historically the longest standing, the deepest, strategic ally in the region.”

Mr. Trump signed an executive order last week authorizing the U.S. military to assist in securing the border, and the Department of Defense said it would use military aircraft to deport people held in U.S. custody along the southern border.

Mr. Petro said Sunday in a series of posts that Colombia would not accept military deportation flights from the United States until the Trump administration provided a process to treat Colombian migrants with “dignity and respect.”


The Trump administration’s move to use military jets to deport migrants is an expansion on civilian deportation flights, like this one carrying 135 migrants to Guatemala City on Jan. 15. Credit...Daniele Volpe for The New York Times

“I cannot make migrants stay in a country that does not want them,” Mr. Petro wrote, “but if that country sends them back, it should be with dignity and respect for them and for our country.”

He said he was still open to receiving deportees on nonmilitary flights.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, “Colombian President Petro had authorized flights and provided all needed authorizations and then canceled his authorization when the planes were in the air.”

Mr. Petro’s office said the presidential plane would be made available to transport the migrants who had been scheduled to arrive on the military planes. Representatives for Colombia’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The immediate snag with the deportation flights appeared to be that U.S. military planes were transporting the undocumented migrants, a U.S. military official said on Sunday.

The two U.S. aircraft that were denied the ability to land in Colombia were Air Force C-17 transport planes. One turned around and returned to San Diego; the other flew back to Texas.

Mr. Petro’s remarks came in response to a post about the treatment of Brazilian deportees. Brazil’s foreign ministry complained of “degrading treatment” of its citizens after 88 migrants arrived in the country handcuffed on Friday and some complained of mistreatment after not being given water or allowed to use the bathroom during the flight.

Since taking office last Monday, Mr. Trump has issued a series of executive orders and made other moves aimed at laying the groundwork to deport an enormous number of migrants.

In his missive on social media, Mr. Trump called Mr. Petro, a former left-wing guerrilla, a “socialist” — a term that Mr. Petro has no problem in using to describe himself — and contended that Mr. Petro was “very unpopular.” Mr. Petro’s approval ratings stand at around 34 percent, as he has been weighed down by corruption scandals and a resurgence in fighting among armed groups.

To justify his measures targeting Colombia, Mr. Trump also claimed that the military deportation flights refused landing by Mr. Petro included a “large number of Illegal Criminals” and that the United States was seeking the “return of the Criminals they forced into the United States.”

The U.S. tariffs that Mr. Trump had threatened would deal a significant blow to Colombia’s economy. The United States is Colombia’s largest trading partner, with top Colombian exports to the American market including crude oil, coffee and cut flowers.

Trade between the two countries totaled $53.5 billion in 2022, with the United States having a trade surplus of $3.9 billion that year. Colombia is the largest South American market for U.S. agricultural products, absorbing imports of American pork, dairy products, alcoholic beverages, and dog and cat food.

Mr. Petro also cast attention on Americans living in Colombia, saying that more than 15,000 Americans were living in the country without authorization, and calling on them to “regularize” their immigration status.


The U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital. Colombia’s president noted that more than 15,000 unauthorized Americans were living in Colombia. Credit...Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters

Colombia is not among the countries with the largest unauthorized immigrant populations in the United States, trailing far behind Mexico, El Salvador, India, Guatemala and Honduras. In 2022, Mexicans remained the most common nationality among unauthorized immigrants in the United States, with about 4 million, while Colombia had about 190,000, according to the most recent data available from the Pew Research Center.

Colombia has traditionally been a close U.S. ally, though differences have recently emerged regarding counternarcotics policies. While Mr. Petro has criticized the United States more than past presidents, he continued to collaborate with the United States and regularly accepted deportation flights, said Sergio Guzmán, a Colombian political analyst.

This is what “makes this new approach so surprising,” Mr. Guzmán said earlier on Sunday.

Mr. Petro, who took office in 2022, is Colombia’s first leftist president and a longtime leader in Colombian politics known for his combative stances, particularly when it comes to defending human rights.

A former rebel who later demobilized and became a senator, his critics say he sometimes acts rashly and refuses to listen to advisers.

He has long been critical of the outsize power the United States holds in the world, particularly of the economic imbalance between the U.S. and other nations.

The Trump administration is sending the military planes in addition to the usual flights operated by ICE, meaning that they do not replace the typical flights that land several times a week in countries throughout the region, and which Mr. Petro referred to in his online posts on Sunday as “civilian” planes.

The new planes sent by the military can only depart from the United States if the receiving nation has approved them.

It is unclear which countries may have agreed to receive military planes carrying deportees.

Early on Friday, Guatemala received two U.S. Air Force jets carrying around 160 deportees in total, making it one of the first countries to publicly receive such flights.


This photo released by the Guatemalan Migration Institute shows Guatemalans who had been deported from the United States descending from a U.S. military aircraft on Friday in Guatemala City.Credit...via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Officials in Mexico, the source of the largest number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States, have said that they remained open to receiving deported citizens. Routine deportations have taken place to Mexican cities along the U.S. border in recent days.

Still, Mexican authorities have not disclosed whether they plan to accept military flights or whether they will receive deported migrants from other countries, as Mexico has sometimes done in the past.

On Friday, NBC reported that Mexico had refused to authorize a military plane carrying deportees from the U.S., an account that could not be independently confirmed.

Honduras, which like Colombia has pushed back against the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations, has said that it has not yet explicitly been asked by U.S. officials, but that it is open to receiving military flights.

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington, Jack Nicas from Rio de Janeiro, Julie Turkewitz from Bogotá, and Jody García from Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Simon Romero is a Times correspondent covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. He is based in Mexico City. More about Simon Romero

Annie Correal reports from the U.S. and Latin America for The Times. More about Annie Correal

[admin]

Trump SCREWS GOVT Functions with SWEEPING MOVE
by Anthony Davis
MeidasTouch
Jan 28, 2025

Trump mandated the closure of all federal diversity offices, ordering that employees in these roles be placed on paid administrative leave by Wednesday evening. The directive, which targets Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) programs, marks one of the administration’s most sweeping actions against federal diversity initiatives to date. Anthony Davis reports.



Transcript

the Trump regime has mandated the
closure of all federal diversity offices
ordering that employees in these roles
be placed on paid administrative leave
by Wednesday evening the directive which
targets diversity Equity inclusion and
accessibility programs marks one of the
administration's most sweeping actions
against Federal diversity initiatives to
date in a memo issued by the US office
of personnel management and confirmed by
the White House Press Secretary
department and agency heads were
instructed to notify deia employees of
the immediate change the directive comes
in the wake of two executive orders
signed by Donald Trump both of which aim
to dismantle diversity related policies
across the federal government the first
executive order titled ending radical
and wasteful government Dei programs and
preferencing overturns initiatives
introduced by President Joe Biden in
2021 these initiatives had sought to to
institutionalize Dei practices across
federal agencies embedding Equity plans
into areas ranging from hiring practices
to policymaking ensuring that every
employee and applicant gets a fair
chance under the new executive order all
Dei offices roles plans and programs
must be dismantled within 60 days since
the signing of the order Equity plans
have been removed from various Federal
websites including that of the White
House itself self the Trump regime
framed the decision as a corrective
measure to what it perceives as
discriminatory policies the Biden
Administration forced illegal and
immoral discrimination programs going by
the name of diversity equity and
inclusion to virtually all aspects of
the federal government the executive
order claims critics say this
characterization misrepresents the
purpose of Dei which aims to address
systemic inequities and promote fairness
a second executive order signed the
following day rescinded long-standing
Federal Equity policies including a
Civil Rights era mandate established by
President Lynden B Johnson that required
government contractors to adhere to
equal opportunity standards Trump's
order accused influential institutions
ranging from major corporations to law
enforcement agencies and universities of
adopting dangerous demeaning and immoral
race and sex-based preference under the
guise of so-called diversity equity and
inclusion the move dismantles Decades of
federal efforts aimed at ensuring
Equitable treatment and opportunities
within government contracts and hiring
the Trump regime's dismantling of Dei
programs reflects a broader cultural
debate that has intensified in recent
years Dei policies have become a flash
point in the so-called culture wars with
conservative and Maga Republican
commentators is often framing such
initiatives as discriminatory towards
groups that historically held dominant
positions in American society namely
white male
Americans the cultural Clash reached a
crescendo in 2023 when the Supreme Court
struck down affirmative action in higher
education the decision emboldened
conservative groups to Mount Legal
challenges against Dei policies in
workplaces arguing that they unfairly
disadvantage AG certain demographics
Trump's rhetoric during his campaign
echoed these sentiments with the
president asserting that there is a
definite anti-white feeling in this
country his comments resonated with
conservative voters who see Dei
initiatives as a threat to traditional
meritocratic systems though critics
argue that this perspective completely
ignores systemic barriers faced by
marginalized and minority communities
while the Trump ad administration's
actions have focused on federal programs
the implications May extend to the
private sector also during his first
term Trump issued an executive order in
September 2020 that banned Dei training
among private government contractors the
order however was swiftly blocked by a
federal judge on First Amendment grounds
and later overturned by President Joe
Biden yesterday's executive order
stopped short of reinstating a ban on
Dei practices in the private sector
likely due to potential legal challenges
however it directed the Attorney General
to explore ways to discourage what it
describes as illegal discrimination and
preferences signaling that further
action may be forthcoming blind
supporters of trump and this decision
view it as a rejection of what they
perceive as divisive and unnecessary
policies prejudice against white
straight and able-bodied people many
conservatives areg that Dei programs
impose ideological Conformity and result
in Reverse discrimination rather than
fostering genuine
inclusivity in reality dismantling Dei
offices and programs undermines progress
towards equity and inclusion in the
workplace and the broader Society these
programs are essential to addressing
systemic inequities and fostering
environments where individuals from all
backgrounds can thrive civil rights
Advocates have expressed alarm at the
rollback of policies that have long
served as safeguards against
discrimination this is not just an
attack on Dei this is an attack on the
values of fairness and equality that
these policies
represent the dismantling of Dei
initiatives also raises questions about
the federal government's commitment to
diversity at a time when the nation is
becoming increasingly diverse Democrats
argue that this shift risks alienating
marginalized communities and weakening
the government's ability to serve a
diverse population effectively the Trump
administration's decision to shutter
Federal Dei offices represents a
significant policy shift one that
underscores the heightened tensions
surrounding equity and inclusion in the
United States meanwhile Trump has signed
an executive order temporarily
suspending all US foreign assistance
programs for 90 days the suspension
allows for a comprehensive review to
ensure these programs align with his
administration's policy priorities the
immediate impact of the order remains
unclear as many foreign aid programs
have already received funding through
Congressional Appropriations These funds
are often legally obligated to be spent
with some potentially already dispersed
in the executive order one of many
signed during Trump's first day back in
office he criticized the current
structure of foreign assistance despite
knowing nothing about it in order to
further stipulate that no further United
States foreign assistance shall be
dispersed in a manner that is not fully
aligned with the foreign policy of the
United States this sweeping move signals
a significant shift in the US approach
to International Aid with potential
ramifications for Global development
efforts and international relations
further segregating the United States
from the rest of the Civilized world I'm
Anthony Davis you can find me on the 5
minute news YouTube channel and podcast
C on Wednesday's co-hosting uncovered
and on Sunday on the weekend show with
midest touch love this video make sure
you stay up todate on the latest
breaking news and all things midest by
signing up to the midest touch
newsletter at midest touch.com
newsletter
[Music]

[admin]

Judge HANDS Trump MAJOR LOSS on GOVT FREEZE: Federal judge just ordered that Donald Trump's spending freeze be blocked until Monday February 3rd at 5:00 pm
by Ben Meiselas and Harry Litman
MeidasTouch
Jan 28, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas and Talking Feds host Harry Litman report on the new order by a Washington DC federal judge temporarily blocking Trump’s attempt to freeze all federal funding.



Transcript

this just in a federal judge just
ordered that Donald Trump's spending
freeze be blocked until Monday February
3rd at 5:00 pm overruling the department
of Justice's claim that the federal
judge had no authority to intervene this
is being reported by uh Politico by Kyle
chenny also um we're aware of what went
down at that hearing so here's what went
down just so everybody remembers the
Office of Management budget um even
though they still have an interim head
that Russ Vought the author of project
2025 he hasn't even been sworn in yet
but he's got his fingerprints all in
this the interim heads are basically all
reporting to him anyway they're
implementing their project 2025 agenda
and they basically ordered a spending
freeze across all of the spending all of
the money the federal government gives
out with two exceptions that were
actually flagged was for Social Security
and Medicare but there was no reference
to Medicaid there was no reference to
snap there was no reference to things
like Suicide Hotline for veterans there
was no reference made to just all of the
type of federal funding that is utilized
by people every day to to live I mean
we're talking about child care Head
Start Home Care school lunch Medicare
pel Grant loans veteran Healthcare
veteran loans funds for suicide
prevention homeless shelter support and
more but Harry these groups came in
there was a few uh civil rights related
groups the National Council of
nonprofits American Public Health
Association organization called sage
they filed this
emergency uh injunctive request asking
that this federal judge just press pause
Trump's doj despite these initiatives
being massively unpopular they swoop
into court and they're like nah we want
this we don't care if Americans are
going to suffer and these groups that
are suing they shouldn't even be allowed
in court they have no standing to be
here which is also kind of part of a
delay tactic for uh for for Trump to for
Trump's doj to make saying until we can
determine through Discovery or other
means that these parties should even be
here there should not be a pause at all
the federal judge was like look there's
a lot going on here people could be
dying people's rights are on the line so
we're just GNA pause everything until
Monday I want more briefing but next
Monday we'll sort through this so Harry
what do you make of first this sweeping
order um where now before we were
talking about all federal foreign a was
removed now all domestic uh Aid is done
the response to it and what do you
expect to happen
next okay so everything you say that
list and then more the federal
government has its fingers everywhere
and and provides necessary help
everywhere you know HIV wasn't on there
but all kind all kinds of help with that
sort everything is choked off uh as calm
as you hear me trying to uh keep my
voice that is how
incredibly dangerous and vicious and
indifferent Trump uh is in this order
and just as you say I'll get to the law
in a minute but you make the right point
we are it's it's just a
completely nasty assault on so many
aspects of the federal government that
people rely on day-to-day people could
die here and people will clearly suffer
moreover it is there's a reason that the
judge and little aside is the judge from
is from the DC district court so one of
the members of the Court he's going to
have to go to them all the time whom he
totally kicked in the face by granting
all these Pardons and they've all said
so that's they start with very little
credibility but of course Trump now is
going to do this and Marshall the entire
resources of the federal government the
doj he doesn't care and if he loses a
few he still doesn't care what's the uh
possible well let me take it from the
other side can you do something like
this you cannot it seems clear to me but
we've never ever faced anything close to
it but we are back in the sort of third
grade world that uh Trump paid somebody
to go attend for him where the congress
makes the laws the executive executes
the laws and this is the legal area here
Ben is called impoundment and it's
pretty well recognized that maybe the
executive at the margins can withhold or
delay a little bit but this is the same
as just negating the law that Congress
passed and it passed for the executive
whether it's Biden or Trump or whoever
if if JD Vance and Trump both die it's
the speaker of the house it doesn't
matter this is a command under the the
core article one powers of the Congress
saying here's some money spend it on
this and for him to come in and say no
I'm not going on to and not with any kind
of specific constitutional objection
there's a really ridiculous Little
two-page memo that just says we really
want to evaluate if this is in the
interest of the American people you know
Excuse excuse me but you the
Congress has decided this people are
waiting in for this by the hour and the
day so it's not just the breathtaking uh
lawlessness of it but the the the
cruelty and indifference of it what is
going to happen I do think we've never
faced it before but any there the no
less than the office of legal counsel a
very Pro executive power group has said
you can't do this not this kind of crazy
impoundment the doj is going to continue
to press the standing claim
and especially as you get higher up and
you have to imagine this goes to the US
Supreme Court is there the possibility
that the court some members of it
certainly will say oh this is terrible
but sorry wrong plaintiff something like
that that's something we'll have to look
at otherwise one would say confidently
this cannot stand and my you know in
general we you and I have talked about
this before with Birthright citizenship
we don't you can't have a lot of
confidence in the US Supreme Court and
just their existence and their previous
actions are a terrible sort of wild card
here but to my mind Ben this is so out
there so basic basic violation of
separation of powers and what Congress
does and versus what the executive is
permitted to do that unless they try
some
bogus crap with standing and you got to
imagine there's two or three ready to do
it the US Supreme Court will in fact
strike this down so I think what happens
soon they have the hearing this judge on
the DC District Court extends the stay
and they go the hearing will be on a per
on a more a permanent injunction while
they try this they'll be able to appeal
the permanent Junction it'll go through
the DC circuit and up to the Supreme
Court and still on the question do we
enjoy the whole thing and given the
balance of the irreparable harm that's
going to it's already happening and the
balance of equities all of that you have
to imagine that they will unless the
Supreme Court gets uh funny with
standing law but this I'll I'll end
where I started man oh man oh man this
is it it's not it's no longer a break
glass moment uh the fire has started no
Harry the plaintiffs are going to cure
the standing issue to the extent there
is a defect I don't know with these
specific groups yeah the specific
traceable injury such that they're
saying that they have this injury in
fact to make their standing claim they
appear to be different civil rights and
nonprofit organizations I'm assuming one
of them gets some sort of federal
funding but if they don't what what
won't happen is they're not just going
to go to next Monday and not address
that and Dot that eye and cross the te
so what I expect will happen as well
whether there's a bunch of other
lawsuits that are going to be filed by
States and then underneath the states
various other groups that are being
impacted by this and then joined in the
DC Case by the time Monday rolls around
standing won't be the issue there will
be a party that was injured I give these
organizations I almost regardless of me
fully analyzing the specific standing
claim which may need to be drawn out in
Discovery they got that lawsuit quickly
and they saved lives those groups that's
right right right now people are getting
much needed you know mother's milk from
the federal government which really is
their due it's why we have a government
and this jerk is trying to just shut it
down and I I I think your point is um
very well taken look in general the the
court tends to shy away from what it
thinks of as ideological Generalalized
grievances this couldn't be less that
case we're talking about money necessary
money flowing every day every week every
month that's now been cut off so as you
say there are scores countless people
who are
injured the the minute this would go
into effect Harry Litman thanks for
breaking that down we were right there
on top of that issue first thing when
that Office of Management and budget uh
memo was sent we did a video on it it's
on our YouTube channel folks you got to
subscribe to the talking feds YouTube
channel as well I know you're already
subscribed here but make sure you
subscribe to Harry's channel it's called
talking feds he's got a YouTube channel
he's got his talking feds podcast and
he's got his talking feds substack Harry
was top leadership at the Department of
Justice he was a United States Attorney
in the Western District of Pennsylvania
he knows this stuff he clerked before
two supreme Court Justices you're going
to need credible detailed meticulous
legal analysis it's why I'm proud to do
these videos with Harry and it's really
why it's it's imperative reading and
imperative viewing the talking feds uh
substack YouTube and podcast thanks
Harry

***********************

STUNNING ADMISSION made at Trump Presser on GOVT FREEZE: Medicaid portals and payment systems are down in all 50 states
by Ben Meiselas
MeidasTouch
Jan 28, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the implications of Donald Trump’s funding freeze and the response by his Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.



[Reporter] Just clarify for a sec what you were
saying before on Medicaid it wasn't
clear to me whether you were saying that
no Medicaid would be cut off obviously a
lot of this goes to States before it
goes to individuals and so forth so are
you guaranteeing here that no individual
now on Medicaid would see a cut off
because of the PA ?

[Karoline Leavitt] I'll check back on
that and get back to you John

[Ben Meiselas] Well I've
checked on it for you Karoline Leavitt
press secretary to Donald Trump and we
can confirm that in all 50 states
following Donald Trump's Federal funding
freeze that Medicaid portals and payment
systems are down throwing Medicaid into
complete and utter disarray I have many
friends that I'm aware of right now who
have said they don't know if they will
be able to have their procedures which
are coming up very soon and they are
crying right now as a result of this
horrible horrible thing that Donald
Trump just did how cruel and fashion can
you get Donald Trump issued a federal
funding freeze which as a result of it
shut down the Medicaid portals and
payment systems in 50 States this from
Chris Murphy uh Democratic senator can
confirm Connecticut's Medicaid payment
system has been turned off doctors and
hospitals cannot get paid in all 50
states discussions ongoing about whether
Services can continue Medicaid covers
Health Care for millions of seniors and
covers 40% of births in America
Democratic senator Brian shots says
multiple States locked out of Medicaid
portal this is a trump shutdown except
this time it's unlawful Democrats in
both the Senate and the house who are
involved in the
Appropriations sent the following letter
to the Office of Management budget which
will be led by Russ Vought the author of
project
2025 all of this stuff is in Project
2025 that's what they said they were
going to do it's called impoundment
Donald Trump wants to impound all of the
federal funds Remember When Donald Trump
said he wants to be a dictator on day
one this is it so all of these funds
have already been prescribed by
legislation to go to various agencies to
go to various states to go to various
Grant programs which then are delivered
to the people Trump is trying to seize
all of that so that he has all of the
money that's called impoundment there is
a law that says presidents can't impound
the power of the purse belongs to
Congress but I'm sure the Maga
Republicans in the house of
representatives and the Senate don't
care that they're a co-equal branch cuz
they're okay with dictatorship here's
what the letter says from Democrats to
the Office of Management and budget the
scope of what you're ordering by this
Federal funding freeze is breathtaking
unprecedented and will have devastating
consequences across the country we write
today to urge you in the strongest
possible terms to uphold the law and the
Constitution and ensure all federal
resources are delivered in accordance
with the law this was signed by Senator
Murray and representative De Loro just
so you see here was the memorandum which
appeared to suggest basically all
federal assistance gets Frozen all
federal assistance gets Frozen and uh
Donald Trump and his administration say
well it doesn't apply to Social Security
and Medicare well what about Medicaid
what about snap what about all of these
other programs as Christopher hell
writes Tennessee the state that deliver
Trump his largest raw vote margin of
Victory Nationwide well they're poised
to lose about $5 billion in in federal
grants and Loans democratic
congresswoman Kathleen Clark goes
already community health centers and
Head Start programs in Massachusetts and
across the country can't access money
the Medicaid payment systems are shut
down Trump is robbing teachers and
nurses of their hard-earned
paychecks Senator Martin Hinrich goes
now Trump is blocking New Mexico's
access to the Medicaid portal this won't
just hurt 74,000 New Mexicans on
Medicaid it threatens to shut down our
entire Health Care System I'm calling on
Trump to undo this chaos immediately
Travis Matthews goes just so we're all
clear Trump is cutting off snap
supplemental nutrition assistance
program and free lunches for children
Trump's also cutting off Medicaid to all
lowincome households so now only are we
forcing lowincome families in America to
go hungry we're also cutting off their
health care did I miss anything this is
from the Nevada attorney general our
office is aware of trump administrations
intent to inhalt federal assistance
programs any pause to critical funding
will harm nevadans weaken Public Safety
and negatively affect programs like
Medicaid and snap we're prepared to
fight against this ill-conceived idea
Congress member Maxwell Frost in Florida
just confirmed that the Trump
Administration shut down the Medicaid
portal for Florida there were over 3.8
million Floridians on Medicaid this fact
post news I think says it well so Will
trump let 72 million Americans on
Medicaid go without access to lifesaving
critical care Will trump let seniors
waiting for Meals on Wheels go hungry
Will trump leave veterans without a roof
over their head Will trump let 41
million families that rely on food
stamps go hungry Will trump gut cancer
research programs rolling back years of
efforts to help save the lives of
millions of Americans Will trump leave
pregnant mothers and newborns without
critical nutrition assistance Will trump
leave millions of Americans suffering
from natural disasters without relief
will Trump leave children who rely on
the Head Start program without critical
Early Education programs because this
Federal funding frees and Trump's other
executive orders do just that folks
we're learning now that a litigation was
just brought by nonprofits and public
health groups in Washington DC to
challenge Donald Trump's federal aid
free this lawsuit was just filed by a
coalition of nonprofits and public
health advocates asking a federal judge
for an emergency order to block Donald
Trump from imposing a sweeping plan to
Halt all federal aid programs quote
given the few hours that remain before
Federal grantees are thrown into
disarray thrown on the street thrown
without getting the surgeries and
procedures they need to live plaintiffs
file this complaint and seek a temporary
restraining order to maintain the status
quo until the court has an opportunity
to more fully consider the illegality of
trump administration's actions and by
the way it's already thrown it into
disarray because all of these Medicaid
portals have now been shut down people
can't access it people are in trauma
right now as a result of Donald Trump's
actions but what are they doing on Trump
propaganda networks I'm not making this
up folks they are eating tacos while
they are mocking people who are are
being rounded up and deported and
they're saying to themselves this Taco
is yummy I'm feeling very good today
this is what trumps propaganda TV this
is Maga this is their cruelty here let
me show it to you let's play this
clip what you going to do you come take
it out of my hand I'm going to eat half
this plate during the break maybe I'll
call the ice hotline I don't know if
I'll have enough time sure all kidding
aside this is actually really good
taco these people broke the law they
broke the law to get here folks here is
what Democratic senator Patty Murray had
to say moments ago let's play it in a
Brazen and illegal move the Trump
Administration is working to freeze huge
amounts of federal funding passed into
law by Republicans and Democrats alike
the scope of this illegal action is
unprecedented and could have devastating
consequences across the country for real
people we could see a screeching halt to
resources for child care cancer research
housing police officers opioid addiction
treatment rebuilding roads and bridges
and even disaster relief efforts he was
just in California to witness the
devastation and now he is holding back
that Aid Trump's actions would reh havoc
in red and blue communities everywhere
this is funding that communities are
expecting and this memo is creating
chaos and confusion about whether these
resources will be available to them
entire budgets and payrolls across the
country are carefully hinging on these
resources we are talking about our small
towns our cities our school districts
our universities and a lot more this
illegal move is a massive massive
overreach by the Trump Administration
the American people did not vote for
this kind of Senseless chaos and folks
here is what Democratic senator Chris
Murphy had to say moments ago let's play
it so last night Donald Trump announced
that he was going to implement a shut
off to virtually all federal funding in
this country let me tell you why that
really matters first it matters to you
and your family and your community that
means that police officers don't get
Federal funding that means firefighters
don't get Federal funding that means
your school schools that your kids go to
don't get their Federal funding that
means nursing homes are shut off from
funding this is an immediate crisis for
our kids for public safety for our
seniors for our Health Care system and
why because Donald Trump is trying to
seize power that is what is happening
take together everything that has
happened in the first week and
understand it as part of the same story
first the immunization of political
violence if you commit violence in my
name then you will be excused and let
off the hook the firing of all of the
inspector generals that sit inside these
agencies to make sure that your money
taxpayer money isn't being stolen from
you and now the decision by Donald Trump
to shut down all federal money except
the money he wants to spend and guess
where Donald Trump is going to decide to
unfreeze federal grants to the companies
run by his billionaire friends to the
states and congressional districts run
by members of Congress or Governors that
are loyal to him all of a sudden we
transition from a democracy to a
monarchy because that's what a king does
uses the money in the treasury to reward
his friends and to punish his
enemies that is what Donald Trump
announced last night that he alone not
the voters not members of Congress will
decide who gets money what schools get
funded what hospitals stay open and
nobody else that's not democracy yes the
funding freeze is going to make life
miserable for regular people but we are
also confronting a constitutional crisis
that requires all of us Democrats the
media
Republicans the American people to rise
to this moment well there you have it
folks we'll keep you posted with all of
the uh information as it's coming in a
lot of breaking news Donald Trump just
stomping on the hopes and dreams and
health whether you're in a red state or
a blue State Donald Trump just gave you
the middle finger and said remember
those oligarchs yeah I am cutting your
programs red state blue States Democrat
Republicans unless you're a billionaire
we're going to take what you have and
we're going to give it to the
billionaires pathetic

[admin]

As ICE Conducts Made-for-TV Raids, Cities from Chicago to Newark Resist Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
January 28, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/28/ ... transcript



Immigration and Customs Enforcement is ramping up raids across the United States, arresting more than 1,000 people in operations Monday after detaining a similar number on Sunday. Immigrant communities and their allies say the raids violate human rights, the Constitution, and are being carried out in retaliation against sanctuary cities that have policies aimed at protecting undocumented residents. In Chicago, immigrant rights organizer Dulce Guzmán says there is “palpable fear and anxiety among families,” but she lauds elected officials, including Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor J.B. Pritzker, for pushing back against what she says is the Trump administration’s “white supremacist agenda.” Meanwhile, in Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka has condemned an ICE raid last week at a seafood depot where federal agents took three people into custody, including a U.S. military veteran. “Simply being in proximity to their target, which is immigrant communities, is enough to arrest and detain you, too,” says Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. She encourages people to know their rights, such as the ability to record ICE agents and to refuse orders without a warrant. “One of their most effective tools is fear and panic,” Torres says.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to stay in Chicago. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, says it arrested more than a thousand people, after detaining another thousand on Sunday, in raids that immigrant communities and their allies say violate the Constitution and are being carried out in retaliation against sanctuary cities. Newly sworn-in Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is in New York City now on an ICE raid that was covered live, and agents have been told to be camera-ready. She was live-tweeting the raid. Soon we’ll go to Newark, where Mayor Ras Baraka denounced a warrantless ICE raid Thursday that detained a U.S. veteran and other U.S. citizens.

But we begin today’s show in Chicago, where ICE officially launched, quote, “enhanced targeted operations” Sunday, with the TV personality Dr. Phil joining Trump’s border czar Tom Homan and streaming the immigration raids live by about 10 teams of about 10 federal agents each. Nearly half those arrested Sunday had no criminal record. ICE says collateral arrests will continue as it claims to target people who are dangerous. On Friday, school officials in Chicago refused to allow agents into an elementary school who were actually not ICE agents, but from the U.S. Secret Service. This comes as four Chicago-based immigrant rights groups have sued to stop the raids, and the Chicago City Council voted this month not to lift limits on involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions. On Monday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee launched an investigation of Chicago and several other sanctuary cities.

We go right now to Chicago, where we’re joined by Dulce Guzmán, executive director of Alianza Americas. She’s also a recipient of DACA — that’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Dulce, thank you for joining us. Can you talk about what’s happening in your city?

DULCE GUZMÁN: Yes. Thank you for inviting me.

In the city and surrounding suburbs, there is a lot of palpable fear and anxiety among families. As you just said, there was over 1,100 ICE arrests across the country, and we still don’t know about how many of those were from Chicago. What we have heard from families is that many are choosing to stay home. Many are choosing to not send their kids to school. Several businesses are reporting that they’re seeing less business, people coming in. So, there’s a lot of fear and anxiety that is spreading, for the same reason that we know that ICE is not only targeting people with criminal backgrounds, but they’re targeting people that have been here for many years who have not committed any crime, who are our neighbors.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Dulce, even those that they claim are folks with criminal backgrounds. apparently many are actually minor infractions. There was a report of a man in Waukegan who was picked up by immigration authorities for deportation who apparently had two — who had been in the country for 20 years and had two DUIs, driving under the influence, convictions in the past. What about these minor crimes being treated under federal law as aggravated felonies?

DULCE GUZMÁN: Yeah, I think that this administration is trying to make a point about public safety, when we know that this is not about public safety. If this really was about public safety and legality, we would not have seen the 1,500 pardons of people that stormed the Capitol and made — caused violent crimes on police officers. I believe that this is a very high media strategy that’s being used to elevate what this administration is trying to push, which is a white supremacist agenda.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And also, Illinois does not permit the detention of people who are subject to potential deportation, so where are the people that ICE is picking up in Chicago and the surrounding areas? Where are they being sent?

DULCE GUZMÁN: As of now, we don’t know, but we suspect that they might be going to nearby states like Indiana, where Indiana does allow detention centers.

AMY GOODMAN: Dulce, we want to go across the country, from Chicago back here on the East Coast to Newark. Dulce Guzmán is with — executive director of Alianza Americas. In Newark, New Jersey, another sanctuary city, which is in a state where nearly one in four residents are foreign-born, nearly half of all children are part of immigrant families, three days after President Trump’s inauguration, ICE agents raided a seafood depot in Newark without a warrant, taking three people into custody, including a U.S. military veteran. This is the Newark Mayor Ras Baraka condemning the raids.

MAYOR RAS BARAKA: It’s a slippery slope when we think it’s OK to suspend the Constitution of the United States in order to make a political point or statement. … And if we allow people to identify us or put us in categories of criminal or any other thing just by the way we look, then we’re going back to a time that was very dangerous in this country, specifically for people that look like me.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. She was on the ground soon after the raid took place. And you’re the largest immigrant group in New Jersey. Talk about what happened. Describe the scene for us in Ironbound, one of the most diverse areas of Newark.

AMY TORRES: Sure. I mean, I think it’s important to understand what the Ironbound is. This has been an immigrant enclave and hub forever, you know, starting with the Portuguese whaling industry, something that is so archaic, it’s like outside of our living memory, right? So, this is not these sort of, like, new arrivals, the criminal gangs, all of the things that this administration says that they’re targeting.

The other thing is that, you know, ICE has called what they’re doing across the country “targeted enforcement operations.” They refuse to call the detention centers camps. They refuse to call deportations anything but expulsions. Now they’re refusing to call raids anything but raids, right? But what we’re seeing is that ICE officers stormed this workplace. They immediately announced, “Do you want this announcement in Spanish or Portuguese?” If this is a targeted enforcement operation, don’t ICE officers know what they’re enforcing? Don’t they know what languages they’re speaking if they’re targeting certain people for arrest? And if this is such a targeted enforcement operation, why are U.S. citizens and veterans being interrogated and detained on the spot and having their credentials questioned?

I think it’s really important, above all else, to understand what our constitutional rights are.

AMY GOODMAN: Did they have a warrant?

AMY TORRES: They didn’t produce a warrant. And subsequently, they haven’t produced one since. So, look, understanding what our rights are, presidential administrations come and go, right? ICE directives come and go. The Constitution is here to stay, and our constitutional rights are here to stay. And so long as you understand that unless an ICE officer produces a warrant with your name clearly and correctly spelled, and signed by a judge, you do not need to answer their questions. If you understand that, you can also develop an analysis that everything that ICE officers do outside of that warrant is a deception tactic, it’s manipulation, just like they use the theater of fear and panic to intimidate people into giving more information than they should. And that is how ICE operates in our community. They operate — one of their most effective tools is fear and panic.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Amy, I wanted to ask you about this, the highly publicized nature of these raids, with having reporters and celebrities accompany the raids and having them all filmed, when the reality is that even at the rate of a thousand arrests a day, that would take the Trump administration — in one year, they’d have 365,000 people arrested. It would take them 30 years, even at this rate, to be able to deport all the people they claim they are aiming to deport.

AMY TORRES: Yeah. Well, I think two things. If Dr. Phil can film ICE officers during an arrest, there’s no reason that you and I can’t, either. If you are a bystander and you see ICE in your neighborhood, you see ICE on your block, you take out your phone, and you start filming, because if Dr. Phil can do it, you better bet that you can do it, too.

The other thing to keep in mind is that this is an administration that is built for the billionaire class. Yes, ICE’s current directives are built on racism. It’s built on the post-9/11 nationalism that bore Department of Homeland Security to begin with. But this is also a gift to private prison corporations. That’s very true here in New Jersey, where the world’s largest private prison corporation, CoreCivic, is looking to expand its footprint and to challenge our ban on immigration detention. It’s true in Newark, where GEO Group, one of the other largest private prison corporations, is looking to expand here in Newark, New Jersey, and in other cities across the state.

So, yes, whether it’s 100 arrests today or 1,000 arrests today, it is built on fear, so that if we can’t detain people for profit, we are detaining them in the isolation of their own homes. We are segregating them from society. We are making people so fearful that they’re withdrawing their kids from school. They’re too fearful to see a doctor. They’re too fearful to go to their pharmacy. You know, outside of Newark, we had a pharmacy raid in Paterson here in New Jersey just this weekend. And what that does is segregate society so that if the federal administration can’t physically remove you, you are physically removing yourself into a shadow economy, into places where you can’t stand up or you don’t feel confident standing up for your rights.

And I think the important thing for folks to remember who are not from the immigrant community is that what we learned from Newark with the interrogation of a U.S. citizen and the interrogation of a U.S. military veteran is that it’s not enough to have the privileged status. Simply existing in the same place as immigrants makes you guilty by association. ICE officers are not going to discriminate on whether you look or sound like a citizen, whether you are able to produce documents that show that you are a citizen or a military veteran. Simply being in proximity to their target, which is immigrant communities, is enough to arrest and detain you, too.

AMY GOODMAN: Amy Torres, I want to get your response to Democratic Congressmember Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey signing a letter condemning private immigration detention in New Jersey, but he also voted to support the Laken Riley Act, the Laken Riley Act which will fill more ICE jails.

AMY TORRES: Look, I think a lot of folks have spent time asking immigrant communities, “How are you feeling? What does this moment feel like? What are communities saying?” I want to know how Josh Gottheimer feels. I want to know how other people, other politicians in power feel, knowing that, you know, Trump was first elected to office nearly 10 years ago. It’s been this long that immigrant communities have been telling people in power how we feel. I want to know if they feel shame. I want to know if they feel disgrace. Do they feel guilt? Because I’m tired of talking about how our communities feel, what is our reaction. They know how we feel. But we need to hear from them. If they have taken a commitment to public office, if they’ve taken a commitment to public service, if this is not the hill that they’re going to die on, they picked the wrong fight.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I’d like to bring in Dulce Guzmán from Alianza Americas again. Dulce, how have you seen the elected officials in Chicago responding to this crisis, especially considering that Trump’s border czar, Homan, has actually said of both the governor and the mayor that they suck, and if they try to impede his work, that he could prosecute them?

DULCE GUZMÁN: Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker are standing up for immigrants. They’re reiterating their commitment to protecting our communities by enforcing our trust laws, enforcing our sanctuary city ordinance here in Chicago. They have been speaking up for our immigrant communities because they know that we belong here and they know that we contribute to our neighborhoods. We help grow our economies. So I think that we’ve had a very welcoming response both from Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker.

But we need more elected officials to speak up on our behalf. As Amy was saying, it’s not enough for us to be telling people how we feel. We’ve been doing that for decades. It is a time for us to show up for our neighbors, to speak up about the economic, cultural and social contributions that immigrant families make to our cities.

AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you both for being with us. Of course, this is an issue we will continue to cover, and we will be doing an interview in Spanish after the show and post it at our Spanish website, which you can link to at democracynow.org. Dulce Guzmán, executive director of Alianza Americas, joining us from Chicago, and Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice.

[admin]

Canada MP Charlie Angus PUTS THE SCREWS IN Trump…CANADA IS PISSED
by Ben Meiselas
MeidasTouch
Jan 25, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas speaks with Canadian Member of Parliament Charlie Angus who says Canada is ready to take on Donald Trump.



Transcript

I'm here with Canadian Member of
Parliament Charlie Angus Charlie I have
to ask you to respond to this right away
Donald Trump was in North Carolina where
he brought up Canada yet again he said I
want Canada to be a 51st state he says
if that happened it would be so much
better for the Canadian citizens they
would have much better health coverage
and much better everything else your
respon well you know I mean if this was
a clown show it would be a lot of fun
but it's not because it's deadly serious
but you know Donald this little card I
have here that's my health card I just
walk into a hospital and I give them my
health card and I get free coverage
that's how health is delivered in Canada
we don't have people who pay and people
who are denied so when you start
mentioning Health Care to Canadians that
gets our back up very quickly and it
also shows that either you don't
understand what you're doing or what
you're offering us is a malignant threat
so either way Donald it's um you're just
you're really stoking uh the northern
flame here and people are getting more
and more ready to resist talk about that
people are getting United people are
finding ways to try to fight back even
across political parties you're seeing
uh the building of this Canadian
identity and opposition to the United
States talk about that yeah you're going
to see over the next uh I think week and
in coming weeks more and more people
stepping forward I'm talking to people
in the cultural sector artists I'm
talking to uh people from across
political parties uh um artists writers
uh sports sports figures who are saying
we have to speak up because the stakes
are so high our sovereignty is being
threatened this is a guy who's uh siding
with Putin against the people of Ukraine
we know what uh this kind of uh
predatory
leadership is with Donald Trump and
we're seeing in the United States now
really frightening signs that they are
not kidding around with this fascist
tendencies that they're playing him and
Elon Musk so you're going to see more
and more Canadians coming together and
it's going to hurt the mega Maple people
here in Canada I think in a big way
certainly Mr Pierre PV who's had the
biggest mega mouth in Canada seems to
have gone radio silent I don't know he's
hiding under the bed because being seen
now with Elon Musk getting endorsed M uh
being seen as a Donald Trump puppet is
not playing very well with the Canadian
people you know I've heard a lot of
Canadians say it feels like we're living
above a meth lab right now but uh also
does it feel a little bit like you're
living right next to your own Vladimir
Putin I mean we heard Donald Trump's
words over the past 24 to 48 hours where
Donald Trump had said you know look it
was Ukraine's fault it should have just
basically let uh Putin invade it as
Donald Trump saying that Canada should
allow itself to become the 51st state it
sounds like there's a parallel in that
rhetoric what I find really concerning
is that when the people of Ukraine were
attacked so violently and with such
horrific cost of Life uh by Vladimir
Putin we saw the world coming together
certainly in the west and Canada we
we've been sending uh training we've
been supporting our European allies have
and Donald Trump's response was to say
that he thought that Vladimir Putin was
Savvy and a genius for doing this now
he's attacking uh zalinski and the
people of Ukraine for not rolling over
for standing up for freedom for standing
up for their rights this is a shocking
shocking thing to say it's not funny
anymore this is a man siding with a
dictator and so when he starts
threatening Canada uh we take that
seriously this isn't a there's no longer
an opportunity or an option of saying oh
well Donald's just being a big mouth no
he is siding with the rise of gangster
Politics on the global stage and he is
wants to be top gangster I just don't
think he's bright enough but he
certainly is dangerous enough look five
current and former senior European
officials said that Trump had this call
with Denmark's prime minister over
Greenland it went very very badly they
added that Trump was aggressive
confrontational quote it was horrendous
it was a cold shower reports from that
caller that Donald Trump was very
serious and threatening hand it over to
me hand it over to me now and then the
uh head of Denmark's like like no and
then it escalated from there what does
that tell you about uh how he's dealing
with things and how Canada needs to
respond well you know Donald Trump
obviously knows nothing of History the
people of Denmark uh resisted the Nazis
in one of the most impressive acts of
resistance uh in that horri ific War the
fact is that Denmark is under the
European Union and the European Union
will hold strong against Donald Trump
and they're also under NATO so if this
is all just an effort for him to break
nato in order to help Putin maybe that's
part of his strategy or he just doesn't
understand but I I think what's these
kind of threats predatory threats
against allies and against peaceful
countries is very very concerning so
certainly Canada needs to get our act
together we need people being really
resistant at this time to this threat
Charlie you wrote a letter this past
week to the chief electoral officer in
Canada that is a strictly nonpartisan
position and it Prides itself on being
strictly nonpartisan what you called for
in this letter is transparency is Elon
Musk putting his finger on the scale and
essentially giving Millions tens of
million hundreds of millions of dollars
in in-kind contributions to right-wing
political parties it seemed like what
you were asking for is pretty reasonable
we just want to know are these basically
secret hidden donations that are not
being disclosed is this tampering with
our electoral laws here maybe first to
our American audience talk very briefly
about the way elections are handled in
Canada and why it's different and why
this letter given how Canada elections
are done is so important to you and what
do you think is going to happen in
Canada all the a federal election is
handled through elections candidates not
handled at the provincial or territorial
level so there is one standard for
voting across the country there's one
set of rules the rules are very clear in
terms of transparency and accountability
there are no corporate donations allowed
in Canada it has to be individual
donations the maximum amount is $1,700
per person so if Elon Musk lived in
Canada he could pay $7 $100 and that's
it um and this is about ensuring
fairness uh so that every voice is heard
the issue is really concerning to me and
the reason I wrote to the the head of
Elections Canada and I'm encouraging
people everywhere to write to elections
Canada to share their concern and I'm
I'm getting pickup all across the
country right now is that we see that
Elon Musk a man who disgracefully used
the Nazi salute at the inauguration
who's been playing really ugly word
games with names like himler uh guring
uh has some of the worst mass killers in
history that this guy controls a media
platform that could influence Canada's
election that he has shown a willingness
to support far-right parties that he's
already interfered in Canada's uh
political scene supporting Pier POV the
magga maple guy conservative MPS have
been supporting Elon Musk for uh
promoting uh the growing level of hatred
and disinformation so my letter to
elections candid is do they have the
tools to make sure that he doesn't
monkey wrench our electoral process one
of those tools would be ensuring uh
algorithmic uh transparency during the
RIT period so we can see whether he's
putting his finger on the scale and if
Elon Musk is unwilling to respect
Canada's electoral laws will elections
Canada have the tools in place to take
him on or to shut him down if necessary
through the Electoral period because it
could be a very close election and we
cannot have
men like Elon Musk you know the
broligarchymall
[Music]
you trying to hide Elon what are you
trying to hide Pierre POA what are you
trying to hide let me ask you this
finally I ask you to do it each time we
know Donald Trump listens to this what's
your message to him right now now that
the first week of his disastrous term is
over Donald you stood on the
inauguration platform with a man who
gave a Nazi salute you should be ashamed
of yourself you should be ashamed for
all uh the people who suffered under the
Nazis for all the
in all of our countries who stood up and
fought fascism my family my uncles my
great uncles who went and defended other
people's right to live in Freedom and
you're standing with people like Elon
Musk and you're threatening your allies
and you're ridiculing uh the people of
Ukraine for standing up for Freedom you
are a disgrace Donald but if you think
for a moment that you're going to sucker
us into joining your mega nightmare it's
not going to happen but I urge my
American and Canadian uh friends that we
also have to really be part of the
resistance at this time because what
we're seeing unfolding in this first
disastrous week shows that this man is
not fit to lead not just uh any not just
as a company he's not fit to lead the
people of the United States or to play a
role uh as top gangster in the world we
have to we have to resist them all the
time everywhere now for those Canadians
who say that they feel like they're
living above meth lab I say to them I
feel like I'm living in that lab right
now and uh it is worse than expected but
uh you know I want you to know I want
all the Canadians you know and we have a
big International audience I think more
than ever the pro-democracy communities
need to be in solidarity with each other
not just in Nations but across the world
and we need to form these links and it's
what we're doing here I know it's what
you're doing there and to all of our
friends in Europe Australia everywhere
um Asia Africa everywhere who watches us
um we thank you we're going to here with
you I know you're here with us and uh
Charlie Angus um we really appreciate
your leadership in this critical time
thank you so much for having me on

[admin]

Donald Trump in fiery call with Denmark’s prime minister over Greenland: US president insisted he wants to take over Arctic island
by Richard Milne in Oslo, Gideon Rachman in London and James Politi
Washington Financial Times
January 24, 2025
https://www.ft.com/content/ace02a6f-330 ... b6646b60f6

Donald Trump insisted he was serious in his determination to take over Greenland in a fiery telephone call with Denmark’s prime minister, according to senior European officials.

The US president spoke to Mette Frederiksen, the Danish premier, for 45 minutes last week. The White House has not commented on the call but Frederiksen said she had emphasised that the vast Arctic island — an autonomous part of the kingdom of Denmark — was not for sale, while noting America’s “big interest” in it.

Five current and former senior European officials briefed on the call said the conversation had gone very badly.

They added that Trump had been aggressive and confrontational following the Danish prime minister’s comments that the island was not for sale, despite her offer of more co-operation on military bases and mineral exploitation.

“It was horrendous,” said one of the people. Another added: “He was very firm. It was a cold shower. Before, it was hard to take it seriously. But I do think it is serious, and potentially very dangerous.”

The details of the call are likely to deepen European concerns that Trump’s return to power will strain transatlantic ties more than ever, as the US president heaps pressure on allies to give up territory.

Trump has started his second term musing about potentially taking over Greenland, the Panama Canal, and even Canada.

Many European officials had hoped his comments about seeking control of Greenland for “national security” reasons were a negotiating ploy to gain more influence over the Nato territory. Russia and China are both also jostling for position in the Arctic.

But the call with Frederiksen has crushed such hopes, deepening the foreign policy crisis between the Nato allies.

“The intent was very clear. They want it. The Danes are now in crisis mode,” said one person briefed on the call. Another said: “The Danes are utterly freaked out by this.”

A former Danish official added: “It was a very tough conversation. He threatened specific measures against Denmark such as targeted tariffs.”

The Danish prime minister’s office said it did “not recognise the interpretation of the conversation given by anonymous sources”.

Greenland, home to just 57,000 people, is an entry point to new shipping routes gradually opening up through the Arctic; it also boasts abundant but hard to access minerals.

“President Trump has been clear that the safety and security of Greenland is important to the United States as China and Russia make significant investments throughout the Arctic region,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson said.

“The President is committed to not only protecting US interests in the Arctic but also working with Greenland to ensure mutual prosperity for both nations.”

Trump threatened in early January to impose duties on Denmark if it opposed him on Greenland. He also declined to rule out using military force to take control of the island.

“People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it but, if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security,” Trump said at a press conference days before taking office.

“I’m talking about protecting the free world,” he added. “You have China ships all over the place. You have Russian ships all over the place. We’re not letting that happen.”

Múte Egede, Greenland’s prime minister, has repeatedly stressed that the island’s inhabitants want independence rather than US — or Danish — citizenship. But he has welcomed US business interest in mining and tourism.

Frederiksen held a meeting with chief executives of large Danish companies including Novo Nordisk and Carlsberg last week to discuss Trump’s threats, including potential tariffs against her country.

On the day of the Trump call, she told Denmark’s TV2: “There is no doubt that there is great interest in and around Greenland. Based on the conversation I had today, there is no reason to believe that it should be less than what we have heard in the public debate.”

***********

Denmark UNLEASHES FURY at Trump after CALL FROM HELL: “We are, quite frankly, the dominant Predator cop.”
by Ben Meiselas
MeidasTouch
Jan 26, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Denmark responding to Trump’s latest threatening phone call to its Prime Minister.



Transcript

we are learning about a disastrous phone
call that took place recently between
Donald Trump and met Frederickson the
prime minister of Denmark Donald Trump
reemphasized that he wanted to conquer
Greenland which is part of the Kingdom
of Denmark he said he was serious hand
it over right now to which the prime
minister of Denmark said no it belongs
to us to which Donald Trump said we'll
see about that multiple people who were
familiar with this phone call said it
was an utter disaster that Donald Trump
was rude that he was yelling that he was
trying to bully the prime minister of
Denmark that she stood her ground but uh
anybody who was on that phone call that
thought oh this is some negotiation Ploy
by Donald Trump they left that call
saying no Donald Trump intends to try to
use military force against Denmark and
Denmark and the European Union need to
now prepare their military to try to
counter whatever the hell Donald Trump
thinks he's going to do this as Donald
Trump has continued to reiterate that he
wants to Annex Canada turn it into the
51st state or else he will impose severe
punishment on Canada Donald Trump has
turned the entire world in just one
quick week against the United States of
America America finds itself literally
right now with zero friends if you take
a look at the World Health Organization
map showing all of the Nations that are
part of the who you'll see that the
United States is the only nation maybe
there's two others Iran and one other
that are not part of the World Health
Organization and that basically sums up
where America is in the world right now
alone detested despised as the entire
world stands in unity in different
alliances against the United States
whether you have a Russian China
alliance against the us whether you now
have Canada European Union um and other
countries against the United States
whether you have South American Unity
against the United States Latino
immunity against the United States what
a disaster this is let's just take a
look at this article this one's for
example from the financial times Donald
Trump in fiery call with Denmark's prime
minister over Greenland US president
insists he wants to take over the Arctic
Island it said that Donald Trump
insisted that this was serious he wants
to conquer Greenland he had this phone
call with Denmark's prime minister met
Fred rexen um she's the Danish Premier
for the call lasted about 45 minutes the
White House has not commented on the
call um but uh other people who were
familiar with the call have described
what went down Donald Trump said I want
it she goes okay it's not for sale and
said we understand that that's what
you're interested in but we're not
giving it to it belongs to us it's it's
part of our kingdom um five current and
former senior European officials who had
been briefed on the call said the
conversation went awfully they added
that Trump had been aggressive
confrontational and just outright rude
following the Danish Prime Minister's
comments that the island was not for
sale despite her offer of more
cooperation on military bases and
mineral
exploitation so the Prime Minister met
Fred re since she was trying to be nice
he said look we're always down to
improve our alliances and to strengthen
our relationships but this is how people
described it went after she said that
quote it was horrendous said one of the
people another and another added he was
very firm it was a cold shower before it
was hard to take it seriously but I do
think it's serious I do think he is
serious and potentially very dangerous
the details of the call are likely to
deepen European concerns that Trump's
return to power will strain
transatlantic ties more than ever as the
US president heaps pressure on allies to
give up territory I mean do you realize
even as I read that sentence as he heaps
pressure on allies to give up
territory who the hell does he think he
is this freaking
treasonous I mean as I talk about it
Trump has asserted in his second term
musing about potentially taking over
Greenland Panama and Canada great job
everybody in America who voted for this
guy you got your own Vladimir Putin who
was absolutely despised and hated by the
world and by the way we now have zero
allies in the United States of America
in one quick week as as our neighbors up
north in Canada said it feels like we're
living above a meth lab is what they've
told me many European officials had
hoped his comments about seeking control
of Greenland for national security
reasons was a negotiating ploy to gain
more influence over the NATO territory
Russia and China are both jostling for
position in the Arctic but the call with
Frederickson had crushed hopes deepening
the foreign policy crisis between NATO
allies quote the intent was very clear
they wanted it the Danes are now in
crisis mode said one person briefed on
the call another said the Danes are
utterly freaked out by this a former
danis official said quote it was a very
tough conversation he threatened
specific measures against Denmark such
as targeted tariff
the Danish Prime Minister's office said
it did not recognize the interpretation
of the conversation given by Anonymous
sources Greenland home to just 57,000
people is an entry point to new shipping
routes gradually opening up through the
Arctic it also boasts abundant but hard
to access minerals why are these ship
routes now opening up around the Arctic
I don't know maybe because of something
called global warming as
well then it goes and says that Trump is
demanding that he con ERS it he's
threatening to take it over now I want
to share this with you you've seen this
clip but it's I think appropriate in
this context right now here's how the
people of Denmark are feeling this is uh
Anders vitan a Danish member of the
European Parliament offering this blunt
message to Donald Trump about his
obsession to take over Greenland let's
play it dear president Trump listen very
carefully Greenland have been part of
the Danish Kingdom for 800 years it's an
integrated part of our country it is not
for sale let me put it in words you
might understand Mr Trump . "Fuck off!"
and
there was this moment where Fox visited
Greenland and was shocked to discover
that contrary to what they were told by
Trump most people on the island don't
want to become part of the United States
let's play it and the Hot Topic here has
been president-elect Trump's comments
about buying this Danish territory take
a listen a lot about Trump and also
their opinion about Trump I hate it and
uh basically I don't know what's his I
don't know what he's aiming at my me
personally I want to stick with Danish
government well most of the people that
we talked with said that they did not
support Trump's comments and found them
offens but the Maga Republicans in the
House of Representatives and the Senate
Contin to say that this is our Manifest
Destiny America we are predators is what
they say I'm not making this up this is
for example Andy ogles mager Republican
he's the one who introduced the
resolution or introduced a proposal to
make Donald Trump a dictator for life um
within the first week and to amend the
Constitution um he and other Maga
Republicans are out there saying this
America they go we are the dominant
Predator so we need to impose ourselves
over others just watch it you recently
introduced a bill it gives president
Trump the Congressional authority to
acquire Greenland tell us more about
this well you know for some that may
sound a little bit crazy but actually
the United States has been eyeing uh
Greenland for over a hundred years
strategically when you look at it it's U
wealthy in resources and when you see
increased activity with Russia and China
Arctic Circle and the increased activity
with the shipping lanes it's important
for the United States to assert itself
and say look this is our doorstep this
is our area of operation and uh we are
quite frankly the the dominant Predator
uh cop if you will but it's important
that we fight back against China and
send them back their own Hemisphere and
just so you go oh well that's just
you're just showing me ogles Ben show me
someone else okay well here is Maga
Republican Brandon Gil and he says that
the Golden Age of America means that it
is our Manifest Destiny we need to take
over these nations we need to we need to
acquire them we need to own them here
play this clip confence yesterday Trump
was asked if he'd rule out using
military force to get control of
Greenland and the Panama Canal and Trump
would not rule that out how would
acquiring that land help everyday
Americans better afford their day-to-day
expenses well first of all Brianna
thanks for having me
um really appreciate it listen president
Trump is bringing us into a golden age
of America this is the new Manifest
Destiny um acquiring reacquiring the
Panama Canal acquiring Greenland
renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf
of America this is the the light of
America expanding you know we have a
very clear strategic interest uh
geopolitically both in Greenland and in
the Panama Canal the Panama Canal as you
know was created with the blood toil
tears and sweat of American citizens we
put an enormous amount of money into it
I don't think we ever should have
relinquished control of the Panama Canal
so president Trump and by the way while
all of this is going on America is
already in a crisis domestically massive
labor shortages called by Donald Trump's
U Mass deportation threats um our egg
supply right now is severely strained as
a result of Donald Trump although fox
wants to say oh it's because of the bird
flu it's because of the bir flu no
Donald Trump's in power now the same way
you blamed everything on Biden when
Biden actually uh improved the economy
and got us out of the um uh trash bin
that Donald Trump created um you blamed
every single thing on him this is
Trump's fault all of this chaos is
Trump's fault now we are uh alone
isolated um mocked by the world um
laughed at by our enemies looked on with
horror and dis Us by our allies thanks
to all of you Maga Republicans and all
of you who voted for this freaking idiot
you happy that you did this is what you
wanted are we great again or are we

[admin]

White House Rescinds Funding Freeze Memo: White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt Posts on X that "this is not a rescission of the federal funding freeze, just of the OMB memo, to end any confusion created by the Court's injunction, and the president's executive order on federal funding remains in full force and effect"
by Marc Elias
Democracy Docket
Jan 29, 2025

Today, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rescinded a controversial memo ordering a freeze on all federal grants and loans. The updated guidance rescinds the directives in a previous memo, originally released late Monday evening. Marc Elias and Paige Moskowitz explain.



Transcript

breaking news the Office of Management
and budget has rescinded its illegal and
unconstitutional guidance suspending all
federal grants and Loans hours after a
federal judge put it on hold Welcome
back to democracy docket I'm Mark Elias
and I'm Paige mosquit let's get started
you know Paige the next time I hear
someone say that the courts are not up
to saving democracy that Donald Trump
Will Roll right through the federal
courts he won't pay attention to their
orders you know that there's nothing
they can do I'm going to point them to
this video because here we are Paige
less than 24 hours since a federal judge
blocked the Trump effort to illegally
and unconstitutionally halt billions of
dollars of federal grants uh from going
out the door uh they have now rescinded
that order and this is why I always say
to Ry is on the
dock marike you said they tried to stop
billions of dollars but according to the
lawsuit filed by 23 Democratic Attorneys
General, the memo would have froze up to $3
trillion dollar in funds all right I
didn't mean to be uh you know
conservative in the estimates but I'm
glad you point that out because this was
an extraordinary order right I mean what
Donald Trump and his administration were
trying to do was frankly uh part of a
larger effort to be a dictator to be an
authoritarian ruler and we've talked in
other videos about how they do that
through replacing the federal uh
nonpartisan civil service that's one way
to take control the other way though to
take control page is to control the the
dispersement of funds right the as you
point out trillions of dollars right
that the that the federal government
disperses on a regular basis across the
you know wide swaths of of federal
programs and the economy and Donald
Trump was trying to seize control of
that so that he
could execute another part of his of his
authoritarian plan and it failed but
Paige I have to keep coming back to this
point you know how many times do you and
I hear in comments to videos that we do
or in social media or people write into
democracy docket and doubt that the
courts are up to the task and time and
time again I feel like I'm the one
defending saying look they're not
perfect and they're not going toop
everything but but they but you here we
are they they managed to to to end this
nonsense right Mark this memo was issued
Monday late Monday night we saw two
lawsuits filed Tuesday minutes before
the memo was supposed to go into effect
at 5:00 pm on Tuesday a judge blocked it
now you also saw the White House on
Tuesday swear up and down that this memo
was constitutional that it was legal for
the president to do this that they had
complete faith in the memo it was
blocked the courts blocked it as the
courts have blocked a couple of Trump's
major executive order so far into a
second term we saw a judge in Washington
called Trump's Birthright citizenship
order quote blatantly
unconstitutional the judge here in DC
yesterday wasted no time to block it now
she did temporarily pause it until
Monday but Mark as we've discussed that
was more kind of a procedural matter
until a full until a full hearing could
be held it wasn't her saying I'm kind of
wishy-washy on this it was more that's
just how these things work that's right
and you know kudos to democracy forward
a great uh nonprofit uh legal outfit by
the way I chair their board but I'd be
shouting them out anyway uh because they
they were the ones who led the charge in
this in this case uh and they also were
involved in the birthright citizen case
and you're going to hear their name a
lot so cudas them and all the lawyers
there and as you point out also the
State's Attorneys General who have also
been you know really on the ball in
bringing uh bringing uh litigation you
know Paige I also can't miss the moment
here to point out that we heard a lot
about how much more competent the Trump
Administration was going to be this go
round you know that that in the first go
round they were widely seen as sort of
buffoonish and didn't know which way was
up but that but they you know this time
they were coming in and they had this
all lawyered up and they were they were
going to be you know super effective and
you know you point out the quick
turnaround here like they have not
really hit the ground running I mean
they've hit the ground running in a sort
of a very um rhetorical way in a very
you know demagoguing issues way uh but
they're not exactly uh doing very well
in either the effectiveness department
or in the truthfulness department no
they' hit the ground running straight
into a wall like they their orders are
getting blocked they haven't been
successful thus far even though they're
claiming everything they're doing is
constitutional everything that they're
doing is legal and the fact of the
matter is Mark it's not the president
has a lot of power but there are limits
to that power and they come in the forms
of laws of the US Constitution in the
way things just work and it's one thing
for republicans and Democrats to have
disagreements on how the President
should administer his powers it's one
thing for Republicans to say it's fine
for the president to completely
disregard the Constitution and Democrats
have to be the ones to say no it's not
yeah and it's very interesting because
again a lot of the political commentary
has been very pro-republican I mean the
Legacy Media has capitulated to Donald
Trump I mean they had capitulated Donald
Trump before uh before the election we
saw them you know fetting Donald Trump
all across the board it's one of the
reasons why you know we continue to see
so much growth in the subscriber and the
membership base here at democracy doet
because we are giving you pure uh
unfiltered pro-democracy news and
information that that you know is not
afraid and not going to obey Donald
Trump. But you know
Paige the the fact is that not only have
they uh squandered This Time by passing
executive orders that have now been
blocked but they really haven't taken
advantage of the fact they have a
congressional majority I mean you know
you mentioned laws like as as easy as it
is to block unconstitutional executive
orders or illegal executive orders it
gets much more challenging to block
Congressional enactments now they can
still go to court and they can be
challenged as violation the Constitution
and uh but that process tends to take
much longer because you know courts tend
to assume that congress's laws are in
the first instance proper uh and so that
litigation we're all used to dragging on
for a very long period of time you would
not know from the actions of the Trump
White House or for that matter speaker
Johnson or John in the Senate you would
not know that they actually control all
three parts of the federal government I
mean you know why aren't why why didn't
they move this as a bill right like why
didn't like why didn't they just seek to
change the law about how money is spent
if there were programs they didn't want
money spent on I mean they they control
the house they control the Senate and I
think the answer is in part that they
have become so used to being a
sycophantic party that they want Donald
Trump to get credit for everything and
when a law gets passed last there's
credit that you know gets spread around
that's that's I think part of it but the
other thing is that fundamentally what
they want to do here is unpopular like
we cannot we cannot escape the fact that
you know Donald Trump may have won an
election narrowly but he did not run win
an election to shut down Meals on Wheels
you know he did not he did not win an
election to essentially shut down
medicaid uh in all 50 states and so I
think that's also paage part of the
story here that is not being fully
told right we've seen it time and time
again take the ACA for example right
Republicans for years have been talking
about how they want to repeal and
replace the ACA they had majorities
during Trump's first term they didn't
get it done they have a majority now
maybe they'll get it done but also as
we've just learned a record number of
Americans have signed up for healthcare
under the ACA it is a popular program
and it's a popular way for people to get
health insurance even though it is also
a popular talking point for republicans
and again to your point it is a lot
easier to blame an executive order that
got rescinded for shutting down medicaid
portals yesterday than passing a law
that does the same thing and again like
you said is a lot harder to undo a law
than undo an executive order yeah so
let's talk about where we go from here
um you know the White House is obviously
embarrassed by all of this they are
going to say that nothing has changed
which is a lie right but we have to
start with the proposition everyone that
the White House is going to lie like
Donald Trump lies about everything so
why isn't he going to lie about this
right uh he prizes people who lie on his
behalf so they will lie about this so
number one they're gonna say this
doesn't change anything and that he is
still fully in control and you know has
every bit of authority and plans to do
everything don't believe the liwes okay
this was a big loss for Donald Trump
this was a big victory um for the people
uh fighting this executive order in
court and it was a real I think uh
victory for the rule of law Donald Trump
lies about everything so he's going to
lie about this and he prizes people who
lie on his behalf so the White House is
going to lie about this and they're G to
say like nothing's changed and I'm here
to tell you that that is nonsense like
they got themselves slapped around by a
federal judge and that's why they backed
away and they know they'll continue to
get slapped around by a federal judge if
they try to do this in another form so
don't let them steal this Victory by
saying that it's not a victory right
Mark we're seeing it already the White
House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt has
posted on X uh that this is not a rescision of the
federal funding freeze, just of the OMB
memo to end any confusion created by the
Court's injunction she says that the
president's executive order on federal
funding remains in full force and effect
and once again you have the Democratic
AGS pushing back New York attorney
general Tish James responded to Le and
said this just creates more confusion
and Chaos we will be in court this
afternoon yeah I mean look I I'm for CH
chish James but let's be
clear the White House is just saying
words you know it's like a it just like
the the White House Press person is just
like literally this is like the crowds
siiz thing with the first White House
Press Secretary what was his name uh
Sean Spicer right like like I mean like
I I like those are just like a bunch of
words strung together to make it sound
like something but that's crazy I mean
the fact is the federal judge put a put
a hold in place that hold is still in
place and mark my word mark my words the
whatever the the White House Press
Secretary is saying on X right now is
not going to be the position that they
take when this all gets sorted out in
court and certainly might not by the
court rules

[admin]

Trump Blames D.E.I. and Biden for Crash Under His Watch: President Trump’s remarks, suggesting that diversity in hiring and other Biden administration policies somehow caused the disaster, reflected his instinct to immediately frame major events through his political or ideological lens.
by David E. Sanger
New York Times
Jan. 30, 2025
Updated 5:28 p.m. ET
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/us/p ... rsity.html

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.

[Presidential EO Assistant] Second for your signature, we have a presidential memorandum titled "Immediate assessment of Aviation safety in light of the Damage Done to Aviation safety by the Biden administration's Dei and woke policies." What this presidential memorandum orders is for your Secretary of Transportation and FAA administrator, in this case acting FAA administrator ,to basically ensure that we are actively undoing all of that damage that we are assessing, how much damage was done, and that we're ensuring that people hired within the FAA, in keeping with your memorandum of January 21st, are only the most outstanding capable people for the jobs that they are being hired into.

[Pres. Trump] In other words competence.

[Presidential EO Assistant] Yes sir, elevating competence over everything.

President Trump blamed diversity requirements at the Federal Aviation Administration and his two Democratic predecessors for the midair collision over the Potomac River on Wednesday night, saying that standards for air traffic controllers had been too lax.

Mr. Trump cited no evidence that diversity programs had anything to do with the fatal accident, which killed 67 people, and even admitted when pressed that the investigation had only just begun.

Moments later, he blamed the pilots of the Army helicopter that appeared to fly into a passenger jet while it was on final approach to Reagan National Airport, across the river from the capital. But he quickly returned to the theme that diversity goals that he said were created by President Barack Obama and President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had created unsafe skies, implying that those moves had to have contributed to the disaster.

Mr. Trump’s instant focus on diversity reflected his instinct to frame major events through his political or ideological lens, whether the facts fit or not. It is something he has done before: After a terrorist attack in New Orleans a month ago, he blamed illegal immigration, even though the attacker was a U.S. citizen born in Texas. When wildfires erupted in California, he blamed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s water management policies, without any evidence that a different approach would have made a difference in the firefighting effort.

But his unproven accusation about the air controllers came just hours into the first disaster-management challenge of his new term in office. It quickly became a demonstration of both his political style and his instincts, and at moments resembled his series of news conferences, in the same briefing room, as Covid-19 spread across the country: a mix of accusations about the cause and prescriptions for how to proceed, often detached from facts and analysis.

He began in the tradition of other presidents who had to console a shocked nation, as Ronald Reagan did after the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986 or George W. Bush after the Columbia broke apart on re-entry to the atmosphere in 2003. Mr. Trump asked for a moment of silence to remember the victims, and told their families that “we’re here for you to wipe away the tears and to offer you our devotion, our love and our support,” regardless of party divisions.

But within minutes, he launched into a series of accusations, linking his long-running complaints about hiring practices to the disaster that unfolded on a clear night over the Potomac.

When a reporter challenged the president on how he could say that diversity hiring was to blame for the crash even though basic facts about the midair collision were still being sought by investigators, he said: “I have common sense, OK, and unfortunately a lot of people don’t. We want brilliant people to do this.”

“For some jobs, we need the highest level of genius,” he said.

Of the F.A.A. under Mr. Obama, Mr. Trump said: “They actually came out with a directive, too white.” At another point he quoted from the website of the F.A.A., which he said indicated that the agency was looking to hire people with disabilities, including “hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism,” and said that they “all qualified for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country.”

In fact, Mr. Trump was citing language about recruiting people with disabilities on the F.A.A.’s website that existed during his first administration. Veterans of the F.A.A. during that period said they did not know of any episodes in which D.E.I. recruiting standards had been identified as a cause or a contributor. Tennessee Garvey, a pilot and the chairman of the board of directors for the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, said that rigorous standards for hiring pilots, mechanics and air traffic controllers were never relaxed just to meet diversity goals. Mr. Trump clearly disagrees, but was unable to cite an example on Thursday.

Without question, the interchanges between the air controllers, the plane and the helicopter will be at the center of the investigation. Among the questions that arose on Thursday was whether there were fewer than the usual number of controllers working at the time of the crash, leaving too great a burden on those managing the flights, and why the plane’s pilots were asked to change their approach from one of the main runways at the airport to one of its shorter ones.

But an audio recording of the air traffic controllers’ warnings to the helicopter just before the crash indicated that a controller first warned the helicopter to look for a Canadair Regional Jet and then told the helicopter pilot to go behind the jet as it was landing. That exchange will be part of the investigation.

Within hours of Mr. Trump’s statements, Democrats both criticized and mocked him. Senator Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, noted that Congress had authorized more staff and training for the F.A.A. and that this was “now under threat by the Trump administration” as it looks to shrink the government.

“We cannot have leaders making detrimental, rash decisions to overhaul critical aspects of our national transportation network for the sake of irrelevant culture wars,” Mr. Welch said.

Disability rights groups accused Mr. Trump of deflecting blame.

“All disabled employees are required to be able to perform all essential job requirements without accommodations,” said Mia Ives-Rublee, director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress. “Trump should be looking to investigate the tragedy and provide comfort to the families, not punch down to advance his political agenda with zero evidence.”

The Congressional Black Caucus said the mourning of the victims was “marred by a truly disgusting and disgraceful display of racist political prognostication.” In a statement, the caucus members said Mr. Trump had moved “to falsely blame the diversity initiatives of past administrations for the cause of this incident. Not only are the president’s claims untrue, they also speak to the Republican Party’s desire to divide us as a country.”

Mr. Trump appeared in the White House briefing room with Vice President JD Vance; the newly sworn-in transportation secretary, Sean Duffy; and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. All three began their comments by praising Mr. Trump’s leadership and repeating that they would eliminate diversity requirements and focus on competence.

Mr. Hegseth, aware that the investigation would focus heavily on the Army Blackhawk helicopter that he said was conducting an annual exercise on Wednesday evening, admitted that a “mistake was made.” But he immediately pivoted to support Mr. Trump, saying that the Defense Department would be “colorblind and merit-based” whether “it’s flying Blackhawks and flying airplanes, leading platoons or in government.”

“The era of D.E.I. is gone at the Defense Department,” he continued, “and we need the best and brightest, whether it’s in our air traffic control or whether it’s in our generals.” It was notable in part because he had been a major critic of Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, charging last year that he was bringing woke culture to the Pentagon and should be removed.

Mr. Trump reserved his harshest criticism for the transportation secretary under Mr. Biden, Pete Buttigieg, accusing him of infusing diversity, equity and inclusion goals at the F.A.A.

Mr. Buttigieg responded on social media. “Despicable,” he wrote. “As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.”

Mr. Trump named a new acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration during the news conference: Chris Rocheleau, who spent two decades at the agency and, more recently, has been the chief executive of the National Business Aviation Association, which focuses on the nation’s elite fleet of corporate aircraft. Among other roles at the F.A.A., he had handled the agency’s emergency operations. But his selection underscores the fact that Mr. Trump had not appointed an acting head of the F.A.A. in the opening days of his presidency.

Mr. Rocheleau did not speak at the news conference, nor did the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, who was also in the room. The board will be responsible for the investigation into the causes of the disaster over the Potomac.

Mr. Trump made clear that he might not be willing to wait for investigative conclusions before coming to his own.

“We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas,” he said. He said that “over the year, I’ve watched as things like this happen and they say, ‘Well, we’re always investigating,’ and then the investigation three years later they announce that we think ‘we have some pretty good ideas.’”

Reporting was contributed by Peter Baker and Linda Qiu in Washington and Rachel Nostrant in New York.

David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges. More about David E. Sanger

A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 31, 2025, Section A, Page 19 of the New York edition with the headline: President Blames Biden And D.E.I. For a Crash Under Trump’s Watch. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

[admin]

The Big Lie of Aviation DEI: The White House claims diversity threatened airline safety. Here’s proof it hasn't.
by William J. McGee
Published: Jan 28, 2025
Updated: Jan 29, 2025



One day after Donald Trump's second inauguration, the White House issued an executive order entitled "Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation" that rescinds all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) hiring programs at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The president directed the Department of Transportation and the FAA to "take all appropriate action to ensure that any individual who fails or has failed to demonstrate requisite capability is replaced by a high-capability individual that will ensure top-notch air safety and efficiency."

Although the FAA Regulations don't define "top-notch," the implications are clear. The White House statement claimed: "During the prior administration…the FAA betrayed its mission by elevating dangerous discrimination over excellence."

There's a fundamental problem with these assertions: They're based on lies.

There is no list of unqualified individuals who were hired by the FAA due to race, gender, or any other DEI criteria who were deemed to be unfit for their jobs.

No such list exists.

A “movement” with no evidence

As I learned when I was licensed by the FAA as an aircraft dispatcher for the airlines in 1990, safety-critical jobs in aviation require passing many hurdles: verifiable experience, along with written, oral, and practical exams. No one gets hired without meeting or exceeding these criteria, and the bar isn't lowered for anyone based on DEI.

If there's any proof suggesting a single hire failed to meet established qualifications, the White House hasn't provided any.

The new FAA directive is part of a larger administration effort at eliminating DEI initiatives across the government. But it could also have a chilling effect on U.S. airlines and aviation companies like Boeing.

It's unclear yet how some corporations will respond, but already, American Airlines has reportedly "abandoned its DEI hiring practices."

To say that DEI has been an obsession in certain aviation circles is an understatement. For years, airline blogs have been rife with unfounded claims about incompetent hires.

But now it's much more than just industry gossip, because it has morphed into a federal policy without proven evidence.

To date, there have been no public accusations of inflight incidents or accidents tied directly to employees that were unqualified for their jobs as pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers, dispatchers, engineers, or any other FAA-licensed personnel.

So where's the proof to support the dangerous accusations?

The FAA needs to address critical safety programs at Boeing and the airlines, but those issues are not caused by DEI.

What DEI has done for the aviation industry

For years, I and others have spoken out against wholesale outsourcing and offshoring of good American jobs, such as U.S. airline mechanics, who have seen their careers migrate to places like El Salvador and China.

And since Covid, leaders in the industry have complained about shortages of airline pilots and air traffic controllers.

DEI was designed in part to address such shortages by attracting demographics that traditionally haven't pursued aviation careers. DEI trains recruiters to seek qualified applicants from previously overlooked pipelines.

Many airline executives who have been loudest about the brain drains in the aviation industry have also been silent on supporting DEI recruitment that would directly help remedy those shortages.

Rick Larsen, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, blasted the executive order in a statement on Jan. 28. "Hiring air traffic controllers is the number one safety issue according to the entire aviation industry. Instead of working to improve aviation safety and lower costs for hardworking American families, the Administration is choosing to spread bogus DEI claims to justify this decision."

As one FAA inspector expressed it to me recently: "[DEI] is about expanding recruitment so airlines and the FAA look more like America. It has never been about hiring or promoting the unqualified."

Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents 800,000 federal workers, stated last week: "The federal government already hires and promotes exclusively on the basis of merit. The results are clear: a diverse federal workforce that looks like the nation it serves, with the lowest gender and racial pay gaps in the country."

I have seen the benefits of diversity for years. I've taught and lectured at Vaughn College of Aeronautics, and I can testify that Vaughn boasts one of the most diverse student bodies in the nation.

Chaundra Daniels, Director of Career Services at Vaughn, told me: "[DEI] wasn't as inclusive with white men as it should have been, and a lot felt left out. Understandably."

And what about veterans and the disabled?

Tellingly, anti-DEI rhetoric focuses on race and gender. But two more groups directly affected by Trump's statement also fall under the FAA's DEI umbrella: veterans and the disabled.

In fact, the term DEIA—which includes "Accessibility"—is what is widely used by the government to ensure that veterans and the disabled with the right qualifications are also considered for jobs. Yet the White House has shortened the term to just DEI.

This is the new administration's Pandora's box: Is it claiming that DEIA is promoting under-qualified individuals, as long as they're not veterans or the disabled?

Or are the targets of the current crackdown only those people who check certain racial or gender boxes? The answer may lie in Project 2025's 922-page manifesto, which repeatedly details eliminating DEI.

If this is just about race or gender, which dropping the A suggests, then let's call this action what it is.

Who will discover young aviation enthusiasts?

Since 2001, I've also been an officer in the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, which oversees Civil Air Patrol youth programs that help encourage young Americans aged 12 and up to gain otherwise unattainable aeronautical experience, including flying. Former CAP members now populate airlines, the military, and NASA.

In mid-January, all members received an email from CAP's National Commander stating CAP has been asked to pause "any future DEIA-related events, programs, policies, or related activities." This despite the fact that no CAP members are ever promoted or assigned before meeting the full list of requisite qualifications.

My many years at Vaughn and CAP have allowed me to see the face of a changing America in future aviation professionals. Talented young people need role models who resemble them, inspiring their drive to succeed in this critical and demanding field.

After Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, he said that "any mistake I made would be magnified because I was the only Black man out there."

The White House’s senseless DEI directive has the same effect on aviation professionals, because the order has virtually ensured thousands of qualified workers are being maligned, vaguely, as "DEI hires." Even if they're more skilled than their peers, they'll carry the weight of having to appear better.

Where do we go from here?

Perhaps the first step is engaging a national conversation about two issues:

1) If DEI programs have truly affected safety, as the title of the executive order implies, then provide data that proves it. To date, there's been no evidence.

2) If this purge isn't about safety, then let's define what it really is about. AFGE seems to have nailed it: "Ultimately, these attacks on DEIA are just a smokescreen for firing civil servants, undermining the apolitical civil service, and turning the federal government into an army of yes-men loyal only to the president, not the Constitution."

Or as Vaughn’s Daniels puts it: "The real problem some people have with DEI is the 'E' for equity. And we also have to follow the purse—what's happening to the money the government will save?

America awaits the answers.

William J. McGee is the Senior Fellow for Aviation & Travel at American Economic Liberties Project. An FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher, he spent seven years in airline flight operations management and was Editor-in-Chief of Consumer Reports Travel Letter. He is the author of Attention All Passengers and teaches at Vaughn College of Aeronautics. There is more at http://www.economicliberties.us/william-mcgee/.

*******************

“Nonsensical”: As Trump Blames Crash on DEI, Aviation Expert Says It’s Understaffing, Lax Regulation
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
January 31, 2025
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/31/ ... transcript

Donald Trump is blaming DEI for the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in more than two decades, when a regional jet and a U.S. Army helicopter collided over a Washington, D.C. airport, killing 67 people. “We have a long list of problems that need to be addressed. … Instead, we’re talking about a nonsensical issue that is not based in fact,” says FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher Bill McGee, who says criticisms of DEI distract from and work against a critical staffing shortage at the FAA. McGee also discusses the dangerous politicization of the FAA and the increasing influence of Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, over the aviation industry.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: During a White House press briefing Thursday, President Trump said the cause of Wednesday’s midair collision of a U.S. military helicopter with an American passenger jet at Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people is still unknown, but Trump proceeded to blame, without evidence, Democrats and federal workplace DEI initiatives for the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in more than two decades.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: My administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety. We have to have our smartest people. It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. It matters intellect, talent. The word “talent.” They have to be talented, naturally talented, geniuses. You can’t have regular people doing that job. They won’t be able to do it. But we’ll restore faith in American air travel. I’ll have more to say about that.

I do want to point out that various articles that appeared prior to my entering office — and here’s one: “The FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.” That is amazing. And then it says, ”FAA says people with severe disabilities are most underrepresented segment of the workforce.” So they want them in, and they want them — they can be air traffic controllers. I don’t think so. This was on January 14th, so that was a week before I entered office. They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA’s program.

Of the F.A.A. under Mr. Obama, Mr. Trump said: “They actually came out with a directive, too white.” At another point he quoted from the website of the F.A.A., which he said indicated that the agency was looking to hire people with disabilities, including “hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism,” and said that they “all qualified for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country.”

In fact, Mr. Trump was citing language about recruiting people with disabilities on the F.A.A.’s website that existed during his first administration.

-- Trump Blames D.E.I. and Biden for Crash Under His Watch: President Trump’s remarks, suggesting that diversity in hiring and other Biden administration policies somehow caused the disaster, reflected his instinct to immediately frame major events through his political or ideological lens, by David E. Sanger, New York Times

AMY GOODMAN: Trump was reading from a year-old online report about efforts at the FAA to hire people with disabilities. During the news conference, journalists repeatedly questioned Trump about his unfounded assertions. This is one exchange with New York Times reporter David Sanger.

DAVID SANGER: Mr. President, you have today blamed the diversity element, but then told us that you weren’t sure that the controllers made any mistake. You then said perhaps the helicopter pilots were the ones —

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.

DAVID SANGER: — who made the mistake.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It’s all under investigation.

DAVID SANGER: I understand that. That’s why I’m trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Because I have common sense, OK?

AMY GOODMAN: During Thursday’s news conference, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth echoed Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity.

DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: We will have the best and brightest in every position possible — as you said in your inaugural, it is colorblind and merit-based — the best leaders possible, whether it’s flying Black Hawks and flying airplanes, leading platoons or in government. The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department, and we need the best and brightest, whether it’s in our air traffic control or whether it’s in our generals or whether it’s throughout government.

AMY GOODMAN: During Thursday’s press conference, Vice President JD Vance echoed Trump’s attacks on DEI.

VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: When you don’t have the best standards in who you’re hiring, it means, on the one hand, you’re not getting the best people in government, but, on the other hand, it puts stresses on the people who are already there. And I think that is a core part of what President Trump is going to bring and has already brought to Washington, D.C., is we want to hire the best people, because we want the best people in air traffic control, and we want to make sure we have enough people in air traffic control who are actually competent to do the job. If you go back to just some of the headlines over the past 10 years, you have many hundreds of people suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers but they were turned away because of the color of their skin. That policy ends under Donald Trump’s leadership, because safety is the first priority of our aviation industry.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Bill McGee, senior fellow for aviation and travel at American Economic Liberties Project. As an FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher, he spent seven years in airline flight operations management and is the author of Attention All Passengers: The Airlines’ Dangerous Descent — and How to Reclaim Our Skies. He teaches at Vaughn College of Aeronautics. Bill McGee’s new piece for Frommer’s is headlined “The Big Lie of Aviation DEI.”

Now, I want to point out, Bill, that you wrote this piece not in response to the news conference at the White House, but before the White House news conference and before the crash. Can you talk about what’s going on here? President Trump, when asked about any other issue, said, “Well, the investigation has to continue,” but he still blamed the crash on DEI.

WILLIAM McGEE: Yes, you’re right. The fact is that these rumors, which are unfounded, have been swirling around aviation for more than 20 years, but they are not based in fact. That’s why I wrote what I wrote in Frommer’s the other day. That was, again, as you pointed out, you know, the day before the crash. But it’s not as if what we heard this week we haven’t heard before. And it’s simply unfounded. As you just pointed out, these rumors are not at all based in fact.

What the DEI initiatives at the FAA — and at other agencies, as well, but specifically at the FAA — what they were meant to do was to broaden the pool of recruitment for positions. But this needs to be said in all caps, in bold. The fact is, there has not been a loosening of standards. The same standards have to to apply, in terms of testing — you know, when I was licensed as an FAA dispatcher, we had a written test, we had an oral test, we had an eight-hour practical exam. All of those things are still in place. No one is going into safety critical jobs without being prepared.

AMY GOODMAN: Bill McGee, Trump blamed Biden. He blamed Obama. He blamed Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary. He said, “They actually came out with a directive: 'too white.' And we want the people that are competent,” he said. They kept talking about “the best and the brightest,” not to be confused with “the best and the whitest.” If you can comment on this and the history of this, where his certainty comes from? He says it’s just common sense, yet presented absolutely no evidence.

WILLIAM McGEE: Well, I think we need to step back a moment and look at the bigger picture with what is really going on here. We have an aviation industry in crisis, and we’ve had that for several years now, at the FAA, at Boeing, at the airlines. And for every minute that we spend talking about DEI, we’re not talking about so many other critical issues.

FAA safety inspectors, they have been understaffed for 40 years. It’s not just a matter of throwing money at these problems, but the FAA needs to be realigned. Since the Reagan administration, it has not kept pace with the industry. And, you know, we can go through a long list of problems that are not being addressed by this.

And every time I hear this, DEI — that’s why I wrote the column I wrote — the DEI issue, in my view, it’s a distraction. I mean, for those that are serious about aviation safety, they know we have a long laundry list of problems that need to be addressed, with air traffic control, with maintenance outsourcing, with the oversight of the airlines, the oversight of Boeing. And instead, we’re talking about a nonsensical issue that is not based in fact.

AMY GOODMAN: After Donald Trump’s inauguration, the White House issued an executive order titled “Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation” that rescinds all diversity, equity and inclusion hiring programs at the FAA. I want to turn to Rick Larsen, ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, criticizing the executive order in a statement, saying, quote, “Hiring air traffic controllers is the number one safety issue according to the entire aviation industry. Instead of working to improve aviation safety and lower costs for hardworking American families, the Administration is choosing to spread bogus DEI claims to justify this decision.” And you have, Bill, The New York Times reporting, and others, that it looks like the Black Hawk helicopter, with the three, and usually it’s supposed to be four people, soldiers inside, being off the actual route and too high.

WILLIAM McGEE: Yeah, you’re right. And I think Representative Larsen is correct, as well. We have had an air traffic controller shortage in this country for several years now. These issues cross political lines, by the way. They go back years and years. And the pipeline, it actually improved under Secretary Buttigieg and President Biden. We started seeing more air traffic controllers come online. But we do not have enough.

And when you look at what happened the other night in the Potomac River — I know that airport very, very well, DCA, because when I was working in airline flight operations, I worked for the Northeast Shuttle, so I dealt with DCA, dispatching flights there every day of the week. And I can tell you it’s one of the most challenging airports in the country. And we need the absolute full staffing of air traffic control at DCA and at airports all across the country. We’re not there.

The irony here is that for all the knock on DEI, it’s about doing that. It’s about broadening the net of trying to attract more people into aviation, people that traditionally were not drawn to aviation. You mentioned I teach at Vaughn College of Aeronautics. It happens to be the most diverse student body of any college in the country. And I see it all the time. We’re sending more and more people into aviation who wouldn’t before.

So, you know, we need to get rid of the rumors, that are unfounded, about the safety question, and we need to start doing things to improve the system, including staffing, staffing at the FAA on the air traffic control side and staffing at the FAA on the safety inspector side. We all know that Boeing is a mess. This was once probably the greatest corporation in this country. And why is it a mess? Well, in large measure, it’s because the FAA hasn’t been able to inspect it. They have something called the designee system, that allows Boeing employees to be the eyes and ears of the FAA. Imagine that. Imagine having to tell your boss that you need to shut down the assembly line. You’re a mid-level manager, and your mortgage is riding on this. It’s a system that really needs to be revamped from top to bottom.

AMY GOODMAN: So, the crash comes as the Federal Aviation Administration is lacking an administrator, though Trump just named one. But it was lacking an FAA administrator after Elon Musk pressured Mike Whitaker to announce his early resignation in December. Musk was furious with Whitaker after the FAA fined Musk’s SpaceX over $600,000 for safety violations on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Musk has also accused the FAA of slowing development of its experimental Starship rocket. Earlier this month, the FAA grounded Starship after a test vehicle caught fire, veered off course and exploded high above the Caribbean, the disaster triggering massive sonic booms as fiery debris reentered the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds, littering the Turks and Caicos with rocket parts and forcing airlines to divert dozens of flights. So, the richest man in the world forces the head of the FAA out, and now, just after the crash, Trump names a new FAA administrator, Christopher Rocheleau, a 22-year veteran of the agency. Can you respond to Musk and what you know about the new FAA head?

WILLIAM McGEE: Yeah, you raise a great question, you know, because about 15 years ago, the FAA Reauthorization Act in Congress specifically changed the parameters so that the FAA administrator term would be five years. And the clear intent there was that aviation safety is so critical that it should rise above politics, and that a five-year term would guarantee that an administrator would be in office during any kind of a presidential transition from one party to another, from one president to another.

Well, we didn’t see that happen, right? Michael Whitaker was in office only for a little more than a year. He should have been in office for five years. And he was removed on Inauguration Day. As you say, all of the media reports indicate this was because of Musk and because of Whitaker coming down on his company. This is not how the system is supposed to work. Aviation safety should be above politics.

And unfortunately, for decades now, we have seen not administrators, but acting administrators. That’s what we have seen in the first Trump administration. You know, you’ll recall the two fatal Boeing 737 MAX accidents. It wasn’t until after the second accident, in early 2019, that it was as if the administration woke up and said, “Oh, we don’t have an FAA administrator.” Now, I know there are those that are going to say an acting administrator is almost as good as an administrator. It’s not the case. Yes, they can run the day-to-day, and they can deal with crises, and they can, you know, put out whatever fires are burning that day. But they do not have the ability to look at long-term issues, including staffing. And so, we have to start treating this more seriously. A permanent FAA administrator needs to be in place at all times.

AMY GOODMAN: So, you have right now — yeah, he may be the richest man in the world, not to be glib, but the guy who keeps blowing up rockets is now influencing airline safety policy.

WILLIAM McGEE: Yeah, it’s a very dangerous situation. There’s no two ways about it. Again, you know, the FAA used to be called the gold standard for a government agency overseeing aviation. Other nations, when they had problems, when they had accidents, that weren’t even in any way related to the United States, not involving a U.S.-built aircraft, not involving a U.S. airline, they would turn to the FAA and the NTSB and ask for assistance. We are no longer the gold standard. It’s just that simple. We have seen it in recent years when other countries have said, “No, we’ll do without the FAA on this investigation,” particularly after the Boeing MAX crashes. This is not how to run the FAA, to have someone like Elon Musk come in and make these decisions.

AMY GOODMAN: Bill McGee, I want to thank you for being with us, senior fellow for aviation and travel at American Economic Liberties Project, an FAA-licensed aircraft dispatcher. We’re going to link to your new piece for Frommer’s titled — for Frommer’s, “The Big Lie of Aviation DEI.” Bill McGee was editor-in-chief of Consumer Reports Travel Letter, and he is the author of Attention All Passengers.

[admin]

Trump FIRST MOVES Lead to INSTANT CATASTROPHE: It wasn't a DEI hire that crashed American Airlines flight 5342, but budget cuts and and removal of leadership. There should have been at least two air traffic controller, instead of one.
by Michael Popok
MeidasTouch
Legal AF Podcast
Jan 31, 2025

It is starting to look like Trump’s cost-cutting and decapitating leadership at the FAA may have been the true cause of the Flight 5342 disaster, as there should have been 2 controllers, not one monitoring the helicopter and planes in the airspace, and that’s on Trump. Michael Popok reports on this developing story that demonstrates that our lives are all at risk with Trumpat the helm, as Project 2025 enacts policies to kill its own voters.



Transcript

Preliminary results are trickling in
about the American Airlines flight 5342
disaster in Washington and it's making
Donald Trump out to be a liar. It wasn't
a DEI hire who worked in the air
traffic control that crashed the plane
it looks like it was the type of budget
cuts and hollowing out of
administrations and the removal and
decapitation of leadership that has
marked Donald Trump's beginning days
that caused the crash it looks like
there should have been at least two air
traffic controllers one watching
helicopters the other one watching
planes instead of one trying to do both
that's a budget and Leadership problem
that's not a Dei problem and that's a
Donald Trump major problem on Michael
Popok you're on the Meidas touch
Network in legal AF earlier reporting
from Donald Trump if he was to believed
it's because the uh the FAA was putting
people who were mentally diminished or
had other types of handicaps in
positions to be air traffic controllers
so it must have been a black or brown
handicapped one-armed mentally disabled
person that crashed the planes in
blaming Obama and Biden and the rest now
it looks like it's the very thing that
we feared When Donald Trump got in is
that he would hollow out and force to
leave those people those Legacy people
with deep deep understandings of the
institutions for which they work and
with knowledge fleeing fleeing um as
federal workers to run as far away and
fast away from Donald Trump as possible
first Donald Trump decapitated the
leadership around Airline safety and air
aircraft safety on day one the head of
the NTSB gone the head of the FAA gone
the head of the TSA gone because Donald
Trump wanted to get rid of them didn't
replace them all sorts of acting people
there's a reason a lot of people are
acting and are never made the head
leadership there so that happened that's
all in the we're only 10 days into the
administration then Donald Trump decides
to Furlow Andor fire federal workers
including those that work for the FAA in
these positions so with tax cuts I'm
sorry with budget cuts with uh
employment and hiring freezes with the
hollowing out of leadership what do you
think happens it all comes to a perfect
storm more likely uh uh last night when
there should have been two traffic
controllers but there's only one now you
have an Administration that took took
its eye off the ball of Public Safety it
is instead looking at penny pinching
cost cutting getting rid of people
having them Furlow paying them 7 months
to get rid of it all seven months to get
rid of these people of uh Severance
payments that's a Donald Trump problem
and if you think that this is not
already in day 10 the symptom of a
greater disease in Donald Trump leave me
a note in the comments right now you
don't think more of this is going to
happen see when they when that ship hit
the bridge and a collapsed in Washington
they immediately started to blame Dei
hires back in the Biden Administration
it doesn't work now when you're now in
charge when it's your policies you know
that were just uh very uh obscenely
implemented without any thought in the
beginning days beginning hours and
minutes of the Trump Administration
leads to things like boom not enough uh
air traffic controllers at the very
moment when they were needed one
tracking the Blackhawk helicopter one
tracking flight number 5342 for American
Airlines that didn't happen we're going
to see more of this as he shrinks major
departments that that are responsible
for the safety of Americans and safety
of the very voters that put him into
office people that are supposed to be
focused on uh uh avoiding pollution and
illness from air and water contaminants
gone people that are supposed to be
worried and about and inspecting Bridges
tunnels our infrastructure gone people
that are supposed to be responsible for
our nuclear power reactors and how
they're maintained gone the people that
are responsible within the military at
the very very top level forced into
retirement those that are on the front
lines like uh air traffic controllers
gone
Donald Trump says it must have been a
woke deal Dei air traffic controller no
it was the lack of air traffic
controllers which is on your watch and
as a result of what you're doing you
can't Lop off the leadership leave it
rudderless and then just on a on a
regular Wednesday night hope things are
going to go well in the world of air
traffic control and one of the busiest
airspaces the most regulated and tightly
controlled airspaces in the world that
around the capital of the United
States see this is the kind of story and
the kind of drill down that only you'll
find here on might Network and legal
layoff because the other networks have
already moved on look we've got 70
victims we have that many families
grieving we have people still being
recovered from the icy Potomac and Donald
Trump's first thing was to start reading
from an old FAA website and blaming it
on the website like the website killed
these people now it turns out the worm
has turned now it turns out that it's
more likely the fault of the Trump
administration now look I'm not here I
didn't want to cast blame one day into a
n a national
tragedy that's not where I go check my
you know 1,500 other videos that's not
me but I've been forced into do it to
respond to Donald Trump because
mainstream media is not going to do it
we have
to if you just if you just remember only
the last thing you heard from mainstream
media would be the press conference with
Donald Trump where he BL blamed the
website he blamed Dei and he blamed
Obama and by everybody but himself but
now now it's coming to fruition now it's
coming coming up and what I want people
to understand from this hot take is this
is not unfortunately going to be the
last time this presidency is going to be
tested and fail and people's lives are
at risk as a result you can't shrink the
government and take away those people
that know what they're doing with
expertise in places at the very very uh
guard rails of protecting people's
health and safety whether it's medical
vaccines uh disease and Disease Control
uh Bridges tunnels infrastructure our
power grid nuclear power those in the
military you you can't get rid of
leadership and then and then expect an
organization to run properly