🇺🇲 Senate Democrats condemned the U.S. Treasury Department's decision to issue a temporary license on April 17 allowing purchases of Russian oil stranded at sea, calling the move "shameful."

https://kyivindependent.com/us-lawmakers-say-trump-is-letting-putin-play-him-for-a-fool/

#usa #russia #trump

Welcome to America where intelligent people have to stay silent so they won’t offend the stupid people.

#MAGA #republicans #america #gop #trump #politics #iran #war #Israel #christianity #middleeast #mala #epstein #EpsteinFiles #news #worldnews #opinion

A Protester Threw a Snowball. Federal Agents Responded With Tear Gas and Pepper Balls.

A new investigation from ProPublica and FRONTLINE examines federal agents’ response to protesters and bystanders at the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps.

“We see, just, use of excessive force after use of excess force,” one expert said.

https://www.propublica.org/article/caught-in-crackdown-trump-immigration-ice-cbp-excessive-force

#news #trump #ice #minneapolis #immigration #government

#Trump turns totally toxic for Europe's far right

🖊️ Clea Caulcutt and Nette Nöstlinger

"Proximity with the United States in the current context did not go down well with Hungarian voters," said a senior official from France's National Rally party.

https://www.politico.eu/article/trump-turns-toxic-europe-far-right-le-pen-national-rally-france-orban-defeat-hungary

#TheCrueltyIsThePoint news∶

The govt of #France is pressing #DHS to release the 86-year-old French widow of a military #veteran from #immigration custody after she was detained this month.

#ICE agents detained Marie-Therese Ross in Alabama April 1 after she overstayed her 90-day visa…. Ross is now being held at a federal immigration #detention facility in Louisiana.

[must be one of those violent criminals #Trump claims to be arresting, detaining & deporting /s🙄]

#law
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/16/g-s1-117615/france-seeks-release-of-86-year-old-detained-by-ice

#Trump wants the #USA to become a little bit more like #China, or WWII Germany, while helping car manufacturers with weapons contracts - a stable, government-guaranteed revenue. Bailout as National Security, in other words.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/pentagon-approaches-automakers-manufacturers-boost-000201193.html

Apropos of #WWII #Germany: while the USA isn’t yet using forced labor, its failing car companies aren’t state-owned, and the legal mechanisms being discussed appear softer than a full-on wartime command economy, one glance at the #ICE detention system suggests the infrastructure for the next step isn’t hard to imagine.

#uspol #fascism

"Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) just inked a $12.2 million contract for an artificial intelligence tool that claims to map out immigrants’ daily routines, habits, and real-time location and categorize them as potential threats, per procurement records reviewed by the Lever.

Dubbed “Project SAFE HAVEN,” the product is advertised by defense vendor Edge Ops LLC as a “question-based AI interface” that uses “persistent passive data collection” to map “patterns of life,” a surveillance tactic that ICE says will identify the “habitual locations, routes, and behavioral patterns” of its targets.

Additional features of the technology described in procurement documents include real-time location tracking and analysis that will categorize individuals and groups as affiliated with ostensible criminal organizations, such as gangs or cartels. That includes building “target profiles” that track individuals’ activity by linking data obtained from Wi-Fi network connections and mobile smart devices, such as cell phones and smartwatches.

A promotional blurb for the tool on Edge Ops LLC’s website claims that Project SAFE HAVEN “transforms the way we identify, locate, and map illegal migrants.”"

https://jacobin.com/2026/04/ice-contract-ai-surveillance-immigrants/

#USA #Trump #Authoritarianism #ICE #AI #Surveillance #Privacy

@EUCommission

So a device that infringes massively on your privacy, is described as having the..."highest privacy standards in the world". 🤣😅😂

Classic misdirection technique. SELL THE LIE!!!

#trump #europe #ageverification

🤡 U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on April 14 that he is proud of Washington cutting off funding to #Ukraine amid Russian aggression, listing it among the #Trump administration's top achievements.

https://kyivindependent.com/vance-calls-ending-ukraine-aid-one-of-the-proudest-achievements-of-trump-admin/

#usa #russia

#Trump is coming to #Phoenix for a Turning Point rally. Come on #Arizona, protest so hard he throws ketchup everywhere! I have every faith in you.

#50501movement

Alt...

From 50501 Arizona, a protest poster showing a pixelized version of Trump at the microphone. "HE'S COMING TO TOWN! COME TELL HIM WHAT YOU THINK OF HIM! APRIL 17TH 13608 N CAVE CREEK RD PHOENIX SCHEDULE: PROTEST STARTS AT 9AM, MAGA EVENT DOORS OPEN AT 10AM, MAGA EVENT PROGRAMMING AT 12 PM, POTUS STARTS RAMBLING 2 PM, PROTEST ENDS WHEN HE LEAVES ARIZONA!"

Um … Hell No. Nope.

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

#DOJ moves to toss #SeditiousConspiracy #convictions of #OathKeepers & #ProudBoys

The DOJ on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys & Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to #prison terms for leading members of the #FarRight #extremist groups in attacking the US Capitol to keep #Trump in #power >5 years ago.

#law #Jan6 #Insurrection #PoliticalViolence
https://apnews.com/article/proud-boys-oath-keepers-convictions-dropped-doj-ad679108ab84083694261efc101e60ea

Earlier: During the three years after the Inflation Reduction Act passed, #Texas developers invested some $62 billion in clean energy ventures statewide and announced billions more in planned construction.

Now, much of that infrastructure is at risk. https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-clean-energy-future-political-winds/

#sustainability #energy #environment #politics #USpol #Trump #news

NEW: As Arrests at Anti-ICE Protests Piled Up, Prosecutions Crumbled

ProPublica and FRONTLINE found more than 300 protesters and bystanders who were arrested on charges like assaulting an immigration agent or interfering with law enforcement.

Over and over, the accusations fell apart under scrutiny.

https://www.propublica.org/article/caught-in-crackdown-ice-cbp-doj-trump-arrests-convictions

#news #trump #ice #cbp #LosAngeles #Minneapolis #doj #government

Interview: The Pope Says War-makers Have “Hands Full of Blood”

Trump’s Catholic VP, JD Vance, said the pope should “stick to matters of morality.”

“I don’t know any other more pressing moral issues than war and peace... I don’t understand how VP Vance cannot see that war is a moral issue."

~Father James Martin

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/4/14/pope_leo_iran_war

#USPol #EUPol #PopeLeo #Trump #Vance #news #IranWar #ChristianNationalism .

#Vance wading into spat between #Trump and the #Pope is only turning the heat up…

“It would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on in the Catholic church and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy”

- Trump is a dictator acting without checks or balances.

- launching an illegal war is not merely ‘public policy’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/14/jd-vance-defends-trump-pope-leo-spat

And the parodies continue.
Trump's glaring failure of a self-glorifying meme which depicted him as a faith-healing Jesus Christ, is still inspiring comedy takes.
THIS version shows Trump in an orange prison jump suit scaring away school age children.
#USPolitics #Trump #JesusChrist #Parody

Alt...

The self-published Trump meme of himself as Jesus Christ healing with his touch has been parodied again. Instead of a white robe and a red shawl, Trump is now wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. Instead of being surrounded by fawning admirers, Trump is now scaring away a running group of school-age children. The winged and horned occult figure Baphomet is still in the sky above Trump accompanied by what appear to be celestial soldiers.

Appeals court orders judge to end contempt investigation of #Trump admin #deportation flights

A federal judge must end his “intrusive” contempt investigation of the Trump admin for failing to comply with an order over flights carrying Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador last year, a divided appeals court panel ruled Tuesday.

#law #immigration #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #rendition #StateSponsoredAbduction #CivilRights #HumanRights #AbuseOfPower #judiciary #JudgeShopping
https://apnews.com/article/trump-judge-boasberg-contempt-f5ab5110336be20773e8aa8d5b484879

Cartoonist Rob Rogers was fired from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2018 for the cartoon below. While he seems to have done all right for himself, it's just one episode of many showing the rank cowardice of the media that contributed to this disaster.

#Trump #Epstein #Media

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Social media exchange from 2018 posted as a reminder Rob Rogers says "Sad to report this update: Today, after 25 years as the editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I was fired." Ted St Godard says "This got the cartoonist fired. Share it." He posts Rogers' cartoon which shows a road sign saying "CAUTION" with silhouettes of a family running away from Trump's outline. The parents run ahead and a little girl can't keep up. Trump is grabbing her as she reaches out to her parents."

Gotta appreciate how much of a hindrance to the European Far Right Donald Trump and his gang of Yankee fuckups are.

#Trump #EUPol #Fascists #MAGA #PopeLeo

Alt...

Trump’s remarks have been criticised by Italian politicians from across the spectrum. Matteo Salvini, the far-right deputy prime minister who has been a staunch supporter of Trump, said: “If anyone is working hard on the issue of peace and conflict resolution, it’s Pope Leo. Attacking the pope, a symbol of peace and a spiritual guide for billions of Catholics, doesn’t seem like a useful or intelligent thing to do.”