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MAGA critics have decried the new Superman as Superwoke.
Further

On Manic Racism and Kindness As Kryptonite

Racist madness explodes, the "straight-up Gestapo stuff" of dystopian nightmares, from brown people "hunted like animals" by roving thugs and packed into fetid concentration camps devised by cartoon ghouls to inane war waged on "SLIMEBALL" protesters, diligent farmworkers, brown toddlers - no Head Start for you - and a woke Superman decried as "the ultimate immigrant." Clark Kent's father's message in a God-awful timeline: "Your choices, your actions make you who you are."

And your words. The linguistic framework for the regime's war on immigrants, the hateful "glue that holds together the MAGA movement," is itself depraved, leading to and warping the rest. The White House proclaimed its rabid intent to protect us from an "invasion" of "illegal aliens" who "present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans," with some "engaged in hostile activities, including espionage, economic espionage, and preparations for terror-related activities." Steadfastly, robotically, they snarl and spit out the terms, enough said. Illegal. Alien. Other than. Distanced from. Not us. Not quite human, menacing brown-skinned replicas of David Bowie's Man Who Fell to Earth.

Ever since Trump rode down his fucking fake gold escalator to defame all Mexicans as rapists or murderers and launched his hateful fake war against brown "worst of the worst" gang leaders and drug dealers, it's been one vile vicious racist lie. Facts, one more time. Immigrants commit far fewer crimes than native-born Americans. Immigrants do much of the hardest and shittiest work in this country, which they've largely built, because white people don't want to. And entering the country without proper documentation is not a crime. It's not a felony. It's not even a misdemeanor. It's a civil violation, akin in venal criminality to a parking ticket. So why the fuck are Goebbel's masked shock troops in Amazon-bought camo grabbing gardeners off the street?

Now, with the big fascist bill throwing unholy amounts of money at the hate - $170 billion, with $45 billion for detention and $30 billion for recruitment, making ICE richer than Israel's and Russia's military - emboldened goons will abandon any pretense of due diligence. Fentanyl dealer or farmworker: "If they cross the border illegally, they're coming with us." Increasingly authoritarian law enforcement, conflating peaceful protest with terroristic violence, will respond to criticism of its police state tactics by escalating them; DHS urges officers to consider signs, cellphone cameras, requests for ID, protesters on bikes - scouting for weapons? - "from the point of view of an adversary," deserving to be met with force. One advocate: "It’s going to get really scary."

Meanwhile, the racism grows more brazen. Last week, top goon Tom Homan told Fox, "People need to understand we don't need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them." (Not.) He babbled on about getting "the totality of the circumstances" and "the articulable facts based on their location, their occupation, their physical appearance." In other words, "Trump's thugs will racially profile you, then go on national television to brag about getting away with it." Totally credible DHS response: "Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE. These type of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement." Uh huh.

Stephen Miller, master of the master race though ostensibly Jewish, is updating actual Nazi talking points - "Without the Jew, the German school would thrive" - positing Los Angeles as a paradise without any "illegal aliens" and charging Dem leaders with forming "an alliance with the cartels." It was his furious rant to ICE agents in May they up their arrests to 3,000 a day - like Raising Arizona's Holly Hunter spitting, "Go out there and get me a toddler!" - that sparked the escalation of "straight-up Gestapo stuff" in L.A. County, where masked henchmen roam the streets, leap from unmarked cars and grab hapless laborers and gardeners to meet the quota: "If someone runs, they're taken. If they don't answer a question, they're taken. If they can't produce papers, they're taken."

Over 100 raids in southern California - at least 15 Home Depots, also car washes, parks, farms, churches, swap meets - have been documented by Bellingcat, an independent investigative collective, working with CalMatters and Evident Media. They found many similarities to an infamous April raid in Bakersfield to the north, touted as a search for violent criminals, in which 77 of 78 victims had committed no crimes; it prompted a judge's angry injunction barring warrantless raids: "You just can’t walk up to people with brown skin and say, ‘Give me your papers.’" But the relentless raids continue in LA County, with about 95 arrests a day, including U.S. citizens and green-card holders who "look like an illegal alien." An ICE training/propaganda video "If they run, we go."

Chilling bystander videos of our marauding police state abound. People grabbed at court, guys chased and pummeled at Home Depot, women cuffed as their kids cry, crowds shouting in rage. A guy on the ground, piled on by thugs, screams, "I'm an American!" Brown workers at a car wash are dragged off past two dazed white workers. Beefy stormtroopers shriek into terrified faces, "What hospital were you born in?" A guy in a truck, his window blithely shattered by goons: "Are you fucking serious, bro?" A young woman and U.S. citizen abducted as she's dropped at work by her weeping mother: "The only thing wrong with her (was) the color of her skin." A furious witness: “They don’t care if you have papers, as long as you look like what they want you to look like."

Especially egregious was the surreal, pointless scene in LA where about 100 heavily armed, camo'ed, masked troops, some flamboyantly on horseback, descended on downtown's MacArthur Park to sweep a now-empty area where low-income kids in day camp had just been playing before they fled in terror. (As a result, we're sure they slept well and peacefully that night, as did their parents.) Mayor Karen Bass angrily denounced what's become "a city under siege, under armed occupation." Snarling ICE sector chief Gregory Bovino shrugged her and it off: "I don't work for Karen Bass. Better get used to us now, 'cause this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles." Fox chyron: "Karen Bass Interferes with Raid."

As the abuses in California snowball, support plunges. The Catholic Bishop of San Bernardino, one of the country's largest dioceses, issued a rare decree allowing parishioners to miss Mass due to fear of raids that "may impede the spiritual good of the faithful." The mayor of largely Hispanic Perris warned residents to stay home and "know your rights." Polls show only a fragment of MAGA creeps back the terror, with a record-high 80% of Americans saying immigration is "good" for the country. (Duh). Even many stormtroopers don't like snatching gardeners, not drug traffickers, off the street, and morale is "in the crapper." A former ICE guy: "What we're seeing now is what, for many years, we were accused of being, and could always safely say, ‘We don’t do that.’”

Amidst multiple lawsuits - "What they're doing is actual terror" - there have been legal victories. In one class action suit, a federal judge in New Hampshire blocked the effort to end birthright citizenship as doing "irreparable harm." In another class action suit by the ACLU, 18 Democratic AGs and advocacy groups who describe "racial profiling on a scale unseen since Jim Crow," a judge in L.A. ordered a halt to raids in 7 California counties, citing "a mountain of evidence" that ICE is "indiscriminately rounding up numerous Individuals with brown skin without reasonable suspicion," as well as doing racial profiling and denying access to counsel for people held in "dungeon-like" facilities. DHS: "Whah?!" Also, "highly targeted," dietician-approved meals and "the best health care many aliens have received in their lives."

As to dungeons: Reports from the concentration camp giddy MAGA has dubbed Alligator Alcatraz - a cinematic "memefication of cruelty" - describe vile conditions: Sparse food with maggots, temps veering from steamy to freezing, not enough toilets, showers or water, no calls, huge mosquitoes, sweltering people packed into cages "like dogs in a kennel." Three Dem reps who just got a staged tour recounted "disturbing, disgusting conditions," an unforgettable stench, and "wall-to-wall humans" yelling "Help me" and "I'm an American citizen." "This place needs to be shut the hell down,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. "They're abusing human beings here." As they left, inmates chanted, "Libertad! Libertad!" Now, the GOP is fundraising off "ICE With A Bite" t-shirts, because they are sick fucks.

Two days earlier, ICE launched its largest, most violent raid on two Glass House Farms, in Camarillo and Carpinteria CA., that grow tomatoes, cucumbers and cannabis. In an ugly scene - injuries, women cuffed, kids running and crying: One to another, "They took your Mom?" - a phalanx of goons faced off against swiftly-summoned families and allies, attacking them with tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets before arresting about 200 farmworkers, many longtimers in their 50s or 60s. "We are not the enemy," protesters chanted. Also, "This is an abomination," "What's your ammunition for?" and, "Has any fucking single one of you ever worked as hard as these field workers?" Workers were held for hours in a parking lot, their cells phones taken and erased, before being loaded into vans for parts unknown.

Most of the country's over 2.6 million farmworkers are Hispanic non-citizens - perhaps 40% undocumented - working in "close to slavery" conditions and, until they began hiding at home, easy to find. Still, said the United Farmworkers, nowhere is it legal "to terrorize and detain people for being brown and working in agriculture." The next day, Jaime Alanis, 57, who'd worked at Camarillo 10 years while sending his pay back to Mexico, died of catastrophic injuries - broken neck, fractured skull - after he fell from a roof running from state agents. His niece began a GoFundMe with a $50K goal; it raised $159,432. He was, she said, "just a hard-working innocent farmer...He will be taken to his hometown Huajumbaro, Michoacán. His wife and daughter are waiting for him. We are still looking for justice."

Back in D.C., a vengeful, racist bully, incensed people had flocked to defend mere farmworkers - one protester maybe even threw something at stormtroopers - said he's giving "Total Authorization" for any ICE or other thug "confronted by thrown rocks, bricks, or other form of assault to arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary." At a White House meeting with African leaders, he also put his "aggressive ignorance proudly on full display" by patronizingly praising Liberian President Joseph Boakai's "such good English...Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?" Fact: The official language of Liberia, settled by former U.S. slaves, is English. America cringed: "Bro is a dumb racist. Straight up." He also ewww flirted with a Black reporter, handing her some crapola trinket with, "Darling, that's for you."

Having failed to adequately abuse people of color, his HHS also cracked down on brown three-to-five-year-olds by banning them from Head Start - which he'd tried but failed to kill - and other federal programs meant to "only serve America citizens." "For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans' tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration," spouted JFK Jr., arguing a Clinton-era law had "improperly extended (some) public benefits to illegal aliens." (His father spun in his grave.) The action applies not just to Head Start's pre-school, which for 60 years hasn't labeled any child "illegal," but its meals and health screenings and other services brown people def don't need - health clinics, family planning, energy assistance. In Illinois, Head Start told members to just keep serving undocumented children. Sorry, small illegal aliens.

Things got not just mean but weird when, on behalf of our Christo-fascist homeland, DHS posted a video claiming ICE is bringing God's justice - a move deemed "the height of blasphemy." "There's a Bible verse I think about," muses the narrator, citing Isaiah: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send?' And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me.'" Cue shots of ICE goons as Johnny Cash sings God’s Gonna Cut You Down. Zach Lambert, an Austin pastor "fed up with the Bible being weaponized to hurt people," calls bullshit. In fact, the verse decries corrupt leaders "who make unjust laws (to) deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed"; Isaiah steps up to stop them. As usual, they got it wrong, and illegal: The song is by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, who trashed DHS for using it without permission and disrespecting Copyright Law, Habeas Corpus, Due Process and separation of Church and State. They ordered them to cease and desist, take down the video, "Oh, and go fuck yourselves."

Finally, for the release of James Gunn's new Superman movie, the White House inexplicably posted this Felonman, Pooperman, Supergeriatric. After Gunn said the story, of "an immigrant from another place," is "the story of America," and that "basic human kindness is a value (we ) have lost," MAGA threw a fit. "Superwoke," sneered Fox of a guy who "fights for your preferred pronoun (with) MS13 on his cape." Superman, "Champion of the Oppressed," first appeared in a 1938 comic by two sons of Jewish immigrants who fled Europe. "If you haven't noticed he's been an immigrant for the past 87 years, I don't know what to tell you," says Mark Waid, who's written it for 40 years. “Every day, Superman is learning to be a better human. The point (is) we need to be kinder to each other. Bullies hate that because kindness (is) their kryptonite." In a mock review, Rex Huppke charges the movie "gave me the woke virus" with its "aggressive humanity" and "way too much caring" about fellow humans who don't agree with or look exactly like him. "The Superman movie tried to make me less hateful," he gloats. "Nice try!" As to the rest, from the Idaho history teacher ordered to remove welcome posters now banned by law to the fascist thugs on our streets, "Do not look away."

 Poster put up by Idaho history teacher Sarah Inama, now banned as "ideological." Poster put up by Idaho history teacher Sarah Inama, now banned as "ideological."Photo by Sarah Inama

 

  How user-generated videos on social media brought Trump\xe2\x80\x99s immigration crackdown to America\xe2\x80\x99s screens  www.nbcnews.com  

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Freeport LNG terminal
News

'A Call to Conscience': Damning Report Shows Every Major US LNG Project Fails Climate Test

As U.S. President Donald Trump ramps up fossil fuel production under his "drill, baby, drill" energy policy, a report published Wednesday highlights the climate and financial harms posed by new liquefied natural gas export projects—all of which fail a "climate test" that the Department of Energy issued during the Biden administration.

The report—published by Greenpeace USA, Earthworks, and Oil Change International—examines five major U.S. LNG projects: Venture Global CP2, Cameron LNG Phase II, Sabine Pass Stage V, Cheniere Corpus Christi LNG Midscale 8-9, and Freeport LNG Expansion.

All but one of the projects is awaiting a final investment decision. None passes a "climate test" derived from the Department of Energy's (DOE) December 2024 LNG export public interest studies, as they all would result in a net increase in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions regardless of sustainability measures including supply basin switching, LNG terminal methane abatement, and powering liquefaction with renewable electricity.

"Increasing LNG exports from the Gulf Coast would still lead to global GHG emissions increases above the level consistent with the DOE's most stringent climate mitigation scenario," the report states. Data suggests "no realistic mitigation can make U.S. LNG exports aligned with limiting warming to 1.5ºC," the more ambitious goal of the Paris climate agreement. Trump has twice withdrawn the United States from the landmark accord.

"What we found was crystal clear—any further investment in LNG is not compatible with a livable climate," Greenpeace USA senior research specialist Andres Chang, the report's lead author, said in a statement.

"The massive growth in infrastructure along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast has already created significant public health and ecosystem impacts, threatening entire coastal communities," Chang added. "But it doesn't stop there. This report shows that if built, these projects would put global climate goals even further out of reach."

"No realistic mitigation can make U.S. LNG exports aligned with limiting warming to 1.5ºC."

The United States is the world's leading natural gas producer and LNG exporter. While the fossil fuel industry often calls LNG a "bridge fuel"—a cleaner alternative to coal that will ease the transition to sustainable energy sources—critics have warned that the fossil gas actually hampers the transition to a green economy. LNG is mostly composed of methane, which has more than 80 times the planetary heating power of carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere.

Despite his own DOE's acknowledgment that approving more LNG exports would raise domestic energy prices, increase pollution, and exacerbate the climate crisis, former President Joe Biden oversaw what climate campaigners called a "staggering" LNG expansion, including Venture Global's Calcasieu Pass 2 export terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana and more than a dozen other projects.

Trump—who during his 2024 campaign vowed to "frack, frack, frack; and drill, baby, drill" as fossil fuel interests poured $75 million into his campaign coffers—is planning to increase LNG exports even more, in part by invoking his bogus "energy emergency" to fast-track polluting projects.

A report published in January by Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen examined 14 proposed LNG export terminals that the Trump administration sought to fast-track and found they would create 510 million metric tons of climate pollution—equivalent to the annual emissions of 135 new coal plants.

Oil Change International noted Wednesday that "future administrations could revoke export authorizations that were rubber-stamped under Trump based on their failure to pass the DOE 'climate test,' which introduces a new layer of uncertainty to these already-risky projects."

The report also underscores that while the DOE climate test "is a major improvement upon previous federal analyses," its methodology "still fails to sufficiently account for emissions from large, accidental releases (such as 'super-emitter' events), equipment malfunction, and malpractice."

"High rates of methane emissions during the ocean transport stage of the LNG supply chain are also not represented," the report adds. "Incorporating measurement-based data and more realistic assumptions would make clearer the immense climate impact of building new liquefied gas infrastructure, especially in the near-term."

The report's authors call on the DOE to invoke the "climate test" to reject pending and future LNG export applications and exercise its authority under the Natural Gas Act "to reevaluate the public interest status of LNG projects that received authorizations without consideration of climate impacts or under analyses that predate the 2024 LNG Study."

The publication also calls on Congress to pass legislation "that makes it a statutory requirement under the Natural Gas Act to assess the climate impact of gas exports and reject applications that would increase global GHG emissions under a credible scenario to limit warming to 1.5ºC."

"Additionally, U.S. federal agencies should require all new proposed fossil fuel production and infrastructure projects to meet a similarly high standard under the National Environmental Policy Act," the report asserts.

"Energy purchasers, financial institutions, and foreign governments should refrain from entering into long-term offtake agreements for U.S. LNG and financing of LNG infrastructure," the authors wrote. "Instead, these parties should prioritize measures that accelerate the renewable energy transition and plan for a managed phase-out of fossil fuels. Group of Seven nations, in particular, should abide by their 2022 commitment to stop financing overseas fossil fuel infrastructure with taxpayer money."

James Hiatt, founder and director of the Lake Charles, Louisiana-based advocacy group For a Better Bayou, said Wednesday that "fossil fuel dependency has long externalized its true costs, forcing communities to bear the burden of pollution, sickness, and economic instability."

"For decades the oil and gas industry has known about the devastating health and climate impacts of its operations, yet it continues to expand, backed by billions in private and public financing," Hiatt continued. "These harms are not isolated—they're systemic, and they threaten all of us."

"This report is a call to conscience," he added. "It's time we stop propping up deadly false solutions and start investing in a transition to energy systems that sustain life, not sacrifice it."

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Philly Municipal Strike
News

'Holding The Line': Municipal Workers' Strike Enters Second Week as Philly Refuses to Pay Living Wage

Philadelphia's largest municipal workers' strike in over 40 years is entering its second week after negotiations with the city broke down this weekend.

Over 9,000 sanitation workers, 911 dispatchers, water services workers, crossing guards, and other city employees walked off the job last week, demanding that the city increase their salary enough to meet the rising cost of living.

But even with trash piling up on the streets and other city services understaffed, Mayor Cherelle Parker (D) would not agree to the demands made by AFSCME District Council 33, Philadelphia's largest blue-collar union.

Parker has offered a pay increase of 8.75% over the next three years, which she described as historic.

But DC 33 president Greg Boulware said that's far too little for municipal workers, many of whom are among the city's "working poor," to survive.

"It's not like as if our members are making $80,000, $90,000 a year," Boulware said. "A 2% increase on those would be significantly higher than it would be on somebody making $40,000-$45,000 a year. So, her math truly is not mathing, and you're clearly not paying attention to the working people that are going on in this city."

 

The average municipal worker in Philadelphia makes around $46,000, which is $15,000 less than the median income in the city and less than half of what a single adult needs to live comfortably, according to a study by SmartAsset.

"We got people that work and repair the water mains and can't afford their water bill," Boulware said at a rally last week. "We got people that repair the runways at the airport and can't afford a plane ticket. I don't want to be rich. We just want a comfort inside the city that we serve daily."

The union initially asked for an 8% raise for the next four years, which the city dismissed. This weekend, they pared their proposal down to 5%, but the city still did not budge.

Parker has insisted that her smaller proposed increases are merely what is "fiscally responsible," and that the city cannot afford to offer more.

The union has disputed this, pointing out that Parker herself is budgeted to receive a 9% increase to her salary of more than $240,000. That increase alone is nearly half the current salary that the average DC 33 member makes in a year.

As of Monday, negotiations have stalled, with no clear end in sight. With a throng of picketers behind him, Boulware told NBC 10, a local affiliate, that the union was working on a third proposal, and that negotiations may resume Tuesday. But he seemed to expect more obstinacy from the city.

"We've been there to be able to sit and meet and negotiate," he said. "It doesn't seem like the city quite honestly wants to entertain any of the questions that we have about things and actually have a true dialogue... That's how you negotiate and that's not truly what's been going on."

Despite the city's refusal to budge, momentum around the strike has continued to grow. On Friday, rapper LL Cool J dropped out of a 4th of July festival in the city, saying, "There is absolutely no way I can perform across a picket line."

Other AFSCME councils around Pennsylvania have joined pickets in solidarity. This includes Philadelphia's Council 47, which represents thousands of "white collar" city workers.

With mounds of trash accumulating on streets, sometimes becoming as "tall as people," the environmental activists with the Sunrise Movement have also joined in the effort to pressure the city. On Monday, activists hauled bags of trash into the lobby of City Hall, labeled with the words "Meet DC 33 Demands" written in yellow tape.

AFSCME, meanwhile, has stated its resolve to fight on as the strike has gained national attention.

"City workers are holding the line until they get a FAIR contract with the wages and benefits they deserve," the national union's account wrote on X Monday. "One day longer, one day stronger, no matter what it takes."

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Epstein & Trump At Mar-A-Lago
News

Khanna Calls for Vote to Release 'FULL' Epstein Files to Public

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna said he will attempt to force a vote in Congress to release all the government's files pertaining to the notorious financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

"On Tuesday, I'm introducing an amendment to force a vote demanding the FULL Epstein files be released to the public," Khanna (D-Calif.) tweeted Saturday night. "Speaker [Mike Johnson] must call a vote and put every Congress member on record."

The administration of President Donald Trump has been accused in recent days of covering up information about the extent of the financier's crimes and his connections to powerful individuals, including President Donald Trump himself.

"Why are the Epstein files still hidden? Who are the rich and powerful being protected?" Khanna asked.

Since Epstein's death in 2019 in federal custody following charges of child sex-trafficking, the billionaire investor has been the subject of rampant speculation.

Though his death was officially ruled a suicide, some have speculated that Epstein was murdered to prevent him from implicating other elite "clients" in his sex-trafficking ring. Epstein had relationships with powerful individuals, including former President Bill Clinton and the U.K.'s Prince Andrew.

Trump also has a well-documented history with Epstein. They have been extensively photographed together. And last year, an audio tape was released in which Epstein described himself as "Donald Trump's closest friend."

In June, amid a public falling-out with the president, billionaire Elon Musk said that the Trump administration, which he'd just departed, was covering up the files to protect Trump.

"Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files," he wrote. That is the real reason they have not been made public."

During the 2024 campaign, Trump said he would "probably" release the so-called "Epstein files" to the public. Meanwhile, many members of his Department of Justice—including FBI Director Kash Patel—rose to prominence in part by accusing Joe Biden's administration of covering up secrets about Epstein to protect powerful Democrats and other elites.

During his confirmation hearing, Patel said he would "do everything if confirmed as FBI director to make sure the American public knows the full weight of what happened."

In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the DOJ would be "lifting the veil" on "Epstein and his co-conspirators." She said she had Epstein's client list "sitting on my desk right now to review" and promised that "a lot of names" would be revealed. Though in subsequent days, little was released beyond information that was already public.

A memo released July 7 by the DOJ later stated that there was "no incriminating client list" and that Epstein indeed committed suicide. It also said that "no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted."

This reversal resulted in widespread anger, including from many Trump supporters directed at Bondi, who they accused of covering up information that might damage the president.

"Pam Blondi [sic] is covering up child sex crimes that took place under HER WATCH when she was Attorney General of Florida," wrote one of Trump's closest confidantes, Laura Loomer. "Bondi needs to be fired."

The following day, Trump chastised a reporter for continuing to ask about Epstein.

"Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy's been talked about for years… Are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable," the president said.

He would later write a long Truth Social post in which he defended Bondi and urged the public to "not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about."

The post received an almost totally negative response on Trump's own social media app.

 


The administration's dismissive response to the mysteries surrounding Epstein has led to suspicion across the political spectrum, including from some of Trump's closest allies.

"He said 'Epstein' half a dozen times while telling everyone to stop talking about Epstein," wrote Musk on X. "Just release the files as promised."

Khanna is now hoping to wield the widespread backlash to force the administration to come clean about what it knows.

"This is about transparency and restoring trust, not partisan politics. The public outcry is apparent," he said. "The files should be fully released and can be done so consistent with DOJ principles of protecting victims and the innocent."

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Senators Return To Capitol Hill After Memorial Day Holiday Recess
News

Fetterman Once Agreed ICE Was an 'American Gestapo.' Under Trump 2.0, He's Praising the Agency

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman's strange lurch to the right continued this week as he jumped in to defend Immigration and Customs Enforcement amid criticisms about its lawless and authoritarian behavior.

ICE's indiscriminate roundups have shifted into overdrive recently as part of President Donald Trump's "mass deportation" crusade, resulting in video after disturbing video of unidentified masked agents brutalizing and detaining migrants, the majority of whom have no criminal records.

On Thursday, ICE launched another massive raid on two farms in Southern California, which was met with protests by hundreds of community members. Federal officers responded by beating protesters and assaulting them with tear gas, including children.

 

Many Democrats have at least criticized the agency's unprecedented tactics. Last month, Democratic House members introduced the "No Secret Police Act," which would require agents to identify themselves when arresting people. Many also criticized the agency's aggressive display on Thursday.

 

But not Fetterman (D-Penn.), who issued a full-throated defense of the agency in a post on X.

"ICE performs an important job for our country," Fetterman said. "Any calls to abolish ICE are 💯 inappropriate and outrageous."

Earlier in the week, after an ICE detention facility was allegedly ambushed by armed attackers, Fetterman told Fox News that it was "absolutely unacceptable. Terrible. Awful."

"ICE agents are just doing their job, and I fully support that," he added. "For me and people in my party, you know, to abolish it or treat them as criminals or anything, that's inappropriate and outrageous. ICE performs an important, an important job for our nation."

These comments drew the attention of Trump, who praised what he called "the new John Fetterman."

"He's right, he's right," the president said of the Pennsylvania Democrat.

Fetterman responded with glee, telling The Daily Mail that getting praise from Trump made his Fox News-watching parents "proud."

Critics have noted the stark change in rhetoric for Fetterman, who once embraced various progressive policies and campaigned fiercely against Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Nick Field, a writer for The Penn-Capital Star, posted an excerpt from an interview in 2018 in which Fetterman—then the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania—agreed with a host who said ICE was "an American Gestapo."

"I agree," Fetterman said. "It's unconscionable. I don't know how they sleep at night. I really don't."

"These are all law-abiding citizens," Fetterman said about undocumented immigrants rounded up by ICE. "These are people that want a better life for themselves, and in the process, a better life and a more rich society for us all. And to try to demonize them or try to turn them into some kind of problem, that this is what's wrong with America, it's evil."

Others pointed out that Fetterman's own wife, Gisele, was herself an undocumented immigrant from Brazil. She's now a U.S. citizen.

Annie Wu Henry, who ran the social media accounts for Fetterman's 2022 Senate run, and has since apologized for her involvement in his election, posted a campaign video in which he spoke about his wife's immigration status.

 

"I was asked, 'Your wife's family broke the law, what do you think of that?'" Fetterman said in the video. "I said, 'Well I'm so grateful that they did because if they didn't have the courage to take that step I wouldn't have the three beautiful children that I have today.'"

Fetterman also drew the ire of his opponent in the 2022 Democratic primary, former Rep. Connor Lamb (D-Penn.). When they faced off three years ago, Lamb was ironically considered the more conservative of the two. But on Thursday, he lit into Fetterman, who called for ICE to "round up and deport the criminals."

 

According to immigration data from June 29, 71% of the people currently in ICE detention have not been convicted of any crimes. Most of those who have were only convicted of minor offenses, like traffic violations.

"Hey [Senator Fetterman], they didn't give ICE more money than the Marine Corps and all other law enforcement to just go after criminals," Lamb retorted, referring to the massive increases to ICE funding in the GOP's recent megabill. "You aren't fooling us into thinking that is what's going on."

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A Palestinian woman grieves over the body of an Israeli attack in Gaza City
News

10 Children Among at Least 17 Killed in Israeli Bombing of Gaza Charity Clinic Queue

An Israeli strike on Palestinians waiting in line outside a charity clinic in central Gaza killed at least 17 people including 10 children Thursday, a day that saw scores more Gazans killed throughout the embattled enclave.

The Palestinians were killed even as progress was made toward a cease-fire agreement, with Hamas agreeing to release 10 hostages held since October 2023.

Eyad Amawi, director of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, told The Washington Post that the facility received the bodies of at least 17 victims of the strike on the Altayara Clinic, which is operated by Project HOPE, a Washington, D.C.-based humanitarian aid group. More than 30 others were wounded in the attack.

Drop Site News published the names and ages of 15 people killed in the strike, who include seven preteen children and toddlers.

Warning: The "show more" link in the following social media post shows images of death.

"The scene was so painful, more than you can imagine," local journalist Dua al-Hazarin told the Post.

According to the newspaper:

In footage [al-Hazarin] took and shared on social media, dust rises from the streets as the high-pitched wails and screams of children ring out. Women gather around the body of a child with blood seeping from his head. Elsewhere, bodies lie on the ground with pools of blood around them. One bloodied little girl is motionless in a pink dress. Next to her is a man hunched over, with blood seeping from his head. A woman lies still. Their conditions are unclear. The camera continues to pan over more bodies, many of them children, collapsed across the pavement.

Victims were waiting in line to receive treatment for chronic illnesses, infections, and malnutrition amid an ongoing starvation crisis caused by Israel's "complete siege" of Gaza, which officials say has caused the deaths of hundreds of residents, many of them children and infants, since October 2023. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported last month that more than 5,000 Gazan children under the age of 5 were treated for malnutrition in May alone.

"Project HOPE's health clinics are a place of refuge in Gaza where people bring their small children, women access pregnancy and postpartum care, people receive treatment for malnutrition, and more," Rabih Torbay, the charity's CEO, said in a statement. "Yet, this morning, innocent families were mercilessly attacked as they stood in line waiting for the doors to open."

"This is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza, even as cease-fire talks continue," Torbay added. "This cannot continue. Project HOPE urgently calls for an immediate cease-fire, unimpeded humanitarian access, and a dramatic scale-up of aid to meet the urgent needs of Gaza's civilian population."

No Project HOPE staff were harmed in the strike, which occurred before the clinic opened in the morning. The charity said it would indefinitely suspend operations at the Altayara Clinic "as a precautionary measure." The attack was at least the second one targeting a Project HOPE clinic in Gaza during the war.

Hundreds of humanitarian aid workers have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since during the U.S.-backed annihilation of the coastal strip, including over 300 members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East as well as staff of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, Doctors Without Borders, World Central Kitchen, and other organizations.

Near-daily massacres of Palestinian aid-seekers at distribution points operated by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation have also killed nearly 800 people, according to sources including the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers and troops have admitted to receiving orders to fire guns and artillery at aid-seekers, regardless of whether they posed any security threat.

An IDF spokesperson told Haaretz that Thursday's Altayara Clinic strike targeted a member of Hamas' elite Nukhba force who took part in the October 7, 2023 attack. The spokesperson said the IDF is investigating the incident, and that it "regrets any harm caused to uninvolved civilians and works to minimize such harm as much as possible."

However, following the October 7 attack the IDF dramatically loosened its rules of engagement, effectively allowing an unlimited number of civilians to be killed when targeting a single Hamas member, no matter how low-ranking.

As a result, the majority of the at least 57,680 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza have been women and children, with the high civilian death toll prompting South Africa to file a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder and forced starvation.

UNICEF—which condemned Thursday's massacre—said in late May that more than 50,000 children have been killed or wounded by Israeli attacks in Gaza, which the U.N. agency has called "the world's most dangerous place to be a child."

The Gaza Health Ministry said aThursday that at least 82 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours, including strikes on the crowded Nuseirat Market, a tent encampment housing forcibly displaced people on the outskirts of Khan Younis, and an apartment building in Gaza City.

Meanwhile, Hamas said Thursday that it would release 10 hostages kidnapped during the October 7 attack as part of a "commitment to the success" of ongoing negotiations for a cease-fire in the 21-month onslaught, a development that followed meetings between Netanyahu and U.S. leaders including President Donald Trump earlier this week to discuss a potential deal to end Israel's assault. The leaders also discussed an Israeli plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from throughout Gaza and concentrate them in a camp outside the ruins of the southern city of Rafah.

Trump said Wednesday that there was a "very good chance" of a cease-fire deal being reached, possibly as early as later this week. However, Netanyahu has scuppered past cease-fire efforts as they have neared the finish line—moves some critics say are meant to prolong the war in order to delay a reckoning in his ongoing criminal corruption trial.

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