Dozens of Sloths Die at Shady Roadside Zoo Operation

On a busy tourist strip in Orlando, behind noisy bars and souvenir shops, 21 sloths in crates arrived at a warehouse at the end of a grueling international trip.  Soon, they would all be dead.

The new home of the tree-dwelling mammals was the off-site facility of a new roadside attraction called “Sloth World,” a $49 animal encounter marketed as a conservation-focused center scheduled to open soon.   Nothing could have prepared the sloths for this. Until recently, they lived wild in the forest canopies of Guyana.  The animals' new home wasn't ready to receive them.  There was no running water. No electricity. The space heaters meant to keep them warm were plugged in with extension cords running from another building, according to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission incident report that Inside Climate News obtained through an open-records request. But the heaters repeatedly tripped the fuse and shut off. At least one night in December 2024, the agency said, the sloths were left alone in the cold warehouse without heat.   One by one, they died. 

DUI Hire Pete Kegsbreath Targeting Women and Minorities in DOD

Despite the conflict with Iran and other recent military activity overseas, the Pentagon seems focused on purging minorities and women. Last week, NBC News reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had intervened to block or delay the promotions of more than a dozen Black and female senior officers. 

The process within the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines is structured to ensure the most qualified officers get promoted. Hegseth’s decision to intervene in the process has raised concerns among some officials within those military branches and the White House, the nine U.S. officials familiar with the situation said.  “There is not a single service that has been immune to this level of involvement by Hegseth,” one of the U.S. officials said. 

According to both NBC and The New York Times, some officials are concerned that officers are being targeted because of their race, gender, or perceived political affiliation. In one instance last year, Hegseth’s chief of staff, Ricky Buria, bluntly stated that “President Trump would not want to stand next to a Black female officer at military events,” the Times reported.

Two officials said that among the attributes Hegseth has cited for removing officers from promotions are past support for Covid vaccines or mask mandates for troops, or whether officers were affiliated with DEI programs, or assigned to worke on such initiatives. Those same officials said an officer’s association with former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley (whom Trump still views as a political enemy) can also make an officer who is up for a promotion susceptible to scrutiny from Hegseth’s office.  “There is not consistency being applied to the standards” for promotions, another of the U.S. officials said.

Hegseth blocked three Marine officers (two women and a Black man) who were expected to be promoted or appointed to new roles, despite being recommended by Marine leadership. None of the three Marines were the subjects of internal investigations that might raise concerns about moving forward with their promotions, according to two of the officials.  

Army chief of staff, General Randy George had recently asked to meet with Hegseth to discuss Hegseth's blocking of promotions for some Army officers, which seemed to focus on women and Black men, but Hegseth refused to meet or discuss his decisions, according to two additional U.S. officials.  Soon thereafter, Hegseth fired George instead.  George's term was expected to serve in his position an additional year and a half,  George, the Army’s top officer, was senior military assistant to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Biden administration.  Also during Hegseth’s tenure, several top military officers have been removed, including former Joint Chiefs Chairman CQ Brown Jr., a Black man, and former Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti, a white woman.

A retired senior military officer described the promotion process as rigorous and said any meddling by the defense secretary could diminish trust in it.  “Our officer corps trusts our promotion process,” the retired officer said, adding that intervention in the process without an explanation “will certainly cast a shadow across our officer corps that everything they have said, done and written about during their careers could be politicized in a career-ending manner with the stroke of a pen.”

 

Todd Blanche's DOJ Now Going After Low-Level Staffers in Pursuit of Trump's Revenge Agenda

Remember Cassidy Hutchinson?  She was the 25-year-old administrative aide to Mark Meadows that was subpoenaed by Congress to testify at the 2022 House hearings on the January 6 insurrection.   Everything she said at her four (legally-compelled) appearances was corroborated by Secret Service agents and other White House personnel.

There are now reports that Todd Blanch's Justice Department has assigned its civil rights division to investigate Hutchinson-- due to Trump's anger at anyone perceived to have done him wrong, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The decision is in keeping with the administration’s bid to find new ways to use the powers of the federal government to target convicted felon Donald Trump’s political opponents. Those efforts persist even though the department has struggled to carry out the president’s demands for retribution and has increasingly hit roadblocks from judges, grand juries and even some of its own prosecutors.

Blanche demonstrated his complete ignorance of DOJ's mission (to be an independent arm of the justice system) when he said (at a press conference last week) that Trump had “the right,” even “the duty,” as president to call for investigations of anyone [the President] believed deserved them.

 

UAE Cracks Down on Social Media in an Effort to Maintain Its Phony Image

Dubai has been struggling to maintain its image as a safe and picturesque locale since the region has been under attack during the Trump-Iran war.  But early on, as Iranian missiles began to fall on Dubai (the largest and most ostentatiously luxe city in the United Arab Emirates) the facade began to crack.   The city once touted as one of the safest places in the world is now no longer a peaceful haven. And the UAE government has rushed to try and control the narrative, prompting a huge crackdown on anyone sharing photos of missile attacks and their aftermath. Instead, content creators have been posting weirdly similar photos and videos full of praise, parroting buzzwords about the city’s strong, stable leaders.

Satellite images of Dubai show smoke from areas damaged by air strikes

How can influencers continue to portray the “Dubai dream” online, when the whole world knows that the city has been mired in conflict? And what about the ordinary people who are being detained for sharing photos and videos that go against the official line?

Spanish Woman Dies by Euthanasia after Legal Battle with Neglectful Father

The death by euthanasia of a 25-year-old Spanish woman after a protracted legal battle with her father has triggered debate about the role of the state in caring for her and why it took so long to implement her wish to end her life.   Spain is one of a handful of European countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, that have passed laws allowing euthanasia to be carried out by physicians. The Catalan regional government had granted Noelia Castillo's request for assisted dying in 2024.

The case has received enormous attention in Spain, with Castillo's father and Christian Lawyers (Abogados Cristianos) attempting to block her death until the last moment. After an 18-month legal battle, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled this week in Noelia Castillo's favor. 

In October 2022, Castillo had thrown herself from the fifth floor of a building. It was then that she became paraplegic and requested euthanasia, a petition that was approved in July 2024 after the Catalan regional government agency determined that she was in an “irreversible” clinical condition causing her “severe dependency, chronic pain, and debilitating suffering.”  The government determined that she had met the requirements set by law and she passed on Thursday evening at a Barcelona hospital.  

It is ironic that Castillo was blocked by the very father who had neglected her during her youth and was the source of much of her anguish. 

Trump Loses Yet Again in Federal Court

A federal judge has ruled that the Pentagon’s restrictions on news outlets violate the First Amendment and issued an order tossing parts of the Defense Department’s policy.

Judge Paul Friedman, of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also ordered the Pentagon to restore the press passes of seven journalists for The New York Times, which had brought the suit. The NYT reporters had surrendered their passes last October instead of signing the policy, which empowered the Pentagon to declare journalists “security risks” and revoke their press passes if they engaged in any conduct that the Pentagon believed threatened national security.

In his 40-page ruling, Judge Friedman wrote that the Pentagon’s policy rewarded reporters who were “willing to publish only stories that are favorable to or spoon-fed by department leadership.”

Siding with an argument advanced by The Times, Judge Friedman added that the Pentagon had given itself too much power to enforce its new rules. The policy also violates journalists’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment, he said, writing that it “provides no way for journalists to know how they may do their jobs without losing their credentials.”

The ruling was a defeat for the Trump administration, which has been engaged in a multifaceted pressure campaign against the news media. ABC News and CBS News’s parent company agreed to multimillion-dollar settlements to resolve suits that President Trump brought against the networks. The ABC late-night star Jimmy Kimmel was temporarily pulled off the air last year after Mr. Trump’s top communications regulator assailed his program and suggested that he might take regulatory action against the broadcaster.

The ruling against the Pentagon followed a similarly stark decision this month from a federal judge to restore the operations of Voice of America, a government-funded news organization that Mr. Trump had ordered shuttered a year ago in an executive order.

A spokesman for The Times said Judge Friedman’s ruling “reaffirms the right of The Times and other independent media to continue to ask questions on the public’s behalf,” adding that “Americans deserve visibility into how their government is being run, and the actions the military is taking in their name and with their tax dollars.”

 

Draft-Dodging Son of Netanyahu Safe in the U.S.

Photo: Yair Netanyahu's Instagram

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu's son is avoiding military service in sunny Miami while his war-criminal father wreaks havoc in the Middle east.  The 34-year-old is reportedly engaged in "non-profit charity work" in Florida, while approximately 360,000 reserve soldiers have been mobilized to join the Israeli army against the war in Iran, temporarily abandoning their other responsibilities.

Questions are emerging about why he hasn't joined his fellow countrymen.  The situation has also sparked fury among Israeli soldiers who feel Yair should be contributing to the war effort.  One soldier stationed on Israel's northern front told The Times in London: "Yair is enjoying his life at Miami Beach whilst I'm on the front lines. 

"It's us who are leaving our work, our families, our kids, to protect our families back home and the country, not the people who are responsible for this situation.

"Our brothers, our fathers, sons, are all going to the front line, but Yair is still not here. It does not help build trust in the leadership of the country."

Another Salvo in the War of Hate

Transgender people living in Kansas have been ordered to hand back their driver’s licenses if they do not reflect their assigned-sex-at-birth, under a new law.  Residents received letters informing them that the controversial House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 would take effect immediately.

The letter, seen by Erin In The Morning, a website dedicated to covering issues impacting transgender people, says that drivers will be issued a new license upon handing in their old one.

“Please note that the Legislature did not include a grace period for updating credentials,” the letter reads. “That means that once the law is officially enacted, your current credentials will be invalid immediately, and you may be subject to additional penalties if you are operating a vehicle without a valid credential.”  The legislation was vetoed by Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, a Democrat, earlier this month, but was then overwritten by a Republican supermajority in the state legislature.

However, the rapid enactment of the new law has left transgender residents across the state scrambling to get the correct identification.  Iridescent Riffel, a transgender woman who commutes to work, says that she is now worried about getting into her car.  “I don’t want to get a misdemeanor just trying to go to work,” she told The Kansas City Star. “I’m salaried. I’m not working hourly, and not everyone has that same privilege as me.”

SB 244 also requires transgender Kansans to use bathrooms and multi-occupancy private spaces in accordance with their sex assigned at birth, while in government buildings.  The bill allows private citizens to take legal action against someone if they suspect them of not using the bathroom that is in accordance with their assigned sex at birth. If successful, someone who files a complaint against a transgender person in a public bathroom could stand to gain $1,000.

Anyone found to have used a bathroom not in accordance with their assigned sex at birth will be given a written warning on their first offense. On their second offense, they will receive a $1,000 fine. A third offense carries a $ 1,000 fine and a six-month prison sentence. Another change enforced by the sweeping bill relates to the term “gender,” which has now been defined as a person’s “biological sex at birth.”

As the law continues to be rolled out, Democratic Representative Abi Boatman has slammed the new legislation.  “The persecution is the point,” Boatman told The Kansas City Star.

Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, also accused Kansas’s lawmakers of choosing “politics over people.” “Forcing people into the wrong bathrooms, stripping them of accurate IDs, and allowing government-sanctioned harassment doesn’t make anyone safer - it targets transgender Kansans for no reason and will undoubtedly impact many others who are targeted with animus whether or not they are transgender,” Robinson said in a press release.

Governor Kelly vetoed SB 244 earlier this month, describing it as poorly drafted legislation.  “Not only will this bill keep brothers from visiting sisters’ dorms and husbands from wives’ shared hospital rooms, it will cost Kansas taxpayers millions of dollars to comply with this very vague legislation,” she added. 

 

Like any Fascist, Trump Is Trying to Criminalize Protesting

The Trump administration believes you don't have the right to record Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in public. This stance is both factually wrong and an attempt to chill free speech by conflating it with violence.

At a July 2025 press conference in Tampa, Florida, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said, "Violence is anything that threatens them and their safety, so it is doxing them, it's videotaping them where they're at when they're out on operations, encouraging other people to come and to throw things, rocks, bottles."

In September 2025, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin called "videotaping ICE law enforcement and posting photos and videos of them online" a form of doxing. She added, "We will prosecute those who illegally harass ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law."

These aren't idle threats. The Trump administration strong-armed Apple into removing an app from its mobile store that tracked ICE activity and threatened criminal investigations into its creators.

The most aggressive application of this policy has come in Chicago under "Operation Midway Blitz," where ICE officers have relentlessly targeted protesters, reporters, and clergy engaged in protected First Amendment activity. In October, a group of journalists and protesters filed a lawsuit alleging "a
pattern of extreme brutality in a concerted and ongoing effort to silence the press
 and civilians."

In court filings, the plaintiffs stated that federal officials' own testimony illustrated their point. For example, when ICE field director Russell Hott was asked if he agreed "that it's unconstitutional to arrest people for being opposed to Midway Blitz," he answered "No."  "Similarly, [U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Greg] Bovino testified that he has instructed his officers to arrest protesters who make hyperbolic comments in the heat of political demonstrations, even though such statements—which do not constitute true threats—are protected speech," the motion argued.

U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis issued a preliminary injunction against DHS in early November 2025, saying the government's conduct "shocked the conscience."  Ellis found much of the officials' testimony not credible. Bovino, for instance, testified that he never used force against a protester he was filmed tackling, and in another instance, Ellis said, he lied about being hit with a rock before firing tear gas at demonstrators. Nor did evidence support the government's claims that federal officers issued warnings before firing less-than-lethal projectiles at those protesters.  "Describing rapid response networks and neighborhood moms as professional agitators shows just how out of touch these agents are, and how extreme their views are," said Ellis.

Cato Institute senior fellow Walter Olson points out that, "While the Supreme Court itself hasn't yet faced the issue squarely, the seven federal circuits that have done so…all agree that the First Amendment protects the right to record police performing their duties in public."  Likewise, federal circuits have upheld the right to use vulgar language to oppose police without fear of retaliation, and to warn others of nearby police checkpoints or speed traps.

Recording government agents is one of the few tools citizens have to hold state power accountable. Any attempt to redefine observation as "violence" is not only unconstitutional—it's authoritarian gaslighting. When a government fears cameras more than crimes, it isn't protecting the rule of law. It's protecting itself.

 

BBC and BAFTA in Hot Water Over Their Bigotry

At the BAFTA Awards over the weekend, one of the nominated movies was a biographical film of John Davidson, who suffers from Tourette's syndrome. Tourette's is a disorder characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal tic.  Approximately10-15% of people with Tourette's experience vocal tics like coprolalia, which is the involuntary, uncontrollable outburst of obscene words or socially inappropriate phrases.  There is no cure for Tourette's, there is no single most effective medication, and no one medication effectively treats all symptoms.   

Naturally enough, John Davidson himself attended the awards ceremony and could be heard shouting various expletives, due to his Tourette’s.  When "Sinners" stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo took the stage to present an award, Davidson shouted out the "n-word" which was picked up by nearby audience microphones and was also heard on the broadcast, which was on a 2-hour delay.  25 minutes later, Davidson left the auditorium.  

The BAFTA organization was aware that Davidson was going to attend the ceremony and later admitted that they met to discuss what might happen were he to swear during the broadcast. Despite these efforts (if we are to believe they took place) they took no precautions to seat Davidson away from live microphones that could pick up his outbursts.  The ceremony was on a 2-hour broadcast delay, and the BBC had ample opportunity to "bleep" out the racial slur.  After the ceremony was broadcast, it was made available for streaming for 15 hours before public outrage forced the BBC to take it down.  To make matters worse for the BBC, they did take advantage of the 2-hour delay to edit out award winner Akinola Davies Jr.'s  mention of "free Palestine" in his acceptance speech.

The fallout has been major.  The BBC has been widely criticized for leaving up a version of the ceremony on its streaming platform (in which the racial slur was audible) for over 15 hours before it was taken down. The broadcaster has also been criticized for failing to edit out the racial slur, while it did edit Davies Jr.’s speech, including a part where he says “free Palestine.”

British actor Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù shared a lengthy statement on social media, criticizing what he described as the “institutional racism” behind the BBC’s decision to edit Davies Jr.’s BAFTA speech but not Davidson’s involuntary slur.  

“On a night of incredible joy and celebration, not only of our film but many other wonderful artists, especially black artists, this is the biggest talking point walking away from the evening,” Dìrísù wrote in the statement. “I didn’t want to fuel the discourse about it, but like Vinícius Júnior, racism, bigotry, and injustice have to be exposed and shouted from the rooftops.”  (last week, Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior reported racist abuse during a game against Portuguese team Benfica). 

Dìrísù continued: “That the BBC found wonderfully creative ways to censor Akinola’s beautiful speech about inclusivity and justice and freedom, but were comfortable and actively made the decision to broadcast a message of hate and intolerance shows where its priorities lie.” 

Dìrísù added he is not “ignorant” to how “institutionally racist the UK, the industry, or the BBC are and continues to prove themselves to be.” But he said the actions still hurt when “it’s thrown in your face in front of the world.” 

The Gangs of London actor ended his statement by commending Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, whom he described as “gracious, dignified, and defiant.”  Dìrísù said he is looking forward to a [BBC] apology and repercussion, but he wasn't holding his breath.  Neither am I, frankly.

 

Musk is Trying to Buy Elections Again

Right-wing billionaire Elon Musk continues to exert his influence over the Republican Party, this time with a $10 million donation to a political action committee backing Senate candidate Nate Morris in Kentucky.  Axios reported  that Musk made the donation after meeting with Vice President JD Vance and other senior White House officials in November. The contribution is Musk’s largest ever to a Senate candidate. So far, nine other Republican candidates have declared their candidacy for the seat, which is being vacated by retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell. 

The donation comes at an awkward time for Musk and Morris. Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, has recently been blocked in several countries after it generated unauthorized sexual images of people—including children. The bot is also under investigation in California.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont slammed the donation, highlighting the transaction as a symptom of the corrupting influence of money over politics.  “Are we really living in a democracy when the richest man on earth can spend as much as he wants to elect his candidates?” Sanders wrote on X. “The most important thing our nation can do is end Citizens United and move to public funding of elections. Billionaires can’t be allowed to buy elections.”

Morris is a friend of Vance’s from when they worked together in the venture capital industry. A self-labeled MAGA extremist, Morris once said that he supports a ban on legal immigration until undocumented people residing in the United States are removed.

While Musk’s contribution to President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign certainly helped him win, Musk’s donations haven’t always translated into success. In 2025, he poured millions into the conservative candidate in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, but liberal Susan Crawford won.

Musk has announced plans to support other Republican candidates this year—a reversal from his very public fight with Trump in 2025. Musk’s support for the GOP also undermines his own political party, the “America Party,” that he rolled out last year.

But like so many other of Musk’s promises, that has gone absolutely nowhere.

 

Not Even U.S. Citizens Are Safe from ICE!

This week, ICE agents broke into a family home without a warrant, and kidnapped an elderly U.S. citizen without allowing him to produce ID.  Chongly "Scott" Thao spoke of his terror after the agents broke through the door of his home while they were singing karaoke and hauled him out semi-naked into the snow at gunpoint in front of his grandchildren.

ChongLy “Scott” Thao said that his daughter-in-law woke him up from a nap and said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were banging at the door of his residence in St. Paul. Masked agents then forced their way in and pointed guns at the family, yelling at them, Thao recalled. “I was shaking,” he said. “They didn’t show any warrant; they just broke down the door.” Thao, who has been a U.S. citizen for decades, said that as he was being detained he asked his daughter-in-law to find his identification but the agents told him they didn’t want to see it.

The agents then dragged the 56-year-old U.S. citizen, who was wearing only boxer shorts and crocs, into the snowy street as temperatures hovered around 14 degrees, as he pleaded with them that he was an American.  Thao, an American born in Laos, came to the U.S. with his parents at the age of 4 and became a U.S. citizen in 1991. During the ICE raid, Thao told Reuters he used a blanket from his 4-year-old grandson's bed to cover his bare torso.  “I was praying. I was like, God, please help me, I didn’t do anything wrong. Why do they do this to me? Without my clothes on,” Thao later told a local news outlet as his friends tried to repair the broken door. 

Thao said agents drove him “to the middle of nowhere” and made him get out of the car in the frigid weather so they could photograph him. He said he feared they would beat him.  Only then was Thao asked for his ID, which agents earlier prevented him from retrieving.  Agents eventually realized that he was a U.S. citizen with no criminal record, Thao said, and an hour or two later, they brought him back to his house. There they made him show his ID and then left without apologizing for detaining him or breaking his door, Thao said.  He described feeling “fear, shame, and desperation” over the incident. A statement from his family called the treatment “unnecessary, degrading, and deeply traumatizing.”

Thao’s experience has shattered the idea that citizenship would shield his family from such scenes. “We came here for a purpose, right? To have a bright future. To have a safe place to live… If this is going to turn out to be America, what are we doing here? Why are we here?” he added.

The Department of Homeland Security insisted agents were at the property looking for two convicted sex offenders with deportation orders, and said a U.S. citizen at the address who “refused to be fingerprinted or facially identified” was detained because he matched their description.  Thao’s family said in a statement that it “categorically disputes” the DHS account and “strongly objects to DHS’s attempt to publicly justify this conduct with false and misleading claims.”

Thao told reporters that only he, his son and daughter-in-law and his grandson live at the rental home. Neither they nor the property’s owner are listed in the Minnesota sex offender registry. The nearest sex offender listed as living in the zip code is more than two blocks away. 

ChongLy Thao says he’s planning to file a civil rights lawsuit against DHS and no longer feels secure to sleep in his home.  “I don’t feel safe at all,” Thao said. “What did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything.”

 

Trump's Continued Weaponization of the Federal Government Against Blue States

Colorado was preparing to fly in as many as 15 gray wolves from Canada when a letter from the Trump administration arrived last fall, sternly ordering the state to “cease and desist.”  Then last month, the federal government upped the stakes, threatening to seize control of Colorado’s effort to reintroduce the predators to a state where their howls had nearly been silenced.

The intervention from Washington (which alleges Colorado violated an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) has abruptly thrown a voter-approved wolf revival into disarray, essentially blocking the state’s ability to bolster a nascent population and raising doubts about the contentious program’s viability.  While welcomed by many ranchers and other critics, the takeover warning baffled former senior agency officials and environmental groups. They called it a misinterpretation of the agreement, as well as an impractical idea from a federal agency that has lost 20 percent of its workforce over the past year and has historically encouraged state-led wildlife conservation. 

Yet Colorado’s mostly Democratic leaders suspect a political motivation, one tied to President Donald Trump’s broad campaign to retaliate against their blue state and its governor, Jared Polis, over mail-in voting and the imprisonment of Tina Peters, an election-denying former county clerk and MAGA cause celebre. At stake, they say, are critical programs and state sovereignty. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser calls it a “revenge campaign.” Sen. Michael Bennet has deemed it a “coordinated attack,” while Sen. John Hickenlooper said Trump is “using a political squabble” over Peters as a “cudgel” against Colorado. “This is not a place where the federal government should be poking their nose,” Hickenlooper said of wolf reintroduction.

The state has been dealing with a flurry of hits ordered by the Trump administration. In September, Trump said Colorado’s mail-in ballots “played a big factor” in his decision to relocate the U.S. Space Command to Alabama. Three months later, he vetoed a long-planned pipeline to deliver clean water to conservative southeastern Colorado, and his administration announced it would dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a world-renowned institution in Boulder.  In recent weeks, officials have canceled millions of dollars in transportation and energy grants, denied emergency aid to communities ravaged by wildfires and flooding, and frozen hundreds of millions of dollars for child care, food aid and other assistance for poor Coloradans. 

Other blue states have also faced retributive wrath from the Trump administration, which asserts it has the right to consider partisan politics when considering federal funding cuts.  But the jabs at Colorado have been accompanied by a steady stream of vitriol from the president, who has labeled Polis a “sleazebag” for leaving Peters behind bars. “If she is not released, I am going to take harsh measures!!!” he posted on Truth Social in August. On New Year’s Eve, he said he wished the governor and the Republican district attorney who prosecuted her would “rot in hell.”

Trump claimed in December to have issued a “full pardon” of Peters.  But Polis and Weiser have pointed out what most educated observers already know-- presidential pardons are meaningless when it comes to state convictions.  The White House declined to comment on how far it would go to ensure Peters’ release and whether its actions on the wolf program are related to her case.  But we already know they are-- Trump is as obvious as dogs' balls.

 

The Real Threat to America?

Man Charged With Wiping His Own Phone Before CBP Could Search It

Whatever happened to the right against self incrimination?  A man in Atlanta has been arrested and charged for allegedly deleting data from a Google Pixel phone before a member of a secretive Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unit was able to search it, according to court records and social media posts reviewed by 404 Media. The man, Samuel Tunick, is described as a local Atlanta activist in Instagram and other posts discussing the case.The exact circumstances around the search—such as why CBP wanted to search the phone in the first place—are not known. But it is uncommon to see someone charged specifically for wiping a phone, a feature that is easily accessible in some privacy and security-focused devices.

The indictment says on January 24, Tunick “did knowingly destroy, damage, waste, dispose of, and otherwise take any action to delete the digital contents of a Google Pixel cellular phone, for the purpose of preventing and impairing the Government’s lawful authority to take said property into its custody and control.” The indictment itself was filed in mid-November.Tunick was arrested earlier this month, according to a post on a crowd-funding site and court records. “Samuel Tunick, an Atlanta-based activist, Oberlin graduate, and beloved musician, was arrested by the DHS and FBI yesterday around 6pm EST. Tunick's friends describe him as an approachable, empathetic person who is always finding ways to improve the lives of the people around him,” of Tunick’s arrest on social media.

The indictment says the phone search was supposed to be performed by a supervisory officer from a CBP Tactical Terrorism Response Team. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote in 2023 these are “highly secretive units deployed at U.S. ports of entry, which target, detain, search, and interrogate innocent travelers. These units, which may target travelers on the basis of officer ‘instincts.’ raise the risk that CBP is engaging in unlawful profiling or interfering with the First Amendment-protected activity of travelers.”  The Intercept previously covered the case of a sculptor and installation artist who was detained at San Francisco International Airport and had his phone searched. The report said Gach did not know why, even years later. Court records show authorities have since released Tunick, and that he is restricted from leaving the Northern District of Georgia as the case continues.

 

 

Sinking Ships

Quiet Piggy!

Hegseth’s Sexism is Pushing Qualified Women Out of the Military

Everything was set for the Navy officer to take over a new role that would have capped an already distinguished career— and made her the first woman in a Naval Special Warfare command overseeing Navy SEALs.  Ranked the top officer for promotion in her cohort, she received a Purple Heart after being injured in an IED attack during a combat tour in Iraq. She then became the first woman to serve with SEAL Team Six in the role of troop commander, one of several senior positions within the squadrons that make up the elite naval unit.   A formal ceremony marking her new position was planned for July. Invitations went out two months in advance.  

But just two weeks before the ceremony, her command was abruptly canceled with little explanation (according to a new report by CNN). The decision didn’t come through formal channels but by a series of phone calls from the Pentagon, which was designed to omit a paper trail, according to multiple sources.  With no command slot to take, under the Navy’s “up or out” policy, the officer’s more than two-decade military career is now effectively over.  As the news spread through the tight-knit world of Naval Special Warfare, a consensus began to form: The command was likely yanked by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth because of the officer’s gender.  

The command she was set to take over is closely aligned with recruiting for elite operations roles, including the Navy SEALs — and the impression those in the Naval Special Warfare community got from the Pentagon was that Hegseth did not want a woman fronting that role.  

A Pentagon official familiar with the situation said the command was pulled because the Navy captain wasn’t herself a SEAL, and that Hegseth was not involved.  But multiple people familiar with the dynamics of Navy personnel matters scoffed at those explanations. A broad panel of the most elite Navy SEAL leaders selected her for the new command.  “They can [try to] justify it by saying she’s not qualified because she’s not a SEAL,” said one retired SEAL. “But the SEALs thought she was qualified.”  To this person, the revoked command was a clear symptom of Hegseth’s views about women in the military. He said he believes the commander was removed because Hegseth is sexist.  “I’m sure they would repeal the whole women in combat thing [if they could], but this is what they can do,” the retired SEAL added.  

Her story is further evidence of what many in the military now fear is a culture of misogyny permeating the armed forces under Hegseth.  Many active-duty women have said they also know of other female service members who had recently been passed over for deserved promotions. Others said they are now considering leaving the military.  

Hegseth has already removed several women from prominent leadership roles, including firing Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the highest-ranking officer in the US Navy and the first woman on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That currently leaves the US without a female four-star general, the military’s highest rank.  Two years ago, there were four.  

In a speech to generals in Quantico, Virginia, in September, Hegseth announced his vision for rolling back policies aimed at promoting diversity or accommodating troops.  Among these were fitness standards that he claimed were eased in recent years to make it possible for women to serve in combat roles. In his speech, Hegseth vowed to implement fitness tests that would be judged to “the highest male standard.”  “If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it,” Hegseth said.  But the fact is that Hegseth’s claims are blatantly false—the physical standards for combat positions are already gender-neutral.  For the Navy captain whose command orders were revoked, she met every physical standard (according to multiple sources)-- including being able to perform 25-pound weighted pull-ups.  

According to a retired senior enlisted Navy SEAL who served with the Navy Captain denied a promotion, there was never any question about her qualifications for the role. “She was the best man for the job. There is absolutely no DEI ,” the retired SEAL said, adding that the captain spent her spare time competing in IRONMAN races.  She would have overseen bomb disposal technicians and divers in addition to Navy SEALs, three communities in which she had worked. “She’s a badass, and also extremely smart and capable,” the retired SEAL said.

For Hailey Gibbons, an Army veteran who was among the first women to graduate from Ranger School after it was opened to women a decade ago, the idea that women aren’t meeting the same standards as men is “laughable.” Her initial physical test at Ranger School – a grueling two-month training course – was the same as her male comrades, she said: 49 pushups, 59 sit-ups, and a five-mile run in under 40 minutes, plus six chin-ups. 

Another woman in the Army (an enlisted soldier in a combat arms unit) said that she is already feeling real-life effects of Hegseth’s September speech.  Following the secretary’s remarks, she said a male non-commissioned officer in her unit told her: “All you women are getting out now.”  “I want nothing to do with the military after this,” she said.   

For the Navy captain whose change of command was canceled she’s now unexpectedly winding down a trailblazing career in the Navy.  It makes her former SEAL Team Six teammate furious.  “It’s fuckin’ bullshit. That’s horse shit,” the former senior enlisted SEAL said.  He voted for and supports Trump, but says he thinks Secretary Hegseth’s personal views are blinding him from retaining obvious talent at the expense of some of the military’s most elite war fighters.  “I think my job is to protect women and children but occasionally there’s badass [women] out there, and we should capitalize and not limit ourselves,” he said. 

The Navy special operations source familiar with the matter lamented that one of the captain’s passions had been recruiting women to special operations roles. Now pulling the woman’s command could cut off access for other female service members, the person said.  “It pisses me off because it is clearly someone who is capable and has done extraordinary things and is being punished because of — and I hate that I have to say it this way — weak-ass men,” they said.

 

Qatar and Saudi Arabia Use Their Pocketbooks to Cheat Their Way into the World Cup

The unparalleled spending of Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the soccer world over the past decade has brought them influence, attention, and access that few other nations can rival.  But for the first time, it appears to have had an effect on events on the field as well.  

To many, Qatar and Saudi Arabia appear to have cheated their way into the World Cup, buying influence in FIFA's Asian Football Confederation (AFC).  The Qatari and Saudi national teams have secured places in next summer’s World Cup after AFC (a recipient of “lavish funding” from the two Gulf states) “changed qualification rules to give them home-field advantage, extra rest days and access to more tickets for fans,” according to the New York Times. 

The moves enraged opponents and brought new scrutiny to how power works atop global soccer.  "I simply can't understand it," said Carlos Queiroz, the coach Oman's national team, "I am absolutely convinced that this playoff format was the worst possible [thing] that football leadership could have done to its own credibility."   

The AFC had eight guaranteed spots for its members in next year's World Cup.  The Federation established the qualification process for its 47 member member countries a year before the qualification matches began in 2023.  After the early qualifiers, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates would have locked up hosting rights and top seeding for the final round of matches, based on their performances in those earlier qualifiers.  But the federation suddenly changed course in March.  Rather than giving hosting rights to the Iraqi and Emirati teams (as per the previously announced qualification process), it instituted a bidding process.  Guess who won the bids to host the final round of qualification matches?  The Asian federation awarded hosting rights not to Iraq and the Emirates, but to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, without explanation.  

Even worse, AFC went against their own qualification process, awarding Saudi Arabia top seeding (despite being outranked by Iraq in the early rounds). The higher seed comes with double the number of days off between games, compared with its opponents.  Host teams also have the privilege of selecting the venues for its games.  As a top seed, Qatar hosted its final qualifying match against UAE in one of its smallest stadiums (despite having a number or larger ones it built for the 2022 World Cup).  The small stadium limited the attendance by UAE fans, whose access to tickets was further restricted by the Qatar's ticketing policy.  UAE ended up losing the match in the face of highly aggressive Qatari fans, who disrupted the final stages of the game by throwing debris on the field.  Qatar's captain, Akram Afif, acknowledged later that he had goaded fans into the misbehavior, underlining the benefit of Qatar's home-field advantage.

National federations, competing teams and fans were furious with AFC's unprecedented last-minute changes to the qualifying process.  Miguel Maduro, FIFA’s former Head of Governance under current President Gianni Infantino, said that the “sudden change of regulations is the latest example of how soccer’s leaders have backpedaled from promises to be more transparent following a global corruption scandal in 2015."

Qatar and Saudi Arabia's lavish spending has repeatedly called into question soccer's credibility, particularly after FIFA (its global governing body) awarded the tiny Qatar the hosting rights to the 2022 World Cup in a bidding process widely seen as corrupt.  More outrage ensued when FIFA short-circuited its own rules and delivered the 2034 tournament to Saudi Arabia without competition.

 

This is the "Golden Age" of America

The difference between convicted felon Donald Trump's warped sense of the country and the reality that he has created has never been starker.  For the 42 million people who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, the country’s largest anti-hunger program), it has been a chaotic, nerve-racking week.  During an address at the America Business Forum in Miami this week, Trump said: 

 "Our opponents are offering an economic nightmare-- we are delivering an economic miracle."

Middletown, OH:  The uncertainty over SNAP benefits consume 49-year-old Mary Schiely her at home and follows her to the grocery store, where she has worked for almost 15 years. Most of the store’s customers depend on SNAP, she said, and so does she.   Her SNAP benefits (almost $500 a month) augment her $12-an-hour job. Her pay vanishes quickly on rent, electricity, cellphone and Wi-Fi.  SNAP, she said, “is what puts food on the table.”

Milwaukee, MN:  26-year-old Latrica Williams has not received SNAP funds since early October.  Her baby, 4 months old, was born with a heart defect and needs a special formula that does not trigger his allergies. Williams had paid for it with a combination of federal programs, including SNAP.  “Formula is really expensive,” Williams said. “It’s like $75 a can, and I don’t have $75 to get him a can of milk.”

Granada, CO:  25-year-old Arianna Payton quietly stepped across a Walmart parking lot and climbed into a dumpster.  “I grabbed as much as I could,” she told a reporter. “I wasn’t even looking to make sure that it was safe.”  When she got home, she inspected everything. She retrieved a few bags of frozen vegetables, meal replacement shakes, cheese and fruit. She also found some loaves of moldy bread that she thought she could salvage some usable pieces from. Last week, Payton (who has had health issues for years and lives on disability insurance) tried the only nearby food bank.  “Everything was gone,” she said.

 "America is back and is back stronger than ever before. We're doing numbers that nobody's ever seen before. We're the hottest country in the world, actually." Donald Trump (at the APEC CEO lunch in South Korea) 

Lewisville, TX:  55-year-old Jennifer Lunn went to a food pantry for the first time last week. She’s a customer service agent with four children. For the past two years, she has been able to feed her children because of SNAP.  After her SNAP benefits were cut off, she found herself at the Heart of the City Lewisville, a pantry near her house, north of Dallas-Fort Worth. Lunn received a box with chicken, canned goods and salad ingredients.  “This is something I never thought I’d have to do,” she said.  With SNAP, she usually buys noodles, potatoes, vegetables, chicken and ground beef, anything to keep her teenagers fuller for longer.  But, she said, they plow through the food. “Two and a half weeks, we’re done,” she said.

Annoka, MN:  At the grocery store, 44-year-old Jeanne Nihart, a single mother, picked up some deli meat, cheese and french bread for her 12-year-old daughter, who loves turkey sandwiches.  Then she remembered that her next SNAP payment was at risk.  “I can’t justify buying meat right now,” she recalled thinking at the time.  Nihart stopped working in 2010 because of health issues, including fibromyalgia, a chronic disorder that comes with pain and fatigue.  She receives a monthly $1,060 disability payment and relies on subsidized housing, Medicaid and a SNAP benefit of $436 a month.  She expects her next SNAP payment will be half the full amount. “It’s better than nothing,” she said. “But half doesn’t keep us fed for the whole month.” 

"We have the greatest economy.  We are the hottest country anywhere in the world, by far." Donald Trump at the American Business Forum. 

Jeffersonville, GA:  39-year-old Julia Asherman runs a farm, selling fruits and vegetables to small grocers and green markets. Her customers are often SNAP recipients.  She’s bracing for slower sales and a financial hit.  This time of year, Asherman said, is the worst time to take SNAP benefits away from farmers’ customers. That’s when little money is coming in, but farmers must spend money to prepare for spring planting. In her town, half the people who buy her produce are on SNAP.  And she needs it, too, for her and her 3-year-old son.  “My take-home at the end of the year already hovers around zero, like many farmers around this country,” she said.

Tuscon, AZ:  51-year-old Wesley Peake Jr. sat on his wheeled walker outside a grocery store. For breakfast, he ate crackers and cheese, and now, with his hunger slowly building, his mind conjured images of his favorite foods. Chicken, yogurt, bananas. But Peake, who is homeless, had no money. And his monthly SNAP benefit, $57, may not come as usual this month.  The food that SNAP provides usually lasts him about four days. That is a big help because it means fewer trips to a soup kitchen. His osteoporosis has weakened his bones. “I can’t walk that well,” he said, “because my hip sockets are deteriorating.” He sits outside the grocery store, hoping that passers-by will drop some change in his hands. These days he is reluctant to ask people outright for help. They, too, may be losing SNAP.

 "This is the golden age of America-- this is the golden age."

Chouteau, OK:   The grocery store is 12 miles from 61-year-old Deana Pearson’s trailer. The closest food bank is 10 miles away; the closest gas station is nine.  Which trip is worth the gas money?  Pearson, whose jewelry business closed during the coronavirus pandemic, is running low on food. Without her usual SNAP payment (around $287) she must rely on what she has left. On Tuesday, that was $1.18.  A gallon of gas is $2.50.  “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she said. “I’m hoping that maybe someone will give me a ride to the food bank.”  

Denver, CO:  39-year-old Jessica Mayne began receiving SNAP in 2019, after tumbling misfortunes.  Just before the pandemic, she and her husband lost their jobs. Then there was an accident that totaled her car. After she and her family moved in with her mother, her husband was diagnosed with kidney failure, which requires dialysis and a special diet.  “We were just trying to make it, and every single time something happened,” she said. They have made some progress: Mayne now works full time as a behavioral health technician, while her husband works part time in construction management.  They had hoped to get their own place. But Mayne must now handle the loss of her SNAP benefits ($650) for their family of eight. “We’re stretching all of our meals,” she said. “Everyone hates me for it, but it’s necessary.”  For dinner recently, she used one pound of ground beef (instead of three) mixing in rice and beans for added protein. She also took on more credit card debt to pay for groceries.  “It’s just shameful. I feel bad about it,” she said of her situation. “I feel like I’m failing as an adult.” 

"I think it's the best nine months, they say, of any president, and I really believe that." 

Alexandria, VA:  A year ago, 55-year-old federal worker Andrea Grimaldi was the one donating to those in need.  This year, she is the one receiving donations.  In February, Grimaldi was fired from a new job as a Head Start specialist at the Department of Health and Human Services. She received her last paycheck in May.  Although Virginia will now subsidize SNAP benefits through November, she has started to ration just in case. She still has $176 of her $292 monthly SNAP benefits left from October. Family and friends have also organized food and gift card deliveries.  She has cut her expenses, including streaming services and ride shares. But she has been forced to dip into her savings.  Grimaldi has been applying for jobs for months without success. She never expected to rely on government benefits, including SNAP.  “It could happen to anyone in the blink of an eye,” she said.

Passaic, NJ: When 32-year-old Rosy Hernandez, a single mother, called SNAP for assistance, an automated message said that her November payment, usually $748, was not yet available and might be late or not issued at all.  Her current balance: $50.  “It’s going to look a little bit different for me, restocking my fridge this month,” she said.  Hernandez, who has relied on SNAP for two years, cares for her sons, Xavier, 7, and Adrian, 4. She does not work because Xavier, who has autism, needs constant supervision. His needs make keeping a job difficult, although she is looking for part-time work.  She is nervous about relying on a food pantry. Xavier has sensory issues and demands specific food.  “His diet might have to be forcefully changed,” she said. “And there’s just no telling how he will react.”

"The golden age of American has begun.  A golden age like you've never seen before."