Donald Chump, the Convicted Felon. What shame he has brought to his family. His own mother, had she seen what was coming, would have drowned him in the tub. Erica L. Green (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:
President Trump on Tuesday downplayed the cost-of-living pains being felt by Americans, declaring that affordability “doesn’t mean anything to anybody” as his political edge on the economy continues to dissipate.
In remarks during a cabinet meeting, Mr. Trump railed against Democrats who have championed the issue, which helped the party secure several off-year election victories last month and is likely to be a defining topic in the midterms next year.
After ticking off what he claimed were trillions of dollars of investments and other economic accomplishments, Mr. Trump called the issue of affordability a “fake narrative” and “con job” created by Democrats to dupe the public.
“They just say the word,” he said. “It doesn’t mean anything to anybody. They just say it — affordability.[When Mr. Chump starts lying, I delete his words.].”
He thinks we are stupid. He thinks his lies can hide what we see with our own eyes.
Tuesday, December 2, 2025. In the grip of his dementia, Chump posts 400
social media posts last night, Chump and Hegseth attempt to throw an
admiral under the bus as though that would mean Hegseth wasn't at faul
when, in fact, that just means Hegseth engaged in a months long cover
up, Senator Elizabeth Warren calls for the Secretary of Education to
resign, Kristi Noem remains a disgrace, and much more.
Let's start with Ben and MEIDASTOUCH NEWS from a little earlier this morning.
"Donald Trump is not a Democrat, he's not a Republican, he's a movement!"
A bowel movement maybe.
As Ben explains, Chump posted that and 399 other things last night/this morning when the 79-year-old should have been sleeping.
Apparently
even he feels guilty over the War Crimes and, as a result, can't
sleep. Especially when Chump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are
trying to blame the War Crime on an admiral and not on Hegseth.
Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth has been a political problem for President Trump since his
confirmation in the Senate early this year, which he survived thanks to
a single, tiebreaking vote cast by Vice President JD Vance.
He survived the leaked Signal chat episode,
even when it became clear he had copied classified battle plans and
pasted them into an encrypted, but unclassified, messaging chain. He
blamed the press, began kicking news organizations out of the Pentagon
press room and insisted they sign a pledge never to seek news not
approved by his public affairs office. Almost no one signed, not even
his previous employer Fox News.
Now,
the political price of Mr. Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon has
increased. As investigations mount into the legality of strikes that
have killed scores of people in the waters off Venezuela, his
take-no-prisoners, leave-no-survivors approach has led even Republican
supporters to demand answers. So far, few have been forthcoming.
With
claims flying that Mr. Hegseth’s orders might have led to the
commission of war crimes — if not by the secretary, then by senior
commanders following his general orders — Mr. Trump sounded over the
weekend like he was putting some distance between himself and his
defense secretary.
On Sunday evening, Mr. Trump said he
would not have been comfortable with orders to kill the survivors of the
first strike on the fast-running boat. “Pete said he did not order the
death of those two men,” the president said. He added, “I believe him,
100 percent.” Mr. Trump also said: “I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a
second strike.”
But even as Mr. Trump
was answering questions aboard Air Force One about whether his defense
secretary had stepped over the legal lines with the Venezuela killings,
the same defense secretary was on social media cracking jokes about the
affair. Mr. Hegseth posted a meme on Sunday depicting Franklin, the
turtle from a children’s book series, firing a weapon at a vessel laden
with cargo from a helicopter.
“For your Christmas wish list,” Mr. Hegseth wrote on social media.
The
joke fell flat, eliciting a storm of criticism, including from
conservative social media users. “A civilized people respect life given
by God and don’t treat lightly taking of life no matter how vile that
life was used,” one user wrote replied to Mr. Hegseth’s post. “That meme
was far from Christian. It was bloodlust.”
This
is not a minor scandal. This is not something that falls only under
international law which would allow Chump to try to build support by
verbally lashing out at foreign countries. The second strike is
completely against DoD's LAW OF WAR MANUAL. Rachel Maddow made that
point on MS NOW last night.
Now let's talk about what people aren't focusing on as Chump and Hegseth try to do a shell game in front of us.
They
want to push it off on the admiral -- Adm Mitch Bradley. I don't
believe it and let's see what the Congressional investigation reveals.
But in the mean time, grasp that if Bradley did order the second strike,
that's not an excuse for Pete. It is a War Crime. Pete's the
Secretary of Defense. Does he not understand his job? If someone under
him commits a War Crime, he needs to hold them accountable. That was
back in September and it's December now.
He serves the American people.
So why didn't he do that. Why didn't immediately relieve Bradley of his duty and report to Congress what had happened?
Hegseth's the superior.
So
what we're seeing is -- if you believe the claim that the
administration is making -- Hegseth didn't just fail at his job, he
engaged in a cover up. Laws were broken and Hegsth not only refused to
hold anyone accountable, he also engaged in a cover up.
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly accused Pete Hegseth Monday of “playing
army,” after the defense secretary posted a juvenile meme making light
of his military’s extrajudicial executions.
Speaking at a
press conference, Kelly nailed precisely what’s so disturbing about
Hegseth’s lackluster leadership of the Pentagon: he’s like a little kid
playing dress up.
“I
mean think about this, he runs around on a stage talking about
lethality and warrior ethos and killing people. We have the most
competent, capable military this planet has ever seen by far. That’s not
the message that needs to come from the secretary of defense,” Kelly said.
Instead
of focusing on the military’s mission “he runs around on a stage like
he’s a 12-year-old playing army. And it is ridiculous, it is
embarrassing,” Kelly said. “And I can’t imagine what our allies think of
looking at that guy in this job, one of the most important jobs in our
country.”
Kelly was referring to Hegseth’s outrageous summit
in September, where he invited droves of top military personnel to
listen to him lecture about how much he hates the way overweight men
with beards make him feel.
The Arizona senator seems to be fighting back after becoming a target for the Trump administration. Last week, Hegseth threatened to court-martial
Kelly, a former astronaut and U.S. Naval officer, after he appeared in a
video alongside fellow Democratic lawmakers to urge members of the U.S.
military and intelligence community not to follow illegal orders.
For
days, President Donald Trump and his allies pilloried half a dozen
Democrats for their video that urged troops to disobey any potential
illegal orders from the administration
Now we
have a case-in-point example of what those Democrats may have been
talking about. The US military in early September conducted a follow-up
attack — known as a “double-tap” strike — on an alleged drug vessel in
the Caribbean after the first strike did not kill everyone on board, CNN
reported last week.
The US military was aware that survivors remained, according to CNN’s sources. The news — which was first reported by The Washington Post and The Intercept — has caught the attention of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
The administration’s strikes on alleged drug vessels were already legally dubious,
given there is no declared war in the Caribbean. But killing survivors
takes things to a new level, given that the law of armed conflict
prohibits the execution of an enemy combatant who is removed from the
fight due to injury.
Indeed, killing the survivors of a shipwreck is often treated as an archetypal example of an illegal order and a war crime.
“They’re
breaking the law either way,” Sarah Harrison, a former associate
general counsel at the Pentagon, told CNN. “They’re killing civilians in
the first place, and then if you assume they’re combatants, it’s also
unlawful — under the law of armed conflict, if somebody is ‘hors de
combat’ and no longer able to fight, then they have to be treated
humanely.”
Yet
Trump, during his second presidency, is drawing vehement criticism from
both Democrats and the non-MAGA right for his Venezuela policy — which
includes a series of military strikes against Venezuelan boats that
Trump claims were transporting illegal drugs to the United States and
possible strikes in Venezuela itself.
One of those critics is MS NOW host and Never Trump conservative Joe Scarborough, a former GOP congressman.
On
the Monday, December 1 broadcast of "Morning Joe," Scarborough and one
of his guests — retired Gen. Mark Hertling, former commander of U.S.
Army Europe — attacked Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's
Venezuela policy as a shoot-first/ask-questions-later approach that
violates military protocols.
Scarborough told a
panel that included Hertling, fellow "Morning Joe" host Mika
Brzezinski, Axios' Jim VandeHei and former Associated Press (AP)
reporter Jonathan Lemire that Trump is "accusing…. senators of treason,
talking about their hanging, for simply going back and saying you don't
have to follow illegal orders that would have you held responsible….
that would have you, in the end, found guilty for war crimes, or
murder."
Trump and Hegseth, Scarborough warned, are getting the U.S. into an "extraordinarily dangerous legal situation" with Venezuela.
Chump
and Hegseth looked ridiculous last week as they savaged Senator Kelly.
They only look more ridiculous now that everyone's talking about the
War Crime of the second strike.
Maybe it's time for Pete Hegseth to be called back into the military so he can face a court-martial for War Crimes?
Pete
Hegseth just admitted to murder and is heading toward executing a
massive mission that one ex-GOP insider says will "end in ruin."
Steve
Schmidt, an independent political strategist who worked on former
President George W. Bush's campaign, on Sunday published a piece called,
"Kill them all" is a confession to murder under American law, in which he discusses how the "United States of America stands at the edge of war against Venezuela."
Congress
launched inquiries and lawmakers from both parties raised the
possibility of war crimes after a report that the U.S. targeted
survivors of a strike on an alleged drug boat.
The
Republican-led armed-services committees in the House and Senate said
this weekend they are opening bipartisan inquiries, after the Washington
Post reported on a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean. In that
attack, the Post said, a second strike was ordered to kill two survivors
in the water.
Herb Scribner (AXIOS WORLD) reviews
the 21 known US strikes on boats near Venezuela. Let's note some video
coverage of the issue before we move on to a different topic.
Senator Mark Kelly has been receiving death threats. Words have consequences. And those who led rabid mobs
need to remember that. Chump should have been checked on this nonsense
long ago. He made it through most of the year purposely getting his
thugs to threaten judges and politicians. David Edwards (RAW STORY) reports on the most recent threat:
Indiana
state Sen. Jean Leising (R) said she was the newest victim of threats
after refusing a demand from President Donald Trump to redistrict the
state ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
In a Sunday post on X, Leising revealed that her home "was the target of a pipe bomb threat on Saturday evening."
"This is a result of the D.C. political pundits for redistricting," she explained.
The lawmaker thanked the Oldenburg Town Marshall and the Franklin County Sheriff's Office for responding to the threat.
Chump is a menace who is forever attempting to incite violence.
Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem said deportation decisions are under her
authority and denied defying a federal judge who ordered a halt to
removal flights to El Salvador earlier this year.
In
an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Noem said she would "let
[legal proceedings] continue to play through that process," adding that
"the decisions that are made on deportations, where flights go and when
they go, are my decision at the Department of Homeland Security, and we
will continue to do the right thing and ensure that dangerous criminals
are removed."
Asked whether she violated the court's directive, she said "no" and criticized "activist judges" and "radical decisions."
I
don't really believe that the H*A*R*L*O*T of Homeland Security needs to
concern herself with evaluating federal judges. All she needs to do
is follow the law and follow court orders. That appears to be too much
for her which is why she should have been fired long ago. And Kristi --
who works with her
lover or her ex-lover -- really isn't anyone who can credibly boast of
her decision making. Lastly while she may insist that she didn't defy a
court order, we all remember last week when the administration threw
her under the bus and stated otherwise.
She should get some additional training on how to do her job.
Elaine
Miles should not have suffered through her experience with ICE.
Elaine's an actress who has many credits but most know her from CBS'
NORTHERN EXPOSURE in the 90s. She appeared on all 110 episodes, all six
seasons, playing Marilyn Whirlwind. Her other credits include the
indie classic SMOKE SIGNALS. Billal Rahman (NEWSWEEK) reports what happened to her last month while walking in Redmond, Washington
Native
Americans who are enrolled members of federally recognized tribes are
considered U.S. citizens under federal law. Their citizenship comes from
the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 and tribal sovereignty recognition.
ICE can briefly detain and question individuals if they have reasonable
suspicion, but Native Americans who are U.S. citizens cannot be lawfully
deported.
Four
masked men wearing vests labelled “ICE,” who emerged from two unmarked
black SUVs, demanded her ID, The Seattle Times reported.
Miles
said she presented a valid tribal ID issued by Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), based in Oregon, according to
the outlet.
One of the agents allegedly told
her the document was “fake,” while another reportedly remarked: “Anyone
can make that,” per the report.
When
she pointed to an enrollment office phone number printed on the back of
the card and asked them to call to verify, the agents refused. Miles
then attempted to call herself, at which point the agents reportedly
tried to seize her phone. Shortly after, a fifth agent called from one
of the SUVs, and the group drove away.
Miles said agents did not provide names or badge numbers, according to The Seattle Times.
Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave an interview answer on Sunday that
some experts and political observers determined was an "admission"
warranting legal action.
Noem appeared on NBC News over the weekend, where she was asked about how she reportedly rejected a court's order.
Kristin
Welker asked, "The DOJ said that when the administration was ordered to
stop sending detained migrants to a mega-prison in El Salvador, you
personally made the final call to continue the flights anyways. Is that
correct?" to which Noem replied, "The decisions that are made on
deportations, where flights go or when they go, are my decision."
Welker
further pressed Noem, asking, "So you're saying it was your decision.
The judge wanted to ensure that people were given due process…Did you
defy the court's order?" Noem replied, "No. That's one of the things we
continue to face across the country are activist judges."
Experts weighing in (including Tim Miller of THE BULWARK) note tha Noem is saying she will continue to defy court orders.
A
new investigation has debunked the Department of Homeland Security’s
claim that assaults against immigration enforcement officers have
skyrocketed this year.
In September, President
Donald Trump wrote in a memo that “riots” in Los Angeles and Portland,
Oregon, had to led to a “more than 1,000 percent increase in attacks” on
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The
agency also said last month that ICE agents had been assaulted 238
times between late January and late November of this year, compared to
19 times during the same period in 2024. That represents an increase of
1,153 percent.
DHS, however, has refused
to release a complete list of the alleged assaults, and there have been
signs—including the case of a Washington, D.C., man who was charged
with assault after he threw a hoagie sandwich at a Border Patrol
agent—that the department’s claims are inflated.
Now, an analysis by the Los Angeles Times has revealed the extent to which DHS appears to be exaggerating its claims of violence against federal officers.
A
review of court records in Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Washington,
D.C., and Portland found that assaults on federal officers were up by
just 26 percent.
No one in the current administration is capable of telling the truth. No one.
Newsweek reports
that blue collar jobs are collapsing under President Donald Trump as
the labor market in 2025 "takes a decidedly white-collar tone" driven by
artificial intelligence.
"AI has already been
cited in many of the mass reductions announced by Amazon and other
corporations in recent weeks," writes Hugh Cameron.
"But
for all the hand-wringing over the potentially ill-fated employees of
Silicon Valley and Wall Street, a quieter crisis appears to be unfolding
for the U.S.'s blue-collar employees, despite the pledges and efforts
of the current administration to foster a renaissance in marquee
industries such as construction and manufacturing," he adds.
The
delayed September jobs report corroborates this, showing "an
encouraging uptick in overall hiring but no pause in blue-collar
employment's long-term decline," Cameron writes.
Of
the five areas of employment considered blue collar — manufacturing,
mining and logging, transportation and warehousing, utilities, and
construction — only construction saw an increase in employment, he
notes.
That said, construction's 19,000-job
gain was also "insufficient to offset the monthly loss of 25,300 jobs in
transportation or manufacturing shedding a further 6,000," he writes.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
“Linda McMahon has no business leading the Department of Education. She should resign.”
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) published an op-ed
in USA Today calling for Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to resign
following the recent news that President Trump and Secretary McMahon
plan to further dismantle the Department of Education (ED).
Senator Warren has led the fight to make the higher education system
more affordable, cancel student loan debt, and hold student loan
servicers accountable for incompetence and malfeasance. She launched the
Save Our Schools campaign in a coordinated effort to fight back against President Trump’s attempts to abolish the Department of Education.
Last week, Senator Warren pushed for an expanded investigation
into the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle ED and whether
its recent decision to transfer many of ED’s responsibilities to four
other agencies violates federal law.
USA Today: Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Education Secretary Linda McMahon should resign December 1, 2025
Shortly after she was sworn in, I invited Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to my office.
I looked her dead in the eye and asked, “Now, I just want to be
clear, do you think you can shut down the Department of Education?”
She looked straight back at me and said, “No, I don’t have the legal authority to do that.”
But here we are.
It’s official: Donald Trump and Secretary McMahon are dismantling the
Department of Education one piece at a time. This is, in Secretary
McMahon’s words, the department’s “final mission.”
The assault on the department has come in several directions. On Nov.
18, Secretary McMahon announced that she was transferring major
functions of the department to four other federal agencies. This means
that programs are being moved into other agencies that have no relevant
expertise to be managed by people who know nothing about the issues.
NO PART OF PUBLIC EDUCATION WILL REMAIN UNTOUCHED
Here’s just one example of how this will work: Under this new
arrangement, the Department of Labor will be in charge of supporting
K-12 literacy, American history and civics, and Title I funding. Drink
that in: Labor Department employees will decide which reading readiness
programs to support for kindergartners.
In fact, no part of public education will remain untouched by this
move. Title I provides the biggest federal fund for K-12 schools and is
used to help pay for good teachers and new textbooks all across America.
School administrators are concerned that these changes may result in
bigger class sizes, fewer afterschool and tutoring programs, and not
enough workbooks for our kids because federal funding isn’t coming
through.
There’s more: Secretary McMahon has been trying to slash the section
of the Department of Education that assists students with disabilities
and their families. If she’s successful, this could sharply limit access
to speech therapy, individual aides and special equipment that are all
essential for these children to participate fully in a classroom
education.
Secretary McMahon has also fired half the staff at the Department of
Education. For the 6 million students taking out loans for college each
year and the 43 million wrestling with their outstanding loans, cuts at
the Department of Education's student loan division will hit hard. The
secretary of Education seems determined to sideline the cop on the beat
to stop the scammers who prey on these students.
Both families and schools will suffer. Because of the changes the
secretary has made, schools will no longer be able to turn to the
Department of Education when they face problems. Instead, they will now
have to navigate four federal agencies and new staff and systems.
TRUMP AND MCMAHON WANT TO DESTROY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT FROM WITHIN
Agencies that have no experience will be in charge, risking mistakes,
confusion and delays in funding. For all the Trump administration’s
talk about government efficiency, this is the opposite. This is no
accident.
While Donald Trump and Secretary McMahon claim to care about
efficiency, the real goal has been clear all along: They want to destroy
the Department of Education from within. They want to make the
department so dysfunctional that people will want to get rid of it.
Because here’s the thing: If they can create a system so complicated
that it doesn’t work and if they hollow out the Department of Education
just enough, there will be nothing left to abolish.
This isn’t a fight over a national curriculum or putting education
back into the hands of states. Federal law already guarantees that
states – not the federal government – will decide what gets taught.
Instead, this assault on public education is exactly that – an effort to
undermine public schools all across America.
I was a special education teacher. I know how much families rely on
the Department of Education to ensure that their kids get the resources
they need. To me, what’s at stake in this fight is more than the future
of a federal agency. It’s about whether our country is truly committed
to the idea of public education: the idea that anyone, no matter where
they are born or how much money their parents have, can get a
first-class education.
Public education is a foundational block in our democracy, both for
informed citizens and to give everyone a chance to build lifelong
skills. And that’s what the Trump administration is trying to dismantle
by closing down the Department of Education, an agency dedicated to
building opportunities for kids all across the country.
Public service is exactly that – serving the public. When a secretary
of Education is actively dismantling our public education system, it’s
time to reconsider her role in government. When the secretary is working
to make class sizes bigger, take away aides for kids with special
needs, leave college students at the mercy of financial predators, and
make the whole department nonfunctional, it’s time for new leadership.
Linda McMahon has no business leading the Department of Education. She should resign.
Convicted
Felon Donald Chump is a chump. He is a liar. He is a menace. He is a
vengeful cry baby. He is a con artist. He is a crook. But he is most
of all a chump. Cameron Adams (DAILY BEAST) reports:
Donald Trump has deleted an error-riddled Truth Social message posted late on Sunday night.
Fresh
from his Thanksgiving holiday in Florida, the 79-year-old began an
angry post that initially read “Ther [sic] are laws that effect our
nation.”
After deleting his first attempt,
second time around Trump managed to spell “there” correctly and, after
getting “effect” and “affect” confused, subbed in the less problematic
word “impact” instead.
Does
he think he rallies 'the troops' because his minions are falling away.
Polling shows him losing considerable support due to the economy,
Jeffrey Epstein, and so much more. He is the least popular president
ever. And the bad news just keeps coming for Mr. Chump. Ayeesha Walsh (THE MIRROR) reports:
President Donald Trump received bad news as CNN issued a breaking alert.
The
news broadcaster announced on Monday, December 1, that the federal
appeals court has ruled that Alina Habba, the president's former
personal lawyer, is unlawfully serving as the US attorney for New
Jersey. The ruling comes after a panel of judges from the 3rd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting in Philadelphia, voted 3-0 to side
with a lower court judge's ruling.
The panel heard oral
arguments on October 20, at which Habba was present, in order to reach
its decision. Habba, who defended the president during his New York
civil fraud trial and the E. Jean Carroll defamation case, had remained
in place after her interim appointment expired, despite not having
received Senate confirmation.
District
court judges had moved to have her replaced with her deputy, but this
was avoided by the Trump Administration, who used legal maneuvers
surrounding vacancies law to retain her in her role as "acting"
attorney. Habba had been investigating New Jersey's Democratic governor
Phil Murphy after his order for state cops not to assist ICE agents.
Judges
Luis Restrepo, who was appointed by Obama, and David Smith and David
Fisher, both of whom were appointed by George W. Bush, ruled that Habba
was acting unlawfully.
In August, a lower court
judge said that Habba's appointment was done with a "novel series of
legal and personnel moves." The order claimed that her actions since
July could be invalidated, but it stayed the order pending an appeal at
the time.
U.S.
Circuit Judge D. Michael Fisher wrote for the three-judge panel that
the government’s workaround to put Habba in the post wasn’t allowed
under the law, and was “effectively permitting anyone to fill the U.S.
Attorney role indefinitely.” Two members of the three-judge panel were
appointed by Republicans and one by a Democrat.
Lawyers
who brought the challenge to Habba’s appointment said the unanimous
decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit “affirms
that U.S. Attorney Alina Habba is unlawfully and invalidly serving as
the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey, marking the
first time an appellate court has ruled that President Trump cannot
usurp longstanding statutory and constitutional processes to insert
whomever he wants in these positions.”
Some comments on the article:
biff skywalker
16 minutes ago
Fealty as a job requirement might work for a Cartel, but the US should have higher standards.
Masked Avenger
5 hours ago
This
feckless, sycophantic oar and dime-store attorney got exactly what she
and Bondi deserved. Now let's see what Bondi will try next to ignore
this court order. Get rid of her. She's a total LOSER!
He
is such a failure. In fact, he is such a failure that even he has to
know it. But, since it is Chump, he knows it and then, most likely, he
forgets it. Will Neal (DAILY BEAST) notes:
President
Donald Trump declined to answer a question from a reporter—only to
instantly forget and then confirm exactly what she’d just asked him.
During
the flight back to D.C. from his Mar-a-Lago holiday stay on Sunday, a
reporter asked Trump aboard Air Force One: “The New York Times reported
you spoke with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Did you?”
“I don’t want to comment on it,” he said before adding, without pause: “The answer is yes.”
Monday, December 1, 2025. Pete Hegseth transitions from national joke
to War Criminal, Chump wants war on Venezuela because he says they're
trafckking drugs but also wants to free a Honduran from US prisons who
was found guilty of trafickking drugs -- remember Chump's dementia is
increasing -- and much more.
If
you celebrated the holiday, hope it was good for you. Friends and
family and love. For those who are emotionally and mentally healthy.
Those who have issues may have celebrated differently. The dementia
prone rage-a-holic in the White House celebrated by harming others. For
example?
A 19-year-old college student was about
to board a flight to surprise her family for Thanksgiving when she was
detained at Boston Logan International Airport and deported to Honduras
two days later, her father and lawyer said on Sunday.
The
student, Any Lucía López Belloza, was brought by her parents from
Honduras to the United States when she was 7. Her father, Francis López,
said in a telephone interview on Sunday that neither Ms. López nor her
parents knew there was an order for her deportation.
“When they arrested Any, that’s when they told her,” said Mr. López, a tailor.
He said his employer had arranged and paid for his daughter’s travel to Austin, Texas, to surprise him at work.
This
morning, on MEIDAS TOUCH, Ben notes that Chump is now going after
immigrants about to marry and immigrants who have reported sexual
assault.
It's
not a surprise that he's now harassing those coming forward to report
assault. That's what he'd like to do with all the American women who've
stepped forward to say that he's assaulted them over the years. Too
bad for Donald, he can't get it up anymore. Age and obesity have
ensured that he's dead below the belt.
Lonely
and angry, Chump passed his holiday on social media raving like a
lunatic. He attacked Tim Walz, he attacked everyone he could. However,
he was misdirected and delayed because he was also very busy during the
holiday throwing people under the bus and screaming for war.
Chump's war on Venezuela. CBS NEWS notes it's a war the American people aren't on board with:
In the meantime, Americans do not think of Venezuela as a major threat to the US. Instead, more see a minor one, and they are largely opposed to potential military action.
So, the idea of potential U.S. military action in Venezuela meets
with widespread disapproval. It doesn't get overwhelming backing from
Republicans either.
Three in four Americans also say Trump would need congressional approval before taking military action in Venezuela, including just over half of Republicans.
He
once boasted that he would “stuff the drugs up the gringos’ noses.” He
accepted a $1 million bribe from El Chapo to allow cocaine shipments to
pass through Honduras. A man was killed in prison to protect him.
At
the federal trial of Juan Orlando Hernández in New York, testimony and
evidence showed how the former president maintained Honduras as a
bastion of the global drug trade. He orchestrated a vast trafficking
conspiracy that prosecutors said raked in millions for cartels while
keeping Honduras one of Central America’s poorest, most violent and most
corrupt countries.
Last year, Mr.
Hernández was convicted on drug trafficking and weapons charges and
sentenced to 45 years in prison. It was one of the most sweeping
drug-trafficking cases to come before a U.S. court since the trial of
the Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega three decades before.
Americans
worked very hard on that conviction and taxpayers footed the bill. But
our Convicted Felon Donald Chump wants to set the man free. Just a
case of one crook scratching the back of another. Nadine Yousif (BBC NEWS) adds:
Hernández was found guilty in March 2024
of conspiring to import cocaine into the US, and of possessing machine
guns. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Trump
also threw his support behind conservative presidential candidate Nasry
"Tito" Asfura in the Central American nation's general election, due to
be held on Sunday.
Hernández, a member of the National
Party, who served as Honduras's president from 2014 to 2022, was
extradited to the US in April 2022 to stand trial for running a violent
drug trafficking conspiracy and helping to smuggle hundreds of tons of
cocaine to the US.
During his trial,
prosecutors in New York said Hernández ran the Central American country
like a "narco-state" and accepted millions of dollars in bribes from
drug traffickers to shield them from the law.
He was also ordered to pay a fine of $8m (£6m) as part of his sentence.
In statements to the press, he keeps attacking Joe Biden but Joe did not serve on the US jury that convicted Hernandez.
At the end of May 2019, U.S. prosecutors unsealed documents from 2015
which revealed that Hernández was himself the subject of a major drug trafficking and money laundering investigation, alongside his sister Hilda and others.[54][55]
Hernández was identified as a co-conspirator in a drug
trafficking and money laundering case against his brother, according to
document filed in U.S. district court. Prosecutors allege $1.5 million
in drug proceeds were used to help elect him in 2013.[55] Hernández responded saying he is a foe of traffickers who are out for revenge against him.[citation needed]
A document released by a U.S. district court implicates President Hernández in a conspiracy with his brother, Antonio "Tony" Hernández, and other high-level officials — including his presidential predecessor Porfirio Lobo Sosa
— "to leverage drug trafficking to maintain and enhance their political
power." Tony Hernández was sentenced to life in prison in January 2021
following his conviction on numerous charges related to his work in drug
trafficking.[56]
The 44-page document – which is related to the trial of Tony
Hernández in New York's Southern District on drug trafficking and other
charges – summarizes some of the key evidence collected by prosecutors
against the defendant, who they accuse of being a “violent, multi-ton
drug trafficker” who allegedly abused his political connections for
personal and political gain and at least twice “helped arrange murders
of drug trafficking rivals.”[57]
On 7 February 2022, ex-president Hernández was announced to have had his visa revoked by the U.S. Department of State at the start of July in 2021, due to involvements in corruption and dealings with narcotics.[13] On 14 February, he was surrounded by the National police and DEA
agents at his residency to process his capture and eventually take him
to custody of the United States for possible trial. The U.S. government
also requested an extradition against him for his involvement with
narcotics.[15][14][16] After issuing an extradition warrant, Juan Orlando Hernández decided to surrender to US authorities on 15 February 2022.[18] The same day, local Honduran authorities arrested Hernández at his home in Tegucigalpa.[17]
During that time on 15 February the first audience of Juan Orlando
Hernández was timed with the Supreme Court of Honduras placing the judge
Edwin Ortez in charge of the case of extradition.[58]
At a second proceeding on 16 March, Judge Ortez approved the order of
extradition appealed by the Southern District of New York.[59]
Hernández's lawyers appealed Ortez's ruling, but on 28 March 2022, the
Supreme Court of Honduras rejected his appeal and authorized his
extradition to the United States.[60][61]
The United States specifically charged Hernández with accepting
millions of dollars in bribes from narcotraffickers since 2004, and in
particular the Sinaloa Cartel, led at the time by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, since 2012. The indictment states that Tony Hernández
collected the bribes using men armed with machine guns; in exchange,
Juan Orlando Hernández conspired to protect smugglers from investigation
and arrest, specifically providing "access to law enforcement and
military information, including data from flight radar in Honduras."[64]
In a video statement posted on social media, Hernández said he was innocent and that he had been set up by drug traffickers.[65]
On 10 May 2022, Hernández pled not-guilty to all charges and
complained about the conditions in which he is being held, with his
lawyer describing those conditions as those of a "prisoner of war", and
saying they were "psychologically debilitating".[66]
Charges
were brought in 2019. Damn that Joe Biden! How dare he -- Huh? Joe
Biden wasn't President of the United States in 2019. Really. Well who
was?
Donald Chump!
That's
right. So Donald was preident when charges were brought against
Hernandez. So he should have spoken up in 2019 or 2020 or certainly
before January 20, 2020 when Joe was sworn in as president.
Isn't it amazing how nothing is ever Chump's fault. Even his own hypocrisy within a news cycle. Tyler Pager (NYT) notes:
President Trump
and his top aides have said that drug cartels present one of the most
pressing dangers to the United States, and have promised to eradicate
them from the Western Hemisphere.
As
part of that effort, Mr. Trump signaled on Saturday that he was
ratcheting up his campaign against drug cartels, saying in a social
media post that airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be
considered “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
Less than 24 hours earlier, Mr. Trump had announced on social media that he was granting a full pardon to Juan Orlando Hernández,
a former president of Honduras who had been convicted in the United
States of drug trafficking charges in what was seen as a major victory
for authorities in a case against a former head of state. That pardon
has not yet been officially granted.
The
two posts displayed a remarkable dissonance in the president’s
strategy, as he moved to escalate a military campaign against drug
trafficking while ordering the release of a man prosecutors said had taken
“cocaine-fueled bribes” from cartels and “protected their drugs with
the full power and strength of the state — military, police and justice
system.” In fact, prosecutors said that Mr. Hernández, for years, allowed bricks of cocaine from Venezuela to flow through Honduras en route to the United States.
When do people start getting outraged over Chump's pardons? Chump is
an illegal embarrassment who should be kicked out of office due to his
dementia alone. He's incapable of ruling. Pete Hegseth was never
qualified to be the Secretary of Defense. Once wrongly confirmed, he
then revealed war plans in texts -- unsecure texts. And he should have
been fired for that. But Chump is asleep at the wheel so Hegseth has
remained in his post and now appears to have committed a War Crime. Michael Gold (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:
A top Republican
and Democrats in Congress suggested on Sunday that American military
officials might have committed a war crime in President Trump’s
offensive against boats in the Caribbean after a news report said that
during one such attack, a follow-up strike was ordered to kill
survivors.
The remarks came in
response to a Washington Post report on Friday that said that Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth had given a verbal order to kill everyone aboard
boats suspected of smuggling drugs, and that this led a military
commander to carry out a second strike to kill those who had initially
survived an attack in early September.
“Obviously
if that occurred, that would be very serious, and I agree that that
would be an illegal act,” Representative Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio
and a former chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said on “Face the
Nation” on CBS.
Senator Tim Kaine,
Democrat of Virginia, said on CBS that if the report was accurate, the
attack “rises to the level of a war crime.” And on CNN, when asked if he
believed a second strike to kill survivors constituted a war crime,
Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, answered, “It seems to.”
How
bad is it? Hegseth hasn't Tweeted himself today. He's just reposted
other people's Tweets for the last 24 hours. Running scared. Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) reports:
President Donald Trump seemingly distanced himself from the latest controversy surrounding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The self-styled secretary of war reportedly ordered a second missile
strike on two alleged smugglers who survived an attack on a boat
administration officials say was carrying drugs from Venezuela to the
U.S., and many military and legal experts say Hegseth's "no quarter"
order violated international and U.S. laws.
"I don’t know that
that happened and Pete said he did not want them, even know what people
were talking about, so we'll look in –we'll look into it," Trump told
reporters. "But no, I wouldn’t have wanted a second strike. The first
strike was very lethal, it was fine, and if there were two people
around, but Pete said that didn't happen. I have great confidence."
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, joined with Democratic lawmakers in condemning Hegseth's alleged "kill everyone" follow-on order
as illegal, and social media users highlighted Trump's comments as a
significant break from his frequently embattled Pentagon chief.
"Pete Hegseth, you in danger, girl," warned X user Keith Edwards.
"Trump beginning the process of throwing Hegseth under the bus," noted former Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus.
And
Pete is in danger right now. You know it by the fact that he's been
forced to stop attacking Mark Kelly. In fact, except for reposts, his
Twitter feed has been silent since late Friday except for reposts. He's
been struggling as he transfers from national joke to War Criminal. Nick Mordowanec (MILITARY.COM) explains:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, following the first
striking of a boat in the Caribbean in September, issued a verbal
directive to U.S. service members to "kill everybody" with a second
strike that would leave no survivors, according to a new report from the
Washington Post. The secretary strongly refutes such claims.
The Post reported
that the second strike was conducted at Hegseth’s discretion and
carried out by the counterterror group SEAL Team 6 after two survivors
of a vessel allegedly carrying narcotics were spotted. The vessel
originally held 11 individuals before it was struck by a missile off the
coast of Trinidad.
“The order was to kill everybody,” one of two people with direct knowledge of the operation told the Post.
Pete
Hegseth is an actor as well. He has acted his way through life. As a
Fox News host, he positioned himself as a defender of “ordinary
Americans” against elites, often framing his commentary in terms of
patriotism, faith, and traditional values. He leaned into a
confrontational approach, attacking “woke culture,” liberal politicians,
and mainstream media.
His
segments often featured sharp one‑liners and emotional appeals rather
than policy nuance. Hegseth frequently criticized government
bureaucracy, higher education, and even military leadership when he felt
they embraced diversity or progressive reforms. Hegseth gave the people
what they wanted, rather than having strong ideals of his own.
Hegseth pretended to be a strong Christian and a good husband, failing at both. Hegseth admitted to having five affairs during his first marriage. He told his wife he was a “f — -ed up individual.” Five
was likely the number he was comfortable saying out loud rather than
the real, higher number. Hegseth cheated on his second wife with Fox
producer Jennifer Rauchet, who later became his third wife.
Hegseth
has faced accusations of sexual harassment and even assault, though he
denies them. These allegations stand in stark contrast to the Christian
values of respect and integrity he claims to uphold.
On
Fox News, Hegseth built his brand around Christian family values,
patriotism, and faith. Critics argue his personal scandals — adultery,
drinking, and misconduct — undermine the credibility of that persona.
Pete
Hegseth has faced multiple allegations and documented incidents of
alcohol abuse, including drinking on the job at Fox News, being forced
out of veterans’ advocacy groups due to intoxicated behavior, and
involvement in a sexual assault investigation where witnesses described
him as visibly drunk.
Reports
highlight at least five separate instances over three years where
Hegseth appeared with alcohol on the job at Fox News, sometimes visibly
drinking during segments. When undergoing Senate confirmation, Hegseth
made the unusual promise that he wouldn’t drink if given the job of
Defense Secretary.
Once
given the job, Hegseth quickly discovered what most already knew: he
was unqualified for it. Pete Hegseth’s early tenure as Secretary of
Defense in 2025 has been marked by several high‑profile missteps,
ranging from operational blunders to political controversies. These
incidents have fueled criticism that he was unprepared for the role.
In
March 2025, Hegseth mistakenly sent classified military details via
Signal chat, raising alarms about his judgment and operational security.
Even Trump allies began questioning his competence. Hegseth followed
his boss's example and lied his way through. He claimed the information
wasn’t classified, even though it contained details of a military
operation yet to take place. Hegseth constantly has to prove to others
he belongs, all the while knowing he’s acting.
Pete's
never been qualified for anything. He's shamed his own family and then
had to beg Mommy to defend him so he could be named Secretary of
Defense. That is his title and the Dept's title is the Defense Dept.
But he's a little kid who play acts and so he calls himself "Secretary
of War." And, sadly, some indulge the spoiled rotten child ensuring
that he will never learn. Poor Pete. He thought things were bad on
Wednesday when SOUTHPARK mocked him.
GOP
Senator Roger Wicker, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
and Democratic Senator Jack Reed announced the decision in a joint
statement Saturday.
“The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”
It comes following a report from The Washington Post,which
alleged that Hegseth had ordered military personnel to “kill everybody”
on board a vessel in the Caribbean, suspected of carrying drugs, on
September 2.
Hegseth posted on X Friday evening that the strikes were intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes.”
“The
declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill
the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every
trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist
Organization,” Hegseth wrote.
“Our
current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and
international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed
conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and
down the chain of command,” he added.
The
committees’ statements come amid President Donald Trump’s
administration mounting pressure on Venezuela, as Trump weighs military
action against the country following nearly two dozen known strikes on
vessels in the region, which have killed at least 82 people. Trump on Saturday morning said Venezuela’s airspace should be considered “closed.”
He
posted an admission -- which can be used against him -- on social
media. SOUTHPARK really got his social media addicting right. José Olivares (GUARDIAN) notes, "Internally, Department of Defense officials have been quietly raising
concern about the boat strikes. A senior military lawyer disagreed with
the Trump administration that the strikes are lawful and was later
sidelined by other officials, NBC reported.
And Adm Alvin Holsey, the commander overseeing the attacks against boat
strikes, stepped down in October. Although the reason behind Holsey’s
departure is unknown, the New York Times reported
he had raised internal concerns about the attacks on the boats." This
is a bad time for Pete. Even THE NATIONAL REVIEW isn't defending him.
Today, the conservative publication posted a column by Jeffrey Blehar on the topic:
I’m no military expert, but this affair strikes me as an outright
violation of all accepted norms of warfare. The mission had been
accomplished: Whatever cargo that boat happened to be smuggling was no
longer in any danger of reaching America. The survivors, clinging to a
broken boat in the ocean, are a classic case of hors de combat
— they’re out of the game, which means they have protected status under
the Geneva Conventions. Even if you consider them “terrorists,” or
so-called “unlawful combatants,” you are still forbidden from wantonly
killing them once they’ve been incapacitated. (“Kill them all or they’ll
just try again later” is a barbaric moral logic recognized nowhere in
the civilized world except, seemingly, on Twitter.)
Beyond that, the sheer viciousness of it — a command to offer no
quarter — shames the name and reputation of the U.S. Armed Services. You
know what this reminds me most of? The Japanese Navy machine-gunning
American boys as they floated in the waters of the Pacific during World
War II. If you can explain the moral difference to me without reverting
to the repulsive logic of immoral regimes, then please try.
But again, I am not an expert on the rules of military engagement. I will leave that to others who are, such as Jack Goldsmith, who points out that Section 5.4.7 of the Department of Defense’s own Law of War Manual, states rather clearly a “Prohibition Against Declaring That No Quarter Be Given”:
It is forbidden to declare that no quarter will be given.
This means that it is prohibited to order that legitimate offers of
surrender will be refused or that detainees, such as unprivileged
belligerents, will be summarily executed. Moreover, it is also
prohibited to conduct hostilities on the basis that there shall be no
survivors, or to threaten the adversary with the denial of quarter. This
rule is based on both humanitarian and military considerations. This
rule also applies during non-international armed conflict.
I would get more upset about this if I weren’t so despairingly
convinced that nothing will come of it, and Pete Hegseth will not be
made to answer for this. As for the political fallout? I assume Trump
will take a hit among what remaining Independents still cleave to his
administration — Gallup just put him at a 36 percent job approval
recently, about which much more on Tuesday — but his partisans are truly
dug in. I have already seen Trump’s most dedicated fanatics not only
wave this off but cheer it, and actively sneer at those of us
who raise deep concern about the judgment of the man running the
Pentagon. Even worse, they begin to make degraded moral arguments,
the true sign of how the Trump era has rotted humane political
sensibility: “Who cares about some drug smugglers? Are you on the side
of the monsters ruining Appalachia with fentanyl?” Well no, as it turns
out I am not, nor do I think we should be rocketing boats out of the
water on the farcical pretext that they are “terrorists” the same way
al-Qaeda and Hamas are.
Some
people have their panties in a twist and are making videos about those
twisted panties. A number of e-mails have come inand I meant to address
the topic this weekend. Some White mothers with children are
apparently telling children that if they are lost to go to a Black
woman. And this has angered some Black women. It hasn't angered me.
If a child is in need, I'm not blaming them for their parents --
especially if I don't know their parents.
As
I've shared here repeatedly over the years, I was kidnapped as a child,
raped by the kidnapper. You'd have to be f**king stupid to think I
would ever take offense to a child asking me for help. I nderstand the
anger towards some White people but given my circumstances, I would
never turn a child away and I honestly wonder about the people who
would. So hopefully that answers the e-mails on that topic -- please
note I saw those videos the same as you did but I did not post them
here.
I did not and do not agree with the point being pushed in those videos.
