OP awoke this morning to three startling stories from Closer to the Edge <closertotheedge@substack.com> and you are encouraged to subscribe.  Below are the stories compiled into one post for your convenience and to encourage you to read all three in one sitting.  The hands of the ogre, Stephen Miller are all over this.  ICE is the SS of this struggle and make no mistake, we are at war with our own government.  Protest, march, and speak up.  While we still can.  Impeach Trump daily and be prepared to deal with his minions and quislings should we succeed.

from Closer to the Edge

Francisco García Casique was cutting hair in Longview, Texas when the United States government decided he was a national security threat. 

THE BARBER WHO VANISHED: HOW ICE TURNED A VENEZUELAN HAIRCUT INTO A CRIMINAL ACT

Twenty-four years old. A Venezuelan immigrant. No criminal record. No gang affiliations. Just scissors, tattoos, and a soft voice behind the chair at a Marvel-themed barbershop where he built a new life after arriving in December 2023.

He wasn’t hiding. He wasn’t fleeing anything except the collapse of a homeland. He checked in regularly with ICE, kept his paperwork clean, and dreamed of opening his own shop one day. Instead, he vanished into a legal black hole — not because of what he’d done, but because of what he looked like.

THE TATTOOS THAT TERRORIZED ICE

Francisco had tattoos. Religious ones. One read: “God gives His toughest battles to His strongest warriors.” He shared it with his brother Sebastián — a sign of faith, not affiliation. But to ICE under Donald Trump’s second term, a tattoo is a gang membership card, and a Venezuelan accent is probable cause.

So on March 15, 2025, during a routine ICE check-in, Francisco was detained without warning, stripped of his rights, and tossed into a fast-tracked deportation process with no lawyer and no due process.

He thought he was going home. He’d signed paperwork to be returned to Venezuela. But that’s not where ICE sent him.

They sent him to El Salvador.

A PRISON BUILT FOR THE CAMERAS

El Salvador’s CECOT isn’t a detention center. It’s a showpiece — a concrete stage for President Nayib Bukele’s war-on-gangs theater, where prisoners are paraded half-naked and shackled for viral footage. And that’s exactly where Francisco was frog-marched, chained, and shaved — not because of evidence, but because the optics worked.

His family didn’t get a call. They got a video.

Bukele released the footage himself: detainees kneeling, rows of shaved heads, bodies bent and arms shackled — a perverse victory lap for Bukele’s war on crime. Francisco’s mother spotted him instantly. She recognized his tattoos. His build. His broken face. That’s how she learned her son was no longer in the U.S. — not from ICE, but from Salvadoran propaganda.

THE ALIEN ENEMIES ACT: TRUMP’S NEW DEPORTATION TOOLKIT

Francisco’s deportation wasn’t just cruel. It was unconstitutional. Trump’s administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act — a law from 1798 written during a panic about French spies — to mass-deport Venezuelan immigrants without trials, hearings, or appeals.

In this warped framework, ICE doesn’t need charges. It doesn’t need evidence. It needs a hunch and a rubber stamp.

Francisco was one of the first. He won’t be the last.

A BARBER, A GHOST, A HUMAN BEING

Francisco remains in CECOT. No charges. No lawyer. No trial. No phone calls. Just a name on a list and a body in a prison built for spectacle. His barbershop chair in Longview is empty. His family pleads with human rights groups. His name, briefly in the headlines, fades into the white noise of mass injustice.

But make no mistake: Francisco’s case is the prototype. A lawful resident vanished under the pretense of “public safety.” A family notified by viral footage instead of a phone call. A person rendered disposable because he fit the image of fear.

This is not immigration enforcement. It’s political theater soaked in cruelty.

And every time we look away, we’re letting them cast the next barber.

THE HORROR STAMP: HOW ICE TURNED A GERMAN TOURIST INTO A PRISONER ­͏     ­͏     ­͏     ­͏   Jessica Brösche

THE HORROR STAMP: HOW ICE TURNED A GERMAN TOURIST INTO A PRISONER

Jessica Brösche didn’t come to America to get waterboarded by fluorescent lights. She came to visit a friend in Los Angeles. Instead, she was thrown in solitary confinement like a war criminal, because the United States can’t tell the difference between a tourist and a threat—but it sure knows how to cage both.

This is not a story about border security. This is a story about how ICE humiliates people for sport and gets away with it, every single day.

“WELCOME TO AMERICA. NOW HAND OVER YOUR DIGNITY.”

Jessica Brösche is a 29-year-old tattoo artist from Berlin—cheerful, covered in ink, and evidently dangerous enough to warrant over six weeks in a U.S. immigration prison. She flew to Los Angeles in January 2025 under the Visa Waiver Program to visit her friend Nikita Lofving. A quick trip to Tijuana followed. But when she tried to return via the San Ysidro Port of Entry, she was flagged.

Her crime? Carrying tattoo equipment and having an Instagram account. Customs officers decided that meant she must be planning to work illegally. No proof. No paycheck. No evidence. Just vibes—and the unmistakable stench of xenophobic bureaucracy.

They interrogated her for hours. Denied her a translator. Confiscated her phone. Then they dragged her into ICE custody and threw her into the Otay Mesa Detention Center like she’d smuggled nuclear secrets in her carry-on.

EIGHT DAYS IN THE BOX. SIX WEEKS IN LIMBO.

Brösche spent eight full days in solitary confinement, under buzzing fluorescent lights, fed barely edible food, denied basic hygiene, and given one shower. Screams echoed down the hallway. Other women were crying. Some were vomiting. Some were screaming into the void. So was she.

And after that? ICE kept her locked up for another five weeks—without trial, without transparency, and without a single shred of accountability. This wasn’t prison—it was a stress position disguised as policy. And ICE wasn’t confused. It was doing exactly what it was designed to do: dehumanize, disorient, and dominate.

Brösche later called it “a horror movie.” ICE called it “routine.”

That should haunt every one of us.

HOW TO RUIN A LIFE WITH PAPERWORK

Let’s be crystal clear: Jessica Brösche committed no crime. She misunderstood the fine print of her prior visa status. There was no scheme, no fraud, no plan to break the law. And even if there had been? It would still be indefensible to treat someone this way for what amounts to an immigration technicality.

But that’s how the machine works. You land on the wrong day, with the wrong bag, at the wrong airport—and suddenly, you’re not a human being. You’re a file number. A quota stat. A body to disappear into a cell.

And ICE? ICE thrives on this. On the spectacle. On the silence. On the unchecked power to break people before breakfast.

DEPORTED AND DISPOSABLE

After more than six weeks of psychological warfare, Brösche was deported to Germany in March 2025. She was never charged with a crime. Never allowed to defend herself. Never given a chance to speak freely or be seen as anything more than a problem to eliminate.

Now back in Berlin, she’s trying to recover. She’s speaking out. But what she really wants is for people to understand that what happened to her wasn’t an accident—it was policy. A taxpayer-funded horror show dressed up in red, white, and blue.

ICE ISN’T BROKEN. IT’S OPERATING PERFECTLY.

This wasn’t a rogue officer. This wasn’t a one-off mistake. This was the system working as intended—grinding up a young woman for daring to enter the country with a dream, a passport, and a bag of ink.

ICE doesn’t care who you are. Artist or activist. Student or survivor. If you make them nervous, they’ll throw you in a cage and call it protocol.

And the scariest part? They won’t just do it again. They already are.

THE FINAL STAMP

Jessica Brösche called it a horror movie. ICE called it a checklist.

And that—right there—is the horror. Not that this happened to her. But that it’s designed to happen. That it’s rehearsed, approved, and printed into the policy manual like a boarding pass to hell.

So don’t tell us to “check our visas.” Check your humanity. Because the next time this machine spins its wheel, it won’t be a tattoo artist from Berlin.

It’ll be someone who looks just like you.

Support independent journalism. Share this story. Expose the machine.

The Case of Alireza Doroudi and the Deportation State’s War on Thought

Alireza Doroudi

The Case of Alireza Doroudi and the Deportation State’s War on Thought

No trial. No charge. No explanation.

Alireza Doroudi, a 32-year-old Iranian PhD student in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama, was taken from his home by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 25, 2025. It was before sunrise. Off-campus. No warrant. No heads-up. Just a knock, a pair of cuffs, and silence.

More than a month later, he’s still gone.

DETAINED IN THE DARK

As of May 4, Doroudi remains locked inside the Jena/LaSalle ICE Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana. That’s where they sent him after picking him up in Tuscaloosa like a package being rerouted to a warehouse. He was denied bond. Denied transparency. Denied even the dignity of knowing why.

The official line from the Department of Homeland Security? “Significant national security concerns.”
The supporting evidence? None provided.

ICE hasn’t explained the arrest. DHS hasn’t laid out a case. There’s no indictment. No charges. No hearing with real teeth. Just the looming specter of “national security,” invoked like a spell to strip a student of his future.

THE LOOP OF DOOM

His visa—an F-1 student visa—was revoked in June 2023, without warning or cause. University officials told him he could remain in the U.S. legally as long as he continued his studies. He did. He was fully enrolled. Actively researching. Applying for an EB-1 visa reserved for individuals with “extraordinary ability.”

He was, in every legal sense, following the rules.

But ICE agents came anyway, armed with a decision they didn’t have to explain.

In the hearing that followed, the immigration judge denied him bond—not because of something Doroudi did, but because his visa was already revoked and his ties to the U.S. were “limited.” Translation: You’re suspicious because we made you suspicious.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AS A LIABILITY

Doroudi isn’t an activist. He didn’t protest. He didn’t write op-eds or lead marches. He studied mechanical systems and computational modeling. His attorney, David Rozas, says Doroudi has no criminal record. No political affiliations. No history of activism. Nothing—nothing—to justify the government’s claim that he’s a national security risk.

Rozas has called the case a legal farce:

“He has no access to the actual allegations. He can’t respond to charges he’s never been shown. The burden has been unfairly and absurdly placed on him to disprove a threat no one will define.”

And while he waits, Doroudi sits in a private ICE detention center in Louisiana. A black box. A purgatory. A warning to others.

A COMMUNITY SHAKEN

Back in Tuscaloosa, fear has spread like wildfire.

The Iranian student community is shaken. People are afraid to speak out, to ask questions, to be visible. Professors report a chilling effect in classrooms. The message from ICE is loud and clear: the wrong name, the wrong origin, the wrong moment—and you’re next.

Even the University of Alabama’s College Democrats said it out loud:

“Donald Trump, Tom Homan, and ICE have struck a cold, vicious dagger through the heart of UA’s international community.”

They’re not wrong.

This wasn’t just about one student. It was a raid with an audience. It was a performance meant to terrify. And it’s working.

LOVE IN THE TIME OF EXILE

Doroudi’s fiancée, Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani, is still in Alabama. She’s been fighting to keep him visible. She started a GoFundMe campaign that’s raised over $21,000 for legal costs. She’s made public statements, filed paperwork, coordinated with lawyers, all while grappling with the reality that the man she loves has been buried alive in the machinery of Trump’s deportation state.

She hasn’t been told when—or if—he’ll be released.

Because ICE doesn’t have to say.

THIS IS WHAT ACADEMIC REPRESSION LOOKS LIKE

This isn’t about “illegal immigration.” This isn’t about border crossings. This is about targeted silence. About turning the pursuit of knowledge into a risk factor. Doroudi was extraordinary. That’s what made him a target.

When a government starts detaining engineers from Iran with spotless records, no charges, and glowing academic credentials, it’s not fighting terrorism. It’s fighting intelligence.

It’s fighting curiosity.

It’s fighting hope.

WHERE IS HE NOW?

He’s sitting in Jena, Louisiana. Still detained. Still waiting. Still labeled a threat without a trial.

America should be ashamed.

And we won’t stop saying his name.

Alireza Doroudi.

First, let’s give a big round of applause to the organizers of the marches on Saturday, April 5th, 2025!  Woo hoo!  Cheers!

Now, ask yourself, are we playing right into Trump’s hands?  Will he, at some point in the not too distant future, utilize the Insurrection Act to do what he has wanted to do for so long?  Shoot and jail protesters who don’t agree with him and his Shadow Army?  Is this what the camps are for? Is this the perfect set up for Project 2025 agenda?

First, let’s delve into the definition and the law.

An insurrection is an uprising to change the government.^[7] If a government does not recognize rebels as belligerents, then they are insurgents and the revolt is an insurgency.^[8] In a larger conflict, the rebels may be recognized as belligerents without their government being recognized by the established government, in which case the conflict becomes a civil war.^{[a] – Wikipedia}

Now, here’s the bludgeon of a law:

The Insurrection Act of 1807 is a United States federal law^[1] that empowers the president of the United States to deploy the U.S. military and federalized National Guard troops within the United States in particular circumstances, such as to suppress civil disorder, insurrection, or rebellion.

The act provides a “statutory exception” to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which limits the use of military personnel under federal command for law enforcement purposes within the United States.^[2][3]

Before invoking the powers under the act, 10 U.S.C. § 254 requires the President to publish a proclamation ordering the insurgents to disperse. As part of the Posse Comitatus Act, these provisions have since been amended.

There are exceptions rooted in the president’s own constitutional authority. Defense Department guidelines describe “homeland defense” as a “constitutional exception” to Posse Comitatus restrictions, meaning that measures necessary to protect national security from external threats are not subject to the same limitations. – Wikipedia

(Starting to see why Trump wants to take down Wikipedia?  Donate if you can)

Now, watch this important video:

Will Trump use the events We, The People are creating in order to do what he has wanted for so long?  Shoot protesters in the legs?  Take away rights and property?  End Birthright Citizenship?

These remain open questions.  Below from MS Copilot:

The Insurrection Act can be invoked at any time when the president determines that law enforcement is unable to maintain order or enforce laws effectively. There isn’t a specific waiting period required before invoking the act; however, the decision to use it must be justified by the circumstances, such as rebellion, insurrection, or civil unrest2.

We’ve already seen and heard claims of violence and lawlessness.  False claims.  False flags.  Now, watch this great piece of undercover reporting presented by Democracy Now.

It may be that We, The People, will have to come up with other ways of making our force and displeasure known.  A National Sick Out?  Economic Boycotts?  These have already been tried with varying degrees of visibility and success.  Tax revolt?  Most of us don’t make or pay enough for this to be effective or even felt.

One thing is certain, removing Trump from office could end up being the wrong strategy.  Not with JD waiting in the wings.  He is already the sock puppet of Project 2025.

Leave comments and ideas on the facebook page and please share.  Good ideas and comments will be shared further.  Comments by Red Hats and Quislings will be torched.  We can’t fuck this up.

#Wethepeople #EndTrump

(The insurrection of Frankfurt on 3 April 1833, capital of the German Confederation. Picture of Epinal)

The United States is no longer a safe and welcoming place for foreign visitors.  We shall not gain by the suffering of others.  We don’t need to be protected from Doctors, Scientists, Cartoonists and Artists.  We American citizens now need to be protected FROM our own government.

The USA stands to lose millions from loss of visitors.  Friendly visitors who used to love America.  Now, Germany has issued travel warnings against the US.  Others are sure to follow.  We are no long safe and welcoming.  Visitors are having their phones screened on entry and if the agents find items critical of the current administration, they are hauled off to prison for profit system we call Immigration Detention.

It will come as no surprise when they come for people like me.  Watch the video below courtesy of DW. Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster,  what the German equivalent of what Voice of America once was.  The irony of Germany issuing travel warnings against the United States cannot be overlooked.

This is a story you don’t hear much about in the news. It is a rare and well deserved WIN for the good guys. It is a demonstration that at least parts of the system are still working. It demonstrates the bias of the media towards women and liberals. And most of all it demonstrates that we need more of Jasmine and less of the current leaders (Schumer). Watch the video. An excellent narrative.

At first, I thought this was a dumb idea. But then I remembered we are dealing with an idiot who only cares about ratings and polls. So flood the White House with messages. Make them drown in it. Share this and speak your mind. At least you will get on some sort of watch list right?

https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Re-Posting Mary L. Trump’s Substack from 2/20/25. It’s important and I don’t think Mary will mind.

At the Fulcrum of History
Pressure is brought to bear
MARY L TRUMP

FEB 20

Zelensky has always known what a pathetic, deviant loser this is.

Every day I ask myself some version of the question “What have we done?” in response to some new indignity, some new horror inflicted upon us by the fascist regime currently in control of every branch of the United States government.
I know, of course. I know what we’ve done. And I know why we’ve done it, but such knowledge brings no comfort as the earth shifts beneath our feet and it feels increasingly like there’s very little to hold onto.
Recently, the United States, according to Reuters, recently sent European leaders a so-called “diplomatic questionnaire” about Ukraine’s security, which essentially reads as a test of their willingness to defend Ukraine without U.S. leadership.
The questions weren’t just vague, they were insulting. For example, this one:
“Are there any countries you believe would be indispensable, like maybe the United States of America?”
Or
“Specifically, what short-term and long-term resources do you think will be required from the United States?”
Why do I find these questions this insulting? Because we should already know the answers to them. Because it is an inescapable fact that we should have been helping Ukraine with every resource at our disposal since the beginning of Russia’s illegal invasion. I would argue that it is to our eternal shame that the United States under the Biden administration did not do nearly enough to make sure that this war against our ally perpetuated by our enemy ended as soon as humanly possible.
Why suddenly is the United States riddled with such uncertainty about its role in the conflict? That’s simple: it’s because Donald Trump and his corrupt fascist regime are aligned with the agenda of Vladimir Putin and Moscow. This is a travesty. And it’s a travesty that the people in charge, including those at the State Department, care nothing and know nothing about diplomacy and statecraft.
The United States has now pivoted to offloading its responsibilities to our erstwhile allies and is waiting to see who’s naive enough to stand for it.
________________________________________
Donald’s increasingly hostile stance towards Ukraine and continuing appeasement of Putin has European leaders scrambling to respond to yet another reckless move by the United States. Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Riyadh to attend talks hosted by Saudi Arabia between America and Russia.
Billed as “peace negotiations,” these talks excluded both Ukraine and Ukraine’s European allies.
In response, Europe is doubling down on its efforts to counter Donald’s intentional foreign policy disaster. On Monday, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark, along with top EU and NATO officials, held an emergency summit in Paris to formulate a response to these alarming, if not unexpected, developments.
Kerr Starmer, Prime Minister of Great Britain said, “Europe must play its role, and I’m prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement. But there must be a US backstop because a US security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine, again.”
And Danish Prime Minister, Better Frederikesen said, “I am very concerned about making a fast ceasefire because it can give Putin and Russia a better possibility to go back to Russia and to re-ramp and to mobilize again, attack Ukraine or another country in Europe.”
That’s what it’s like to have leaders who understand the gravity and scope of the situation. We, it should go without saying, are not so lucky.
Another meeting was convened in France and participation has been expanded to include Norway, Canada, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Finland, Romania, Sweden, and Belgium, which is to say everybody who cares about the Western Alliance, one of the greatest diplomatic alliances in history, which was created in the wake of the horrors of World War II. Tragically, this alliance no longer includes the United States of America.
French president Emmanuel Macron spoke with Donald before the emergency EU meeting in Paris, but Euro News reports that Donald made it crystal clear: Europe would not have a seat at the negotiating table in Riyadh, as shortsighted and obscene a move as it seems. Macron, however, remained steadfast in his belief that it is untenable for Europe to be excluded from negotiations. This, in part, is because European countries have been in this fight since the beginning, but also because there is so much at stake for them.
In a post on Twitter, Macron wrote:
After bringing together several European leaders, I’ve just spoken with Donald, and then with President Zelensky, we seek a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine. To achieve this, Russia must end its aggression, and this must be accompanied by strong and credible security guarantees for the Ukrainians. Otherwise, there is a risk that this ceasefire will end up like the Minsk agreements.
We will work on this with all Europeans, Americans, and Ukrainians. This is the key.
That is exactly right. The whole point of Joe Biden’s attempt to isolate Russia after its illegal 2022 invasion of Ukraine was to prevent Putin from dictating terms. Now, Donald is doing Putin’s bidding, because he doesn’t care about Ukraine. He only cares about keeping Vladimir Putin pleased.
Meanwhile, in Riyadh, Donald’s people met with Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who is one of the architects of the invasion of Ukraine, and Yuri Shakov, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, for more than four hours. The Kremlin, of course, is thrilled with how this is all unfolding. Lavrov said the meeting was productive, while the Russian foreign ministry called it a “very serious conversation,” which is hard to imagine considering Marco Rubio was involved.
During the discussions, Lavrov and top Kremlin officials escalated their demands to Donald’s “negotiating “ team, more accurately described as a group of people just taking dictation and handing over Putin’s wish-list to Donald, who will make sure every item is checked off.
Lavrov rejected NATO membership for Ukraine as “not enough,” stating that NATO must go even further and revoke its 2008 promise that Ukraine would eventually be allowed to join the alliance. Lavrov also declared that any NATO troop deployment to Ukraine under any flag would be unacceptable.
In the wake of the discussions, Shakov said that Russia is looking for a full reassessment of its relationship with the United States. This is an alarming development, and one of the things that is so incredibly frustrating here, besides the fact that we are betraying one of our greatest allies, is that we are also betraying Western democracy with these self-serving and destructive moves. Also, many of us have seen this coming since 2016—and probably well before that. Yet, here we are.
________________________________________
President Volodomyr Zelensky has remained crystal clear himself as to Ukraine’s position on what the future of Ukraine looks like.
“We will have low chance, low chance to survive without support of the United States. I think it’s very important, critical, but I mean, I don’t want to think about it. Yes, we have to think about it. I don’t want to think that we will not be strategic partners. I don’t want to think about it because it’ll make a pressure on morality of Ukrainians and it will be worse, the thing from the very beginning of the war, but we increased our production that really we really can count on our level of defending industry, but it’s not enough.”
This is both tragedy and travesty, and if things go the way that Zelensky believes they very well might, if the United States withdraws from NATO and NATO cannot step up without the support of the United States, it will also be disaster and atrocity. And all of it can be laid at the feet of the traitor, Donald Trump.
________________________________________
Donald is calling this the grotesque display that occurred in Saudi Arabia a “peace negotiation,” but Zelensky very properly is calling bullshit. He originally had scheduled a visit Saudi Arabia but canceled it when he realized that the United States and Russia planned to meet without giving Ukraine, the aggrieved party, a seat at the negotiating table.
Share
Instead, Zelensky visited Turkey to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. While at the Ukrainian embassy, he said, “It is critical that any negotiations to end the war are not happening behind the backs of the key parties affected by the Russian aggression.”
Zelensky has also continued to deny Donald’s offer for the United States to take 50% ownership of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in exchange, essentially, for nothing. The so-called deal was submitted to Zelensky last Wednesday, and this is what Zelensky had to say about his decision not to sign the agreement.
We cannot forget about the main idea that was in the very beginning that let us protect all that. Help us defend this and we’ll make money on this together. And here it’s very important that in this shall be a term two protected, and that is the security guarantees. And if we’re not given the security guarantees from the United States, I believe that the economic treaty will not work.
Former Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmitri Kba went further: “Why should Europe give away the resources that should fuel its own economy to America? It unequivocally should not.”
This is grotesque. Donald Trump is demanding that Ukraine hand over half of its natural resources to pay for assistance the United States already provided during the Biden administration.
In an official press release sent out by the US Department of State, the following cryptic measures were laid out:
• Establish a consultation mechanism to address irritants to our bilateral relationship with the objective of taking steps necessary to normalize the operation of our respective duplicate matter missions.
If you understand what that means, please let me know, because I have absolutely no idea. It sounds like doublespeak to me.
And then this:
• Respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides.
Accomplishing that is impossible as long as the victim in all of this is not included in these so-called negotiations.
Next:
• Lay the groundwork for future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities, which will emerge from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine.
The United States official position is that the only way to secure an illicitly negotiated peace is to give Russia everything it wants—including Ukrainian territory Russia has already captured,
Ukraine, on the other hand, will not only lose said territory, but Donald has made it explicitly clear that he has plans to raid Ukraine’s abundant supply of natural resources, including its rare earth minerals.
The unconscionable meeting in Riyadh was a pledge for the parties—again, excluding Ukraine and the EU—to remain engaged to ensure that the agreement between Russia and the United States, which has been agreed to by no other interested parties, moves forward. And this will be entirely at the expense of Ukraine, while its enemy, formerly our enemy, receives the spoils of its illegal war of aggression.
All of this is happening, because one twisted and corrupt man, whom a plurality of American voters so ignominiously put in charge of our once great democracy, who understands nothing and cares about nothing, will wreak whatever untold damage he is capable of unleashing all for the sake of enriching himself.
________________________________________
The Trump regime will continue to move ahead without allowing for the involvement of Ukraine. The U.S. is already in talks with Russia to plan another meeting about the future of Ukraine and its people, and, to the humiliation of all of us, Putin has extended an invitation for Donald to visit Moscow, which this abject failure of a man will almost certainly accept.
There is some speculation that Donald might join Putin at Red Square this May when Russia commemorates the 80th anniversary of its victory in World War II. The idea that those two traitors to humanity will be allowed to oversee such a commemoration is an obscenity.
________________________________________
At a press conference held at Mar-a-Lago recently , Donald blamed Ukraine for having been illegally invaded by Russia. He said this because he is insane and he is beholden to malign forces.
Throughout all of this, though, Pres. Zelensky has stood firm, approaching this unfathomable nightmare with as much restraint and diplomacy as he can muster. After Donald’s latest comment, Zelensky addressed the kind of disinformation that originates in Russia and is then repeated ad nauseum by its greatest ally, Donald Trump.
Another story, since we’re talking about percentages, we are seeing a lot of disinformation coming from Russia. We understand this and we have proof that these figures are being discussed between America and Russia. Unfortunately Pres. Trump, with all due respect, for him as the leader of a nation we respect greatly, the American people, is living in this disinformation space.
Donald, responding on his failing social media platform, posted this:
Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle.
The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand Equalization, in that this War is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation.
He escalated tensions further by claiming that Zelenksy is a “dictator without elections,” an incendiary and wildly untrue statement that he later repeated.
This is where we are, this is what we have been reduced to.
__
Last week, Christophe Hogan, chairman of the 2025 Munich Security Conference, gave his farewell address at the event on Saturday in which he said the following:
This conference started as a transatlantic conference after the speech of Vice President Vance on Friday. We have to fear that our common value base is not that common anymore. I’m very grateful to all those European politicians that spoke out and reaffirmed the values and principles that they are defending. No one did this better than President Zelensky. Let me conclude, and this becomes difficult. . .
Chairman Hogan had to suspend his remarks because he was weeping, as we all should, for the grievous blow struck at the heart of the Western alliance and the fact that that weapon striking the blow is being wielded by the United States of America, once the greatest democracy in human history and a bright light in the fight against tyranny and fascism.
I cannot improve upon Hogan’s words, at least those he was capable of uttering, except to say that America’s values and European values are no longer closely aligned. They are not aligned at all. America is in the throes of a fascist movement, and I worry for all of us. But right now, in particular, I worry for our ally Ukraine.
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© 2025 Mary L Trump
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104
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Take heed of this warning from Robert Reich. We now live under an administration which knows Trickle Down is a trick. A trick to take your money. And most importantly, your power. We must begin to root out these devils now. Now! Now! Now!

Don’t wait for mid-terms. Don’t wait for the Genral Election in four years! Do Something! Now!

Credit Alternet: https://www.alternet.org/trumps-first-week/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Jan.26.2025_2.59pm

Robert Reich January 26, 2025

The New York Times describes Trump as leading “a global wave of hardline conservative populism.”

Rubbish.

What Trump is undertaking has nothing whatever to do with conservatism, which is about conserving institutions and shrinking the size of government. And it has nothing to do with populism, which is about confronting elites.

Trump is leading a move to replace democracy with oligarchy.

He’s implementing a plan to make the wealthiest people in America far wealthier and more powerful, including Trump himself, and to turn American democracy into a giant corporation run by a handful of absurdly rich men.

Trump’s divisive policies will cause great harm, to be sure, and we must do everything we can to protect those who are vulnerable to them. But his cruel divisiveness is deflecting attention from the main event.

The media reported on all the hot-buttons Trump pushed: The government now recognizes only two “immutable” genders, male and female. Migrants (now referred to as “aliens”) are being turned away at the border. Immigration agents are freed to target hospitals, schools, and churches in search of people to deport. Diversity efforts in the federal government have been dismantled and employees turned into snitches. Federal money will be barred from paying for many abortions.

All awful to be sure, but the bigger story is Trump’s consolidation of power — substituting loyalists for experts across the government, using retribution to intimidate others, purging the government’s independent inspectors general, giving the Defense Department more authority over civilian life (and putting a raving loyalist in charge), giving Elon Musk authority to cut spending and roll back regulations, and readying a massive tax cut for the wealthy and big corporations.

Americans aren’t seeing this big story yet because Trump’s divisiveness is masking it.

One example: Trump fired Lina Khan, the aggressive monopoly-buster chair of the Federal Trade Commission, and replaced her with corporate stooge Andrew Ferguson. As a result, giant corporations and their CEOs are now free to get even bigger — merging with one another, acquiring smaller companies, and using predatory bullying to wipe out competitors. These are key steps on the road toward even more concentrated oligarchic control.

Yet what’s been reported this week is that Ferguson is purging diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies from the Federal Trade Commission.

I’m not playing down the importance of DEI. I’m just saying that the really big shift is happening behind the rightward flip. In fact, the terms “left” and “right” mean less and less now. The big story is about power and wealth moving into fewer and fewer hands.

Trump is the frontman. The three richest men in the world (Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg) stood prominently before him when he was sworn in last week. Trump has appointed other billionaires to key positions.

Behind them is a coterie of billionaires pushing for more oligarchic control of America (among them, Peter Thiel, Blake Masters, tech entrepreneur David Sacks, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Palantir adviser Jacob Helberg, and Sequoia Capital’s Doug Leone).

Their two key inside players are Musk and JD Vance.

The oligarchs are counting on Vance to become president when Trump is incapacitated or dies in office, or clings to power beyond 2028 and turns power over to Vance. Vance will manage the final transition to an oligarchic form of government.

Recall that Vance would never have been elected senator from Ohio in 2022 were it not for Thiel’s $15 million investment in him (by far the largest portion of Vance’s campaign fund).

Thiel knew what he was buying. Vance had worked for Thiel’s California venture capital firm before running for the Senate and was part of Thiel’s group of rich crypto bros, tech executives, back-to-the-landers, and disaffected far-right intellectuals.

Because Thiel had been a major funder of Trump’s 2016 presidential run, he had significant influence with Trump when urging him to pick Vance for vice president.

Thiel once wrote: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” Hello? Freedom is incompatible with democracy only if you view democracy as a potential constraint on your wealth and power.

That’s the whole point. Thiel and his fellow billionaire oligarchs want it all.

Their intellectual godfather is Curtis Yarvin, a 51-year-old computer engineer who believes that political power in the United States has been held by a liberal amalgam of universities and the mainstream media, whose commitment to equality and justice is eroding social order.

Yarvin thinks democratic governments are inefficient and wasteful. They should be replaced with sovereign joint-stock corporations whose major “shareholders” select an executive with total power, who serves at their pleasure. Yarvin refers to the city-state of Singapore as an example of a successful authoritarian regime.

The first step toward achieving Yarvin’s vision was offered by Vance in a 2021 podcast — replace “every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state … with our people. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country, and say” – as did Andrew Jackson – that “the chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.”

Yarvin’s emphasis on the inefficiency of democratic government is the seed for Musk’s department of government efficiency, itself another step toward Yarvin’s joint-stock corporation of oligarchs.

A third step: cryptocurrency substitutes for the U.S. dollar. This would shift financial controls out of a democratically elected system of government and into the hands of oligarchs who control crypto.

Make no mistake: Trump’s first week was a catastrophe for many vulnerable people. But the biggest story was his startling initial moves from democracy to oligarchy.

My hope lies in Americans noticing this.

As I’ve said, not since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century has such vast wealth turned itself into power so unapologetically, unashamedly, and defiantly.

Americans don’t abide aristocracy. We were founded in revolt against unaccountable power and wealth. We will not tolerate this barefaced takeover.

The backlash, when it comes, will be stunning.

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid”

If you must remain stupid, here are your rules to live by.

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

― George Carlin

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