U.S. Border Enforcement - ICE will get you

[Casey Pelous]

It was basically the feds throwing spaghetti against the wall in hopes of something sticking. A legal temper tantrum, if you will.

ICE:

 

[Innula Zenovka]

DOJ vowed to punish those who disrupt Trump's immigration crackdown. Dozens of cases have crumbled

The Justice Department has embarked on a monthslong effort to prosecute people accused of assaulting federal officers during protests of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

apnews.com

The Justice Department has struggled to deliver on that commitment, however. In examining 166 federal criminal cases brought since May against people in four Democratic-led cities at the epicenter of demonstrations, The Associated Press found:

— Of the 100 people initially charged with felony assaults on federal agents, 55 saw their charges reduced to misdemeanors or dismissed outright. At least 23 pleaded guilty, most of them to reduced charges in deals with prosecutors that resulted in little or no jail time.

— More than 40% of the cases involved relatively minor misdemeanor charges, a figure that appears to undermine Trump’s claims that many of those accused are domestic terrorists.

— All five defendants, including Reid, who went to trial so far were acquitted.

 

[Free]

Supreme Court Upholds Block to Trump’s Chicago Military Takeover

Read more here.

www.democracydocket.com

President Donald Trump’s military takeover of Chicago will not go forward after the Supreme Court Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling halting his attempt to send hundreds of National Guard troops to the city.

The court’s long-awaited 6-3 decision deals a significant blow to Trump’s authoritarian goal of exerting military control over cities and integrating soldiers into routine policing. The ruling will likely also undermine his military intervention in Los Angeles and his attempted deployment in Portland, Oregon.

In maintaining the lower court’s decision, the Supreme Court said Trump unlawfully used an archaic statute to federalize hundreds of Illinois Guard troops, who are normally under Gov. JB Pritzker’s (D) control.

A SCOTUS 6-3 decision? This usually goes Trumps way.

 

[Soen Eber]

So who switched, and why?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Reuters: US targets former EU commissioner, activists with visa bans over alleged censorship

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the five people targeted with visa bans "have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose."

"These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states - in each case targeting American speakers and American companies," Rubio said in an announcement.

Rubio did not name those targeted, but Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers identified them on X, accusing the individuals of "fomenting censorship of American speech."

The most high-profile target was French former business executive Thierry Breton, who served as the European commissioner for the internal market from 2019-2024. Rogers called Breton "a mastermind" of the DSA and said he once threatened President Donald Trump's ally, X owner Elon Musk, ahead of an interview Musk conducted with Trump. Reuters was unable to immediately reach Breton for comment.

The visa bans also hit Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate; Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German nonprofit HateAid; and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), Rogers said.

And from The Guardian: Two British anti-hate speech campaigners sanctioned by US state department

 

[detrius]

Anna-Lena von Hodenberg

That's an... unfortunate name.

 

[Casey Pelous]

That's an... unfortunate name.

Huh? I don't get it.

 

[detrius]

The name literally translates into "Anna-Lena from (the) Testicle Mountain".

 

[Casey Pelous]

The name literally translates into "Anna-Lena from (the) Testicle Mountain".

Of course the man gets all the credit.

 

[Soen Eber]

There seem to be a great many respected people with that name as well. I wonder if they come from Fuchsstadt or Bielefeld?

 

[detrius]

Of course the man gets all the credit.

The name "Anna" also comes from the Hebrew name "Hannah", which means "grace" or "favour".

"Lena" comes from the Greek name "Helena", which translates into "the bright one," "shining," or "torch".

So the full name could be read as "the graceful light from the testicle mountain".

However, the family name is actually a mix of Low and High German.

In Low German, "hoden" is simply plural for "hode" or "hood", which is the Low German word for "hat" or... "hood". So the family name should be "Hodenbarg" ("barg" is the Low German word for "hill" or "mountain") - but for some reason, they switched to the High German "berg" and kept the first part of the name in Low German.

Maybe they thought "berg" sounded larger than "barg".

 

[detrius]

There seem to be a great many respected people with that name as well. I wonder if they come from Fuchsstadt or Bielefeld?

Weser Marshes, south of Bremen. (location of their castle)

 

[Innula Zenovka]

White South African Who Came To U.S. After Trump Invite Has Been Detained For Months

An Afrikaner who came to the U.S. after President Donald Trump claimed the country would be a safe haven for people like him has been held in federal detention for months since his arrival. Benjamin S...

www.yahoo.com

The South African man was transferred to a federal detention facility within two days and has remained there ever since. After leaving behind a life of relative comfort on the word of Trump, he now sleeps on a metal bunk bed.

“I never expected this to happen,” Schoonwinkel said in a video interview with The New York Times this month. “I expected a little bit of red tape.”

 

[Noodles]

Reuters: US targets former EU commissioner, activists with visa bans over alleged censorship





And from The Guardian: Two British anti-hate speech campaigners sanctioned by US state department

Totally normal non fascist behavior.

 

[Casey Pelous]

White South African Who Came To U.S. After Trump Invite Has Been Detained For Months

An Afrikaner who came to the U.S. after President Donald Trump claimed the country would be a safe haven for people like him has been held in federal detention for months since his arrival. Benjamin S...

www.yahoo.com

Wow. So Grampa Poopy Pants let somebody down, huh?

Who coulda seen that coming?

 

[Soen Eber]

Wow. So Grampa Poopy Pants let somebody down, huh?

Who coulda seen that coming?

Wait.

This isn't satire? It read so much like an Onion piece.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Wait.

This isn't satire? It read so much like an Onion piece.

I think people are supposed to apply for asylum at a US consulate before trying to enter the country rather than arrive on a tourist visa and apply for asylum when they get off the plane.

Having said that, I suspect there's also a degree of malicious compliance somewhere in the story.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Wait.

This isn't satire? It read so much like an Onion piece.

These days, the line between reality and satire is really badly blurred.

 

[Beebo Brink]

ICE deports single dad of 6 American children after 34 years in the US - Newsweek

A single dad of six children was deported to Mexico last month after living in the U.S. for more than 34 years, his lawyer told Newsweek.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek that Rosalio Vasquez Meave was arrested on September 15. His attorney, Michelle Edstrom, said he was taking his children to school to drop them off when an ICE vehicle pulled him over and arrested him.

Edstrom said he had a valid work permit and was the sole caretaker of his children, all of whom are U.S. citizens.

 

[Free]