Reed MidekeStory of the guy ICE claimed fractured his skull by running into wall* is every bit as horrific as you'd expect https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-minneapolis-hospital-ice-beating-assault-4e77742e0629fc7f127c0aa38b3d2a70
Immigrant whose skull was broken during ICE arrest says beating was unprovoked
A Mexican immigrant whose skull was broken during his arrest by immigration officers last month in Minnesota says the beating was unprovoked. Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says federal agents began hitting him right after they pulled him from a vehicle. He was hospitalized with eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages. Officers claimed he ran into a wall, but medical staff immediately doubted that account. His case has sparked calls for accountability and transparency. Castañeda Mondragón, who entered the U.S. legally, faces a long recovery and uncertain future. He hopes to stay in the U.S. and support his family despite fears of another encounter with ICE.
"I know state terror when I see it. It is not just Iran’s [IRCG], Russia’s FSB or Egypt’s National Security Agency. It’s lawyers in suits and bureaucrats at desks and journalists spinning a narrative so the truth is distorted. It’s ICE agents breaking car windows and shooting unarmed citizens. It is militarised borders; family separations and deportations without due process. It is turning fear into a policy, a goal" https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/08/state-terror-us-israel-donald-trump-benjamin-netanyahu
ICC member states should really not be taking this sitting down
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/trumps-war-global-justice-court-staff-un-face-terroristgrade-sanctions-2026-02-06/
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/trumps-war-global-justice-court-staff-un-face-terroristgrade-sanctions-2026-02-06/
"We're respected again" in one picture
The Best People files: Cleta Mitchell sidekick election denier "researcher" Kevin Moncla, who reportedly provided evidence for the Fulton county search warrant "In 2004 … pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor voyeurism charge and was subsequently ordered by a jury to pay $3.25 million in damages after secretly filming guests in his home bathroom"
https://www.propublica.org/article/kevin-moncla-election-researcher-fulton-county-georgia
The Conservative Researcher Being Linked to the FBI’s Seizure of Election Records in Georgia
Kevin Moncla has tried repeatedly to prove that the 2020 vote in Fulton County, Georgia, was tainted by fraud. While state election overseers have rejected his claims, his work may be fueling the federal government’s ongoing investigations.
They really want to make sure everyone knows that any deal with US is worthless under Trump https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpw052pkvl0o
#KavanaughStop "the FBI field office in Boise initially said in a statement that claims of children being zip-tied were "completely false," officials there later amended that assertion, telling reporters that no "young" children were zip-tied. Later, the Caldwell Police Department, which participated in the raid, issued a statement acknowledging that minors had been zip-tied"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-zip-tied-14-year-old-girl-idaho-raid-ice-tactics/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/feds-zip-tied-14-year-old-girl-idaho-raid-ice-tactics/
A 14-year-old girl described being zip-tied during Idaho raid, sparking fresh questions about ICE tactics
A 14-year-old girl said she was "crying" and "struggling to breathe" when law enforcement officers herded her onto a racetrack with other detainees and zip-tied her hands.
A possible tiny silver lining to this shitshow is more grand juries realizing they can decline to indict the ham sandwich https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/doj-fails-secure-indictment-democrats-involved-illegal-orders-video-rcna258385
So much winning: "In 2025, only about 59% of Americans gave high ratings when asked to evaluate how good their life will be in about five years, the lowest annual measure since Gallup began asking this question almost 20 years ago" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/new-gallup-poll-reveals-depth-of-americans-gloom-about-the-future
Good Politico round up of the administration's systematic contempt for the judiciary in immigration cases
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/10/ice-immigration-detention-court-orders-00771727
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/10/ice-immigration-detention-court-orders-00771727
This administration seems bound and determined to convince the world that any "national security" justification the US claims is a hollow pretext to be created or bargained away on a whim
(not that previous administrations were immune to pretextual "national security" measures of course, but they generally put more effort into maintaining a veneer of plausibility)
🤡 🎬 "Noem was forced to switch planes due to a maintenance issue, but the blanket she used was not transferred to the second plane … In response, Lewandowski fired the pilot.
In another plot twist, the pilot was then reinstated after no one else was available to fly the pair home"
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-barbies-alleged-lover-fired-her-pilot-for-absurd-reason/
I for one am shocked… "Video evidence has revealed that sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements"
(shocked that DHS would admit it)
JFC people, this should not be "reassuring" all that stuff about shared history and culture and how the US just wants to "help" Europe is just Vance's white supremacist screed in a cheap suit
https://www.rferl.org/a/rubio-warning-munich-speech-/33678260.html
Rubio Wraps Warnings In Warmth As Europe Breathes A Sigh Of Relief
At this year's Munich Security Conference, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed European leaders with affirmations of transatlantic ties -- calling America a "child of Europe" -- while urging reforms to address deindustrialization, migration, and sovereignty challenges.
Vance: We hate you and everything you stand for, so we must destroy the EU and install far-right racist parties in government
Rubio: We love you and our shared historical culture, so to save it we must destroy the EU and install far-right racist parties in government
Rubio: We love you and our shared historical culture, so to save it we must destroy the EU and install far-right racist parties in government
"Hundreds of judges around the country have ruled more than 4,400 times since October that President Donald Trump’s administration is detaining immigrants unlawfully"
"While Rubio’s tone was politer than the diatribe delivered by US vice-president JD Vance on the same stage the previous year — the first of a year-long series of blows dealt by Trump’s administration to the EU and Nato — the substance of the US message was little changed" https://www.ft.com/content/94633f65-04c0-4cea-b682-98c17720eebc
Aaron Blake rounds up a few of soon-to-be-ex DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin's biggest lies
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/17/politics/dhs-ice-trump-tricia-mclaughlin
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/17/politics/dhs-ice-trump-tricia-mclaughlin
The many claims by Trump’s DHS that have fallen apart
The imminent exit of Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin from the agency is the latest sign of a reset in the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation strategy, which has fallen sharply out of favor with the American people.
Chlorine Dioxide, Raw Camel Milk: The FDA No Longer Warns Against These and Other Ineffective Autism Treatments
The FDA has taken down a webpage warning about therapies and products making “false claims” of treating autism. It’s part of a series of actions the agency has taken under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to discredit long-established science.
Wittes' translation of Rubio's speech is not so different from mine https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-situation--translating-rubio
The cruelty is the point: 'last week in Wisconsin, a federal judge pressed the Trump administration to say why the nursing mother of a six-month-old had been detained. In response, DOJ said it consulted with the Department of Homeland Security and that DHS was “unable to identify” any reason to keep her detained' https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/18/pregnant-nursing-ice-detainees-00784683
🤡 🎬 "A PDF that Department of Homeland Security officials provided to New Hampshire governor Kelly Ayotte’s office about a new effort to build “mega” detention and processing centers across the United States contains embedded comments and metadata identifying the people who worked on it"
https://www.wired.com/story/metadata-exposes-authors-of-ices-mega-detention-center-plans/
https://www.wired.com/story/metadata-exposes-authors-of-ices-mega-detention-center-plans/
Taking that along with the numerous SNAFUs in the Epstein and JFK releases, I think there's a real chance the latest hastily ordered #UFO/#UAP release will turn up something interesting, if it happens (far from certain, given Trump's long track record of announcing shit and not following through).
Not aliens, mind you, but accidentally outing some other classified program or embarrassing screwup
Nothing says "government efficiency" like paying to lock up retiree tourists for six weeks when they would have gladly paid to get their own flight on the first day!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton-valid-visa-detained-ice
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton-valid-visa-detained-ice
‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks
Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone’
Damning Rolling Stone deep dive into RFK Jr's HHS wildly unethical involvement in the Guinea-Bissau hepatitis B vaccine trial
(also no small irony Rolling Stone helped launch RFK Jr's antivax grift into the mainstream)
"Now, rather than largely ignoring the actual operations of one agency, [Jay Bhattacharya] can largely ignore the actual operations of two"
While the Trump admin is trying to throw an extra $500 billion at the Pentagon, they also claim spending a tiny fraction of that to stop people literally starving to death is not in the national interest
Prediction: There will be unhinged posting when this story filters into Trump's media feed
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jeanine-pirros-office-shelves-pursuit-democrats-social-video-sources-s-rcna259783
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jeanine-pirros-office-shelves-pursuit-democrats-social-video-sources-s-rcna259783
Lawfare piece shows in excruciating detail
1) The truly astonishing levels of misconduct required for the feds to actually be held in contempt
2) Holding them in contempt does work, at the individual case level
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lessons-from-the-minnesota-s-civil-contempt-case
Tariff 🤡 🎬 continues: Apparently that tweeted increase from 10% to 15% didn't make it into the published documents
Area blackmail artist opposes initiatives to reduce blackmail exposure
"‘No chance’ U.S. will be in drawn-out war in Middle East" shirt has people asking a lot of questions etc etc
"In fact, China is nearly as transactional as the Trump administration is. What sets Beijing apart, however, is its predictability, which offers countries a clear picture of how they might work with China even if it is less appealing than what the United States could offer" - Heck of a job guys
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/china-winning-waiting
"The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!
Thank you for your attention to this matter"
Trump DOJ giving up on the absurd law firm EOs sure seems like it should have consequences for the leaders of the ones that folded, but probably won't
"When FBI Director Kash Patel fired a dozen FBI agents and staff last week for their role in the classified documents investigation of Donald Trump, he targeted an elite counter espionage unit that investigates threats from foreign adversaries and specializes in Iran, according to more than a half dozen sources"
https://www.ms.now/news/kash-patels-latest-firings-ousted-agents-with-expertise-in-iran
LOL "All importers of record whose entries were subject to IEEPA duties are entitled to the benefit" [a refund]
Sure, there's a lot one could criticize about Donald's economic policies, but you can't deny he's created an entire new industry of corrupt pardon lobbyists
Want to be incandescent with rage? This story should do the trick: "To flag grants for their DEI involvement, Fox entered the following command into ChatGPT: “Does the following relate at all to DEI? Respond factually in less than 120 characters. Begin with ‘Yes.’ or ‘No.’ followed by a brief explanation. Do not use ‘this initiative’ or ‘this description’ in your response.” He then inserted short descriptions of each grant"
#KavanaughStop "Sunny, a U.S. citizen born in Evanston, was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport while returning from Turkey on Thursday … held at the lower level of Terminal 3 at O’Hare for nearly 30 hours along with five of her colleagues. Two of them are also U.S. citizens and three are green card holders" and then shuffled through ICE detention centers before eventual release
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/family-says-us-citizen-detained-after-returning-to-ohare/
DOJ and DHS reportedly have separate investigations into the 2020 election in Arizona…
RE: https://social.freedom.press/@freedomofpress/116211871864286727
something something warrior ethos something something lethality… https://mastodon.social/@freedomofpres[email protected]/116211871899008902
Mr. Aguilar Garcia is a great American and a true patriot 🫡
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230424/gov.uscourts.mnd.230424.191.0_1.pdf
Bovino "chose to quit rather than be pushed out as he faces multiple investigations into his conduct, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) insider"
Great work from @Bellingcat identifying individual CBP goons, including Kristopher Hewson, who was apparently part of the group that assaulted Aguilar Garcia*
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03/17/border-patrol-agents-of-chaos/
Remember that time discount Goebbels assured* us "Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland"?
Welp: "When Danish soldiers were flown to Greenland in January of this year, they brought explosives with them so that they could destroy, among other things, the runways in Nuuk and Kangerlussuaq … cargo also included blood from Danish blood banks"
* https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5674507-stephen-miller-trump-greenland/
Danmark forberedte sig på muligt angreb fra USA: Fløj poser med blod til Grønland og gjorde klar til at sprænge landingsbaner i luften
Nøglekilder i Danmark og Europa fortæller nu for første gang, hvad der skete i de mest kritiske dage, hvor Donald Trump truede med at tage Grønland "på den hårde måde".
"The goal of having soldiers on land in Greenland – with as many different flags on their shoulders as possible – was, according to six of the sources, so that the Americans would be forced to take a major hostile action if Donald Trump actually wanted to occupy Greenland militarily" - After which, Trump immediately threw a tariff hissy fit
NYT roundup of Mr Law and Order's fraud pardons
Another one for the Best People™ files: That guy (Paolo Zampolli) who used his high level Trump admin connections to try to sic ICE on his ex… met said ex when she was 17 and recently arrived in the US courtesy of a plane ride from one Jeffery Epstein
Hey remember that time the GOP was all up in arms* over how it was "election interference" for Ukraine have a photo op with local Dems at a factory in Dem district? Can you imagine the shitstorm if, say, Macron went on TV to give AOC his "complete and total endorsement"
"Move fast and break things" bros capturing the NRC, what could possibly go wrong? https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-nuclear-power-nrc-safety-doge-vought
DOGE Goes Nuclear: How Trump Invited Silicon Valley Into America’s Nuclear Power Regulator
In its rush to boost nuclear energy, the Trump administration is rapidly rewriting rules to ease regulations and provide financial breaks for industry. “The safety culture is under threat,” a former head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.