'Laura Dogu: The American Coup Expert Appointed by Trump as Top US Envoy in Venezuela'

"Laura Dogu, newly appointed US envoy to Venezuela, is described by the Los Angeles Times as an appropriate choice because she 'navigated crises' in Nicaragua and Honduras during periods of 'social and political volatility.' What the LA Times fails to add is that it was precisely Dogu’s job to create crisis and volatility in both countries."

"In Latin America she is widely regarded, for good reason, as the 'US ambassador of interventions and coups.' "

"The LA Times appears entirely relaxed about a US diplomat’s job being to meddle in the internal politics of a country whose president the US has just kidnapped in an operation resulting in the murder over 100 people and involving the bombing of key public buildings and health facilities."

"Dogu enters the fray 'leveraging her experience with authoritarian regimes' and her 'deep Latin American expertise.' The LA Times implies that her job is likely to be proactive, looking for ways to ease out the Chavista government and replace it with one more to Washington’s liking, even if that takes a while."

Continued at link:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/laura-dogu-venezuela-coupcoup

'President Trump pardons Klecko, Newton, Lewis, Henry, Cannon'

(ESPN) "WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Thursday pardoned former NFL players Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon on Thursday."

"Klecko, a former star for the New York Jets, pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993 after lying to a federal grand jury that was investigating insurance fraud."

"Newton, an offensive lineman, pleaded guilty to a federal drug trafficking charge in 2002 after authorities discovered $10,000 in his pickup truck as well as 175 pounds of marijuana in an accompanying car driven by another man."

"Lewis, formerly of the Baltimore Ravens and the Cleveland Browns, pleaded guilty in a drug case in which he used a cell phone to try to set up a drug deal not long after he was the fifth pick in the 2000 NFL draft."

"Henry pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine in 2009 for financing a drug ring that moved the drug between Colorado and Montana."

"And Cannon, who played with the Houston Oilers, Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs, admitted to counterfeiting in the mid-1980s after a series of bad investments and debts left him broke."

Full article at link

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47915457/president-trump-pardons-klecko-newton-lewis-henry-cannon

'Pam Bondi Is Such a Bitch' - jojofromjerz

"It was another day ending in Y in Donald Trump’s motherfucking America. And there we were again, dragged into yet another gobsmacking gauntlet of gilded grift and grievance theater — a stress test of our sanity, our restraint, our daytime sobriety and our ability to resist the urge to chuck the goddamn remote control through the goddamn living room window."

"I was watching clips from the Bondi hearing — which dragged its bloated carcass across my screen for hours — and it was the single most unprofessional, evasive, petulant, mean-girl spectacle I have ever seen in my life."

"She was smarmy. Insufferable. Condescending. Combative. And so fucking rude."

"Was she raised by a marauding band of exiled Real Housewives, bottle-fed on boxed Pinot Grigio and menthols, left to marinate in a playpen with a bleach cocktail and a stack of National Enquirers? Did she learn her signature brand of venom by mainlining reruns of Jerry Springer and YouTube compilations of cats getting drop-kicked?"

Continued at link:

https://open.substack.com/pub/jojofromjerz/p/pam-bondi-is-such-a-bitch?r=r38w4&utm_medium=ios

Thanks for the hearts, much appreciated.

'This Is What an Out-of-Control DOJ Looks Like'

(TPM) "Over the course yesterday afternoon and into the evening, the full extent of the Trump Justice Department’s deterioration into thuggery came into clearer view."

"First came the release of the preposterous affidavit in support of the search warrant for 2020 election ballots and records in Fulton County, Georgia, which revealed that the FBI became involved after a 'referral,' from Kurt Olsen, a Stop the Steal lawyer who was hired last year by the administration to investigate the 2020 election. Olsen works in the Trump White as a 'Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity,' according to the affidavit."

"Then came the news the the Trump DOJ had unbelievably sought indictments of six sitting Democratic members of Congress for participating in a video that reminded service members of their duty not to follow unlawful orders. A D.C. grand jury mercifully declined to indict Sens. Mark Kelly (AZ) and Elissa Slotkin (MI) and Reps. Jason Crow (CO), Maggie Goodlander (NH), Chrissy Houlahan (PA), and Chris Deluzio (PA)."

"The NYT put it succinctly: 'The president, emboldened by his success in bending the Justice Department and F.B.I. to his will, has intensified his effort to deploy the vast arsenal of federal law enforcement to pursue his political agenda and personal grievances.' "

"This is what a fully politicized and weaponized Justice Department looks like. It is not a pretty thing. I am not by nature an alarmist, but caution is a luxury right now. This is a five-alarm fire. Every single American is in jeopardy when federal law enforcement operates outside the rule of law at the beck and call of any president, let alone a deranged mad king like Donald Trump."

Continued at link:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/this-is-what-an-out-of-control-doj-looks-like

'Feds Cast About for an 'Antifa' That Encompasses All Trump Opponents'

"For years, conspiracy theorists, grifters, and would-be authoritarians in search of a useful internal crisis have howled about a supposed threat hell-bent on destroying the government and the American way of life: antifa."

"The howling continues. What’s different now is that leading members of the chorus of 'antifa' alarmists have left their gigs as right-wing YouTubers, social media influencers, presidential candidates, and staffers at fringe nonprofits. There, they could weave whatever reality they wanted: America could be in the grips of a Weather Underground-esque movement, beset by a national wave of antifa violence."

"Now, some of these people are in the federal government. They’re demanding that the apparatus of federal law enforcement do what they couldn’t achieve on various podcasts, Truth Social posts, and video appearances: first define, and then dismantle, 'antifa.' This sweeping campaign to criminalize an ideology is now using some of the biggest guns in federal law enforcement’s legal arsenal — terrorism charges — to quash dissent."

"Next week, a Texas terrorism trial against what the Department of Justice has cast as an 'antifa cell' begins. It will be the first time that the Trump administration has had to argue what it believes antifa to be in a criminal case. Prosecutors have brought material support for terrorism charges against eight people, and secured guilty pleas to the same from another seven. The defense argues that there was no terrorism and that the DOJ has overcharged the case because the defendants adhere to an ideology that the Trump administration dislikes, leading to guilty pleas over an incident that, the defendants contend, stemmed from a peaceful protest that went awry."

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/antifa-texas-trial-shideler

Unmasking ICE

"Democrats want President Donald Trump to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement by following the rules that govern every other law enforcement agency in the country. But a particular sticking point has become the demand that ICE and Border Patrol officers stop wearing masks during enforcement operations."

"It should be a 'no-brainer.' But Republicans say it’s a 'nonstarter.' "

"In fact, Republicans are so wedded to their objection that they’re willing to shut down other critical Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, US Coast Guard, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency."

"Ironically, blocking DHS’ appropriation would have a minimal impact on ICE because Trump’s 'One Big Beautiful Bill' provided ICE with $85 billion—making it the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency and more than twice that of the Justice Department, which includes the FBI."

Continued at link:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/unmask-ice

'We Rely on Hispanic Labor': ICE Raids Trigger Economic Alarm Bells in Trump States

.Communities in two red states that voted for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election have found themselves being unexpectedly hurt by his mass deportation agenda."

"The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that construction trade groups in southern Texas have been sounding the alarm about aggressive immigration raids on work sites that are leading to serious delays of projects, which in turn are raising prices for buyers and lowering profit margins for sellers."

"Things have gotten so severe, wrote the Journal, that materials suppliers have started laying off workers and one concrete company filed for bankruptcy due to a drop off in sales that it blamed on the immigration raids."

"Mario Guerrero, chief executive of the South Texas Builders Association, said that the raids were 'terrorizing job sites,' and grinding economic activity to a halt...'They are basically taking everyone in there working, whether they have proper documentation or not,' said Guerrero, who acknowledged backing Trump in the 2024 election."

Continued at link:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/red-state-ice-raids

Ghislaine Maxwell invokes Fifth Amendment in House deposition

Source: MS NOW

(MS NOW) Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell pleaded the Fifth Amendement virtually before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Monday as part of a high-profile inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein’s activities and the federal government’s handling of related files.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for her role in aiding Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls and is in custody at a federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

The co-conspirator was expected to invoke the Fifth Amendment on a “blanket basis” and refuse to answer substantive questions during the deposition, according to a letter from Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., sent to Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.

“Ghislaine Maxwell took the fifth and refused to answer any questions. This is obviously very disappointing,” Comer told reporters on Monday morning. “We had many questions to ask about the crime she and Epstein committed, as well as questions about potential co-conspirators. We sincerely want to get to the truth to the American people and justice for the survivors. That’s what this investigation is about.”

Full article at link:

Read more: https://www.ms.now/news/ghislaine-maxwell-invokes-fifth-amendment-in-closed-deposition

'There Was Never a Wall': Man Beaten Nearly to Death by ICE Refutes Self-Harm Claim

"A Mexican man beaten within an inch of his life last month by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents is on the mend and on Saturday spoke out to refute what one nurse called the agency’s 'laughable' claim that his injuries—which include a skull shattered in eight places and five brain hemorrhages—were self-inflicted."

"Alberto Castañeda Mondragón told the Associated Press that ICE agents pulled him from a friend’s car outside a shopping center in St. Paul, Minnesota—where the Trump administration’s ongoing Operation Metro Surge has left two people dead and thousands arrested—on January 8."

"The 31-year-old father was thrown to the ground, handcuffed, and then savagely assaulted with fists and a steel baton...'They started beating me right away when they arrested me,' he said."

"Castañeda Mondragón was then dragged into an SUV and taken to a holding facility at Ft. Snelling in suburban Minneapolis where he says he was beaten again. He said he pleaded with his attackers to stop, but they just 'laughed at me and hit me again.' "

“ 'They were very racist people,' he said. 'No one insulted them, neither me nor the other person they detained me with. It was their character, their racism toward us, for being immigrants.' "

Continued at link:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/alberto-castaneda-mondragon