October 14, 2025

Saturday, October 18, is "No Kings Day." Here's the No Kings main page, where you can find events near you. 

DHS = Department of Horrific Sadists. Jason Dearen, et al., of the AP: ICE has been using a full-body restraint called the WRAP since 2020. DHS has been purchasing the devices since late 2015, but “government purchasing records show the two Trump administrations have been responsible for about 91% of that spending.... The AP found ICE has used the device despite internal concerns voiced in a 2023 report by the civil rights division of its parent agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in part due to reports of deaths involving use of the WRAP by local law enforcement. And the AP has identified a dozen fatal cases in the last decade where local police or jailers around the U.S. used the WRAP and autopsies determined 'restraint' played a role in the death.... The WRAP’s manufacturer says it intended the device to be a lifesaver for law enforcement confronting erratic people who were physically attacking officers or harming themselves. But ICE officials have a much lower threshold for deploying the WRAP than the manufacturer advises, the AP found. Detainees interviewed by the AP said ICE officers used the restraints on them after they had been shackled. They said this was done to intimidate or punish them for asking to speak to their attorneys or expressing fear at being deported.” 

Reuters in the Guardian: "The US government has revoked the visas of at least 50 politicians and government officials in Mexico amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on drug cartels and their suspected political allies, according to two Mexican officials. The move has sent quiet shock waves through Mexico’s political elite, who regularly travel to the US.... So far, only four [people] have publicly confirmed they lost their visas, including the Baja California state governor, Marina del Pilar Ávila, who has categorically denied any links to organized crime."

Oh, look, the Supremes are capable of doing the right thing: ~~~ 

~~~ Ann Marimow of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review an appeal from Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist and founder of Infowars, leaving in place a lower court judge’s order that he pay $1.4 billion in damages to some of the families who lost children in a 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. In turning down Mr. Jones’s appeal, the court gave no reasons, as is its custom in issuing such orders.” The AP's report is here.

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Washington Post: “... Donald Trump departed Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday, after meeting with world leaders at a summit to discuss the future of Gaza. He told those assembled that the time to start planning 'Phase 2' of a broader peace arrangement had arrived. Trump and other leaders signed a document on the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the details of which were not made public. The White House did not immediately respond to a question about what he signed. In an address to Israel’s Parliament earlier Monday to celebrate the return of the remaining living hostages from Gaza as part of a U.S.-backed ceasefire plan, Trump said the war in Gaza 'is over' and touted the 'dawn of a new Middle East,' although much remains uncertain about the next phase of the peace plan.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: “... Trump sidestepped any mention of the seismic chasms that remain in the region — including the West Bank, where about 3 million Palestinians live in an ever-smaller space under increasingly militarized Israeli occupation and threatened annexation. He predicted the rapid expansion of the Abraham Accords, his first-term achievement of normalization between Israel and a handful of Arab states, but ignored the insistence of much of the rest of the Arab world that the path to a viable, sovereign state combining the West Bank and Gaza under the Palestinian Authority must come first. Rather than pledging a renewal of the historic bipartisan U.S. support for Israel that has fractured over Netanyahu’s scorched-earth operations in Gaza, Trump rambled through his usual insults of his Democratic predecessors, saying they had a 'hatred toward Israel' and could never have accomplished what he did.” ~~~

~~~ From the git-go, way back in 2016, the Trump operation was (allegedly!) monumentally corrupt: ~~~

~~~ Caught on tape. In case you were still thinking Donald Trump isn't running the U.S. as a corrupt enterprise -- on our dime, of course: ~~~ 

     ~~~ Here's Jonathan Yerushalmy of the Guardian with more details on that hot mic confab between Donald Trump & Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto. ~~~ 

     ~~~ $$$ AND Marcie Jones of Wonkette reminds us in the fun way she does of just how many billions it took to get Papa Donald, Rabbi Jared & Co. on the side of the sheiks and emirs. ~~~ 

~~~  Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: Donald “Trump was addressing a grateful Israeli Parliament on Monday, after the first of 20 hostages were released by Hamas in a deal he helped broker, when he made an unexpected suggestion: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, currently on trial for corruption, should be pardoned.... But legal experts in Israel questioned whether Mr. Netanyahu could actually be pardoned at this stage in his trial.” The report goes on to discuss Israeli law re: preemptive pardons.(Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Melanie Lidman, et al., of the AP: “Israel and Hamas moved ahead on a key first step of the tenuous Gaza ceasefire agreement on Monday by freeing hostages and prisoners, raising hopes that the U.S.-brokered deal might lead to a permanent end to the two-year war that ravaged the Palestinian territory. But thornier issues such as whether Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza — and the question of Palestinian statehood — remain unresolved, highlighting the fragility of an agreement that for now only pauses the deadliest conflict in the history of Israel and the Palestinians.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Liam Stack, et al., of the New York Times: “Newly released Palestinian prisoners flashed victory signs to cheering crowds who gathered on Monday to watch them step into freedom under the new cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. Families waited at dawn in the West Bank city of Ramallah and broke into teary-eyed trills as buses carrying some of the nearly 2,000 released prisoners and detainees approached. They rushed forward to greet the men as they stepped off. Many of the men looked haggard and exhausted.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Last week akaWendy reminded us how stupid Young Donald razed the old Bonwit Teller building to replace it with his tacky Trump Tower. Trump had promised to donate the art deco ornamentation on the building to the Metropolitan Museum, at the museum's urging. "According to [a] N.Y. Times article a 'Trump spokesperson' named, 'John Baron' declared that an independent appraisal deemed that the panels had little value and were 'without artistic merit' and not enough to justify the cost of removal or the 10-day delay.... It wasn’t long before Trump was referring dismissively to “the junk I destroyed at Bonwit Teller” and boasting that he’d ordered the destruction himself." Baron, the "spokesman" Trump hid behind, was of course Trump himself. (See also here.) That was then. This is now. ~~~

~~~ Living New Deal: “The Wilbur J. Cohen building, originally built for the Social Security Administration in 1938-1940, is home to a magnificent collection of social security themed artworks funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.  The most spectacular of the artworks is a massive, multi-paneled, fresco mural by Lithuanian-born artist Ben Shahn, entitled 'The Meaning of Social Security.'” ~~~ 

~~~ About that Arc de Trumpf. Heather Cox Richardson: "The proposed construction of a triumphal arch contrasts with the expected sale and probable demolition of the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building on Independence Avenue in Washington, D.C. Completed in 1940, the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building was built to house the Social Security Board, the precursor to the Social Security Administration.... Now the administration is getting rid of the building built to house the Social Security Administration, along with the murals that champion the government’s role in protecting the equality and security of ordinary people, while Trump contemplates building a triumphal arch, carving MAGA ideology into the nation’s capital in stone." Oh, and a special shout-out to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who slipped approval of the sale of the building into an unrelated bill. So, Triumph of the Philistines, I guess.

I was still in such shock ... that [ICE agents] were not only accusing me of [attempting to run them down], but crowding and cornering me in the seat, pointing and screaming at me, threatening to shoot and arrest me, and not allowing the ambulance to leave the scene. This was no longer a safe scene, and in that moment, I realized that the scene had not actually been safe the entire time that they were blocking us from exiting, and that we were essentially trapped. -- Portland Ambulance Driver ~~~ 

~~~ Andrew Schwartz of Willamette Week: “Late on Oct. 5, a Portland ambulance crew informed dispatchers over the radio that it was attempting to transport a patient from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center but that ICE officers were impeding its departure. Six minutes later, at 9:40 pm, according to publicly archived radio records, the medic driving the vehicle delivered an update: 'We are still not being allowed to leave by ICE officers.'... Written accounts were filed by [two] ambulance crew members shortly after the incident.... Both reports say that federal agents, in an effort to block the ambulance’s departure, stood directly in front of the vehicle. As the delay dragged on, according to the reports, the ambulance operator put the vehicle into park, causing it to lurch forward slightly. The reports indicate the federal agents ... threatened to shoot and arrest the driver. The driver, frightened, asked why. An agent, according to the reports, responded that the driver had attempted to hit him with the ambulance.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Papers Please. Or Else. Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Two immigrants were sitting in Rogers Park, Chicago, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived and demanded their papers. What unfolded was detailed by the Chicago Tribune: Rueben Antonio Cruz, a 60-year-old legal U.S. resident, was ordered to stand up, shoved into an ICE vehicle, and interrogated as agents drove around the neighborhood. Federal law requires legal residents and green card holders to carry their documentation at all times. While some states have 'show me your papers' laws that allow local police to demand proof of residency, Illinois does not.... Ultimately, agents verified his legal status in their database but still issued him a $130 fine for not having his documentation at the time. Cruz’s companion, who is homeless and did not have any legal status or documents, was taken away by federal agents." The Trib story is subscriber-firewalled.  

Meg Anderson of NPR: "'What we're seeing is a general escalation of violence and the use of excessive force by ICE officers,' says Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy at the ACLU of Illinois, which has brought a lawsuit against the Trump administration for violating the constitutional rights of protesters.... Gil Kerlikowske, the former commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the Obama administration, says federal immigration officers are not prepared for what is being asked of them." MB: Note the weasel headline: "Many fear ICE tactics are growing more violent." 

Lena Sun & Paige Cunningham of the Washington Post: “Officials have reversed more than half of the about 1,300 layoff notices sent to staff members at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sparing personnel who were leading the response to measles outbreaks in the United States and an Ebola outbreak abroad. But details emerged about the other health officials who lost their jobs, including analysts responsible for monitoring and protecting the United States from biological, chemical and nuclear threats, according to current and former officials. Dozens of fired staff members at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, a federal health agency, included individuals with top-secret clearance who work with intelligence agencies on biodefense issues such as pandemics and weaponized pathogens.... Others who received notices at ASPR include staff members who help coordinate biodefense exercises and drills; its legislative affairs team; and staff members who monitor data on natural disasters, infectious diseases outbreaks and cyberattacks on hospitals for the main operations center at HHS headquarters....”

Meryl Kornfield & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: “A historic wave of retirements and other departures has swept through the federal workforce in recent months, putting enormous strain on agencies as they cope with a new government shutdown and administration layoffs. This mass exodus — unprecedented in its scale — includes 154,000 federal employees who accepted buyout offers and were largely removed from the payroll as of the end of last month. Some of those are among nearly 105,000 employees who took regular retirement during the fiscal year that ended in September, an 18 percent surge from the previous year. Tens of thousands of the cases are still awaiting processing, creating a crisis for already understaffed human resources offices across the government and the Office of Personnel Management.”

The Collaborators. Liz Goodwin, et al., of the Washington Post: Congressional Republicans are giving away the power of the purse. “Democratic, and many Republican, appropriators are angry at Trump’s White House for unilaterally canceling contracts, abruptly freezing billions of dollars in congressionally sanctioned funding and trying out a 'pocket rescission' technique to permanently withhold $5 billion in foreign aid without congressional input. Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, have largely swallowed those concerns out of fealty to ... Donald Trump. In the process, they have allowed their power to erode.... [That erosion] could permanently tip the balance of power away from Congress and toward the executive branch on an issue — how the U.S. spends its money — that has traditionally been the unquestioned purview of the legislative branch.”

Chris Geidner, the Law Dork: Justice Amy Coney Barrett could not be bothered to write a word about her decision to join her right-wing colleagues in allowing racial profiling in a shadow-docket decision. But on Fox "News," she was happy to open up about her decision in answer to a question about Justice Sonia Sotomayor's 21-page dissent. "Barrett ... insisted that ... [if the justices explained their decisions, it] 'might give the impression' that the shadow docket order has 'finally resolved the issue.' This is, simply put, bullshit.... Judges often write opinions to support temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions and author opinions explaining decisions on procedural motions and discovery disputes and countless other issues in advance of 'finally resolv[ing] the issue.' Moreover, these shadow docket decisions often do "finally resolve the issue" for many litigants -- like fired federal employees, or immigrants stripped of their U.S. legal status or sent to countries with which they have no ties. MB: And how about legal resident Rueben Antonio Cruz -- featured in the story linked above -- hassled & forced to pay $130 fine for "looking Hispanic."

Some Airport Authorities Stand Up to Gnome & Trump. Shannon Najmabadi & Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: “Airports in more than a half-dozen U.S. markets have declined to display a video in which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem blames congressional Democrats for the government shutdown and any related travel delays, citing the political nature of its content, according to local authorities. Officials that oversee airports serving Buffalo, Charlotte, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, said the video could violate internal policies that bar political messaging or contravene state or federal laws that prohibit the use of public resources for political activity.... With the living hostages freed..., the urgency which many were driven to call for an end to the war will likely diminish, easing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to advance the next phases of the agreement.” (Also linked yesterday.)

News Media Stand Up to Drunk Pete. Scott Nover of the Washington Post: “Media across the ideological spectrum said they will not sign the Defense Department’s restrictive new press policy by Tuesday’s afternoon deadline. The Washington Post, the New York Times and CNN said they wouldn’t sign, as did Newsmax and the Washington Times. Matt Murray, The Post’s executive editor, said the policy runs counter to the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of the press.... The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Reuters and the Guardian, along with the trade publications Task & Purpose and Breaking Defense, said they were not signing either. Fox News, Hegseth’s former employer, has not yet said whether it would sign the pledge.... After pushback from reporters, news organizations and press freedom advocacy groups, the Pentagon expanded the prohibitions in the document, earning condemnation last week from the Pentagon Press Association, which represents the Pentagon press corps.” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP's story is here.

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North Carolina. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: “Republican lawmakers in North Carolina announced plans on Monday to redraw the state’s already gerrymandered congressional maps to further favor their party. It’s the latest effort to help the Trump administration retain control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections next year. Phil Berger, the State Senate leader, and Destin Hall, the speaker of the State House of Representatives, said in a joint statement that they would hold votes next week on the rare mid-decade redistricting effort. Republicans control the legislature, and Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, cannot veto redistricting plans, per the State Constitution.” The AP story is here.