Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed.

 

 

I was not going to post again tonight, and in fact had thought to place some videos in a scheduled post for tomorrow.   But this is FAR TOO IMPORTANT TO WAIT!  When I told Ron about this, he remembered the Portland protests where tRump had security from prisons in unmarked vans and blacked out uniforms snatch people from the street.  Is this them.  Or as Ron asked me, is this just his brown shirt thugs trying to enforce his positions on the street?  How to know because he sent them after drag queens and drag queen story hours.   How far down the authoritarian road have we traveled already?  How much farther before we can’t come back.  Want to know her crime.  She is a legal student here from Turkey and she wrote a pro-Palestinian op-ed.  For that she got black bagged and sent to a location no one can contact her as even her lawyer says he has heard nothing and has no way to contact her.  Even after a judge told ICE / tRump not to do this, they did it.   Oh and why are they snatching these students and others then sending them to Louisiana?  The appeals court for that area is notoriously right wing.  They want as much good press and legal writing as they can get before it hits the SCOTUS.  Even if a judge in the proper district tells them to do something they don’t want they just ignore it trying to force the judge to sanction tRump and his administration for using his core power which the SCOTUS tRump seems to feel has made him immune from any consequences of even an illegal act.  We will soon see if he is correct.  Seems Justice Sotomayor was correct.   Hugs. Hugs


 

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T17:41:56.037Z

Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying. They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks. From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY

Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T17:34:18.672Z

 

Her name is Rumeysa Ozturk, she's a student from Turkey, and even her lawyer doesn't know where she is right now.

Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T17:47:08.918Z

A longer version of the Tufts announcement about the abduction of an international graduate student by federal authorities, circulating on Twitter and Reddit.

Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T05:00:39.382Z

 

"An emergency rally has been called for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Powder House Square in Somerville to protest a Tufts international graduate student being taken into custody Tuesday by federal authorities."

Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T20:31:42.369Z

 

She appears to have been taken to an ICE facility in Louisiana, against a judge’s orders

Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T21:18:38.788Z

A rally for Rumeysa Ozturk after she was arrested by U.S. secret police and flown to Louisiana, apparently for writing a pro-Palestine op-ed.

Matt Novak (@paleofuture.bsky.social) 2025-03-26T22:48:30.077Z

 

 

What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced

https://time.com/7269604/el-salvador-photos-venezuelan-detainees/


I want to thank Allison Gill for this report.  I got it from her daily beans podcast that I listen to while I brush my teeth, shower, and if she goes long while I dress.   Her podcasts are very informative with three different segments of news and what is happening.  Often I write down what I can remember to talk about.  Then I realized she gives a transcript of each show, and that transcripts with links is bringing you this post.  She has a substack which I also follow where she reports the news giving tips on how to get involved.  https://www.muellershewrote.com.  What follows is horrifying and triggered me because the abuse these people went through was some of what I did.  But remember most of the people on these flights are not gang members.   This all comes from a slum lord not wanting to deal with a protest on his apartment complex that was getting really dangerous for the people living there.  He went to the news claiming a gang called … had taken over and was shaking down him and residents.  Yes they did go to a few residences and demand the money, the money promised to help fund their fight against the landlord.  Many right wing outlets selectively edited the videos to make the protesting people seem very sinister.  TYT also pushed the scenario hard.  As you will read the people in this foreign prison for at least a year held in commutation black out are not gang members, many came to the US in legal ways, some had green cards.  They can not access lawyers, can’t call friends or family, they are held for a year in horrific conditions like in a Russian gulag because tRump and crew don’t care about the constitution or the people.  All they want is all non-white people removed from the US.  Some of those deported by the way, luckily not to this place are US citizens that are fighting for their rights.  Hence the sending them to El Salvador that has no laws of rights and agreed for a huge price per detainee to keep them from accessing any outside person.  They could kill them tomorrow and no one would know.   The tRump people are grabbing anyone they can and sending them there knowing they can not get any help.  Sadly I just watched a clip on Tim Pool a low info moron who clearly thinks this is great no matter how many innocent people get caught up in it.  It doesn’t matter they broke no laws, and entering the US illegally to ask for asylum is not a criminal offense despite what the white supremacist say it is a protected right under US laws and the treaties, That makes it legal.  Again not that tRump and crew care.  By any definition that torture is against the US Constitution.  An impeachable offense.  Hugs


Holsinger is an American photojournalist based out of Nashville, Tenn.
————————————————————————————————————–
On the night of Saturday, March 15, three planes touched down in El Salvador, carrying 261 men deported from the United States. A few dozen were Salvadoran, but most of the men were Venezuelans the Trump Administration had designated as gang members and deported, with little or no due process. I was there to document their arrival.
For more than a year, I have been embedded throughout El Salvador’s society, working on a book chronicling the country’s transformation. From the huts of remote island fishermen to the desk of the President, from elite homicide detective units to elementary school classrooms, I have interviewed government officials and everyday people, collecting stories that would shock Stephen King. I’ve stood in classrooms full of happy students which not long ago were empty, because children here once learned early that schools were places to be raped or recruited. I’ve interviewed killers in prison and sat with them face-to-face.
As I stood on the tarmac, an agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s ICE Special Response Team told me that some of the Venezuelans had weakly attempted to take over their plane upon landing. It wasn’t unusual for detainees to try to make a last stand, the agent said, guarding the doorway to the plane at the top of the gangway stairs. “They began to try to organize to overthrow the plane by screaming for everyone to stand up and fight. But not everyone was on board,” the agent said, cautioning me to be careful because some of the Venezuelans would fight once they were offloaded
Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador
Philip Holsinger
Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador
PHILIP HOLSINGER
Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador
Philip Holsinger

Even if not fighting, almost all the detainees came to the door of the plane with angry, defiant faces. It was their faces that grabbed me, because within a few hours those faces would completely transform.

The Venezuelans emerging from their plane were not in prison clothes, but in designer jeans and branded tracksuits. Their faces were the faces of guys who in no way expected what they first saw—an ocean of soldiers and police, an entire army assembled to apprehend them.

Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador
Philip Holsinger
Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador
Philip Holsinger

One of the alleged organizers of the attempted overthrow fought the U.S. agents on the plane, cursing the Americans, the Salvadorans, President Nayib Bukele himself. El Salvador’s Minister of Defense, René Merino, who had been standing on the tarmac at the bottom of the gangway, rushed aboard, dragged the guy to the gangway himself, and flung him into the waiting hands of black-masked guards.

Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador
Philip Holsinger

The transfer from the plane to the buses that would carry them to prison was rapid, yet it might as well have been the crossing of an ancient continent. I felt the detainees’ fear as they marched through a gauntlet of black-clad guards, guns raised like the spears of some terrible tribe. I walked the line of buses waiting to depart, photographing faces. A guard noticed one of the detainees turned toward the window and wrenched his head back down into his chest.

Philip Holsinger

Around 2 a.m., the convoy of 22 buses, flanked by armored vehicles and police, moved out of the airport. Soldiers and police lined the 25-mile route to the prison, with thick patrols at every bridge and intersection. For the few Salvadorans, it was a familiar landscape. But for a Venezuelan plucked from America, it must have appeared dystopian—police and soldiers for miles and miles in woodland darkness.

The Terrorism Confinement Center, a notorious maximum-security prison known as CECOT, sits in an old farm field at the foot of an ancient volcano, brightly lit against the night sky. I’ve spent considerable time there and know the place intimately. As we entered the intake yard, the head of prisons was giving orders to an assembly of hundreds of guards. He told them the Venezuelans had tried to overthrow their plane, so the guards must be extremely vigilant. He told them plainly: Show them they are not in control.

Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador
Philip Holsinger

The intake began with slaps. One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.” I believed him. But maybe it’s only because he didn’t look like what I had expected—he wasn’t a tattooed monster.

The men were pulled from the buses so fast the guards couldn’t keep pace. Chained at their ankles and wrists, they stumbled and fell, some guards falling to the ground with them. With each fall came a kick, a slap, a shove. The guards grabbed necks and pushed bodies into the sides of the buses as they forced the detainees forward. There was no blood, but the violence had rhythm, like a theater of fear.

Inside the intake room, a sea of trustees descended on the men with electric shavers, stripping heads of hair with haste. The guy who claimed to be a barber began to whimper, folding his hands in prayer as his hair fell. He was slapped. The man asked for his mother, then buried his face in his chained hands and cried as he was slapped again.

Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador
Philip Holsinger

After being shaved, the detainees were stripped naked. More of them began to whimper; the hard faces I saw on the plane had evaporated. It was like looking at men who passed through a time machine. In two hours, they aged 10 years. Their nice clothes were not gathered or catalogued but simply thrust into black garbage bags to be thrown out with their hair.

They entered their cold cells, 80 men per cell, with steel planks for bunks, no mats, no sheets, no pillow. No television. No books. No talking. No phone calls and no visitors. For these Venezuelans, it was not just a prison they had arrived at. It was exile to another world, a place so cold and far from home they may as well have been sent into space, nameless and forgotten. Holding my camera, it was as if I watched them become ghosts.

Venezuelan Deportation to El Salvador
Philip Holsinger

Let’s talk about Trump, Elon, Social Security, promises, and math….

Sorry for not posting much today. Update on my fall

As I wrote I fell two days ago.  It was late Monday morning early Tuesday morning.  I couldn’t sleep so I got up and went to my Pink Palace.  I was sitting in my chair and got up then went to take a step and suddenly had no legs, my right leg was totally gone and my left had about 1/4 strength and was not enough to hold me even if I had warning.  See the damage to my spine makes my legs go suddenly dead.  It is why I am supposed to use a cane even in the house.    I went down hard on my right side bruising my ankle, my right hip right at the place of my implant where it goes into my pelvis, coming down hard on my right shoulder, and I threw my hand down in front of me in a fist to break my fall which has given me a swollen hand and bruised knuckles.  It is good I hit my hip where I did, remember I have thin bones osteoporosis.  If I had hit on the bone lower could have broken my leg bone.  A little higher and it could have been my pelvis.  There is a large very dark bruise right in the middle of my still deep very long scar.  The surgeon who did my right hip in 2004 was 74 years old doing his duty for god and his country.  He had been a military surgeon who when he retired from private practice went back to working for the VA.  His office was plastered with posters about the Christian god, and he played Christian radio broadcasts / music while meeting with patients.  Today I would have raised a fuss and made it an issue.  But the guy flayed me, his scar is wide and over 9 inches long.  It runs from my hip across to some of my right butt cheek.  My surgeon in 2017 who did my left hip had a small 1-inch scar.  So I can hardly move the mouse even the small bit required for using the mouse, and my hand hurts too much to really type.  Walking is a real fun exercise right now.

Ron was sound asleep and he said it made a huge boom that woke him.  That may have been the shelf I reached out for support and brought it crashing down on me.  Everything hit the floor including my Xbox One.  Lucky it slid off the shelf as it was tipped to one side as it came off so the box managed to slid down without crashing.  Still works so it is OK.  But as Ron struggled to pick me up, he complained I was not helping much.  I told him I couldn’t control my right leg at all, no muscle control over and could hardly move my left one much less get support out of it.  Looking back he should have gotten my walker.  It has a seat, he could have wheeled me to the bedroom.  He did get me one of my canes which I used to help support me as he supported the other side.  

 

So why not do a video.  The roofing company came this morning to put a new roof on to replace the roof they did that kept leaking.  Now the rep says we need to keep after the company for assistance repairing the ceiling tiles that got wet so that we can secure the skylight they put in.  See it hooks over the inside of the tiles which can’t happen on ours because the skylight kept leaking causing the tiles to swell and then decay away giving the bottom part nothing to hook to.  Plus I got a very important post to go make.  

While the benefit from the steroids is still going the side effects of driving hunger has worn off.  Just in time, I had gained 10 pounds from constant eating.  I think if I can get away with it next month I will not take them.  Plus hopefully the walking and exercising is creating needed muscle.  Anyway to get to the very important post I wanted to make as soon as I get done with this one.  

An update on Ron and his mental decline.  Mornings are the worst for him and some late evenings before he comes to bed.  But lately he has been coming to bed at 8 or 8:30 pm.  This morning he was trying to talk to me about things but it was almost impossible.  He would start sentences with no subject or thing he was talking about, just saying what he heard or saw.  I would have to stop him and gently ask him what we’re talking about, was it a person, place, or thing.  This morning he told me one of the roofers asked him if something was ours, saying Scottie someone dropped stuff off on our lawn.  The roofers had to move it to park their trucks.   Side note I had a stroke in early 2023 and got dysphasia where I could see the word I wanted to say, understood what it meant, but couldn’t get my mouth to say it no matter how hard I worked.  It was so damn frustrating.  My conversations then made more sense than Ron’s lately in the morning.  

I went through the security cameras. Turns out the neighbor two doors down from Ohio were going home today and left a bunch of stuff out on trash day.  We have three trash days a week.  Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  The workers seen it and took the stuff from there to our lawn.  Yes they had to move it because they put it there.   They did not ask Ron if we owned it, Ron asked them why they brought a bicycle with them.  The guy told him where they got it and explained it was being thrown away did Ron mind if they took some of the stuff.  He said no keep it.  Then came in as I said and told me that someone dropped a bike and shelving unit off on our lawn that the roofing guys had to move.  He figured it was maybe stolen because one of the renters of the guy next to us was a person that stole stuff mainly bikes and golf carts.  We saw her on our camera try to steal ours and chased her all the way back into the guy’s house.  

I went through the security cameras and seen the guy show up, park his large work panel truck.  Then he walked up the street he had just driven down, and bring back the bike and several other items back to our lawn.    After I watched the camera then talked to Ron again.  I showed Ron the camera footage, then explained to him what it showed.  So I asked him why the guy asked Ron if it was ours when they knew it was not.  Ron looked at me confused and then explained that the guy did not ask him, that Ron had asked the guy if the stuff was theirs.  Why he would even do that I don’t know.  What do we care as it was not ours? 

This morning knowing these guys were coming I got him up at 6:30 so we could both shower.  After I got mine I told him that he could start his while I got dressed.  I got dressed and still no Ron.  I came out to find him fiddling around with blinds.  I admit I scolded him because I was frustrated.  That was wrong, but I had asked him to get up earlier and he did not want to.  I get up at five am.  I talked to him and asked if he wanted to get up.  No he said.  I said when?  I asked if 6 am would do.  No he was tired.  Ok so I waited to 6:30.  As it was the guys showed up while he was still in the shower because as I figured they came at 7:30.  The same time they came the last time.   

At night when he comes to bed the next time I have to pee I come out to check if he has left food out or forgot to close the refrigerator / freezer.  So many times before I started checking I would come out in the morning to find one of the other totally iced over.  Many times the freezer so iced over the light wouldn’t work until I thawed the switch and the light bulb out.  I can tell if he has set the alarm from the bedroom and set it from there with the keyboard or my phone.  But he is not sundowning as he is far more with it at night than he is in the morning.  In the morning he is struggling hard, he can barely function.  I make coffee, deal with the cats if I have not already, he sits in his chair and often forgets to drink his coffee until I remind him as I am ready for my second cup.  Then he downs his and hands me his cup.

This is my life and how I am trying to deal with it.   Hugs

 

And Now For Something Completely Different-

It’s one of the Tabs on Wonkette this AM. I have a soft spot for Chicago for reasons, and was just interested because it’s not topical, and now I’m sharing it here because maybe we could all pool our money and buy this place for us and our allies! Actually, I’m sharing it because it’s different and interesting to look at. Take a look, and dream a little!

1355 N Astor St
Chicago, IL 60610

Description

Once-in-a-life time opportunity to own one of Chicago’s iconic estates, showcasing over 25,000 Sq. Ft. of combined living spaces and situated on nearly a third of an acre on Gold Coast’s most coveted Astor street. This palatial architectural masterpiece designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw for the Goodman Family graces the market for the first time in 40 years, promising to leave you speechless. A true hallmark of Chicago’s rich history, Astor Court has long captivated passersby with its magnificent neo-classical/Georgian Revival architecture spanning an impressive 80′ feet across. This distinguished estate is centered around a one-of-a-kind tremendous courtyard, meticulously landscaped with lush gardens and flowing fountains, transporting you to the tranquil Italian countryside, creating a peaceful sanctuary in the vibrant urban setting. The main residence of the estate features over 10,000 sq. ft. of exquisitely renovated grand spaces blending timeless elegance with modern luxury. No expense was spared in creating this treasure, presenting a rare opportunity to own a coveted piece of Chicago’s history. Every inch of the home exudes sophistication and grandeur offering unparalleled living experience featuring 13′ ceilings, venetian plaster walls, incredible intricate millwork and hardwood oak flooring throughout, fireplaces with magnificent original marble mantles, and gold plated fixtures. As you enter the home, you are immediately captivated by the grand sense of space, elegant design and a sweeping curved staircase that ascends to the expansive main living areas. Every room exudes scale and sophistication offering both beauty and functionality. There are five en-suite bedrooms, each with its own style and personality. The luxurious primary suite features beautiful lake views and a grand primary spa bath adorned with exquisite Italian marble. In addition to the main residence, Astor Court showcases six gorgeous unique rental units, each with its own distinct charm and character, generating significant income. The entire estate encompasses 45 rooms, 16 bedrooms, 17 baths and 18 fireplaces offering endless opportunities to expand the main residence or transform it into a sprawling multi-generational family compound. Currently, there are two parking spaces located directly behind the property with the option to convert the coach house into a garage for additional parking. This extraordinary estate is perfectly situated just steps from Michigan Avenue, the lakefront, parks, premier shops, favorite restaurants, and world-class entertainment.

Request a tour as early as
Today at 12:30PMSchedule TourRequest Info

Home Highlights

Parking Open Parking Outdoor Patio A/C Heating & Cooling

HOA None Price/Sqft $840 Listed 145 days ago

Many more photos on the page!

2 For Women’s History Month

Today Would Have Been Aretha Franklin’s 82nd Birthday

Rest in power, queen.

By Frances Langum — March 25, 2025

================================

Snippet:

During the same week as the president’s address to Congress, RepresentWomen held our annual Democracy Solutions Summit (DSS). This solutions-oriented event allowed us to imagine what our democracy could look like with better policies and better representation.

Here, women leaders, elected officials, advocates and experts discussed the problems facing our democracy and uplifted actionable solutions to improve women’s representation and strengthen our democracy overall. This year’s summit addressed the critical need for more women in local, state and federal leadership roles.

The Democracy Solutions Summit clearly contrasts with the uncertainty of Trump’s address to Congress. The DSS is the only democracy summit featuring only women speakers and panelists committed to actionable, data-driven solutions and building coalitions that bolster American democracy at this critical time. Furthermore, our research has found that when multiple structural solutions are combined, we can bolster women’s representation in every level of government.

Complete recordings of the summit are available online, but here is a quick recap of all three days. (snip-More)

Republican Bill Would BAN Gender Non-Conforming Haircuts

My question is who decides if a hair cut conforms to gender stereotypes / norms.  I somehow doubt the 1970s /1980s long shoulder length but parted and swept back blow dried hairstyles for guys would pass the test if religious conservatives get to say what is acceptable?  What about women with cancer who are taking treatments for that cancer and lost their hair or are growing it back?  Can the doctor be sued who prescribed the treatments?  It is like trans people using the bathrooms of gender identity, who decides if that woman is feminine enough for the girl’s bathroom or that man manly enough for the boy’s bathroom?  I have told everyone while the hell spawn could have any hair they wanted including long hair I was required to have a crew cut or nearly bald hairstyle as punishment for even existing in a time when everyone was wearing their hair long.  What about parents rights? You know the reason all media with LGBTQ+ content must be removed from schools and all libraries, because some parents complain their kids might see it?    Do the progressives or the former hippies get to allow their boy children to have long hair or their girls short hair?  See how this can’t work, can’t be allowed.   People lose all autonomy and individual rights to express themselves as they want to.  It is again an attempt to return to the straight cis white Christian male dominated society of the 1950s.  Women were subservient to men and needed their permission for most things outside the home.   Raping your wife, forcing her to have sex against her will was legal as she had to perform her wifely duties.  Non-white people knew their place and stayed there.  The entire LGBTQ+ were hidden in their closets too frighted to be found out to demand their equality and rights.  That is the world they want and are trying to create using the cover of trans people are harming the children.  It is why they attacked drag queens so violently, they violate that 1950s norms.  They are desperate to enforce a nearly religious observance of their preferred way to live based mostly on religion.  Look at the bios of nearly every one of the republicans pushing these things and you see they are from a fundamentalist conservative religious faith that wants to control how other people live.  Not to bring others closer to their godlike Rev Ed Trevors does, but to make themselves feel better about things and the idea that if they make all the people they don’t like, all the acts they don’t like to go away their god will praise them, give them an afterlife life, and their god will be so please with them he will come back right away to get them.  Their god is a god of anger and smiting.    He is not a loving god who loves people as they are or want to be.   Hugs

Republicans in the Arkansas state legislature have introduced legislation that would make it effectively illegal for hairdressers to give gender-based haircuts to people of the opposite gender. The bill would allow the hairdressers to be sued if the haircut given does not conform with the gender assigned to a person at birth. This is reminiscent of the government-approved haircuts in North Korea, and equally as oppressive. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains what’s happening.

If Only, Indeed …

Petey Leaks by Clay Jones

The first mistake was giving classified information to Pete Hegseth Read on Substack

If only someone could have foreseen that being a host on Fox & Friends doesn’t make one qualified to be the Secretary of Defense.

Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was sitting in his car in a Safeway parking lot when he received a message about an upcoming military strike in Yemen. The message was part of a group chat in Signal, a messaging app, sent from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Goldberg wrote in The Atlantic, “I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.”

The world found out on March 15 at 2 p.m. Eastern time that the United States had bombed Houthi targets in Yemen, but Goldberg knew at 11:44 a.m. The message included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing.

Note that Goldberg didn’t expose this intel fiasco until yesterday, ten days after the strike. My question is: Did any of the group chat participants notice Goldberg was in the chat before yesterday?

After the National Security Council confirmed the legitimacy of the chat, Director of National Security Tulsi Gabbard claimed there was no classified information in the chat. The White House also claimed no classified information or war plans were shared. Then, Pete Hegseth made the same claim, saying, “Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that.”

Except, that wasn’t all he had to say about “that,” as he also said Goldberg is “a deceitful and highly discredited, so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes time and time again.” Keep in mind that this guy who used to work for Fox News now works for Donald Trump, the king of discredited lies and conspiracy theories.

While interviewing Goldberg on CNN Monday night, Caitlin Collins said to Goldberg, “I want to start by getting your reaction to what we heard from Secretary Hegseth there, saying that ‘Nobody was texting war plans.’ Given you were privy to this group chat, is that how you saw it?”

Goldberg replied, “No, that’s a lie. He was texting war plans. He was texting attack plans. When targets were going to be targeted; how they were going to be targeted; who was at the targets; when the next sequence of attacks was happening.”

The only way the Trump administration can cover their ass on this is to lie.

In a quickly-called Senate hearing this morning, Gabbard refused to even admit she was part of the chat, saying she didn’t want to get into “specifics.” Senator Mark Warner asked, “Why aren’t you gonna get into the specifics? Is this—is it because it’s all classified?

Gabbard said she couldn’t get into specifics about the chat she claimed didn’t contain classified intel, and said she couldn’t “because this is currently under review by the National Security Council.”

That prompted Warner to ask, “Because it’s all classified? If it’s not classified, share the texts now.”

Gabbard, Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe lacked the basic due diligence to check the group chat participants before spouting off about war plans. These people chosen by Trump are amateurs when it comes to their jobs and securing classified intelligence.

If only someone had pointed to these people’s lack of qualifications for their jobs. Oh, wait. We did.

Other members of the chat were National Security Advisor Mike Walz Veep JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, National Counterterrorism Center Director Nominee Joe Kent, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen “Baby Goebbels” Miller, and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Not one of these idiots noticed Goldberg’s name in the chat and asked, “Who’s that guy?”

Gabbard said there was a difference between the “inadvertent release” and “malicious leaks” of classified information before restating that there was no classified material in the chat, trying to have it both ways.

Unless the administration came out before the strike and said, “We’re going to start dropping bombs on Houthi rebels in Yemen at 2 p.m. on March 15, the information in the chat was classified.

This leak wasn’t malicious or inadvertent. It was inept. You would think if all the participants of this classified chat were competent, at least one of them would have spotted that one of the participants was a journalist, a journalist who did a better job of retaining the classified information better than the Secretary of Defense, Director of National Security, the FBI Director and the CIA Director.

Warner said Hegseth and National Security Adviser Mike Walz didn’t “conduct hygiene 101” in making sure the classified chat was secure.

Warner said, “If this was the case of a military officer or an intelligence officer and they had this kind of behavior, they would be fired” and “This is one more example of the kind of sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior, particularly towards classified information, that this is not a one-off or a first-time error.”

If you don’t remember this happening in the Biden administration, it’s because it never did. Biden hired competent and qualified people, not the Gang that couldn’t shoot straight.

Later, he called for the resignations of Hegseth and Walz, but I think everyone in that chat should resign, including the vice president (sic). Didn’t they all want Hillary Clinton “locked up” for risking the exposure of classified information?

The Trump administration talks a lot of shit about our national security, as though they take it seriously. If they really took it seriously, they wouldn’t hire jackasses like Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, Mike Walz, Kash Patel, and John Ratcliffe. Hell, if Republicans took our nation seriously, they wouldn’t have nominated that racist idiot Donald Trump.

Mark Warner said, “When the stakes are this high, incompetence is not an option.”

Creative note: I had something else planned for today, but this story threw that out the window last night. I had more than one reader message me, “Can’t wait to see your Hegseth cartoon.” Fortunately, those messages weren’t classified.

Music note: I listened to everything on this cafe’s sound system. Unfortunately, it included a lot of John Mayer. I hate John Mayer.

Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go see)

Peace & Justice History for 3/26

March 26, 1839
The Cherokee Indians came to the end of the “Trail of Tears,” a forced march from their ancestral home in the Smoky Mountains to the Oklahoma Territory. General Winfield Scott, under orders from President Andrew Jackson, arrested then drove the tribe’s members through the winter, leaving 4000 dead along the route. According to John Burnett, an interpreter with the U.S. Army, “. . . covetousness on the part of the white race was the cause of all that the Cherokees had to suffer . . . .” The train of 645 wagons stretched for five km (three miles), leaving behind as many as twenty graves in one day, principally victims of exposure.
Listen to This American Life’s Sarah Vowell as she follows the Trail of Tears 

John Burnett’s Story of the Trail of Tears, a letter to his children written late in life,
recalling his experiences as a young private involved in the Cherokee removal
 (document I)
March 26, 1966
Over 50,000 marched peacefully in the Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade in New York City.
They were part of the second International Days of Protest with marches in several cities in North America.


Fifth Avenue anti-Vietnam War demonstration photo: Robert Parent
Early efforts opposing the war in Vietnam 
March 26, 1979
In a ceremony at the White House, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed a peace agreement they had worked out with the assistance of President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, the U.S. president’s rural retreat.
The agreement ended three decades of hostilities between Egypt and Israel, establishing diplomatic and commercial ties. The two countries have remained at peace for 40 years.

Less than two years earlier, in an unprecedented move for an Arab leader, Sadat had traveled to Jerusalem to seek a permanent peace settlement with Egypt’s Jewish neighbor.
Coverage by the BBC 
March 26, 1986
The Oklahoma Supreme Court (Post v. State of Oklahoma) upheld a ruling that an Oklahoma anti-sodomy law could not be constitutionally applied to private, consensual activity.
March 26, 2003
Over one million students in Spain went on strike in opposition to their government’s support of the U.S./U.K. invasion of Iraq.

The demonstration in Barcelona

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorymarch.htm#march26

Midweek Palate Cleanser From Worriedman

(I’m a couple of days late with this one; I’m sorry. -A)

Cats in the limelight, feels like it’s alright,/ Everybody wants something they might not get./ I ain’ ready yet, it ain’t complete That’s why I am headin’ down to Alleycat Street./ by Worriedman

Jerome J. Garcia / Robert C. Hunter – Cats Under the Stars Read on Substack

I’m working on a piece for my other substack “ Green Side Up”

( Behold! Shameless self promotion!)

It’s about water. Watering plants specifically. It needs to be a somewhat fundamental statement of principles. I’m trying to take it seriously. I shouldn’t be posting pictures of cats and flowers and dogs and whatnot. Not with a fundamental principle out there, waiting to be stated.

Screw that. I took some hella sweet pictures of Barncat yesterday. And a couple of good ones of Amos and associated Minions. Then, this morning the sunrise behind the greenhouse walls was breathtaking. So there you go. Watering will wait. Get a load of these!

Barncat ! I tempted her up on a hay bale with some treats. Great place to take a picture.

Amos & Crew

A clematis –

That’s all I got room for- thanks for dropping by!