'Particularly dangerous': Concentration camp historian calls Musk a 'right-wing extremist'

Carl Gibson

January 24, 2025
ALTERNET

Elon Musk — the world's richest man and top advisor of President Donald Trump — is now being directly criticized by a historian who runs a memorial honoring the victims of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps.

Newsweek recently reported on an interview professor Jens-Christian Wagner — who runs the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial and museum — gave to the Times of London. That interview came in the wake of Musk throwing up a gesture during an Inauguration Day rally that fascism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat called a "Nazi salute," who added that it was "very belligerent."

"One can only say to him, 'Take a history book and withdraw for three days, read the history book and please be quiet with the poison he's spreading,'" Wagner told the Times. "I think Musk is a mixture of mad and right-wing extremist and that is particularly dangerous."

READ MORE: 'The Holocaust is not a joke': Group that initially defended Musk's salute turns on him

Wagner's comments come amid a wave of scrutiny over Musk's more recent controversial public statements. Earlier this week, Musk made puns referencing several Nazi leaders on his X account with a crying-laughing emoji, writing: "Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down! Stop Gőring your enemies! His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler! Bet you did nazi that coming."

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO's tweet was met with swift condemnation from both the Anti-Defamation League and its CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt. In a quote-post, Greenblatt told Musk that "the Holocaust is not a joke," and added that it was "inappropriate and offensive to make light of it."

While Musk has yet to face any major consequences for his gesture or statements, a TV meteorologist was recently fired from her job after five years after criticizing the salute. WDJT-TV in Milwaukee, Wisconsin announced Thursday that Samantha Kuffel was no longer with the station after a conservative talk radio host highlighted two of Kuffel's posts to her personal Instagram account.

One of Kuffel's posts showed a video of the salute with the text: ""Dude Nazi saluted twice. TWICE. During the inauguration. You f— with this man, I don't f— with you. Full stop." The other was a screenshot from the sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, with the character Mac saying: ""Screw that old b—. He's a Nazi."

READ MORE: Local meteorologist fired after social media post criticizing Musk's salute

Click here to read Newsweek's article, and click here to read Wagner's interview in the Times of London.

Congress' top antisemitism investigator: Musk's gesture clearly a 'Sieg Heil salute'

Matthew Chapman
January 21, 2025 

RAW STORY

Elon Musk gestures at the podium inside the Capital One arena on the inauguration day of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term, in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Segar

President Donald Trump's close ally, tech billionaire Elon Musk, caused an explosion of controversy on the day of Trump's swearing-in by repeatedly making an arm gesture that social media commentators and historians compared to a Nazi salute.

Trump allies quickly denied that Musk had any Nazi intentions, along with Musk himself, and some suggested he was just enthusiastically gesturing at his heart. But Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a Jewish lawmaker who heads up the House's antisemitism task force, said in a statement there was no mistaking what we all saw.

"Elon Musk has repeatedly pushed for the racist and antisemitic 'Great Replacement' conspiracy theory, endorsed the Nazi-sympathizing German Political Party AfD, and allowed anti-Jewish hate to proliferate unabated on his website, X," said Goldman. "Viewed in that context, and regardless of any justification, his salute last night at Donald Trump's inauguration rally can only be interpreted as a Seig Heil salute that is synonymous with Nazi support for Hitler."

"Just as the Proud Boys understood Donald Trump's urging to 'stand back and stand by' as a direction to mastermind the January 6 riot, neo-Nazi and far-right extremists have interpreted Musk's salute to refer to the Seig Heil salute to Hitler," Goldman continued. "It is no coincidence that Musk's fascistic salute occurred just hours before President Trump pardoned far-right, violent domestic extremists who assaulted law enforcement officers at President Trump's direction in an effort to overturn the 2020 election."

In an environment where "Jews around the world are scared because of the contemptible rise in antisemitism," Goldman continued, the only acceptable recourse is for Musk to issue an "immediate apology," and for Trump to "disavow and denounce his actions."

"If not, Donald Trump cannot credibly claim to be a friend of the Jewish people with Elon Musk by his side," Goldman concluded.

'The gesture speaks for itself': German newspaper blasts Elon Musk’s 'Hitler salute'

Elon Musk gestures at the podium inside the Capital One arena on the inauguration day of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term, in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Segar

Carl Gibson

January 21, 2025
ALTERNET

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk – who is one of President Donald Trump's top advisors — went viral on Monday for throwing up a gesture described by a fascism expert as a "Nazi salute." Now, a leading German newspaper is criticizing both the gesture itself and the American press for trivializing it.

In an op-ed published in Tuesday's edition of Berlin's Die Zeit newspaper, journalist Lenz Jacobsen said it was clear that anyone "who raises their right arm in a sweeping and diagonal manner several times during a political speech in front of a partly right-wing extremist audience is doing the Hitler salute," and that there was "no need to make this unnecessarily complicated." He added that terms like "allegedly" or "similar" or "controversial" were also unnecessary in describing what happened.

"The gesture speaks for itself, it is documented in the video," Jacobsen wrote in German. "Anyone who then wants to reinterpret it, anyone who does not want to see the Hitler salute, does so on their own account."

READ MORE: 'What did he just do?' Elon Musk sends hate groups 'buzzing' with 'Roman salute' at Trump rally

Jacobsen lamented that the future was "foreseeable," writing that "neo-Nazis and right-wing radicals can interpret the stretched right arm as a gesture of fraternization and encouragement." He also predicted Trump and Musk's more "well-meaning supporters" would view the salute "as an escalated gesture of celebration."

"Everyone else is faced with an impossible choice: Either ignore the taboo being broken and thus contribute to its removal. Or mark it as a taboo violation and thus produce outrage, which the other side then takes pleasure in and gets worked up about," he wrote. "One can complain about this, but one must probably expect that a significant part of humanity now sees scandalizing the Hitler salute as nothing more than virtue signaling."

After the video of Musk's salute spread on social media, hate groups — as Jacobsen predicted — viewed the gesture as a show of solidarity with their cause. Andrew Torba, who founded the far-right social media platform Gab (where the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter was radicalized), responded by writing: "Incredible things are happening already."

"I don’t care if this was a mistake. I’m going to enjoy the tears over it," neo-Nazi leader Christopher Pohlhaus posted to Telegram.

READ MORE: Elon Musk — who rails against 'illegals in America' – revealed to be an illegal immigrant

Click here to read Jacobsen's essay in Die Zeit (subscription required).

Lemkin Institute Issues 'Red Flag Alert for Genocide' After Musk's Nazi Salutes

"Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats," the group said. "The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."


Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2025.
(Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Jan 21, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

A group named after the Polish-born lawyer of Jewish descent who coined the term genocide issued a "red flag alert" for the United States on Monday after billionaire Elon Musk—a top ally of President Donald Trump—twice flashed what was widely seen as a Nazi salute during a post-inauguration event.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Studies and Prevention said that "Musk's act is a frightening signal of things to come" and rejected the notion that the billionaire's gestures were unintentional.


"In light of Musk's important influence on the new administration," the group said in a statement, "the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for genocide in the United States."


The Lemkin Institute urged Americans to "respond with critical thinking" to any suggestion that Musk's salutes were merely awkward or odd-looking—but ultimately benign—expressions of enthusiasm.


"Is it possible that any person—especially in South Africa (where support for Nazism was very strong) or the USA (where the History Channel has introduced almost all but the youngest generations to the Nazi salute)—is unaware of this salute or what it means?" the group asked. "It is almost impossible that this was an unfortunate mistake. Finally, can we really believe that someone who is so often in the public eye would risk an arm gesture—twice—that looks almost exactly like the Nazi salute while he is supposedly celebrating Donald Trump's election to president? We strongly believe that Elon Musk's gesture was intentional. We will be happy to be proven wrong."


"Musk's Hitler salute cannot and must not be swept under the rug. The U.S. press, cowed as it has been under President Biden, cannot be trusted to cover the new president's administration with any backbone or honesty. It is up to the American people to defend the Constitution and this country's core values against all threats," the organization continued. "Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats. The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."

Musk's salutes drew widespread alarm, including from public officials in Europe—where Musk has attempted to boost far-right parties.

"Such a gesture, given his already known proximity to right-wing populists in the fascist tradition, must worry every democrat," German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote in response.

Far-right extremists, for their part, celebrated Musk's gestures, which they appear to have had no trouble interpreting.

As Rolling Stonereported, "The Proud Boys Ohio chapter posted a clip of the Musk video to its Telegram channel with the text, 'Hail Trump!'"

'Unthinkable': Trump FTC chair shuts down public comments on corporate pricing tactics

Image via Free Malaysia Today/Creative Commons.

Jake Johnson
Common Dreams

January 24, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump's Federal Trade Commission chair began his stint at the helm of the key agency this week by shutting down requests for public comment on corporate surveillance pricing and other exploitative tactics that were a focus of the FTC under the leadership of Lina Khan.

Shortly after taking over as FTC chair earlier this week, Andrew Ferguson declared that "DEI is over" at the agency and demanded a swift vote on a motion giving him sweeping authority to "comply with President Trump's orders ending DEI across the federal government."

Meanwhile, with no such fanfare, Ferguson shuttered FTC requests for information and public comments on corporate mergers and acquisitions, "protecting workers from illegal business practices," "predatory pricing," and "surveillance pricing practices," which refer to companies' use of personal data to set individualized prices.

Democratic FTC commissioners expressed alarm over Ferguson's early actions and said they're a telling indication of his priorities.

"Andrew Ferguson could have made his first public act as chairman a motion to study the rising cost of groceries," Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya said in a statement Thursday. "He could have acted on a pending public petition from a group of wall and ceiling contractors to investigate how lawbreaking contractors can effectively rig contract competitions in the commercial construction industry."

"Chairman Ferguson could have done any number of things to actually lower the cost of living and create opportunities for American businesses and workers. He did none of them," Bedoya continued. "Instead, he canceled 'DEI.'"

Douglas Farrar, former director of the FTC's public affairs office, said it is "unthinkable that the new chair of the FTC starts his tenure by censoring small businesses facing down monopolies, and American consumers already struggling with high prices."

"The American people deserve to have a voice in government," Farrar added, "not just be dictated to by oligarchs."

Ferguson defended his focus on DEI on the grounds that Trump "campaigned openly" on ending diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.

But Bedoya noted that Trump, on the day of his inauguration, also ordered "the heads of all executive departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief, consistent with applicable law, to the American people and increase the prosperity of the American worker."

"Chairman Ferguson seems uninterested in the challenges that regular human beings face," Bedoya said Thursday. "One of his first actions as Chairman was to quietly remove the opportunity for the public to comment on five different requests for information."

"Rather than let the American people speak to him," Bedoya added, "Chairman Ferguson shut them out."

Panama complains to UN over Trump canal threat, starts audit

Agence France-Presse
January 22, 2025  

The Panama Canal generates six percent of Panama's national economic output and 20 percent of its fiscal revenues (ARNULFO FRANCO/AFP)

Panama has complained to the United Nations over U.S. President Donald Trump's "worrying" threat to seize the Panama Canal, even as it launched an audit of the Hong Kong-linked operator of two ports on the interoceanic waterway.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the government in Panama City referred to an article of the UN Charter precluding any member from "the threat or use of force" against the territorial integrity or political independence of another.

The missive, distributed to reporters Tuesday, urges Guterres to refer the matter to the UN Security Council, without asking for a meeting to be convened.

Trump, in his inaugural address Monday, repeated his complaint that China was effectively "operating" the Panama Canal through its growing presence around the waterway, which the United States handed over at the end of 1999.

"We didn't give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we're taking it back," Trump said.

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino hit back that the canal was not a gift from the United States during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.


"We reject in its entirety everything that Mr Trump has said. First because it is false and second because the Panama Canal belongs to Panama and will continue to belong to Panama," Mulino said Wednesday.

The president has previously denied that any other nation was interfering in the canal, which he said was operated on a principle of neutrality.

Asked Wednesday about the spat, Beijing denied it had ever "interfered" in the canal.

"China has always respected Panama's sovereignty over the canal and recognized the canal as a permanent neutral international waterway," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

- U.S. pressure -

The Panamanian comptroller's office that oversees public entities announced "an exhaustive audit" would be launched "aimed at ensuring the efficient and transparent use of public resources" at the Panama Ports Company.

The company, part of Hutchison Ports, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings, operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal on either end of the canal.

The comptroller's office said the aim was to determine whether the company was complying with its concession agreements, including adequate reporting of income, payments and contributions to the state.

Hutchison Ports PPC said in a statement that it has "maintained and will continue to maintain a transparent and collaborative relationship" with Panamanian authorities.

"We remain steadfast in our commitment to comply with all laws and regulations, fully exercising our contractual responsibilities," the firm said.

"Our financial results, audited by an independent external auditor, have been shared annually with our partner, the Panamanian State, ensuring trust and clarity in our management."

Trump has been raising pressure for weeks over the canal, through which 40 percent of US container traffic travels. He has refused to rule out using military force to reclaim it.


The Panama Ports Company's concession agreement was extended by 25 years in 2021.

The United States is the canal's main user, followed by China.

Since 2000, the waterway has contributed more than $30 billion to Panama's state coffers, including nearly $2.5 billion in the last fiscal year.


© Agence France-Presse


FILE PHOTO: Singapore MAERSK TAURUS container ship transits the expanded canal through Cocoli Locks at the Panama Canal, on the outskirts of Panama City, Panama August 12, 2024. REUTERS/Enea Lebrun/File PhotoFILE PHOTO: Singapore MAERSK TAURUS container ship transits the expanded canal through Cocoli Locks at the Panama Canal, on the outskirts of Panama City, Panama August 12, 2024.

 REUTERS/Enea Lebrun/File Photo

'Freaked out': Details emerge from Trump’s 'horrendous' call with Denmark over Greenland

Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., September 6, 2024. REUTERS/David Dee Delgado//File Photo

Carl Gibson

January 24, 2025

ALTERNET

A call between President Donald Trump and Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen about Greenland recently spiraled out of control, according to several officials briefed on the call.

The Financial Times first reported Friday on the 45-minute call between Trump and Frederiksen, which took place last week. Five unnamed "current and former senior European officials" told the Times that the call went "very badly." Trump insisted to the Danish leader that Greenland — which belongs to Denmark — should be the property of the United States, arguing that it was necessary for "national security" purposes.

While Frederiksen insisted that the island was "not for sale," she reportedly suggested alternatives to Trump, like allowing the U.S. military to expand its presence there and for the U.S. to have the ability to extract the island's resources while still keeping the island under Danish control. However, Trump was apparently unmoved by the counter-proposal, with the Times' sources describing the U.S. president as "aggressive and confrontational."

READ MORE: 'Touchy subject': Denmark's king responds to 'headache' of Trump's push to own Greenland

"It was horrendous,” one source told the publication.

"“He was very firm. It was a cold shower," another anonymous official said. "Before, it was hard to take it seriously. But I do think it is serious, and potentially very dangerous.”

The U.S. currently has a Space Force base in the northwestern part of Greenland, though Trump has been pushing for the island to become a U.S. territory, and sent his eldest son, Donald Jr., to Greenland's capital city of Nuuk earlier this month to meet with Greenlandic officials. According to a 2021 report from Deutsche Welle, Greenland has slowly become ensnared in a geopolitical chess game between the U.S. and China, as it is a significant source of oil, gas and mineral resources.

"The intent was very clear. They want it," one person familiar with the call told the Financial Times. "The Danes are now in crisis mode."

READ MORE: 'Will never be for sale': Trump's proposal to buy Greenland gets 'resounding no'

"The Danes are utterly freaked out by this," another official said.

During the call with Frederiksen, Trump reportedly threatened Denmark — a key NATO ally — with targeted tariffs if she didn't agree to sell Greenland. Frederiksen's office disputed the account relayed by the Times' sources, telling the outlet it did "not recognize the interpretation of the conversation given by anonymous sources."

In December, Denmark's King Frederik X notably changed the country's coat of arms for the first time in decades to make the polar bear symbolizing Greenland more significant, giving it its own quadrant on the royal crest. As for the island itself, the 57,000 residents of Greenland have indicated they don't wish to be the property of Denmark or the United States, and instead hope to become a sovereign nation in the near future.

Aside from Greenland, Trump has also indicated he aims to reclaim the Panama Canal for the United States and has even suggested at annexing Canada. During a January press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump didn't rule out using the military to seize both Greenland and the Panama Canal

Click here to read the Financial Times' report in its entirety.

'Let the squealing begin': Ex-GOP chair warns DOGE cuts to hit red states more than blue

Sarah K. Burris
January 21, 2025 

RAW STORY

Former Republican Party chairman Michael Steele warned that expected cuts coming from the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will harm MAGA areas more than Democratic cities.

Although Congress has not officially created Elon Musk's largely symbolic department, he is pursuing his promise of $2 trillion in government cuts.

Steele called it a "hot mess."

Aside from there being no ethical or government oversight, Steele called it Musk's own "little fiefdom."

"Here's the rub: no one in Washington gives a damn," said Steele. "Not on Capitol Hill, not on K Street, because they're all trying to figure out how they get a piece of it or get protected...So, we're all bought in here onto this. The American people signed on the dotted line. Do more of this. And they think that they're going to benefit."


He explained that $2 trillion in cuts would have to impact the MAGA world. One of Trump's first actions was to roll back President Joe Biden's 2022 executive order lowering prescription drug prices for those in Medicare and Medicaid.

"They're not telling you where it's coming from. And you know who's going to ultimately pay for it? All the MAGA in places like Alabama and Mississippi, who already rely on a lot of federal dollars to make their ends meet in those states," said Steele. "It's not going to hurt California. It's not going to hurt New York. They contribute massive amounts of dollars and get back very few federal dollars. Where this comes home to roost is in the very center of MAGA land, and they seem to be okay with that. So cut away, my friend, and just let the squealing begin."

See the video below or at the link here.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

'Ridiculous!' Trump frees creator of darknet market Silk Road to thank Libertarian backers

Daniel Hampton
January 21, 2025


Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the website Silk Road, appears in an undated photograph made from his computer and presented as an exhibit during his 2015 criminal trial in New York federal court. U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York/Handout via REUTERS





President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening he has issued a full pardon to a man serving a life sentence for creating and running what prosecutors have called the "sprawling black-market bazaar" Silk Road.



Ross William Ulbricht, known online by the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts," ran the website from 2011 until his arrest two years later. Ulbricht, a Texas native and Eagle Scout, operated the site as a hidden service on the Tor network, facilitating the sales of more than $200 million in narcotics and other illegal products and services, authorities said.

The vast majority of items for sale on Silk Road were illegal drugs, which were openly advertised as such on the site. In September 2013, the site's home page displayed nearly 13,000 listings for controlled substances, listed under such categories as “Cannabis,” “Dissociatives,” “Ecstasy,” “Intoxicants,” “Opioids,” “Precursors,” “Prescription,” “Psychedelics,” and “Stimulants,” prosecutors said at the time.























































ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration

Narcotics distributed on Silk Road were linked to at least six overdose deaths worldwide, including the death of a 27-year-old Microsoft employee who was found unresponsive in front of his computer, which was logged onto Silk Road at the time. The man died as a result of heroin and other prescription drugs that he had ordered off the site.

Ulbricht was arrested by the FBI and convicted in 2015 of charges including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, distributing narcotics, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit computer hacking.


“Make no mistake: Ulbricht was a drug dealer and criminal profiteer who exploited people’s addictions and contributed to the deaths of at least six young people,” Preet Bharara, then-U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at the time. “Ulbricht went from hiding his cybercrime identity to becoming the face of cybercrime and as today’s sentence proves, no one is above the law.”

But Ulbricht's incarceration at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson is about to end, Trump announced Tuesday on his social media platform Truth Social.

"I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross," he said. "The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!"


Trump pledged last year to free Ulbricht.

'She was nasty': Trump blasts 'so-called Bishop' who embarrassed him at prayer service

David McAfee
January 22, 2025 
RAW STORY

Donald Trump at around midnight on Wednesday lashed out against a bishop who stood up to him at the National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral the day before.

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde appeared on a stage with 11 other faith leaders gave a speech where she asked that the world pray for "unity," which she said wasn't the same as "agreement, political or otherwise."

Budde turned to deliver a message directly to Trump and other politicians by saying, "There isn't much to be gained by our prayers if we act in ways that further deepen the divisions among us. Our scriptures are quite clear about this, that God is never impressed with prayers when actions are not informed by them. Nor does God spare us from the consequences of our Deeds which always, in the end, matter more than the words we pray."

She further asked him to show mercy to some individuals, including immigrants.

Trump responded in an overnight rant on his own social media site, Truth Social.

"The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way," the President said. "She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people."

He then added, "Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions. It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!"

See the post right here.

Trump demands apology, criticizes bishop’s prayer service remarks

by Alex Gangitano - 01/22/25 

THE HILL


President Trump early Wednesday morning slammed the bishop at a National Cathedral prayer service for the inauguration who called on him to have mercy on transgender children and immigrant families.

Trump, in a lengthy post on Truth Social, called the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde’s remarks “nasty” and not smart.


“The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” he said.

“She failed to mention the large number of illegal migrants that came into our Country and killed people. Many were deposited from jails and mental institutions,” the president added. “It is a giant crime wave that is taking place in the USA. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one.”

Trump also called on her and the church to apologize to him.

“She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!”

Hours earlier, Budde made a plea to Trump during her sermon as he was sitting in the first pew at the service.

“I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared. There are gay, lesbian, transgender children, Democratic, Republican, independent families — some who fear for their lives,” she said.

“The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals — they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” she added.

During her comments about migrants, Budde noted migrant workers “pay taxes” and are “faithful members” of U.S. churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, arguing their children “fear their parents are going to be taken away.” And, she called on Trump to aid people fleeing war zones and persecution.

Budde also told Trump that people in our country are scared of his presidency.

When Trump returned to the White House after the prayer service, he told reporters it “wasn’t too exciting.”

“They can do much better,” he added.

Others have joined Trump in criticizing the Bishop’s remarks, including Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who said on the social platform X that “the person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.”

Trump signed a flurry of executive orders Monday, including one recognizing only two sexes — male and female — and others restricting immigration, carrying out his campaign promise to target migrants, especially those who have committed crimes in the U.S.

He signed an order effectively pausing refugee admissions for a minimum of three months, signed an order that seeks to boost detention capacity in the U.S. to house migrants and said he would end birthright citizenship for children born to people living without legal status in the U.S.

He also reinstituted the “Remain in Mexico” program, which requires asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico until their U.S. immigration court date, and he shut down the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) One app that facilitated appointments for immigration proceedings.

Reminder: Trump is a demented criminal president

John Stoehr
January 24, 2025 

Donald Trump (Reuters)

I just want to remind everyone that America elected a demented criminal president and as a consequence, we can no longer assume what we used to assume when it came to matters of law and politics.

I know that sounds like a sweeping generalization, but sometimes you gotta swing hard if you’re going to get people’s attention, and right now, given that liberals and Democrats got their heads in the sand, I think it’s prudent to swing hard, even if I’m proven wrong in the end.

And I know that saying something as sweeping as this can sound pessimistic, as if I’m suggesting that nothing can be done about a demented criminal president, but I don’t see it that way. I think liberals and Democrats still believe Donald Trump is going to overreach, and they still believe public opinion is going to turn, and when it does, thank God! Liberals and Democrats won’t have to fight so hard!

Again, we elected a demented criminal president.

We can no longer assume what we used to assume.

Case in point is the reaction to Donald Trump’s executive order claiming to “end birthright citizenship,” in the words of USA Today.

Liberals and Democrats were correct to point out that the president can’t do any such thing on his own, as ending the legal right to be called a US citizen due to being born on US soil would require a constitutional amendment. It was said that the order would be stopped almost immediately by the courts. Yesterday, 22 attorneys general from states run by Democrats filed suit to do just that.

While this reaction is correct as a matter of fact, it is wrong as a matter of politics. This is a demented criminal president we are talking about, and while the courts may end up stopping his order, the courts can’t stop a demented criminal president from ignoring the courts and acting, you know, like a criminal. We assume that a demented criminal president will obey the law and I don’t see why we should assume that.

Even if the president himself said OK, OK, I can’t end birthright citizenship by myself, there are plenty of people in his administration, not just political appointees, who would be happy to break the law and just pretend that the children of immigrants who are born on US soil are not citizens. They would also be happy to stop doing for them what they would do for any other (white) baby born on US soil, such as issuing Social Security cards or other important federal documents.

Even if it came to light that this rogue federal agency was responsible for infringing the rights and privilege of tens of thousands of natural-born citizens, who would prosecute the offense? The same Justice Department that is, right now, planning payback against the members of the Congress who investigated the J6 insurrection?

Even if that Justice Department actually did manage to prosecute and convict these rogue federal agents (who were only doing what Trump wanted them to do), should we assume that the same demented criminal president who pardoned virtually all the paramilitaries who sacked and looted the US Capitol would not pardon them as well?

And even if public opinion turned against Trump’s lawlessness, what reaction could we reasonably expect? The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Will Bunch said the inauguration was “a dangerous display of rapid mental decline” and that the biggest takeaway was “seeing how rapidly the oldest new president in America is declining right in front of us.”

“We’ve just flipped the car keys of this 248-year-old republic to a grandpa who starts his four-year road trip already in a serious state of mental decline, with all the guardrails of yesteryear stripped away by a corrupt Supreme Court, a feckless and increasingly useless Democratic Party, and a bended-knee elite media,” he said (my italics).

Again, it bears repeating: this is a demented criminal president we are talking about. The things that would normally constrain a president – the institutions, the courts and public opinion – are probably not going to constrain this one. I would suggest that they almost certainly won’t.

And while liberals and Democrats console themselves into believing the only way to end birthright citizenship is by amending the Constitution, they’re missing the real goal, which is getting around all those quaint little rules that everyone else plays by and going straight to the US Supreme Court. Trump’s executive order really could end birthright citizenship if he can force five justices to agree with it.

Like a lot of liberals and Democrats, I don’t yet know how to resist a president who is criminal enough to ignore the courts (or turn a blind eye to crimes committed in his name) and demented enough to ignore public opinion. I don’t yet know how to think about politics as applied to a president who won’t act like any president who came before him.

What I do know is we have to try – if not for ourselves, then for our children, and for those who came before us and did figure it out.

NOW READ: Trump's MAGA America revives a Confederate nightmare

Democracy under siege as Trump's reign of terror begins

D. Earl Stephens
January 22, 2025
RAW STORY

REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

It is worse than many of us imagined.

Not because we didn't know it would be bad, but because I reckon we practiced self-care by not fixating on it every hour of every terrible day since the horrid election in November.

So we licked our wounds, bucked each other up, and prepared for whatever hell was coming.

On Monday, it arrived.

On the first day of his reign of terror, the sick, vengeful king released 1,500 dangerous thugs, who beat the life out of cops and tried to set fire to our country, by violently stopping the certification of our election.

The people he said that he “loved” now have safe harbor, but only as long as they vow to work for him, because, you see, he has proven he is both capable of getting them in and out of their terrible messes.

Such power.

I have long ago lost confidence that our pathetic, horse-race media would report this at all properly when the gruesome day arrived, so let this old print guy break it to you cold this way:

WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A NATIONAL EMERGENCY


We simply cannot survive this obscene level of anti-Democratic lawlessness from the fascist White House, and that makes it incredibly important how this moment in history is framed for the public.

Every day of the next 100 will be key, because hell is rolling downhill fast right now.

-Does our mainstream media finally do its job and sound the alarms?

-Do they relentlessly call (demand) power to account for their actions?
-Do they tell us just what in the hell is really going on here, by giving the incineration of our democracy and our law and order the bandwidth and context they deserve?
-Do they break into their horses--- regular broadcasting to let America know it is under attack?

-Do they report on what Americans should be doing to mitigate and stay safe from this onslaught?

I know what you are thinking ...

We are but weeks away from all this being normalized. In a matter of days Trump, with the backing of fawning oligarchs and a corrupt political enterprise, will have amassed an enormous amount of centralized power. Before you know it he will have made it all but impossible to drill into the core, to get at its terrible source.


He is in a breathtaking race right now to shield himself from anything that might be coming so that he can rain hell down on the rest of us from the safety of the Capitol he attacked but four short years ago and finally captured on Monday.

Once he’s insulated, it’s over.

No surprise. He has flooded the zone on social media today saying the military will be his No. 1 priority as he gets at America’s true enemies. He means us, of course.


This is predictable as hell, and back in November I warned you of this:

NOTHING Trump does with our military will be to protect the citizens of the United States of America.
EVERYTHING Trump does with our military will be to protect himself from the citizens of the United States of America.

We will be here shortly unless something jars us from our deep sleep.

America has not seen anything like this since our Civil War. That one didn’t end us, but its echoes are pounding in our ears like never before. The white heat is turned up to 10.

History shows us 1935 Germany can also be terrifyingly instructive. The accumulation of unchecked power can happen insanely fast. Hitler himself was actually surprised how easy things were, and expected a helluva lot more pushback than he got on his way to complete power.

Now 90 years later, all the dogs are once again lying down. While we nap, evil has crept up to our doors.

Human beings will be rounded up and shipped out.

Comply, or else.

This is a five-alarm fire, good people. It is far beyond what any reasonable person who has been around for a while feared in their lifetimes. Our Democracy is burning out of control, and the response from our Democratic representatives on the frontlines in Washington has been appalling.

They literally have no answers for us right now, as they scramble to find their asses with both hands. It is as if they have been living someplace else, while the rest of us have yelled for them to do something — ANYTHING.

This is why people like us were screaming bloody murder when Merrick Garland did nothing. Not ONE lawmaker was tried or jailed for the January 6th attack -- including of course the dangerous, orange ringleader who means to finish us off.

I genuinely need to know what the f--- just happened the past four years, that left us so completely unarmed for this.

I have no answers for you, my friends, but those need to be demanded. I will put on my activist hat before finishing up here, and suggest if you haven’t already that you call your representatives and demand an accounting of what they are planning to do to defend us from the end.

Winning some election that may or may not happen two years from now is NOT an acceptable answer.

Here’s the number, if it isn’t already burned into your fried brain: 202-224-3121. I’d also suggest you contact what passes for your local news sources and ask them what they have planned in their coverage of this attack on our freedom. Write a letter to the editor today. Some of you other rough-and-readies will have suggestions, and the comments are open.

UNDERSTAND THIS: We must stay together right now. We must check on each other, and report out what we are seeing and hearing. Information is power.

America is under attack.

This is not a drill.

D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here, and follow him on Bluesky here.

Trump 'wants a paramilitary arm' for his 'war with half of America': analysis

Jennifer Bowers Bahney
January 21, 2025 
RAW STORY

Seth Wenig/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

President Donald Trump views himself as a "wartime president," according to a new article in The Bulwark, but his enemy isn't a rogue state — it's the American people themselves.

In an article published Tuesday, Bulwark Editor Jonathan V. Last wrote, "I don’t think there’s any way to read yesterday except as President Trump deciding that with the Republican party fully subservient to him, he can subjugate the other remaining power centers in American life. He can finally be a wartime president. It’s just that he’s going to war against America."

Last wrote that Trump's war with America is unprecedented, "Or at least: We haven’t had a president view Americans this way since Reconstruction.

Trump made it clear during the inauguration that he's "governing not for all Americans—and not even just for the benefit of 'his' voters—but as an attack on the half of America that opposed him," Last wrote.

According to the article, Trump "believes that Democratic voters should not be bargained with or bribed, but intimidated, punished, subdued—and rendered unable to oppose him in his quest for total power."

And Trump is going to use all the power at his presidential fingertips to ensure everyone falls in line. This includes using the courts, government bureaucracy, and mob rule to get what he wants. Last wrote that Trump released the J6 rioters, even the violent ones, for a purpose: "The message is unambiguous: Trump wants supporters who engage in street violence on the loose. He wants a paramilitary arm for which he has plausible deniability."

Last continued, "Freeing those convicted of violence is a go-ahead signal for future violent acts and an implicit promise that Trump will take care of those who fight on his behalf."

The target of Trump's power campaign is anyone who lives in a blue state, Last wrote. "Trump understands that blue states are the last bastions of meaningful popular opposition to his rule, so he will use the federal government to subdue them. That’s what deportations—and tariffs—are for. These are executive powers which can be used in highly-targeted ways to hurt on local economies."

So, "If you live in a blue state, President Trump is going to use the power of the federal government to make your life harder."

Read The Bulwark article here.

'Trump wants you to die': Nobel Prize-winning economist makes prediction about what's next

Brad Reed
January 24, 2025 

RAW STORY


Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has written a characteristically blunt analysis of the Trump administration's public health policies, which he has described as "Donald Trump wants you to die."

Writing on his Substack page, Krugman argued that the Trump administration appears to be waging a broad war against the civil service, with a specific focus on those working in public health agencies.

"Federal health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes for Health, have been ordered to pause all external communications, including health advisories and scientific reports," Krugman writes. "NIH, in particular, appears to have been effectively put in lockdown, with even routine meetings canceled and employees forbidden to travel."

Krugman went on to note that it's unlikely that these agencies will restart as normal in the near future either, especially since Trump is determined to appoint anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department.

All of this, Krugman explained, ties into the American conservative movement's long-standing hostility toward science.

"So my prediction — which I hope proves false — is that when NIH and other health agencies emerge from the current freeze they will have been emasculated and politicized, prohibited from releasing information and research whose implications the Trump administration doesn’t like, banned from making policy recommendations that are inconvenient for Trump or at odds with the prejudices of the MAGA base," he warned. "And many Americans will die as a result."

Between laughs and ‘disaster’, Trump divides Davos


By AFP
January 23, 2025


US President Donald Trump spoke in a packed hall with politicians and executives at Davos after his inauguration - Copyright AFP/File MARCO LONGARI

Raziye Akkoc, Ali Bekhtaoui and Elodie Le Maou

As Donald Trump appeared on giant screens at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the world’s rich and powerful rapturously applauded and snapped photos of the US leader. But by the end, the crowd had mixed feelings.

Executives, diplomats and officials stood in a long line like fans at a rock concert to pack into the main hall of the WEF’s congress centre in the Swiss ski resort.

“Everyone in the room was listening with rapt attention. He’s been the talk of the week without any question,” said Daniel Signorelli, a skincare company executive.

“Some of the things he said were just not true. But at the same time, there were kernels of truth in some of it. I think everyone’s kind of taking a wait-and-see approach,” he told AFP after the address.

“It shows one reason why he won the election, which is he speaks forcefully, you may not agree with everything, but he speaks with a great deal of force,” said Stuart Eizenstat, a former US ambassador to the European Union who is now working for a law firm.

Some attendees were fiercely critical but refused to comment or would only speak to AFP on condition of anonymity.

One American businessman said it was a “disaster. He seems to have completely bought all of the misinformation surrounding him. It’s scary”.

Meanwhile, another attendee cried “God help us” as he left.

– ‘Special’ day –

Half an hour before the speech, a long queue began forming, which one Indian businessman said he had only seen twice before in the 30 years he had been coming to the forum — both times for Trump’s speeches in 2018 and 2020.

“Today’s special,” said a security officer, adding that “we had to have reinforcements”.

Another room was also set up to commandeer more of the curious to watch elsewhere.

Trump amused the audience when he mentioned that Saudi Arabia planned to invest $600 billion in the United States but he would ask Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to “round it out” to $1 trillion.

The laughter in the room angered Amnesty International head Agnes Callamard. “The business community has absolutely fallen in love with what he is offering,” she said.

– Europe ‘hears’ Trump –

A quirk of the calendar meant that this year’s gathering started on the same day as Trump’s inauguration, after which he signed a flurry of executive orders.

Speaking from the White House behind a lectern with the presidential seal and an image of an eagle at his side, Trump reeled off the list of actions he has taken already.

Those in the packed hall included former US secretary of state John Kerry and World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as well as European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva.

With a president strongly pushing an America first approach to trade back in the White House, his threats to slap tariffs on allies has been high on the agenda.

He repeated his warnings, telling businesses to make their products in the United States to benefit from the lowest taxes, or face a tariff.

He also accused Europe of treating the United States “very, very unfairly”.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, whose country belongs to the European Economic Area including the EU, defended free trade.

“But we hear what he’s saying and now there will be discussions here in the EU and in the European Economic Area that I belong to and also in the World Trade Organization, how we deal with this strong message on tariffs,” he said.