Trump’s tax lawyers cut ties as he leaves office and reports say federal prosecutors already have his records

Chris Riotta
Thu, January 21, 2021

El presidente Donald Trump (derecha) y la primera dama de Estados Unidos, Melania Trump, abordan el Air Force One durante una ceremonia de despedida en la base conjunta Andrews, Maryland (EPA)

Donald Trump’s legal troubles began mounting before he could even step foot out of the White House on Wednesday.

Reports indicated early in the morning on Inauguration Day that federal prosecutors in New York had obtained some of his financial records amid an investigation into the former president and his private business.

Those records were obtained despite the Supreme Court having not yet made a decision on whether Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr can demand eight years of Mr Trump’s tax records from his accounting firm, Mazars USA.

While the district attorney’s office was still waiting for an order from the nation’s highest court on its subpoena powers, Bloomberg News reported the new developments meant investigators can begin verifying criminal allegations against the Trump Organization and former president.

By the afternoon, as President Joe Biden was officially sworn in as the next commander-in-chief, reports said Mr Trump’s team of tax lawyers were officially severing ties with him.

A spokesperson for Morgan Lewis said the global law firm was ending its relationship with Mr Trump and his business, which predated his 2015 presidential bid, according to The American Lawyer.

As the legal magazine reported, partners for the firm took a significant role in explaining to the public how the former president was planning to distance himself from his private business during his tenure in the White House.

“We have had a limited representation of the Trump Organization and Donald Trump in tax-related matters,” a spokesperson told the outlet this week. “For those matters not already concluded, we are transitioning as appropriate to other counsel.”

Other law firms also appeared to be jumping ship in the final hour, including Alston and Bird, which said in a 15 January statement it had “no intention of representing the president” in an appeal for a case involving him, his children and the Trump Organization. The firm acquired the president as a client after hiring a new litigator last year that had previously represented, and at the time was representing, Mr Trump.

While Mr Trump faced significant legal controversies throughout his presidency, and congressional investigations were launched into his alleged involvement in campaign finance violations and other concerns, he had yet to suffer the corporate backlash that befell him during his final days in office.

That came amid growing calls for his removal from office following his conduct leading up to the deadly pro-Trump mob attacks on the US Capitol, which left at least five people dead, including United States Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.

Mr Trump held a rally just before the riots encouraging his supporters to march to the building as Congress convened to certify his electoral defeat in the 2020 elections – then released a video to social media during the riots in which he continued to promote false claims of rampant voter fraud.

The former president lost access to virtually all his social media accounts since the day of the riots, as the CEOs of major tech companies cited threats of further violence from his supporters as part of their reasoning for blocking or suspending Mr Trump from their platforms. Major banks also distanced themselves from Mr Trump after the riots and said they would no longer work with the former president or his business.

Even the PGA – the largest professional golf organisation in the US – disassociated from Mr Trump after the mob.

The president’s children have come out since the riot to defend him from the corporate backlash he faced, with Eric Trump insisting that companies cutting ties with his father were falling victim to “cancel culture”.

“We live in the age of cancel culture, but this isn’t something that started this week. It is something that they have been doing to us and others for years,” he told the Associated Press. “If you disagree with them, if they don’t like you, they try and cancel you.”

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers have also voted to impeach the former president for a second time due to his alleged incitement of the deadly insurrection, and the Senate could soon begin a trial even though he is no longer in office.

Read More
Trump has a Chinese bank account and pursued China projects

New financial disclosures show how hard Trump's hotels have been hit amid pandemic

Catherine Garcia
Thu, January 21, 2021


Presidents routinely file financial disclosures when they leave office, and forms recently submitted by former President Donald Trump show that 47 of his hotels, resorts, and other properties lost more than $120 million in revenue in 2020, The Washington Post reports.

The pandemic has hit the travel and hospitality industries hard, and two of Trump's most famous hotels struggled last year; the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which has a $170 million loan outstanding, saw its revenue drop more than 60 percent, while the Doral in Miami saw its revenue decline 44 percent. Trump's private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach fared better — its revenue went up 13 percent.

An analysis by the Post found that combined, revenue at the 47 companies listed in Trump's financial disclosures dropped more than 35 percent in 2020. Banking consultant Bery Ely told the Post that Trump "faces some very serious problems that have been building in recent years and I think are going to come to a head now that he's left office." Trump, he added, has done "enormous reputational damage to himself."

While Trump does still own his company, the Post notes, it's unclear if he plans on going back to running day-to-day operations. The Trump Organization's website still lists his eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as the company's leaders. Read more at The Washington Post.

THIRD WORLD USA
'Unreal' and 'outrageous':

 Democrats and Republicans are demanding

 a swift investigation into how soldiers 

ended up sleeping in a parking lot PARKADE


Erin Snodgrass,David Choi
Thu, January 21, 2021

National Guard troops rest in the US Capitol while on a break. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Troops in DC were forced to vacate congressional grounds on Thursday, according to Politico.

Thousands of National Guardsmen are now taking their breaks in cramped parking garages.

Guardsmen told the outlet they had not been given a clear reason why they had to leave.

Thousands of National Guardsmen in DC who are working 12-hour shifts to protect the nation's capitol were told to vacate congressional grounds and take their breaks in a nearby parking garage, according to Politico.

One Guardsman told Politico that the garage had only one outlet, two bathroom stalls, and no internet reception for the 5,000 troops now occupying the space.

"Yesterday dozens of senators and congressmen walked down our lines taking photos, shaking our hands and thanking us for our service," the Guardsman said. "Within 24 hours, they had no further use for us and banished us to the corner of a parking garage. We feel incredibly betrayed."

Another Guardsman confirmed that all troops had been ordered to leave the Capitol premises and set up mobile command centers in hotels nearby or outside. The guardsmen who spoke to the outlet said nobody told them why they needed to relocate.

In the weeks since the January 6 Capitol riots, 25,000 National Guard troops have been occupying DC to support ongoing security activities and in anticipation of President Joe Biden's January 20 inauguration.

The heightened security presence made headlines when pictures of the troops sleeping on the floor of the US Capitol went viral. Troops were eventually given cots.

Read more: There will be more US troops in DC for Biden's inauguration than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined, a stark reminder of the danger of homegrown extremism

Guard spokesperson Major Matt Murphy told Politico that Capitol Police asked the troops to move their rest areas on Thursday now that Congress is in session and there is an increase in foot traffic throughout the Capitol.

Troops on the premises are still working 12-hour shifts to protect the Capitol, and one Guardsman confirmed to the outlet that Guard leadership was not responsible for the decision to relocate.

"There really may be an important reason for us to vacate and it just hasn't been well communicated yet," one Guardsman told reporters.

The troops are concerned that the cramped quarters of the new parking garage location combined with the limited bathroom access may lead to rising COVID-19 cases among soldiers, according to Politico.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Following the report, lawmakers from both parties swiftly called for an investigation into the matter. Later into the night, the Guardsmembers were allowed back on congressional grounds.

"If this is true, it's outrageous," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Twitter. "I will get to the bottom of this."

Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said the troops were welcome in her office.

"There is plenty of space in the US Capitol for the men and women keeping us safe," Sinema tweeted. "This is outrageous, shameful, and incredibly disrespectful to the men and women keeping the U.S. Capitol safe and secure. We need it fixed and we need answers on how it happened."

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a combat veteran, also donated her office to house the troops.

"Unreal. I can't believe that the same brave service members we've been asking to protect our Capitol and our Constitution these last two weeks would be unceremoniously ordered to vacate the building," Duckworth tweeted. "I am demanding answers ASAP."

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, also a combat veteran, also described the situation as "unacceptable."

"All week these troops have been protecting the Capitol," he said. "I'll be making my office available for any guardsmen who need it and encouraging others to do the same."

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a US Army veteran, said on Twitter that "we'll get to the bottom of this and get it fixed."

Read the full story at Politico

Read the original article on Insider

INFRASTRUCTURE

Pete Buttigieg congratulated for masterclass confirmation hearing as he’s set to be first openly gay cabinet member

Oliver O'Connell
Thu, January 21, 2021

 

Pete Buttigieg, Biden administration nominee for secretary of transportation, speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee confirmation hearing (Getty Images)

Pete Buttigieg was lauded for his performance at his confirmation hearing at which he appears to have gained bipartisan support from committee members.

Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana effusively praised Mr Buttigieg for his preparation and the detailed policy knowledge he demonstrated: “You have put on a clinic on how a nominee should work and act.”

Were Mr Buttigieg’s nomination by Joe Biden to lead the Department of Transportation to be approved, he would be the first openly gay man to be confirmed by the Senate to a cabinet post. Former President Donald Trump’s acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell was also openly gay, but was never confirmed to his post by the Senate.


The former presidential candidate and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana began his introductory statement by introducing his husband, Chasten, at the largely convivial hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

“I'd like to take a moment to introduce my husband, Chasten Buttigieg, who's here with me today. I'm really proud to have him by my side. I also want to take this chance to thank him for his many sacrifices and his support in making it possible for me to pursue public service,” he said.

In his testimony covering a wide range of transportation and infrastructure policy issues, Mr Buttigieg said that the administration’s ambitious agenda was a “generational opportunity” to create new jobs, fight economic inequality and stem climate change. He also highlighted the importance of safety as the foundation of the department’s work.

“[There is] a lot of work to do to improve the infrastructure in this country, a mission that will not only keep more people safe, but also grow our economy as we look to the future,” the former mayor said.

Placing the Department of Transportation at the centre of this vision of infrastructure development laid out by the new president, Mr Buttigieg linked it directly to creating millions of well-paying jobs and revitalising communities that have been left behind.

He added that it also enables American small businesses, workers, families, and farmers to compete and win in the global economy, and plays a role in tackling the climate crisis.

“Infrastructure can be the cornerstone to all of this, and you have my commitment that I will work closely with you to deliver the innovation and growth that America needs in this area,” said Mr Buttigieg.

The former mayor touted his own experience in South Bend to his understanding of the importance of infrastructure in spurring economic growth and revitalisation, while engaging stakeholders and tapping new resources to solve problems.

During questioning by committee members, Mr Buttigieg said: “This is our opportunity to do the building in ‘Build Back Better’. Every part of our transportation infrastructure needs massive investment. We have a historic opportunity to put together the resources to make those kinds of investments.”

Asked how the Biden administration plans to pay for bigger infrastructure investment, the former mayor said that the answer depends in part on the nature of the post-Covid economic recovery. He confirmed that critical federal investment in infrastructure is vital.

CRUZ CALLS HOME
The only hostile question came from Senator Ted Cruz, who raised the disconnect between the Biden administration halting the Keystone XL pipeline and its stated mission to create jobs.

The unflappable nominee responded with an entreaty to cooperate to create jobs: “If you and I can make common cause for labour, then I think that’s great news”.

Committee chair Roger Wicker began by asking if Mr Buttigieg would commit to helping him restore Amtrak service to the Gulf Coast – absent since Hurricane Katrina more than 15 years ago.

Saying that he would, Mr Buttigieg also referenced the new president’s love of Amtrak: “I think as you know I'm the second biggest train enthusiast in this administration. I think Americans ought to enjoy the highest levels of passenger rail service.”

Amy Klobuchar, who sits on the committee, greeted her former presidential campaign rival, saying: “I think you know I’m excited about your nomination … I know you well, and I can attest to my colleagues what a forward-thinking and thoughtful secretary you will be.”

The senator had earlier tweeted that Mr Buttigieg has strong bipartisan support, and committee members of both parties seemed impressed by the breadth and depth of his knowledge throughout the hearing.

Read More

Biden describes Pete Buttigieg as key to sweeping infrastructure plan

Biden team deletes old campaign ad criticising Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg takes down Trump-supporting heckler in Florida

PROFIT BEFORE PEOPLE

Alphabet Loon Internet balloon “Other Bet” gets grounded forever

SOCIALIST TECHNOLOGY KILLED BY CAPITALI$M

JC Torres - Jan 21, 2021, SLASHGEAR

Google is notorious for retiring apps and services, whether those were in wide use or not. That doesn’t apply to just software either and the company has sunset more than a handful of unsuccessful hardware projects that would have caused smaller companies to fold. Not Google, of course, for whom experiments, big or small, are a fact of life. The latest to join the dreaded Google Graveyard is Loon, the moonshot turned “Other Bet” that would have brought the Internet to places where towers and cables dare not go.

First revealed in 2013, Project Loon, which was back then still under Google and its X moonshot arm, dreamed of a more economical way of delivering the Internet to hard-to-reach areas without relying on expensive satellites. In the middle of the Google split and reorganization under the new Alphabet, Loon, as well as its cousin Titan, survived and became “Other Bets”. Titan and its Internet-bearing solar-powered drones were grounded in 2017.

In terms of technical aspects, the Project Loon experiment was deemed a success. A lot of effort went into making these balloons not only efficient but also smart, using AI to plot out their course and avoid other balloons without human intervention. These Loon balloons were poised to connect the next billion people to the Internet but, unfortunately, that was also the reason why it’s being shut down despite its success.

Loon wasn’t meant to be a charity and its long-term viability would have depended on it becoming a sustainable business. Unfortunately, the next billion users it wanted to connect are exactly the kind of users that wouldn’t have resources to spare for expensive services. As such, there was really no point in Alphabet throwing money at it to keep the balloons afloat.

Project Loon will be winding down operations and its remaining balloons in the coming months while employees are shuffled across Alphabet, Google, and X. It’s definitely disappointing news to hear, especially given how Loon Internet played critical roles in some natural disasters in the past two to three years. That pretty much leaves Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite constellation as the last one standing among efforts to spread the Internet further and farther, but that will most likely also be out of reach for the next billion that Loon was aiming for.

Study finds potential vegan diet nutritional risks in young kids

DIETARY RESTRICTIONS ARE NOT SCIENCE 

OR HEALTH BASED BUT ABOUT MORALITY

WE ARE OMNIVORES, EAT WHAT YOU WILL

Brittany A. Roston - Jan 21, 2021, SLASHGEAR

A new study out of Finland has evaluated potential health consequences associated with vegan diets specifically in young kids. Though many studies have looked into the potential benefits and downsides of a diet free from animal products, they tend to focus on adults — and, as the new study highlights, those results don’t necessarily translate to the right recommendations for children.

Plant-based diets, including vegan diets that exclude all animal products, have become increasingly popular, particularly among youth who cite everything from health focus to eco-friendliness as their reasons for their dietary decisions. Past studies have linked vegan diets with some big health benefits, as well as a few risks, particularly when it comes to nutrient deficiencies.

The new study from the University of Helsinki looked specifically at the potential deficiencies that may be found in young kids who are fed a vegan diet, comparing them to the same vitamin levels found in kids who eat a regular omnivore diet.

Generally speaking, people who eat a vegan diet are advised to supplement it with vitamin D and B12, as well as iodine; in some cases, it may also be necessary to supplement with zinc, calcium, iron, and B2, as well. Of these vitamins and minerals, the study found that young kids fed a vegan diet had the same levels as kids fed an omnivore diet, with the exception of vitamin D.

The vegan families, the study notes, provided their kids with iodine and regular vitamin B12/D supplements — but, it seems, the recommendations made based on adults may not be effective for young kids. The ‘significantly lower’ vitamin D levels were despite the supplements and the fact that the levels were tested in late summer when sun exposure is greatest.

As well, the study found that the kids fed vegan diets were also lower in vitamin A, HDL and LDL cholesterol, and the essential amino acid docosahexaenoic. However, these same kids were found to have ‘remarkably high’ folate levels. Though additional research is necessary to better understand the impact of a vegan diet in young kids, the findings indicate that research focused on adults can’t be extrapolated to youth.


Story Timeline
Huel Hot & Savory deliver two healthy vegan meals in an instant

Diet study finds many vegans may severely lack iodine, but not B12

Study finds vegans may face greater bone fracture risk than meat eaters

Payette stepping down as governor general after blistering report on Rideau Hall work environment

Chief Justice Richard Wagner will be fulfilling duties of the Governor General

Ashley Burke · CBC News · Posted: Jan 21, 2021

Governor General Julie Payette arrives at a swearing in ceremony in Ottawa, Ont., on August 18, 2020. (Patrick Doyle/Reuters)


Gov.-Gen. Julie Payette and her secretary, Assunta di Lorenzo, are resigning after an outside workplace review of Rideau Hall found that the pair presided over a toxic work environment.

Last year, an independent consulting firm was hired by the Privy Council Office (PCO) to review reports that Payette was responsible for workplace harassment at Rideau Hall.

Sources who were briefed on the consulting firm's report told CBC News that its conclusions were damning.

President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada Dominic LeBlanc told CBC's Vassy Kapelos the federal government received the final report late last week, which he said offered some "disturbing" and "worrisome" conclusions.

LeBlanc said Payette indicated her intention to resign during a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last night, where they discussed the report's contents.

Read Julie Payette's full statement on her decision to resign as governor general

In a media statement announcing her departure, Payette apologized for what she called the "tensions" at Rideau Hall in recent months, saying that everyone has "a right to a healthy and safe work environment."

"While no formal complaints or official grievances were made during my tenure, which would have immediately triggered a detailed investigation as prescribed by law and the collective agreements in place, I still take these allegations very seriously," she said in the statement.

"We all experience things differently, but we should always strive to do better and be attentive to one another's perceptions."

WATCH | Gov. Gen. Julie Payette resigns after scathing workplace review:


Gov. Gen. Julie Payette resigns after scathing workplace review

Video Gov. Gen. Julie Payette resigned on Thursday after a scathing review about a toxic workplace at Rideau Hall. The review followed CBC reporting into allegations of workplace harassment and bullying in the Governor General’s office. 2:50

Payette said her resignation comes at a good time because her father is in poor health and her family needs her help.

Trudeau's office confirmed receiving Payette's resignation.

"Every employee in the Government of Canada has the right to work in a safe and healthy environment, and we will always take this very seriously," Trudeau said in a statement. "Today's announcement provides an opportunity for new leadership at Rideau Hall to address the workplace concerns raised by employees during the review."

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Richard Wagner will fulfil the duties of the Governor General on an interim basis. In a short statement, Buckingham Palace said "the Queen has been kept informed of developments."

Third-party review

The Privy Council Office launched the unprecedented third-party review in July in response to a CBC News report featuring a dozen public servants and former employees confidentially claiming Payette belittled, berated and publicly humiliated Rideau Hall staff. Di Lorenzo, Payette's longtime friend and second-in-command, is also accused of bullying staff.

Payette tweeted two days after that story aired that she was "deeply concerned about the media reports" and she "takes harassment and workplace issues very seriously ... I am in full agreement and welcome the independent review."

As of Jan. 5, Rideau Hall had spent more than $150,000 in public funds on legal representation in response to the toxic workplace allegations, and had hired a former Supreme Court justice to represent Payette and Blakes law firm for the institution itself.

That sum is larger than the original value of the federal contract that hired Quintet Consulting to conduct the review. The private firm was hired on an $88,325 contract in Sept. 2020.

Sources have also told CBC that Secretary to the Governor General Assunta Di Lorenzo, who has also been accused of harassing employees, recently hired Marie Henein's firm to represent her.

Henein represented ex-Vice Admiral Mark Norman, the military's former second-in-command, during his trial for breach of trust. Federal prosecutors stayed that charge. It's not clear if Henein or another lawyer at her firm is personally representing Di Lorenzo.

The Bloc Québécois issued a statement calling for the immediate release of the Rideau Hall workplace review and said the position of Governor General has no place in a democracy.

LeBlanc said his department has already received — and will comply with — access to information requests for the report. But he added that federal privacy law limits what can be disclosed.

"The government is not in a position ... to necessarily release all the details of the report," LeBlanc said. "We will clearly comply with the access to information legislation and the appropriate version will be made public as soon as we can."

Removing a Governor General

Payette joins a very short list of governors general who have left the post early — but she is the first to do so mired in controversy.

Lord Alexander left for England a month before Vincent Massey was sworn in as his replacement in 1952. John Buchan, also known as Lord Tweedsmuir, and Georges Vanier both died while serving, in 1940 and 1967, respectively. In those cases, the Supreme Court chief justice of the day stepped in to fill the role temporarily.

Romeo LeBlanc, Dominic's father, stepped down in 1999 before the end of his term due to health issues. The office was not left vacant; LeBlanc continued until Adrienne Clarkson was ready to succeed him.

Governors general have resigned under pressure — and have been asked to resign by prime ministers — in Commonwealth countries in the past. In 2003, Australian Gov. Gen. Peter Hollingworth resigned after controversy erupted over the way he had handled sexual abuse claims while he was archbishop of Brisbane.

WATCH | Former heritage minister on choosing a governor general

Former heritage minister reflects on choosing a governor general

Video James Moore was the heritage minister in the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. 1:48

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole released a statement calling on the Liberal government to consult the other parties before choosing Payette's permanent replacement.

"The Governor General is the Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces and has an important constitutional role," O'Toole said. "Considering the problems with his last appointment and the minority Parliament, the Prime Minister should consult opposition parties and re-establish the Vice-Regal Appointments Committee."

That committee was created by the Harper government in 2012 to identify a list of possible candidates for viceregal offices, including the Governor General, through a non-partisan consultation process. It was later disbanded and was dormant in 2017.

LeBlanc committed the Liberal government to a "robust and thorough and complete" vetting process when choosing Payette's successor.

In a statement, Robert Finch, chairman of the Monarchist League of Canada, called media reports about Payette's behaviour "regrettable." He said he hopes that her resignation will usher in a new chapter at Rideau Hall defined by "loyalty, dignity and respect."

"It is important to remember that the Governor General represents our admired head of state, the Queen," said Finch. "If future vice-regals aspire to perform their roles with the grace, dedication and duty as our Sovereign has during almost 70 years, they will excel."


With files from the CBC's Mark Gollom, Peter Zimonjic, Ryan Jones and the Canadian Press
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News

As Trump departs office, reality sets in for QAnon cult
Caitlin Dickson and Jerry Adler
Wed, January 20, 2021

It began with a cryptic remark by President Trump at a photo op with senior military leaders in October 2017. “You guys know what this represents?” Trump asked the reporters he had summoned to the State Dining Room, gesturing to the officers arrayed beside him. “Maybe it’s the calm before the storm.”

No one, evidently including the generals in attendance, seemed to know what he meant. Was it a threat to North Korea? A warning to Iran or ISIS? Trump, and later his then press secretary Sarah Sanders, refused to elaborate. “He certainly doesn’t want to lay out his game plan for our enemies,” Sanders declared.

But within a few weeks an explanation for the remark began to take shape in the shadows of the internet, on a right-wing message board where someone who called himself Q — the designation for top-secret clearance from the Department of Energy, which supervises America’s nuclear arsenal — began spinning out a baroque paranoid fantasy in elliptical, coded hints known as “crumbs.” The core myth, elaborated over the next three years with contributions from a burgeoning cadre of followers, was that Trump was planning the destruction of a worldwide ring of Satanist pedophiles that included, in various versions, “deep state” bureaucrats, global financial elites, prominent Democrats and, inevitably, Jews.

Although there are theories about the identity of Q — none of which involve a top national security official — he or she remains anonymous, and so do most of Q’s followers. Hence the name: QAnon.

The fantasy ended at noon on Jan. 20, when Joe Biden took the oath of office, while the erstwhile QAnon hero, now just Donald Trump, ex-president, skulked off to his estate in Florida without even a Twitter account to his name.

Outgoing President Donald Trump speaking at Joint Base Andrews, Md., 

on Wednesday. (Alex Edelman/AFP via Getty Images)

For some the charade had ended two weeks earlier, with the chaotic riot at the Capitol, at which Q followers were well represented, that failed to stop the counting of electoral votes certifying Biden’s victory. Or at various other milestones along the tortuous road that led from the Nov. 3 election. Q had gone mostly silent since then, and followers had to fall back on reassuring each other that Trump was just biding his time before unleashing the “Storm” on an ever-growing list of enemies, eventually including members of his own administration.

“Trust the Plan” was the mantra of true believers. “Just think,” one posted hopefully on Jan. 19, “today and tomorrow will be holidays for your children.”

But as the clock ticked down to noon on Wednesday, Q message boards began filling with increasingly desperate posts from followers who claimed to have gone without sleep for as long as six days, not wanting to miss the moment they had been waiting and hoping for for years. “Please God, I’m watching, it’s making me sick to my stomach, but I want to see arrests,” one wrote. “Either arrests happen or we are now China’s property,” wrote another. And as Biden prepared to take the oath, a few minutes before 12 p.m. ET, despair turned to anger, even at Trump himself. “Thanks Trump!” read one post. “You sold out our country!”

In what will probably be the closest thing to an official conclusion to the Q saga, Ron Watkins, the former administrator of the 8kun board, which hosted Q, posted a conciliatory message to Telegram shortly after Biden’s inauguration ceremony, telling followers, “we keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able.”

“We have a new president sworn in and it is our responsibility as citizens to respect the Constitution regardless of whether or not we agree with the specifics or details regarding officials who are sworn in,” the message continued. “As we enter into the next administration please remember all the friends and happy memories we made together over the past few years.”

Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday. 

(Andrew Harnik, pool via AP)

In an effort to perhaps reassure followers that all is not completely lost, Watkins added, “I’ll have more to say in a few days regarding a new project I’m currently fleshing out,” before concluding the message with “God bless.”

Watkins and his father, Jim, who owns 8kun, the anonymous message board that has hosted Q’s posts for years, played an integral role in facilitating the QAnon phenomenon, leading some to suspect that the two were actually behind the Q persona — a theory both have previously denied.

On Election Day 2020, hours after Q posted what would end up being one of their last “drops,” Ron Watkins announced he was stepping down as the administrator of 8kun. In the weeks that followed, he emerged as a prominent source of a wide range of baseless election-fraud conspiracy theories. His particularly aggressive promotion of false claims relating to Dominion Voting Systems earned him several appearances on the far-right-wing One America News Network, an “expert witness” citation in one of Sidney Powell’s unsuccessful “Kraken” lawsuits and a retweet from Trump.

It’s too early to say where QAnon will rank in the long history of human delusion. Its reach was wide but comparatively shallow — compared, say, with the Heaven’s Gate cult, whose three dozen or so members committed mass suicide in 1997, believing they would be transported to an alien spaceship tracking Comet Hale-Bopp as it approached Earth. Strong beliefs aren’t necessarily shaken by failed prophecies. Armageddon has been confidently predicted innumerable times since the Book of Revelation was accepted into the biblical canon; in fact, in 1971, the psychic Jeane Dixon pegged it for 2020, which must have seemed safe enough at the time. Now evidently leaderless, and with its raison d’être gone, QAnon may have nowhere to go. But its legacy will endure, a testament to human gullibility and the powerful urge to channel outrage against an enemy, even an imaginary one.

SEE

QAnon Could Splinter into 'Violent Offshoots' After Trump Exit: 'Humiliation Fuels Rage'

Trump’s order to halt deportations to Venezuela — 

a ‘gift’ or ‘cop out’? Experts weigh in.




Monique O. Madan, Sonia Osorio , Alex Daugherty
Wed, January 20, 2021

Madeleine Leon‘s eyes went wide, her jaw, ajar.

The news that during his last night as president Tuesday, Donald Trump issued an executive order suspending the deportation of Venezuelans in the U.S. left her “sweaty, confused and pleasantly surprised.”

“I was a madwoman — a happy one running all around the house,” the Venezuelan asylum seeker told the Miami Herald as she sat beside her husband. “We truly couldn’t believe our eyes, that Trump did that considering the past four years of his strict immigration policies.


“I was changing all the channels on the TVs,” she added, noting that at some point she had three remotes in her hands, along with a cellphone and laptop. “Each one had a different news source because for a minute I thought it was fake news, that it couldn’t be real. I did a double-take.”

Leon’s reaction to Trump’s eleventh-hour executive order deferring the removal of Venezuelans currently in the United States for 18 months wasn’t very different from that of immigration advocates and policy experts.

Many blinked twice when they heard the news, and though they were joyous, the announcement rendered disappointment.

“When you do something good you should be praised. But unfortunately, it was several years too late, and the weakest possible benefit you can provide,” said Randy McGrorty, attorney and director of Catholic Legal Services, an organization that has represented tens of thousands of immigrants seeking refuge and asylum in South Florida.

“Venezuela didn’t suddenly descend into hell yesterday,” he said. “Call it a cop-out if you will.”

Deferred Enforced Departure, or DED, applies to all Venezuelan citizens in the U.S. with the exception of those who are subject to extradition, are inadmissible under the Immigration and Nationality Act or were deported, excluded, or removed prior to Jan. 20. It also authorizes their employment while in the United States.

And though the decision could benefit as many as 200,000 Venezuelans at risk of being sent back to the troubled South American nation, the benefit is only temporary” and doesn’t compare to Temporary Protected Status, which is “an actual immigration status,” McGrorty said.

“DED is not. It’s just a promise not to deport you for 18 months. That means that after that amount of time, you’re back to square one. Sure, it can always be renewed, but it’s completely discretionary, any president could just change his or her mind and there it goes,” he said. “TPS is concrete. It’s in the statutes and it has certain rights and responsibilities associated with it and the government has to follow certain procedures.”

DED was first granted in 1990 and has since been activated five times to halt the deportation of certain migrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Liberia, China, and the Persian Gulf. Prior to that, DED was formerly known as Extended Voluntary Departure, or EVD, according to U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services. EVD was granted to the first wave of Cubans fleeing after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, prior to the Cuban Adjustment Act.

Jose Mendoza, who applied for asylum with his wife Madeleine more than two years ago and is still waiting to hear back, says he hopes President Joe Biden will move to do “something more solid for the Venezuelan people.”

Biden, who took office hours after Trump signed the order, has the authority to reverse or amend the executive action at any time. Along the campaign trail, as well as in recent immigration reform proposals, he has promised to “immediately” grant TPS to Venezuelans already in the United States. Transition officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Patricia Andrade, director of the Venezuela Awareness Foundation, a human rights organization in Miami, said she was very pleased with the measure because it will help thousands of Venezuelans for a specified period of time. However, she expressed “great concern” that the Biden administration will remove Venezuela from its agenda now that Trump has found a temporary solution.

“We do not want words of solidarity, we really want action, for sanctions to be maintained, for forceful measures to be taken to achieve the transition to democracy in Venezuela,” she said.

José Antonio Colina, president of Venezolanos Perseguidos Políticos en el Exilio (Politically Persecuted Venezuelans in Exile), an immigration advocacy organization in Miami, stressed that it is an important step to protect thousands of Venezuelans who are still in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and have not committed federal crimes.

Last month, leaders with Venezuela’s opposition urged the incoming Biden administration to grant Venezuelans TPS. Officials appointed as U.S. emissaries by Juan Guaidó — the man recognized by the Trump administration as Venezuela’s rightful president — made the push after touring an immigration detention center in Broward County, which at the time had 40 Venezuelan detainees, the most at one single detention center in the country out of the 257 behind bars.

Krystin Montersil, detention program supervisor for Catholic Legal Services, said the majority of Venezuelans who had been detained in immigration proceedings have been released on orders of supervision in South Florida.

“Just in the last two to three weeks, we’ve seen approximately 20 to 30 releases of Venezuelan nationals,” Montersil said.

Trump’s DED order wasn’t the only immigration change that occurred. On Wednesday, Biden proposed a major overhaul to the U.S. immigration system. The sweeping reform included broad legal protections for millions of undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States. It also provides an expedited path to citizenship for so-called “Dreamers,” individuals who came to the U.S. as children, and others given a temporary reprieve after fleeing natural disaster or armed conflict.

Florida’s two U.S. Senators have already expressed opposition to Biden’s immigration bill and suggested that it will likely be a political issue raised by Republicans during the 2022 election cycle.

Sen. Marco Rubio, one of the senators behind the failed “Gang of Eight” immigration proposal that passed the Senate with a bipartisan vote in 2013 but died in the GOP-controlled U.S. House, said Biden’s plan is a non-starter that amounts to “blanket amnesty.”

“Before we deal with immigration we need to deal with COVID, make sure everyone has the chance to find a good job, and confront the threat from China,” Rubio said in a statement a day before Biden’s inauguration. “There are many issues I think we can work cooperatively with President-elect Biden, but a blanket amnesty for people who are here unlawfully isn’t going to be one of them.”

Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who will lead Senate Republicans’ political arm for the next two years, released a statement through the National Republican Senatorial Committee blasting Biden’s immigration plan and listing a number of Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2022.

Both Rubio and Scott could run for president in the future and could open themselves up to attacks from the far right if they’re perceived as being too friendly to undocumented immigrants. Rubio was attacked for his immigration work during the 2016 GOP primary.

But Miami Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, who has been a key GOP voice on immigration reform efforts in the U.S. House, struck a more conciliatory tone on Wednesday. Diaz-Balart said in a statement he was “fully committed to working with the Biden Administration.”

All three Florida Republicans, along with Miami Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez, were enthusiastic supporters of Trump’s last minute decision to grant Deferred Enforced Departure for Venezuelans living in the United States just hours before his term ended.

Rubio had floated the idea of Trump enacting DED for Venezuelans for more than a year after TPS failed in the U.S. Senate in 2019. DED functions similarly to TPS in that it allows recipients to live and work in the U.S. without the fear of deportation, but is derived from the president’s foreign policy powers rather than immigration law passed by Congress.

“If we can get deferred forced removal with a work permit like there is with Liberia, that’s the functional equivalent of TPS,” Rubio said in 2019. “There’s some legal issues with that as well, but it’s the functional equivalent of a TPS designation without some of the legal pushback we’ve gotten.”

Gimenez and Salazar praised Diaz-Balart’s work for getting Trump to enact DED. Any future immigration deals in Congress could involve the Miami Republican who remains well-respected by most Democrats in Washington and represents thousands of undocumented immigrants in his Hialeah-based district.

“I commend my dear friend and colleague, Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart, for his work with the administration and his unwavering commitment to the plight of the Venezuelan people,” Salazar said in a statement.

Meanwhile back in Miami, Republican strategist Jesse Manzano-Plaza called it “a gift or action that was perhaps very overdue

Rep. Mondaire Jones prevents Trump deportation of constituent to Haiti

DeMicia Inman
Thu, January 21, 2021

Jones and his team worked together with attorneys to prevent Paul Pierrilus from being illegally deported to Haiti, where he has never been.

Former President Donald Trump moved to have Paul Pierrilus deported to Haiti, but the office of freshman Congressman Mondaire Jones prevented the action.

Read More: Haitian brothers, 9 and 19, detained by customs despite visas

The Washington Post reported the Trump administration attempted to have Pierrilus sent to Haiti although he had never been to the country. In the final hours of the Trump presidency, chartered deportation flights continued, and dozens of immigrants were sent to countries they have never called home.

(Photo: U.S. House of Representative)

President Joe Biden has committed to delaying deportations for at least the first 100 days of his term.

“We have an immigration system where attorneys, advocacy organizations, and members of Congress must work on a case-by-case basis to work miracles in order to obtain justice for clients and constituents,” said Jones, according to the report. “That is no way to run an immigration system.”

Pierrilus is a financial consultant who emigrated to the United States at the age of 5. He was born in the French territory of St. Martin, which does not have policies for birthright citizenship. His parents are Haitian natives, however, he has never visited the nation. According to the Post, a tweet from the Haitian ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, confirmed the Rockland County, New York resident has no citizen status in Haiti.

Essentially, Pierrilus is stateless as he is not recognized as a citizen in St. Martin or the U.S. The Post says there are about 218,000 individuals currently in the United States with the same status.

He was set to be deported on Tuesday before Mondaire and team stepped in and were able to remove him from the plane just minutes before take-off.

“My mother was devastated and distraught,” his sister, Neomie Pierrilus, told the Post. She reached out to a cousin who went to high school with their new congressman, Rep. Jones to ask for help. “I am a fighter, and I wasn’t going to give up on my family.”

Read More: Haitian immigrant is the face of Lay’s chips

Katrina Bleckley, staff attorney with the Haitian Bridge Alliance made contact with Jones, who responded immediately.

“There was nothing to do except go to Congress,” said Bleckley, according to the report. “Minutes after the text, I got a callback. I’ve never had a turnaround like that.”

Bleckley said Pierrilus garnered the attention of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement due to drug offenses. ICE also attempted to deport his brother, Daniel Pierrilus, in 2006. According to the family, Haitian officials sent him back when he arrived at Port au-Prince.

After Bleckley and Jones teamed up, staff worked through the night on Monday, demanding ICE provide a copy of valid Haitian travel documents on behalf of Pierrilus, which were never sent. By morning, Pierrlus was able to call and confirm he was not on the plane that departed for Haiti. According to the Post, he is still in Louisiana, where the flight was scheduled.

Via Twitter, Edmond confirmed that Pierrilus was removed from the flight through the efforts of not only U.S. authorities but with the assistance of the Haitian embassy.


“Yet they decided to try to send him to Haiti anyway without documents,” Edmond said, per the Post. “We found the lack of humanity in the process disturbing. We asked ourselves, how many others were deported this way?”

Jones, 33, is a congressman from New York’s 17th District. His resolution of the complex situation is just one example of the impact he’s already had. His election to Congress in November made history as he’s one of the first two openly gay, Black members of Congress elected last year.

As theGrio reported, Jones was named freshman representative to House leadership.

“Congressman-elect Mondaire Jones is a force for progress in New York and across America, whose brilliant legal mind, grassroots organizing experience, and spirit of advocacy and action have already enriched our House Democratic majority,” said Nancy Pelosi according to the report. “His leadership has been acknowledged by his election as freshman representative to leadership, where he will amplify, strengthen, and unify the voices of our diverse, dynamic Democratic caucus.”

'It gives us hope': migrants stranded in Mexico buoyed by prospect of Biden reform

David Agren in Piedras Negras
Wed, January 20, 2021

Photograph: Jerry Lara/AP

Selma López, 31, has spent nearly a year holed up in a two-room house not far from Mexico’s border with the US, along with her 11-year-old son Darikson and another woman who also made the long journey from Honduras in search of a new life.

Related: Remain in Mexico policy needlessly exposed migrants to harm, report says

They are among thousands of people stranded south of the frontier by a Trump administration policy known as migrant protection protocols (MPP), which obliges asylum seekers to await their court hearings in some of Mexico’s most dangerous cities, instead of in the US.

Children and adults have been raped, kidnapped and murdered while awaiting their court date. In Piedras Negras, police routinely harass migrants, said López. Earlier this week, a mysterious white car followed her as she walked to the store. And as a Garifuna woman, she has suffered overt racism and anti-Black insults from locals.

But López’s mood brightens when conversation turned to the US presidential inauguration – and what it might mean for her and thousands of others.

“We’re encouraged and feeling a little hopeful,” said López, who fled northern Honduras after gangsters threatened to kill Darikson for not making protection payments. “It’s giving us a little hope that we can at least enter the US and fight our cases there.”

Joe Biden has promised to do away with MPP and restore the asylum process, raising hopes among MPP participants that their claims will be treated seriously – and that they won’t have to risk their lives while waiting.

Biden plans to restore asylum and refugee programs and officials from the incoming administration say MPP will be addressed in an executive order in the near future.

But they cautioned it could take months to address all the changes to the immigration system introduced by Trump.

Activists on the border have tried to temper migrants’ enthusiasm.

“They think things are going change immediately. I’m trying to make them understand it’s not that easy,“ said Israel Rodríguez, a Baptist pastor, who feeds migrants in Piedras Negras.

Piedras Negras, a city of factories opposite Eagle Pass, Texas, attracted asylum seekers because of safety perceptions, according to Rodrigúez. But MPP participants must attend hearings in Laredo, Texas, a journey of 125 miles through cartel territory..

The threats do not just come from criminals: police in Piedras Negras regularly detain and extort migrants – and even destroy immigration documents. The local government has closed down migrant shelters under the pretext of the coronavirus and in December ordered them from providing hot meals for migrants left homeless.

“They’re making charity illegal,” said Dominican brother Obed Cuellar, director of a diocesan migrant shelter. “There’s a way of thinking here that migrants come to destroy the city or make it dirty … or they’re taking our jobs.”

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, came to office promising not to do the US’s “dirty work” on migration matters. But he immediately went along with the MPP scheme and promised to provide the participants and their children with access to health and education, employment opportunities and shelter.

Lawyers and activists say little of that help has materialized, but volunteers from Mexico and the US have provided MPP participants with everything from food and clothing to legal and medical advice.

Within Mexico, MPP largely went unnoticed as its participants were largely out of sight and out of mind. But a lawyer representing a number of MPP participants said the program served its purpose for the Trump administration, however.

“The cornerstone of MPP is xenophobia. And it worked because 68,000 people were kept out of the US,” said Charlene D’Cruz, a border fellow for Lawyers for Good Government’s Project Corazon.

“What MPP did was show people stuck at the border and that was enough for Trump’s base to say that he did what he set out to do: keep all the ‘Mexican rapists’ out.”

The pictures from Matamoros – tucked into the extreme north-east corner of Mexico – were at times shocking as MPP participants lived in the squalor of a tent camp along the Rio Grande.

Related: Trump's 'shameful' migrant stance condemns thousands to violent limbo in Mexico

The camp has been flooded out, infested with snakes and insects and eventually infiltrated by criminal groups – which charge $500 for permission to cross the frontier and inflict severe beatings on those not paying.

“My son [age five] saw someone being beaten by the river … He’s traumatized,” said Marlen, 24,a Salvadoran asylum seeker.

But people at the camp felt they had particular reason for optimism: in December 2019 Jill Biden came here and helped serve meals to the migrants.

“This is the only place along the border the now first lady visited. That’s why they’re so hopeful,” said Juan Sierra.

“We think Biden is going to push an immigration reform,” said José Luis Guerra, a skinny Cuban. “With Trump, there wasn’t any reason for hope.”

Additional reporting by Amanda Holpuch

Biden immigration bill would provide more protections for child migrants

Julia Ainsley
Thu, January 21, 2021

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden's immigration legislation will include new protections for children migrating from Central America, including the return of an Obama-era program that lets children apply for refugee or asylum status in the United States from their home countries.

In August 2017, the Trump administration stopped what was known as the Central American Minors program, which allowed children to seek asylum in the U.S. while still in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Other details of the legislation revealed on Thursday include hiring more immigration judges to handle asylum cases, offering "humane alternatives" to immigrant detention and changing the term "alien" to "noncitizen" in immigration laws.

The bill will also include an expedited path to citizenship, allowing young immigrants known as Dreamers, certain farm workers and immigrants under Temporary Protected Status to immediately be eligible for green cards and then citizenship within three years. All other undocumented immigrants in the United States since Jan. 1 would be eligible for green cards within five years and citizenship in eight years under the legislative proposal, according to a staff member for Sen Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who spoke on a call with media and advocates on Thursday.

Tackling immigration, an issue known for its political divisiveness, as his first major legislative proposal could prove difficult for the new president.


Menendez said he was "under no illusion" that passing the legislation would anything but "a Herculean task."

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who proposed restrictions on immigration under the Trump administration, called Biden's proposal an "amnesty plan" that "dismantles existing enforcement" for illegal immigration

The bill would need 60 votes to make it through the Senate, and with Vice President Kamala Harris as a tie breaker, Menendez said he would need to bring at least nine Republicans to agree to the bill.

Related: "The situation at the border isn't going to be transformed overnight," a senior Biden transition official told NBC News in an exclusive interview.

Other pieces of the legislation, detailed on the call by Menendez, who will introduce the bill, include allowing children to have legal assistance when making their asylum cases in U.S. immigration courts.

"We will no longer force children to make their own case… We will give them assistance to do that," Menendez said.

Menendez said the bill will also increase training and the basic standard of care for children in the custody of Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under the Trump administration, at least seven children died in the custody of, or shortly after being released from the custody of, CBP or ICE. Officials for the Trump administration said at the time that they were ill-equipped to handle the influx of families arriving at the southern border and that many of the children came to their custody with severe illness.

After caravan blocked, Honduran migrants turn anger on president


After caravan blocked, Honduran migrants turn anger on president

FILE PHOTO: Honduran migrants are sent back by Guatemalan authorities

Gustavo Palencia and Lizbeth Diaz
Thu, January 21, 2021, 5:31 PM

TEGUCIGALPA/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Returned Honduran migrants are directing anger against their president this week after their U.S.-bound caravan was blocked by the region's security forces, accusing him of making their county unlivable while thwarting their escape to a better life.

Honduras is reeling from two back-to-back hurricanes that devastated Central America in November, as well as an historic economic contraction on the back of coronavirus pandemic.

President Juan Orlando Hernandez has also been under fire from U.S. prosecutors that have accused him of having ties to drug cartels, an allegation he has strongly denied.

An estimated 8,000 Hondurans sought to flee this week in a mass caravan hoping to reach the United States. But after regional governments, including Honduras, organized a coordinated military operation to repel the caravan, returned migrants are directing their frustration at their government.

More than 4,500 Hondurans, including more than 600 children, have been returned to the country by Guatemalan authorities over the last week.

Among them was 18-year-old Isaac Portillo, who said he felt so desperate upon his forced return to Honduras that he contemplated suicide.

Like other returned migrants, Portillo's despair quickly turned to anger. He plans to join a march on the capital Tegucigalpa on Friday – only one week after he tried to flee his shattered country.

"We're going to oust this narco-dictator," he said. "I already have my group ready."

The Honduran government did not respond to requests for comment. Hernandez has said the accusations against him come from traffickers angry at his government's crackdown on criminal networks.

WhatsApp, Facebook, and Telegram groups with thousands of members are buzzing with angry messages calling for Hernandez's ouster.

Honduras has been rocked by large anti-government mobilizations in recent years, although it is unclear whether a large protest will materialize on Friday.

Evidence introduced by U.S. prosecutors this month accused Hernandez of taking bribes from drug traffickers and has further stoked ire against the president, whose brother was convicted of drug trafficking in a U.S. court last year.

PRESSURE COOKER

Many Hondurans have been critical of what they say was a lackluster government response to the hurricanes, which caused nearly $2 billion in damages and forced over 90,000 people into emergency storm shelters. Authorities said they provided aid to thousands of families displaced by the storms.

Portillo said his family received no support from the government in the wake of the hurricanes. His father had already lost his job as a security guard when pandemic-related restrictions devastated the economy and his 14-year-old sister had to abandon her studies as the family sank deeper into poverty.

After being deported by Guatemalan authorities this week, Portillo once again found himself living under the bridge where he and his family sought refuge after their home was destroyed in November's floods. After he said the government threatened to evict them, the family fled again, this time to a relative's home.

"All I wanted to do was find work (abroad) so I could help my family and put my little sister back in school," Portillo said.

North-bound migration has traditionally offered Central American nations an escape to alleviate domestic discontent, but former U.S. President Donald Trump pressured regional governments to crack down on migrant flows.

While President Joe Biden has pledged to ease immigration policies and tackle the roots of the issue, there appeared little prospect of a rapid change how regional governments police migrants, particularly of mass movements like caravans.

Tonatiuh Guillen, former head of Mexico's immigration institute, said ongoing containment meant frustration could boil over.

"It's a pressure cooker," said Guillen, who has been critical of the increasing immigration enforcement by the region's militaries.

(Reporting by Laura Gottesdiener in Tapachula, Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City, additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa and Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City; Writing by Laura Gottesdiener, Editing by Daniel Flynn)