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Author: By Paul Woodward

Roger Stone, Trump, the libertarian fantasy of Próspera, and the release of a convicted drug lord

Roger Stone, Trump, the libertarian fantasy of Próspera, and the release of a convicted drug lord

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump, who has cast himself as a relentless foe of illegal drugs, pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, freeing him from a 45-year sentence for conspiring to import tons of cocaine into the United States. Trump’s extraordinary move undermines decades of U.S. efforts to combat transnational drug networks, potentially damages Washington’s credibility in Latin America, and signals to corrupt actors that political connections can outweigh criminal accountability. Trump signed the pardon for Hernandez on Monday…

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Trump’s ‘reversal’ on Epstein files delays their release and conceals a GOP rebellion

Trump’s ‘reversal’ on Epstein files delays their release and conceals a GOP rebellion

Axios reports: President Trump said Monday he would sign a bill to release documents from the investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein if Congress sends it to his desk. Why it matters: Trump recently reversed himself and encouraged Republicans to vote to release the documents after repeatedly dismissing the scandal as a “hoax.” What he’s saying: “Sure I would. Let the Senate look at it. Let anyone look at it, but don’t talk about it too much,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office in response to…

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The historical significance of the Trump-Epstein scandal: the degradation of humanity

The historical significance of the Trump-Epstein scandal: the degradation of humanity

  In the thicket of daily news, it’s often hard to place events within a broad historical context. Indeed, during periods of rapid change the present can feel like it is perpetually erasing the past. We fixate on the now and the what next? and rather than becoming illuminated, get sucked into a black hole of actions stripped of meaning. For this reason, the perspective of a scholar such as Sean Wilentz, the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American…

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Rejecting injustice: The jury’s role in a politicized justice system

Rejecting injustice: The jury’s role in a politicized justice system

In “Operation Midway Blitz” — an operation that was clearly scripted as a piece of political propaganda (including an action-movie soundtrack) rather than an exercise in law enforcement — Bovino cast himself in the starring role: DHS law enforcement has made OVER 900 ARRESTS during Operation Midway Blitz in Illinois. To every criminal illegal alien: Darkness is no longer your ally. We will find you. pic.twitter.com/m9PxbuK5Ua — Homeland Security (@DHSgov) October 2, 2025 Coverage of ICE/FBI raids in Chicago detaining…

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State terrorism: Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling

State terrorism: Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling

In a ruling he issued this week, William G. Young, a senior U.S. district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, wrote: “ICE goes masked for a single reason — to terrorize Americans into quiescence.” Terrorize — not my word, but that of a federal judge appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1985. In U.S. law (22 U.S.C. 2656f(d)(2)) terrorism is defined as “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine…

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Resignation letters from CDC leaders as hundreds of Americans are still dying from Covid

Resignation letters from CDC leaders as hundreds of Americans are still dying from Covid

In late January, 2021, almost 24,000 Americans died from Covid in a single week. Less than five years later, the pandemic somehow appears to be part of the distant past. Over the last 28 days, 22 people have been killed in mass shootings across America. During the same period, there have been 672 deaths from Covid — almost three quarters of the number of Covid deaths recorded globally. For the 2024–2025 season, the CDC reported that less than 25% of…

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Joining ICE to bring the war home

Joining ICE to bring the war home

Video of the arrest of Amanda Trebach, a member of the immigrant rights’ group Unión del Barrio and an ICU nurse, who was monitoring ICE operations in the Los Angeles, begs many questions not the least of which is this: who is ICE recruiting?   “Yanis Varoufuckice” recently attended a Department of Homeland Security job fair at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia where they spent two days talking to people looking for jobs with ICE: One of the…

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Join ICE, get a $50,000 signing bonus, and ‘deport illegals with your absolute boys’

Join ICE, get a $50,000 signing bonus, and ‘deport illegals with your absolute boys’

The Wall Street Journal reports: Uncle Sam. Miami Vice. When it comes to recruiting new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, the Trump administration is getting creative. A social-media campaign launched late last month touted immigration enforcement as an opportunity for father-son bonding and to “deport illegals with your absolute boys,” a slang term for close friends. The WSJ probably isn’t the most reliable source when it comes to definitions of slang terms. The Urban Dictionary, on the other hand, offers…

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Why was Ghislaine Maxwell moved to the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp in Texas?

Why was Ghislaine Maxwell moved to the minimum-security Federal Prison Camp in Texas?

Zev Shalev and Lev Parnas join Wajahat Ali to discuss the machinations leading to Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a minimum security prison where the inmates get to play with puppies and take yoga classes.   The Telegraph reports: When Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking underage girls to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in December 2021, her victims rejoiced, no doubt imagining the British socialite under lock and key, wearing orange overalls. But the reality of Maxwell’s life behind bars…

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Zev Shalev uncovers the Epstein money trail

Zev Shalev uncovers the Epstein money trail

Conspiracy theory in the sense that the expression is universally used, is a misnomer. These are not theories. They are narratives that hook their targets by making this claim: the story you’ve been told is false; this is the real story. They entice their audience with the promise of unveiling secrets. They appeal to the vanity of their audience by offering access to secrets about which the rest of us have been fooled. They help outsiders feel like insiders. A…

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The corruption of the Supreme Court and the end of the rule of law

The corruption of the Supreme Court and the end of the rule of law

  Anand Giridharadas: If you look at figures on the Supreme Court, who I’m sure at least at one point you’ve had respect for — maybe you still have respect for them — who now say things like, hold things like, Donald Trump can do whatever he wants as president and there can never be consequence, I wonder which of those situations you think they are more likely to be in: Do you think they’re essentially scared? Do you think…

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Does Pakistan’s Lawyers’ Movement hold lessons for the United States?

Does Pakistan’s Lawyers’ Movement hold lessons for the United States?

  Yes, Pakistan’s Lawyers’ Movement holds valuable lessons for the United States, particularly regarding the importance of judicial independence, the power of collective action, and the role of civil society in challenging political power. The movement demonstrates how a professional group can mobilize and exert significant influence on political and legal systems. Here’s a more detailed look at the lessons: • Importance of Judicial Independence: The Lawyers’ Movement in Pakistan highlighted the critical role of an independent judiciary in a…

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Former U.S. ambassador to the EU: This administration ‘wants to destroy the European Union’

Former U.S. ambassador to the EU: This administration ‘wants to destroy the European Union’

  Anthony Gardner, former U.S. ambassador to the EU, tells Channel 4 News: “It’s time for European leaders including [British prime minister] Starmer to realize that this administration actually wants to destroy the European Union. And that sounds pretty — some people will think that’s pretty exaggerated, but it’s not. I think that’s actually what’s going on and I think the UK has a fundamental interest in ensuring that the EU remains strong.” Consider the multiple lines of attack and…

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‘Putin’s brain,’ Alexander Dugin, celebrates Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment as DNI

‘Putin’s brain,’ Alexander Dugin, celebrates Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment as DNI

Alexander Dugin’s influence might be overstated, but hardly anyone close to the Kremlin will be disappointed to see someone who is so frequently describe as a “Russian asset” installed as Director of National Intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard! You are simply awesome. pic.twitter.com/6eSbFQDsM8 — Alexander Dugin (@AGDugin) February 12, 2025 Dugin reposts: 🇺🇸 JOHN BOLTON: KREMLIN DRINKING VODKA OVER TULSI’S DNI NOMINATION “Putin couldn’t be happier—they’re drinking vodka straight from the bottle in the Kremlin tonight. A great day for Moscow. Tulsi…

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Speaking out in solidarity with FBI and other federal workers who are defending democracy

Speaking out in solidarity with FBI and other federal workers who are defending democracy

Yesterday, in response to my own sense of powerlessness while watching the ongoing assault on democracy led by Elon Musk and Donald Trump, I engaged in a quixotic gesture: I went down to my local FBI field office to offer a small token of public support. Not surprisingly, it isn’t possible to walk into an FBI office. Since the Oklahoma bombing, all such offices are well fortified. This office did have a kiosk in front of the main entrance where…

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Donald Trump is a product of American sadness — not its remedy

Donald Trump is a product of American sadness — not its remedy

If Donald Trump truly cared about the fentanyl crisis, he would focus on where the drug is being consumed rather than where it originates. Where sadness is endemic, there is hunger for relief, but instead of addressing the root causes of societal pain, Trump is implementing policies that will produce even more pain. In Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography (2014), Richard Rodriguez wrote: If you would understand the tension between Mexico and the United States that is playing out along our…

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