Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's JournalA former Pentagon official on the Hegseth turmoil: 'It looks like they actually broke the law
Chaos is mounting at the Pentagon as the Trump administration has fired top military and civilian personnel, deepening concern and distrust among lawmakers and national security insiders.
Former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot recently resigned and later described the building as "in disarray" in an opinion piece for Politico. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is under scrutiny for reportedly leaking sensitive military information about strikes in Yemen in a second Signal chat on his private phone with his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
Lawmakers are demanding answers, with at least one Republican lawmaker calling for Hegseth to be fired. NPR has learned the White House is exploring options for Hegseth's replacement, though President Trump has denied that.
"It's incredibly upsetting," said Evelyn Farkas, a former Pentagon official and executive director of the McCain Institute, a nonpartisan policy center that is part of Arizona State University. "It appears that the Secretary and other members of the Defense Department staff have not been held to the standards that a normal civilian or military uniform personnel would be held to."
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/23/nx-s1-5372612/former-defense-department-official-pentagon-turmoil-hegseth-signal-chats
Arrest every last one of them---starting at the top, with Kegsbreath!
A wrong turn leads to hundreds of immigrant arrests at the Detroit-Canada border bridge
The road that leads to the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit to Canada, is notoriously difficult to navigate, even for locals. Signage is confusing, perennial construction in the vicinity doesn't help, and often Detroiters accidentally drive onto it and into a Customs and Border Protection area. And as NPR has reported, for immigrants without legal status a wrong turn onto the bridge can devolve into a nightmare: Days on end in detention in facilities alleged to be unfit for children, without access to legal counsel.
A news conference on Thursday held by Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and the ACLU of Michigan detailed findings about the bridge and a nearby CBP office space. Tlaib reported she was told that since January, 213 people have been detained at the bridge, including families with children. At least 90% of the detentions were people who made a wrong turn and drove onto the bridge by accident.
Citing NPR's reporting on the detentions, Tlaib said "our neighbors and family should not be disappearing because of a wrong turn."
In the inquiry, Tlaib says CBP told her that 40 of the detainees were "known Tren de Aragua," Venezuelan gang members. Of those detained there have been a dozen families - one family was held for 12 days, with two American citizen children. Lawyers with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center say they do not currently know the whereabouts of the children, and have requested further information.
Tlaib also says that CBP officials also informed her about a suicide attempt, two weeks ago, at a nearby detention site on the same border: A Venezuelan man who had been held there for three days was in a holding cell when officers observed him trying to hang himself and intervened. The man was taken to the hospital and later brought back and then handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center says they do not know the man's whereabouts or condition.
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/24/nx-s1-5374937/immigrant-arrests-detroit-canada-border-bridge-detention
And CBP is wrong, as usual.
Stephen Miller Rants About 'Communist' Judges in Immigration Meltdown
Stephen Miller is calling on Americans to side with the president against a cabal of “communist” judges who are supposedly determined to keep “terrorists” in the country.
During an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff claimed undocumented immigrants were a “clear and present danger” to national security, and yet federal judges are “telling President Trump he can’t deport these threats from our community.”
“This is the choice facing every American: Either we all side and get behind President Trump to remove these terrorists from our communities, or we let a rogue, radical-left judiciary shut down the machinery of our national security apparatus,” he said.
The president faces opposition from “communist left-wing judges,” he added.
In fact, even hardline conservatives have opposed the president’s efforts to deport migrants without due process.
The president invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act on March 15 and abruptly sent about 250 Venezuelan migrants and a handful of Salvadorans—including the wrongly deported Maryland dad Kilmar Abrego Garcia—to El Salvador’s CECOT mega prison.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-miller-demands-americans-side-with-donald-trump-against-communist-judges-in-unhinged-rant/
When we have our "Nuremburg Trials" I hope he is among the first to be tried.
RFK Jr. Seeks Broad Access to Health Records for "Autism Research"
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is collecting sensitive medical records from federal and commercial sources for Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new “autism research” initiative, which will give external researchers access to “comprehensive” patient data, representing “broad coverage” of the U.S. population.
The NIH will also be creating a national registry to track Americans with autism, which will be integrated into the sweeping federal data collection effort.
According to officials, the initiative will connect a wide range of personal health information, including prescription histories from major pharmacies, genetic and lab data from patients within the Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service systems, insurance billing records, and data collected from wearable devices like fitness trackers and smartwatches. The NIH is also negotiating with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to expand existing data-sharing agreements.
Kennedy, a longtime promoter of disinformation about autism, has been condemned for his ableism by disability rights advocates. He has said that “autism destroys families,” has repeatedly endorsed debunked theories linking vaccines to autism, and has portrayed autistic people in profoundly dehumanizing ways.
In a recent press conference, Kennedy responded to new CDC data indicating an increase in autism diagnoses by declaring autism a “preventable disease” and an “epidemic”— claims unsupported by medical consensus. Kennedy claimed that “environmental toxins” cause autism, disregarding extensive research that has found no such link. Nevertheless, he has pledged to identify the “cause” of autism by September.
https://truthout.org/articles/rfk-jr-seeks-broad-access-to-health-records-for-autism-research/
He'd better not try to get his hands on my son's or we will go to court. My son just had a (government-mandated) exam for his disability.
US Citizen Detained for 10 Days After He Asked Border Patrol Officer for Help
U.S. Border Patrol arrested and imprisoned a U.S. citizen with learning disabilities in Arizona for over a week earlier this month after he approached an immigration officer asking for help after a medical episode, he has said, contradicting the government’s account of the encounter.
As Popular Information has reported, 19-year-old Jose Hermosillo was arrested on April 8 in Tucson. Hermosillo said in an interview that he had been in town that day to visit his girlfriend’s family when he suffered from a seizure, and took an ambulance to the hospital. He did not bring his ID with him because it was an emergency.
Upon his release, Hermosillo approached a Border Patrol officer, believing that the officer could help him get back to the place he was staying. Instead, the officer accused him of being in the U.S. illegally and arrested him, despite Hermosillo saying that he was a U.S. citizen.
“You’re not from here. Do you have your papers?” Hermosillo recalled the officer saying. Hermosillo said that the officer accused him of lying about being from New Mexico, saying, “Don’t make me [out] like [I’m] stupid. I know you’re from Mexico.”
https://truthout.org/articles/us-citizen-detained-for-10-days-after-he-asked-border-patrol-officer-for-help/
The cruelty is the point
Gavin Newsom says Democrats need to stop looking for a savior on a 'white horse'
Gov. Gavin Newsom, widely viewed as a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, had tough words for his own party — "We are as dumb as we want to be," he said — in an exclusive interview Monday with NBC News in this Marin County suburb north of San Francisco.
Democrats have been too focused on the personality of candidates at the top of the ticket, rather than building a platform that is bigger than the nominee and addresses how the party will fight for what voters want, he said.
"We just have to move beyond the guy or gal on the white horse that's going to come save the day — it's exhausting," the second-term chief executive of the nation's most-populous state said. "This party needs to rebuild itself from the bottom up, not top down. We are as dumb as we want to be."
In his nascent quest to help revitalize the Democratic Party, Newsom has been criticized by some progressives for hosting a pair of high-profile allies of President Donald Trump — Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk — on his new podcast, "This is Gavin Newsom." (The writer of this article sat for an interview on the podcast this week.)
In his talk with Kirk, Newsom further infuriated some allies in the LGBTQ community and on the left by announcing that he opposes trans athletes competing in women's and girls' sports. In the 2024 election, Trump weaponized trans issues, including Kamala Harris' past support for taxpayer-funded gender-affirming treatments.
Newsom said he has been surprised by the ferocity of the backlash against his interviews with MAGA figures, but he appears to be committed to learning from Trump's victories in two of the last three presidential elections. He was particularly struck by Trump's advantage with young men, which he attributed to the attention the current president paid to them — which was demonstrated in part by appearing on podcasts and YouTube shows popular with that cohort.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/gavin-newsom-democrats-need-stop-looking-savior-white-horse-rcna202316
Well, buddy, I do not think it's gonna be you. You done shat the bed.
JD Vance among last visitors to Pope Francis after series of public fallouts
Not long before what would turn out to be his final public appearance, a blessing of the crowds who had gathered for Easter Sunday mass in St Peter’s Square and an unexpected popemobile tour of the piazza, Pope Francis received a devout if perhaps unlikely visitor.
Among the last people to see and speak to the pontiff in the hours before his death early on Monday morning was the US vice-president, JD Vance, a zealous, albeit comparatively recent, convert to Roman Catholicism.
The pair met on Sunday morning at the Domus Santa Marta guest house, the down-to-earth lodgings where Francis lived during his 12-year papacy. According to statements from the Vatican and Vance’s office, the two men spoke for a few minutes to exchange Easter greetings, and the 88-year-old pope gave the vice-president rosaries, a Vatican tie and three big chocolate Easter eggs, one for each of his children.
Despite Vance’s much-touted faith, the encounter was one that few in Washington or Rome would have predicted. He and Francis had had deep and public disagreements in recent months over the Trump administration’s attitudes to immigration, not least its mass deportation efforts.
In a letter to Catholic bishops in the US in February, the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics described the mass deportations as a “major crisis” that was damaging “the dignity of many men and women”.
Francis acknowledged the right of a country to keep its communities safe from people who had committed violent or serious crimes, but said: “What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/21/jd-vance-among-last-visitors-to-pope-francis-after-series-of-public-fallouts
My daughter texted me this morning, "JD Vance killed Papa Francisco". I don't think that's actually true, but I think it took the last ounce of the Pope's energy to be nice to him.
'Disruptor' Hegseth's unsettled Pentagon starts turning against him
Pete Hegseth wanted to make waves at the Pentagon. But less than 90 days since being sworn in as U.S. defense secretary, he appears put off balance by the very turbulence he himself created.
An ex-Fox News host, Hegseth on Monday accused his former trusted advisors of turning against him following revelations that he texted sensitive U.S. military strike plans from his personal phone to his wife, brother, attorney and others.
"What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and a bunch of hit pieces come out," Hegseth said on the White House lawn, his children standing behind him, for an Easter celebration.
The White House saw a conspiracy against Hegseth stretching far beyond the small cadre of his once loyal aides, who were fired after accusations they leaked sensitive information, to include the Department of Defense itself.
Hegseth has moved with stunning speed to reshape the department, firing top generals and admirals as he seeks to implement President Donald Trump's national security agenda and root out diversity initiatives he says are discriminatory.
"This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement," said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
'
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/disruptor-hegseths-unsettled-pentagon-starts-turning-against-him-2025-04-21/
No, spokeschild, this is what happens when your boss appoints totally unqualified people who drink and text at the same time.
'Disruptor' Hegseth's unsettled Pentagon starts turning against him
Pete Hegseth wanted to make waves at the Pentagon. But less than 90 days since being sworn in as U.S. defense secretary, he appears put off balance by the very turbulence he himself created.
An ex-Fox News host, Hegseth on Monday accused his former trusted advisors of turning against him following revelations that he texted sensitive U.S. military strike plans from his personal phone to his wife, brother, attorney and others.
"What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and a bunch of hit pieces come out," Hegseth said on the White House lawn, his children standing behind him, for an Easter celebration.
The White House saw a conspiracy against Hegseth stretching far beyond the small cadre of his once loyal aides, who were fired after accusations they leaked sensitive information, to include the Department of Defense itself.
Hegseth has moved with stunning speed to reshape the department, firing top generals and admirals as he seeks to implement President Donald Trump's national security agenda and root out diversity initiatives he says are discriminatory.
"This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement," said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
'
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/disruptor-hegseths-unsettled-pentagon-starts-turning-against-him-2025-04-21/
No, spokeschild, this is what happens when your boss appoints totally unqualified people who drink and text at the same time.
Who are the death row executioners? Disgraced doctors, suspended nurses and drunk drivers
Being an executioner is not the sort of job that gets posted in a local wanted ad. Kids don’t dream about being an executioner when they grow up, and people don’t go to school for it. So how does one become a death row executioner in the US, and who are the people doing it?
This was the question I couldn’t help but ask when I began a book project on lethal injection back in 2018. I’m a death penalty researcher, and I was trying to figure out why states are so breathtakingly bad at a procedure that we use on cats and dogs every day. Part of the riddle was who is performing these executions.
Seven years later – and with the Trump administration promising more executions to come – I have an answer, sort of.
We do not, and for the most part cannot, know precisely who is under the executioner’s hood. State secrecy statutes put the equivalent of a Harry Potter cloak of invisibility over these state-sanctioned killers. But litigation files and investigative journalism have revealed a number of executioners’ identities, allowing us to peek behind the veil of secrecy for a glimpse of who these people are.
Consider Missouri’s chief executioner from 1995-2006, Dr Alan Doerhoff, who was responsible for 54 of Missouri’s 65 executions between 1976 and 2006. He didn’t push the syringes – shockingly, non-medical prison guards did that – but he did most everything else. “Nobody will ever do as many [executions] as I have,” he would later boast.
Doerhoff’s identity was revealed when a lawyer for a condemned prisoner checked the prison’s chemical dispensary logs and discovered that 2.5 grams of sodium thiopental (the drug used to anesthetize the prisoner) had been used in previous executions. The state’s protocol called for 5 grams, double that amount. The prisoner sued.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/17/death-row-executioners
Because no reputable medical person would do this job
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