Not soon enough…kek
Trump Targets ActBlue, Foreign Contributions
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/donald-trump-memo-actblue/2025/04/24/id/1208189/
Thursday, 24 April 2025 08:04 PM EDT
President Donald Trump on Thursday directed the Justice Department to investigate the main fundraising platform used by Democrats, who responded with accusations that he was simply weaponizing the government against his political opponents.
The Republican leader signed a memorandum instructing Attorney General Pam Bondi to probe supposed foreign and other illicit payments to platforms including ActBlue, used by Democrats to process donations to election campaigns and other causes online.
The Republican said he wanted the probe to look at the use of "fundraising platforms to make 'straw' or 'dummy' contributions and to make foreign contributions to U.S. political candidates and committees, all of which break the law."
While the order urged a broad investigation, Trump specifically cited ActBlue, a nonprofit group whose platform has become a small-dollar juggernaut but which has long been the target of accusations by Republicans.
Top Trump adviser Elon Musk tweeted multiple times about the organization in March, accusing it of fraud and posting: "Something stinks about ActBlue."
Action against one of the main sources of income for liberal causes could hamper Democrats' ability to compete in the midterm elections next year that will decide who controls Congress for the remainder of Trump's second term.
Straw donations donors giving money in other people's names and foreign contributions to federal political candidates or political action committees are against U.S. law.
Trump's memo drew accusations he was abusing his power for personal and political ends.
Republican interest in ActBlue intensified during the 2020 election, amid an avalanche of personal contributions and polls showing voters were fed up with dark money and corporate influence in politics.
Three House committees judiciary, administration and oversight released a report on April 2 claiming "extensive fraud… including from foreign sources" on ActBlue and accusing the platform of lowering its prevention efforts.
The probe said almost 500 pages of internal ActBlue documents released alongside its report "demonstrate a lack of commitment to stopping fraud and paint a picture of complacency."
Some Democrats, including Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, raced to urge donations from supporters "while we still can" as others took to social media to accuse Trump of abusing his office.
"His approval rating is tanking, and he's panicking about the midterms," Democrat strategist Mike Nellis, a former top aide to 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris, posted on X.
"This is about letting his billionaire buddies buy more elections while silencing grassroots donors and tearing down the Dems' infrastructure."
Fellow Democratic strategist and consultant Sawyer Hackett said the move could be "Trump's most authoritarian action yet."
Trump Signs Order to Expedite Ocean Floor Mining
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/donald-trump-executive-order-mining/2025/04/24/id/1208244/Thursday, 24 April 2025 07:55 PM EDT
President Donald Trump reportedly signed an executive order on Thursday that seeks to expedite U.S. mining of the ocean floor.
While some companies have promoted the idea, deep sea mining has never been done on a large scale before.
The Hill reported that Trump's order directs the commerce secretary to accelerate permits for commercial undersea exploration and mining and directs the interior secretary to develop a program to enable U.S. coastal mining.
A Trump official told reporters that the administration expects to find valuable minerals, including manganese, cobalt, nickel, and copper, on the seafloor.
Such minerals have a variety of uses, namely in the energy, weapons, and consumer goods sectors. Batteries, for example, can contain elements such as nickel and cobalt, while manganese, nickel, cobalt, and copper are used in the manufacture of smartphones, among other things.
China currently controls a substantial share of the world's rare earth minerals supply, and administration officials described the order as beneficial for the economy and national security, according to The Hill.
The potential impacts of deep sea mining have alarmed environmentalists, who say the practice could destroy wildlife habitats and release toxins into the oceans, while creating noise pollution and contributing to a loss of biodiversity.
Hegseth best get busy finding out who will execute those orders and who will not.
Texas may officially recognize Gulf of America change after Senate gives first OK
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/04/24/texas-gulf-of-america-name-change/
April 24, 2025
Senate Bill 1717 would require the name of Gulf of Mexico to be changed in every official reference made by a state agency, resolution, rule or publication.
Texas lawmakers are considering following President Donald Trump’s lead and renaming the body of water that touches 367 miles of the state’s coast to the Gulf of America.
If approved, the bill would require the name to be changed in every official reference made by a state agency, resolution, rule or publication. The Sunset Advisory Committee would be required to include these changes in future reviews of state agencies.
The fiscal note said any associated costs could be absorbed using existing resources and there would be no significant fiscal impact on local government.
Senate Bill 1717 by Sen. Mayes Middleton, a Galveston Republican, was passed with 20 out of 31 senators in favor of the bill. This means the House will now get the bill for consideration.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 38, which recognizes the “strategic importance” of the Gulf of America, was also passed to engrossment with 22 senators voting aye.
“Senate Bill 1717 reignites the spirit of American Exceptionalism,” Middleton said. “America is a beacon of hope. We are that shining city on a hill, as President Reagan said. We are a nation set apart from the rest of the world, upholding that sacred right of life and liberty and property.”
Democratic Sens. José Menéndez of San Antonio and Juan Hinojosa of McAllen aired their concerns about the legislation in a debate on the Senate floor.
Menéndez wanted to know whether this bill solved any problems and if this move was just a whim based on the current federal administration. Hinojosa argued the name is historical, used widely by the rest of the world and that this move was purely political.
“I guess what it means is next time that you get another president that believes we ought to change the name back to the Gulf of Mexico … then again, we’ll have to change everything?” Hinojosa asked.
Middleton maintained that the bill was not a whim, and said the lawmakers were always welcome to introduce a bill later to change the name within the state code.
Sen. Pete Flores, a Pleasanton Republican, took up for the measure by pointing to changes made by former Gov. Ann Richards, who changed the names of several Texas landmarks. He did not provide examples of these changes on the Senate floor.
Trump signed an executive order changing the name of the waterway along the southern U.S. border to the Gulf of America on Jan. 20, leading to widespread debate. Other world leaders, however, said they would not likely follow suit, including Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum.
“They can continue to call it the Gulf of Mexico,” Flores said. “What your bill is doing is codifying the name of the Gulf of America to reflect the maps that the United States government has put into effect.”
Middleton said this move is to reflect those changes.
A similar bill in the Texas House, by Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Deer Park Republican, was referred to the House State Affairs Committee in March. It has not moved since.
Were they not worried back in the 90's about them possible having nukes to toss at each other?
Kashmir updates: Pakistan claims Pahalgam attack ‘false flag operation’
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/4/24/kashmir-attack-live-india-summons-pakistani-envoy-hunts-pahalgam-gunmen
24 Apr 2025
This live page is now closed.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Pakistan’s Defence Minister said the government suspects “very strongly that it was a false flag operation”.
Pakistan has issued retaliatory diplomatic measures against India, including the closing of airspace and land border, and says any attempt to divert the waters of the Indus River will be an “act of war”.
Police in Indian-administered Kashmir claim to have identified three suspects, two of whom are Pakistani, in Tuesday’s Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people.
India’s PM Modi vowed to hunt the Pahalgam gunmen to the “ends of the earth” in a speech today.
The Resistance Front claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message, expressing discontent that more than 85,000 “outsiders” had been settled in the region, spurring a “demographic change”.
So much for justice there.
>>22951168
Amazing how fast that post got deleted.
Not much but both were deleted…and quickly.
China Considers Exempting Tariffs on Some US Goods
https://www.newsmax.com/finance/streettalk/china-tariff-exemptions/2025/04/25/id/1208287/
Friday, 25 April 2025 07:11 AM EDT
China is considering exempting some U.S. imports from its 125% tariffs and is asking businesses to identify goods that could be eligible in the biggest sign yet that Beijing is worried about the economic fallout from its trade war with Washington.
A Ministry of Commerce taskforce is collecting lists of items that could be exempted from tariffs and is asking companies to submit their own requests, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Financial news magazine Caijing reported on Friday citing sources that Beijing was preparing to include eight semiconductor-related items, although not memory chips.
"The Chinese government, for example, has been asking our companies what sort of things are you importing to China from the U.S. that you cannot find anywhere else and so would shut down your supply chain," American Chamber of Commerce in China President Michael Hart said Friday.
Some chamber members say they have imported goods in the past week without the new tariffs being applied, Hart added.
A list of 131 categories of products eligible for exemptions was circulating widely on social media and among businesses and trade groups on Friday. Reuters could not verify the list, whose items ranged from vaccines and chemicals to jet engines.
While Beijing's ultimate course of action remains unknown, Huatai Securities analyzed the list circulating in trade groups and said it corresponded to $45 billion worth of imports last year.
Repeated phone calls to China's customs department were not answered. Customs and the Ministry of Commerce did not respond to faxed questions.
While Washington has said the current status quo is economically untenable and already offered tariff exemptions to some electronic goods, China has repeatedly said it is willing to fight to the end unless the U.S. lifts its tariffs.
But beneath the bombast, China's economy is entering the trade war flirting with deflation. Demand is weak and consumer spending and sentiment have never properly recovered from the pandemic levels.
The government is pushing tariff-hit exporters to pivot to local markets, but companies say profits are lower, demand weaker and customers less reliable.
Exemptions are a bigger gesture of support, although by allowing some trade to resume, they also reduce the pain for the U.S. economy and take some pressure off the White House.
Many imports, ranging from petrochemical ethane to pharmaceuticals have few easy alternatives or could take years to manufacture outside the United States.
Big pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and GSK (GSK.L) have at least one manufacturing site in the U.S. for drugs sold in China, according to Chinese government data.
Major ethane processors have already sought tariff waivers from Beijing because the U.S. is the only supplier.
DOJ: Migrants Get 'No Less Than 12 Hours' to Contest Deportation
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/doj-immigration-ice/2025/04/25/id/1208298/
Friday, 25 April 2025 08:27 AM EDT
The Department of Justice, according to a newly unsealed document, is giving people who get a notice that they are being removed from the country under the Alien Enemies Act "no less than 12 hours" to contest the order.
In a sworn declaration by Carlos Cisneros, an assistant field officer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the official said immigrants are given "a reasonable amount of time, and no less than 12 hours, including the ability to make a telephone call, to indicate or express an intent to file a habeas petition," reports ABC News on Friday.
"If the alien does not express any such intention, then ICE may proceed with the removal," the declaration adds. "If the alien does express an intent to file a habeas petition, the alien is given a reasonable amount of time, and no less than 24 hours, to actually file that petition."
The statements were unsealed by a federal judge in the Southern District of Texas, who had issued an order temporarily blocking the U.S. government from deporting Venezuelans being held in the El Valle Detention Center in Texas earlier this month.
Last month, the Trump administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport two planeloads of Venezuelans to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador sparked a legal battle.
The administration argues that the immigrants were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which it says is a "hybrid criminal state" invading the United States, justifying the use of the 18th-century wartime law.
Cisneros also declared that since people who are subject to the AEA for several days before being deported, "they frequently have much more time to express an intent to file a habeas petition or to actually file such a petition."
An ICE official acknowledged that many of the men who were deported in March do not have criminal records in the United States, but said the "lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose" and shows "that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile."
The Supreme Court has temporarily stopped the deportation of any Venezuelan being held in Texas under the AEA after an emergency appeal filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on claims that removals were restarting without allowing those who have been detained to receive due process.
Cisneros added that ICE won't remove anyone with a pending habeas petition, but there could be "fact-specific exceptional cases."
The notice that is given to immigrants is in English, but read to them in a language they would understand, as ICE officers are accustomed to working with aliens who do not understand English, Cisneros said.
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, however, said 12 hours is not enough time for challenges to be filed, and that the "government cannot plausibly claim that 12 hours is sufficient notice, which could be the reason they tried to keep it from the public and other courts addressing the notice issue, including the U.S. Supreme Court."
Trump: Prepared to Attack Iran 'Willingly' With No Nuclear Deal
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/donald-trump-attack-iran/2025/04/25/id/1208303/
Friday, 25 April 2025 08:34 AM EDT
President Donald Trump warned that he could "very willingly" order the U.S. military to take out Iran's nuclear facilities if negotiations between the two countries fail to produce an agreement.
Trump has repeatedly said Iran cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
Negotiations between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program will return Saturday to the secluded sultanate of Oman, where experts on both sides will start hammering the technical details of any possible deal.
The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic.
Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran's program if a deal isn't reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
During an interview with Time magazine, Trump was asked whether he was "worried" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would drag the U.S. into a war.
"No," said the president, who continued his answer after the questioner attempted to change topics.
"[H]e may go into a war. But we're not getting dragged in."
Did that mean the U.S. will stay out if Israel goes into Iran?
"No, I didn't say that," Trump said. "You asked if he'd [Netanyahu] drag me in, like I'd go in unwillingly. No, I may go in very willingly if we can't get a deal. If we don't make a deal, I'll be leading the pack."
Trump was asked about a report that he stopped Israel from attacking Iran.
"That's not right," Trump said. "No, it's not right. I didn't stop them. But I didn't make it comfortable for them, because I think we can make a deal without the attack. I hope we can. It's possible we'll have to attack because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. But I didn't make it comfortable for them, but I didn't say no. Ultimately, I was going to leave that choice to them, but I said I would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped."
Trump also told Time he was open to meeting with Iran's president or supreme leader.
Lub it!
He also claimed the monies he did receive was a gift.
3….2….1….district judge overturns it.
Washington will be screaming ad DC for federal aid monies shortly.
Universities Help Foreign Students Weather Trump Deportations
https://www.newsmax.com/us/universities-foreign-students-trump/2025/04/25/id/1208300/
Friday, 25 April 2025 08:01 AM EDT
From warnings not to leave the country to guidance on how to complete degrees, U.S. universities are advising foreign students how to withstand President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
First immigration agents arrested students involved in pro-Palestinian protests. Then thousands of foreign students were targeted for deportation over minor offenses and arrests.
Now, some university advisors are quietly telling students from abroad to hire a lawyer and keep attending classes while legal appeals play out, according to over two dozen students, immigration attorneys, and university officials Reuters spoke to.
University faculty have gone to court to question the constitutionality of arrests.
With a record 1.1 million foreign students in the country, at stake is the $44 billion they contributed to the U.S. economy last year, according to the Association of American Universities, a higher education advocacy group.
It's not just the money. MIT President Sally Kornbluth pointed to global talent, saying hers "is an American university, proudly so – but we would be gravely diminished without the students and scholars who join us from other nations."
INDIANS HIT HARD
Over half of foreign students in the United States are from India and China, according to the Institute of International Education advocacy group.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has deleted more than 4,700 names from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Systems database of visa holders, often citing criminal activity, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Of those, almost half are Indian students, many of them graduates in work experience known as Optional Practical Training, based on an AILA study of 327 cases.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged students whose SEVIS status had been revoked to leave.
"If you are in our country illegally, we will arrest, we will deport you, and you will never return," McLaughlin said in a statement.
University officials are telling full-time students to hire a lawyer. Those who contest being deleted from SEVIS would be allowed to continue studying, said an official who advises foreign students at one major university, asking to remain anonymous in order to speak about the situation.
"For the most part, the students I've spoken to, their schools are permitting them to keep attending classes," said New York immigration attorney Clay Greenberg who is representing students with SEVIS terminations.
Over 200 students removed from SEVIS have won court orders temporarily barring the administration from taking actions against them, according to a Reuters count.
George Mason University in Virginia told students to contact advisors to discuss ways to complete coursework. The University of California is looking for ways for students to continue their education, said Rachel Zaentz, a spokeswoman for the UC Office of the President.
With summer break weeks away, Duke University recently warned international students not to leave the United States over fears they may not be let back in come fall.
STUDENTS WORRY, SELF-DEPORT
After watching videos of pro-Palestinian students picked up by federal agents, foreign students fear deportation for speeding tickets or being fingerprinted, said an Indian computer science grad student at a Southwest U.S. university, who asked not to be named.
Some have self-deported.
Momadou Taal, who led pro-Palestinian protests at Cornell University, left in March after being told to surrender to immigration officials.
"I'll be able to finish up remotely," said Taal, a dual citizen of the U.K. and Gambia who planned to complete his studies in the United Kingdom.
An Indian student in Georgia said his legal status was revoked after he was identified in criminal records showing he was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. The charge was dismissed, he said.
"My college is letting me continue," said the computer science undergraduate, adding that he was being careful.
"If I see anyone in a uniform, I turn around," he said, requesting anonymity.
Timing is everything…kek
How is Capturing Its Ultraviolet Light got anything to do with what we do here?
Not for a bread burner anyway…holding breath that is.
How long does it take for the human body to start stinking?
>>22951603
What has that got to do with ultrviolet light…you can't see that light, so it's not in the open at all.
That drop has nothing to do with NOT being able to see.
OK, you got me…I should have mentioned a DED human body…kek
>>22951624
Not in the mood to be proven wrong is moar or less what you mean…no AI here on this end.
Bet he found it a bit flat, eh?
>>22951687
Well, it took awhile, but at least they are on it now.