Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

To the privileged, equality seems like oppression.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

We will not go back.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / FAFO- Rural Health Care

FAFO- Rural Health Care

by | 134 Comments

This post is in: 

This happened over the weekend:

A kidney transplant specialist and professor at Brown University’s medical school has been deported from the United States, even though she had a valid visa and a court order temporarily blocking her expulsion, according to her lawyer and court papers.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, is a Lebanese citizen who had traveled to her home country last month to visit relatives. She was detained on Thursday when she returned from that trip to the United States, according to a court complaint filed by her cousin Yara Chehab.

Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the Federal District Court in Massachusetts ordered the government on Friday evening to provide the court with 48 hours’ notice before deporting Dr. Alawieh. But she was put on a flight to Paris, presumably on her way to Lebanon.

In a second order filed Sunday morning, the judge said there was reason to believe U.S. Customs and Border Protection had willfully disobeyed his previous order to give the court notice before expelling the doctor. He said he had followed “common practice in this district as it has been for years,” and ordered the federal agency to respond to what he called “serious allegations.”

Deporting foreign doctors or scaring away foreign born doctors so they don’t even come here is as good a way to collapse the rural health care in this country and just getting rid of medicare and medicaid. Also, folks, it is time to start travelling with a burner phone.

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  1. 1.

    J.

    This is terrifying in so many ways. Well, now we know what the Trump administration thinks of court orders. Though did anyone really think his goons would comply?

  3. 3.

    brendancalling

    I’m basically forbidding my kid from even trying to visit me in the USA.
    Heck, I’m worried they won’t let ME back in (or try to disappear me) if I visit Canada and want to come back.

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    Insane.  And why did they target her?  Her visa status had changed from J1 to H1B, but that should not have been any issue.

    I hope the Providence news stations run stories all week about the lifesaving work she did with kidney transplants.

  5. 5.

    Old School

    @Elizabelle:

    And why did they target her?

    Thought crimes.

    U.S. authorities on Monday said they deported a Rhode Island doctor to Lebanon last week after discovering “sympathetic photos and videos” of the former longtime leader of Hezbollah and militants in her cell phone’s deleted items folder.

    Dr. Rasha Alawieh had also told agents that while in Lebanon she attended the funeral last month of Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, whom she supported from a “religious perspective” as a Shi’ite Muslim.

  6. 6.

    bbleh

    Yeah I think of the medical systems in WV, including but not limited to WVUMed, which imo deserve a lot of the credit for public health results that are somewhat surprising given WV’s average age and income levels (eg, recently and notably, early COVID and measles vaccination rates), and … an awful lot of those docs are not originally from the US.  Start scaring them away to California or NY, or out of the US entirely, and who’s gonna take their place?

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    @ Old School.  Ah.  I see what John meant about carrying a burner phone.  Was not clear from the Vichy NY Times story.

  8. 8.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Upping from previous thread since it fits here:

    Question for the legal experts among us. If a judge finds Trump or his deportation leader guilty of contempt for ignoring the court order, what happens then?

  9. 9.

    Kelly

    Chuck Schumer’s latest statement:

    the war political situation has not necessarily turned in  Japan’s democracy’s favor. Moreover, the general trends of the world have not been advantageous to us.

  10. 10.

    Jay

    @bbleh:

    It’s out of the US entirely. If you are a Visa holder, a Green Card holder or even a US Citizen, you are not safe from arbitrary punishment and deportation anywhere in the US.

     

    The good news is, the US is fixing Canada’s Health Care worker shortage, Britain’s as well.

  11. 11.

    Old Man Shadow

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Not a legal expert, but what I read indicated the court could find the person responsible for violating the order in contempt and fine them or imprison them.

    Doing so, however, requires the US Marshal Service to do the arresting and imprisoning part.

    The US Marshals are Executive branch employees, so Trump could simply order them to ignore any contempt rulings directed at his administration and then…

    Well, if we had a functional government, Congress would impeach, but fuck all hahahaha… that ain’t ever happening.

    So Trump would get away with it. Which I’m sure he knows.

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    So.  Foreign born doctors and researchers and executives will now have to think twice about visiting family or attending international conferences and conventions.  Or even doing relief work abroad because.  Cannot be assured readmittance to the US of MAGA.

    Jebus.

  14. 14.

    Old Man Shadow

    I’m sure Susan Collins and Chuck Schumer are very concerned about this latest development.

  15. 15.

    russell

    it is time to start travelling with a burner phone.

    Based on the recent story of the guy in OR that they decided was dead and so cut off his SS, Medicare, and clawed back several thousand $$ from his bank account, I’ve also started building enough of a cash reserve to carry my wife and I through a month or two of living expenses.

    And by “cash” I mean green money in my desk drawer, not in the bank.  My wife doesn’t like it because it’s not earning any interest, but I don’t care.

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    Cole, can you say more about what you mean by this?

    Also, folks, it is time to start travelling with a burner phone.

  19. 19.

    Kelly

    Also, folks, it is time to start travelling with a burner phone.

    Talking Heads, “Life in Wartime”

    I got three passports, a couple of visas
    You don’t even know my real name

  20. 20.

    Suzanne

    Deporting foreign doctors or scaring away foreign born doctors so they don’t even come here is as good a way to collapse the rural health care in this country

    LMAO rural healthcare is already so fucked. I can’t believe they want to make it worse, but they do. If I lived in a rural area, I might wonder why the FFOTUS Administration was trying to kill me.

  21. 21.

    H.E.Wolf

    @russell: ​
     This is deliberate disinformation, right? Desk drawers are the first place a burglar would look. Inside the freezer is next.

    Keep your cash roll in your stocking or in your bra, like a dame in a mid-20th-century detective novel.

    (Men, too. Just means you’re a Pantomime Dame instead of a Gumshoe Dame.)

  22. 22.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: I assume he means a pay-as-you-go stripped down phone not connected to any of your accounts, apps or the cloud so if they seize it, it tells them nothing about you.

  24. 24.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Also, folks, it is time to start travelling with a burner phone.

    You’re just one bad week away from cooking meth in a trailer down by the river, aren’t ya John?

  25. 25.

    russell

     This is deliberate disinformation, right?

    To be honest, I’m less worried about burglars than I am about this administration. No joke.

    But in any case, there’s always the old school option of burying it out in the backyard in a jelly jar! :)

  26. 26.

    Jay

    @russell:

    Under no circumstances travel with any cash of any significant amount. If you are stopped by the Popo, they will impound steal it.

  27. 27.

    u

    @H.E.Wolf: Yeah, the freezer.  When I was a kid in the sixties, my father would cash his whole paycheck every week and my mother would stash the money in the freezer — right next to the ice cream.  My mother probably protected it with an Italian curse, because it was never stolen!

  28. 28.

    Another Scott

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: @Old Man Shadow:

    IANAL either.

    We know that 47 wants people to sacrifice themselves for him.  And we know that he will keep pushing to remove all constraints on his actions.

    Things will probably continue until either: 1) people on his team stop saying “yes” to the stupid, immoral, and illegal stuff that he wants them to do because they value their careers and don’t want to just be cannon fodder for Melon; 2) there are actual constraints and consequences to him personally.

    When will those things happen?  Dunno.  Nobody can predict the future.

    I think both are important.  I expect judges to start imposing punishments (and even if they are not enforced, I assume they can be used as evidence to get those lawyers disbarred).  I also expect GQPers to start losing elections unless they start pushing back, protecting their institutional positions under the United States, etc.  That may take substantially longer though…

    FWIW.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  29. 29.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl:  The NY Post has a comprehensive story on this one.  Murdoch paper, but it is very fairly reported.

    The Trump administration deported a Lebanese doctor who was an assistant professor at Brown University’s medical school after investigators found “sympathetic photos and videos” of Hezbollah leaders on her phone, the Department of Justice said.

    Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, was arrested after arriving at Boston’s Logan International Airport on Thursday. Her family claimed that officials provided no reason for her deportation, and they argued her rights were being violated because she had an active visa to live and work in the US.

    The DOJ has since alleged that the Providence, Rhode Island, resident has an affinity for the Lebanon-based terror group, with pictures and videos of Hezbollah leaders found in the deleted items folder of her cellphone, Politico reported.

  32. 32.

    Jackie

    I don’t blame him one bit:

    A French Parliament member is demanding that the U.S. return the Statue of Liberty to France, who gifted it to the Americans in the 1880s, Fox News reports.

    Said center-left politician Raphaël Glucksmann: “We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So, it will be just fine here at home.”

    “Give me your weak, tired and poor” hasn’t been true of republicans since at least Reagan.

  33. 33.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m reading two series right now. Dungeon Crawler Carl (a cross between D&D and Hunger Games) and Red Rising. Despite both being science fiction, I thought DCC would be light relief compared to RR. But their themes overlap—powerful people oppressing the less powerful. Casual cruelty. Power corruption. The struggle to be good despite an impossible situation. Critique of power. My Russian Zumba teacher says she grew up with sf in Russia because it was the only way to criticize the govt. These series are phenomenally popular. They apparently resonate with a lot of people in our era too.

  34. 34.

    Rose Judson

    Don’t worry, Brown is springing into action!

    Brown [University] advised international community members, including visa holders and permanent residents, to postpone international travel in a campus-wide email sent on Sunday.

    “Potential changes in travel restrictions and travel bans, visa procedures and processing, re-entry requirements and other travel-related delays may affect travelers’ ability to return to the U.S. as planned,” Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey wrote in the email.

    He advised community members to evaluate domestic travel plans, as “it is unclear whether there may be implications also for domestic travel within the United States as the federal policy landscape continues to evolve.”

    Fucking insane.

  35. 35.

    u

    @Elizabelle: What this current bullshit reveals is how fragile a foundation our “economy” and “society” rest upon.  I can use a credit card to buy food at the supermarket because I can be reasonably sure that the food will not poison me and because the supermarket can be reasonably sure that my credit card is real.  By the time Elon is finished, neither assumption will be true anymore.

  36. 36.

    hrprogressive

    Y’all need to be ready to do more than just use a burner phone, because we’re a lot closer to law and order breaking down than any of you really want to admit.

  37. 37.

    Deputinize America

    I genuinely enjoy playing with the predictive aspects of Deep Seek. I feed it parameters and it creates some interesting alternatives.

     

    A Different Path: The 2016 Election and Beyond

    In the fall of 2016, the United States stood at a crossroads. The presidential election was heating up, and the stakes felt higher than ever. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, had been a vocal critic of the two-party system, but as the campaign wore on, she began to feel the weight of the moment. The rise of Donald Trump, with his divisive rhetoric and authoritarian tendencies, posed a threat to the very fabric of American democracy. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, though flawed, represented a chance to continue the progress of the Obama era.

    In a stunning move just weeks before the election, Stein called a press conference. Standing before a crowd of supporters and journalists, she spoke with a gravity that silenced the room. “This election is not about me,” she said. “It’s about the future of our country, our planet, and our democracy. The threat of a Trump presidency is too great to ignore. I am suspending my campaign and urging all of my supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton. This is not a decision I make lightly, but it is too important to do otherwise.”

    The announcement sent shockwaves through the political landscape. Stein’s endorsement galvanized progressive voters who had been on the fence, and Clinton’s campaign saw a surge in momentum. On Election Day, Clinton won the presidency with a decisive margin in both the popular vote and the Electoral College.

    A Pandemic Averted

    One of Clinton’s first acts as president was to reaffirm the importance of science and public health. Unlike her predecessor, she did not disband the pandemic response team established by the Obama administration. When the first signs of COVID-19 emerged in late 2019, the United States was ready. The pandemic office, led by experienced scientists and public health officials, quickly coordinated a national response. Testing, contact tracing, and mask mandates were implemented early, and a robust public communication campaign ensured widespread compliance.

    By the time the virus reached American shores, the country was prepared. Hospitals were equipped with ample supplies, and a coordinated federal effort ensured that vaccines were developed and distributed efficiently. While the pandemic was still a global tragedy, the United States managed to keep its death toll far lower than in other countries, saving hundreds of thousands of lives.

    A Liberal Supreme Court

    With a Democratic Senate behind her, Clinton wasted no time in reshaping the judiciary. When Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat became vacant in 2016, she nominated Merrick Garland, who was swiftly confirmed. Over the course of her first term, two more liberal justices were appointed, creating a 7-2 majority on the Supreme Court. This shift had profound implications for American law. Key decisions upheld voting rights, protected LGBTQ+ equality, and safeguarded environmental regulations. Most importantly, Roe v. Wade remained intact, ensuring access to reproductive healthcare for millions of women.

    Progress on Racial Justice and Healthcare

    Clinton’s administration also prioritized criminal justice reform. By 2020, federal incentives had encouraged police departments across the country to adopt de-escalation training, body cameras, and community policing models. While systemic racism remained a persistent issue, the relationship between law enforcement and communities of color began to improve.

    On the healthcare front, Clinton expanded access to contraceptive and abortion services, building on the Affordable Care Act. Federally funded clinics provided comprehensive reproductive care, and states were encouraged to remove restrictive laws. By the end of her first term, maternal mortality rates had dropped, and access to healthcare had improved for millions of Americans.

    The 2020 Election and Beyond

    In 2020, Clinton ran for re-election on a platform of continued progress. Her administration’s handling of the pandemic, coupled with a strong economy and a series of landmark legislative achievements, made her a formidable candidate. She defeated her Republican opponent handily, becoming the first woman to win two terms as president.

    With Roe v. Wade firmly in place and a liberal Supreme Court majority, the country moved forward on issues like climate change, voting rights, and healthcare. Clinton’s second term saw the passage of sweeping climate legislation, the expansion of voting access, and the establishment of a public option for healthcare.

    The Rise of a New Generation

    As the 2024 election approached, Clinton announced she would not seek a third term. The Democratic Party rallied behind a dynamic new ticket: Kamala Harris, Clinton’s vice president, and Pete Buttigieg, the charismatic former mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Harris, a trailblazing woman of color, and Buttigieg, the first openly gay major-party nominee, represented a new era of American leadership.

    Their campaign focused on unity, innovation, and justice. In November 2024, they won a historic victory, ushering in a new chapter of progress for the United States. With a strong mandate and a clear vision, the Harris-Buttigieg administration built on the foundations laid by Clinton, ensuring that the country continued to move forward.

    A Brighter Future

    By 2025, the United States was a vastly different place than it had been in 2016. The pandemic had been managed with competence and compassion. The Supreme Court protected the rights of all Americans. Police forces were more accountable, and communities were safer. Reproductive healthcare was accessible and affordable. And with a new generation of leaders at the helm, the country looked to the future with hope and determination.

    It all started with a single decision—a choice to put country over party, to prioritize the greater good over personal ambition. Jill Stein’s withdrawal from the 2016 election had set the stage for a brighter, more just America. And as the years passed, her words echoed in the hearts of those who remembered: It is too important.

  39. 39.

    Elizabelle

    More from the NY Post story:

    Deported Brown University doctor Rasha Alawieh attended funeral for slain Hezbollah chief, had ‘sympathetic photos’ of terror leaders on her phone: DOJ

    Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Hilton Beckham said the burden of establishing proof of admissibility into the US falls on the immigrant, adding that the agency’s officers “adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats.”

    The agency, however, did not immediately state what “threat” Alawieh posed, nor why she was chosen for removal, leading her family to file a lawsuit.

    US District Judge Leo Sorokin had ordered the CBP to halt the Ivy League professor’s deportation until a court hearing on Monday, but the doctor was flown out of the country in a seemingly deliberate violation of the judge’s orders.

    ….  The CBP claimed it would never intentionally defy the court’s order, with official John Wallace testifying that the agency did not receive the order before Alawieh was flown to Paris on Friday night for a connecting flight to Lebanon.

    Sorkin [sic] issued his order at 7:18 p.m. Friday, according to court records, about two minutes before CBP officers walked Alawieh to her flight, according to the court records.

    The doctor’s flight departed from the gate around 7:43 p.m., taking off from the airport just before 8 p.m., according to flight tracker FlightAware.

    Sorkin [sic] has postponed Monday’s hearing, giving the government another week to submit further information about what happened with Alawieh.

    I wonder if it can be proven the CPB, or at least Dr. Alawieh in the company of CPB escorts,  learned of Judge Sorokin’s order before the 7:43 pm gate departure.

    Cell phone records in that case could be a help.

  40. 40.

    Geminid

    @H.E.Wolf:

    Keep your cash roll in your stocking or your bra, like a dame in a mid-20th century detective novel.

    “Hold your cash roll close, and your long hatpin closer.”

  41. 41.

    WTFGhost

    I think this is totally cool, because Trump wants the Panama Canal back:

    crooksandliars.com/2025/03/french-lawmaker-give-back-statue-liberty

    I mean, it’s totally cool for the *French*, don’t get me wrong, it’s a shame and a disgrace to America. The French Fonz gave a rare double thumbs up to the Statue going to a nation that cares about liberty throughout the world, like in Ukraine, while Trump the Chickenshitpeacemaker sucks up to Putin’s, uh, pooty poot, as George W used to call it.

  42. 42.

    BellaPea

    When my stepfather was hospitalized in Jackson, Tennessee right before he died, both of his doctors were of foreign descent (I think one of them was Indian or Pakastani). They took good care of him, and were very sympathetic to my mother. Jackson isn’t exactly rural, but the surrounding counties are very much so and a lot of those folks end up at that hospital. It is quite crowded and, I suspect, underfunded as well. More dumb moves from the idiot and his minions.

  43. 43.

    Hoodie

    @bbleh: Marcus Welby.  Musk has reanimated his corpse using a Neuralink implant.  The flesh is a bit loose but he has a great bedside manner.  There’s also the fact that he’s an actor who plays a doctor on TV, kind of like how Trump pretends to be businessman instead of a two-bit hustler.

  45. 45.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

     

    @Old Man Shadow:  maybe?

    the Marshall in a judge’s court is a federal employee who is under the judge’s authority.  So, the Marshall might well follow the judge’s order to jail a person and then possibly be fired by the executive.  A contempt imprisonment can take place inside the court’s holding cell.

    A judge can sanction attorneys financially and refer them for review by their bar.  That monetary sanction would have to be paid to stay in good standing before their bar.  Their bar would then review the sanction (each state and the district have varying rules here) and decide if further discipline is warranted.  Further discipline can be private or public reprimand, suspension or disbarment.  John Easton got disbarred, as did Rudy Giuliani.  A federal judge can also refer an attorney to be kicked out of the federal district.

    There is nothing any president can do to thwart that directly, although this president could always threaten funding withdrawals.  Judges have a lot of power.  DOJ attorneys are likely to discover that to their dismay.

    It is likely the lawyers involved will declare not my fault!, I didn’t know!, the Homeland Security Chief ate my homework! and we shall see what these judges do in response.

    i saw a male attorney imprisoned once for contempt for refusing to take out his earring.  So far as I know, he sat in that court holding cell until he took out that earring.

  46. 46.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Anybody who has spent any amount of time in a rural area (like me) will know that my red, rurl MAGAt neighbors won’t make any connections between what this will do to what passes for rurl healthcare and its effects on them.

    If any are raised, they’ll be conveniently explained away thru a variety of the usual right-wing explanations.

  47. 47.

    pat

    Jill Stein’s withdrawal from the 2016 election had set the stage for a brighter, more just America.

     

    Ah, finally we know who to blame.

  48. 48.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    I’d ask them why Trump and the GOP, who are in power and therefore responsible, aren’t doing anything to fix the problem. If they make excuses, then I’d call them out and tell them directly that they are making BS excuses.

  49. 49.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Old School:

    Sounds like Trump needs to be deported for being Putin’s tool.  I don’t know how many deaths Hezbollah is responsible for, but I’m sure Putin has them beat by an order of magnitude.

  50. 50.

    Deputinize America

    @russell:

    We typically keep about 8-10K in a safe at home, along with some of the wife’s jewelry and a fully charged .40 cal pistol magazine for a nearby cable-locked Sig Sauer.

    I also keep cash in a box at the office. We can handle short-term wierd.

  53. 53.

    Gin & Tonic

    I have a separate phone for use in Ukraine, that stays with a trusted friend there. It does not come to the US with me. Ive done this for years, just on general principles.

  54. 54.

    Old School

    @Deputinize America:

    While I’d love to live in that alternate timeline, this part seems rather unlikely:

    Over the course of her first term, two more liberal justices were appointed, creating a 7-2 majority on the Supreme Court.

  55. 55.

    H.E.Wolf

    @russell: there’s always the old school option of burying it out in the backyard in a jelly jar! :)

     omg, I recently read a John D. MacDonald novel with this exact scenario. Since it was MacDonald, there was horrifying violence to go with the jelly jars. Ugh.

    You’re probably OK, so long as you don’t tell your buddy in the Korean War POW camp all about it while a nearby sociopath is listening in….

  58. 58.

    WTFGhost

    @Just Some Fuckhead: no, then the fish downriver start tasting like cat piss, and Andy Taylor will call in to the state po-lice and you’ll be caught. Also, don’t buy all your supplies in one place! Don’t buy the big boxes of matches, you want the red phosphorus in the strikers! (watches would-be cook running away)

  61. 61.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Deputinize America:

    I’ve been considering purchasing a firearm for home defense and target shooting. I have an indoor range nearby that offers instruction so that’s covered.

    What I’m concerned about is avoiding lead contamination, from the bullets, the gun range, etc. I’m aware lead-free bullets exist, specifically from Federal, but they’re fairly expensive, have quite a kick (70 grain), and are only target bullets. What would you recommend for ammunition (brand, grain amount, casing type, etc), both for target practice and “real” bullets? I’ve seen Federal HST suggested. Would wearing a specific outfit/shoes at the range and then changing into other clothes/shoes afterwards to prevent contaminating my car and home be a good idea? I’m also aware there’s special de-leading soap at ranges as well as D-Lead wipes that can be used on the gun itself, other objects. Should I wash the clothes worn at the gun range separately from other clothes in a washing machine? Any special detergents, etc? 

  62. 62.

    Gvg

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    they can as I understand it, but I am starting to wonder who will pay the deputized and traveling and expense money. The courts could end up with their own marshals but that would cost money, and right now the majority in Congress is complicit with Trump. Money comes from Congress. I think we may be crowd funding the courts soon.

  63. 63.

    Jay

    WarTranslated
    @wartranslated
    3h
    The United States has announced its withdrawal from the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA), which investigates and gathers evidence of Russia’s invasion for potential future legal proceedings.

    This center, located in The Hague and funded by the European Commission, includes participation from Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania, and the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court. The ICPA began its work in July 2023.
    news.sky.com/story/ukraine-w…

    nitter.poast.org/wartranslated/status/1901677313080631592#m

  64. 64.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jay: The only surprise is that Trump hadn’t already done this.  I guess it takes awhile for his handlers to get to all these details.

  65. 65.

    WTFGhost

    @Jay: It’s safer if you can provide receipts and witnesses, but, even then, you’re leaning on privilege, and sometimes privilege vanishes unexpectedly.

    @u: Did your mother ever use words like “connected” or “consigliere”? Because it might not have been a supernatural curse, is all I’m saying.

  66. 66.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jay:

    @lowtechcyclist:

    It’s just such a massive betrayal by the US. There’s just no excuse and it makes it crystal clear that Trump does not give one fuck about Russian war crimes, does not want peace on Ukraine’s terms, and won’t lift a finger to defend other allies in the region

  67. 67.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Geminid: “Hold your cash roll close, and your long hatpin closer.”​

     Hee hee.
    The long hatpins are more often found in Sherlock Holmes pastiches. Mid-20th-century gumshoe dames are more likely to carry a tiny derringer.​

  68. 68.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Gvg:

    In retrospect, it was probably always a bad idea to leave law enforcement completely up to the Executive. Now we’re seeing the results for ourselves

  69. 69.

    Susan of Texas

    “Data journalists at NBC found that out of the 535,545 health care practitioners and technicians in Texas, 116,495 are from another country.

    Experts say our nation has become dependent on foreign-born doctors, filling a gap in a current doctor shortage.”
    nbcdfw.com/news/local/foreign-born-doctors-have-a-big-impact-on-us-healthcare/269861/

    Houston, Texas has the largest medical complex in the world.

    “The Texas Medical Center employs over 106,000 people, hosts 10 million patient encounters annually, and has a gross domestic product of US$25 billion.”
    en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Medical_Center

    It’s all fun and games until you destroy your economy. People are foolishly ideological until you cost them money. It’s hard to get stupid, greedy people to listen to your political arguments when their leaders promise them fat paychecks and tax cuts. Fight money with money.

  72. 72.

    Gin & Tonic

    @zhena gogolia: ​When my son went to MGIMO, not only did he have a burner phone, he had a burner laptop, which I forensically wiped as soon as he returned.

  73. 73.

    David Collier-Brown

    @Old Man Shadow:

    The US Marshals are Executive branch employees, so Trump could simply order them to ignore any contempt rulings directed at his administration and then…

    “All right, marshal, you’re under arrest for the direct disobedience of a lawful order.  Who is the next person in the chain of command?  You? Please take this gentleman into close custody.  No? OK, you’re under arrest. Next?”

  74. 74.

    Betty Cracker

    We’re living through an autocratic assault on our republic, that much is clear. But sometimes the specific actions the autocrats take are confusing. For me, the simplest way to interpret those actions is to assume a scam and work backward from there.

    That method applies here. Trump lied about Biden letting the country be overrun by criminal gangs, and it turns out tracking down actual criminals is hard. Remember the much heralded early ICE raids? That was mostly a bust. ICE stopped reporting arrest totals last month because they were smaller than Biden’s totals in 2024.

    So what they’re doing now is scooping up anyone on any pretext they can.

  75. 75.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Jay:

    That.  Thank you for saying that.

    Anybody who comes back with the “Tell them it’s BS”, get back to me after trying that approach on 20 or so of your red, rurl MAGAt neighbors and see how successful you are.

    I learned this over 22 years of living in that environment.

  76. 76.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @u: Actually, thanks to our war on drugs, police can impound your car too and claim it was involved in drug trafficking.  There is nothing new about this.   You then have to sue to try and get it back.  Your legal fees come out of your pocket.  Several rural police officers in Texas went to jail for doing this for vacation money, but it was the Texas Rangers doing the policing.

    Always know your rights.  Do not leave the highway if you do not know the rural burg.  Plan out ahead of time where you will stop for gas, food, lodging or a recharge.  Check the places on-line to see if they are speed or impoundment traps.  Do not argue with the police.  Do not volunteer information either.   Make certain an officer knows you will be missed, though.

    In my anecdotal experience, most police officers are decent individuals, doing their duty honorably.  Nonetheless, as anal as it sounds, it is better to beware than everlastingly sorry.

  79. 79.

    New Deal democrat

    @Betty Cracker: Unfortunately the Judge’s TRO in the deportation case had a loophole – namely, that it did not bar deportations lawful for reasons other than the Alien Enemies Act – that the T—-p Administration is now exploiting:

    “ a court [could not] lawfully restrict the President’s inherent Article Il authority to work with a foreign nation to transfer terrorists and criminals who are already outside the United States. Consequently, even if one could broadly and improperly construe the Court’s written minute order as restricting the government from “turn[ing] over … to foreign governments” alien enemies who were already abroad (Dkt. 21, at 2), that still was limited by its terms to actions taken “pursuant to the Proclamation.” Once the terrorists had been removed from the United States, any decision by the President to take such actions pursuant to independent constitutional authority is therefore not a violation of the Court’s orders.”

    This idea of “inherent Article II authority,” I.e., the Founders somehow neglected  to enumerate it, just as they somehow neglected to enumerate the President’s broad immunity from criminal prosecution, has cropped up in several other legal filings in the past week or so. So the DoJ can claim that the Judge’s order did not apply to this basis, which was not in the “Proclamation.”

    It’s a way ultimately to allow SCOTUS to rule that the Administration were naughty boys, but we’ll let you go now, just don’t do it again.

  80. 80.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @u: Mr. Musk is truly screwing with the fundamental fragile systems that hold civilization together.  I cannot tell if he is a self-righteous ignoramus or a deliberate arsonist.  Apparently, he is clueless about waves swamping indiscriminately once those waves are set in motion.

  82. 82.

    Another Scott

    @Susan of Texas: When my in-laws were living with us here in NoVA and we needed home health aids, they were all women, and almost all of them were foreign born.  Nigeria, Ethiopia, etc., etc.

    It’s not just doctors and nurses, and it’s not just rural areas.

    Grr…

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  86. 86.

    WTFGhost

    @Betty Cracker: Yes… but, using extraordinary powers to do so, because this is a MUSCULAR PRESIDENCY which means Trump huffs Mr. Muscle, a cleaning product, betwe… wait, we do *not* have confirmation on the huffing, sorry, a MUSCULAR Presidency overseen by a pathetic blowhard whose belly sags too much to roll when he laughs, after far to many bowls full of jelly.

    Right, so, by using a law that only a moron would think would apply outside of war or incursion… muscular presidency… why do modern journalists quote these em effers, rather than just blah-blah the talking points, as they deserve?

  87. 87.

    JoyceH

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I’ve actually been pondering a sling shot. They make some pretty high tech ones now that can knock a person down. To me the advantage would be that it would take a certain amount of training for it to have any value and so couldn’t be taken away and turned against the owner.

  91. 91.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Jay: ​

    Y’all just giving it away

    Collective blame for the actions of the Trump administration is really useful for fostering dialogue on this blog.

  92. 92.

    HopefullyNotcassandra

    @lowtechcyclist: It is just the UFC dramatic arch that became necessary early upon discovery that Joe Biden had actually secured our border so there was no big drama to be found there.  Nonetheless, all of the cons still try.  How many troops do we have at our southern border now?  That is some truly epic waste, fraud and abuse.

  93. 93.

    Jay

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    Not enough people understand that Cons, ReThugs and MAGgot’s willingly live in a Dunning-Kruger Alt Reality.

    In one of his tariFFS posts last week, Krugman came to the conclusion that DJTdiot’s Commerce Secretary:

    A). was completely ignorant about the US Economy, all aspects of economics, trade and of course, tariFFS,

    B). and was actually that stupid and dumb.

  95. 95.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    *elemental* lead (metal form) is not terribly toxic. Just don’t lick your hands after messing with it. It’s the *lead compounds* (tetraethyl lead, lead chloride) that are dangerous and should be avoided, because they easily get into your body chemistry.

    For example, lead bricks: the major hazard is getting a finger pinched when you set one down. 2nd hazard is dropping one on a foot.

  99. 99.

    Susan of Texas

    @Betty Cracker:

    And authoritarian leaders control the masses via scapegoating the vulnerable. Arbitrary detentions are red meat for the followers and a warning for the masses: step out of line and you will be next.  It’s a scam alright, and a threat. People now wonder if they will be next, and if they can protect themselves. Many others will decide to never take any chances by going against authority.

    CNN reported that public opinion of Democrats was very low and that people want to see Democrats fight back against Trump. Failure is far preferable to inaction or submission if we want people to support Democrats.

  100. 100.

    New Deal democrat

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The DoJ is now asking the DC Circuit to reassign the case. Per Charles Geidner:

    “DOJ goes to the D.C. Circuit, essentially saying Chief Judge Boasberg acted improperly by … asking questions about whether they followed a court order.”

    E.T.A.: The DoJ really, really does not want this hearing to proceed. Should put the Judge in a real good mood.

  101. 101.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker:

    We’re living through an autocratic assault on our republic, that much is clear. But sometimes the specific actions the autocrats take are confusing. For me, the simplest way to interpret those actions is to assume a scam and work backward from there.

    I think you are right.  And it is exhausting, and demoralizing, and meant to be so.  Penetration at every level, and flooding the zone with shit.

  103. 103.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Deputinize America:

    Would you recommend dedicated range clothes and washing those separately from other clothing? A shower afterwards? Any special detergents? I hope I’m not overthinking this…

  105. 105.

    Elizabelle

    Meanwhile, British (Welsh) cartoonist R.E. “Becky” Burke remains locked up in a Tacoma, WA ICE facility.

    She now has $$$ to fly back to the UK via a successful Go Fund Me (now closed), but no action on her release that we are aware of.

    Comics site bleedingcool.com  has an update today.

    … [R.E. Burke/Becky] has currently been held for nineteen days at a detention centre in Tacoma, Washington, in orange prison uniform, sleeping in a dormitory with more than 100 people. She received a lot more press attention the week after the initial reports but less in recent days, and the situation has not been resolved. A GoFundMe to raise money for a flight home was successful and has been closed, but there has been no sign of her release or deportation. R.E. Burke sent a letter to her friend Lauren Hudgins dated the 7th of March, which arrived a week later saying,

    “I am planning lots of comics for afterwards and drawing often (including portraits of the other women, which make them very happy—the least I can do when they are in very much worse predicament than me). I keep thinking about when I will be on that plane. I will be smiling the entire journey home.”

    Meanwhile, comics creator Ryan Estrada and his wife, Kim Hyun Sook, have cancelled their US visit.

    I am an American living in Korea with my wife Kim Hyun Sook. We write books together… Banned Book Club, No Rules Tonight, and Good Old Fashioned Korean Spirit are our books about her experiences growing up under a dictator in 1980s Korea. Banned Book Club has been banned in Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas. We had planned a 4 month trip of book festivals, book talks, and important family gatherings, but due to safety concerns have cancelled said trip. I wouldn’t be in danger at the border, but she would. I will neither risk her safety or abandon her her for 4 months to talk about her book without her.”

  106. 106.

    Jay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    You are overthinking it.

    Jacketed ammo is safe.

    Buy the cheapest rounds for training, buy the most lethal rounds for defense.

    Lead at indoor ranges is pretty much only a danger for the Employees.

    Proper ear and eye protection is more important.

  108. 108.

    Phylllis

    @russell: I mostly joked on here a couple of months ago about  burying cash in the backyard like my depression-era parents & grandparents. Much less of a joke these days. The thing is, my latest tinfoil hat notion is that they’ll make crypto the legal tender of the US & allow you to ‘buy’ it using your existing US monies at, say, 10 cents on the dollar.

    But in any case, there’s always the old school option of burying it out in the backyard in a jelly jar! :)

    Dang it, should have read a bit further down.

  110. 110.

    Ohio Mom

    @Scout211: I would think a burner phone tells the authorities you have another phone somewhere full of juicy stuff.

    The question becomes, how much follow-through can we expect them to exhibit?

  111. 111.

    mrmoshpotato

    Congrats to the Trump trash on voting to kill themselves – again.

    First with the COVID-19 “hoax.”  Idiots.

    And now with most definitely fucking over their local doctors’ offices and hospitals.  Stupid, fucking racist idiots.

  113. 113.

    Ohio Mom

    @Jay: Very good advice. That’s been stsndard operating procedure for a long time.

    It’s usually something like low-income person traveling home to buy a car from his cousin and poof! There goes all the thousands of dollars he saved so carefully. If I remember correctly, they are usually arrested as well.

  114. 114.

    Ohio Mom

    @u: My mother kept her cash stash in her underwear drawer. Maybe she was counting on the power of embarrassment to repel thieves.

    This is back before ATMs were invented and the age of the credit card. You needed cash on hand for emergencies.

  115. 115.

    Geminid

    @H.E.Wolf: The tough detective dames still might keep a hatpin for the mashers. Although I guess the meaner ones would dispense with the hatpin and just pull the derringer. The really mean ones might rig the derringer as a sleeve gun.

    I read about the sleeve gun trick in Louis L’Amour’s Passin’ Through. Do you ever read Louis LaMour novel’s? He wrote a good one titled Echo Sackett that’s set in the 1830s. Young Echo has to venture from her Tennessee mountain home to Philadephia in order to recover an inheritance. Being wise to the world, she sets out with two “Doone” derringers in her handbag and a very long knife that she hangs down her back inside her fanciest dress.

    Echo wrangles her inheritance in cash money from a shady Philadelphia lawyer, and then she heads for home by way of Pittsburgh and the rivers south. She manages to put her weapons to good use fighting off thieves all the way back to Tennessee. Ms. Sackett arrives home from her adventures with her inheritance and a handsome beau she’s collected along the way.

  116. 116.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Elizabelle:
     

    Banned Book Club has been banned in Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas.

    Throw in Ohio and Mississippi and that’s a solid list of states never to move to.

  118. 118.

    Elizabelle

    @Steve in the ATL:  For sure.

    One physician and cartoonist/artist/writer at a time, The Felon is going to really damage our country.

    Fuck him and the imbeciles he rode in on.

  119. 119.

    H.E.Wolf

    @WereBear: ​
     My favorites are the ones with Meyer the economist helping McGee entrap bad guys.

    In general, I read the scary/violent sections in MacDonald’s novels with one eye closed, or skip entirely if I’m re-reading. Weak sauce, that’s me!

  120. 120.

    Jay

    @Ohio Mom:

    Best option for a “burner phone” is either a dumb phone, or a “not so smart” phone.

    Some people hate smart phones, they are not unusual.

    When my old IPhone 6 died, for a short while, I had a Dashi. A Japanese Android clone, my friend Steve got, for free, for spending over $50 in a Tokyo Electronics Store. Camera was crap, so no photos, battery was crap, so no games, no web surfing, memory was crap so no big text history or lists of phone calls, phone directory was just the people I regularly called.

    If somebody wanted to “search” that phone, good luck, the battery would not last long enough to find any deleted stuff, unless they kept it plugged in to charge, and all they would be able to find is stuff deleted in the last 24 hours. Plus, I would laugh my ass of if they asked me to unlock it. It had 0 security features, no passcode, no fingerprint, no facial recognition. It was either on, or off. All it could really do is make phone calls and text.

  121. 121.

    Ruckus

    @bbleh:

    I wonder how many doctors in the US are from out of the country. I’d bet more than a few.

    I can see that in some parts of the world getting a medical education and license to practice might be even more difficult than here in the US. And it is difficult enough longish road here. One almost has to have some form of reasonable income or a damn good scholarship to do it here. Ask me how I know. And the answer is not what that sentence might imply. But I do know.

  124. 124.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Genocide Joe and Holocaust Harris are looking awfully good in hindsight…

    Shout out to the Uncommitted assholes (and their cheerleaders), y’all helped make this happen.

  126. 126.

    frosty

    @Geminid: I’ve read all of Louis L’Amour, at least up thru the late 70s. My favorite was The Sackett Brand where every Sackett in the West drops whatever they’re doing to help out Tell Sackett, cornered under the Mogollon Rim.

    I’ll have to dig through the box in the attic to see if I have Echo Sackett.

  128. 128.

    Bill Arnold

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
    Poking briefly at this with google, the general feeling (even among people who get their lead levels tested) appears to be definitely hand washing, and consider wearing a respirator if the ventilation at the range is not obviously good. A respirator would be an N95 or an equivalent; there are nice ones that might look good to gun people available. (Search on “gvs p100” for examples

    ETA you’re in the lead free generation, so good IMO to keep your body that way. Metallic lead isn’t bad, but i’d go as close to zero as possible if my body were in your age group or otherwise probably low-lead.

  129. 129.

    Noskilz

    Tennessee’s rural healthcare was on the ropes even before all this started. This is going to get very, very grim as the Trump administration kicks the legs out from under medicare, cuts benefits, and drives off doctors.

    I hate to think what it will be like in places even worse off than Tennesee.

  131. 131.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Deputinize America: OT: Which version of DeepSeek are you using, the App offered by DeepSeek itself, or one of the versions hosted by other platforms?

    I find the DeepSeek R1 model fascinating & quite “creative” myself, but we have to remember that these “thinking” LLMs are not at all intelligent. They are just repackaging their training data, sometimes in interesting or surprising ways. The model is not capable of truly analyzing & making judgments, or projecting forward, except in deterministic scenarios. What you are reading are liberal fantasies in R1‘s training data, now repackaged for your reading pleasure.

  132. 132.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @New Deal democrat:

    It’s a way ultimately to allow SCOTUS to rule that the Administration were naughty boys, but we’ll let you go now, just don’t do it again.

    How sure are we that this SCOTUS will tell the Trump gang “don’t do it again”?

    At the end of the day, neither the courts nor Congress command anybody w/ guns (or at least not nearly enough to matter).

  133. 133.

    Trivia Man

    @Jay: T got election help – he gets personal riches and immunity and gives up nothing of HIS in return. ART OF THE DEAL!!

    Or maybe the moral is THE ARISTOCRATS!!!

  134. 134.

    TerryC

    @BellaPea: In my Appalachian home town most of the doctors are from overseas. I hear something about “those damned Ayrab doctors at the hospital” frequently when I speak with people there.

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