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Mar 31, 2025 - World

Lawyer Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the Immigration Council, did a reverse image search of photos of tattoos the Department of Homeland Security claims represent the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.Over the weekend, the ACLU obtained ICE's "Alien Enemies Act Validation Guide," which the union said "confirms all it takes to be sent to rot in prison in El Salvador is 1) having a tattoo an ICE officer says is a 'gang tattoo' and 2) displaying 'logos,' 'symbols,' or clothes an ICE officer says are gang signs," said Reichlin-Melnick.In the ICE documents were images showing examples of the body art. Reichlin-Melnick discovered that many of the tattoos listed by DHS come from a New York Post piece published in 2024. And he wrote on X, "Reverse image search shows these images were stolen from the internet and have nothing to do with TdA!"ALSO READ: John Roberts has created a monster — and he knows itOne of the tattoos shows the Nike Air Jordan logo with the number 23 underneath it — the number Michael Jordan used when he played for the Chicago Bulls. According to the New York Post, it's a "Jump-Man" tattoo and "refers to 23 de Enero ... a Venezuelan neighborhood.""It's Michael Jordan's number, guys," said Reichlin-Melnick. He did a reverse image search and found it was posted by a Michael Jordan fan account on Twitter in 2015. Reichlin-Melnick also posted a tattoo of an AK-47 included in the ICE Homeland Security Investigations "intelligence report." He found the tattoo was taken from an artist in Turkey who had posted it on his profile. A Train image, "which the New York Post described as a 'shout-out to the gang's origins ... as a railroad labor union in Aragua, Venezuela,' dates back to at least 2015, where it can be found on a random blog listing '70 Train Tattoo Ideas for Men,'" he revealed on X. Another image was traced to the Pinterest page of a Thai tattoo parlor, which appeared to be nothing more than someone's initials. The Miami Herald reported that one of the men flown from the U.S. to El Salvador as a suspected gang member, Gustavo Adolfo Aguilera Agüero, had three tattoos that his mother said are a "story of love and loyalty." One is a crown with the name of his son. The Herald said that another is a "star with his own name and his mother’s name, and the inscription Real Hasta La Muerte' ('Real Until Death') across his arm" — a reference to the soccer club Real Madrid. Slate reported one tattoo of a nautical star with the words “La Paz—BCS,” referring to the birthplace of Daniel Ramirez Medina of La Paz in Baja California Sur. Medina was arrested by ICE, which claimed he was an “egregious public safety concern." He is a DACA recipient and is in the U.S. legally, the report stated.See the full thread here.

Mar 31, 2025 - World

The Canadian government is bombarding voters in key swing states with anti-trade war propaganda as President Donald Trump vows to enact his biggest package of tariffs yet next month.Multiple media outlets are reporting that Canada is paying for billboards and signs across the United States that bluntly inform Americans that "tariffs are a tax" on items ranging from gasoline to groceries.Local news station WKYC reports that the billboards have appeared across "Cleveland's busiest highways," while Fox 5 Atlanta reports spotting them across the Atlanta metro area.The Orlando Sentinel, meanwhile, brings word that anti-tariff ads have been put up across the sunshine state, and Pennsylvania political correspondent Sean Kitchen has shared some photos on X of anti-tariff billboards around the state capital of Harrisburg.ALSO READ: ‘False choice’: GOP congressman breaks ranks to deliver Trump history lesson in NY TimesMultiple recent polls have shown that Trump's proposed tariffs have been growing less popular among voters and recent consumer sentiment surveys have shown fears of the policy are driving up inflation expectations to levels not seen in three years.Regardless, Trump has been plowing ahead to launch new tariffs on April 2nd, and he has in the past said he believes they will make America "rich" by bringing in more revenue to the United States treasury.Centuries' worth of economic research has found that the costs of tariffs are primarily paid out by consumers and do not make the countries leveling them appreciably richer given that those countries are subsequently hit with retaliatory tariffs.

Mar 31, 2025 - World

Some Pentagon officials seem willing and able to leak sensitive information about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's shortcomings and failures — and it's creating scandals just as hefty as Signalgate, according to a new article with MSNBC.Columnist Steve Benen wrote Monday that some defense insiders are ignoring the Trump administration's chief of staff Susie Wiles' directive against leaks to the media.Even after the revelations last week that detailed war plans about a bomb run on Houthi rebels in Yemen were shared in a Signal chat, "things managed to go from bad to worse for the scandal-plagued former Fox News personality," Benen wrote.Benen gave the example of a report by The Associated Press on Friday about Hegseth appointing his little brother "to serve as senior adviser to the secretary for the Department of Homeland Security and liaison officer to the Defense Department — a title that has meant, among other things, a trip to Guantanamo Bay and traveling on the Pentagon’s 747 aircraft as the Cabinet secretary makes his first trip to the Indo-Pacific."ALSO READ: 'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the worldAlso last week, The Wall Street Journal published an unflattering report that Hegseth "brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed," the Journal wrote, citing "multiple people who were present or had knowledge of the discussions."Politico and CNN published their own stories saying that, while President Donald Trump outwardly expressed support for Hegseth, interviews with administration insiders "reflect growing concerns about Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon.”Benen wrote that all of these stories pointed to the fact "that there are some people at the Pentagon who’ve learned some unfortunate things about Hegseth, and they’re suddenly eager to share that information with journalists."He concluded, "It’s a problem for the Pentagon chief that there’s evidence of his incompetence and failures, but it’s just as notable a problem that there are DOD insiders who are apparently willing to talk to reporters about his incompetence and failures."Read the MSNBC article here.

Mar 31, 2025 - World

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is furious after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Navy commander Vice Adm. (res.) Eli Sharvit to lead the Shin Bet security service on Monday. "While it is undeniably true that America has no better friend than Israel, the appointment of Eli Sharvit to be the new leader of the Shin Bet is beyond problematic," Graham wrote on X."There has never been a better supporter for the State of Israel than President Trump. The statements made by Eli Sharvit about President Trump and his polices will create unnecessary stress at a critical time. My advice to my Israeli friends is change course and do better vetting."Sharvit penned an op-ed after the inauguration criticizing Trump for his climate policies. ALSO READ: 'Don’t think the numbers are real': GOP senator joins Dems in doubting Senate's budgetSharvit headed the Green energy company QD-SOL and wrote on Jan. 23 for Calcalist that Trump's policies are "destructive." "President Trump chose to abandon the important goal of zero emissions by 2050 and focus on promoting polluting fuels, based on a short-term conservative perspective aimed at maximizing immediate profits," Sharvit wrote, according to The Jerusalem Post. "We live in an era where the public demands more accountability from governments and corporations. Trump's choice to ignore these demands sends a message to the world that the United States is shirking its global leadership," Sharvit continued. "American leadership on climate and the environment failed under the previous Trump administration, and now it is our responsibility to ensure that it does not fail again," he added. Now Netanyahu may consider changing his mind on Sharvit, the Times of Israel reported, citing an Israeli source. The person said Netanyahu hasn't made a final decision. The Times also reported that Sharvit participated in protests "against the government’s contentious judicial overhaul plans."

Mar 31, 2025 - World

Health advocates sounded the alarm when President Donald Trump first nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, due to his controversial stance on vaccines and a penchant for promoting conspiracy theories. Now, the conservative Wall Street Journal Editorial Board is slamming the administration for allowing Kennedy to operate largely unfettered.On Monday, the board stated that some Senate Republicans who voted to confirm RFK Jr. "hoped that other Trump HHS appointees — e.g., FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya — would keep Mr. Kennedy in check. It isn’t working out that way."One of the more disturbing actions, according to the board, revolves around Kennedy's potential choice of longtime vaccine critic David Geier as "senior data analyst" with a new CDC study on vaccines and autism, although the White House did not confirm Geier's involvement.ALSO READ: 'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the worldAccording to the WSJ board, Geier "has spent decades spreading the discredited theory, embraced by Mr. Kennedy, that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism and neurological damage in children. He has published more than a dozen studies that trial lawyers have cited as evidence of vaccines’ harms, though they have been rejected by judges and the government’s special vaccine courts."In addition, Geier has "accused the CDC of concealing vaccine safety data and claimed that better nutrition and hygiene — not vaccines — are responsible for the disappearance of deadly infectious diseases."The Editorial Board wrote that if Geier is involved in the research, "The study’s results look preordained."The board also wrote of its fear of a DHS "brain drain" if Kennedy starts firing scientists who aren't dedicated to his anti-vaccine stance, such as Peter Marks, who was instrumental in President Trump's Operation Warp Speed for life-saving Covid vaccines."On Friday Mr. Marks resigned," the board wrote, "which is especially regrettable since he pushed the FDA bureaucracy to accelerate life-saving therapies for children with rare genetic disorders. He also pushed back against those in and outside of the agency, including Biden FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, who fretted that the FDA was approving too many novel drugs with high prices."In his resignation letter, Marks wrote, "It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”The Board concluded, "Our worst fears about Mr. Kennedy are coming true."Read The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board piece here.