digdeeper

The Trump administration has abandoned its proposal to merge the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives into the Drug Enforcement Administration after opposition from gun-rights and gun-control groups, CNN reported on Saturday, citing people briefed on the matter. The reversal comes as the White House seeks Senate confirmation for Robert Cekada, the ATF's deputy director, to serve as permanent director, the report said.

The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to be ready in case of a possible deployment to Minnesota, where federal authorities have been conducting a massive immigration enforcement operation, two defense officials said Sunday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans, said two infantry battalions of the Army's 11th Airborne Division have been given prepare-to-deploy orders. The unit is based in Alaska and specializes in operating in arctic conditions.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Sunday it is investigating a group of protesters in Minnesota who disrupted services at a church where a local official with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apparently serves as a pastor.

A livestreamed video posted on the Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Minnesota, one of the protest's organizers, shows a group of people interrupting services at the Cities Church in St. Paul by chanting "ICE out" and "Justice for Renee Good." The 37-year-old mother of three was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this month amid a surge in federal immigration enforcement activities.

The protesters allege that one of the church's pastors — David Easterwood — also leads the local ICE field office overseeing the operations that have involved violent tactics and illegal arrests.

Premier Doug Ford says Prime Minister Mark Carney's deal with China on electric vehicles has hurt Ontarians and the two have not spoken since.

Ford says he was disappointed Carney did not give him a heads-up about a potential deal before the prime minister's trip to China last week.

Carney struck a deal with China last week to allow up to 49,000 electric vehicles to receive a vastly reduced tariff rate of 6.1 per cent as they come into Canada in exchange for dropping tariffs on Canadian canola and some seafood.

Ford and Carney became fast friends after the latter's win to become prime minister in the spring.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/58902873

Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government and certainly not the Danish government, determines the winner of that prize. Yet Trump now not only blames Norway for failing to give it to him, but is using it as a justification for an invasion of Greenland.

Think about where this is leading. One possibility, anticipated this morning by financial markets, is a damaging trade war. Another is an American military occupation of Greenland. Try to imagine it: The U.S. Marines arrive in Nuuk, the island’s capital. Perhaps they kill some Danes; perhaps some American soldiers die too. And then what? If the invaders were Russians, they would arrest all of the politicians, put gangsters in charge, shoot people on the street for speaking Danish, change school curricula, and carry out a fake referendum to rubber-stamp the conquest. Is that the American plan too? If not, then what is it? This would not be the occupation of Iraq, which was difficult enough. U.S. troops would need to force Greenlanders, citizens of a treaty ally, to become American against their will.

*🎁 link

MBFC
Archive

On Monday, two Miami Beach police detectives paid Raquel Pacheco a visit to ask about a critical comment that had been left under one of Meiner’s Facebook posts. Video taken by Pacheco showed officers warning her that her comment — in which she said that Meiner “consistently calls for the death of all Palestinians” — could potentially “incite somebody to do something radical.”

Police said the interaction did not trigger a formal investigation. Nonetheless, it has made national news and prompted swift backlash, including from Pacheco, who retained a civil rights attorney.

In the letter, FIRE’s director of public advocacy, Aaron Terr, urged Miami Beach police to “publicly affirm that the First Amendment protects Pacheco’s post and commit that, going forward, officers will never initiate contact with individuals for the purpose of discouraging lawful expression.”

In his statement Friday, Jones stressed that it was his decision to send detectives to Pacheco’s home. “At no time did the Mayor or any other official direct me to take action,” the chief said.

The Supreme Court of Canada is hearing arguments today on a Quebec case that could have far-reaching implications on policing across Canada.

Quebec’s attorney general is set to argue against a lower court decision that invalidated random police traffic stops, finding that they led to racial profiling and violated Quebecers’ rights.

Joseph-Christopher Luamba, the young man at the origin of this case, was pulled over by police nearly a dozen times without reason in the 18 months after he got his driver’s licence.

He told Quebec Superior Court in 2022 that when he sees a police cruiser, he gets ready to pull over.

Luamba, who is Black, said he believes he was racially profiled during the traffic stops — none of which resulted in a ticket.

"I was frustrated," he told the court back then. "Why was I stopped? I followed the rules. I didn't commit any infractions."

That these DoJ’s disclosures apparently comprise a drop in the bucket – and have done little to shed light on how Epstein operated with apparent impunity for years – has roiled survivors’ advocates and lawmakers. They include attorney Spencer Kuvin, who has represented dozens of Epstein’s survivors.

“A special master might help relieve the court and the DOJ from sifting through thousands upon thousands of documents,” he said. “Special masters tend to be appointed in serious complex litigation, cases with many parties involving massive amounts data or potential damages.”

Kuvin voiced similar sentiments. “A special master could help impose structure and accountability on a process that has clearly stalled. While a special master cannot invent authority that doesn’t exist, they can force clarity – what is being withheld, why it’s being withheld and whether those justifications actually withstand legal scrutiny,” he said.

Tim Sigsworth 19 January 2026 2:48pm GMT

The White House has told Britain to stop arresting people who express support for Palestine Action.

Sarah Rogers, Donald Trump’s free speech tsar, said the arrests were “censoring” free speech and did “more harm than good”.

More than 2,000 people have been arrested for expressing support for Palestine Action since it was proscribed as a terror group in July last year.

Ms Rogers, the US state department’s under-secretary for public diplomacy, said that the public should be allowed to say they back the group.

“I would have to look at each individual person and each proscribed organisation,” she told Semafor. “I think if you support an organisation like Hamas, then depending upon whether you’re coordinating, there are all these standards that get applied.

“This Palestine Action group, I’ve seen it written about. I don’t know what it did. I think if you just merely stand up and say, ‘I support Palestine Action’, then unless you are really co-ordinating with some violent foreign terrorist, I think that censoring that speech does more harm than good.”

Palestine Action was proscribed in July 2025 after its activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and vandalised military aeroplanes.

In a campaign of vandalism and trespass protesting the war in Gaza, it has targeted businesses that it claims are linked to Israel.

Anyone who expresses support for the group – which is often done on a piece of paper – faces arrest and a maximum prison sentence of six months.

Ms Rogers has been an outspoken critic of Sir Keir Starmer’s Government and freedom of speech in Britain since taking her position in October last year.

She has criticised the Prime Minister for cancelling local elections, curbing rights to jury trials and not banning cousin marriage.

Ms Rogers also compared Britain under Labour to Vladimir Putin’s Russia after the Government threatened to ban Elon Musk’s X over the creation of naked images of women and children by its AI service, Grok.

She also said British police forces were wrong to arrest people for using the phrase “globalise the intifada”.

The Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said last month that anyone chanting the slogan would face arrest in a more robust approach to pro-Palestinian protesters following the Bondi Beach and Manchester synagogue terror attacks.

“I’m from New York City where thousands of people were murdered by jihadists,” Ms Rogers said, referring to the 9/11 terror attack. “I don’t want an intifada in New York City, and I think anyone who does is disgusting, but should it be legal to say in most contexts? Yes.”

In December, Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist, was arrested in London for expressing support for Palestine Action. She was later bailed until March.

The group is in the midst of a legal challenge against its proscription and critics of the ban have argued the group is not comparable to violent terror groups such as Al-Qaeda or the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

Proscription ‘is draconian’

Amnesty International, the charity, has said the group’s proscription is an example of “problematic, overly broad and draconian restrictions on free speech”.

A number of the group’s activists embarked upon a hunger strike while being in prison on remand as they awaited trial.

Scottish prosecutors have offered to drop charges against some supporters of Palestine Action if they accept a £100 fine.

Adam McGibbon, who refused the offer, said: “The fact that the authorities are offering fines equivalent to a parking ticket for a ‘terrorism offence’ shows just how ridiculous these charges are. Do supporters of Islamic State get the same deal?

“I refuse to pay this fine, as has everyone else I know who has been offered one. Just try and put all 3,000 of us who have defied this ban so far in jail, Shabana Mahmood. Have you got the space?”

Mr McGibbon was among those arrested at a mass rally on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile in July 2025.

Lord Walney, co-chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for defending democracy, said: “It is unfortunate that Sarah Rogers says she is unaware of the history of violence and organised sabotage that led the UK Government to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.

“The president has spoken out in strong terms against far-Left violence and intimidation in the US and it is obvious he would in no way support these extremists damaging RAF jets, smashing up defence factories and attacking security staff with sledge hammers here in the UK.”

A spokesman for the Home Office said: “Palestine Action has conducted an escalating campaign involving not just sustained criminal damage, including to Britain’s national security infrastructure, but also intimidation and alleged violence and serious injuries to individuals. That kind of activity puts the safety and security of the public at risk.”

In an interview on Fox News Sunday, US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told Shannon Bream that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is not, nor are they planning to, investigate Jonathan Ross—the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot and killed Renée Nicole Good in her car in Minneapolis earlier this month.

“We don’t just go out and investigate every time an officer is forced to defend himself against somebody or putting his life in danger,” Blanche, formerly Donald Trump’s personal attorney, said. The Trump administration began asserting immediately after the killing that Good was a “rioter” who committed an “act of domestic terrorism,” continuing a long pattern of responding to deadly tragedies by making baseless and false claims.

“We investigate when it’s appropriate to investigate and that is not the case here, it wasn’t the case when it happened, and it’s not the case today,” Blanche insisted. “If circumstances change, and there’s something that we do need to investigate around that shooting or any other shooting, we will,” he said, adding, “but we are not going to bow to pressure from the media, bow to pressure from politicians.”

Video in article

Ok if so, but I was about to create an xmpp one, to bridge the gap so to speak. Since we live here now, I guess.

Recently, U.S. representative Eli Crane introduced a provision into the recent spending package that would cut funding for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a cutout of the CIA used to advance regime change abroad.

In response to his “amendment to defund NED” every House Democrat, including progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ro Khanna, and Ilhan Omar, voted against it, along with 81 Republicans, slapping down the amendment 291 to 127.

Major labor unions in Minnesota are supporting the call, including Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1005, SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, CWA Local 7250, and St. Paul Federation of Educators Local 28 — and organizers expect this list to grow. Faith in Minnesota, a faith-based social justice organization, has also joined the call. Minnesota has a history of joint, coalitional action among community groups, worker centers and unions.

An Ontario woman who regularly shared her experiences as a sexual assault survivor at police training courses says she’s ending her relationship with the Ontario Police College and is raising concerns about what she and several experts say are harmful biases among some officers and a lack of accountability from the college.

It comes after she received anonymous comments from two officers last year that she says left her feeling "mortified" and "humiliated."

For several years, she has volunteered her time by speaking at training organized by the college for sexual assault investigators. CBC News is protecting her identity because she is a sexual assault survivor.

Experts say the comments, which include calling her “damaged,” accusing her of being too critical of police and presuming a mental illness diagnosis, are not only hurtful but also show a concerning bias that could affect the integrity of sexual assault investigations.

The woman wants to know if those officers are working as sexual assault investigators, but more than four months after taking her concerns to the college, she still has no answers.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-technology-the-trump-administration-could-use-to-hack-your-phone

Manitoba RCMP are investigating after a seven-year-old girl was coerced into sending nude photos to a man over Snapchat — an example of what experts and police warn is a growing trend of children under 13 being sexually exploited through social media.

The images and videos being sent through the online messaging app were discovered after the girl's mother went into the child's room. The girl quickly put down a cellphone when her mother came in, according to a production order document obtained by CBC.

When the mother became suspicious and took the phone, she learned the girl had been chatting with an older man.

The mother found pictures of a penis within those chats and contacted RCMP. She gave them the phone for analysis, according to the document.

Police say they found explicit conversations over Snapchat between a man from the United Kingdom and the seven-year-old, as well as images and video shared between the two.