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China’s first corgi police dog, Fu Zai, at work.
Further

Send In the Attack Corgis: The Good, The Bad and The Winsome

Okay, obviously the "bad" amidst the apocalyptic shitstorm of our democracy - the lies, crimes, cruelty, idiocy - is unrelenting. But in the name of our collective sanity, rather than plunge back into the muck, we'll kick off a shiny new week by unearthing whatever fragments evince the merest glimmer of light - some righteous speeches, stellar trolling, upright judges, tips from the raccoons of resistance, and (mostly four-footed, but still) tales of hope. All we got.

While our precipitous plunge into "James Madison's nightmare, the very definition of tyranny" has multiple backseat drivers - corrupt courts, greedy oligarchs, Project 2025's Christo-fascist creators - of course it's publicly choreographed by doddering figurehead Almost-King Donald and creepy helpmate Elmo Musk, having such a swell time rampaging through government that last week he randomly posted, "I love (Trump) as much as a straight man can love another man." Umm. As Musk and his juvenile gang of techies run amuck - they just shut down CFPB, an $800-million consumer protection agency that's returned over $21 billion to Americans ripped off by banks and credit-card scammers, which he giddily celebrated with a tombstone emoji - the little idiotic prince jabbers away about all their winning, from the vast "fraud" they're finding and "assaulted" Jan. 6 thugs to his beloved Gulf of America, his right to Zelensky's "rare earth" and Gazan "imperialist acid flashback.”

Before the cameras he's theatrically signed over 80 "executive orders," each more preposterous, most heedlessly punishing the vulnerable. He's shut off billions in aid to abruptly reeling, mostly black and brown people and halting projects from Head Start to community health centers. Stripped billions from medical research, blamed a plane crash on DEI, banned birthright citizenship, terrorized trans people, gutted school libraries, announced a wingnut-filled taskforce to fight "anti-Christian bias,” imposed then lifted witless tariffs to send food prices soaring after vowing to lower them, kept up a revenge tour by removing security for anyone ever mean to him, revoking Biden's classified info access as payback, firing the federal archivist though it was another who called out his classified info thefts, fired the Kennedy Center's board - they "do not share our vision" (sic) - and hired his "amazing" self, and brought back environmentally disastrous plastic straws because he could.

As public discourse descends to whether a "president" daily, brazenly violating the Constitution in a "self coup" with the full support of his party must obey any law or legal edict, we're left wondering what in unholy Hell is next and who'll do what to stop it - when, say, Dem lawmakers charge they've been shut out of the Department of Education and the king's henchman retorts, "No such department exists in the federal government." Having been knocked to the ground by Trump's rampage, Dems are struggling to stand back up and find a way forward. Many lawsuits have been filed, judges have ruled once, twice, thrice that blocking funds, freezing jobs, ending birthright citizenship are all illegal. Yet when, in a fiery speech, Maine Sen. Angus King tried to stop the GOP from putting in charge of our money Russell Vought, whose Project 2025 is "a blueprint for the shredding of the Constitution" - pleading, "Are there no red lines?" - they said duh no and blithely confirmed him.

So that's the bad. Increasingly, though, it's being met with good trouble. Calls, for starters, as Congress' phone system gets deluged by tens of millions of aggrieved constituents calling to demand their representatives do something damnit to stop the abuses. Normally, the Senate's phone network gets about 40 calls a minute; recently, that number has rocketed to 1,600. And in dystopian, gotta-laugh-or-cry times when we often have to ask, Is this real or The Onion? - "The Himmler Institute Says This Is All Legal" - trolling has gotten pretty epic. Happily, Australia's The Shovel - presumably shit? - has offered "News You Can Believe In" since 2012. Thus we know Trump, having clicked on a "CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO PURCHASE GREENLAND!" link, just sent a billion dollars in bitcoin to Nigerian Prince Omar Abacha, who inherited Greenland from his father the king: "But he wanted me to have it, which is nice. He's a great guy. He's coming over for dinner soon."

The Shovel also has extensive coverage of Gaza. Most recently, the White House announced it might pause plans for the U.S. to take over Gaza because "it may have been based on a misunderstanding." "The President heard the words 'Gaza Strip,' and got excited," they explained; he envisioned strippers, porn stars, beauty queens and "felt he needed a piece of the action." But he'd still like to put in a "beautiful" golf course - thanks to Netanyahu's relentless demolition and prep work, “The place is already a hole, so all we'd have to do is add 17 more" - and create "The Adult Entertainment Capital of the World" with multiple casinos, luxury penthouses and a glitzy Gaza-A-Lago resort. "Palestinians will soon get to savor their first taste of the American Dream," .said an enthused spokesman. “Specifically, the bit of the Dream where we deport all the brown people we don’t like to places they don’t want to go.”

In more breaking news from the Middle East, a Palestinian from Gaza has generously offered to take over and redevelop southern California, expel its beleaguered residents to Mexico where they can have "a beautiful life," and turn the fire-ravaged area into "the Riviera of North America."’ "It would be a great service to the world," he argues. "Los Angeles is a soulless, vacuous hell-hole. It's just a big pile of rubble and collagen right now, not a place for people to be living. I believe strongly the only reason they want to go back to their homes is because they have no alternative. Where are they going to go, Nevada?” Also, Trump just caved on tariffs on Australia after he was reminded he relies on face toner from its crushed copper dust - “You can’t get that florescent orange look from just anywhere, mate" - and in the wake of the tragic airline crash in D.C. caused by DEI, he ordered all airplane black boxes be replaced with white boxes.

In Illinois, meanwhile, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker took on Trump's Very Serious Proposal, on behalf of his Very Serious Priorities, to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Standing at a lectern flanked by the usual flags, Pritzker solemnly declared that "the world's finest geographers have concluded a decades-long council, and determined that a Great Lake deserves to be named after a great state." He then issued the proclamation that, "Hereafter, Lake Michigan shall be known as Lake Illinois." Noting the historic news that the U.S. will be purchasing Greenland any day now despite the fact that almost 90% of Greenlanders want nothing to do with us, he announced that, in the same time-honored imperialist spirit and the people be damned, Illinois will likewise be annexing Green Bay to protect itself from marauding outsiders. Next week, he gravely added, he will also have some important news "regarding the Mississippi River."

Given the mess bipeds have made of things, it's gratifying to move on to some real-life glad news - "Something good happened!" - among four-footed critters clearly doing much better than we are. From Australia again, perhaps because Trump hasn't yet figured out it exists, comes an alert from award-winning First Dog on the Moon that Reece the Adventure Dog, a one-year-old Kelpie who for 11 days was missing and stranded on a rocky cliff, was dramatically rescued by a fishing father and son. After Reece went missing from his home on the NSW coast and his owner posted flyers and searched in vain, Rory Deavin and his son Matt were out fishing when they spotted Reece loudly barking - "Clever boy!" - from a ledge. Matt leapt into wild surf, swam to the cliff, climbed up, grabbed Reece, climbed down and both swam, exhausted, back to the boat. Reece was emaciated and cut up, but quickly recovered. The consensus: He should be a movie.

First Dog also made available, viaProject Gutenberg's free digital archives and its own Raccoons of the Resistance, a nifty lesson in fighting fascism as outlined in a World War ll-era Simple Sabotage Field Manual. Released by an Office of Strategic Services that became the CIA, and now Gutenberg's fifth most popular download, the manual was designed to guide ordinary "citizen-saboteurs" to use everyday actions and household objects - salt, nails, pebbles, thread - to bring legal. non-violent, low-level disruption: "Citizen saboteurs were highly effective at resisting the last time there were Nazis, and now it is our turn." Drop tools into machines, hide or lose things, delete text, be a pain - small, accessible acts of resistance to slow a war effort or curtail a draconian government's authoritarian overreach or, the raccoons suggest, otherwise help with "those ever-present 'I'm living in an omnicidal kleptocracy' blues."

Back in the good-guy, four-footed world, where good news also invariably fights off those blues, the Oregon Zoo just proudly announced, and posted many adorbs videos of, its new baby Asian Elephant. Once omnipresent in their often highly populated range countries from Borneo to India, they are now seriously endangered by development, habitat loss, conflict with humans and disease, and their numbers have plunged to perhaps only 50,000. After over 20 months of pregnancy, 30-year-old Rose-Tu gave birth to a healthy female calf weighing in at about 200 pounds. The Zoo is recognized worldwide for its extensive elephant care, conservation work and $1 million endowment fund, all of which, in our new dystopia, could now be threatened. To forget that it might and simply relish the gangly spectacle, watch the hefty calf struggle to stand, briefly wobble, then stagger much like the rest of us into its strange new life. For now, inviolate.

Finally, with apologies to James Agee, let us now praise Fu Zai, China's first Corgi police dog, who just marked a year on the job after being donated by a trainer who "spotted his potential." Last January, at four months old, Fu Zai joined the police force in Weifang, in Shandong Province, as a "reserve explosives-detection operative." His goofy smile, stubby legs, prowess and name - Lucky Boy - quickly made him an Internet star with 384,000 followers, and after a "heavy workload" of training and security tasks, he graduated in October into a full-fledged (if short) police dog. But the pressure of the job got to him: At a year-end review, he was duly praised for passing his Level 4 Assessment and given a red flower and stash of treats as a bonus; then they were cruelly, swiftly swept away for alleged "workplace misconduct" - falling asleep on duty and peeing in his food bowl. Dazed and confused, he looked on as he was told he could keep only the red flower. The Internet could relate.

Fans were outraged. "LEAVE HIM ALONE," one shrieked. Also, "Justice for Fu Zai!" and, "Send in the attack Corgis!" Some worried other dogs would now feel free to bully him. "Critics question his ability to do police work,” one politely noted, and, seeing him scamperr as his fierce, grave German Shepherd colleagues towered over him, "When you get the job via connections." Loyalists argued, even asleep or peeing, "He can stop criminals with his cuteness." And police soon assured them Fu Zai still had a good dog's life. Jan. 29, to mark the Lunar New Year, he was given a new package of treats - herring, dumplings, shark's fin soup, a dog-version of the delicacy Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. "We hope you make more persistent efforts in the future," his trainers said, "and that everyone can be kind to animals." Also, they joked, "We hope Fu Zai will grow taller." Then in grand, or short, poetic justice, they gave him the vaunted Annual Award of Defying Fate.” Man. A scumbag wannabe king is gonna be some pissed.

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Barrasso, Zeldin, Boozman
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'Catastrophic Blow': GOP and Three Democrats Confirm Zeldin for EPA

Climate and public health advocates were outraged on Wednesday after a trio of U.S. Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to confirm President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin.

Critics have warned that Zeldin—like other Cabinet nominees—will serve billionaire polluters, not the American people and the planet, since Trump named him in November. They renewed those warnings after Democratic Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) voted with Republicans to confirm him as EPA administrator.

After Zeldin's confirmation, the youth-led Sunrise Movement called him "a disaster for our planet and a win for Big Oil."

Climate Action Campaign director Margie Alt said in a statement that "Lee Zeldin's confirmation as EPA administrator is a catastrophic blow to the health of Americans, the climate, and the economy. Under Zeldin's leadership, the Environmental Protection Agency will no longer protect the American people and our communities—it will protect polluters."

Pointing to the new administrator's record and public statements, Alt said that "this dangerous agenda that Zeldin will oversee will roll back vital pollution limits that protect us, abandon clean energy investments, and lock the country into reliance on dirty, expensive fossil fuels that cost families at the gas pump."

"Americans didn't vote for dirtier air, more asthma attacks, or rising healthcare costs, yet that is exactly what Zeldin's EPA will deliver. Vulnerable communities, especially children, and seniors will bear the brunt of these policies, while a few fossil fuel executives rake in profits," she continued. "Zeldin's confirmation is a tragic failure for all Americans."

Marc Yaggi, CEO of Waterkeeper Alliance, declared that "this is a make-or-break moment for clean water, and the American people deserve leadership that puts their needs above the influence of corporate polluters."

While praising Zeldin's past rejection of offshore oil drilling and support for "sensible policies" on "forever chemicals," Yaggi said that "his history of voting against critical infrastructure and environmental funding and opposing clean water and air protections raises serious concerns about his commitment to effectively leading the Environmental Protection Agency."

Moms Clean Air Force suggested a rebrand for the EPA under Zeldin and Trump: Extreme Pollution Agency.

Since returning to the White House just 10 days ago, Trump has already taken various executive actions to attack the planet.

"The EPA's stated mission is to protect human health and the environment," Sierra Club legislative director Melinda Pierce said. "In the wake of Donald Trump's dangerous executive orders and illegal push to freeze all federal funding, the new EPA administrator will face a decision of whether to carry out the necessary duties of the role, or fold to Trump's deadly fossil fuel-backed agenda and broken promises."

"The American people want to breathe clean air and drink clean water," she stressed. "They want a healthy environment for their families today and the future generations of tomorrow. And they want to know that their government is doing everything in its power to protect them from the destructive impacts of the climate crisis that we sadly witness more and more of each day. That is now Lee Zeldin's charge, and we will do everything in our power to hold him accountable to the American people."

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Donald Trump meme coin $Trump logo
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'He's in on the Racket': Watchdog Slams Trump's Crypto Executive Order

Following a torrent of executive orders issued in his first few days back in the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump added another one to the list Thursday, this time aimed at promoting U.S. leadership in cryptocurrency—an industry he now holds a considerable stake in.

Co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, Robert Weissman, decried the move, writing in a statement Thursday that "Trump is pushing crypto because he's in on the racket."

This executive order "will help super-inflate what's already a dangerous speculative bubble in an artificial, unregulated asset that will, eventually, burst. The inevitable crash will badly injure millions of everyday Americans," Weissman wrote.

The executive order calls for the establishment of a working group on digital assets to explore the possibility of creating a "national digit asset stockpile"—something that crypto industry has pushed Trump's administration to create. That group would also "propose a federal regulatory framework governing the issuance and operation of digital assets." The order, however, didn't go as far as some in the crypto industry had hoped, remarkedThe New York Times.

Just prior to his inauguration, Trump launched a so-called meme coin—"$TRUMP"—which as of Thursday afternoon had a market cap of about $7 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. The digital asset bitcoin also surged to new heights Monday, the day of Trump's inauguration, buoyed by expectations that the incoming administration will be friendly to the crypto industry.

Trump's decision to launch his crypto coin has been criticized on ethics grounds.

Jeff Hauser, the executive director of the Revolving Door Project, wrote in an MSNBC op-ed published Friday that having wealth linked to cryptocurrency will "obviously impact" how Trump's administration approaches regulation the market.

What's more, Hauser warned, "crypto markets are frequently believed to be subject to manipulation by 'whales,' i.e., large investors. Having a Trump asset so susceptible to manipulation is highly concerning. Consider whales who might manipulate the Trump coin's worth to buy influence with the president by intervening with purchases at strategic moments."

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Donald Trump
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'The Trump Swamp Is Growing': President Fires Ethics Chief

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday fired the director of the Office of Government Ethics as his administration—packed with billionaires and riddled with conflicts of interest—abandons even the pretense of opposing corruption and lawlessness, a course underscored by the Justice Department's push to drop bribery charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The removal of OGE chief David Huitema was announced in a brief statement on the office's website, which was inaccessible as of Tuesday morning.

Huitema, who was confirmed by the Senate at the tail-end of former President Joe Biden's term, "has been heavily involved in resolving conflicts of interest with Trump's nominees," Government Executive's Eric Katz reported Monday.

"Nothing says corruption like firing the top ethics cop on the beat," Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert said in a statement Monday. "Consistent with the corporate conflicts, massive wealth, and Big Tech bro connections, the incoming administration continues to exploit all avenues to increase their ability to profit off of public service."

"The administration has halted foreign corrupt practices enforcement, is operating without a strong ethics executive order to rein in the revolving door, rolled back disclosure of lobbying by foreign agents, and has now removed a qualified ethics leader," Gilbert added. "The Trump swamp is growing."

"By all indications, Trump is planning to run a lawless administration and these unprecedented moves are an alarming first step to put those plans into action."

The OGE director was the latest victim of Trump's firing spree, which has targeted independent inspectors general, labor board officials, and the head of an office tasked with protecting whistleblowers. Some of the officials Trump has removed or attempted to remove are refusing to comply or fighting back in court, citing federal legal protections.

Donald Sherman, executive director and chief counsel of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), said in a statement that "by firing the head of the Office of Government Ethics, President Trump is continuing his purge of any independent officials tasked with holding him and his administration accountable to the law and ethical standards."

"This follows his firing of the head of the Office of Special Counsel and 17 inspectors general," said Sherman. "Together, these actions will streamline any efforts he and his administration make to personally profit, install loyalists, and avoid oversight of corruption and waste. By all indications, Trump is planning to run a lawless administration and these unprecedented moves are an alarming first step to put those plans into action."

Following news of Huitema's firing, Trump's Justice Department—led by a former corporate lobbyist—ordered federal prosecutors to drop their corruption case against Adams, a Democrat who was charged late last year with wire fraud, bribery, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations.

As The Associated Pressreported, the Justice Department claimed the case against Adams was interfering with his "ability to aid" Trump's anti-immigrant agenda.

"Rather than restricting cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as Adams once promised, he has expressed a willingness to roll back the city's so-called sanctuary policies and pledged not to publicly criticize a president whose policies he once described as 'abusive,'" AP noted.

The move to drop federal charges against Adams comes after Trump signed an executive order instructing the Justice Department to halt enforcement of a decades-old law barring U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials.

"Don't let this get swept under the rug," CREW said in response to the order.

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President Donald Trump signs an executive order surrounded by girls
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Democratic State AGs Vow to Fight Trump's Attacks on Transgender People

Fifteen Democratic state attorneys issued a joint statement Wednesday vowing to protect access to gender-affirming healthcare amid the Trump administration's attacks on transgender people, which include a new executive order aiming to ban trans girls and women from competing on female sports teams.

"We stand firmly in support of healthcare policies that respect the dignity and rights of all people," the attorneys general said in a statement decrying Republican President Donald Trump's January 28 executive order banning federal support for gender-affirming care—which the president described as "chemical and surgical mutilation"—for young adults and minors under the age of 19.

"Healthcare decisions should be made by patients, families, and doctors, not by a politician trying to use his power to restrict your freedoms," the statement continues. "Gender-affirming care is essential, lifesaving medical treatment that supports individuals in living as their authentic selves."

"The Trump administration's recent executive order is wrong on the science and the law," the attorneys general asserted. "Despite what the Trump administration has suggested, there is no connection between 'female genital mutilation' and gender-affirming care, and no federal law makes gender-affirming care unlawful. President Trump cannot change that by executive order."

"State attorneys general will continue to enforce state laws that provide access to gender-affirming care, in states where such enforcement authority exists, and we will challenge any unlawful effort by the Trump administration to restrict access to it in our jurisdictions," they added.

The attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin signed the statement.

"California supports the rights of transgender youth to live their lives as their authentic selves," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Wednesday. "We will not let the president turn back the clock or deter us from upholding California values."

"I understand that the president's executive order on gender-affirming care has created some confusion," Bonta added. "Let me be clear: California law has not changed, and hospitals and clinics have a legal obligation to provide equal access to healthcare services."

The statement from the 15 attorneys general came on the same day that Trump signed an executive order titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" that directs the Department of Education—which the president has vowed to abolish—to notify school districts that allowing transgender girls and women to compete on female teams violates Title IX, the federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in education.

The executive order also directs the administration to "convene representatives of major athletic organizations and governing bodies, and female athletes harmed by such policies," and "convene state attorneys general to identify best practices in defining and enforcing equal opportunities for women to participate in sports and educate them about stories of women and girls who have been harmed by male participation in women's sports."

Wednesday's directive is the latest salvo in Trump's war on transgender people, which includes a day one executive order declaring that only two genders exist, another order advocating action against educators who "facilitate the social transition of a minor," a reinstatement of his first-term ban on new military enlistment by trans people—who, according to the White House, cannot lead an "honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle"—nominating a transphobe to head the Justice Department's civil rights office, and scrubbing all mention of transgender people and issues from federal agency websites.

Trans people and their allies are fighting back. Lawsuits have been filed challenging restrictions on access to gender-affirming healthcare and the transfer of transgender women inmates to men's prisons. On Wednesday, a federal judge appointed by former Republican President Ronald Reagan temporarily blocked federal prisons from moving transgender women to men's facilities and cutting off their access to hormone therapy, citing the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. At least two federal judges have also issued temporary restraining orders on Trump administration efforts to freeze funding for federal agencies and programs.

Protests in defense of gender-affirming healthcare and other trans rights have also taken place at hospitals and other locations across the country as Trump and allies including Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk pressure the U.S. Treasury Department to defund any programs specifically helping transgender and other LGBTQ+ people.

"The protection of marginalized communities will not come solely from elected officials or bureaucratic processes—it will come from sustained, organized resistance," trans rights activist Erin Reed wrote Wednesday. "History shows that real power lies not in centralized institutions but in the collective action of those who refuse to be divided."

"Authoritarian governments rely on fragmentation, banking on the idea that the public will see themselves as isolated rather than interconnected," Reed added. "As protests grow and solidarity strengthens across movements, the coming months may test just how powerful a unified public can be."

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Netanyahu and Trump
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Trump Sanctions on ICC Decried as 'Lawless Israel First' Policy

Amid global outrage over U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to take over the war-torn Gaza Strip, the Republican also faced criticism on Thursday for his executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court.

"Bullying the International Criminal Court is a desperate tactic to intimidate those who uphold international law and seek accountability for Israeli war crimes in Gaza," said Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) national executive director Nihad Awad in a statement.

"It's a 'lawless Israel first' policy that further damages the reputation of the United States, which has already been harmed greatly by our nation's complicity with Israel's genocide in Gaza," he continued. "Instead of kowtowing to Israel and doing the bidding of its genocidal government, the president should act in the interests of our nation."

According toNewsNation, which first reported on Trump's order, it was "originally set to be signed Tuesday and pushed back due to a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," the subject of an ICC arrest warrant over Israel's assault on Gaza.

"It is obvious that President Trump wants no oversight of his actions or those of the far-right Israeli government of indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu."

The ICC in November also issued related warrants for former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri. Neither Israel nor the United States—which arms Netanyahu's government—are parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the tribunal for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.

The court "has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel," Trump's order claims. "The ICC has, without a legitimate basis, asserted jurisdiction over and opened preliminary investigations concerning personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including Israel, and has further abused its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants targeting" Netanyahu and Gallant.

"The ICC's recent actions against Israel and the United States set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the armed forces, by exposing them to harassment, abuse, and possible arrest," the order adds, citing a 2002 U.S. law that opponents call the Hague Invasion Act, which empowers the president to use military force to free any American or citizen of an ally held by the court.

"Americans want more oversight on those in power, not less," Awad argued. "From his firing of independent U.S. inspector generals to this order, it is obvious that President Trump wants no oversight of his actions or those of the far-right Israeli government of indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu. American greatness relies on check and balances, never on one man's whims."

During Trump's first term, he sanctioned ICC officials and revoked the chief prosecutor's visa. His new order, NewsNation reported, "will put financial and visa sanctions on individuals and family members who help the ICC investigate U.S. citizens or allies."

According to NBC News, a White House fact sheet on the order says that "the ICC was designed to be a court of last resort," and "both the United States and Israel maintain robust judiciary systems and should never be subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC."

Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with ACLU's National Security Project, said in a statement that "victims of human rights abuses around the world turn to the International Criminal Court when they have nowhere else to go, and President Trump's executive order will make it harder for them to find justice. The order also raises serious First Amendment concerns because it puts people in the United States at risk of harsh penalties for helping the court identify and investigate atrocities committed anywhere, by anyone. This is an attack on both accountability and free speech."

Sanctioning ICC staff and their families "because they did their job in investigating U.S. torture and advancing justice for Palestinians in the face of Israel's 15-month total assault on Gaza is a direct attack on the rule of law," declared Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "The broad scope of the executive order is intended to embolden perpetrators across the world and to inhibit the pursuit of international justice against the most powerful."

Center for International Policy's vice president of government affairs, Dylan Williams, argued that Trump's order "continues his march to make America a pariah state" and "provides succor to brutal dictators, aggressors, and other human rights abusers around the world whom he admires."

"It is not a coincidence that Trump's move against the ICC comes just hours after he proposed that the United States carry out a crime against humanity in Gaza."

"It is not a coincidence that Trump's move against the ICC comes just hours after he proposed that the United States carry out a crime against humanity in Gaza, while standing next to a man wanted by the court to answer for war crimes in that territory," Williams said. "The objective of attacking the court is to ensure absolute impunity for those, like both of them, who seek to act unrestrained by any law."

"States that are party to the Rome Statute should reaffirm and carry out their obligations with respect to the court, including the consistent enforcement of its duly issued warrants and orders," he continued. "American lawmakers should treat this attack on a judicial body and its officers as they do Trump's efforts to destroy domestic institutions of justice, independent of the fact that they may disagree with certain rulings or actions of such bodies."

Williams added that "defending the legitimacy of the ICC is an inseparable part of the fight to protect the rule of law in the United States and around the world from the forces of autocracy and oligarchy. Those who fail to firmly oppose Trump's attack on the court—or worse, support it—are proving themselves to be only fair-weather friends to democracy and human rights at best, or complicit in their destruction outright."

Netanyahu and Gallant's visits to the U.S. this week have been met with protests and calls for their arrests.

Punchbowl News' Max Cohen reported that Netanyahu met with and pressured U.S. senators to pass a federal ICC sanctions bill that was advanced early last month by the House of Representatives' Republican majority and 45 Democrats.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Cohen said, "reiterated Dems are eager to get a bipartisan compromise and Netanyahu agreed there should be a compromise."

This post was updated with additional comment and details after the White House released the executive order.

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