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Liam Tadeo and his dad Victor Martinez Nieto
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The Worst of The Worst

Well damn, we sure feel safer knowing ICE pulled 5-year-old Liam Tadeo and his construction worker dad Victor off Austin's streets on their way to a soccer game before Liam could start kindergarten the next day; also that they were held at a family concentration camp, ICE refused to let Liam's mother take him, and both father and son will "self-deport" to not further sully our pristine white shores. Question: How do these sick fucks sleep at night?

Thanks to the obscene $200 billion-plus gifted to DHS and ICE by their evil overlords, arrests of undocumented or at least unwanted immigrants surged to nearly 50,000 largely innocent people in July, a 15% spike from a month earlier and the regime's highest monthly arrest total to date. So yes, the sadists are still at it, just more quietly than when a psychotic Noem and Bovino were blasting out histrionic videos of daredevil agents dropping from helicopters onto apartment rooftops to grab terrified families - images reportedly, inexplicably "provoking a lot of ordinary people." Wusses, all.

Many recent arrests come during "traffic stops," increasingly with the help of partnering state and local law enforcement lured by "generous financial incentives," especially in Texas and Florida; ICE is also arresting more Haitians whose protections have been stripped away. Among those detained are over 6,200 kids, 10 times more than during Biden's tenure, despite ongoing, fantastical DHS claims they're going after the "worst of the worst" murderers, drug traffickers, sex offenders - and despite ghastly data showing up to 85% of ICE thugs themselves have sex offenses on their records, most against children. New data, like old data, also shows less than a quarter of those arrested have any criminal convictions.

Elsewhere, ICE abuses go on apace. A sailor aboard the troubled USS Lincoln said ICE has taken his father, who had a work permit, into custody. “Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws,” said a DHS statement "in the same support-our-troops spirit Trump is so famous for." In an interview, the mother, father and sister of Alex Pretti family said no officials have come forward in the last seven months to retract or apologize for the "disgusting" claims of "assassin" and "domestic terrorist" they made about Alex - "We still hear those words about our child,” said his mother Susan - nor have any criminal charges been filed against his killers.

Meanwhile, J.D. Vance just came to Maine to spew racist lies, flaunt his "trademark absence of charisma," and claim, "If you bring in millions and millions of illegal aliens and give them houses that ought to go by right to American citizens, it's going to increase the cost of housing for everybody else." He also dismissed ICE's killing of Colombian Johan Durán Guerrero, who had a social security card, two jobs, a wife and a three-year-old daughter. Worried residents, he said, should "have a little bit of perspective" to ensure "that poison stops coming into our country." Troy Jackson called J.D. "a dirtbag": "I mean, he had a life." As to Susan Collins, who declined to regret giving ICE "$70 billion more to pull this shit off": "I’m sick of your ‘concerns.’"

And on Aug. 16, brave ICE thugs stopped five-year-old Liam Tadeo - their second small Liam like the bunny-hat-wearing Liam Ramos in Minnesota - and his father Victor Martinez Nieto on their way to play soccer. Without bothering with the nicety of pretending it was a legit traffic stop, they asked Victor, originally from Mexico, if he had legal status. Candidly, he said no; in 2025, he'd been arrested by ICE, "voluntarily" left, then "criminally" reentered the U.S. to (horrors) be with his wife and son. Heart-rending video soon surfaced of Liam crying beside his father and trying to hold one of his hands, cuffed behind him, as Victor tried to console his tearful son, talking to him as they walked. It was the day before Liam was set to start kindergarten.

They were both taken to the for-profit Dilley concentration camp, which rights groups have repeatedly accused of medical neglect, poor living conditions and abuse. According to Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, their family's attorney, Victor begged ICE to release Liam to his mother Maria, also not a legal citizen, at home, or another member of the family. ICE refused, though DHS proudly, routinely declaims ICE "will place the children with a safe person the parent designates," like how they also contend Dilley is "retrofitted for families, with access to teachers, classrooms, and curriculum booklets...generously funded by the U.S. taxpayer." Instead, they had Victor sign papers in English he didn't fully understand, and booked both father and son.

Lincoln-Goldfinch says Maria is "desperate and distraught, separated from her child and worrying about his well-being." Back at their home, "It feels like when you go to someone’s house after a sudden death, and there’s a wake or a gathering. Everybody is just stunned." Maria released a statement: "Liam was supposed to start kindergarten this week. Instead he is (in) detention. He should be in school, playing soccer, and at home with his family." Saturday, CNN aired emotional video of her talking by phone to her five-year-old. “I love you so much and I miss you so much, my love,” she tearfully told Liam in Spanish. “Don’t despair, my love, okay?” Lacking options, Liam timidly responds, "Okay." One furious, horrified online comment: "Anyone!!??!!"

This week, Austin's KUT News reported Victor has decided to be deported to Mexico along with his son, rather than risk Liam being separated from him and placed in a dystopian regime's custody as an "unaccompanied migrant child.” Said Lincoln-Goldfinch, "His family did what any family would do: Agree." As Maria reportedly struggles to find a way to re-unite with her family - "My son is only five years old" - Americans fume about "sadistic barbarians harming humanity every single day." "How sick can these people be? I used to think merciless psychopathic villains were only found in movies and fiction," said one. Also, "America has concentration camps. I. Hate. It. Here." and, "That poor little boy, That poor family. I am so tired."

Meanwhile, Texas' Dem lawmakers have called for Liam to be released and for Dilley to be shut down. "I just sat with Liam's mother as she found out what it means to have your child held hostage by ICE. It was horrifying," wrote Rep. Greg Casar, who charged Liam's arrest showed Trump uses children “as bait and leverage to fuel his mass deportation machine.” "Liam should be starting kindergarten this week, and instead he's sitting in a trailer prison." Rep. Joaquin Castro said ICE denied his request to visit Liam at Dilley in what he called "shady stuff," and he vowed to return; he also cited human rights violations, privacy concerns, and untenable phone, video call and e-mail strictures: “I’m telling y’all, ICE is getting worse."

Because this is ghoul-filled America in 2026, Liam's aunt Patricia Resendiz has begun a Gofundme to help with legal expenses and her sister Maria's household costs, as Victor was the sole provider. "If we manage to get Liam and his dad to go free, Liam will also need psychological support, as the detention has left him traumatized. These funds will be to mitigate all aspects of child detention," she wrote. "The detention of Liam and my brother-in-law was cruel. They are not criminals - they were simply on their way to a soccer match. Liam is a beautiful, intelligent, and big-hearted little boy. My sister is devastated, as are we. Liam was detained right in front of my son, his cousin. My son told me that ICE agents said to Liam, 'You can't escape.'"

We feel safer already.

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Beef Prices In U.S. Continue To Rise, As Cattle Herds Shrink And Demand Remains High
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‘Perfect Storm’ of Trump’s War and Super El Niño to Drive Food Prices Even Higher

Experts are warning that a combination of a super El Niño climate pattern and two separate wars is threatening to put further upward pressure on food prices over the next several months.

A study released by Oxford Economics on Wednesday projects that global food prices will rise by 12% in 2026 and by 5% in 2027 due in large part to the fertilizer shortage caused by the closure in the Strait of Hormuz and increased grain prices caused by Russia's war with Ukraine.

The strait's closure, which began after President Donald Trump launched an illegal war with Iran in February, cut off a major shipping lane for fertilizer, whose price Oxford Economics projects will surge by 22% this year.

The four-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine, meanwhile, is putting a strain on grain supplies, as the two countries combined account for 30% of global wheat exports.

And the two wars might not be the biggest driver of higher food prices.

The Independent on Friday reported that the Met Office, the UK's official weather forecasting service, is projecting this year's El Niño will be "the largest since the 19th century," with sea temperatures projected to reach 3ºC above their long-term average in the coming months.

Professor Adam Scaife, head of long range forecasting at the Met Office, told The Independent that he has "never seen an El Niño signal this intense in our forecasts," describing the projected increase in ocean temperatures as "an unprecedented event."

Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical hazards at University College London, told The Independent that the Met Office's forecasts "suggest that the world is in for one hell of a ride."

“The astonishing and unprecedented amount of heat building across the eastern Pacific Ocean," McGuire said, "is all but certain to make this the most powerful El Niño in living memory possibly even the biggest in several centuries."

McGuire said that this heat would manifest itself in several destructive ways over the next year, such as "bringing drought and wildfire conditions to the Amazon and parts of Australia, torrential rainfall and floods to California, and a reduced South Asian monsoon."

In an interview with CNBC published Friday, trade and agriculture analyst Noel Fryer noted that North America and Europe have experienced very hot summers that has "decimated" some crops and has hurt grazing prospects by reducing the available supply of grass and hay.

And all this occurred, Fryer added, before the full impact of El Niño has arrived.

“It’s just a huge mix of different issues and we don’t know how they’re going to end," said Fryer. "It’s a perfect storm."

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Top OpenAI Executive Labels Social Security a ‘Fraud’ That Must be Dismantled
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Top OpenAI Executive Labels Social Security a ‘Fraud’ That Must be Dismantled

A top executive at one of the world's biggest artificial intelligence companies drew backlash on Tuesday for describing Social Security as "a kind of accounting fraud" that will have to be dismantled.

Dean Ball, head of strategic futures at OpenAI who previously worked in President Donald Trump's White House, wrote in a social media post that while Social Security may have once been a "reasonable affordance" to people who "were dealing with an economic depression and a world war," it was nonetheless "accounting fraud, whose debt is coming due and is coming due fast."

Ball concluded his post by informing younger generations of Americans that "unwinding the great fraud... is your job, whether you wish it to be or not."

Ball's attack on Social Security drew a swift rebuke from David Segal, a former Democratic Rhode Island State Representative and founder of Demand Progress, who observed that it undercut other AI executives' claims that their technology would create an era of unprecedented abundance.

"AI is gonna shoot productivity to the moon," wrote Segal, "oh and also society can't afford to pay old people $2,000 per month anymore starting today."

Author Lincoln Michel similarly spotted the contradiction between AI industry vows that the technology "is going to give us [universal basic income] and we'll never work again" and Ball's declaration that "our main mission is to destroy Social Security."

Henry Burke, senior researcher at the Revolving Door Project, argued that Ball's analysis of Social Security revealed the true priorities of Big Tech elites.

"It's notable that the Abundance guy turned OpenAI hack considers Social Security to be a 'fraud' that must be remedied," wrote Burke, "and not the reckless tax breaks successive Republican presidents have given away to the wealthy which have exploded the national debt."

Putting aside policy arguments, many critics pointed out that Ball's call to dismantle Social Security was a major political loser.

Polling analyst Lakshya Jain, citing survey data showing vast and bipartisan support for Social Security, informed Ball that his rhetoric about the program is optimal for "anyone who wants to unite the whole of America (against them)."

Josh Orton, president of We Demand Justice, marveled at the politically tone deaf messaging coming from an executive at a company whose own CEO has said that "my job is to help people destroy jobs" with AI.

"These AI guys are not just condescending elitists," wrote Orton, "they're tremendously stupid about politics. It's incredible."

Max Steele, senior communications director at gun safety advocacy group Everytown, made a similar observation.

"Is it possible these guys are doing a performance art piece on the worst possible PR run in recorded history?" Steele asked.

Journalist Jon Schwarz questioned why Big Tech companies have been allowed to amass so much economic and political power in the US if their executives want to destroy the country's most popular social insurance program.

"It's a bad idea," wrote Schwarz, "to have our society run by people like this who are so far out of touch with reality that they are functionally insane."

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US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
News

RFK Jr. Dismisses Impact of SNAP Cuts as Data Shows 5 Million People Have Lost Aid

US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday dismissed the impact of massive food aid cuts signed into law last summer by President Donald Trump, saying he doesn't believe the cuts will have "that much effect" as new data showed at least 5 million people have lost assistance so far—including roughly 1.5 million children.

Speaking at a news conference on children's nutrition in Florida, Kennedy falsely claimed that "the only people kicked off of" the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) under the GOP budget law signed by Trump "were people who were not eligible for it," either "because their income is too high or because they were illegal aliens."

Kennedy's remarks came as a new analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) found that SNAP enrollment nationwide has fallen to a 17-year low following enactment of the Trump-GOP budget law, which will cut the program by around $190 billion over the next decade, enact stricter work reporting mandates, and require states to contribute a portion of benefit costs for the first time.

"'Not much effect?' Based on available data from 25 states, we estimate that well over 1.5 million kids nationwide have lost SNAP in the wake of the unprecedented cuts in the Republican reconciliation law," Katie Bergh, a policy analyst at CBPP, wrote in response to Kennedy's remarks. "Many of those kids and their families lost SNAP despite still being eligible."

Watch Kennedy's comments:

News reports, anecdotal accounts from impacted families, and expert assessments contradict Kennedy's insistence that only those who were no longer eligible for SNAP due to income or immigration status have lost benefits. An explosion of red tape due to the new work reporting requirements imposed by the Trump-GOP budget law has made it more difficult for eligible beneficiaries to continue receiving SNAP, forcing many to seek aid from food banks and take desperate measures—such as skipping meals and doses of medication—to make ends meet.

CBPP warned that the impacts of the cuts are likely to intensify once the budget law's provision shifting benefit costs to states takes full effect next year.

"The magnitude of the cost shift and the urgency surrounding error rates may incentivize states to take drastic measures to reduce their payment error rates quickly and cut program costs, even if it means delaying or improperly denying benefits to eligible people," the think tank said on Wednesday. "We’re likely seeing some of those initial effects in SNAP participation data."

A report published last month by a pair of food policy experts argued that the unprecedented assault on SNAP undercuts Kennedy's so-called "Make America Healthy Again" initiative, which purports to place nutrition "at the center of health."

“If we are serious about improving Americans’ health, we need policies that make healthy food more accessible, not less,” said Priya Fielding-Singh of George Washington University’s Global Food Institute. “Cutting off food assistance for millions of families undermines MAHA’s stated goals of improving diet quality and preventing chronic disease. Food security and public health go hand in hand.”

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US Sen. Chris Murphy speaks in Danbury amid an ICE blitz
News

'I'm Heading to Danbury,' Says US Senator as ICE Arrests Parents at School Bus Stops

National, state, and local Democratic officials joined activists in Danbury, Connecticut on Wednesday to demand accountability for the dozens of immigrants—some of them reportedly in the country legally—detained in recent days by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, including parents who were seized while seeing their children off to school.

“This morning in Danbury, ICE was arresting parents at school bus stops,” US Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in a social media post. He alleged that agents waited until children had boarded buses, potentially leaving them to return home from school without their parents.

“I’m heading to Danbury,” he said. Murphy joined other Connecticut Democrats, including Gov. Ned Lamont, US Rep. Jahana Hayes, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, and Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves, as well as immigrant rights advocates at Kennedy Park to condemn the Trump administration's deadly and xenophobic crackdown.

“ICE is not here to protect Danbury,” Murphy told the crowd in the Fairfield County city of 86,000 residents—around 35% of whom are foreign-born immigrants. “ICE is here to put Danbury into a state of terror.”

“Congress should not authorize a single additional dollar for ICE while this illegality continues,” the senator added.

Hayes said, “What I would hate to see is a snowball effect where a parent is detained, and then a child goes into state custody because there's no one to pick them up."

Alves said that nearly 50 community members have been detained this week that he knows of, but warned that the actual number of arrests is likely higher.

"ICE has increased enforcement and stepped up its tactics with an intentional brutality you have all seen," the mayor told the crowd in the park. "The operations coincided with the start of school here in Danbury."

“We’re here because mothers, fathers, workers, and longtime community members are being swept up, with no rhyme or reason, not as part of a targeted campaign of folks who have committed serious crimes," he continued. "We’re seeing racial profiling, random people being picked up off the streets."

“ICE is pulling people after they put their kids on the school bus," Alves said. "Operations in front of a daycare, where 3- to 5-year-olds are looking out the window asking what’s going on. An operation on the first day of school at our second-most-populated, highly diverse elementary school in Danbury as students are being dropped off by parents and school buses."

"This isn’t a coincidence; this is intentional,” he stressed, adding that he received reports of legal residents being detained.

“So when we hear folks say, ‘Oh, we want people to do it the right way,’ the folks doing it the right way are also getting deported," he added. "We can’t stand for that anymore."

Juan Fonseca Tapia, a Mexican immigrant and co-founder of the advocacy group Danbury Unites for Immigrants (DUFI), broke down while recounting what he said he saw during the blitz, including one person getting pepper-sprayed and another taken to the hospital after being struck by an ICE vehicle.

“They were taking people everywhere. They hurt them. They were bleeding," he said. "I saw the chains they put on them—not handcuffs, literal chains.”

DUFI volunteer Clementina Lunar described a father being arrested while putting his child on a school bus.

“When he handed the child to the bus helper, ICE came and took him,” she said.

Lunar added that Danbury residents are mobilizing to help each other and monitor school bus stops.

“There is fear," she said, "but there is also a lot of resilience and resistance."

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US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks with Syrian Foreign Minister  Asaad al-Shaibani.
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Trump Envoy Tom Barrack in Hot Seat for Admitting Israeli Occupation of Golan Heights

Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Türkiye and special presidential envoy for Syria and Iraq, on Sunday retracted his acknowledgment of Israel's illegal occupation of Syria's Golan Heights amid mounting Republican calls for his resignation.

Directly contradicting Trump's formal recognition of Israel's unlawful 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights, Barrack said during a Friday interview with podcaster Mario Nawfal that Israel would face difficulties if it moved to unlawfully annex parts of southern Lebanon it invaded and currently occupies.

"In the Golan with Syria, they still occupy the Golan against the [United Nations] resolutions, against all of the international order, which has said the Golan is Syria’s," Barrack noted. He also floated the possibility that last week's Israeli strike on an air base in northwestern Syria may have been an attempt at "baiting" Türkiye.

Israel invaded and captured the strategically important Golan Heights during the Six-Day War in 1967, ethnically cleansing more than 100,000 Syrians and eventually annexing the conquered territory, a move unanimously rejected by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 497. Since then, tens of thousands of Israeli settlers have unlawfully colonized the Syrian territory.

UN Security Council Resolution 242 demands that Israel withdraw from the Golan Heights and all occupied Palestinian territories as well.

No country recognized Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights until US President Donald Trump did so during his first term. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed his appreciation for the move by naming one of the dozens of illegal Jewish settlements in the territory Trump Heights.

Barrack subsequently reversed himself, telling The Associated Press on Sunday that “United States policy on the Golan was set by President Trump in 2019 and is unchanged."

This, as Israeli leaders denounced Barrack's remarks and Republican politicians and pundits called for his firing or resignation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said the ambassador's comments were "full of inaccuracies" and “contradict the position of Trump himself regarding the Golan Heights.”

US Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said on X: "The Senate confirmed [Barrack] to enact the PRESIDENT’S AGENDA, which millions of Americans voted for. It seems the ambassador forgot that or failed to do his research, so here’s a refresher for him… President Trump has been CLEAR about Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights for years!"

Far-right provocateur and Trump confidant Laura Loomer called Barrack "absolutely brain dead."

"Tom Barrack is hands down the most retarded ambassador nominated by President Trump," she contended. "He should resign for his lack of understanding of US foreign policy."

Meanwhile, some experts positively noted Barrack's short-lived acknowledgment of what the international community has long maintained.

"[Barrack] said the Golan is occupied Syrian land under UN resolutions. That is simply what the UN says. It has said it since 1967. Most of the world agrees," political analyst Michael Arizanti said on X.

"Israel's foreign minister said his remarks were full of inaccuracies," he continued. "Professional lunatic Laura Loomer demanded he resign and claimed he was compromised by Arab money, with no evidence at all! Sen. Rick Scott told him to do his research. And because Barrack had criticized Israel's strike on a Syrian air base the week before, he was accused of siding with the bad guys."

"Four attacks," Arizanti added. "Not one about the actual policy!"

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