#SundayShowdown

#Welker might be a RW stooge who tends to let #Republicans off the hook FAR too easily, but on those rare moments we ACTUALLY get some push-back, I'm not above offering kudos.

Sec of State "Lit'l #Marco" went on #MeetTheRepublicans to defend #PutinsPoodle's handling of the #Ukraine War negotiations and whether #DJChump will now (re)impose #sanctions on #Russia.

#Rubio defended #TheOrangeMenace (natch), but Welker threw Marco's own words from 2022 in his face re: #Putin:

Given the absolute shitshow that has been the fascist Trump regime's campaign to crush anti-genocide protestors, would it surprise you to learn that ICE just revealed in a court filing that they didn't have a warrant to arrest Mahmoud Khalil?

https://www.commondreams.org/news/ice-warrant-mahmoud-khalil

ICE Admits They Didn't Have a Warrant When They Arrested Mahmoud Khalil

"ICE has admitted it detained Mahmoud illegally and without a warrant—to justify it, they are now flat out lying with an absurd claim that he tried to flee. At every step of the way, the Trump administration has flouted the law," said Samah Sisay, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.

Another attorney for Khalil, Amy Greer, said she was on the phone with Khalil, his wife, and even spoke to the agent making the arrest on March 8.

"In the face of multiple agents in plain clothes who clearly intended to abduct him, and despite the fact that those agents repeatedly failed to show us a warrant, Mahmoud remained calm and complied with their orders," she said Thursday. "Today we now know why they never showed Mahmoud that warrant—they didn't have one."

Frankly everything about the Gestapo abduction and attempted deportation of Khalil follows the now-typical Trump regime pattern of being a Russian nesting doll of fascist fuckery. Khalil, who is legally residing in the United States with his American wife, is being targeted simply for his role as an important spokesman for the student encampment anti-genocide protestors at Columbia, under the guise of fighting wholly made up "antisemitism in higher education." The regime has admitted that Khalil committed no crimes, and claims the authority to detain and deport him simply because the fascist Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, feels that Khalil is a hinderance to American foreign policy objectives; which sure does sound like the government is targeting Khalil on behalf of our genocidal client state, Israel.

None of this is about enforcing the law or protecting the American public; the regime decided its goal was to crack down on anti-genocide student protestors and the easiest way to do that was to go after foreign students who protested against the genocide in Gaza through the executive branch's expanded authority over foreign policy and immigration matters. The "criminal" was identified, before the "crime" was decided on; which is a sure sign of an authoritarian regime weaponizing the law to engage in political repression. As such, it's hardly surprising that Trump's Gestapo, ICE, didn't bother to get its paperwork in order before snatching Khalil, nor that they're lying about thinking he was a flight risk to justify it after the fact. Fascists don't care about the law except in so much as it can help them persecute their targets, and the Trumpenreich regime is not exceptional in that respect.

#Trump Sec of State #Rubio withdrew from talks in London after #Ukraine, in a document to European partners, said it will not enter negotiations on territorial issues until "a full and unconditional ceasefire" has been achieved

#Trump officials also propose #Ukraine give up bid to join #NATO and US takes over #Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

#Putin demands control of occupied parts of 4 Ukraine regions

But #Rubio and #Witkoff pull out of today's meeting w Ukraine and Euro officials in London

#Rubio accused the bureau for population, #refugees & #migration of sending millions of taxpayer dollars to nongovernment groups that had promoted mass migration, including “the invasion on our southern border.” The language echoed #Trump’s, & Rubio did not provide evidence for any of his assertions.