Source: SFGate
“The United States sent five migrants it describes as ‘barbaric’ criminals to the African nation of Eswatini in an expansion of the Trump administration’s largely secretive third-country deportation program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday. The U.S. has already deported eight men to another African country, South Sudan, after the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on sending people to countries where they have no ties. The South Sudanese government has declined to say where those men, also described as violent criminals, are after it took custody of them nearly two weeks ago. In a late-night post on X, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the five men sent to Eswatini, who are citizens of Vietnam, Jamaica, Cuba, Yemen and Laos, had arrived on a plane, but didn’t say when or where.” (07/16/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/the-us-sends-third-country-deportees-to-the-small-20771803.php
Source: Antiwar.com
by Amirhassan Boozari & Muhammad Sahimi
“For the first time in a generation, there was a national consensus in Iran that negotiations with the United States are necessary to resolve the issues over Iran’s nuclear program. Practically every political group and faction, as well as the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supported talking with the United States. … What did Iran receive for its concrete proposals and serious efforts for negotiating with the United States? President Trump deceived Iran by pretending that he was seriously pursuing the talks, while plotting military attacks on Iran with Israel. … Since the ceasefire, Trump has said repeatedly that he wants to return to negotiation table. But Iran is not in any hurry. Why should it be?” (07/16/25)
https://original.antiwar.com/amirhassan_boozari/2025/07/15/iran-us-negotiations-will-non-violence-prevail/
Source: US News & World Report
“Iran’s parliament said the country should not resume nuclear negotiations with the United States until preconditions are met, in a statement reported on Wednesday by Iranian state media. ‘When the U.S. use negotiations as a tool to deceive Iran and cover up a sudden military attack by the Zionist regime (Israel), talks cannot be conducted as before. Preconditions must be set and no new negotiations can take place until they are fully met,’ the statement said. The statement did not define the preconditions, but Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has previously said there should be guarantees there will be no further attacks against Tehran.” (07/16/25)
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-07-16/iran-parliament-rules-out-resumption-of-us-talks-until-preconditions-are-met
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Robert Wright & Lee Smolin [The Wright Show] (full conversation).” (07/15/25)
https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/68860
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“There has long been an important and consequential discussion about the proper, constitutional role of police, the proper, constitutional role of the military, and the ramifications of blurring the lines between the two. In many ways, it’s a debate that dates back to the founding era, when British soldiers stationed in the streets of colonial American cities — Boston in particular — led to animosity, anger, and eventually violence. It was a precipitating factor in the Revolutionary War, it’s a big reason why we have the Second, Third, and Fourth Amendments, and it’s why the Founders were deeply distrustful of standing armies. In six months, the Trump administration made that debate irrelevant. It has taken two-and-a-half centuries of tradition, caution, and fear of standing armies and simply discarded it. We are now in territory so uncharted that the framing of the police militarization debate no longer works.” (07/15/25)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-police-militarization-debate
Source: Town Hall
by Byron York
“On Friday, the Trump administration laid off about 1,350 employees at the State Department. A number of news reports described the staff cuts as ‘devastating.’ Others suggested the downsizing will endanger U.S. national security. The New York Times said the cuts ‘demote longtime U.S. values,’ while The Washington Post said they ‘will degrade America’s standing in the world and curb U.S. soft power.’ First, a little perspective. According to State Department documents, the total number of department employees has grown significantly over the years. In 2007, there were 57,340. By 2015, there were 72,895. By 2024, there were 80,214. That is an increase of 22,874 employees in the course of 17 years. After the addition of 22,874 employees, can a cut of 1,350 be ‘devastating?'” (07/16/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/byronyork/2025/07/16/columnistsbyronyork20250715looking-sensibly-at-the-state-department-cuts-n2660428
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Cuban Minister for Labour Marta Elena Feitó Cabrera has been forced to resign after she made comments denying the existence of beggars on the Communist-run island. The minister had said there was no such thing as ‘beggars’ in Cuba and people going through rubbish were, in essence, doing so out of choice to make ‘easy money,’ as she put it. Her comments, made in a parliamentary session, were widely criticised by Cubans at home and abroad, and prompted a response from the island’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel. She resigned soon after. Poverty levels and food shortages have worsened in Cuba as it continues to grapple with a severe economic crisis. Both the public criticism her comments triggered and the public rebuke the minister received are unusual in Cuba, a country where anti-government protests are banned by law and open dissent can land critics in jail.” (07/16/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4nel5vg9xo
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“LNC TEA!!! UPDATE and AMA (almost).” (07/15/25)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7Dw0Fm0b9M
Source: Rutherford Institute
by John Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead
“Bodily autonomy — the right to privacy and integrity over our own bodies — is rapidly vanishing. The debate now extends beyond forced vaccinations or invasive searches to include biometric surveillance, wearable tracking, and predictive health profiling. We are entering a new age of algorithmic, authoritarian control, where our thoughts, moods, and biology are monitored and judged by the state. This is the dark promise behind the newest campaign by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, to push for a future in which all Americans wear biometric health-tracking devices.” (07/15/25)
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/the_wearables_trap_how_the_government_plans_to_monitor_score_and_control_you
Source: News 18 [India]
“A woman in Thailand has been arrested for allegedly seducing multiple senior Buddhist monks into sexual relationships and then blackmailing them for large sums of money, in a scandal that has rocked the country’s monastic institutions and drawn public attention to temple finances. Wilawan Emsawat, believed to be in her mid-30s, was arrested at her home in Nonthaburi province, just north of Bangkok, on Tuesday, the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said. She faces charges including extortion, money laundering, and receiving stolen goods. At least nine abbots and senior monks have been disrobed and cast out of the monkhood for their involvement, amid allegations that they violated the strict celibacy rule for Thai monks.” (07/16/25)
https://www.news18.com/world/thai-woman-arrested-for-allegedly-luring-buddhist-monks-into-sexual-relationships-extorting-millions-ws-l-9443061.html
