SaintsInDome2006

I’m a news junkie & I hate hyperbole. I can’t recall hearing or reading of anything like this in the US ever. I’ve also read a good amount of history & foreign news, so I’m not saying I haven’t read about this kind of thing happening elsewhere or in the past, but again only in other countries.

>>FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday fired an agent in training for displaying a gay pride flag on his desk while appointed to a field office in California last year, according to three people familiar with the matter. The trainee, who previously worked as an FBI support specialist in Los Angeles, received a letter — dated Oct. 1 and signed by Patel — claiming he had displayed an improper “political” message in the workplace during his assignment in California under President Joe Biden, according to a copy of the letter shared with MSNBC.<< >>The agent trainee, who had most recently been assigned to the FBI Academy in Quantico, won an Attorney General’s Award in 2022 in recognition of his work, according to a Justice Department news release. News of the trainee’s firing spurred some agents in the FBI’s Washington field office to scour their work stations and social media accounts for signs or comments — anything that could be viewed as offensive to Trump, his top appointees and MAGA supporters, according to one person familiar with the reaction within the government.<< >>DOJ Pride, an LGBTQ employee resource group at the Department of Justice, shut down in late January, less than 10 days after Trump signed an executive order seeking to root out all diversity, equity and inclusion measures from the federal government. The group “ceased to operate effective immediately,” DOJ Pride's board wrote in an email sent to members at the time. “In this time of uncertainty and concern, we have taken the extraordinary measure of ceasing operations of DOJ Pride,” the message said. “We have made this decision in the interest and for the protection of all members.”<< Msnbc

>>CHICAGO (WLS) -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided a South Shore apartment building overnight as the city braces for a possible military deployment. Residents and neighbors are speaking out at what they call a traumatic event. "My building is shaking. So, I'm like, 'What is that?' Then I look out the window, it's a Blackhawk helicopter," said witness Dr. Alii Muhammad. …. DHS said 37 people were arrested. ABC7 spoke to Pertissue Fisher, a woman who lives in the building. She said ICE agents took everyone in the building, including her, and asked questions later. "They just treated us like we were nothing," Fisher said. Fisher said she came out to the hallway of her apartment complex on the corner of 75th and South Shore Drive in her nightgown around 10 p.m. Monday only to find armed ICE agents yelling "police." "It was scary, because I had never had a gun in my face," Fisher said. "They asked my name and my date of birth and asked me, did I have any warrants? And I told them, 'No,' I didn't." Fisher said she was handcuffed before being released around 3 a.m., and she was told that if anyone had any kind of warrant out for them, even if it was unrelated to immigration, they would not be released. "They, like, piling us all up in the back on the other side, and it wasn't no room to move nowhere," Fisher said. Citizen app video captured the chaotic scene, and neighbors say there were dozens of ICE agents. "As I got to my unit to stick my key in the door, I was grabbed by an officer. And, I said, 'What's going on? What's going on?' He never actually told me. He said I was being detained.," said Alicia Brooks. Neighbors like Eboni Watson say they ducked for cover as they heard several flash bangs. "They was terrified. The kids was crying. People was screaming. They looked very distraught. I was out there crying when I seen the little girl come around the corner, because they was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other," Watson said. "That's all I kept asking. What is the morality? Where's the human? One of them literally laughed. He was standing right here. He said, 'f*** them kids.'" Watson said trucks and military-style vans were used to separate parents from their children. Other neighbors said agents destroyed property to get in the building. "They had a big, 15-inch chainsaw with round blade on it, cutting this fence down," said witness Darrell Ballard. "We're under siege. We're being invaded by our own military." Marlee Sanders' boyfriend was detained, Sanders said. "They had the Black people in one van, and the immigrants in another van," Sanders said. … Destruction was left behind inside the apartment complex, with doors blown off their hinges and holes left in the walls. Immigrant advocates and elected officials gathered to condemn the overnight operation. "We're trying to fight so we can all stay in this neighborhood, but that can't happen when we have people pulling us out of our beds at night," said Dixon Romeo with South Side Together. While immigrant advocates say they believe about 30 to 40 people were detained, federal authorities have not confirmed that number, so it is unclear just how many were held and possibly arrested. … Dozens of armed federal agents could be seen swarming downtown Chicago, at times appearing to detain multiple people on Sunday, in addition to the events that took place at an ICE facility in Broadview, where agents in full tactical gear used a variety of chemical agents. …. Now, Trump has raised the stakes for Chicago during a meeting with military leaders and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The president called Chicago an unsafe place that he plans to straighten out. "And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That's a war, too. It's a war from within. I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military," Trump said. …<< ABC Chicago

>>Rodrick Johnson, 67, is one of many residents who were detained by federal agents during the South Shore raid. A U.S. citizen, he said agents broke through his door and dragged him out in zip ties. Johnson said he was left tied up outside the building for nearly three hours before agents finally let him go. “I asked [agents] why they were holding me if I was an American citizen, and they said I had to wait until they looked me up,” Johnson said. “I asked if they had a warrant, and I asked for a lawyer. They never brought one.”<< >>In the South Shore raid, neighbors said federal agents used flashbang grenades to burst through the building and several drones and helicopters were deployed. Ebony Sweets Watson, who lives across the street, said it “looked like hundreds” of agents were outside her front door. Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers, she said. “It was heartbreaking to watch,” said Watson. “Even if you’re not a mother, seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.” Watson said she went into the building to help one of the residents and was shocked by what she saw. “Stuff was everywhere,” said Watson. “You could see people’s birth certificates, and papers thrown all over. Water was leaking into the hallway. It was wicked crazy.”<< Sun Times

I’m sure Lutnick has some interesting information on who he saw going in & out of his neighbor’s home.

Halligan has fired the prosecutor handling the Abbey Gate terrorism case. >>Home to the Pentagon and the CIA headquarters, the Eastern District of Virginia is one of the largest federal prosecutor offices in the United States, with hundreds of staff and a uniquely broad set of international and terror cases. Ben'Ary was the lead prosecutor in the ongoing, high-profile criminal case of Mohammad Sharifullah, a suspected plotter in the Abbey Gate terror attack in Afghanistan in 2021, which killed 13 American service members and about 170 Afghans as the U.S. military withdrew from Kabul. Sharifullah is scheduled to go on trial later this year.<<

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Tells Miranda Devine that he used to live next door to Epstein. Lutnick says he saw Epstein’s massage room where Epstein indicated he could get ‘the right kind of massage. Lutnick also speculated that people who got the massage were captured on video & blackmailed.

Carter. I’d try to trade for Warren & JCM.

I like Diggs in NE moving forward. I thought it would be Boutte but he seems limited physically now. Diggs is an alpha & he wants the ball & NE badly needs a WR1.

Well the Rams are always seem like the visiting team in their own home stadium, so there’s that.

National Review: Halligan appears to have been illegally appointed, putting indictment itself in doubt.

Vikes 7-3 at home in the playoffs getting to 4 SBs in the outdoor stadium era, including one absolute bs call tilting one game in the Cowboys’ favor. Since then 7-7 with at least one very lucky win. They never should’ve gone indoors.

I’m pulling for the Browns & Lions every year. Their fans will go absolutely nuts when they win it all.

Eh 4 league championships, & 9-15 all time in the playoffs isn’t that bad, though 3-14 post-1957 is.

Andrew McCarthy: on further review the Comey Indictment is even worse than I thought.

I was working, shifting / driving between NO, Memphis, Ruston, Baton Rouge & NO. I did a run into the city to grab our company’s servers at one point. Nothing but love & appreciation for what you did here. I kept in touch with my FF league mates via our league site & yeah football helped keep my mind off things while I tried to figure out if my city & life had been obliterated. FFT was indeed great solace then.

Honestly, thank you for your help to our city. I think you may have mentioned this before, I’ll try to keep it in mind.

The number of people charged with breaking federal drug laws dropped to the lowest level in decades this year after the Trump administration ordered enforcement agencies to focus on deporting immigrants, a Reuters review of nearly 2 million federal court records found.

Because you keep expressing that Christianity is under attack. As a secularist yourself it seems a bit contradictory.

Yeah, FFT was of great enjoyment after Katrina and since. I think what Mike has created here is great. Thanks.

I wasn’t pro-ACA, but fwiw Obama did raise this. The idea was to shift emphasis towards testing, screening, access, better pre-care. I’m pretty sure that’s what Michelle Obama’s school nutrition program was tied in to as well. This is all part of a holistic discussion I agree with but (1) there’s *always a cost & (2) should government be doing any of this. But maga seems perfectly fine with both factors.

Also stole Fox,’s imagery but here’s guessing Murdoch has no objection.

The president of the United States & his daughter in law, the chairwoman of the Republican Party, selling is name, image & likeness for profit in a snake oil scheme.

Trump is still deranged, so no.

I think I’ve seen this reposted (won’t open for me in IG). I believe this is the one that features Trump as a golden idol / Saddam Hussein style golden statue towering over a New Gaza. It’s just continuing weirdness to see people who think of this kind of authoritarianism (in that region it’s called Baathism) as conservative or Republican advocating this stuff.