The Political Thread

[Kairi HoHo]

His Policies are better than Trump during this run and last run imo but yeah sucks to hear that News on Biden. I've met him back in High School and every person who went up to him he took the time to speak with them to see how they were doing in their lives.

 

[Chris]

Supreme Court allows Trump to revoke protected status for thousands of Venezuelans

As part of the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policy, it seeks to reverse a Biden-era policy that extended protections for more than 300,000 Venezuelans.

www.nbcnews.com

The Supreme Court on Monday gave the Trump administration the green light to revoke special legal protections for thousands of Venezuelan immigrants, which could pave the way for them to be deported.

The high court granted an emergency application filed by the administration, meaning officials can move forward with reversing a decision made at the tail end of the Biden administration to extend protections for more than 300,000 Venezuelans under the federal Temporary Protected Status program.

The brief order noted that liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson would have denied the application. Litigation will now continue in lower courts.

As a result of political instability in Venezuela, the Biden administration in March 2021 said Venezuelans were eligible for temporary protected status under the federal program that has existed since 1990 to provide humanitarian relief to people from countries reeling from war, natural disasters or other catastrophes.

People accepted into the program have legal status in the United States and can get work authorization for up to 18 months, subject to extensions.

At issue before the Supreme Court was a subsequent designation made in October 2023 and extended in January just before Donald Trump took office. It is set to expire in October 2026.

 

[Samoa Looch]

The trial against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and 80 other officials begins in Brasília. Bolsonaro, who is accused of plotting the 8 January Brasília attacks, faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

Top Brazil court hears landmark Bolsonaro coup case

Brazil's Supreme Court began on Monday hearing testimony from key witnesses in the landmark trial of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of trying to stage a coup.

www.france24.com

 

[Samoa Looch]

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/19/new-jersey-congressmember-assault-00357934

Spoiler: Bonus Question

Which will get more attention in tomorrow’s papers: the former president being old and frail, or the current president arresting members of the opposition party

Bluesky

bsky.app

 

[Chris]

Elon Musk says he's going to do 'a lot less' political spending

Musk, who was the biggest donor in the 2024 political cycle, said he feels like he has "done enough" with political contributions.

www.nbcnews.com

Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a major benefactor to President Donald Trump in last year's election, said Tuesday that he will do "a lot less" political spending moving forward.

Speaking with Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum, Musk, who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars on a super PAC set up last year to primarily help Trump, sounded ambivalent about making such commitments in the cycles to come.

"I think in terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future," Musk said, adding, "I think I've done enough."

Asked if he would take a step back because of the blowback he and his companies, including Tesla, xAI and SpaceX, have faced in light of his political activities, Musk said, "Well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it."

"I don't currently see a reason," he continued.

A Musk adviser, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said they believed Musk would still have plenty of influence.

"Musk scaling back his public profile does not diminish his influence. I think it can actually sharpen it," this person said. "He can still quietly fund stuff and support stuff he believes in, causes he believes in, but does not create unnecessary noise. These midterms will be about message discipline and a focus on the economy, not fights on X."

 

[Chris]

UK, France and Canada condemn Israel over 'egregious' Gaza campaign

Several of Israel's key allies promised to take concrete action should Israel not halt its offensive and allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

www.euronews.com

Three of Israel's allies — Britain, France and Canada — have issued a joint statement attacking Israel's expansion of military action in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will "take control" of the strip, an escalation of the conflict his allies called "egregious".

The conditions in Gaza were "intolerable", the allies said, as they called on the Israeli leader to "immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza."

No aid has been allowed into Gaza since 2 March — a situation aid groups, including the United Nations, have condemned.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel would allow a "basic amount of food" to enter the enclave following the 11-week pause.

Far-right members of his own cabinet criticised the decision to allow even a trickle of aid into Gaza. Netanyahu shared a video on social media explaining that he was influenced by international pressure to allow humanitarian supplies into the territory.

This was "wholly inadequate", the three leaders said. The "denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law".

The three allied governments threatened "concrete action", including targeted sanctions, if Israel does not end its offensive and allow aid back into the strip.

Netanyahu responded to the message, insisting that Israel would continue its actions until total victory was achieved.

“The leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities,” he said.

He called on all "European leaders" to follow Trump's "vision" for ending the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

He acknowledged that Israel's "greatest friends in the world" had expressed concern over images of civilians starving in the Gaza Strip.

Us President Donald Trump voiced criticism over the hunger crisis in the enclave during a visit to the region, which did not include a stop in Israel, last week.

Israel launched a new ground offensive inside Gaza almost immediately after Trump ended his tour.

A wave of airstrikes killed hundreds over the weekend in the territory, according to Gaza's health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

“The fighting is intense and we are making progress. We will take control of all the territory of the Strip,” Netanyahu announced in a video posted on Telegram on Monday.

The statement from the UK, France and Canada reiterated support for a ceasefire and a "two-state solution", whereby a Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.

The three nations also said they opposed "any attempt to expand settlements in the West Bank", which they called "illegal."

In a separate letter issued on Monday, the foreign ministries of Germany, Italy, Japan and 18 other countries called for Israel to fully reopen humanitarian aid delivery to Gaza by the United Nations and other NGOs.

 

[Butters]

I haven’t heard anything about musk in a few weeks so that’s good at least.

 

[Chris]

New Orleans jail employee arrested, accused of helping mass escape of inmates

A maintenance worker at a New Orleans jail where 10 inmates escaped has been arrested and accused of helping facilitate the breakout, officials said Tuesday.

abcnews.go.com

A maintenance worker at a New Orleans jail where 10 inmates escaped has been arrested and accused of helping facilitate the breakout, officials said Tuesday.

Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance worker at the Orleans Parish Justice Center, was arrested and booked into jail Tuesday morning, according to Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill.

Williams allegedly shut off the water to a toilet to help clear the way for the inmates to escape, sources said. The prisoners, including four who are charged with second-degree murder and remain on the run, were able to get out after ripping the toilet off its hinges.

 

[Chris]

EU lifts economic sanctions on Syria, following US move last week

Sanctions were levied during the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled in December.

www.aljazeera.com

The European Union has lifted economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to help the war-torn country’s recovery, the 27-nation bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said, offering the nation another critical lifeline after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

“We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, inclusive and peaceful Syria,” Kallas said in a post on X following meetings with ministers in Brussels. “The EU has always stood by Syrians throughout the last 14 years – and will keep doing so.”

The European Union’s policy shift comes after an announcement by the United States last week that it is lifting sanctions on Damascus.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani thanked the EU on Tuesday, saying the decision would bolster Syria’s security and stability.

Reporting earlier from EU headquarters, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra described the agreement to lift the sanctions as a “really significant” development.

“It’s first of all an acknowledgement that the EU recognises the authority which is operating now in Syria, and that there need to be more financial transactions to pave the way for the creation of financial stability and improve the living standards of the people in Syria,” he said.

Sanctions were levied during al-Assad’s presidency in 2012 and 2013 and concern the transport, energy and banking sectors, Ahelbarra said.

The country’s new leadership has urged the West to ease the restrictions to help Syria recover from years of despotic rule and civil war.

 

[Barry Poppins]

Still an insane turnabout that Syria is finally free of the Assad regime. I do wonder what kind of country it will be in the aftermath of such a dictatorship.

Historically countries that had hard-right dictatorships swing wildly into left-leaning democracies.

I just hope it doesn't become a theocratic state.

 

[Chris]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/us/politics/andrew-cuomo-investigation-doj.html

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation of Andrew M. Cuomo, a front-runner in the New York City mayoral race, after Republicans accused him of lying to Congress about decisions he made during the coronavirus pandemic as governor, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The inquiry, begun about a month ago by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, comes after senior Justice Department officials in February demanded the dismissal of an indictment of the city’s current mayor, Eric Adams, on corruption charges.

That puts the Trump administration in the unusual position of having ended a criminal case against the leader of the nation’s largest city and opened one into his chief rival in the span of a few months. Mr. Adams is running for re-election as an independent, and Mr. Cuomo is leading the Democratic primary field in the polls.

 

[Chris]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/us/politics/trump-appointee-venezuela-gang.html

A top adviser to the director of national intelligence ordered a senior analyst to redo an assessment of the relationship between Venezuela’s government and a gang after intelligence findings undercut the White House’s justification for deporting migrants, according to officials.

President Trump’s use of a wartime law to send Venezuelan migrants to a brutal prison in El Salvador without due process relies on a claim that U.S. intelligence agencies think is wrong. But behind the scenes, a political appointee told a career official to rework the assessment, a direction that allies of the intelligence analyst said amounted to pressure to change the findings.

Mr. Trump on March 15 invoked the law, the Alien Enemies Act, to summarily remove people accused of being members of the gang, Tren de Aragua. The rarely used act appears to require a link to a foreign state, and he claimed that Venezuela’s government had directed the gang to commit crimes inside the United States.

 

[Chris]

Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly dies at 75

Rep. Gerry Connolly announced last month that his cancer had returned.

www.cbsnews.com

Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia died Wednesday, his family announced. He was 75 years old.

Connolly's death comes weeks after he announced that he would not seek reelection in 2026 and would be stepping back from his post as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee because his cancer had returned.

"It is with immense sadness that we share that our devoted and loving father, husband, brother, friend, and public servant, Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, passed away peacefully at his home this morning surrounded by family," Connolly's family announced in a statement.

 

[Chris]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/us/trump-police-consent-decrees.html

The Trump administration moved on Wednesday to scrap proposed agreements for federal oversight of police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville, as part of a broader abandonment of efforts by previous administrations to overhaul local law enforcement across the United States.

Justice Department officials said they planned to drop cases filed after incidents of police violence against Black people in Minneapolis and Louisville, Ky., and to close investigations into departments in Phoenix, Ariz., Trenton, N.J., Memphis, Tenn., Mount Vernon, N.Y., Oklahoma City, as well as the Louisiana State Police.

In those cities, Justice Department officials said, they were retracting Biden-era findings that police departments had violated the constitutional rights of residents, declaring those findings to be misguided.

The announcement came four days before the fifth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died at the hands of the Minneapolis police. That act of violence, caught on video, inspired national outrage and worldwide protests against police violence targeting Black Americans.

 

[Chris]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/us/politics/trump-immigration-deportations-south-sudan.html

A federal court ordered the Trump administration on Tuesday to maintain custody of migrants on a deportation flight that immigrants’ lawyers said was headed to South Sudan, a transfer the judge said appeared to violate an injunction he issued in April.

“I am not going to order that the plane turn around,” said the judge, Brian E. Murphy of the Federal District Court in Boston. Instead, he said, any migrants in Department of Homeland Security custody must not leave U.S. control once the plane landed, at least until a hearing Wednesday to determine whether they had received adequate due process.

The order capped a tumultuous hearing hastily called by the judge, during which Trump officials said they could not say where the flight was or where it was going.

Judge Murphy repeatedly expressed concerns that the administration had violated his order not to deport immigrants to countries where they are not from and may face danger without giving them enough time to challenge their removal. And he warned that officials involved in the deportations who were aware of his order, including potentially the pilots of the plane, could face criminal sanctions. “Based on what I have been told,” he said, “this seems like it may be contempt.”