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Welcome to The Village Oak Tree
I am your host, Terrance Ó Domhnaill.
Thank you for joining me once again.
Most of what I want to focus on this week, is about how scary Trump's defiance of the judicial system should be to all of us as this means he could come after any of us now for any reason he can make up. I have a lot of news stories that I found that I hope will wake people up to what's going on in the United States, and why we, as residents of the US. should sit up and take notice before it's too late.
Once I've finished telling you what I think about the things I've found, I would ask everyone to stick around through my commercial break to hear another chapter of The Priest by Michael Campi
So come, pull up a chair, and let's talk about what's on my mind this week.
There are so many stories coming out every day about Trump, the DOJ, DHS, ICE and so on, that I can't keep up with it all. I will throw up a couple of them to show you just what I mean.
In my first story, which should scare all of us, Homeland Security is screening anyone coming into the country for anti-Semitic posts, anti-Israel posts, pro-Palestine posts, etcetera, etc. If someone gets off an airplane, or a boat, or drives across a border, their personal devices are subject to random inspections. Any social media posts that even mention Hamas and/or Hezbollah at any time in their past, criticize Israel, or Jews, or Zionists and so on, will be grounds for entry denial.
US to screen migrants for anti-Semitic posts
Social media activity in support of terrorist groups such as Hamas or Hezbollah will be viewed as hate speech and grounds for visa denial
From RT News
This goes without saying that any visa or green card holders legally in the U.S. that may have ever posted anything on social media about supporting Hamas, Hezbollah, or espoused any anti-Semitic, anti-Israel views, will also be caught up in this AI screening, probably lose their visas and green cards and end up in the southern detention gulags. In the United States now, no one is allowed to criticize Trump, offer support for Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, or anyone else Trump's minions decide they don't like, full stop, period, end of discussion, or so they think. People are starting to push back now but there needs to be a lot more pushback to fight this.
I, for one, will continue to support the Palestinians right to their own state, even if it takes a resistance militia like Hamas to make that happen. I will also support the Lebanese in throwing out the IDF from southern Lebanon, even if it ends up being Hezbollah that makes that happen. I will support the Houthis in their bid to help their Palestinian brothers. I support Iran's right to defend their country from aggressors. Will all of this put me on the DHS radar someday? It might. As Brian Tyler Cohen says at the end of some of his videos, the media corporations could shut us down at any time if they don't like what we say in public.
As I reported last week, foreign visitations to the U.S. are dropping off dramatically over safety concerns. Here is a report from The Guardian/Australia news that describes Australian academics refusing to come to the U.S. for meetings anymore out of safety concerns. One of them described in this report happens to be a trans person and is very afraid for their safety, despite their scientific credentials and invitation to a conference.
Australian academics refuse to attend US conferences for fear of being detained
‘When academics fear travelling or partnering with US institutions, the impacts ripple through the entire global knowledge ecosystem,’ Dr Alison Barnes says
From The Guardian/Australia
I have another story about an Australian who was detained at a stopover at the airport in Houston, TX, on his way home to the U.S. east coast after attending the funeral of his sister in Australia. He had been working in the U.S. on a valid work visa for seven years but customs detained him for no apparent reason, kept him in airport detention for over a day and a half, then deported him. He was forced to leave his American life behind in an instant by US. Border patrol. His American girlfriend, his job, his personal possessions, everything. Just because CBP didn't like him.
Australian with working visa detained and deported on returning to US from sister’s memorial
Man who says he had previously left and re-entered the country multiple times alleges border officials called him ‘retarded’ and boasted ‘Trump is back in town’
From The Guardian
This is having a ripple effect around the world as people are canceling conferences, business meetings, and tourist vacations, as I mentioned last week.
I found another interesting story from The BBC/UK about a man from Derbyshire, England who found out from a DHS website that his arm tattoo has shown up on their website as one of the infamous tattoos that DHS is using to screen people for south American gang affiliations. His clock tattoo is in honor of his daughter's birth but he's afraid that some overzealous customs agent at a Florida airport may try to detain him over this tattoo. Since he is a large man, with very light hair, very light skin (as compared to a Latino), and a prominent English accent, he is still afraid of U.S. customs agents arresting him over his tattoo ruining his family vacation before it even starts. He's one of thousands who are trying to cancel their American vacations and make bookings for safer places right now.
British man's tattoo wrongly linked to Venezuelan gang in US government document
From BBC/UK - Jake Horton
This alone will cost American businesses billions of dollars by the end of the year. Add to that, the loss of foreign student tuitions that is sure to come as students take off for their summer breaks and don't return out of fears for their safety. Foreign students on average, pay a lot more in non-state tuitions in order to get a degree from a prestigious American campus. The American higher education system can kiss most of that money good bye now. American college campuses will be a lot emptier next fall.
In their effort to meet the new quotas for deportees set by Trump and company, ICE enforcers attempted to snatch up elementary children from a couple of Los Angeles school districts last week. They lied about having permission from the parents and guardians to snatch the kids and the two principles turned them away as the agents didn't have any warrants.
Immigration agents turned away after trying to enter LA elementary schools
School district says DHS agents, seeking five students in first through sixth grades, were barred from entering
From The Guardian/US News
DHS agents are getting desperate to meet their quotas apparently if their being this bold about just going wherever they think they can and taking unaccompanied kids who can't defend themselves. When asked by reporters, the state representatives for these two districts admitted that school attendance is way down as the parents are afraid to send their kids to school because they might not come back, or the parents might be snatched right in front of their children on school grounds when they arrive to drop off or pick the kids up. This is happening everywhere in the U.S. wherever immigrants are living, from coast to coast.
The United States is a police state now under Donald Trump. His DOJ and DHS departments are creating a blanket of fear across the country for nearly everyone, not just undocumented immigrants. News journalists, lawyers, federal workers, scientists, medical professionals are all afraid now. Trump is threatening people across all strata's of American society with loss of federal funding, or lawsuits designed to bankrupt businesses that won't comply with his demands. Some institutions and corporations are capitulating and others are standing up to Trump, like Harvard just did this week.
Trump has publicly stated that he thinks sending U.S. citizens convicted of serious crimes in the U.S. down to El Salvador maximum security prison system is a good idea. That's against the law but apparently, the law doesn't matter to Trump and his people. As Trump told reporters recently, "I am the law."
There are a lot of news stories out about the man from El Salvador, who was living in Maryland who was rounded up recently and sent the prison in El Salvador. He was picked up by mistake, which DHS admitted to, but now, Trump and DHS are refusing to bring him back as ordered by a federal court, including the supreme court in a unanimous decision.
This is just one man but there are more and more stories coming out about others who were sent down there by mistake, as they were scheduled for immigration court hearings and are failing to show up because ICE didn't tell anyone that they deported them to El Salvador. Then there are others stories coming out about U.S. citizens being caught up in all of this and questions are being asked, what if an American citizen were to be accidently shipped to El Salvador? Would the Trump government refuse to bring them home too?
To answer that question, the answer is apparently yes. What has hit every major news outlet around the world this week, was the oval office meeting with the president of El Salvador, where Trump and his ass kissers all came right out and told the world that if the U.S. sends anyone to El Salvador, they aren't coming back. El Salvador now owns them and El Presidente even said he won't send anyone back. There is even a news story out on Politico supposedly reporting that Erik Prince, CEO of the infamous BlackRock corporation, is bidding the U.S. to build more foreign prisons to house people the U.S. doesn't want inside the country. In the news reports, Trump is very much okay with that.
Even though the U.S, is paying El Salvador 6 million dollars a year to keep these people, which the U.S. can ill afford right now, is there some sort of personal side deal going on that Trump doesn't want to jeopardize? I wouldn't put it past him. Certainly, El Salvador's dictator El Presidente isn't one to give up the golden goose.
This is all a deliberate F…. You to the judicial system of the United States. Trump basically flipped off all of the courts in the U.S. off during that meeting with the president of El Salvador on Monday, including the supreme court. As everyone is talking about after that in your face meeting, no one is safe living in the U.S. anymore. Trump is telling the world that he can defy the courts and snatch anyone he wants off the streets anywhere in the U.S., send them to CECOT in El Salvador at any time and no one can stop him. The only saving grace is that El Salvador is not accepting women prisoners, so that's something, for now. That doesn't mean that any women being detained in Louisiana or Texas have it any better. The conditions in these detention centers aren’t much better than CECOT in El Salvador, according to reports.
Then there are the other opportunists who are cashing in on all of this. I found a story from ProPublica about a shady tent company who has landed lucrative contracts to set up tent cities in places the government designates to house all of these detainees. Despite ripping off the government on previous contracts, they were given another one recently. Again, the capacity for grift in Trump's government is everywhere. It's not just Musk, but anyone who can work the angles with people they know in Trump's government can land these contracts worth millions, while DOGE is doing its best to strip away entitlements and health care for regular citizens.
From Lollapalooza to Detention Camps: Meet the Tent Company Making a Fortune Off Trump’s Deportation Plans
The privately held company Deployed Resources has made billions running tent detention facilities to hold immigrants entering the U.S. at the border. Now it is cashing in again on Trump’s plan to hold immigrants before deportation.
From ProPublica
If all of that isn't enough to make you mad, I turn you to overseas news. Sort of. My first story is right in America's back yard. Panama. I'm sure everyone has probably heard Trump's rant about how China is trying to stop ships from transiting the Panama Canal recently. How Panama is unfairly charging the U.S. and about Rubio's trip to strongarm the Panamanian president, which almost worked. Recently, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, one of Trump's pet dogs, went down there to 'inspect ' some old U.S. military bases that are now in a state of abandonment. He came back and told the world and Trump, that he made a deal with Panama to resurrect those old bases to use as training grounds for American and Panamanian troops. Apparently, there are some old Army barracks, an air field and other facilities down there, that he says can be rebuilt to house American troops and Air Force assets. Panama said no, but that didn't stop Trump and company from trying to put public pressure on Panama.
Pentagon chief says US could 'revive' Panama bases
Pete Hegseth suggests military could return to Central American country to ‘secure’ strategically important canal
From The Guardian/World
My question is this; What if Trump decides not to take no for an answer once he gets his domestic issues sorted out? Will he just order the U.S. military to fly down there and take over those old military facilities, daring Panama to do anything about it, other than complain to the U.N.?
In other news, Mexico gave in and is now going to give the U.S. its water as agreed to in that old treaty I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Another instance of a smaller country deciding that giving the U.S. what they want, at the expense of their own people, is better than fighting a losing battle with the United States. Better to give up some water than having to defend their country from the U.S. military.
Mexico to send water to Texas farmers as US treaty threat grows
Mexico’s failure to keep up 81-year-old water-sharing treaty has sparked a diplomatic spat with the US
From The Guardian/World
In other overseas news, I found this story in RT news about how the U.S. has added another line item to that coercive minerals treaty Trump is trying to strongarm Ukraine into signing. This Easter egg, as they call it, is for the U.S. to take control of that oil pipeline running through Ukraine to Europe. You remember, the one that Zelensky famously shut off back on January 1st to try and punish Russia, which only hurt the Europeans? Imagine what would happen if the Americans gain control of that pipeline going to Europe. Not only would the Americans steal the transit fees that the pipeline was generating, they would use that pipeline to pressure Ukraine and Europe to do whatever Trump wants or lose their oil.
US wants control of key gas pipeline in Ukraine — Reuters
The demand is an “Easter egg” contained in the minerals deal that Washington is pressuring Kiev to sign, the news agency has said
From RT News
Remind me again how Donald Trump is not trying to become the western world's mafia capo?
Here is a story I found in The Cradle about how the U.S. is doing what it does best with making war around the world. Use proxies to die on overseas battlefields instead of American soldiers. In this story that came out yesterday, the U.S. is coercing the Saudi's and Emirate governments to put boots on the ground, using local factional militias to push Ansarallah out of the sea ports on the western coast of Yemen. All because the U.S. wants to prevent Yemen from stopping Israeli ships from delivering cargo to Israel. All this will do is start up the civil war again that ended up killing hundreds of thousands of Yemeni people the last time they went at it. Maybe Ansarallah will be able to stop this before things get out of hand again. Let's hope so for their sake.
US airstrikes in Yemen lay groundwork for 'ground invasion' by UAE-backed militias: Report
UAE-backed Yemeni factions plan to take the port city of Hodeidah from the Ansarallah-led Yemeni government in the wake of the US bombing campaign
From The Cradle.co
In my last overseas news story, I found one from The Guardian about how China has developed new undersea cable cutting technology, amphibious assault barges, and they've been ramping up naval drills around the maritime regions near China. Such as the recent war games around Taiwan, live fire exercises off the northwest coast of Australia, and more coast guard interactions with the Philippine navy. The article asks the obvious question, will the interactions with the Filipinos escalate beyond water cannons someday soon? The Aussies were very noticeably concerned about the closeness of the unannounced life fire exercises in international waters off of their coast for all to see. Taiwan was very scared when their island was completely surrounded by the Chinese navy in what were obvious exercises in blockading and invading Taiwan. Vietnam is also expressing concerns about the Chinese navy playing around in their neighborhood.
‘Invasion’ barges, subsea cable cutters and surprise naval drills: how China is testing Donald Trump
Angela Dewan
China has been flexing its maritime muscle in the Indo-Pacific – moves that pose a challenge for the US president
From The Guardian/World
I'm not advocating for China but think about this. How many years has the U.S. been holding naval drills around the east and south Pacific in the face of China and North Korea? The U.S. is also installing missile bases in the Philippines and Taiwan. As a lot of people have pointed out, what would the U.S. do if someone like China or Russia were to set up military outposts and missile batteries in Mexico, Costa Rica, or even Honduras? We already know, going back in history to The Bay of Pigs affair during the Kennedy presidency, what the U.S. would do.
So why are we in the west all upset when China flexes a little bit over all of this obvious provocation? China is just doing what any sovereign country would do when feeling a bit threatened. Everyone blames Russia for invading Ukraine three years ago but they conveniently forget to mention how NATO, and the U.S. spent years provoking Russia, which has prompted the eventual special military operation in Ukraine.
We have to remember, the U.S. navy is not what they would have everyone believe. Their ships are suffering from severe maintenance issues, shortages in their supply chains for repair parts and constant shut downs from technology that fails regularly. Half of their ships spend their time under repair in ports around the world, and at home, with U.S. shipyards unable to keep up with all of the needed repairs.
In contrast, China has the world's largest amount of active shipyards and the most ships running all over the world. They now have the largest navy, by the amount of ships, in the world. I'm not saying they're quality built ships but as fast as the Chinese shipyards can whip out a new ship, they have the capacity to replace whatever they lose a lot better than anyone else. Especially the world's greatest navy, or used to be anyway.
The U.S. navy has depended on being aircraft carrier heavy and submarine dependent since world war two. It shows as they don't have that many active destroyers and even less cruisers anymore. The latest invention that turned out to be a disaster, was the Littoral Cruisers. All of these billions of dollars spent for supposedly highly advanced ships, which are now nearly all slated for the mothball fleet. They've proven to be unseaworthy, and spent nearly all of their active service to date tied to piers or in shipyards under repair. They've become too costly to maintain and an embarrassment. Which is why the bad press last year was throttled.
All of the current carrier escorts are old and falling apart. The carrier fleet is half in and half out of deployable service. Half of their fleet is in port being repaired or waiting for parts. The other half is usually deployed to the middle east somewhere or around the far east op area, limping along as best as they can. These ships have defense contractor technicians flying out to work on these ships constantly wherever they are in the world to try and fix broken equipment as best as they can without forcing the ships into a port somewhere with adequate repair facilities.
Then there are the submarines. They receive the least attention in the media, and the best care from the repair facilities, whenever possible. They too, are constantly being deployed around the world as the United States' best nuclear deterrent. Their main competition has always been the Russians but the Chinese have been gaining ground lately with their submarine fleet. The North Koreans are receiving Russian submarine technology that is advancing their underwater capabilities.
With this current tariff war, Australia is wondering if the U.S. will be able to build those submarines it promised them as per the AUKUS treaty.
The days of the United States navy ruling the world's oceans are waning. Their ships are old and some are barely sea worthy. They have had to mothball a lot of ships, especially some of their logistical supply ships because they could no longer maintain them. They don't have enough sailors to crew them anymore or repair parts to keep them going.
If you add all of this together with the economic crisis, the political crisis, the constitutional crisis, and a hollowed out military, you end up with a picture of a country that's fighting for its existence. The days of the U.S. hegemon are over. The glory days are gone.
My last story brings us back to the U.S. As I mentioned before, Trump has been threatening law firms, universities, states, and even individuals, with the loss of federal funding or sic’ing the DOJ on them, in the case of the state of Maine, and a couple of federal whistleblowers from 2020. As for Maine, this all started when the democrat governor stood up to him at a governor's conference back in February over DEI initiatives. Maine's governor said no, Trump threatened her, and she said, "I'll see you in court."
North Carolina has taken a different tack. Their state government, which is wholly republican, is trying to get away with obvious voter suppression. If they're allowed to get away with it, you can expect a lot of other republican run states to follow suit in future state elections. If that happens, you can kiss what's left of democracy good bye.
The MAGA republicans in North Carolina are following in their forebears footsteps it seems. Back before and right after the civil war of 1860, these forebears of the current North Carolinians were called Dixiecrats. A subversion of the democrat party back then. But these good old boys running North Carolina now are behaving just like their ancestors did 170 years ago. Using voter suppression tactics for certain counties that voted predominantly democrat during the election last November. Now, this case has gone up to the federal court level.
With Trump and company seemingly thumbing their noses at the American judiciary, all the way to the supreme court, I have to keep asking myself, what will the U.S. court system do to try and enforce the law? It's not looking good right now, especially after last Monday when Trump and his pet attack dog, Pamela Jo Bondi, all but told the judiciary to suck a big one with the president of El Salvador sitting next to Trump in front of the whole world. As if daring anyone to do anything about them defying the law.
With the U.S. economy crashing, China holding the line against the tariffs, and this open defiance from a mafia president, I don't hold up much hope for the United States in its current ideation. The Chinese stand a good chance of choking out the U.S. economy, the U.S. military will expend what’s left of their resources and end up standing down once the bullets and bombs run out, without Chinese raw material exports. The people will rise up in mass protest over the economic situation and Trump may declare martial law if he thinks people are protesting too much.
The question is, will he have the backing of the police and military? If I had to make an educated guess, I would say this will divide the country as some will side with Trump no matter what, and some won't. No matter how it may seem with ICE running rampant around the country, there are soldiers and police officers who do not agree with all of this and if enough people were to stand up to Trump, they might join them. It would be more in the form of refusing to attack the protestors or call out sick or some other form of similar soft protest. They've done it before in the past. Some soldiers or unit commanders would defy their chain of command and stand down, rather than be deployed to possibly hurt or kill civilians. They don't want another Kent State episode on their conscience.
No matter how you look at it, the United States is in dire straits right now and someone needs to step up and rally the troops before it's too late. Will it be Senator Bernie Sanders, who's making the rounds to states out west in the second phase of his tour, or someone else, like Senator Corey Booker? Who will be the hero that rides into town to rescue the people from the evil doers? Or is that just a hopeful story from an old Hollywood movie? The reality is that the U.S. may explode into warring states after Trump bankrupts the country. You decide which version you like best.
If you value what's left of your freedoms, you'd better start paying attention to what I'm saying and along with a lot of others like me. We are the independent media that's defying the government censors for now. People like Thom Hartmann and Brian Tyler Cohen are a lot more famous than I ever will be but I'm fine with supporting people like them and adding my voice to theirs. Together, we can raise our voices and if enough of us make enough noise, maybe we can effect change for the better. But first, we need to wake people up to what's going on. And that's what I aim to do. Wake people up before it's too late. Join me and all of the others who are trying to bring awareness to this subversion of our civil liberties and freedoms granted in the U.S. constitution. Support our work by sharing these messages to everyone you can. We can't fight Trump without you.
As I close out here, I want to bring you a program note. I read an article yesterday from one of my favorite Canadians about the war and atrocities happening in Sudan and it made me think about it, something few in the west are doing right now. So much so, that I reached out to my young friend to ask her about collaborating on a podcast show together for either next week, or the following, depending on how long it takes to put it all together. So, I hope you'll join us on this mostly forgotten tragedy that few are talking about here in the west.
Here is the link to this week’s episode of The Priest, by Michael Campi.
Thank you for joining me again. I hope you enjoyed it and that you'll return again to talk about the world we live in.
Please like, subscribe, reply and share the videos or audio podcasts, however you watch or listen. The goal here is to resist the people who want to take our freedoms away from us. I appreciate everyone around the world, no matter who or where you are. Together, using independent media like this, we can resist the authoritarian oligarchs in the west.
As I say good bye this week, I wish to leave you with another rebellion quote from Benjamin Franklin as we watch it all come apart. "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety." Slán go fóill.
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