James Speyer, writing in The New York Daily News, says:
It is time to acknowledge what has become tragically obvious: the Trump administration is essentially acting as a massive criminal enterprise. It lies, steals, extorts and murders — all while cloaked in the awesome authority of the state. It is on a crime spree that puts Al Capone to shame.
This is not hyperbole or hyperventilation. It is our reality, as the facts amply demonstrate. This administration has:
• Murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti, slandered them as “domestic terrorists” and “assassins,” and allowed their killers to walk free;
• Unleashed thousands of minimally trained ICE agents, recruited with explicitly white supremacist messaging, to inflict terror on people of color;
• Repeatedly violated the constitutional rights of citizens and non-citizens by arresting them for First Amendment-protected speech, raiding their homes without judicial warrants, and imprisoning them without due process;
• Killed dozens of civilians on the high seas solely on the unsubstantiated claim that they were drug runners (not that being drug runners would justify their summary executions without due process anyway);
• Released hundreds of imprisoned felons who brutally beat Capitol police officers on January 6;
• Converted the once-independent Department of Justice into an instrument of personal retribution via the prosecution of cooked-up lawsuits against the President’s enemies;
• Threatened to seize the territory of a sovereign nation (a NATO ally no less);
• Sought to imprison United States Senators simply for exercising their free speech rights by reminding military personnel of their undisputed duty to disobey illegal orders;
• Tried to impose ruinous and unconstitutional sanctions on some of the country’s largest law firms simply because Trump doesn’t like them;
• Violated court orders on a massive scale. As the Chief District Judge of Minnesota recently wrote, “ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence;”
• Shaken down some of the country’s largest universities by illegally threatening to withhold funding; and
• Engaged in breathtaking corruption: as the conservative writer David Frum stated, “Trump’s scale of stealing and bribe-taking has never been remotely paralleled in any democratic country ever before.”
MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell adds:
Of the most powerful crime syndicate in history, all of Donald Trump’s violations of the Emoluments Clause1 to enrich himself, including accepting the gift of a 747 aircraft from the Middle Eastern dictatorship of Qatar. And the billions of dollars Donald Trump is making in cryptocurrency ventures and other rackets that he is running during his presidency.
Donald Trump knows that all of that apparent corruption could be effectively investigated by congressional committees, if, and only if, Democrats win the House of Representatives this year, or win the Senate this year. And to prevent that, Donald Trump has not come up with a new campaign message for Republicans. He has not come up with a new economic policy. He has not reversed his economically crushing, illegal, and unconstitutional tariffs.
Instead, he has seized the voting records of Atlanta voters in Fulton County, Georgia, to set the precedent that he can send the FBI anywhere he wants to seize any voting records, including ballots, at any time. Donald Trump is the first president in history who wants to take the administration of elections away from states and, in effect, count all American ballots cast in every election inside the Trump White House.
Donald Trump publicly appears to be planning an election crime spree even worse than the conspiracy he was indicted for running to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
That is the most important story of this year. Will Donald Trump commit election crimes all over the country to try to crush democracy? That is not an alarmist question. That is the question of the year. Will Donald Trump commit election crimes all over the country to try to crush democracy?
As of tonight, the most powerful force we have in this country to defeat the most powerful crime syndicate in history remain the voters of the United States of America.
1 The U.S. Constitution contains two Emoluments Clauses designed as anti-corruption safeguards to prevent federal officials from being influenced by foreign states or domestic entities. The Foreign Emoluments Clause (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8) prohibits officials from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments without Congressional consent, while the Domestic Emoluments Clause (Article II, Section 1, Clause 7) bans the President from receiving benefits beyond their salary from the U.S. or state governments.
Categories: USA
in-sights.ca 
Though not politically correct to say so, the German NAZI Party was also a criminal syndicate, dealing in drugs and looting works of art from both Jewish families and from countries they invaded.
Years ago (like 40 years) I read a book which I have forgotten the title that outline the criminal activity that kept the NAZI party solvent.
Trump was and is a grifter and the Americans (well at least 35% of voters are still under the sway of this 34 count convicted felon; convicted sexual predator and a professional bankrupt.
Says a lot about American being exceptional, rather it is a country of dullards, lost in the miasma of Hollywood History, and Disney fairy-tales.
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Depopulation? A terrific idea among certain officials in certain quarters
Remove humans from the workplace? It will take only 18 months, you say?
https://fortune.com/2026/02/13/when-will-ai-kill-white-collar-office-jobs-18-months-microsoft-mustafa-suleyman/
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
The Bondi Connection
The Trump mentality
Australia abandons US
Crimes against humanity
Epstein’s apparent suicide
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Much of Trumps family graft is centred on real estate hence the plan to rebuild Gaza ; no doubt in Jared Kushners dream!
Disaster economics at their best?
TB
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saw an article with a lovely brochure, Kushner’s dream for Gaza. It was presented at the new trump version of a U.N, club, you pay a billion and you get to join. The buildings were very futuristic and it was mostly high rises. Based on that proposal, I think it could be safe to say the destruction of Gaza had nothing to do with anything but clearing an area to build a new city, one a small group of billionaires will build, control make even more billionaires trillionaires. The bombing of Gaza just didn’t make sense to me. It really is time to round up those responsible and take them to the Court of the Hague for trial. Hey if they can arrest the King of England’s brother there is no reason they can’t arrest trump and company and Bennie and company and a bunch more.
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Despite his loud insistence Trump tariffs still aren’t legal even after an Appeal?
So how will the Prince Of Peace conjure up sufficient revenue to pay for his Iran War? How will he justify additional consumer prices skyrocketing as a result of this war?”
https://apnews.com/article/tariffs-trump-refunds-supreme-court-cc2ace8576e59d10034e7e525737539d
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to slow the process of refunding billions of dollars’ worth of tariffs the Supreme Court struck down as illegal last month.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit started the next phase in the refund process by sending it to a lower court to sort out.
In a court filing Friday, Trump’s Justice Department had urged the Federal Circuit to proceed cautiously and hold off for 90 days. But the judges refused.
The Supreme Court ruled Feb. 20 that Trump’s sweeping tariffs on most countries in the world were illegal, clearing the way for the importers who paid them to seek refunds.
The government had collected more than $130 billion from the tariffs by mid-December, and could ultimately be on the hook for refunds worth $175 billion, according to calculations by the Penn Wharton Budget Model.
But the Supreme Court offered no guidance on refunds; its decision did not even mention them. Now the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York will decide how the complicated refund process should proceed.
“I would expect the Court of International Trade to quickly issue an order requesting a status update from the government on their plans with respect to refunds (or expedited briefing),” said trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official. “I expect the court to take an aggressive posture, asking the government to justify how they intend to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling.”
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More bad news for the Trump Clan.
Et tu, FedEx?
https://apnews.com/article/fedex-tariff-trump-supreme-court-costco-9c9cf3062b780dd8ce9f23f5c30891a0
FedEx joins other US companies in seeking a refund after Trump tariffs are ruled illegal
FedEx is suing the U.S. government, the latest company to request a refund on what it paid for tariffs set by President Donald Trump last year after the Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs are illegal.
More than 1,000 companies have filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade in efforts to recoup costs from the illegal tariffs, including large U.S. corporations like Costco and Revlon. Most of the lawsuits were already in process ahead of the Supreme Court decision Friday.
FedEx said in a filing with the U.S. Court of International Trade that they have “suffered injury” from having to pay the tariffs and that the relief they’re seeking from the court would redress those injuries.
Tim Meyer, a law professor at Duke University, said each case is likely to have to be tried individually.
“We’re going to have to wait and see how the government decides to handle the refund claims,” he said. “And then if the government chooses not to set up a process for the refunds, ultimately the Court of International Trade is going to have to adjudicate over a thousand cases.”
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