The Trump administration has appointed a national security lawyer who entered the foreign service just four years ago as the top official overseeing the State Department's global workforce, sources say. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/04/06/world/politics/trump-junior-officer-us-foreign-service/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #politics #us #donaldtrump #statedepartment
(just love how the words 'extraordinary blunder' are highlighted in read, presumably a hyperlink but also highlighting the profound clown fuckery of the story)
The U.S. State Department is considering new travel bans on citizens from 43 countries (over 20% of the countries recognized by the United Nations) – dividing them into three tiers: Red, Orange, Yellow. @fodors has more, including the entire list being proposed, which contains some countries you might find surprising:
A win: "The State Department has paid out $97M to the National Endowment for Democracy and is putting another $72M out the door imminently.
It appears this will head off a lawsuit that would have been a test of President Trump's impoundment authority."
-K Cheney
So, this case is potentially a BIG DEAL! If the #WhiteHouse is calling for arrest of LEGAL students and protestors, that's a violation of a LOT of laws!
#ICE arrests #PalestinianActivist who helped lead #ColumbiaUniversity #protests, his lawyer says
By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Updated 6:32 PM EDT, March 9, 2025
NEW YORK (AP) — "Federal immigration authorities arrested a #Palestinian graduate student who played a prominent role in protests against #Israel at Columbia University, according to his attorney.
"#MahmoudKhalil was inside a university-owned residence Saturday night near Columbia’s Manhattan campus when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered his apartment and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press.
"Greer said she spoke by phone with one of the ICE agents during the arrest, who said they were acting on #StateDepartment orders to revoke Khalil’s student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that too, according to the lawyer.
"The arrest appeared to be among the first known actions under President Donald #Trump’s pledge to deport international students who joined the protests against the war in Gaza that swept college campuses last spring. His administration has claimed participants forfeited their rights to remain in the country by supporting Hamas, a terror organization.
"When ICE agents arrived at the campus building Saturday, they also threatened to arrest Khalil’s wife, an #AmericanCitizen who is eight months pregnant, Greer said. The authorities declined to say why Khalil was being arrested, according to the attorney."
Source:
https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-15014bcbb921f21a9f704d5acdcae7a8
#FreePalestine #Gaza #RightToProtest #Censorship #Fascism #ICE #ACAB #Authoritarianism #USPol
State Department Will Use AI to Search for 'Pro-Hamas' Students to Deport — https://gizmodo.com/state-department-will-use-ai-to-search-for-pro-hamas-students-to-deport-2000573143
#HackerNews #StateDepartment #AI #ProHamas #Deportation #Immigration #Technology
#DonaldTrump #MarcoRubio #StateDepartment #FederalAviationAdministration #DougCollins #VeteransAffairsDepartment
https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:3f3f12ed-4067-4496-8353-fed0abe20ea5
Inside the Explosive Meeting Where Trump Officials Clashed With Elon Musk
Simmering anger at the billionaire’s unchecked power spilled out in a remarkable Cabinet Room meeting. The president quickly moved to rein in Mr. Musk.
By Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman
Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman are White House correspondents. They reported from Washington.
March 7, 2025
Updated 3:10 p.m. ET
https://www.europesays.com/1845794/ Plane carrying Marco Rubio to Germany returns to DC due to ‘mechanical issue’ #AirTravel #airplanes #germany #JdVance #MarcoRubio #MUNICH #PlaneCrashes #Politics #StateDepartment #USNews
"He’s [i.e., Edward Coristine] 19 years old, a college dropout. He graduated from Rye Country Day High School last June."
~ Amy Goodman
#Musk #DOGE #BigBalls #NationalSecurity #chaos #FederalGovernment #destruction #StateDepartment #HomelandSecurity
/2
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/2/10/musk_doge_federal_government_vittoria_elliott
In addition to Coristine, a 23-year-old colleague of his, former SpaceX intern Luke Farritor, is also listed in the #StateDepartment’s directory as working at the Bureau of #Diplomatic #Technology. Both report to Joseph Nason, a special assistant in the bureau.
Coristine & Farritor are among a group of 6 engineers 25 or younger whom WaPo has identified as working on behalf of #DOGE.
FFS
19-year-old #Musk surrogate has #StateDepartment email address
A 19-year-old acolyte of #ElonMusk known online as “#BigBalls” is listed as having taken on a new role at the #State Dept, raising concerns among some diplomats about his potential access to sensitive information & the growing reach of his #tech #billionaire boss into America’s #diplomatic apparatus….
#NationalSecurity #InfoSec #Cybersecurity #law #ToxicMasculinity #broligarchy #USpol #Trump
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/10/musk-doge-state-department-surrogate/
The Biden administration took the first major step against right-wing "accelerationist" #terrorism, the effort to inspire independent followers to engage in violence in ways that broadly destabilize society. Now it’s up to Trump. https://theconversation.com/biden-targeted-the-online-right-wing-terrorism-threat-now-its-up-to-trump-247977 #StateDepartment
“Why has the BBC been receiving money from CIA-front USAID? One journalist wants answers”
by Ed Sykes in The Canary @thecanaryuk
@BBC5Live
@BBCRadio4 @UKLabour @Declassified_UK
“Award–winning former #Declassified UK journalist Matt #Kennard has called for a public inquiry into the US government’s funding of the ‘BBC Media Action’ charity”
https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2025/02/07/bbc-media-action/?__s=1toyfummtp6bhspv4akg
#ExecutiveOrder to the #StateDepartment Sideswipes #Freedom Tools, Threatens #Censorship Resistance, #Privacy , and #Anonymity of Millions
In the first weeks of the #Trump Administration, we have witnessed a spate of sweeping, confusing, and likely #unconstitutional executive orders, including some that have already had devastating human consequences.
#constitution #rights #security
Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, has his first Senate hearing tomorrow.
As the president’s top foreign policy adviser, he would oversee and implements the president’s foreign policies through the #StateDepartment, which includes several agencies, such as the #ForeignService. A political scientist describes this role:
https://theconversation.com/us-secretary-of-state-has-an-expansive-job-that-could-make-or-break-peace-deals-and-key-foreign-alliances-245738 #MarcoRubio #foreignpolicy
After basically the whole #Microsoft #Azure cloud was hacked (see list of related sources on https://karl-voit.at/cloud/ ), the first follow-up incidents went public caused by missing containment actions:
60,000 emails were stolen from 10 #USA #StateDepartment accounts
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/chinese-hackers-stole-60000-emails-us-state-department-microsoft-hack-senate-2023-09-27/
If you didn't understand until now: basically EVERYTHING at Microsoft got hacked and Microsoft can't (or won't) get rid of the intruders. Everything authenticated by Microsoft is tainted. Even #Windows auth.
