The List

[canpakes]

The Trump Administration has discovered that it can combine retribution with immigration enforcement, in order to boot out of the country the former spouses of extended family of Administration employees. This is also useful for avoiding any custody conflicts.

Karoline Leavitt's family delivers brutal message to relative detained by ICE

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt's family urged her nephew's mom to self-deport to a country she barely knows.

MARIA VILLARROEL
PUBLISHED 26 NOVEMBER 2025

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s family has urged her nephew’s mother, who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month, to self-deport to a country she barely knows and hardly speaks the language.

Bruna Ferreira, the mother of Leavitt’s nephew, was arrested by ICE earlier this year in Massachusetts. An immigrant from Brazil, she arrived to the U.S. in December 1998 on a visa and has kept her legal status through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Ferreira shares an 11-year-old son with Leavitt’s brother, Michael Leavitt. The couple never married, and reportedly split over a decade ago; however, they share custody of their son.

But despite the family connections, the White House press secretary has allegedly not moved a single finger to help Ferreira in her arrest.

In fact, according to Ferreira’s sister, Graziela Dos Santos Rodrigues, some in Leavitt’s family, including the child’s father, have urged her to self-deport back to Brazil, despite the fact that she has no home there, has lived in the U.S. most of her life, and barely speaks Portuguese.

“They just kept saying, ‘Tell her to self-deport,’” Dos Santos Rodrigues told the Boston Globe. “Self-deport to where? Brazil is not her home. They’re trying to push it off as a vacation. That’s not a vacation. Bruna barely speaks the language.”

Ferreira’s sister says she has little hope that Leavitt’s family will help her, despite the fact that she and Michael share a son.

“If she were to help in any way, if she were willing to do anything to help us, she would have reached out by now. She has my phone number. We’ve been family for the last 13 years,” Dos Santos Rodrigues told the Globe. “I understand the policies and how it looks. But I also think when it comes to family, you put certain things aside. I don’t care who you work for.”

Michael himself seems unbothered by Ferreira’s arrest, noting that he is only looking out for his son’s safety.

“My only concern has always been the safety, well-being, and privacy of my son,” Michael told Boston Public Radio Station WBUR.

According to Leavitt’s family, the son had been living with his father full-time in New Hampshire with his wife. The 11-year-old, Michael Leavitt Jr., has not spoken to his mother since her arrest earlier this month.

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Ferreira is currently detained at a South Louisiana ICE Processing Center and is awaiting removal proceedings. In a recent statement, the department labeled her as a “criminal illegal alien.”

“ICE arrested Bruna Caroline Ferreira, a criminal illegal alien from Brazil. She has a previous arrest for battery. She entered the U.S. on a B2 tourist visa that required her to depart the U.S. by June 6, 1999,” the statement read.

However, Ferreira’s lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, refutes these claims.

"Bruna has no criminal record whatsoever," Pomerleau said. "I don't know where that is coming from. Show us the proof. There's no charges out there. She's not a criminal illegal alien."

WBUR reportedly couldn't find any records of the alleged battery charges against Ferreira.

In a GoFundMe page set up by Dos Santos Rodrigues to fundraise for Ferreira’s immigration proceedings, she was painted as a diligent and honest individual, highlighting that she has "maintained her legal status through DACA, followed every requirement, and has always strived to do the right thing.”

"Anyone who knows Bruna knows the kind of person she is. She is hardworking, kind, and always the first to offer help when someone needs it," the website states. "Whether it's supporting family, friends, or even strangers, Bruna has a heart that puts others before herself.”

https://www.themirror.com/news/politics ... ce-1528653

[canpakes]

Someone somewhere may have mentioned the Epstein Files again, so Trump is back to saber-rattling about Venezuela.

Venezuela condemns Trump's threat to close country's airspace

Author, Aoife Walsh
Role, Washington
29 November 2025

Venezuela has angrily reacted to US President Donald Trump's statement that the airspace around the country should be considered closed.

The country's foreign ministry called Trump's comments "another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people".

The US does not have legal authority to close another country's airspace and the Venezuelan statement accused Trump of making a "colonialist threat".

The US has built its military presence in the area and carried out at least 21 strikes on boats it says were carrying drugs, killing more than 80. It has not provided evidence and Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro says the US moves are an attempt to oust him.

Trump wrote on Truth Social: "To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY."

The White House did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment.

With Trump ratcheting up his threats, some Democratic and Republican members of the US Congress have expressed anger that he has not sought legislative approval.

"Trump's reckless actions towards Venezuela are pushing America closer and closer to another costly foreign war," top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer posted on X on Sunday.

"Under our constitution, Congress has the sole power to declare war."
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, until recently a close Trump ally, said: "Reminder, Congress has the sole power to declare war."

Trump's comments come just days after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines of "heightened military activity in and around Venezuela", leading to several major airlines suspending flights there. Caracas then rescinded their take-off and landing rights.

Venezuela's foreign ministry urged "the international community, the sovereign governments of the world, the UN, and the relevant multilateral organisations to firmly reject this immoral act of aggression", in a statement on Saturday.

The same day, Venezuela's military conducted exercises along coastal areas, with state TV showing anti-aircraft weapons and other artillery being manoeuvred.

The US has deployed the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, and about 15,000 troops to within striking distance of Venezuela.

It has insisted that the deployment - the largest by the US in the region since it invaded Panama in 1989 - is to combat drug trafficking.

Trump warned on Thursday that US efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking "by land" would begin "very soon".

The Venezuelan government believes the aim of the US is to depose the left-wing Maduro, whose re-election last year was denounced by the Venezuelan opposition and many nations as rigged.

Fellow left-wing President Gustavo Petro of Colombia - who has also faced US sanctions - has said he believed the US was using "violence to dominate" Latin America, though other leaders in the region have welcomed Trump's stance.

The US has also designated Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns – a group it alleges is headed by Maduro – as a foreign terrorist organisation.

Labelling an organisation as a terrorist group gives US law enforcement and military agencies broader powers to target and dismantle it.

Venezuela's foreign ministry has "categorically, firmly, and absolutely rejected" the designation.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c741mpdyw9no.amp

[Dr. Shades]

"South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately."

Why were we sending them any subsidies to begin with?

[Whiskey]

Someone somewhere may have mentioned the Epstein Files again, so Trump is back to saber-rattling about Venezuela.

If Taylor Swift's boyfriend 's team misses the playoffs, you and the rest of the swiftees are going to know even more why Trump does the things he does.

[canpakes]

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From the ‘retaliation and retribution’ part of the list:

Grand jury declines to indict Letitia James after first case was dismissed

Dec. 4, 2025, 5:40 PM EST / Updated Dec. 4, 2025, 7:41 PM EST

The Justice Department on Thursday failed to secure an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The presentation to the grand jury came less than two weeks after the original criminal case against her was dismissed.

James, a frequent political target of President Donald Trump’s who had successfully brought a fraud lawsuit against him, had previously been indicted by a grand jury on one charge of bank fraud and another of making false statements to a financial institution.

James has denied any wrongdoing. In a statement Thursday in response to reports that a grand jury did not re-indict her she said, "As I have said from the start, the charges against me are baseless. It is time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop."

"I am grateful to the members of the grand jury and humbled by the support I have received from across the country. Now, I will continue to do my job standing up for the rule of law and the people of New York," James said.

Lindsey Halligan, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and a former personal attorney to Trump with no prior prosecutorial experience, presented the case to a grand jury on her own in the first go-round — and that case was declared void on Nov. 24 when a judge found Halligan’s appointment was unlawful.

The Justice Department initially vowed to appeal the ruling by U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie, but ultimately decided to seek a new, untainted indictment against James, a source familiar with the deliberations told NBC News earlier this week.

The new case was presented to a grand jury in Norfolk, Virginia, by different prosecutors.

The failure to secure an indictment on Thursday does not bar prosecutors from attempting to do so again in the future.

A separate source familiar with the matter said there “should be no premature celebrations.”

The Justice Department does not comment on grand jury matters.

Prosecutors have also been discussing trying to again bring a case against former FBI Director James Comey, who was indicted in October on charges of making a false statement to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation.
Currie dismissed the case against him on the same day she tossed the case against James on the same grounds.

Trump named Halligan U.S. attorney for the Eastern District on Sept. 20, the day after he forced out his initial pick, Erik Siebert, who resisted pressure to prosecute Comey and James.

The Halligan appointment also came after Trump urged Attorney General Pam Bondi in a social media post to push ahead with prosecutions of Comey, James and another perceived political adversary, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California.
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ‘same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,’” Trump said the post, which a source previously confirmed to NBC News the president had intended as a direct message to Bondi, not a public post.

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump continued, while praising Halligan as “a really good lawyer.”

[canpakes]

A dozen former FDA commissioners condemn plan to tighten vaccine approvals

Rachel Roubein
Washington Post

A dozen former leaders of the Food and Drug Administration warned Wednesday that plans for a stricter approach to vaccine approvals risk undermining the nation’s ability to fight infectious diseases and could threaten the health of vulnerable Americans.

In the New England Journal of Medicine, the former FDA commissioners wrote that they were “deeply concerned” with plans the nation’s top vaccine regulator, Vinay Prasad, laid out Friday in a leaked internal email. They argued that his approach represents a major shift that could delay the arrival of vaccines better matched for evolving viruses, make it potentially prohibitively expensive for new shots to come to market, and slow expanded approval of vaccines for more people.

Prasad is challenging long-standing vaccine policy, urging the FDA to rethink its framework for annual flu shots, examining whether Americans should receive multiple vaccines at the same time, and requiring larger studies to gain approval for certain shots.

“These measures, and the unilateral way they are being imposed, undermine the public interest,” the commissioners wrote in a piece titled “A Threat to Evidence-Based Vaccine Policy and Public Health Security at the FDA.”
“They are the latest in a series of troubling changes at the FDA, including substantial departures of FDA staff, that could diminish both the FDA’s strength and Americans’ health and safety,” the former officials added.

The warning from both former permanent and acting FDA commissioners — including Scott Gottlieb, Norman “Ned” Sharpless and Brett Giroir, who all served in the role during President Donald Trump’s first administration — is the latest of several admonishments issued by former health officials from both parties.

Nine former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised concerns about Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership days after the August firing of then-CDC Director Susan Monarez. Six former surgeons general, including Jerome Adams, who worked in the first Trump administration, contended in an October op-ed that Kennedy’s actions are “endangering the health of the nation.”

Department of Health and Human Services officials defended Prasad’s work.

“The fact these criticisms are coming from former FDA officials who opposed raising the bar for vaccine science confirms we are on the right track,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in a statement. He added: “Dr. Prasad’s email lays out a philosophical framework that points us toward that higher standard.”

Kennedy, the founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group, has a lengthy history of disparaging vaccines. He has countered that he is simply seeking better data before recommending shots. Prasad’s vaccine strategy aligns with some changes Kennedy and his allies have sought for years.

Some Kennedy allies have previously criticized some of the former FDA commissioners who co-wrote the NEJM piece, arguing they are part of a revolving door of agency officials who later join the boards of pharmaceutical and other companies they used to regulate.

In his internal email, Prasad said the new approach to vaccines was necessary after his team concluded that coronavirus vaccinations had contributed to the deaths of at least 10 children. He did not detail the evidence behind the claims.

“[FDA] staff will be tasked with writing guidelines to reflect these changes, and the mission of CBER will change to reflect this worldview,” Prasad wrote, referring to the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “Never again will the US FDA commissioner have to himself find deaths in children for staff to identify it.” He added that staff who disagree with the core principles of his new approach should submit their resignation letters.

Public health experts have called on the agency to release more details on how it performed its review and on the planned changes to vaccine regulation.

Nixon said officials “will soon release documents laying out that framework and data confirming how the COVID-19 vaccine resulted in children’s deaths that previous leadership failed to properly investigate.”

The former commissioners wrote that the reports of potential vaccine deaths to federal health agencies had been carefully reviewed by FDA staff, “who drew different conclusions.” They wrote that Prasad’s memo did not indicate why the new assessment “should justify wholesale rewriting of vaccine regulation.” In totality, those changes mean a “substantially higher and more subjective approval bar,” they wrote.
Prasad argued in his internal email that the United States’ vaccine regulation related to the coronavirus “may have harmed more children than we saved.”

“This requires humility and introspection,” he added.

CDC staff over the summer presented data showing that at least 25 children who had covid-associated hospitalizations have died since July 2023. The number was probably an undercount, according to staff, and of the 16 children old enough for vaccination, none were up-to-date.

The commissioners also expressed concern that the planned changes lacked transparency, arguing the agency’s expert advisers and the public should have a say in major revisions to FDA decision-making.

“The people most affected by the FDA’s proposed framework will include older Americans and those with weakened immune systems who rely most on the protection that timely and updated vaccines can offer,” they wrote.

The concerns from former commissioners represent the latest flash point for an agency rocked by turmoil this year amid layoffs and the departures of senior officials.

On Tuesday, the nation’s top drug regulator, Richard Pazdur, decided to retire three weeks after taking the job amid tensions with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. Pazdur — who has worked at the FDA for more than 25 years — had privately raised concerns about the legality and pace of agency plans to expedite drug approval decisions.

Pazdur had replaced George Tidmarsh, who resigned last month amid scrutiny over his critique of a treatment made by a company that alleged he had a vendetta against its board chair.

On Wednesday, Tracy Beth Hoeg, who was a prominent critic of broad childhood coronavirus vaccination before becoming one of Makary’s top deputies, was named acting director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Over the summer, she was involved in the investigation into reports of potential deaths from the vaccine.