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SvennoJ on 27 March 2025

Hundreds in US protest against detention of Turkish Fulbright Scholar


Hundreds of people gathered for an emergency rally after US immigration agents detained Rumeysa Ozturk, a PhD Student at Tufts University on Wednesday


Ozturk is the latest student to have their visa revoked by the Trump administration over voicing support for Palestinians in Gaza


‘Flatly authoritarian’: New video shows masked agents arresting Tufts student


"A terrified young student, snatched off the street by a masked police force taken thousands of miles across the country without anyone knowing. It is as flatly authoritarian as anything we have ever seen in this country," says Chris Hayes on Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk's detention.



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SvennoJ on 27 March 2025

Sanders says he will force Senate votes to block arm sales to Israel

In a statement posted on X, the independent US senator from Vermont said that he will force votes on two Joint Resolutions of Disapproval he introduced to block certain offensive sales to Israel.

“Netanyahu has clearly violated US and international law in this brutal war, and we must end our complicity in this carnage”, he said.

The US has remained Israel’s number one backer – both diplomatically and materially – throughout its nearly year and a half long war on Gaza.





Lawyers of detained Tufts University student file motion for US gov’t to produce her

The lawyers of a Turkish national and doctoral student at Tufts University, Rumeysa Ozturk, have filed an emergency motion requesting that the government produce her, after she was arrested by masked US Department of Homeland Security agents in broad daylight on Wednesday.

A federal judge presiding over her case ordered lawyers representing the government to respond to the motion on Thursday morning local time.

US District Judge Indira Talwani initially issued an order giving the government until Friday to answer why Ozturk was being detained. Talwani also ordered that Ozturk not be moved outside Massachusetts without 48 hours advance notice.



US Justice Department announces seizure of Hamas cryptocurrency

The US Justice Department has announced that it has disrupted a financing scheme through the seizure of approximately $200,000 in cryptocurrency held in wallets and accounts intended to Hamas, the department has announced.

In a statement, the DOJ said that the seized funds were traced from fundraising addresses purportedly controlled by Hamas that were used to launder more than $1.5 million in virtual currency since last October.

“These seizures show that this office will search high and low for every cent of money going to fund Hamas, wherever it is found, and in whatever form of currency,” US Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. of the District of Columbia said in a statement.

According to court documents filed by the government, a group chat claiming association with Hamas on an encrypted communications platform provided Hamas supporters worldwide with a set of at least 17 cryptocurrency addresses, encouraging supporters to donate money to those addresses.

Wasn't the whole point of the crypto BS that governments can't seize crypto crap.

200K lol



SvennoJ on 27 March 2025

"Kidnapped": 1,000+ Protest After Masked ICE Agents Abduct Tufts Ph.D. Student Rumeysa Ozturk


Over a thousand protesters gathered near Tufts University on Wednesday after masked plainclothes immigration agents snatched Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts Ph.D. student and Fulbright scholar, from the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts. Surveillance video shows agents approaching her on the streets near her home Tuesday evening and handcuffing her while she screamed for help. Tufts University's president said the school had no prior notice of her arrest.

Last March, Ozturk co-wrote a piece in the student newspaper criticizing the Tufts administration's response to Palestinian solidarity protests on campus that were calling for divestment from Israel.

Democracy Now!'s Hany Massoud and Ariel Boone were in Somerville at Wednesday's protest. "One of our community members was taken by armed agents of the state who kidnapped her from right outside her home," said Lea Kayali, an activist with the Palestinian Youth Movement. "People are here to stand up for the movement that she was punished for supporting."


Trump's Gulag


First comment (atm)

I'm aware of 3 professors from Yale that are leaving the United States and will now be teaching at the University of Toronto. Treating a kidney specialist like a criminal, treating any immigrant as a criminal is not a good look. The United States is about to experience an enormous brain drain. As a Canadian we are more than happy to welcome these people with open arms. I'm very sorry for what is happening to all the sane Americans that haven't asked for any of this.



SanAndreasX on 27 March 2025
SvennoJ said:

"Kidnapped": 1,000+ Protest After Masked ICE Agents Abduct Tufts Ph.D. Student Rumeysa Ozturk


Over a thousand protesters gathered near Tufts University on Wednesday after masked plainclothes immigration agents snatched Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts Ph.D. student and Fulbright scholar, from the streets of Somerville, Massachusetts. Surveillance video shows agents approaching her on the streets near her home Tuesday evening and handcuffing her while she screamed for help. Tufts University's president said the school had no prior notice of her arrest.

Last March, Ozturk co-wrote a piece in the student newspaper criticizing the Tufts administration's response to Palestinian solidarity protests on campus that were calling for divestment from Israel.

Democracy Now!'s Hany Massoud and Ariel Boone were in Somerville at Wednesday's protest. "One of our community members was taken by armed agents of the state who kidnapped her from right outside her home," said Lea Kayali, an activist with the Palestinian Youth Movement. "People are here to stand up for the movement that she was punished for supporting."


Trump's Gulag


First comment (atm)

I'm aware of 3 professors from Yale that are leaving the United States and will now be teaching at the University of Toronto. Treating a kidney specialist like a criminal, treating any immigrant as a criminal is not a good look. The United States is about to experience an enormous brain drain. As a Canadian we are more than happy to welcome these people with open arms. I'm very sorry for what is happening to all the sane Americans that haven't asked for any of this.

Hopefully Canada will be willing to welcome doctors and nurses from the U.S. as well.



SvennoJ on 27 March 2025
SanAndreasX said:

Hopefully Canada will be willing to welcome doctors and nurses from the U.S. as well.

That was my wife's first reaction, we hope doctors and nurses come (back) over as well. We desperately need them!

And Canada should advertise in Europe as a tourist destination instead of going to the US. Boost in tourism to offset the tariff fallout.




Next on Trump's list, child labor

Trump cuts 69 global programs tackling child labor and human trafficking

More than $500m in grants axed as US risks decades of progress in protecting vulnerable workers worldwide

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/27/trump-cuts-child-labor-human-trafficking-programs

The Washington Post obtained an email detailing how the US Department of Labor’s bureau of international labor affairs (ILAB) will immediately end grants totaling more than $500m that supported labor standard enforcement across 40 countries, including critical initiatives in Mexico, Central America, south-east Asia and Africa.


Florida considers easing child labor laws after pushing out immigrants

A new law under consideration in the state Legislature would roll back child labor laws to make up for a dwindling labor pool

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/florida-child-labor-law-sb-918-rcna198275

As Florida officials enable Trump’s mass deportation policies, lawmakers in the state are looking to children to take on some of the jobs that have typically been done by immigrants. Making its way through the state Senate is a new law, Senate Bill 918, that aims to loosen child labor laws and allow teenagers to work overnight shifts. 

The state’s legislature on Tuesday advanced a bill that would loosen child labor laws, allowing children as young as 14 years old to work overnight shifts. If the new law is passed, teenagers would be able to work overnight jobs on school days. They are currently prevented from working earlier than 6:30 am or later than 11 pm per state law.

S.B. 918 also “includes a number of changes including eliminating working time restrictions on teenagers aged 14 and 15 if they are home-schooled and ending guaranteed meal breaks for 16 and 17 year olds,” CNN reported.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis backs the law and has defended the idea of teenagers and college students working these jobs. DeSantis also explicitly linked the effort to the loss of immigrant labor. Speaking about the consequences of state verification laws at an event with border czar Tom Homan, the governor said, “Yes, we had people that left because of those rules, but you’ve also been able to hire other people. And what’s wrong with expecting our young people to be working part-time now?”


In recent years, several states — many of them led by Republican governors — have rolled back child labor laws. This map from the Economic Policy Institute illustrates the spike in states rolling back these laws from 2021 to 2024. Back in 2023, for example, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill that made it easier for companies to hire children without getting consent from their parents. One month earlier, The New York Times published a bombshell report about the exploitation of immigrant children in factories operated by some of the most well-known companies in the U.S. 

That story should have spurred a nationwide push to strengthen child labor laws. Instead, states like Florida are going in the opposite direction, weakening such laws in part to deal with the fallout from the conservative movement’s demonization of immigrants. They’re essentially using child labor to paper over the gaps left by their draconian immigration policies.

Project 2025, the far-right playbook for Trump’s second term, specifically calls for rolling back “hazard” regulations around child labor. The text claims, “Some young adults show an interest in inherently dangerous jobs” and argues that “with parental consent and proper training, certain young adults should be allowed to learn and work in more dangerous occupations.”

Even as child labor laws are being rolled back, the Trump administration is working to gut social services, including funds that help provide school lunches to children and programs, like the supplemental nutrition assistance program, that help feed poor families. And if those cuts stay in place, they may leave American families with few alternatives to sending their children to work to keep food on the table.



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SanAndreasX on 28 March 2025
SvennoJ said:
SanAndreasX said:

Hopefully Canada will be willing to welcome doctors and nurses from the U.S. as well.

That was my wife's first reaction, we hope doctors and nurses come (back) over as well. We desperately need them!

And Canada should advertise in Europe as a tourist destination instead of going to the US. Boost in tourism to offset the tariff fallout.




I'm a nurse, incidentally, and Trump and Republicans are not making that work any easier or more pleasant. 



SanAndreasX on 28 March 2025

Trump is now threatening Canada and the E.U. if they decide to join forces to retaliate against his regime.

Trump threatens Europe and Canada if they band together - NYT



OdinHades on 28 March 2025
SvennoJ said:

[...]

Even as child labor laws are being rolled back, the Trump administration is working to gut social services, including funds that help provide school lunches to children and programs, like the supplemental nutrition assistance program, that help feed poor families. And if those cuts stay in place, they may leave American families with few alternatives to sending their children to work to keep food on the table.

That's what we call a banana republic here in germany.



Official member of VGC's Nintendo family, approved by the one and only RolStoppable. I feel honored.

SanAndreasX on 28 March 2025
OdinHades said:
SvennoJ said:

[...]

Even as child labor laws are being rolled back, the Trump administration is working to gut social services, including funds that help provide school lunches to children and programs, like the supplemental nutrition assistance program, that help feed poor families. And if those cuts stay in place, they may leave American families with few alternatives to sending their children to work to keep food on the table.

That's what we call a banana republic here in germany.

That's what half of us call it in the United States, too.  The other half seems to love the idea of inflicting heavy labor, preventable diseases, and pollution on the same children they claimed were "precious."



Bofferbrauer2 on 28 March 2025

The Art of the Deal, huh?

Trumps "Art of the Deal" really seems to be "I'll give in, everything you want, I'll do it, daddy Putin"

Is that their vision of "bailing out Europe again", like they said in the tweets? Screwing them royally over and believing they did absolutely nothing wrong?



The Nintendo eShop rating Thread: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=237454 List as Google Doc:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aW2hXQT1TheElVS7z-F3pP-7nbqdrDqWNTxl6JoJWBY/edit?usp=sharing

The Steam/GOG key gifting thread: https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread/242024/the-steamgog-key-gifting-thread/1/ 

Free Pc Games thread: https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread/248138/free-pc-games/1/