Category: politics

White House pushes back on Pope Leo’s statement that immigrants are subject to ‘inhuman treatment’ in the US

It’s not the first time the bishop of Rome has criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

By Irie Sentner

The Trump administration has again found itself tussling with a pope.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday pushed back on Pope Leo XIV’s suggestion Tuesday that people who support the “inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States” may not be “pro life.”

“Someone who says I’m against abortion but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life,” added the American-born pope. The pontiff’s comments came in response to reporters’ questions about the Chicago Archdiocese’s plan to give a lifetime achievement award to Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat who supports abortion rights and represents Leo’s home state of Illinois.

Leavitt said she “would reject there was inhumane treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States under this administration,” then criticized former President Joe Biden’s immigration policies and highlighted some of the violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.

“This administration is trying to enforce our nation’s laws in the most humane way possible, and we are upholding the law,” she said during Wednesday’s press briefing. “We are doing that on behalf of the people of our country who live here.”

The press secretary — who is devoutly Catholic and regularly prays with her staff before her press briefings — did not mention the pope.

It’s not the first time the White House — which has displayed its religious, and specifically Christian and Catholic, fervor via policy — has disagreed with the Vatican. Earlier this year, Vice President JD Vance, another staunch Catholic, sparred with the late Pope Francis over the administration’s hardline immigration policies.

A spokesperson for Vance declined to comment on Leo’s remarks.

President Donald Trump in his second term has sought to deliver on the massive border crackdown he promised on the campaign trail, dispatching federal immigration agents to conduct massive and highly publicized raids across the country. The White House posted an ASMR video of detainees in chains, and on Valentine’s Day posted the message: “Roses are red, violets are blue, come here illegally, and we’ll deport you.”

During the briefing, Vance pushed back on Democrats’ demand to renew expiring health insurance subsidies in order to fund the government, claiming that immigrants are responsible for longer wait times in emergency rooms.

“Very often someone in the emergency room waiting is an illegal alien, very often it’s a person who can’t speak English,” he said. “Why do those people get health care benefits at hospitals paid for by American citizens?”

Source: White House pushes back on Pope Leo’s statement that immigrants are subject to ‘inhuman treatment’ in the US – POLITICO

This is fascism

[Propaganda images by Trump supporter Jon McNaughton]

Fascism starts with talk, not tanks. With democratic elections, not a coup. And it takes hold thanks to people who think things won’t move quickly—until they do just that.

By Rosan Smits

Fascism starts with talk, not tanks. With democratic elections, not a coup. And it takes hold thanks to people who think things won’t move quickly—until they do just that.

On February 18, 2025, a video appeared on X. An officer from Enforcement and Removal Operations can be  The sky over the Seattle airport is overcast. Jet engines can be heard idling in the background.

Then: the clinking of chains. We see a blue plastic crate, filled with metal restraints. Someone lays them out on the tarmac—one set of cuffs per person. People are cuffed tightly, hands and feet. The camera shows no faces, only bodies and steel. The video ends with a shackled prisoner climbing the boarding stairs with difficulty, his restraints hitting against the metal steps.

The title of the post: “ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight 🔊”. The abbreviation is a jarring reference to the type of YouTube video that soothes and  Distant whispers, the rhythmic patter of raindrops, the rustling of leaves in the wind. And in this case, the sound of heavily chained men being deported.

Fascism is back. This time no swastikas, Nazi flags, or deadly bureaucracy, but MAGA hats, right-wing extremist memes, and a triumphant fist held high. No ghettos or concentration camps, but data-driven manhunts and “detention facilities” in El Salvador and Guantanamo Bay. No SS officers or brownshirts, but  and a Capitol mob.

It’s perfectly clear: the US president, Donald Trump, is putting together a fascist regime. And fast. Not only Trump’s   But what’s more, internationally renowned scholars—the indisputable experts when it comes to fascism—are now 

Their warnings still meet with resistance. For many, the label “fascism” is inextricably tied to the Holocaust and should be left in the past out of respect for the six million murdered Jews. Others see the term as exaggerated and alarmist: every fascist so far pales in comparison to Adolf Hitler. Accusing Trump of fascism, they feel, is like yelling “FIRE!” just because someone, somewhere has lit a small flame—a distraction from the very real challenges facing the United States.

And yet it’s precisely that resistance to using the word fascism that’s typical of how fascism works. Fascism thrives by playing down what was previously seen as extremist. And once that happens, any warnings get dismissed as overly alarmist.

Trump takes it to the next level: anyone who accuses him of being fascist  It’s a tried and true tactic to sap language of meaning: If everyone calls their adversaries “fascist,” the word loses its power to warn people about actual fascism.

Instead of continuing to debate whether or not Trump can be called a fascist, it’s better to understand why experts are alerting us. To do that, it’s essential we understand how fascism works, so we can recognize today’s variants, in the US and beyond.

The function of fascism

Fascism conjures up images of the death and destruction of the Third Reich, Benito Mussolini’s Blackshirts, Francisco Franco’s generals, or perhaps the white hoods of the Ku Klux Klan. When you think of fascism, you think of its most visible and extreme outgrowths. But while everyone has some idea of what fascism means, there’s no clear definition.

In order to recognize fascism as a wider phenomenon, we shouldn’t look to those visible extremes, says Professor Emeritus Robert Paxton, author of the seminal work The Anatomy of Fascism (2005). According to Paxton, we should look at what function fascism serves for politicians 

That function is strategic. Fascism is a way to take political grievance, shared by members of a dominant group in society, and mobilize it against some supposed “enemy,” often aided by a degree of societal breakdown during a time of crisis. It’s similar in that sense to sometimes called 

But where populist leaders stretch the ground rules of democracy, fascists take things further. They change the rules, seize absolute power, and destroy those seen as foes, using violence if need be.

Fueling this strategy is emotion, not some coherent set of ideological convictions. Ultranationalism and an unshakable belief in the “survival of the fittest” are always part of fascism, but aside from that, there’s no unifying story.

“A fascist just has to be a storyteller,”  The fascist’s words matter, in the sense that they must provoke rage. But what he says, and whether it’s true, matters a great deal less. The fascist simply has to “find a pulse and hold it.”

Continue reading “This is fascism” →

Trump tariffs sour future for some in wine industry

Wine industry

More than a third of the wine consumed in the U.S. is imported, mostly from Europe

By Ariel Wesler

LOS ANGELES — At Brentwood Fine Wines, sommelier Ferdinando “Ferdi” Mucerino stocks wines and spirits from all over the world. He says about 60% of his products are imports. Wines from France are currently among his bestsellers, not surprising since Italian and French wines are the most popular in the U.S.

What You Need To Know

    • All foreign wines now have minimum tariffs of 10% as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to rebalance global trade
    • Ferdinando “Ferdi” Mucerino at Brentwood Fine Wines worries prices will go up and never come down again, even if the tariffs are lifted at some point
    • Laura Gabriel, a small winemaker from Sonoma, California predicted that people will “probably drink even less, maybe go out less and just spend their money elsewhere”
  • Many wine distributors depend on imported wines, and Gabriel said that if they have to pay more, they might buy less or raise prices on American wines to make up for lost profits

But all foreign wines now have minimum tariffs of 10%. It’s part of President Donald Trump’s plan to rebalance global trade.

“What he’s trying to do, in my opinion, is equal that playing field by really charging the same tariffs that we’re charged when our wine goes into those other countries,” said Craig Ledbetter, a wine grape grower from Lodi, California.

While winemakers and sellers are grateful it wasn’t the 200% tariff the president had previously threatened, that’s not off the table just yet, especially if Europe retaliates.

A 200% tariff would essentially triple the cost of European wines in the U.S., and that has some local wine shops concerned not only about their reputation, but how it would affect their customers.

Mucerino worries the industry could see a repeat of what happened during Trump’s first term.

“Prices are going to go up,” he said. “Then, once the tariffs are lifted or changed, prices are going to stay pretty much the same, so it’s a lose-lose for the for the consumer.”

“People are already drinking less, and so I think it’s just going to make people probably drink even less, maybe go out less and just spend their money elsewhere,” said Laura Gabriel, a small winemaker from Sonoma, California.

She started the company Paper Planes with her husband about 10 years ago. She said that even though the tariffs are designed to encourage people to buy American, there isn’t always a suitable substitute.

“You can’t make Champagne in the United States,” Gabriel said. “You can’t make Burgundy or Bordeaux in the United States.”

Many wine distributors depend on imported wines, and Gabriel said that if they have to pay more, they might buy less or raise prices on American wines to make up for lost profits.

“It’s going to affect wine shops,” she said. “It’s going to affect distributors.It’s going to affect a lot of small businesses, but I just don’t think that they can take it financially right now.”

It’s a complex puzzle that is leaving the minds of many in the wine industry swirling.

Source: Trump tariffs sour future for some in wine industry

U.S. bishops will cease refuge resettlement work with government after Trump funding freeze

Catholic Church

The U.S.C.C.B. said it would not renew its cooperative agreements with the federal government related to children’s services and refugee support after its longstanding partnerships with the government in those areas became “untenable.”

By Kate Scanlon

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said it would not renew its cooperative agreements with the federal government related to children’s services and refugee support after its longstanding partnerships with the federal government in those areas became “untenable.”

Earlier this year, the Trump administration suspended a federal refugee resettlement program as part of its broader effort to enforce its hardline immigration policies. The ensuing halt in federal funding for the USCCB’s refugee resettlement services is the subject of ongoing litigation, and it prompted the conference to lay off about a third of the staff in its Migration and Refugee Services Office in February.

A spokesperson for the USCCB told OSV News the bishops were seeking reimbursement of $24,336,858.26 for resettlement services (PRM and ORR programs) that was still pending payment as of April 7.

“This situation has been brought to us by the decisions of the government,” Anthony Granado, associate general secretary for policy and advocacy for the USCCB, told OSV News.

Despite decades of partnership with the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services, across administrations of both parties, including the first Trump administration, Granado said, “we’ve been placed in an untenable position now.”

“It is clear that the government has decided that it wishes to go about doing this in a different way that doesn’t include us, and so we were kind of forced into this position,” Granado said.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the USCCB and head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, said in an April 7 statement it was “heartbreaking” to announce the bishops’ conference would not renew its “existing cooperative agreements with the federal government related to children’s services and refugee support.”

“This difficult decision follows the suspension by the government of our cooperative agreements to resettle refugees,” he said. “The decision to reduce these programs drastically forces us to reconsider the best way to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters seeking safe harbor from violence and persecution. As a national effort, we simply cannot sustain the work on our own at current levels or in current form.”

Citing the government’s suspension of the cooperative agreements to resettle refugees, Archbishop Broglio said that the conference has “been concerned with helping families who are fleeing war, violence, and oppression find safe and secure homes.”

“Over the years, partnerships with the federal government helped expand lifesaving programs, benefiting our sisters and brothers from many parts of the world,” Archbishop Broglio said. “All participants in these programs were welcomed by the U.S. government to come to the United States and underwent rigorous screening before their arrival. These are displaced souls who see in America a place of dreams and hope. Some assisted American efforts abroad at their own risk and more seek a place to worship and pray safely as they know God calls them.”

He said, “Our efforts were acts of pastoral care and charity, generously supported by the people of God when funds received from the government did not cover the full cost.”

Federal law requires that unaccompanied refugee minors be cared for, and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement historically has turned to faith-based organizations, including the USCCB, to carry out this work.

A spokesperson for HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from OSV News about its cooperative agreement with the USCCB.

Granado said the conference’s cooperative agreements with the federal government were “really about people.”

“From the church’s perspective, this is about responding to the Gospel command — Jesus says in the Gospel, ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me,’” he said, referencing Jesus Christ’s words in Matthew 25:35-40 regarding his final judgement. “This has been a blessing and a beautiful part of the USCCB and the Catholic Church in the United States.”

The children and refugees impacted “are real people, real families” as well as “the staff whose work will be impacted,” Granado said.

As the agreements end, Archbishop Broglio added, “we will work to identify alternative means of support for the people the federal government has already admitted to these programs. We ask your prayers for the many staff and refugees impacted.” The USCCB, Archbishop Broglio said, “will continue advocating for policy reforms that provide orderly, secure immigration processes, ensuring the safety of everyone in our communities.”

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to advocating on behalf of men, women, and children suffering the scourge of human trafficking,” he said. “For half a century, we have been willing partners in implementing the government’s refugee resettlement program. The Gospel’s call to do what we can for the least among us remains our guide. We ask you to join us in praying for God’s grace in finding new ways to bring hope where it is most needed.”

Source: U.S. bishops will cease refuge resettlement work with government after Trump funding freeze | America Magazine