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“ICE dungeons are systematically ... built to break people mentally,” Kordia said.

A movement in the name of democracy must resist imperial ambition done in our name and with our money.

The Trump administration is asking Congress for $152 million to transform Alcatraz into a “state-of-the-art secure prison facility,” as part of its 2027 budget proposal.That would cover just the first-year costs of the redevelopment, which has been roundly criticized as ill conceived and a poor use of federal funds.“For years, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has housed violent criminals in crumbling detention facilities,” reads the budget item. “Building on a $5 billion investment secured in the President’s [Working Families Tax Cut], the Budget further invests in BOP to ensure competitive pay, safe working conditions, and an end to longstanding correctional officer shortages. Within this level, the Budget also affirms the President’s commitment to rebuild Alcatraz as a state-of-the-art secure prison facility, providing $152 million to cover the first year of project costs.”Donald Trump has seriously floated the possibility for almost a year, and members of his administration—such as former Attorney General Pam Bondi—have claimed that the site could be used to offload pressure from America’s existing prison network, potentially holding the likes of international drug traffickers.The biggest problem with that plan: Alcatraz can only hold a maximum of 336 prisoners.Yet several Republicans have already thrown their support behind the initiative, effectively lending credence to the idea that taxpayer funds should actually be used to rehabilitate the island prison. Immediately after Trump initially pitched the idea in May, Senator Eric Schmitt vaunted the plan as “very smart.” Markwayne Mullin, the Oklahoma senator recently turned homeland security secretary, also endorsed the scheme on X. Representative Mary E. Miller even got to work itemizing a fantasy list of the most important Alcatraz inductees: “The first person to be sent to Alcatraz should be Anthony Fauci,” she wrote in May, referring to the pandemic-era director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.In reality, there is practically zero possibility that the famed prison would reopen to house more prisoners. Alcatraz—which operated for just 29 years—was shut down in 1963 in part due to how expensive it was to operate. Data from the federal Bureau of Prisons shows that housing inmates at Alcatraz was three times more expensive than at other jails thanks to the fact that it is located on a remote island, requiring all of its resources, such as water, food, and fuel, to be shipped from the mainland.“An estimated $3-5 million was needed just for restoration and maintenance work to keep the prison open. That figure did not include daily operating costs,” according to the Bureau of Prisons.John Martini, an expert on Alcatraz’s history who previously served as an Alcatraz park ranger, told the San Francisco Chronicle in May that the building is “totally inoperable” and has no running water or sewage.“It was falling apart and needed huge amounts of reconstruction, and that would have only brought it up to 1963 code,” Martini told the paper, noting that the building would need to be torn down and completely rebuilt to house prisoners again. “It was always an extremely expensive place to run.”Meanwhile, the tourism centering around the former island prison rakes in $60 million in annual revenue. The site hosts 1.6 million annual visitors, according to the National Park Service.Trump’s attachment to the penitentiary appears to be less practical than it is uncharacteristically romantic. The president has practically waxed poetic about Alcatraz, sentimentalizing it as representing something that’s “both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable.” Meanwhile, the White House has proposed sweeping cuts to programs that actually would help Americans, such as slashing $5 billion from the National Institute of Health and $4 billion from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, as well as gutting funding to Planned Parenthood and poverty-alleviating community block grants (which the mock budget derogatorily refers to as a “duplicative slush fund for woke Community Action Agencies”).

The war on Iran has caused the biggest oil supply disruption in history, as oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz falters. Taken together with this year’s invasion of Venezuela, home to the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and the Trump administration’s subsequent cutting off of oil sales to Cuba — potentially its next military target — we are [...]

In 2006, I returned to Northwest Indiana and reconnected with family and friends after processing out of the United States Marine Corps. As a combat veteran, the transition to the civilian world is, at first, particularly jarring. One of the primary things that becomes very apparent upon returning to the civilian world is the virtually [...]

Under a new order, brand-name pharmaceuticals made in other countries could be hit with tariffs as high as 100 percent.

ICE is claiming that Sarsour, who has lived in the U.S. for 33 years, is a terrorist. His supporters say he's punished for criticizing Israel.

Voters with negative views of both parties are now plus-thirty-freaking-one for the Democrats. That’s a 48-point swing from 2022. The kind of swing that can make a once impenetrable lead in the Senate with a friendly GOP map suddenly look vulnerable in red states like Alaska and possibly even James Talarico’s Texas.