Signs at the Republican National Convention called for “Mass Deportation Now!”, giving a full embrace to Donald Trump’s pledge to expel millions of migrants in the largest deportation program in American history.

“Some Republicans aren’t quite ready for that.”

“Historians go back to at least the 1850s when German and Irish immigrants were targeted as degenerate thieves. An undercurrent of popular belief that immigrants breed crime persisted through the 20th century and into the 21st.

“But no one compares to Trump, who reached the pinnacle of power by making immigration a signature issue and portraying the foreign-born as criminals. Yet the weight of evidence shows no support for claims that immigrants are more responsible for crime than native-born Americans.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/trump-mass-deportations-latino-voters-ec64f85e3633c9c7a8a247eaf9feb64f

Putin has described the incursion as a “large-scale provocation.”

What? More of a large-scale provocation than INVADING ANOTHER COUNTRY and STARTING A WAR??

“The Russian Defense Ministry called it one of the largest cross-border incursions of the war as the Russian military and border guards block Ukrainian forces from pushing deeper into the region in southwestern Russia.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kursk-fighting-sudzha-a49c55fc367bcbaed2e95e515bf99b80

Interesting.

“The number of women getting abortions in the U.S. actually went up in the first three months of 2024 compared with before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a report released Wednesday found, reflecting the lengths that Democratic-controlled states went to expand access.

“A major reason for the increase is that some Democratic-controlled states enacted laws to protect doctors who use telemedicine to see patients in places that have abortion bans, according to the quarterly #WeCount report for the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-survey-pills-roe-election-2024-7179dda48eae0a764be89c2e0aafd80a

The BBC has a weekly newsletter focusing on the U.S. elections and how they are perceived and affected by the rest of the world.

“Each week, they’ll send you takeaways of what you really need to know from the election race and help you see the bigger global picture.

“They will also suggest articles for essential further reading to help you feel well-informed.

“As you probably know, American politics can be serious, amusing and downright absurd, and sometimes all three at once, so they’ll try to cover the lighter aspects too.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68093155

It’s always a mixed bag when we agree to prisoner exchanges. Especially when we know that Russia (why is it always Russia?) made up accusations of espionage that were unfounded and untrue.

Well, at least these Americans (and Germans) are home again.

“The 24 people — some prominent, some not — included a collection of journalists and political dissidents, suspected spies, a computer hacker and a fraudster. Even a man convicted of murder.

“Russia released 16 people, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan. Both were facing long prison sentences after being convicted in Russia’s heavily politicized legal system of espionage charges that the U.S. government called baseless.

“Also freed by Moscow was Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen convicted in July of spreading false information about the Russian military — accusations her family and employer have rejected.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/russia-gershkovich-whelan-prisoner-swap-354df585ad321ecdbea4c0f2c557f0aa