Bakari Sellers: Trump's ‘Alligator Alcatraz' is one of most un-American things I've seen
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
8 minutes ago
- Fox News
'Trump effect' touted as southern border numbers stay low, including new record
White House border czar Tom Homan revealed that southern border apprehensions in June were incredibly low – and nobody was released into the U.S. after being apprehended. "Total Border Patrol encounters for the entire month of June 2025 was 6,070. That is less than a single day under Biden," Homan posted to X on Tuesday, touting "the Trump effect." The figure is a dip of 15% from March, and a major dip from moments during the Biden administration, such as December 2023 where there were an average of roughly 11,000 encounters daily. There were only 8,039 apprehensions on a national scale by Border Patrol, which is lower than the record set in March. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the first three days of June 2024 had over 11,000 apprehensions, with the southern border alone having over 7,000 apprehensions in the first two days of that month. "As a matter of fact, the total number of encounters is less than half of a single day under Biden on many days. Also, none of the 6,070 were released into the U.S. ZERO. President Trump has created the most secure border in the history of the nation and the data proves it. We have never seen numbers this low. Never. God bless the men and women of the US Border Patrol and God bless the men and women of ICE. The interior arrests and consequences help to drive down illegal immigration. The TRUMP EFFECT keeps America winning," he continued. In June, Fox News reported that the number of apprehensions and gotaways was at new lows midway through the month. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said there were only 137 apprehensions on June 28, the lowest in roughly 25 years on a single day. Total nationwide encounters, which means encounters not just at the southern border, were the lowest in CBP history at 25,243, which is 12% less than the record low in February 2025. Gotaway numbers also shot down by 90% compared with June of last year. "The numbers don't lie – under President Trump's leadership, DHS and CBP have shattered records and delivered the most secure border in American history. The world is hearing our message: the border is closed to law breakers," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated. "Under President Trump, our Border Patrol agents are empowered to do their job once again, secure our border and protect the American people," she continued. While the political debate continues on deportation efforts and long-term solutions, the contrast remains incredibly stark from the Biden administration on the border itself. Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump deployed troops to the border and the administration began taking steps to resume construction of a wall, a project that was primarily halted with only a few exceptions under Biden. In Washington, the House is in the closing moments of its process on the reconciliation bill on Wednesday, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which includes billions in funding for border security and immigration enforcement for agencies like ICE and U.S. Border Patrol.
Associated Press
9 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Military veteran gets a life sentence for plotting an FBI attack after his Jan. 6 arrest
WASHINGTON (AP) — A military veteran was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for plotting to attack an FBI office and assassinate law enforcement officers in retaliation for his arrest on charges that he was part of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, court records show. Edward Kelley was one of the first rioters to breach the Capitol. Nearly two years later, Kelley made plans with another man to attack the FBI office in Knoxville, Tennessee, using improvised explosive devices attached to vehicles and drones, according to prosecutors. Last November, a jury convicted Kelley of conspiring to murder federal employees, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and influencing federal officials by threat. Kelley received a pardon from President Donald Trump for his Jan. 6 convictions, but a judge agreed with prosecutors that Trump's action did not extend to Kelley's Tennessee case. That makes Kelley, who is from Maryvale, Tennessee, one of only a few Capitol riot defendants remaining in prison after the Republican president's sweeping act of clemency. U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan handed down Kelley's life sentence during a hearing in Knoxville, according to court records. The judge denied a request for Kelley to be released pending the outcome of an appeal. Prosecutors had recommended a life sentence for Kelley, saying he was remorseless and incapable of rehabilitation. 'On the contrary, Kelley not only believes the actions for which he was convicted were justified but that his duty as a self-styled 'patriot' compelled him to target East Tennessee law enforcement for assassination,' they wrote. Kelley served in the Marine Corps for eight years. He was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan before his 2015 discharge from the military. On Jan. 6, 2021, Kelley was captured on video helping two other rioters throw a Capitol Police officer onto the ground and using a piece of wood to damage a window, according to the FBI. He was the fourth person to enter the Capitol through a broken window, the FBI said. After a trial without a jury, a federal judge in Washington convicted Kelley last November of 11 counts stemming from the riot. Before Kelley could be sentenced, Trump pardoned him and hundreds of other convicted Capitol rioters. Kelley argued that his pardon was broad enough to cover his conduct in the Tennessee case, but the judge disagreed. Varlan said Kelley's crimes in the Tennessee case were separated from Kelley's conduct on Jan. 6 'by years and miles.' Prosecutors reached the same conclusion. In other Jan. 6 cases, however, Trump's Justice Department has argued that the pardons apply to separate convictions. For instance, prosecutors concluded that a Kentucky man's pardon for storming the Capitol also covered his conviction for illegally possessing guns when FBI agents searched his home for the Jan. 6 investigation. Kelley has been jailed since December 2022. His lawyer, Mark Brown, said Kelley did not hurt anybody or directly threaten anybody with violence. Brown urged the judge to reject prosecutors' request to apply a 'terrorism enhancement' in calculating his client's sentence. 'Kelley does not deserve the same sentence as an actual 'terrorist' who injured or killed hundreds or thousands of America citizens,' Brown wrote. Kelley's co-defendant, Austin Carter, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in January 2024. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 4. Kelley created a list of 36 law-enforcement officers to target for assassination and shared it with Carter, calling it their first 'mission,' according to prosecutors. All the officers were involved in Kelley's May 2022 arrest on Capitol riot charges and the FBI's search of his home. 'The proof at trial established that Kelley targeted law enforcement because of their anticipated role in the civil war that Kelley hoped to initiate and because of his animus towards those who participated in his May 2022 arrest and search of his home,' prosecutors wrote. Kelley, Carter and a third man used an encrypted messaging platform to discuss plans, prosecutors said. Carter testified that he met with Kelley to conduct military-style training in November 2022. 'Carter's testimony was unequivocal — he had no doubts that, had he and Kelley not been arrested, the law enforcement personnel included on Kelley's list would have been murdered,' prosecutors wrote. Kelley's attorney said the case involved 'little to no planning.' 'Discussions did not lead to action,' Brown wrote. 'And while people may not like what Mr. Kelley had to say, he stands behind his position that he has a First Amendment right to free speech.'
Los Angeles Times
9 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
National pride is declining in America. And it's splitting by party lines, new Gallup polling shows
WASHINGTON — Only 36% of Democrats say they're 'extremely' or 'very' proud to be American, according to a new Gallup poll, reflecting a dramatic decline in national pride that's also clear among young people. The findings are a stark illustration of how many — but not all — Americans have felt less of a sense of pride in their country over the past decade. The split between Democrats and Republicans, at 56 percentage points, is at its widest since 2001. That includes all four years of Republican President Trump's first term. Only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults who are part of Generation Z, which is defined as those born from 1997 to 2012, expressed a high level of pride in being American in Gallup surveys conducted in the past five years, on average. That's compared with about 6 in 10 millennials — those born between 1980 and 1996 — and at least 7 in 10 U.S. adults in older generations. 'Each generation is less patriotic than the prior generation, and Gen Z is definitely much lower than anybody else,' said Jeffrey Jones, a senior editor at Gallup. 'But even among the older generations, we see that they're less patriotic than the ones before them, and they've become less patriotic over time. That's primarily driven by Democrats within those generations.' America's decline in national pride has been a slow erosion, with a steady downtick in Gallup's data since January 2001, when the question was first asked. Even during the tumultuous early years of the Iraq War, the vast majority of U.S. adults, whether Republican or Democrat, said they were 'extremely' or 'very' proud to be American. At that point, about 9 in 10 were 'extremely' or 'very' proud to be American. That remained high in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but the consensus around American pride slipped in the years that followed, dropping to about 8 in 10 in 2006 and continuing a gradual decline. Now, 58% of U.S. adults say that, in a downward shift that's been driven almost entirely by Democrats and independents. The vast majority of Republicans continue to say they're proud to be American. Independents' pride in their national identity hit a new low in the most recent survey, at 53%, largely following that pattern of gradual decline. Democrats' diminished pride in being American is more clearly linked to Trump's time in office. When Trump first entered the White House, in 2017, about two-thirds of Democrats said they were proud to be American. That had fallen to 42% by 2020, just before Trump lost reelection to Democrat Joe Biden. But while Democrats' sense of national pride rebounded when Biden took office, it didn't go back to its pre-Trump levels. 'It's not just a Trump story,' Jones said. 'Something else is going on, and I think it's just younger generations coming in and not being as patriotic as older people.' Other recent polling shows that Democrats and independents are less likely than Republicans to say that expressing patriotism is important or to feel a sense of pride in their national leaders. Nearly 9 in 10 Republicans in a 2024 SSRS poll said they believed patriotism has a positive impact on the United States, with Democrats more divided: 45% said patriotism had a positive impact on the country, while 37% said it was negative. But a more general sense of discontent was clear on both sides of the aisle earlier this year, when a CNN/SSRS poll found that fewer than 1 in 10 Democrats and Republicans said 'proud' described the way they felt about politics in America today. In that survey, most Americans across the political spectrum said they were 'disappointed' or 'frustrated' with the country's politics. Sanders and Thomson-Deveaux write for the Associated Press.
