Billie Joe Armstrong posts burning Waymo video in protest of ICE raids
Armstrong posted an incendiary video to Instagram on Sunday, June 8, that stitched together footage from Los Angeles demonstrations. The clip included scenes of a burning Waymo self-driving taxi tagged with 'F— ICE,' and protesters being arrested.
The video was set to Green Day's 'F— Off,' a track from the band's latest album, 'Saviors (Édition de Luxe).'
Armstrong, who last month headlined the BottleRock Napa Valley festival with his band, captioned the post with a middle finger emoji and an ice cube — a not-so-subtle jab at the federal agency.
The protests erupted following ICE raids at multiple workplaces across Los Angeles on Friday, June 6, prompting a weekend of citywide unrest. Demonstrators blocked freeways and torched vehicles, including the autonomous Waymo cars.
President Donald Trump responded by deploying 2,000 National Guard troops to the region, a move criticized by Gov. Gavin Newsom as an unnecessary escalation.
In San Francisco, police made 60 arrests, which included some minors, after protesters refused to comply with a dispersal order.
Armstrong's post garnered mixed reactions. Some fans denounced the glorification of property destruction, while others defended the East Bay punk icon's political stance.
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UPI
2 days ago
- UPI
Military clash between Thailand, Cambodia escalates at border
A crater is seen near homes at a residential area amid clashes along the disputed Thai-Cambodian border, in Surin Province, Thailand, on Saturday. Photo by Kaikungwon Duanjumroon/EPA July 26 (UPI) -- Cambodia and Thailand military forces on Saturday fought each other for the third day over contested border territory as the death toll rose to at least 32. The dead were 19 in Thailand, including 13 civilians, and 13 in Cambodia, with eight civilians, in the bloodiest fighting in more than a decade, The Guardian reported. Acting Thai Prime Minister warned the situation "could develop into war." "For now, it remains limited to clashes," he told reporters in Bangkok, and his nation was acting to "protect our land and the sovereignty of our nation." Fighting involving tanks began Thursday near Prasat Ta Muen Thom, an ancient temple claimed by both nations. Thailand also used F-16 jets. Weapons included cluster munitions, which are internationally prohibited though both nations haven't agreed to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. "Neither Thailand nor Cambodia appears to be paying attention to international humanitarian law at great expense to civilians," John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said in a news release Friday. "Diplomatic efforts underway need to prioritize protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure." On Friday, United Nations diplomats from both countries sought a cease-fire during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York. Cherdchai Chaivaivid, Thailand's envoy to the U.N., urged Cambodia to "immediately cease all hostilities and acts of aggression, and resume dialogue in good faith." The diplomat said his nation agreed "in principle" to the deal but said Cambodia was continuing "indiscriminate attacks on Thai territory." Cambodia's U.N. ambassador, Chhea Keo said "Cambodia asked for an immediate cease-fire -- unconditionally -- and we also call for the peaceful solution of the dispute," said Chea Keo, Cambodia's U.N. ambassador. "If this conflict escalates, the peace and stability of the entire Southeast Asia region will be at stake," Keo added. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged both sides to exercise the "utmost restraint." "The United States is gravely concerned by reports of the escalating fighting along the Thailand-Cambodia border," a State Department press spokesperson said Thursday. "We are particularly alarmed by reports of harm to innocent civilians. We express our deepest condolences on the loss of life. We strongly urge the immediate cessation of attacks, protection of civilians, and peaceful settlement of disputes." On Saturday, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social from Scotland that he "I just had a very good call with the Prime Minister of Cambodia, and informed him of my discussions with Thailand, and its Acting Prime Minister. Both Parties are looking for an immediate Ceasefire and Peace. They are also looking to get back to the 'Trading Table' with the United States, which we think is inappropriate to do until such time as the fighting STOPS. "They have a long and storied History and Culture. They will hopefully get along for many years to come. When all is done, and Peace is at hand, I look forward to concluding our Trading Agreements with both!" Malaysia, which heads the 10-member Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, offered to mediate. China has also expressed concern about the situation, which worsened on Saturday. Cambodia's Ministry of Defense accused Thailand of "unprovoked and premeditated act of aggression" on -- firing five heavy artillery shells in Pursat Province on the southern edge of the shared border. Thailand said Cambodia attacked in neighboring Trat Province but their naval forces pushed back "the incursion" early Saturday. Trat, bordering the Gulf of Thailand and the Pacific Ocean, includes numerous islands with white-sand beaches and coral reefs. Tensions have escalated since May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in an exchange with gunfire. Then last week, Thai soldiers were injured by new landmines. Cambodia has denied putting them there. Thailand recalled its ambassador from Cambodia and said it would expel Cambodia's diplomat in Bangkok. At least 138,000 people have been evacuated from Thailand's borders. Cambodia said more than 23,000 people were moved from near the border. Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister, visited evacuees at a shelter in Ubon Ratchathani Province on Saturday morning. Cambodia has a population of 17.4 million and Thailand has 71.7 million residents. Vietnam borders both nations.
USA Today
2 days ago
- USA Today
This rural airport (with a jail on the tarmac) is Trump's deportation hub
The Alexandria Staging Facility features a detention center on the tarmac and has become President Donald Trump's main hub for deportation flights. ALEXANDRIA, LA – Sam Zeidan pulled onto the grassy shoulder at the airport, hoping to see his brother among the shackled men boarding a deportation flight. A jet roared on the sweaty tarmac. The site, known as the Alexandria Staging Facility in rural Louisiana, is the nation's only ICE jail-combo-airport and is the top hub for the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flights climbed to a five-year high in June, and Alexandria ranked first among the nation's five busiest deportation hubs, according analyst Tom Cartwright, who tracks ICE flights for the nonprofit Witness at the Border. The record pace has continued in July, with the Trump administration leaning heavily on the Louisiana ICE detention centers that feed Alexandria. The Alexandria Staging Facility sits on the tarmac of a small regional airport between a golf course and gated neighborhood. Zeidan squinted through the chain-link fence. A Palestinian immigrant with U.S. citizenship, Zeidan told USA TODAY he believed his older brother was going to be deported that day from Alexandria. "He's been making a lot of trouble here," Zeidan said on a Wednesday in mid-June, lacing his fingers through the fence. "Yesterday, they sent him over here but the flight was canceled." More: Trump approval rating drops in new poll; more Americans oppose immigration policies 'Cornerstone of ICE deportation flights' Louisiana's nine dedicated ICE facilities have been holding more than 7,000 detainees each day, on average, in recent months. The state dramatically expanded ICE detention during the first Trump administration, growing its network from four detention centers and about 2,000 detainees. Alexandria's holding facility is one of the oldest, dating to 2014. It has 400 detention beds, receives buses from the ICE jails in rural communities around the state and is run by one of the nation's largest private prison contractors, GEO Group Inc. "Historically, it's a facility that people will go to in the couple of days before their removal flight, because it's attached to the airport and ICE Air," said Deb Fleischaker, a former ICE official who served under the Biden and first Trump administrations. "It's designed as a short-term detention facility." On that mid-June morning, guards could be seen moving men and women off a white prison bus into the humid air, already nearing 90 degrees. Chained at the wrists, waist and ankles in five-point restraints, they climbed a stairway into a plane with "Eastern" painted on the body, blue on white. "If you had to pick one ICE facility that is the cornerstone of the ICE deportation flights, Alexandria is it," Cartwright said. "There are a lot of detention centers that feed into it." Deportation flights on the rise Nationwide, the number of deportation flights rose to 209 in June, according to Cartwright – the highest level since the Biden administration conducted more than 193 flights during a mass deportation of Haitian asylum-seekers in September 2021. That's up 46% from 143 deportation flights in June 2024, he said. The number of deportation flights has increased 12% since President Donald Trump's inauguration, according to Cartwright's analysis. But because the administration doesn't release details of who is on the planes, it's unclear whether the total number of people deported has risen at the same pace. Some deportation flights depart with seats full, 80 to 120 people, to Mexico or Central America, Cartwright said. Others – like the charter carrying eight criminal deportees to South Sudan – leave to faraway destinations with fewer passengers on board. ICE reported removing 271,48 immigrants in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2024. ICE removed 228,282 people from Oct. 1 through mid-July, according to ICE data. The agency didn't respond to USA TODAY's request for information on the number of deportations during the Trump administration so far. Congress recently approved a cash infusion to boost ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations division: $29.9 billion. The lump sum can be used, among other things, for "for fleet modernization" to support deportations. Alexandria may not hold the top spot for long: The U.S. Army plans to host a 5,000-bed temporary detention center on Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, with access to the airport on base. More: White House touts nearly 140,000 deportations, but data says roughly half actually deported 'It's Trump season' Zeidan and his family run a grocery store in Alexandria, and he drives Uber on the side, he said. But his brother got into trouble over drugs and was picked up by ICE after being released from a six-year state prison sentence. "He's been in Jena nine months," Zeidan said, referring to the ICE Central Louisiana Processing Center in Jena, Louisiana. His brother's wife is a citizen, Zeidan said, and the couple have five children. He wasn't sure why ICE held his brother for nine months. Or why, his family would later learn, he was held on the tarmac that day for more than four hours before being bused to Texas, then back to a detention center in Louisiana, where he is still being held. He shrugged: "It's Trump season, you know."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Kennedy to oust care task force, WSJ reports; HHS says no decision yet
By Ahmed Aboulenein and Deena Beasley WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to remove all the members of an advisory panel that determines what cancer screenings and other preventive health measures insurers must cover, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said on Friday that Kennedy had not yet made a decision regarding the 16-member U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. "No final decision has been made on how the USPSTF can better support HHS' mandate to Make America Healthy Again," the HHS spokesperson said. The Journal said Kennedy planned to dismiss all 16 panel members in what would be the latest in a series of far-reaching actions by Kennedy, a long-time vaccine skeptic, to reshape U.S. regulation of vaccines, food and medicine. In June he fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of vaccine experts, replacing them with seven handpicked members, including known vaccine skeptics. The USPSTF includes medical experts serving staggered four-year terms on a volunteer basis. Its role in choosing what services will be covered by insurers was established under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The 40-year-old group, whose recommendations provide guidance to doctors, looks at everything from routine breast cancer screening to drugs to prevent HIV infection. The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld the constitution of the task force and ruled in favor of its recommendation to cover preventive care. Though made up of an independent group of volunteer experts, members are selected by the health secretary without Senate confirmation and it relies on support from the department's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. A group of 104 health organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, in early July sent a letter to Congressional health committees, urging them "to protect the integrity" of the task force. The task force has been criticized by some conservatives as too left-leaning.
