@orlandofloresjr
Deputy Managing Editor in New Orleans | Gulf States Newsroom (WWNO, WRKF, WBHM, MPB, NPR) | Past stops: The Times-Picayune, The Advocate, The Times Record News | Proud Midwestern State alum | contact me at: orlando@gulfstatesnewsroom.org
I interviewed two of the mods of r/Minneapolis about their tireless work this month: “I just wanted a local subreddit to know what was happening in my city, and now all of a sudden, we’ve turned into this de facto hub of information for basically how to fight fascism.”
www.wired.com/story/reddit...
The Atlantic reported that Gregory Bovino has been removed from his role as the "commander at large" for the U.S. Border Patrol and will return to his former job in California, where he is expected to retire soon. No confirmation from DHS or the White House, yet.
www.reuters.com/world/bovino...
If Stephen Miller is still in the White House, that means the white nationalist gameplan is still all systems GO.
What we're witnessing is just window dressing and distractions.
Tom Homan is just as bad as Bovino, but less openly Nazi.
Keep your eyes wide open.
The cameras could offer the closest picture yet of what happened when Alex Pretti was fatally shot.
Following the killing of AFGE Member Alex Pretti and the subsequent slanderous rhetoric that followed from top Trump administration officials, AFGE National President Everett Kelley issued the following statement: “Yesterday, AFGE brought together labor and faith leaders from Minneapolis and across the nation to mourn our fallen brother from Local 3669, Alex Pretti. We honored his life and legacy and lifted up his family, his friends, his union, Minneapolis, and our nation in prayer. “Today, we demand accountability. “In the immediate aftermath of Alex’s killing, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem betrayed the public trust by slandering the good name of our union brother and calling him a “domestic terrorist.” Alex Pretti was a patriotic ICU nurse at a VA hospital who devoted his life to serving America’s veterans. That claim was reckless, defamatory, and unsupported by the facts. Noem was preceded in this false statement by Stephen Miller, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, who is also the architect of the chaotic and failed immigration policy in Minnesota. “Our demand is clear: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was responsible for carrying out the policy that led to Alex’s needless killing, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of that policy, must resign immediately. If they refuse, President Trump must dismiss them.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents border patrol officers at the National Border Patrol Council, calls on Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller to resign or be fired
Renee Nicole Good's wife gave her first public comments to MPR News: "We were raising our son to believe that no matter where you come from or what you look like, all of us deserve compassion and kindness."
PBS News notes this Sunday will be “PBS News Weekend’s” last due to federal budget cuts
So Bari Weiss’s first real editorial intervention at CBS is to repress coverage of American concentration camps.
The Department of Homeland Security finally confirms that the massive immigration enforcement operation has started in Louisiana.
The operation is called “Catahoula Crunch” and is aimed at arresting criminal immigrants in and around New Orleans who have been previously released from jail.
Seriously everything, EVERYTHING about the RFK/Nuzzi/LIzza moment is an argument for a newsroom where you pitch stories in front of each other and editors who shield you from your own worst impulses.
Every year I see this remix with just men’s sports, so… Happy Thanksgiving from Good Game with Sarah Spain! 🫘🫛🥔🍅
P.S. Check out the editing skills on yer girl. Watch out world, I’m starting to figure out this whole content creator thing…
I think everybody has a “Wallace Shawn from Young Sheldon” — my first one would probably be “Vincent Price, the guy who did the voice of Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective”
Based on that trip I don’t think the president is seriously planning a full-scale nuclear test anytime soon.
❌ Our weapons labs could not do such a test in the near-term that would be in any way useful.
❌ Russia and China have not conducted full scale tests since the 1990s.
I happened to go to our nuclear test tunnels a little under a year ago. Here’s what we do instead of full-scale nuclear testing:
The secret lab where America tests its nuclear weapons
www.npr.org/2025/01/29/n...
NEW: President Trump says he has instructed the DOD to begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China.
It’s unclear what this means since Russia and China are not currently conducting nuclear tests and the DOD does not conduct testing for the US (it’s the DOE that does).
BREAKING: In a 51-42 vote, the Virginia House advances a measure proposing a constitutional amendment that would allow the state to redraw its congressional map until 2030 “in response to actions taken by another state.”
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry made an emergency declaration to fund Louisiana SNAP benefits in November amid the federal government shutdown.
If it’s passed tomorrow, Louisiana would be the only state in the Gulf South attempting to fund the program.
More details + a roundup from the region here ⬇️
BREAKING: Louisiana's health secretary is threatening to furlough staff who work to administer SNAP, the federal food aid program, over the "Schumer shutdown."
www.wwno.org/public-healt...
Louisiana's Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser said he’s heard from many Canadians who are avoiding the state, including upcoming festivals in Acadiana. He wants President Trump to apologize to Canadians.
So exhausting..
Alabama executed Geoffrey Todd West on Thursday, killing him with nitrogen gas in the state’s fourth execution so far this year.
West, 50, was convicted of capital murder for the 1997 killing of Margaret Parrish Berry in Etowah County.
Read more from @kstromquist.bsky.social here ⬇️
And here's the union statement on it
This is the email the agency director sent out afterwards to all staff, according to someone who shared it with me.
The director - in an email disbanding the union - describes himself as from a pro-union family but says in this case “CPL 33 [the union] didn’t give you protections, the law did.”
BREAKING: The Federal Bureau of Prisons just terminated its union's collective bargaining agreement this afternoon, according to this letter posted online by the national union president:
From @wadrewhawkins.bsky.social | Anyone looking for a COVID shot for themselves or their kids in Louisiana is facing a new maze of pharmacy restrictions after changing federal guidance on the vaccine.
MORE HERE ⬇️
Trump says three "sinister events" disrupted his speech: a frozen escalator, a broken teleprompter and a too-quiet sound system. The U.N. says Trump's team is at fault, but opened an investigation.
NEW: For decades, the DOJ relied on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to foil and forestall attempts to discriminate against minority voters.
On Wednesday, the DOJ filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to devastate and vitiate much of what’s left of the landmark civil rights legislation.
Let this sink in: A president can apparently now order lethal force outside of congressionally declared wars, in international waters, without oversight, and face no personal criminal or civil liability—even if the action was blatantly illegal.
trib.al/FwmJyLa
Even if you take the most lenient possible interpretation -- that SCOTUS has made it increasingly hard to prosecute bribery and corruption -- you still have to ask what kind of crooked-ass administration hires a guy who just took $50k cash.
