Ann's Mega Dub: 3/23/25

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Shady Menendez and the whole crooked family

Shady Menendez. He's going to be headed off to prison where he belongs shortly. His trashy daughter gets to host an MSNBC program because MSNBC apparently have very low standards. Now her step-mommy is in the news. Ry Rivard reports:

Federal prosecutors began their case against the wife of former Sen. Bob Menendez by arguing she “did the dirty work” to collect bribes for the couple.

“They were partners in crime, partners in corruption and partners in greed,” said Lara Pomerantz, an assistant U.S. attorney, in the federal government’s opening statement on Monday.

Pomerantz repeatedly referred to “the defendant and the senator,” a refrain meant to conjoin the two, though the senator was nowhere to be seen as the trial began inside a federal courthouse in Manhattan.

The former senator, a New Jersey Democrat, was tried and found guilty in the same courtroom last year beside two businesspeople accused of bribing him and his wife, Nadine, with wads of cash and gold bars.

He resigned from the senate and is now about two months away from reporting to prison for 11 years, though he and his co-defendants are appealing their convictions.

Trashy garbage -- it's not just the name of our Director of National Intelligence, it's also a descriptive for the Menendez family. Again, why MSNBC continues to employ Alicia Menendez is a mystery right up there with hour Julie Chen retained her CBS job after her disgraced husband was forced out of CBS.

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"

Tuesday, March 25, 2025. Is Pete Hegseth drunk? That's really the first question. But it's not the only one as the US government carries out a massive security breach.

8 minutes and four seconds into the video below is a line that kept haunting me last night. It's from season five, episode ten of 30 ROCK ("Christmas Attack Zone" written by Tracey Wigfield) and Colleen (Elaine Stritch) asks it for her son Jack (Alec Baldwin) regarding Avery (Elizabeth Banks) and Avery's pregnancy.

"Is she drunk, Jack? Because you know when you're pregnant, one bottle of wine a day and that's it."

Is he drunk?

That's what I kept wondering.

We all know Pete Hegseth has a drinking problem -- one so significant that, to secure the post of Secretary of Defense, he had to publicly swear that he wouldn't drink anymore.

Is he drunk?

When Convicted Felon Doanld Chump started making his nominees for various cabinet posts, we all knew, in this country and around the world, that thses unqualified people were a danger to the country. They didn't know their jobs, they didn't have any experience. Hosting a weekend TV show on FOX "NEWS," for example, doesn't make you qualified to be Secretary of Defense.

From last night's THE NEWSHOUR (PBS).

Geoff Bennett:

Senior Trump administration officials, including the vice president and secretary of defense, used the encrypted commercial messaging app Signal to debate the pros and cons of launching military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

Amna Nawaz:

And they accidentally invited the editor in chief of "The Atlantic" and "Washington Week" moderator Jeffrey Goldberg to be part of that chat group.

Goldberg revealed the details today in a report published for "The Atlantic," and he joins me now.

Jeff, welcome to the "News Hour." Thanks for joining us.

Jeffrey Goldberg:

Thanks for having me.

Amna Nawaz:

So, you're added to this group chat. You see some 18 or so other people on it. Among them appear to be senior national security and Cabinet officials like Marco Rubio, J.D. Vance, Pete Hegseth, John Ratcliffe, Tulsi Gabbard, Stephen Miller, Steve Witkoff, Michael Waltz.

How did you end up on this chat? And when do you realize it looks like you were added by mistake?

Jeffrey Goldberg:

I was invited a couple of weeks ago to connect with Michael Waltz, the national security adviser. That didn't strike me as particularly strange, given my job and his job.

A little while later, I'm added to a group chat with the people you just named. That seemed strange. But I kind of just ignored it a little bit. And then it really became a very bizarre situation on Saturday the 15th of March, when I was shared on a text in this group from somebody purporting to be Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense.

And this text contained operational military information, including the time that bombs were supposed to start dropping on Yemen. And this was two hours before that time. So I simply waited and stared at my phone.

And, sure enough, the attack, the American attack on Yemen began to be felt at about 1:30 Eastern or so, 1:50 Eastern. And that's when I realized that the chain was real. Until that point, I really had a deep suspicion that I was being spoofed or hoaxed or being led astray on a disinformation campaign, the rationale for which I can't figure out.

But this all seemed so improbable that I simply assumed that it couldn't be real.

Amna Nawaz:

And I want to point out you share some details. You report some details of what unfolds on that text chain.

When it comes to these operational details, though, you're very careful with your language. You write in your piece what appears to be from the account of Pete Hegseth posts — quote — "operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying and attack sequencing."

This gets posted two hours later. The bombings begin. And then what do you see unfold on the group chat?

Jeffrey Goldberg:

A lot of happiness and virtual high-fiving. There's some reporting, again, material that I didn't feel comfortable reporting because it contained tactical operational information, about the effects of the bombing on various places in Yemen.

Mainly, it was the participants in this group chat, which, as you note, contained most of the national security leadership of the United States congratulating each other and sending emojis, flag emojis, muscle emojis, fire emojis to each other in celebration of a successful mission.

Amna Nawaz:

We did hear from Brian Hughes. I know you did as well, the spokesman for the National Security Council, who sent a statement in response when you did reach out. He said that it appears the message thread was authentic, that they're reviewing how an inadvertent number, presumably yours, was added.

He also says — quote — "The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our service members or our national security."

Jeff, you have reported on national security for decades. That this is being held up as an example of a deep and thoughtful policy coordination, had you ever seen anything like this before?

Jeffrey Goldberg:

I don't disagree with something that he said.

If you look at the story on TheAtlantic.com, you will see that they are having a live debate, including the vice president of the United States, about the utility of attacking Yemen and the European component of this and various other things. There's interesting discourse going on.

But, according to everything I understand, they're not supposed to be doing this on commercial messaging apps. They got quite lucky that they included my phone number in the — if they're going to pick an errant phone number, I mean, at least it wasn't somebody who supported the Houthis, because they were actually handing out information that I believe could have endangered the lives of American servicepeople who were involved in that operation.

On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow covered the story.

Yesterday, Senator Chris Coons' office issued the following:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, issued the following statement today in response to today’s article in The Atlantic entitled “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans:”

“Jeffrey Goldberg’s reporting in The Atlantic calls for a prompt and thorough investigation. If senior advisors to President Trump in fact used non-secure, non-government systems to discuss and convey detailed war plans, it’s a shocking breach of the standards for sharing classified information that could have put American servicemembers at risk. There needs to be an oversight hearing and accountability for these actions.”

Senator Adam Schiff's office issued the following about his discussion of this huge breach of security with MSNBC's Jen Psaki:

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psaki to blast the irresponsible planning of sensitive military operations over text chat and call out the utterly incompetent handling of national security interests following The Atlantic’s reporting.

View the full interview here.

Key Excerpts:

On the incompetence and arrogance of Trump’s national security advisors:

It is stunning. I can understand Jeffrey’s disbelief, or thought that is, this somehow contrived, because it is so stunning and so incompetent and so dangerous in terms of the planning for this operation and who might have been on this text chain. But what really leaps out at me is that you have the Director of National Intelligence, you have the head of the CIA, and no one it appears bothered to say, “Hey, folks, should we really be talking about this here? Should we really be using an unclassified channel to talk about an operation, a detailed military operation, that’s going to take place in a few hours?” That is just so striking to me, and it shows both the level of incompetence, but also a certain kind of arrogance that some of the folks on that had to know that they should never be discussing these things on a Signal chat. But there is a feeling that they’re beyond accountability. I mean, who’s going to hold them accountable? They can break whatever rules. They’re stopping the FBI from doing background checks on people. They can deal with national security however they see fit.

[…] Just staggeringly irresponsible. And it’s not just that they had a reporter by accident on this chat. They should have never been doing this on a chat to begin with. And what’s more, who knows what phones they were using? Who knows the safety and security of those phones, whether a foreign government had already penetrated some of those communications? So, the dangers are real. There should be a real accounting over this. But you could expect more of the reaction you saw from Hegseth, which is to attack the reporter rather than acknowledging their own dangerous incompetence here. It put pilots at risk potentially. But also it meant that the success of the operations could have been dramatically reduced if, for example, word got out to not just the Houthis, but allies of the Houthis, like Iran, that could have tipped them off – “Hey, here’s when these attacks are going to start. Here’s when you’ll know that the next target is upon you.” It’s just staggeringly irresponsible.

On the shocking lack of concern over the communication of national security interests:

There certainly could be a criminal offense here. This is information that in a normal world would be highly classified. And so someone could have very plainly violated laws in terms of the handling of sensitive national security of information, even if it isn’t classified. But I think to your point, also, my guess is that this is probably the tip of the iceberg. This was probably not the first time that the people on this chat used Signal to communicate information that – if not highly classified – was highly sensitive national security information. So, who else is doing this? Apparently, it certainly appears to be widespread, because no one on that chat seems to have objected to it or even raised the issue.

Now, I know we don’t know the full conversation, because Jeffrey was careful to limit what he made public to protect the legitimate national security interests of the country, even if the participants in the chat weren’t protecting it. But if nobody was objecting, that means that there was a certain routine already in this administration to use such poor trade craft.

###

Possibly the most important voice weighing in is Leon Panetta. As Elaine noted last night, "Leon's done everything in government that anyone can do. (Disclosure, I know Leon through C.I.) He's been a member of the House of Representatives, a US senator, OMB director, White House Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense and CIA Director. So he's someone to listen to and he discusses this outrageous breach with PBS in the video below."

Geoff Bennett:

How does this lapse strike you from an operational security perspective, that the country's top national security officials shared information about an imminent strike, an imminent attack on a commercial messaging app?

Leon Panetta, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense: Well, look, this is a serious security breach, particularly when it comes to war plans.

Look, war plans, attack plans are among the most sensitive and classified information that you can have. And it has to be handled with care. I think it was a mistake to have a conversation a Signal app that is not approved for sharing classified information. So, I'm not sure why they even placed any of this information on Signal.

But, nevertheless, the fact that it included somebody who was not cleared for that information, and as a matter of fact was a member of the press, is a serious breach and one that needs to be fully investigated.

Geoff Bennett:

What are the traditional secure channels for this type of discussion? How would this normally unfold?

Leon Panetta:

Well, when I was both director of the CIA and secretary of defense, when it came to attack plans, the discussion was reserved for the Situation Room in the National Security Council, which is highly protected and is a place where you can have that kind of discussion without having to worry whether or not any of that information would leak.

So I'm a little bit taken aback that they would have this kind of conversation a commercial messaging network. That just strikes me as being pretty careless.

Geoff Bennett:

How might a foreign intelligence service, a foreign country trying to do the U.S. harm, how might they use this kind of information or how might they exploit what appear to be lax security practices?

Leon Panetta:

Well, there are very serious consequences to leaking information about a potential military attack.

If that information is leaked to an adversary, not only does it jeopardize very important intelligence resources that are being used to be able to determine military plans, but, in addition to that, that kind of leak would give a potential adversary an advantage of being able to strike first and going after whatever weapons, whatever naval vessels were going to be used for the attack.

So it could cost lives of our men and women in uniform if that information was leaked. That's the danger here. And, furthermore, it weakens our national security, very frankly, if we cannot protect that kind of sensitive information.

Geoff Bennett:

President Trump, when he was asked about this today by reporters, he said he didn't know anything about it, and then he quickly pivoted to criticizing "The Atlantic." It doesn't appear that he's focused on taking accountability.

And, of course, he faced a criminal trial, criminal charges from his handling of classified information. That aside, in your view, what should the consequences be?

Leon Panetta:

Well, I don't think there's any question that somebody made a serious blunder here, a serious mistake, of including somebody that should not have been part of a national security group discussing war plans.

So, who added that name? And why did that happen? That really does have to be investigated, because it could involve a breach of our espionage laws, because that kind of breach simply cannot happen when the security of the United States is on the line. That is the danger of having that kind of information leak.

This is not minor. This is a huge issue. Senator Tammy Duckworth was among those addressing it last night (she did so on MSNBC) and we'd note her comments but MSNBC hasn't posted that video. (Or if they have, they've posted it with other things and not identified the segment as involving her.)

So much concern was rightly raised ahead of the confirmation hearings about Donald Chump's security nominees. This incident demonstrates that we were all correct to be concerned. In a segment of her show last night, Rachel Maddow talked about the effects of this in terms of intelligence sharing among countries. And she's right that it makes it that much more difficult for allies to share confidential information with us when we've just had a huge security breach that never, ever should have happened. (Some are saying that the exchange exposed a CIA officer, for example.)

This is why you don't use THE JOE ROGAN PODCAST as though it was Indeed, Inc. when you're looking for people to fill security positions.

This is a nightmare and people need to be fired, people in that text conversation need to be fired. There is no excuse for it. They have demonstrated what we all knew: They didn't know the first thing about national security. They're nitwits playing fast and loose with the rules and putting the entire country at risk.

This is not minor, this is huge and people should lose their jobs over this.

Was Pete Hegseth drunk? That would explain it. Wouldn't excuse it. But it would explain it.

This is very important and it is a warning sign that we need to heed. We have a huge problem and it has to be addressed immediately. That's why we've focused on this so much in today's snapshot.

We've got one more topic we really need to do. If I could find Rachel's segment on all the protests, I'd note that. Maybe it's up and I'm just missing it. But I'll look for it and we'll note it tomorrow if I can find -- all the protests that took place over the weekend throughout te country.

But I need to update from yesterday's snapshot, American dentist Noor Abdalla.'s husband Mahmoud Khalil is being threatened with deportation. To where? Who knows. He was born in Syria so possible there or to Argentia where he holds citizenship. When I dictated the snapshot the story below was already published, I was not aware of that. Daniel Trotta (REUTERS) reported:

The U.S. government has alleged that Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian demonstrator Mahmoud Khalil withheld that he worked for a United Nations Palestinian relief agency in his visa application, saying that should be grounds for deportation.

The U.N. agency known as UNRWA provides food and healthcare to Palestinian refugees and has become a flashpoint in the Israeli war in Gaza. Israel contends that 12 UNRWA employees were involved in Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, leading the U.S. to halt funding of the group.

[. . .]

The brief also says Khalil "withheld membership in certain organizations" which should be grounds for his deportation.

It references a March 17 document in his deportation case that informed Khalil he could be removed because he failed to disclose that he was a political officer of UNRWA in 2023.

Yesterday, I stated it was most likely not going to be a First Amendment case. For those who think, "Well I bet you knew about this story!" -- I said that last week as well -- in fact, you can go back to March 14th when I first addressed this. I said that the idiots on TV pontificating endlessly didn't know a damn thing despite being presented as 'experts.' They might have been that . . . on the First Amendment. They are not experts on immigration. If they had been they wouldn't have (a) acted so shocked -- green cards and student visas are revoked all the time and (b) they would have zoomed in -- as I did -- on the reality that most deportations from green cards and student visas result from what the government calls or identifies as a lie.

That's very easy to do because you're filling out paperwork and most of us -- as I noted last week -- will shorthand something and that something is what they will get you on.

I said it was a mistake to argue this as a First Amendment case because no charges had been brought and it was most likely that they would go after the paperwork.

So what we've had is two weeks of people like Chris Hayes wasting our time, wasting Noor's time and wasting her husband's time.

That's not saying that she can't save her husband from deportation. She still can, she still has that chance.

But you've let liars and idiots speak for over a week and they were wrong. Chris and company didn't present their statements as possibilities. No, they presented it as what it was.

And now it isn't. It isn't what they just knew it was.

Which means you re-educate and start over.

The media and Noor's attorneys have wasted time.

It's now up to them to actually do their job and that's going to require dealing with what actually is and not with the fantasy case that they've had in their deluded heads. I don't know how you get to be a practicing attorney and be as stupid as some of these people are.

Noor is now everything in this case. Her husband is not getting out to make his case over the airwaves, not any time soon. I wouldn't be surprised if the administration kept him behind bars to keep him away from the press.

The first thing her attorneys need to do is get her on every program they can so that she can talk about her husband and the family they're trying to raise (she's pregnant and due shortly). As I noted yesterday, none of that "his people" crap. He's an adult male (30) in a sexist country (the US) and most Americans hearing about him wanting to help "his people" will have the attitude of, "Then go help them. Why are you being a coward over here if your people need you."

So don't waste your time on that. If she's asked about UNRWA -- and he was working there or working with them -- the answer is he was helping children.

With UNRWA, one thing I'd want to know is when did he work with them (if he did) and when did he fill out the paperwork. As the government is explaining the charges, which may not be correct, he did not note this. If REUTERS is accurate in what they're reporting (they generally are) and if the information they obtained was accurate (government sources aren't always reliable nor are governments), it reads as though Noor's husband did not note UNRWA employment (if it exists, that's the government's claim) in 2023. That would be the green card paperwork ('permanent' resident), not the student visa.

January 26 of last year, then-President Joe Biden put a hold on funds to UNRWA. That was all that was done. It was not designated a terrorist organization. UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, for any who don't know. The Netanyahu government made baseless charges against UNRWA that most of us knew were baseless. A lot of rhetoric in the US but all (too much) that was done was the US paused funding.

If he worked for UNRWA (as the government alleges), did he do so when he applied for a student visa? If so, is that on that application?

If it was, I would argue that the form was confusing and he thought he didn't need to carry it over. The forms are confusing -- again, that's how the US government deports a lot of people -- a lot -- every year.

They need to see what was written on what forms and figure out a timeline and they need to start arguing that -- 'they' would be the attorneys. They also need to immediately move for Noor's husband to be released.

There is no reason to hold him.

Why do you hold someone? Because they're a flight risk.

How is Mahmoud Khalil a flight risk? The government wants him gone. You argue he needs to be out on bail immediately and you argue that his American wife is pregnant and he's not going anywhere, but even if he did, your honor, even if he left the country tomorrow, isn't that what the government wants? If he did jump bail, which he's not going to do, all that would mean is that the government was spared the cost of deporting him.

Right now, they're covering housing fees for him and the cost to feed him, let him out so he can see his child born.

There is no reason to keep him behind bars.

Again, Chris Hayes and others wasted weeks of time. Wasted. They have tired to make this a First Amendment issue and anyone familiar at all with basic immigration laws could have

REUTERS also notes, "The U.N. said in August an investigation found nine of the agency's 32,000 staff members may have been involved in the October 7 attacks. The U.S. court notice also accuses Khalil of leaving off his visa application that he worked for the Syria office in the British embassy in Beirut and that he was a member of the group Columbia University Apartheid Divest."

Noor is an American citizen. She's a dentist and has a profession. That needs to be stressed. She needs to tell how she fell in love with him. And this isn't THE WAY WE WERE, we don't need to hear about politics. We need to hear about an American woman falling in love with a man on a student visa who then became a permanent resident because he wanted to do the right thing and build a life with her. He could have, as many do, just stay in the country on the student visa even though it was lapsed. But he tried to do the right thing and maybe he forgot to declare this or that but those were honest mistakes. She and their baby need him and they are a family. She should stress that she will be going back to work after the birth of their child. That needs to be stressed to silence those whose attitude would be, "Oh, more mouths on welfare." No, she can earn a solid living immediately as a dentist. If her dream is to stay home with the child, she needs to stress that that will happen when her husband gets employment.

These are two adults wanting to raise a family and not trying to game the system.

That's the argument she needs to be making. She loves her husband, she loves her unborn baby and she loves her country and she is begging her country to help her right now by not deporting her husband. That's all she's asking. Not for any special favors, not for any public assistance. Just let them live and thrive and raise their child in this country to demonstrate to their child how great this country is.

If voices bring up Gaza, her husband was concerned about the children. He's still concerned but the focus now is on their child, that's what he wants to live for and focus on.

To that, all the government can really say (unless there are documents or recordings no one knows of at this point) is, "Not true!"

A judge will have to look at it in terms of could honest mistakes have been made in the paperwork?

That's your best shot at this point.

REUTERS ends their article with this garbage (REUTERS is citing the garbage, they didn't creat it):

One attorney, Ramie Kassem, a co-director of the legal clinic CLEAR, was quoted in the New York Times as saying the new deportation grounds were "patently weak and pretextual."

"That the government scrambled to add them at the 11th hour only highlights how its motivation from the start was to retaliate against Mr. Khalil for his protected speech in support of Palestinian rights and lives," Kassem said, according to the Times.

He clearly needs to go. First up, he doesn't know when to shut the f**k up. That's not an argument that anyone's going to be sympathetic to. It's also got nothing to do with the charges the government is making. This isn't an episode of PERRY MASON. It will be an immigration hearing. Those usually are pretty much rote and no one's going to indulge an attorney bringing in theories and claims that have noting to do with the charges that have been filed.

That's for starters.

Next?

George Soros. Really? No. He's too controversial and an attorney with no connections to some fright-wing bogey man needs to take over the case as lead attorney and Ramie needs to sit down and shut his mouth.

And before some idiot -- well meaning or otherwise -- e-mails to say I don't know what I'm talking about that this attorney is "Ramie" not "Ramzie." It's the same person and when an attorney isn't using their legal name they look even more suspect. His name is not Ramie, it's Ramzie.

Ramzi Kassem

Email: ramzi.kassem@law.cuny.edu

Phone: [...]

Ramzi Kassem is the founding director of CLEAR. He is a Professor of Law at the City University of New York. His writing, teaching, and legal practice all aim to contest the expressions and excesses of the sprawling U.S. security state, both domestically and abroad.

In support of clients, communities, and social movements, Ramzi has litigated civil rights, constitutional, criminal, immigration, national security, wartime detention, and war crime cases at all levels of the U.S. federal judiciary, before military commissions and international tribunals, and in various administrative proceedings.

His work with his students, colleagues, and co-counsel has resulted in groundbreaking civil rights litigation challenging the U.S. security state and has led to the exoneration or liberation of clients incarcerated, often for years, at Guantánamo Bay and in federal and immigration prisons. Ramzi has long worked with and within various coalitions and movements, including Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) and Movement for Black Lives (M4BL).

Before joining the CUNY faculty, Ramzi taught law at Yale and Fordham. He is a proud immigrant, an incorrigible New Yorker, and a Paul & Daisy Soros New American Fellow. He is a graduate of Columbia College and holds law degrees from Columbia Law School, where he was a Senior Editor for the Columbia Law Review, and from the Sorbonne.

That's his bio for the legal clinic.

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Monday, March 24, 2025

Did grifter Alien Musk just catch a break

Grifter Alien Musk is in trouble yet again. But he might have caught a break. First, his problem. Here:

World-famous entrepreneur Elon Musk is currently the target of a series of attacks. If it's not his electric car brand Tesla, it's his role within the Department of Government Efficiency (the DOGE) that's causing controversy.

More than 3400 scientists from the UK and around the world, including Nobel Prize winners, have signed a petition against Elon Musk, calling for his expulsion from the Royal Society, the oldest scientific academy in the UK, reports Futura-sciences.

Published last February, the open letter accuses Trump's right-hand man of promoting “groundless conspiracy theories”, violating the Royal Society's code of conduct. Stephen Curry, who initiated the petition, also highlighted a tweet by Musk containing several insults towards a British politician, which is also against the scientific academy's code of conduct.

He doesn't belong there. He doesn't follow the code of conduct and he brings the society's reputation down.

This is a serious and shameful But Musk may have cut a break.

Here.

With the stupidity on display of Hegseth, Gabbard, Vance and the rest? Musk might be able to fly under the radar for a few days.

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"

Monday, March 23, 2025. Blame it on last week's surgery if you want but you can call this The I'm Ticked Off And Not In The Mood Snapshot. We can't afford the stupidity that's being imposed on us and if we want to help someone, let's work on helping her, not pushing our own politics.

Let's start with Noor Abdalla.

She's discussing her husband Mahmoud Khalil who Donald Chump is attempting to deport.

First, praise for listening to needed criticism and changing your wardrobe so that it actually has some color in it. Second, praise for putting on make up before going on camera. Again, as we said on the 14th, you can't go on camera barefaced -- you'll look bad. She put on enough to look normal -- the way we'd see her make up free with our eyes face to face. So she can learn, good. She and her team took two tips. Here's a third: Stop saying "His people."

This isn't about Gaza.

You are making a case to the American people.

This is about you are an American citizen and he is your husband and the two of you are having a baby you plan to raise in this country.

Stop saying "his people."

It puts up a wall between you and the people you need on your side. Not the freaks, we'll get to them. You need the American people to see you as what you are: One of them.

You can talk about your husband being appalled by children being slaughtered in Gaza, for example. Or you can word it as "He knows he's so lucky not to be in Gaza."

But what you're selling right now is this: "Don't deport my husband. We are a family and he wants to become a citizen as well."

You've got to appeal to Americans.

And every time you say "his people," you are saying to them that he's not really American and doesn't want to be. That's lousy advice and you need a new attorney because I'm not going to help you shape your message every day. One, I don't have the time. Two, I want nothing to do with the Gaza Freaks.

You're speaking to people in a sexist country. Your husband is a grown man, not a young college student of 19 or 20.

He's a 30-year-old man. Every time you think you help by listening to the Gaza Freaks and go with "his people"? You're tuning off a large portion of America.

I went off on the ACLU Saturday night and noted that I firmly back the ACLU and have for years but they've gotten seriously f**ked up when it comes to arguing cases. I ended up pulling that but let me be clear, the ACLU is f**king you over. They're not going to save your husband with their losing strategy.

Let's finish the 30-year-old and then we'll get to the f**ked up strategy that your attorneys are presenting to the public.

He's a 30-year-old man and you keep saying "his people." In a sexist country. Where we expect me to defend. So when you say "his people" a lot of people hearing your message are thinking, "He's a grown ass man. If he wants to help his people, go to Gaza and stop hiding over here in the US."

And although it's crude, there's an element of truth in it.

That's not your argument that you need to be making. Your argument is:

My husband came here to study and fell in love with this country which is why he got a green card. He and I fell in love and we're going to have a baby that we want to raise here in the United States.

That's your argument. Don't do politics as part of your agument.

As I've noted before, during the Iraq War (which continues), many Americans self-checked out. A large number of them went to Canada. The ones I helped? They're in Canada. They're citizens. The ones 'helped' by a bunch of people wanting to make a point about the Iraq War have pretty much all been deported and those that stay know they could be tossed out at any moment. (This actually might be the best time for that group remaining in Canada to try another appeal since Chump has so pissed the Canadian government off.)

I'm against the Iraq War. I spoke out before it started. Up until the pandemic I went all over the country speaking on campuses, to labor groups, to groups of any kind about it. I then switched to Zooms. I spent 20 years here, at this site, covering the Iraq War.

So let's not get it twisted. I was opposed to the Iraq War (remain so).

But if someone needed to be in Canada, that was the goal. The goal was not to use them to make a political statement.

When the first War Resister got deported, I explained to two attorneys working with War Resisters publicly that their methods were self-defeating and how we were able to secure Canadian citizenship for the ones we helped. They weren't interested. They'd say, "Oh, I never thought of that." Of course, you didn't your brain doesn't cross reference.

Does their brain even function?

That's what I regret now. That I assumed they -- these supposed 'experts' -- knew what they were talking about. I knew some of them. The idiot Gerry Connely who went on LAW & DISORCE and misrepresented war resister (self-checked out but did not go to Canada) Camilo Meija Stop-lossing Camilo was illegal. He was not an American citizen. And that reality was too much for brain dead

Gerry.

I watched in horror as Iraq Veterans Against The War's Adamo Kokesh was railed roaded not just by the government but by his own idiot fool of an attorney. Adam took part in a street theater anti-war action in DC. I kept saying the case should be dropped and finally just had to outline it here but it was days before Adam faced the court and too late for his idiot attorney to go into action.

The government was saying that Adam's use of combat fatigues made the action illegal.

No.

It didn't.

The court made that decision back in 1970. Hugo Black was the judge. The action was in NYC. And what did he conclude:

Certainly theatrical productions need not always be performed in buildings or even on a defined area such as a conventional stage. Nor need they be performed by professional actors or be heavily financed or elaborately produced. Since time immemorial, outdoor theatrical performances, often performed by amateurs, have played an important part in the entertainment and the education of the people of the world.

That was a Supreme Court decision handed down about veterans doing an anti-war action (during Vietnam) in NYC.

And you're the attorney representing Adam and when I'm contacting you about it, you tell me you don't know about it. When I'm giving you the case name, the verdict, all of it and you say, you'll try to look into it? Look, WIKIPEDIA has an entry on it now -- started in 2009, if you look at this history. Adam was being persecuted in 2007 -- maybe if it had a WIKIPEDI entry then his attorney would have listened to me?

What that said to me was the attorney was more focused on making a presentation about the Iraq War than about saving Adam.

And it happens over and over.

Principles are important. They are not everything. The focus should always be on saving the person unless the person themselves has made a decision to risk everything on a principle.

Noor's trying to keep her husband from being deported. That has to be her focus. If Gaza Freaks can't understand that it goes to the self-involved nature and their stunted growth.

Nicole Kolster, Gustavo Ocando Alex and Bernd Debusmann Jr. (BBC NEWS) report:

In a poor neighbourhood of the Venezuelan city of Maracay, the mother of 24-year-old Francisco José García Casique was waiting for him on Saturday.

It had been 18 months since he had migrated to the US to begin a new life but he had told her that he was now being deported back to Caracas, Venezuela's capital, for being in the US illegally. They had spoken that morning, just before he was due to depart.

"I thought it was a good sign that he was being deported [to Caracas]," Myrelis Casique López recalled. She wanted him home.

But he never arrived. And while watching a television news report on Sunday, Ms Casique was shocked to see her son, not in the US or Venezuela but 1,430 miles (2,300km) away in El Salvador.

The footage showed 238 Venezuelans sent by US authorities to the Terrorism Confinement Centre, or Cecot, a notorious mega-jail. She saw men with shaved heads and shackles on their hands and feet, being forcefully escorted by heavily-armed security forces.

The Trump administration says all of the deportees are members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which has found itself in the White House's crosshairs. The powerful multi-national crime group, which Trump recently declared a foreign terrorist organisation, has been accused of sex trafficking, drug smuggling and murders both at home and in major US cities.

Ms Casique told the BBC she was certain her son was among the detainees, even if no official list of names has been released.

"It's him. It's him," she said, gesturing at a picture in which a man is seated, with his head bowed, on a prison floor alongside a row of others, a tattoo visible on his arm. "I recognize his features."

And there is Ma Yang.

And there are so many others.

Noor's husband is not being helped by the actions Kshama Sawant has the Gaza Freaks doing. Not only do they also make the "his people" cry, they also make it all about him.

He's not the only one being deported. Group actions that pretend he is turn people off. He is no more special than anyone else. To his wife he is. And she needs to make that case. But when the country sees Kshama leading these actions -- fifty-plus Kshama who should worry herself about deportation because she was fully honest on her paperwork -- and they see her leading campuses to rally for this one person, it puts people off.

As for the legal strategy, stop saying this is First Amendment case. It's not. It may become one. Noor should be doing interviews emphasizing the concern she has for her husband, how she misses him, how it's stressful due to her pregnancy.

And that's what her attorneys should be doing plus -- "WHY! Why are they doing this to a young family."

There are no charges filed yet. If Chump had a brain, he'd let this one go while he and his team regroup to figure out how to do it more effectively. But they don't have a brain. Their failure to announce charges so far makes it look as though they don't have any and don't know what to charge him with. Which may indicate that they are combing through every response he filled out in paperwork to find one that is false.

If indeed that is the case and they announce they are deporting him because he lied on his paperwork, the whole defense they tried to mount in the media falls apart.

They've done nothing but waste time.

Which brings us to our young and old idiots on YOUTUBE.

We're not going into their nonsense of platforming an Islamaphobe -- we covered that last night -- but let's deal with their stupidity on Bernie Sanders.

Look, Keith Edwards is platforming Islamaphobia and the nonsense of 'great Bernie!' He did it in a 24 hour period -- apparently on a sugar rush.

Wasn't working with the brains, that's for sure.

He stupidly states of Bernie threatening to walk out on an interview (I believe with ABC), "This is just a continuation of Democrats all around the country finally finding their voice."

You are so damn stupid, so far beyond stupid, in fact. "The news used to be news," Keith lies. He can't be that stupid to think the news is worse today. It's always been this way.

The offensive question? He was asked if he thought AOC belonged in the Senate.

Keith keeps wanting to pretend that horse race nonsense. No, it's not. AOC and Bernie are speaking around the country and people are showing up with buttons as them as running mates in 2028. If you don't know that grasp that Kshama Sawant's followers do because they spent the weekend trashing them both and declaring that they wouldn't vote for them. It's amazing that the cowards like Keith want to pretend they're protecting the righteous but, as Kshama and her followers spent the weekend doing to AOC and Bernie what they did to Kamala, Keith says nothing.

I'm sick of it. This wasn't horse race.

Bernie didn't like the question.

How is this different from the disdain that Chump shows the media?

There's one way. Chump says he's going to walk, he walks.

He doesn't stay after he says he's walking.

He looked like a hot head and an idiot. When MR CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM mocked him in portrayals on SNL, idiots ate it up. Idiots who supported Bernie ate it up.

That thought it was 'good funnin'' but it wasn't. It was portraying him as an out of control crank.

And his hissy fit on ABC yesterday fed into that.

And if you think a politician attacking the press is going to help them, you're in the fright-wing. That's why is so easy for Socialist especially to cross over to the fright-wing. They are just like them. That's why Keith wrote that stupid article two weeks ago about how it was time for Democrats to stop calling out people for -- be honest -- hate speech. And it was not a good look for the White boy. He needs to look at himself and figure out who he is and what he believes in.

We don't have time for s**t.

In the same video where he's praising Bernie, he's also praising another politician and insisting that they won on FOX "NEWS." Maybe they did. If so, it's because the network pulled punches. Maybe they're waiting until closer to the mid-terms to bring that man back on and to ask him about how he's a Socialist and whether most of the voters in his Texas district are aware of that?

(They're not.)

Keith, what did you do Sunday to push back on Kshama Sawant efforts to torpedo Bernie and AOC? The answer is -- and this was true when Kamala was running for president as well: NOT ONE DAMN THING.

Stop pretending you're helping when you're ot.

We'll wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

Leases Trump and Elon have said they are terminating include office where Yakama Nation members can get in-person assistance from BIA staff; Service centers in Puyallup, Renton, and Dayton where farmers can get in-person assistance on USDA programs; SBA office in Seattle, and much more

Leases Trump and Elon are threatening to offload include Jackson Federal Building in Seattle that houses Social Security and VA offices where people can get in-person help with benefits; Vancouver Federal Building where taxpayers can get IRS assistance; and much more

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following fact sheet on the Trump administration announcing lease terminations of critical federal offices and agencies in Washington state and threatening to potentially offload many others, including the Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle.

Senator Murray also released the following statement:

“Two billionaires with no clue what the federal government does are right now pushing to sell dozens of federal properties in Washington state—with absolutely zero consideration for how it will hurt the people who rely on the services provided from these buildings.

“Thoughtlessly selling off these properties will mean veterans in Seattle won’t have an office to go to for help navigating their benefits and eligibility, taxpayers in Southwest Washington will have fewer options for in-person help on their taxes, members of the Yakama Nation won’t have a local Indian Affairs office they can walk into—to name just a few examples.

“Trump and Elon are rich enough that they’ve never had to rely on any of the services the federal government provides and they have no idea what it’s like for people who do—they’re just trying to break government and enrich themselves, and they don’t give a damn about the consequences for regular people.

“I am demanding answers from the Trump administration on what exactly their plans are—right now it is far from clear—and I am pressing for information on how they will ensure continuity of service for the millions of Washingtonians who rely on the services provided in these federal offices and buildings.”

FACT SHEET: The Trump administration has, without providing advance notice and justification to Congress as is required by law, said they are terminating the following leases of federal agencies’ offices and buildings in Washington state:

KING & PIERCE COUNTIES:

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (Department of Health and Human Services), Region 10 Office in Seattle (701 5th Ave): The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has 10 Regional Offices, which serve as the agency’s state and local presence. Regional field staff work closely with Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, health care providers, state governments, CMS contractors, community groups, and others to provide education and address questions—for example, under the last administration, the regional teams conducted a lot of outreach around expanded health care and prescription drug benefits in the Inflation Reduction Act. Region 10 is based in Seattle and serves the entire populations of the states of Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Idaho.

Note: the CMS Region 10 Office is no longer listed on DOGE’s wall of receipts for lease terminations but was listed previously.

Small Business Administration, Main District Office, Seattle (2401 4th Ave):

This office is open to the general public and small businesses and is a place they can go for help including starting a business, applying for an SBA loan, obtaining federal grants, getting disaster assistance, and much else. This office serves nearly all of Washington state—with the exception of Clark, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum and Skamania counties, which are served by the Portland District Office—as well as 10 counties in Northern Idaho. The SBA also has an office in Spokane. According to SBA federal data, in 2024, the Seattle District Office in 2024 approved $117 million in 504 program loans for small businesses to finance real estate purchase or renovations, and over $965 million in 7(a) program loans, which provide small businesses with working capital. About $1.4 million in microloans were approved in Washington state, and the average microloan size nationwide was about $16,000. In the aftermath of a November bomb cyclone that caused millions of dollars in damage in the Seattle area, the SBA opened federal assistance applications for homeowners and businesses. Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it would shutter the Seattle regional office because of Seattle’s protections for immigrants.

Government Accountability Office, Seattle (701 Fifth Avenue): GAO, often called the “congressional watchdog,” is an independent, non-partisan agency that works for Congress. GAO examines how taxpayer dollars are spent and provides Congress and federal agencies with objective, non-partisan, fact-based information to help the government save money and work more efficiently. In its Seattle office, GAO examines federal spending related to Coast Guard, energy programs, aviation, and the Department of Defense, among other issues. Their lease through GSA in the Columbia Tower ends December 2025. They were planning with GSA to move to the Jackson Federal Building to optimize their footprint in a secure federal space at taxpayer savings, but GSA put those plans on hold. GAO’s work yielded $67.5 billion in financial benefits for the federal government in FY 2024—a return of $76 for every dollar invested in it—as well as over 1200 improvements to federal operations and performance.

National Park Service (Department of the Interior), Seattle Unit, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (319 2nd Ave S): The Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park in Seattle’s Pioneer Square Historic District features a museum, visitor center, and ranger activity area to tell the story of the Klondike Gold Rush and the growth of Seattle during that time. Rangers here also staff an info desk at the REI flagship store. There is a sister park about the Klondike Gold Rush in Skagway, Alaska. This lease agreement was extended to 2030, making this lease termination likely illegal. 65,000 visitors come to the museum each year.

Note: the Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park is no longer listed on DOGE’s wall of receipts for lease terminations but was listed previously.

Wage and Hour Division, Tacoma (949 Market Street): The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) helps protect workers and enhance the welfare of Washington state’s workers through outreach, education, and enforcement—providing workers and employers information to ensure that workers know their rights, and employers understand their responsibilities regarding federal laws enforced by Wage and Hour. This office is mainly used by Department of Labor investigators who spend time conducting investigations in the field and use the office as a work station.

Natural Resources Conservation Service (U.S. Department of Agriculture), Puyallup Service Center (1011 E Main) and Renton Service Center (941 Powell Ave SW): The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides technical and financial assistance to farmers, ranchers, and landowners to help conserve natural resources, soil, water, and wildlife habitats. These service centers work with landowners, communities, developers, states, local governments, and Tribes to improve natural resources, reduce erosion, degradation, and flood damage, improve water quality, protect and restore watersheds, manage agricultural waste, and provide technical assistance to help producers and communities meet their conservation and business goals. Many NRCS service centers are co-located with Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Rural Development (RD) staff, so people who come to the service centers can also get in-person assistance from USDA staff with FSA and RD programs as well.

NRCS service enters accept walk-in meetings and provide in-person assistance for farmers, producers, and forest landowners, who can make appointments to get assistance with USDA programs. These service centers are also a working space for staff. The most common USDA programs that people reach for assistance with are the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) Program, an emergency recovery program that helps local communities recover after a natural disaster strikes.

OLYMPIA/OLYMPIC PENINSULA:

NOAA (Department of Commerce), Port Angeles Office (115 E Railroad Ave): The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary’s main office is located at the Port Angeles Wharf in Port Angeles, WA. The office employs 13 NOAA employees who work across various disciplines related to preservation, conservation, and research in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, one of North America’s most productive marine ecosystems.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (Department of Transportation), Olympia (724 Columbia Street NW): This is the Washington Division field office for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which regulates and provides safety oversight for commercial motor vehicles like large trucks and buses. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) requires intercity bus providers to register with FMCSA for authorization to interline with other private carriers, similar to federal requirements for interstate transportation services. WSDOT’s coordination with the FMCSA Washington office has been key to securing federal grants, including an FMCSA grant to outfit 11 rest areas and eight stations along I-5, and a grant that funds one employee through FY27 that WSDOT is working with FMCSA to extend. WSDOT also partnered with FMCSA on their Truck Parking Information Management System (PTIMS) project to help address freight parking challenges, including potentially installing PTIMS technology on I-90 where parking challenges have led freight trucks to dangerously park overnight on on/off-ramps and on the shoulders of the Interstate.

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (U.S. Department of Agriculture), Olympia (720 Oleary St NW): The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) protects American agriculture from pests, disease, and invasive species while promoting trade and animal welfare. Some of their most extensive programs include the National Milk Testing Strategy, which facilitates comprehensive H5N1 surveillance of the nation’s milk supply and dairy herds, and the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program, which strengthens U.S. livestock disease preparedness through funding and training.

CENTRAL AND EASTERN WA:

Bureau of Indian Affairs (Department of the Interior), Yakama Agency, Toppenish (401 Fort Rd): Members of the Yakama Nation can get in-person assistance in this office, which helps to helps to ensure the federal government’s trust responsibilities to the Yakama Nation are fulfilled through the provision of direct services through the Department of the Interior. This includes natural resource management (e.g. livestock management, water and forestry resources, environmental protection), social services (e.g. financial management, assistance on Indian Child Welfare Act cases, providing General Assistance funding), recordkeeping, and administrative assistance—including Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, technical assistance, 638 contract administration, records management, local contact for government-to-government consultation, and IT services.

Drug Enforcement Administration, Yakima (2812 Terrace Heights Dr): The Drug Enforcement Administration works with federal, state, local, and Tribal partners to enforce controlled substances laws and regulations to keep our communities safe from public health threats like fentanyl and methamphetamine. There were six positions, including federal law enforcement officers, in this “resident office” as of April 2024.

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, Richland (303 Bradley Blvd): The Hanford Resource Center provides assistance to claimants and potential claimants of benefits under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).

U.S. Geological Survey (Department of the Interior), Washington Water Science Center – Upper Columbia Field Office, Spokane Valley (11103 E Montgomery Dr)

This center helps collect, analyze, and disseminate hydrologic data and information to help manage water resources in the Northwest. This includes groundwater, surface water, water quality, and aquatic ecosystems. Their work helps protect endangered salmon and steelhead, ensure dam operators have the information needed to operate safely, and protects farmers and their crops.

Natural Resources Conservation Service (U.S. Department of Agriculture), Dayton Service Center (531 Cameron St): The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides technical and financial assistance to farmers, ranchers, and landowners to help conserve natural resources, soil, water, and wildlife habitats. These service centers work with landowners, communities, developers, states, local governments, and Tribes to improve natural resources, reduce erosion, degradation, and flood damage, improve water quality, protect and restore watersheds, manage agricultural waste, and provide technical assistance to help producers and communities meet their conservation and business goals. Many NRCS service centers are co-located with Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Rural Development (RD) staff, so people who come to the service centers can also get in-person assistance from USDA staff with FSA and RD programs as well.

Forest Service (U.S. Department of Agriculture), Ranger Station, Pomeroy (71 W Main St): This is a ranger station for the Umatilla National Forest. Rangers play a crucial role in protecting natural resources and managing public lands, encompassing tasks like fire prevention, law enforcement, and public support like trails maintenance, patrol duties, and other safety measures.

In addition, the Trump administration has identified a number of buildings in Washington state as “not core to government operations,” indicating it plans to offload these buildings—before abruptly deleting the list. The website now says an updated list is “Coming soon”; the Trump administration has refused to respond to repeated requests for information about the future of these buildings. The buildings listed as “Non-Core Property List” include:

The Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in Seattle (915 2nd Ave) houses many offices and services, including the below (not a comprehensive list). It is the largest federal office building in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

Note: According to a GSA fact sheet from 2020, 1,900 people work out of the Jackson Federal Building—more recent numbers were not readily available.

Social Security Administration: This office provides in-person help, by appointment, for people navigating their Social Security benefits, including retirement, disability, survivors, and family benefits.
Veterans Affairs: The VA Seattle Regional Office provides a wide variety of services to help veterans navigate their benefits and eligibility, including for education, health care, pensions, memorials, and job training. VA staff provide outreach to veterans who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, and former prisoners of war. The Seattle Regional Office also houses Veterans Service Organizations such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and more.
Internal Revenue Service: The Seattle IRS office houses a number of critical services including the Taxpayer Advocate Service, Automated Collection System, and Accounts Management. At their Taxpayers Assistance Center, taxpayers can receive in-person help for a wide range of things including making payments, setting up installment agreements, assisting preparers with returns, obtaining forms, addressing missing refunds, correcting mistakes in paperwork, getting questions answered, and more.
U.S. Coast Guard: The District 13 office is the official Coast Guard headquarters for Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB): Individuals can file a petition for an election or a charge with the office. The Office in Seattle is the main office for Region 19 of the NLRB, which serves areas in Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana and prosecutes labor law violators.
Department of Education: The Office of Civil Rights in Seattle enforces federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination for schools and covers the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Hawaii, and Nevada.

The Seattle Federal Office Building (909 1st Ave) is across the street from the Jackson Federal Building. Built in 1933, it is on the National Register of Historic Places. GSA recently completed a $25 million exterior restoration project to preserve this historic art deco building, which included replacing the brick façade and more than 700 windows. GSA also recently completed a $13 million dollar project to consolidate and build-out new HUD/Department of Labor office space.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC): This office has jurisdiction over charges from Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. The vast majority of EEOC’s work here is the enforcement unit—investigators, supervisors, and support staff who are responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability or genetic information. Individuals can schedule an appointment with the office and receive assistance with inquiries regarding filing charges. Approximately 40 people work out of this office who help enforce workers’ rights. What is particularly troubling is that to change the jurisdiction of an office, the EEOC must hold a Commission vote—however, Trump fired two of the EEOC Commissioners, so the EEOC is currently without a quorum.
Housing and Urban Development (HUD): The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Region 10 office—which supports Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Idaho—is headquartered here and is co-located with its Seattle Field Office. HUD is required by statute to have at least one field office in each state. Approximately 135 staff, work out of this office and serve as the first point of contact for community concerns regarding HUD, including rental assistance programs, community development and homeless assistance, Tribal housing programs, and enforcement of fair housing laws.

The 1202 Building in Seattle (4735 E Marginal Way S) is home to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers offices serving the Pacific Northwest. The property underwent a $72 million modernization in 2009.

The Vancouver Federal Building (500 W 12th St) houses the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, where taxpayers can get in-person assistance and help with questions regarding their taxes. The office serves Skamania, Wahkiakum, Clark, and Cowlitz counties. The building also houses outposts of the federal bankruptcy court and the U.S. Treasury.

The Bonneville Power Administration Headquarters in Portland (905 NE 11th Ave) serves as the headquarters for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which employs hundreds of people in Washington state. Most of BPA’s corporate employees work out of this building including all power and power marketing operations.

FDA’s Pacific Regional Laboratory Northwest in Bothell (22201 23rd Dr SE). The FDA ensures the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines, biological products, medical devices, food, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. The success of FDA activities to protect the public’s health often depends on the ability of the Agency’s laboratories to quickly and accurately analyze samples. To prevent the distribution of a product that has been found to be in violation of the law or has foodborne pathogens, FDA uses its nationwide network of laboratories to analyze samples and report results for regulatory action.

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Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Breaking News -- Who's Really Running HHS!" went up Friday night and the following sites updated: