Trump’s Security Strategy Focuses on Profit, Not Spreading Democracy; The New York Times, December 5, 2025

Anton Troianovski, The New York Times; Trump’s Security Strategy Focuses on Profit, Not Spreading Democracy

[Kip Currier: At the heart of this heartless Trump 2.0 National Security Strategy is an ethos of naked transactionalism and moral bankruptcy.

The transparent inhumanity, unbridled avarice, and indifference to the wellbeing of fellow human beings are a shameful repudiation of fundamental American democratic values and ethical principles.]

[Excerpt]

"The world as seen from the White House is a place where America can use its vast powers to make money.

President Trump has shown all year that his second term would make it a priority to squeeze less powerful countries to benefit American companies. But late Thursday, his administration made that profit-driven approach a core element of its official foreign policy, publishing its long-anticipated update to U.S. national security aims around the world.

The document, known as the National Security Strategy, describes a world in which American interests are far narrower than how prior administrations — even in Mr. Trump’s first term — had portrayed them. Gone is the long-familiar picture of the United States as a global force for freedom, replaced by a country that is focused on reducing migration while avoiding passing judgment on authoritarians, instead seeing them as sources of cash."

Detainees at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facing ‘harrowing human right violations’, new report alleges; The Guardian, December 4, 2025

Richard Luscombe, The Guardian; Detainees at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facing ‘harrowing human right violations’, new report alleges

"Detainees at the notorious Florida immigration jail known as “Alligator Alcatraz” were shackled inside a 2ft high metal cage and left outside without water for up to a day at a time, a shocking report published on Thursday by Amnesty International alleges.

The human rights group said migrants held at the state-run Everglades facility, and at Miami’s Krome immigration processing center operated by a private company on behalf of the Trump administration, continue to be exposed to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” rising in some cases to torture.

The cage, known to detainees as “the box”, is used by guards for the arbitrary punishment of trivial or non-existent offenses, according to the report compiled from interviews with detainees and advocacy groups, and a site visit to Krome made by Amnesty workers in September."

Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida; Amnesty International, December 4, 2025

Amnesty International; Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida

"This report presents Amnesty International’s findings from a research trip to southern Florida in September 2025 to document:

• Human rights impacts of federal and state migration and asylum policies on mass detention and deportation
• Access to due process and
• Detention conditions since President Trump took office on January 20, 2025.

In particular, it focuses on detention conditions at the Krome North Service Processing Center (Krome) and the Everglades Detention Facility, also known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Krome is an ICE detention facility located in Miami-Dade County on the edge of the Everglades. In 2025, the facility has faced heightened scrutiny after reports of severe overcrowding and several deaths. Amnesty International documented delays in intake procedures, overcrowding in temporary processing areas, inadequate and inaccessible medical care, alarming disciplinary practices including the use of prolonged solitary confinement, and challenges in access to legal representation and due process at Krome.

“Alligator Alcatraz” opened in July 2025 with the capacity to detain around 3,000 people. Amnesty International’s research concludes that people arbitrarily detained in “Alligator Alcatraz” are being held in inhuman and unsanitary conditions, including overflowing toilets with fecal matter seeping into where people are sleeping, limited access to showers, exposure to insects without protective measures, lights on 24 hours a day, poor quality food and water, and lack of privacy.

Amnesty International considers that detention conditions at both facilities amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The use of prolonged solitary confinement at Krome and the use of the ‘box’ at “Alligator Alcatraz” amount to torture or other ill-treatment.

Amnesty International calls on the Government of the United States to:

• End its cruel mass immigration detention and deportation machine
• Stop the criminalization of migration
• Bar the use of state-owned facilities for immigration custody detention
• Ensure thorough investigations into all deaths, abuses, and allegations of torture in custody, and
• Comply with international human rights law and standards."

Trump’s $2 Trillion Plan to Cash in on Ukraine ‘Peace’ Leaks; The Daily Beast, November 29, 2025

Adam Downer , The Daily Beast; Trump’s $2 Trillion Plan to Cash in on Ukraine ‘Peace’ Leaks

[Kip Currier: Notice that there's no Trump 2.0 substantive discussion of human rights violations or accountability for Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, abduction of Ukrainian children (see 11/20/25 Euronews "Back from captivity: Ukrainian children abducted by Russia share their stories", attacks on churches, schools, and hospitals (see also 2023 National Library of Medicine (NLM) study "Attacks on Ukrainian healthcare facilities during the first year of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine"), and atrocities like the Bucha massacre in March 2022.]

[Excerpt]

"At the center of President Trump’s contentious plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war isn’t peace: it’s profit.

Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are negotiating with Russian officials to ensure U.S. businesses—and Trump’s friends—are in position to make a killing once the war ends, according to an exhaustive Wall Street Journal report published Friday...

Witkoff spoke to the paper about a future where Russia, the U.S., and Ukraine are all business partners. 

“If we do all that, and everybody’s prospering and they’re all a part of it, and there’s upside for everybody, that’s going to naturally be a bulwark against future conflicts there. Because everybody’s thriving,” Witkoff said...

Europe balked at President Trump’s 28-point peace plan—which Witkoff drafted based on a Russian plan— arguing it was overly generous to Russia. The deal had Ukraine concede territory and cut its military capacity, effectively neutering the nation’s sovereignty. The plan wasn’t popular in America either, as it received significant pushback from the GOP...

Though the Journal’s report details the many ways in which Americans and Russians could profit from an eventual peace deal, it’s unclear how Ukraine would benefit."

Artificial intelligence, intellectual property, and human rights: mapping the legal landscape in European health systems; npj Health Systems, November 25, 2025

 

Robin van Kessel, Jelena Schmidt, 

Hannah van Kolfschooten, 

Sam Feudo, 

Katie Young, 

Laura Valtere, 

Timo Minssen & 

Elias Mossialos 

, npj Health Systems ; Artificial intelligence, intellectual property, and human rights: mapping the legal landscape in European health systems

"Abstract

Intellectual property (IP) rights and IP-related rights, such as trade secrets and regulatory exclusivities, play a crucial role in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. However, possible interactions may be anticipated when comparing the legal relationships formed by these rights with those established by human rights. This study synthesises 53 laws and treaties illustrating the IP landscape for AI in health systems across Europe and examines their intersections with health-focused human rights. Our analysis reveals that a great variety of datasets, software, hardware, output, AI model architecture, data bases, and graphical user interfaces can be subject to IP protection. Although codified limitations and exceptions on IP and IP-related rights exist, interpretation of their conditions and scope permits for diverse interpretations and is left to the discretion of courts. Comparing these rights to health-focused human rights highlights tensions between promoting innovation and ensuring accessibility, quality, and equity in health systems, as well as between human rights ideals and the protection of European digital sovereignty. As these rights often pursue conflicting objectives and may involve trade-offs, future research should explore new ways to reconcile these objectives and foster solidarity in sharing the risks and benefits among stakeholders."

‘Things Happen’: Trump Brushes Off the Murder of Khashoggi; The New York Times, November 18, 2025

 Shawn McCreesh, The New York Times; ‘Things Happen’: Trump Brushes Off the Murder of Khashoggi

"“Things happen.”

That was how President Trump described the murder of the columnist Jamal Khashoggi on Tuesday afternoon while sitting beside Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi ruler whom the C.I.A. believes approved the killing.

In an Oval Office meeting full of news-making moments, that comment by Mr. Trump was perhaps the most astonishing one, and it came just a few moments after he opened up the room to questions.

It was the ABC News journalist Mary Bruce who asked about the finding by U.S. intelligence officials that Prince Mohammed had ordered the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. “Your royal highness,” she said, turning to Prince Mohammed, “the U.S. intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office. Why should Americans trust—”

At that moment, the president cut in, his voice vibrating with anger.

“Who are you with?” he demanded to know.

The earlier part of Ms. Bruce’s question, which had been directed at Mr. Trump, concerned his family’s business entanglements in Saudi Arabia. He brushed off those ethics concerns (“I have nothing to do with the family business”) and then addressed the question about Mr. Khashoggi.

“You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial,” Mr. Trump said, referring to the murdered columnist. “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him, or didn’t like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.”

The crown prince spoke more like a politician, condemning the 9/11 attacks and Osama Bin Laden. Then he turned to the question about Mr. Khashoggi. “About the journalist,” Prince Mohammed said, going on to give a lengthy answer, casting it as “a huge mistake” that the kingdom never wants to happen again.

Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed said, “did all the right steps” to investigate Mr. Khashoggi’s death.

Mr. Trump’s concerns were different.

“You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that,” he said to the reporter."

How Russia is grooming Ukraine’s children to fight for it: ‘I understood it wasn’t just play’; The Guardian, September 10, 2025

Liz Cookman, The Guardian; How Russia is grooming Ukraine’s children to fight for it: ‘I understood it wasn’t just play’

"Sonya spent a month at the Avangard camp, which has several other branches across Russia, and had sanctions imposed on it by the UK in November for its role in the forced deportation and brainwashing of Ukrainian children. She says she and other children faced a programme of activities that included being taught to dig trenches and rig them with booby traps and trip wires, load machine guns, take part in military-style formations and carry other children on their backs to simulate medical evacuations.

Similar to Soviet-era youth camps, these centres have escalated in number since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Critics say they are used to indoctrinate children to prepare them for future service in the Russian military.

Now large numbers of children from occupied regions of Ukraine are reportedly being sent alongside the young Russians. The Kremlin portrays these facilities as physical and cultural learning opportunities for children."

How the Vatican Is Shaping the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence; American Enterprise Institute, July 7, 2025

Shane Tews , American Enterprise Institute; How the Vatican Is Shaping the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

"Father Paolo Benanti is an Italian Catholic priest, theologian, and member of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. He teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University and has served as an advisor to both former Pope Francis and current Pope Leo on matters of artificial intelligence and technology ethics within the Vatican.

Below is a lightly edited and abridged transcript of our discussion...

In the Vatican document, you emphasize that AI is just a tool—an elegant one, but it shouldn’t control our thinking or replace human relationships. You mention it “requires careful ethical consideration for human dignity and common good.” How do we identify that human dignity point, and what mechanisms can alert us when we’re straying from it?

I’ll try to give a concise answer, but don’t forget that this is a complex element with many different applications, so you can’t reduce it to one answer. But the first element—one of the core elements of human dignity—is the ability to self-determine our trajectory in life. I think that’s the core element, for example, in the Declaration of Independence. All humans have rights, but you have the right to the pursuit of happiness. This could be the first description of human rights.

In that direction, we could have a problem with this kind of system because one of the first and most relevant elements of AI, from an engineering perspective, is its prediction capabilities.Every time a streaming platform suggests what you can watch next, it’s changing the number of people using the platform or the online selling system. This idea that interaction between human beings and machines can produce behavior is something that could interfere with our quality of life and pursuit of happiness. This is something that needs to be discussed.

Now, the problem is: don’t we have a cognitive right to know if we have a system acting in that way? Let me give you some numbers. When you’re 65, you’re probably taking three different drugs per day. When you reach 68 to 70, you probably have one chronic disease. Chronic diseases depend on how well you stick to therapy. Think about the debate around insulin and diabetes. If you forget to take your medication, your quality of life deteriorates significantly. Imagine using this system to help people stick to their therapy. Is that bad? No, of course not. Or think about using it in the workplace to enhance workplace safety. Is that bad? No, of course not.

But if you apply it to your life choices—your future, where you want to live, your workplace, and things like that—that becomes much more intense. Once again, the tool could become a weapon, or the weapon could become a tool. This is why we have to ask ourselves: do we need something like a cognitive right regarding this? That you are in a relationship with a machine that has the tendency to influence your behavior.

Then you can accept it: “I have diabetes, I need something that helps me stick to insulin. Let’s go.” It’s the same thing that happens with a smartwatch when you have to close the rings. The machine is pushing you to have healthy behavior, and we accept it. Well, right now we have nothing like that framework. Should we think about something in the public space? It’s not a matter of allowing or preventing some kind of technology. It’s a matter of recognizing what it means to be human in an age of such powerful technology—just to give a small example of what you asked me."

They Are All Warriors, Too.; Ethics, Info, Tech: Contested Voices, Values, Spaces, June 4, 2025

Kip Currier, Ethics, Info, Tech: Contested Voices, Values, Spaces; They Are All Warriors, Too.

Late yesterday afternoon I saw the following Guardian article: Hegseth orders US navy to strip Harvey Milk name from ship amid Pride month. That generated two reactions:

Oh, no...Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth couldn't have done such a mean-spirited, petty thing, right?...

And, oh, yeah...this is exactly the kind of thing Hegseth would do. Especially with Pride Month just underway.

What was the Pentagon explanation for why this was done? The article says that "The renaming is being done to ensure “alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture”, referring to Donald Trump, Hegseth and Phelan, according to the memorandum."

It goes on to note that not just the USNS Harvey Milk but more than half a dozen naval ships named for civil rights pioneers will be stripped of their names and renamed:

"Documents reviewed by CBS showed that vessels on the US navy’s “recommended list” include USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez and USNS Medgar Evers." 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/03/harvey-milk-ship-name-hegseth

A few points in rebuttal to Hegseth and those who support this decision:

The timing of this action is clearly not an accident. It was unveiled at the beginning of June's Pride Month, the month-long recognition of LGBTQ+ people and their long-waged civil rights efforts to be legally recognized and included in all aspects of societal life, like other Americans.

At the same time as Hegseth's announcement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on June 3 that the Trump Administration would not be recognizing Pride Month. Leavitt added that “I can tell you this president is very proud to be a president for all Americans, regardless of race, religion or creed.” Leavitt's words on behalf of Trump may sound good to some, but there's really no substantive meaning or truth behind the platitude. To the contrary, the actions of the Trump administration indicate that Trump is in fact not a "president for all Americans." As just one example among many, recall that this is the president who decided via a "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness" executive order on January 27, 2025 that transgender persons will no longer be permitted to serve in the U.S. military, a decision that was upheld by a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court on May 6. How is that decision playing out in our society? The Advocate reported on June 3 that Cadets who met all Air Force Academy graduation standards denied commissions because they're transgender. Consider the fundamental unfairness of this new reality for persons who have committed themselves to serving this country. Keep in mind as well that all branches of the U.S. military have been unable to meet their recruiting goals in recent years, except for the U.S. Marines and Space Force. Transgender persons, like these Air Force Academy graduates, are ready, willing, and more than able to serve. Yet, they are being ushered out of all military branches under this president.

It's important to note that among the naval ships set to be renamed, three of the people for whom those ships were named are veterans: Harvey Milk (U.S. Navy), Cesar Chavez (U.S. Navy), and Medgar Evers (U.S. Army). Milk served for four years and was forced out of the Navy in 1955, with an "other than honorable" discharge because he was openly homosexual. Evers served for three years, from 1943-1946, in a segregated army unit during World War II. Chavez served two years in the Navy, from 1946-1948, and was placed in a unit for persons of foreign descent. We can easily imagine if we were to place ourselves in the shoes of these three veterans how the experience of being categorized and set apart from other people in ways that discriminate them from one another might affect us and impel us to work for inclusion and equal treatment, which all three of these men would later do. Moreover, all three of these veterans enlisted of their own free will and were part of a military warrior culture that was ready to fight for freedom and protect democracy.

The other civil rights activists and notable historical figures for whom the naval ships were named, such as Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman and suffragist and slavery abolitionist Lucy Stone, did not serve in the U.S. military. However, each of these individuals in their own way represents the spirit of a warrior. Each person confronted significant obstacles and discriminatory treatment, both as individuals and members of groups that suffered from systemic unfairness and disadvantage. Yet, they all found the courage and strength within themselves to fight back against unjustness to help our country become "a more perfect union". 

America is an exceptional nation that has been a beacon for the ideals of democracy for nearly 250 years. Yet, the patchwork of American history is also made up of time periods in which those ideals were not realized and groups experienced discrimination, ostracism, and injustice. One of the ways we can work toward becoming a more perfect union is by acknowledging that past and the inherent value of individuals and the various communities within which they are situated. Honoring the societal achievements of individuals from groups that have experienced intolerance and unjust actions by naming military ships after them is a way to promote "representation" of these groups; groups who are all too often unseen and unrecognized. It's a way of saying "we see you", "we know you are here", "we value you". Hegseth's stripping the names of civil rights contributors from these ships is an effort to send the opposite messages; namely, "we don't see you or welcome you", "you don't exist and we don't want you here", "you are of no importance and do not matter". Mt. Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh, counters the negative messaging of people like Hegseth by providing free LGBTQ+ ally signs that people can display in their yards. One of the designs says: We see you. We love you. We stand with you. Another design simply says Lebo [the township's nickname] sees you!

Returning to the topic of the timing of this development, the cruelty and spitefulness of Hegseth stripping these naval ships of their names, and doing it during Pride Month, is indeed the point. The announcement was made at this time to try to make people feel bad who believe in the morality and legitimacy of recognizing people and communities that have experienced discrimination. Hegseth's actions are both a tacit and implicit message to members of the communities from which these honorees came that "you don't matter", "you aren't part of this America anymore", "we who are in power can literally erase you from history and existence at any time". It's also part and parcel of the "culture and history wars" that the Trump administration is waging against libraries, museums, and the arts, as Margaret Sullivan identifies in her June 2, 2025 Guardian piece "Parks, libraries, museums: Here's why Trump is attacking America's best-loved institutions". As Sullivan observes, drawing from the work of 20th century authoritarianism expert Hannah Arendt (author of a series of articles in 1963 on the "Banality of Evil"):

Take away natural beauty, free access to books and support for the arts, and you end up with a less enlightened, more ignorant and less engaged public. That's a public much more easily manipulated. 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/02/national-parks-libraries-museums-trump

Here's the thing about Hegseth's erasure of the names on those naval ships, though: each one of the people for whom those naval ships was named experienced years and years of being erased, of being segregated, of being "othered". But they still manifested a warrior ethos and pressed on. They never gave up. They persevered. And they made progress and advances for themselves and others who like them were experiencing unfair treatment and inequality. Despite the Pete Hegseths of the world then and the Pete Hegseths of the world now. I picture each one of them (and Dolores Huerta as of this writing is still alive and with us at the age of 95), shrugging their shoulders, saying something like "consider the source" in reacting to Hegseth's actions, and getting back in the game to fight for social justice and human dignity for disadvantaged people as well as everyone.

Finally, it's vital for us to put Hegseth's behavior in perspective: his time as Secretary of Defense will one day end. His edicts and pronouncements that attempt to make lasting policy relating to the worth of others won't last forever. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." And a less well-known observation made by Dr. King in 1956 is good for us to always keep at hand:

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom."

https://www.si.edu/spotlight/mlk?page=4&iframe=true 

Hegseth's actions can be undone. And no matter what Pete Hegseth does to the names of human rights pioneers on a ship, the legacies of those honorees are still intact and unbroken. Those honorees held on to an intrinsic sense of their own value and goodness in spite of the adversities they faced. Hegseth cannot strip them of that. And here in the present, he can't strip that same sense of value and goodness from any person who finds themselves in a group that Hegseth and his ilk demean and devalue.

Ultimately, Hegseth doesn't get to define for all of us who a warrior is. Yes, as the head of the Defense Department for this short period of time as a public servant he can talk about "warrior culture" and institute policy changes. But he can't really define what a warrior is unless we cede that ground to him. Indeed, there are countless ways to be a warrior in this world and still maintain a sense of decency, compassion, and respect for the dignity of all human beings.

Each of us can define for ourselves what it means to be a warrior. And we can thank and say the names of the warriors -- those who are are veterans and those who have served in other ways -- who have fought and sacrificed for all of us (in alphabetical order below), while keeping their memories alive and ensuring that others can learn about them and be inspired to become warriors for good, too.

Cesar Chavez (1927-1993)

Medgar Evers (1925-1963)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020)

Dolores Huerta (1930- )

Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993)

Harvey Milk (1930-1978)

Lucy Stone (1818-1893)

Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)

Artificial Intelligence—Promises and Perils for Humans’ Rights; Harvard Law School Human Rights Program, June 10, 2025 10:30 AM EDT

Harvard Law School Human Rights Program; Artificial Intelligence—Promises and Perils for Humans’ Rights

"In recent years, rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, significantly accelerated by the development and deployment of deep learning and Large Language Models, have taken center stage in policy discussions and public consciousness. Amidst a public both intrigued and apprehensive about AI’s transformative potential across workplaces, families, and even broader political, economic, and geopolitical structures, a crucial conversation is emerging around its ethical, legal, and policy dimensions.

This webinar will convene a panel of prominent experts from diverse fields to delve into the critical implications of AI for humans and their rights. The discussion will broadly address the anticipated human rights harms stemming from AI’s increasing integration into society and explore potential responses to these challenges. A key focus will be on the role of international law and human rights law in addressing these harms, considering whether this legal framework can offer the appropriate tools for effective intervention."

The Emergency Is Here; The New York Times, April 17, 2025

 Ezra Klein, The New York Times; The Emergency Is Here

"The emergency is here.

The crisis is now. It is not six months away. It is not another Supreme Court ruling away from happening. It’s happening now.

Perhaps not to you, not yet. But to others. Real people. We know their names. We know their stories.

The president of the United States is disappearing people to a Salvadoran prison for terrorists. A prison known by its initials — CECOT. A prison built for disappearance. A prison where there is no education or remediation or recreation, because it is a prison that does not intend to release its inhabitants back out into the world. It is a prison where the only way out, in the words of El Salvador’s so-called justice minister, is a coffin...

The Trump administration holds the view that anyone they send to El Salvador is beyond the reach of American law — they have been disappeared not only from our country but from our system — and from any protection or process that system affords.

In our prisons, prisoners can be reached by our lawyers, by our courts, by our mercy. In El Salvador, they cannot.

Names. Stories. Let me tell you one of their names, one of their stories, as best we know it."

Joe Rogan breaks with Trump, calling Venezuelan deportations ‘horrific’; The Guardian, April 2, 2025

Dani Anguiano , The Guardian; Joe Rogan breaks with Trump, calling Venezuelan deportations ‘horrific’

"Joe Rogan, the influential podcast host and prominent supporter of Donald Trump, has criticized the president’s administration over the deportation of a professional makeup artist and hairdresser to a prison in El Salvador, calling it “horrific”.

Andry José Hernández Romero, who is gay, had sought asylum in the US, telling officials he faced persecution because of his sexual orientation and political views. But US immigration officers argued the crown tattoos on his wrists were proof he was part of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang, despite Hernández Romero telling them he was not. Last month, he was flown from Texas to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, a facility that his lawyer said was “one of the worst places in the world”. His removal comes as the administration undertakes what Trump has pledged would be a mass deportation campaign.

In a 29 March episode of his popular podcast, Rogan, who endorsed Trump for president last year, said it was “horrific” that “people who aren’t criminals are getting lassoed up and deported”."