How do you like that cup of coffee now??

Part One
Yesterday, President Donald Trump began a trade war with Colombia after that country’s president refused to permit two U.S. military airplanes full of deportees to land in Colombia. As Regina Garcia Cano and Astrid Suárez of the Associated Press pointed out, Colombia and the U.S. had an existing agreement for deportations under former president Joe Biden, and it accepted 475 deportation flights from 2020 to 2024, accepting 124 flights in 2024 alone. But the Biden administration used commercial and charter flights, while as national security analyst Juliette Kayyem noted, Trump used a military plane that arrived unannounced.

As Tim Naftali of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs explained: “If a foreign country tries to land its military planes—except in an emergency—without an existing agreement that is an infringement of sovereignty.” Colombia rejected the military planes without prior authorization and offered the use of its presidential plane instead.

Colombia also asked the U.S. to provide notice and decent treatment for its people, an issue that had been raised and resolved in 2023 after migrants arrived in hand and foot cuffs. Colombian president Gustavo Petro noted that the U.S. had committed that it would guarantee dignified conditions for the repatriation of migrants. The plane of migrants landed in Honduras, where Columbia sent its presidential plane to pick them up.

Trump announced that Colombia’s “denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States,” and slapped a 25% tariff on products from Colombia, which include about $6 billion of crude petroleum, $1.8 billion of coffee, and $1.6 billion of cut flowers. In addition, he said, the U.S. would revoke the visas of all Colombian “Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters.” He promptly deported Colombian staff members of the World Bank who were working for international diplomatic organizations in the U.S., and canceled visa appointments at Colombia’s U.S. Embassy.

Rather than backing down, President Petro threatened to levy a retaliatory tariff on U.S. products. Colombia imports 96.7% of the corn it feeds its livestock from the U.S., putting Colombia in the top five export markets for U.S. corn. According to a letter written by a bipartisan group of lawmakers eager to protect that trade, led by Senator Todd Young (R-IN), in 2003 the U.S. exported more than 4 million metric tons of corn to Colombia, which translated to $1.14 billion in sales. “American farmers cannot afford to lose such a vital export market,” the lawmakers wrote, “especially when access to the top U.S. corn export market, Mexico, is already at risk.”

By this morning the economic crisis appeared to be over, although U.S. visa restrictions apparently remain. With prior authorization and better treatment of migrants, Colombia is willing to accept the migrant flights. The White House declared victory, saying: “Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again. President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation's sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.”

The administration’s handling of the situation with Colombia reveals that their power depends on convincing people to ignore reality and instead to believe in the fantasy world Trump dictates.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced yesterday morning that “[d]eportation flights have begun.” In fact, nothing is “beginning.” In 2024, Colombia accepted on average more than two U.S. flights of migrants a week. And, as immigration scholar Austin Kocher noted, “everyone on this deportation flight was arrested and detained by the Biden administration.”

Over the past four years, Trump and MAGA Republicans repeatedly insisted that Biden had maintained “open borders,” while in fact, what the administration did was to try to address a situation made worse by the coronavirus pandemic.

As Katie Tobin of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace explains, before the coronavirus pandemic, Venezuela, where the economy was particularly bad under rising authoritarian Nicolás Maduro, sent migrants abroad. By June 2022, 6 million Venezuelans had fled their country; by September 2024, that number was 7.7 million. South American governments welcomed the Venezuelan migrants and others, including Haitians fleeing their country’s political chaos.

But as economies collapsed after the coronavirus crisis, Tobin explains, migrant populations that had settled in South American countries were forced out. From 2019 to 2021, Colombia’s per capita gross domestic product fell 4.6%; Peru’s, 5.3%; Ecuador’s, 2.8%; Brazil’s, 11.7%; and Venezuela’s, 20%. As the U.S. economy grew by 8.38%, Canada’s grew by 13.1%, and Mexico’s dropped only by 0.7%, migrants headed north. In September 2021, when 15,000 Haitians who had originally migrated to Brazil arrived at the U.S. border with Mexico, countries throughout the hemisphere realized that they needed a new regional approach to migration.

After nine months of negotiations, 21 countries announced that they had created a new migration pact for the Western Hemisphere. It provided economic support for Latin American countries that were original destinations for migrants, expanded formal pathways for immigration, and increased border security across the region.

Canada and Mexico were the first countries to buy into the new agreement. The U.S. turned next to strong ally Colombia, which agreed in March 2022, after which Vice President Kamala Harris brought on board Caribbean countries. By June 10, when the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection was announced, twenty-one nations had signed on. U.N. observers were present to demonstrate their support.

The Biden administration insisted that countries begin immediate action, and they did. Tobin notes that Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru have made sweeping new offers of legal status to hundreds of thousands of migrants already living in their countries, while Colombia has offered legal status to 2 million Venezuelans and Brazil has welcomed more than 500,000. Mexico and Guatemala have offered legal pathways to workers.

Canada, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Spain, and the U.S. launched a virtual platform to enable migrants to apply for admission remotely. When Mexico agreed to accept Venezuelans who had crossed into the U.S. unlawfully and at the same time the U.S. announced a legal pathway for 24,000 Venezuelans, border crossings dropped 90% within a week. Biden and Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador expanded that initiative to include Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans.

By 2023, border arrests had fallen by about half. Although Congress failed to pass a strong bipartisan measure to increase border security and fund immigration courts, arrests fell by half again after Biden in June 2024 issued a proclamation that barred migrants from being granted asylum when U.S. officials deemed the border was overwhelmed. By the end of Biden’s term, unlawful border crossings had plummeted to lows that hadn’t been seen since June 2020.

There are new challenges to managing migration as wars, climate change, and economic pressures push migrants out of various parts of Africa and out of China. Many of those migrants are finding their way to Latin America and from there to the U.S. The U.N. Refugee Agency estimates that 117 million people were displaced by the end of 2023.

 

Roughly seventy countries produce coffee, but not every nation that grows its own cherry-like trees and manufactures coffee beans also exports coffee. Only fifty coffee producing countries export coffee. Here is a quick breakdown of the top seven coffee producing countries.

My favorite is from Jamica.

Coffee Producing Countries 2024 - World Population Review

 

Cool running, mon.

 

Trump on the recent plane crash.
" When a reporter asked Trump, “I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash,” Trump answered: “Because I have common sense, ok? And unfortunately, a lot of people don't.”
Have you ever noticed how "common sense" is frequently used by the right as a reason for believing something? Try to find an example of a leftist (define as you will) using that as an arguement for something.

 

In an attempt to thwart the long understood common sense concept that a white man can’t get an even break in America, the president has issued the first of what will turn out to be our country’s Nuremberg Laws, Executive Order 14173. Wonder what's next?

 

1 controller when there should have been two.

Democrats forgot how to use it. A Common Sense Democrat manifesto - by Matthew Yglesias

Bill Maher says Democrats blew election with 'anti-common sense agenda'

This may help you better understand: Hearing for FAA director https://x.com/RealJessica05/status/1885015214166258138

One more
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1885402591556673883

 

Glad to see Trump’s gerbils have solved the FAA problem by firing supervisors who have long experience. So to channel my inner Karoline Leavitt, went you take off or land in a commercial jet, are you thinking my controller has had 25 years experience or a college dropout whose skills are an expert in playing the video game Call of Duty, Revenge Day. I think we all know the answer to that.

 

Did you just remember to reply to this from 30 days ago or are you grasping with your TDS

 

Notice how criticism of Trump or Musk is never responded to other than to suggest that we, the critics, have the problem.

 

Maybe that's because all you dems do is gripe about everything he says and does. Severe TDS.

 

Perhaps because most of what he says is lies and most of what he does is unconstitutional. You may call it what you will, that does not change the facts.

 

Yeah, that's it. Dems were certainly lovely last night. Nothing for the 13yr old kid, nothing for the prisoner, nothing for Laken Riley family, in fact the only time they clapped was for Ukraine. Nothing for America. They acted like petulant children. Al Green removed for heckling, that was a class act. I would bet my home if Kamala gave that same speech verbatim dems would have been ecstatic. But when your hatred for one man is greater than your love for our country, you might be part of the problem.

 

That was the maudlin portion of the program where Trump makes his guests probably invited to relive the most horrible day in their lives for his benefit. Hey, your kid was murdered but I hope you don’t mind that I use an illegal immigrant to dog whistle all immigrants are criminals. I have a law named after your child but you will never hear the name again as it will be referred to in the future as 4USCA§1 et. seq.

As for the young man, he survived pediatric cancer but I cut off the funding for the research so you better hope it doesn’t return because he will be fucked. He does have a cheesy badge and ID which is worthless because it is honorary.

Did you ever think, wait you don’t think, that my love for this country is different from your rah rah bs, probably not. Mine is to get rid of incompetent blithering idiots who are basically third rate grifters. A spineless House and Senate who do nothing when sworn to uphold the law. I took an oath when I joined VISTA to protect the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic and I am looking at you Elon. You should be stripped of your citizenship and deported back to shit hole you came from after serving 20 years in Florence, CO.

As for the yutzes doing the USA chant, I wonder what chant they will be doing in 2026 when their voters give them either the Edward the II of England or Marcus Crassus treatment in 2026. You might want to look this up, especially you Tom.

 

You leaving? Why won't you answer my question in Purely politics?

 

Meanwhile, when your love for one man is greater than your love for our country, you might be part of the problem.

 

"During his painfully long remarks before a joint session of Congress, Trump peddled so many brazen falsehoods that it was difficult to keep up with them all. The president and his speechwriters must’ve known that his lies would be fact-checked by independent news organizations, but by all appearances, they were comfortable throwing caution to the wind.
Trump said, “We inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe.” This wasn’t true.
Trump said, “We’re going to have growth in the auto industry like nobody’s ever seen. Plants are opening up all over the place.” That wasn’t true.
Trump said, towns like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, were “destroyed” by immigrants. That wasn’t true.
Trump said, in reference to Europe and aid to Ukraine, “[W]e’ve spent perhaps $350 billion, and they’ve spent $100 billion.” That wasn’t true.
Trump said, “For the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction.” That wasn’t true.
Trump said, in reference to Biden-era inflation, rates were the worst “perhaps even in the history of our country, they’re not sure.” They are sure and that wasn’t true.
Trump said the Biden administration imposed an “electric vehicle mandate.” That wasn’t true.
Trump said, “I’ve stopped all government censorship.” That wasn’t true.
Trump said, “Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years old. It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to 119.” Don’t believe it, because that wasn’t true.
Trump said the Biden administration “closed more than 100 power plants.” That wasn’t true.
Trump said, “The presidential election of Nov. 5 was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades.” That wasn’t true.
Trump said that his first term economic agenda produced “the most successful economy in the history of our country.” That wasn’t true.
These dozen whoppers are, of course, just a sampling of the most outrageous and obvious deceptions."
Don't worry about where this cane from, just point out where it is wrong.

 

The world according to Carp. All opinion, no facts.

 

And the World According to Josie is that "Trump can tell no lies." By definition.

 

Democrats mercilessly mocked for protesting Trump speech with paddles: 'It is giving bingo! Sigh'

 

Dems took a need for George Floyd a drug addict man and could not stand and clap for a 13 year old boy with brain cancer. You must be proud of your party.

Remorseless MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace returns to the air after 'shameful' jab at cancer stricken boy | Daily Mail Online