Van Lathan: Trump needs a before and after picture to sell econ plan, just like Jenny Craig

Van Lathan talks about what he thinks the President needs to do in order to convince the American public that his economic strategy will work. He says the White House isn't doing a good job articulating what it is they are trying to achieve with the short term pain of the tariffs.

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Boston Globe

41 minutes ago

• Boston Globe

Belarus frees dissident Siarhei Tsikhanouski and 13 others after a rare visit from top US envoy

Advertisement 'My husband is free. It's difficult to describe the joy in my heart,' Tsikhanouskaya told reporters. But she added her team's work is 'not finished' while over 1,100 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus. Tsikhanouski, known for his anti-Lukashenko slogan 'stop the cockroach,' was jailed after announcing plans to challenge the strongman in the 2020 election. Following his arrest, his wife ran in his stead, rallying large crowds across the country. Official results of the election handed Lukashenko his sixth term in office but were denounced by the opposition and the West as a sham. Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets in the aftermath of the August 2020 vote, in the largest protests in the country's history. In the ensuing crackdown, more than 35,000 people were detained, with many beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned. Tsikhanouski was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison on charges of organizing mass riots. Advertisement Lukashenko has since extended his rule for a seventh term following a January 2025 election that the opposition called a farce. Since July 2024, he has pardoned nearly 300 people, including imprisoned U.S. citizens, seeking to mend ties with the West. At the meeting in Minsk, Lukashenko hugged and warmly welcomed Kellogg and the American delegation to his residence. 'I really hope that our conversation will be very sincere and open. Otherwise, what is the point of meeting? If we are clever and cunning in front of each other, we will not achieve results,' Lukashenko said. 'You have made a lot of noise in the world with your arrival.' Lukashenko's press secretary, Natalya Eismont, told Russian state media hours later that he freed the 14 prisoners following a request from U.S. President Donald Trump. It was not immediately clear whether Kellogg's visit might pave the way for the lifting of some U.S. sanctions against Minsk, imposed over the brutal crackdown against the 2020 protests and Lukashenko's support of Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine. 'Lukashenko is clearly trying to get out of international isolation, and the release of such a large group of political prisoners signals a desire to start a dialogue with the U.S. in order to soften international sanctions,' Belarusian political analyst Valery Karbalevich told The Associated Press. 'After five years, Lukashenko is trying to loosen the knot with which the Kremlin tied him, using him for the war against Ukraine,' Karbalevich said. Advertisement Belarus has allowed the Kremlin to use its territory to send troops and weapons into Ukraine, and also to station its forces and nuclear weapons there. Many other prominent dissidents still languish in Belarusian jails, among them Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, a human rights advocate serving a 10-year prison sentence on charges widely denounced as politically motivated. Bialiatski, founder of Viasna, Belarus' oldest and most prominent rights group, was arrested in 2021 during raids by the country's main security agency that still goes by its Soviet-era name, the KGB. In March 2023, he was convicted on charges of smuggling and financing actions that 'grossly violated public order,' and sentenced to 10 years. Authorities labeled him especially dangerous because of alleged 'extremist' tendencies. He, his family and supporters say the charges against him are politically motivated, and a U.N. panel of human rights experts called on Belarus to release him. In 2022, when Bialiatski was behind bars, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with the prominent Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties. Bialiatski has been serving his sentence at a penal colony for repeat offenders in the city of Gorki. The facility is notorious for beatings and hard labor. Bialiatski's wife warned last year about his deteriorating health, saying the 62-year-old battles multiple chronic illnesses. Also behind bars is Viktor Babaryka, a former banker who was widely seen in 2020 as Lukashenko's main electoral rival, and Maria Kolesnikova, a close ally of Tsikhanouskaya and charismatic leader of that year's mass protests. With her close-cropped hair and trademark gesture of forming her hands into the shape of a heart, Kolesnikova became an even greater symbol of resistance when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her. She responded by tearing up her passport at the border and walking back into Belarus. Advertisement Released alongside Tsikhanouski was longtime Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty correspondent Ihar Karnei, the U.S. government-funded broadcaster confirmed. Karnei, who had also worked with prominent Belarusian and Russian newspapers, had been serving a three-year service on extremism charges he rejected as a sham. 'The release was a big surprise for me,' Karnei told AP in a phone interview Saturday. 'I didn't believe it until the very end, but now I understand that other political prisoners deserve the same.' He said that he spent about six months in solitary confinement. 'Most people suffer simply for their beliefs and do not deserve these terrible conditions and terms,' Karnei said. RFE/RL's Belarusian service had been designated extremist in the country, a common label handed to anyone who criticizes Lukashenko's government. As a result, working for it or spreading its content has become a criminal offense. 'We are deeply grateful to President Trump for securing the release of this brave journalist, who suffered at the hands of the Belarusian authorities,' the broadcaster's CEO Stephen Capus said Saturday in a press release. Karnei was detained several times while covering the 2020 protests. Unlike many of his colleagues, he chose to stay in Belarus despite the ensuing repression. He was arrested again in July 2023, as police raided his apartment seizing phones and computers. The group Reporters Without Borders says Belarus is Europe's leading jailer of journalists. At least 40 are serving long prison sentences, according to the independent Belarusian Association of Journalists. Many face beatings, poor medical care and the inability to contact lawyers or relatives, according to activists and former inmates. Advertisement Belarus also freed an Estonian national who had set up an NGO to raise funds for Belarusian refugees. According to the Estonian Foreign Ministry, Allan Roio was detained last January, and sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison on charges of establishing an extremist organization.

New York Post

an hour ago

• New York Post

Padilla claims Noem clash wasn't planned stunt: ‘rhetoric compelled me'

California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla insisted Saturday that he didn't pre-plan his heckling of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles — claiming that the stunt that got him handcuffed was a spur of the moment attempt at congressional oversight. Padilla argued in an interview with MSNBC hosts Eugene Daniels and Jonathan Capehart that Noem's 'rhetoric compelled' him to approach her lectern at a press conference and interrupt. Padilla was removed from the June 12 event after he pushed against law enforcement officers who blocked him and shouted, 'I'm Senator Alex Padilla! I have questions for the secretary!' He appeared on MSNBC to respond to Vice President JD Vance, who last week referred to him as 'Jose' Padilla and accused him of 'pure political theater' in his protest of Trump administration immigration enforcement policies. 5 Sen. Alex Padilla was handcuffed June 12 after attempting to confront DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. AP 5 Padilla pushed back against law enforcement officers as he tried to reach Noem's lectern. AP The VP's office explained the first-name error by saying Vance 'must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.' 'He knows my name,' Padilla griped to MSNBC. 'Sadly, it's just an indicator of how petty and unserious this administration is.' 5 Noem was discussing an immigration crackdown and local protests against immigration officials. AP 5 Vice President JD Vance accused Padilla of staging 'political theater.' Getty Images Padilla claimed that he was merely attempting to exercise his congressional duties during his confrontation with Noem. 'Part of our job is oversight and accountability — exactly what this administration does not want, and so they will try to throw any hurdle, any roadblock, to keep us from our oversight and accountability role. That's all I was doing, right?' the Democrat said 'That press conference, as you know, I did not barge in. I was escorted in. I did not lunge at the secretary… I had the audacity of trying to ask a question,' he said. 5 Democrats have denounced Padilla's brief detention. via REUTERS 'I heard there was this press conference, asked to join, they opened the door for me and I sat quietly on the side until the rhetoric compelled me to speak up — not just as a senator, but as an American,' Padilla added. 'Just the notion that they're suggesting that it's their job to liberate Los Angeles from our duly elected mayor and governor. It is too much.' The previously little-known senator was appointed to his position in 2021 by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) to fill the vacancy created by Kamala Harris becoming vice president. He was elected to a full six-year term in 2022.

CNBC

an hour ago

• CNBC

Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil returns home to New York area

NEWARK, N.J. —After more than three months in ICE detention, Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil returned to the New York area where his harrowing ordeal first began. Immigration authorities had arrested Khalil, 30, in March at the university housing complex where he lived in New York City. He was quickly transported thousands of miles away to a detention center in Louisiana, where he spent the last few months. Khalil remained defiant as he spoke to reporters and supporters on Saturday afternoon upon his arrival at Newark International Airport. "Your messages have kept me going. Still the fight is far from over, the genocide is still happening in Gaza, Israel is still waging a full war against Palestine," said Khalil, who was flanked by his wife Dr. Noor Abdalla and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "The U.S. government is funding this genocide and Columbia University is investing in this genocide. This is why I was protesting, this is why I will continue protesting with every one of you, not only if they threaten me with detention. Even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Gaza." When asked what his message would be to the Trump administration, Khalil said, "Just the fact that I'm here sends a message." "The fact that all of these attempts to suppress pro-Palestine voices have failed now," he said. "This is the message. My existence is a message." Ocasio-Cortez said Khalil's imprisonment for politically motivated. "Everybody agrees that persecution based on political speech is wrong and is a violation of all of our First Amendment rights, not just Mahmoud's," she said. His unprecedented detention has sparked national outrage. Further fueling the controversy, Abdalla, an American, gave birth to the couple's first son in April while he remained behind bars. Upon his release in Louisiana on Friday, Khalil addressed reporters briefly, saying he was excited to return to New York City and see his family. "Although justice prevailed," he said upon his release, "it's long, very long overdue. And this shouldn't have taken three months." "Trump and his administration, they chose the wrong person for this," he added. "That doesn't mean that there is a right person for this. There's no right person who should be detained for actually protesting a genocide, for protesting their university, Columbia University." Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin on Friday denounced the judicial order freeing Khalil and the judge who issued it. "This is yet another example of how out of control members of the judicial branch are undermining national security," McLaughlin said in a statement. "Their conduct not only denies the result of the 2024 election, it also does great harm to our constitutional system by undermining public confidence in the courts." The Trump administration claimed it had the authority to detain and deport the pro-Palestinian student activist, arguing that his presence in the U.S. threatened national security. Another charge against Khalil alleges that he omitted details about his work history and membership in organizations on his permanent residency application. The government cited an obscure provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 that gives Secretary of State Marco Rubio authority to "personally determine" whether a foreign national can remain in the U.S. on national security grounds. An NBC News review of more than 100 pages of court filings found that prosecutors relied on unverified tabloid reports and anecdotal claims, raising doubts about the strength of their case for deporting Khalil. Less than 10 minutes after Khalil, who has no criminal history, was released from the detention center in Jena, Louisiana, the Trump administration filed a notice of appeal. A lawyer representing Khalil vowed to fight the appeal. Khalil helped lead student protests over the war in Gaza, where more than 55,000 people have been killed since Israel launched its war against Hamas. He also participated in negotiations with university officials at Columbia last year, when protests at the Ivy League school gripped national headlines for weeks and inspired similar demonstrations at universities around the world. Some Jewish students at universities across the U.S. reported antisemitic incidents as the protest movement gained traction. Khalil was the first of several foreign academics apprehended by immigration authorities in the first months of Trump's second term. Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk, a doctoral candidate from Turkey, was arrested outside her home in Somerville, Massachusetts, by immigration authorities on March 25. Viral street footage of her arrest showed Department of Homeland Security officials dressed in plain clothes surrounding Öztürk, grabbing her by the wrists and escorting her into an unmarked vehicle. Mohsen Mahdawi, a 34-year-old graduate student at Columbia who was born in the West Bank, was apprehended by immigration authorities during his naturalization interview in Vermont. Federal judges also ordered the release of both Öztürk and Mahdawi in recent weeks. Other notable cases include a Georgetown University professor who was detained by ICE and later released after a judicial order, and a Brown University professor who was deported to Lebanon.