IN THE NEWS

Francesca Albanese, relatora de la ONU: “Las técnicas de intimidación de Estados Unidos son de un estilo mafioso”

Diego Stacey © El País
July 18, 2025

Los ojos de la diplomacia internacional estaban puestos esta semana en Colombia, en donde se celebró la primera cumbre del Grupo de La Haya, un bloque de ocho países, todos del llamado Sur Global, que acordaron medidas diplomáticas y económicas para presionar a Israel para que acepte un alto el fuego y acabe con la guerra en Gaza. Pese a que las delegaciones de una treintena de países, incluidos México y España, estuvieron presentes, la invitada que se robó toda la atención fue Francesca Albanese, la relatora especial de la ONU para los Territorios Palestinos Ocupados. La abogada italiana, que no teme calificar lo que ocurre en Palestina como un “apartheid”, fue sancionada la semana pasada por Estados Unidos, que la acusa de “apoyar el terrorismo” y de promulgar un “antisemitismo descarado”.

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You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.

-(Donald Trump’s response to journalist Lesley Stahl asking him why he kept relentlessly attacking the press after he’d won the 2016 election)

CBS Says It’s Canceling Colbert Over Money, Not Politics. Is That Truthiness?

By James Poniewozik © The New York Times
July 18, 2025

In 2005, on his satire “The Colbert Report,” Stephen Colbert coined the term “truthiness,” meaning a statement that was not actually true but represented a reality that the speaker wished to inhabit.

In 2015, Colbert replaced David Letterman on CBS’s “Late Show,” which under him became one of the biggest and most prolific launchers of satirically guided missiles during the Trump era. In 2024, President Trump — who has repeatedly bemoaned his late-night coverage — said CBS “should terminate his contract.”

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Trump’s tirades against the press have become so commonplace that we risk not even noticing them anymore. But the regularity of Trump’s abuse only adds to the urgency to call them out. The dangers of growing numb to Trump’s attacks on the media cannot be overstated–what starts as a verbal insult can easily turn into something far more serious if left unchecked. RSF is deeply concerned that violent rhetoric can easily lead to violent actions.

-Clayton Weimers, Executive Director, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) USA, 2024

Trump Threatens to Sue Wall Street Journal for Publishing Letter to Epstein

By Chris Walker , © Truthout
July 18, 2025

President Donald Trump is threatening to sue The Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, over a bombshell report detailing a cryptic birthday message he sent to disgraced financier and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein two decades ago.

Trump lashed out at the conservative publication on Thursday, describing its reporting as “fake” and claiming that the letter to Epstein wasn’t his.

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I’ve known Jeff [Epstein] for 15 years. Terrific guy, He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.

-Donald Trump

ICE Lawyers Are Hiding Their Names in Immigration Court

Debbie Nathan © The Intercept
July 15, 2025

Inside a federal immigration courtroom in New York City last month, a judge took an exceedingly unusual step: declining to state the name of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorney pressing to deport asylum seekers.

“We’re not really doing names publicly,” said Judge ShaSha Xu — after stating her own name and those of the immigrants and their lawyers. It was the first of two separate instances The Intercept identified in which judges chose to withhold the identities of the attorneys representing the Trump administration’s deportation regime.

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Nobody has better respect for intelligence than Donald Trump.

-Donald Trump