https://consequence.net/2025/10/robby-roadsteamer-detained-ice-portland/#

Earlier this week, a clarinet player was arrested during a protest at the ICE facility in Portland. Now, musical comedian Robby Roadsteamer says he has been charged with trespassing after being detained while singing alongside the Portland Frog at the same location.

A video posted by Roadsteamer (real name Rob Potylo) on YouTube shows him dressed in a giraffe costume, channeling Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” as he sings, “If you hate brown people and you are a Nazi.”

Despite standing several feet behind the “Do Not Cross” blue line, a group of ICE officers dressed in military fatigues can be seen grabbing Roadsteamer and leading him toward the facility. Watch the footage below.

Further details about the incident appear on a GoFundMe page launched to help Roadsteamer raise legal funds:

“Robby Roadsteamer has been detained by ICE in Portland, Oregon after a peacekeeping trip to heal the divide with the city battling ICE illegally grabbing innocent people off the streets in Portland.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5558899-pritzker-stephen-miller-trump-capacity-immigration/

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) claimed on Thursday that White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller is enabling President Trump amid his crackdown on immigrants without legal status in the U.S.

“I do think he needs help,” Pritzker said of Trump to Tim Miller, the host of “The Bulwark” podcast. “And I don’t think anybody around him on a day-to-day basis wants to get him any help because they have more power based upon his diminished capacity.”

Pritzker then brought up Miller, whom he said “clearly is the one pushing the tactics at [Department of Homeland Security], at [Customs and Border Protection], at [Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)].”

“He’s clearly the person that is aiming to have Donald Trump become an authoritarian leader,” Pritzker continued. “And I wish that, you know, people could at least recognize that Stephen Miller is bad for the country, and he is abusing the fact that Donald Trump has diminished capacity.”

Miller has been a critical voice in enforcing Trump’s immigration policy. In May, he said that the administration set a goal of 3,000 federal immigration arrests a day.

“President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day so we can get all of the Biden illegals that were flooded into our country for four years out of our country,” Miller told Sean Hannity on Fox News at the time.

With the National Guard’s deployment in Chicago and other parts of Illinois amid ICE raids, Pritzker has been particularly critical of Trump and administration officials defending the deployments. Last week, when Trump suggested Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) should go to jail, the governor replied, “Come and get me.”

18th sequential daily thread covering The 2025 Democrat Shutdown of the United States Government

Day 18 Updates:
- The Democrat Shutdown has now resulted in SNAP benefits in PA being paused https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/pennsylvania-snap-benefits-government-shutdown/
- The Democrat Shutdown has enabled Trump's plans to reduce the size of the government and layoff federal employees: https://www.axios.com/2025/10/18/government-shutdown-trump-federal-workers
- the house will be out of session next week: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/live-updates/government-shutdown-live-updates/?id=126242587
- Trump believes that most federal layoffs are not blocked by court order: https://www.npr.org/2025/10/17/nx-s1-5577691/layoffs-rifs-government-shutdown-trump

The issue is caused by Democrats. What did they do? They passed COVID emergency corporate subsidies to health insurance companies during COVID, and set them to expire on Jan 1, 2026. Now that these subsidies are expiring as planned, they are angry and shutting down the government.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/18/trump-venezuela-war-maduro/86731362007/
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is poised to massively raise the stakes in its feud with the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who it accuses of supporting narcotrafficking and collusion with drug cartels.

President Donald Trump's startling Oct. 15 announcement that on-land strikes against Venezuela could come soon, which follows six strikes on Venezuelan boats that have killed more than two dozen people, raises questions as to what caused Trump's sudden aggression and where it will lead.

Maduro has already offered Venezuela's natural resources, Trump said Oct. 17. "You know why? Because he doesn't want to f--- around with the United States," he added.

The CIA also has received the green light from Trump to carry out secret operations inside Venezuela, the president confirmed in the same press conference.

"I authorized for two reasons really," Trump told reporters. "Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America...they came in through the border. The other thing are drugs."

News broke on Oct. 16 that Adm. Alvin Holsey, commander U.S. military forces in Latin and South America, will retire after just a year on the job.

Holsey has not said publicly why he is leaving. According to news reports, he had raised concerns with the ongoing strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea.

Trump and some of his allies have long harbored antipathy towards Venezuela's communist government, and fantasized about overthrowing it. But it is unclear whether that is Trump's goal in initiating military conflict with the oil-rich South American nation.

>Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r5UGe71u4U

https://nypost.com/2025/10/17/us-news/oregon-man-charged-with-shining-green-laser-at-cbp-helicopter/

> Oregon man charged with shining green laser at CBP helicopter in Portland as anti-ICE protests rage on.

> An Oregon man has been charged with shining a green laser at a US Customs and Border Protection helicopter in Portland amid rowdy anti-ICE protests in the city, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

> Brian Keith Kapileo Nepaial, 38, allegedly pointed the device at a federal chopper on Oct. 3, forcing the pilots to land the aircraft early, the Oregon US District Attorney’s Office said in a press release.

> When the FBI searched Nepaial’s home a week later, they found a laser, along with more than 100 grams of methamphetamine and “evidence of drug trafficking,” according to the DA’s office.

> Nepaial allegedly pointed the laser at the CBP helicopter as it was passing over his home while he was smoking on the porch, according to federal court documents.

> The pilots circled back over the house, and watched Nepaial creep back into his home.

> “Laser strikes are a serious matter with potentially deadly repercussions. They put the lives of the
pilots and the public at risk,” said Scott E. Bradford, US Attorney for the District of Oregon.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tomahawk-missiles-russia-ukraine-war-522fb8bb8fe8ce87107e1eb320abae0e
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday warned Russia that he may send Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles if Moscow doesn’t settle its war there soon — suggesting that he could be ready to increase the pressure on Vladimir Putin’s government using a key weapons system.

“I might say, ’Look: if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Israel. “The Tomahawk is an incredible weapon, very offensive weapon. And honestly, Russia does not need that.”

Trump also said, “I might tell them that if the war is not settled -- that we may very well.” He added, “We may not, but we may do it. I think it’s appropriate to bring up.”

His comments came after Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Trump said he mentioned possibly sending Tomahawks during that conversation.

“Do they want to have Tomahawks going in that direction? I don’t think so,” Trump said of Russia. “I think I might speak to Russia about that.” He added that “Tomahawks are a new step of aggression.”

His suggestions followed Russia having attacked Ukraine’s power grid overnight, part of an ongoing campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter. Moscow also expressed “extreme concern” over the U.S. potentially providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine.

Putin himself has previously suggested that the United States supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine will seriously damage relations between Moscow and Washington.

For his part, Zelenskyy described his latest call with Trump as “very productive,” and said the pair had discussed strengthening Ukraine’s “air defense, resilience, and long-range capabilities,” along with “details related to the energy sector.”

17th daily thread covering The 2025 Democrat Shutdown of the US Government

Day 17 Updates:
- CNBC: Democrats claim that they refuse to negotiate with Republicans because they don't like Trump: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/17/government-shutdown-trump-gang-democrats.html
- Democrats reject bill once again: https://halifax.citynews.ca/video/2025/10/17/u-s-government-shutdown-continues-into-another-week-as-democrats-reject-bill-once-again/
- The 2025 Democrat Shutdown becomes the third longest US federal shutdown in history: https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/government-shutdown-2025-latest-senate-day-17/
- ICE will still be paid: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/some-federal-law-enforcement-receive-pay-during-government-shutdown-2025-10-16/

The issue is caused by Democrats being angry that when they wanted emergency corporate subsidies to health companies they set them to expire in 2026, but now that it is nearly 2026, they are angry that the corporate subsidies are expiring.

https://www.reuters.com/world/ex-trump-adviser-bolton-appear-court-charged-with-mishandling-classified-2025-10-17/
John Bolton, the national security hawk and former adviser to Donald Trump who has become one of the U.S. president's biggest critics, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of mishandling classified information.
Bolton, who was indicted on Thursday, is the third of Trump's prominent critics to face prosecution in recent weeks, as the U.S. president dispenses with decades-long norms designed to insulate federal law enforcement from political pressures.

Bolton, wearing a dark blue suit and maroon tie, did not speak with reporters as he arrived at the courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, to surrender.
"Not guilty, your honor," Bolton, 76, said in court. He was released on his own recognizance and a hearing in the case is scheduled for November 21.
The indictment alleges that Bolton shared sensitive information with two of his relatives for possible use in a book he was writing, including notes on intelligence briefings and meetings with senior government officials and foreign leaders.
Bolton's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said Bolton did not unlawfully share or store any information.

Trump, a Republican who campaigned for the presidency on a vow of retribution after facing a slew of legal woes once his first term in the White House ended in 2021, has actively pressured his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to bring charges against his perceived adversaries.
That included pushing the Justice Department to bring charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, even driving out a prosecutor he deemed to be moving too slowly in doing so.
Bolton served as White House national security adviser during Trump's first term, before emerging as one of the president's most vocal critics. Bolton, also a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, described Trump as unfit to be president in a memoir he released last year.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgqlyw9g7weo

Prince Andrew is giving up his titles, including the Duke of York, he has announced in a personal statement.

He has been under increasing pressure over his links with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with calls for Buckingham Palace to take action against him.

That now seems to have resulted in the prince deciding to voluntarily hand back his titles and to give up membership of the Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior order of chivalry in Britain.

In his statement he said he continued to "vigorously deny the accusations against me".

"In discussion with the King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family," said a statement from Prince Andrew.

"I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first.

"I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.

"With His Majesty's agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me."

Andrew's decision to stop using his titles was made in consultation with William, Prince of Wales, as well as the King.

He will remain a prince - but will cease to be the Duke of York, a title received from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth.

Andrew had already ceased to be a "working royal" and had lost the use of his HRH title and no longer appeared at official royal events. His role now will be even more diminished.

The prince has faced a series of scandals over recent years, including a court case he settled with Virginia Giuffre, questions about his finances and his involvement with an alleged Chinese spy.