When the Trump Administration ended Temporary Protection Status for migrants from 11 different countries, the mainstream media's attention immediately gravitated to only one: Haiti.
It was the numerous problems surrounding the NGO and Biden organized surge of 15,000+ Haitian migrants into Springfield, OH that captured the interest of the American public during the election campaign of 2024. The mass migrant shift, representing nearly 30% of Springfield's total population, looked like a calculated foreign invasion, not the random immigration of desperate refugees.
Evidence of extensive cash flows to migrants also raised eyebrows (along with local accusations of disappearing pets). The entire situation was odd. Everything about immigration under Joe Biden and the Democrats resembled a strategic operation rather than an act of benevolence to save needy foreigners.
Haitian migrants, for some reason, remain one of the most aggressively contested groups for the political left when it comes to deportations. And, now that protection status has been removed, the sob stories from progressive outlets are ample. The problem is, most of these news stories rely on false claims or the omission of important details. Their only goal is to inspire outrage.
Recently the Miami Herald took on the subject of deportations to Haiti, painting a rather grim picture of children and innocent long time residents of the US being hijacked and dumped in a strange, dangerous and unfamiliar land.
The Herald title reads: "ICE sends second deportation flight to Haiti in a week. There are kids aboard"
It seems to suggest that little children are being thrown on planes and kicked to the curb in Haiti. Of course, the paper admits later in the article that these children were accompanied by their families. In other words, families were deported, not "children".
This is a tactic commonly used by the leftist media over the past two years. Stories of children being "kidnapped by ICE" have been circulated numerous times. And, in every case it turned out that a parent or parents in the US illegally were apprehended and the children were taken to be reunited with them (or deported with them). As it should be.
The Herald strategically maneuvers to manipulate public empathy:
"The youngest person aboard the ICE Air flight was a 3-year-old born in the U.S., according to information shared with the Miami Herald after the passenger arrived. The deported parents of the children condemned the move, telling the Herald that they found it “scandalous” that children born in the U.S. were being sent to Haiti. They also condemned the Haitian government for agreeing to take them back when the government is not prepared to accept returnees.
One of the children, a little boy, played with a toy as his parents reluctantly spoke..."
Why is it supposed to be sad when foreigners overstaying their welcome in the US have to go home? It's hard to say, but the establishment media acts as if the implications are apparent. Kids staying with their parents is a good thing, right? Anchor babies aside, these children don't belong in the US either.
The story that got a rebuttal from ICE, however, was the deportation of a professional boxer living in Florida by the name of Jay Dabelus. Dabelus was born in the Bahamas and his parents held Haitian nationality. He lived in the US for 20 years, and 16 of those years were spent under TPS guidelines.
Why in all that time did he never try to get a green card? It's hard to say, but this is a common story among illegals living in the US for long periods - most of them got comfortable and just didn't bother. The Herald describes Dabelus' situation as if he has no ties to Haiti:
“I don’t know anything about Haiti,” he said, speaking in English. “I was born in The Bahamas and had been living in the USA for twenty-something years.”
“I don’t have any resources, family members or people to aid me, so I am just trying to see how I can go,” he said. “I got my high school diploma. Everything that I have and have received in life is from Florida, from the United States.”
The story, which was also apparently picked up by the Associated Press, caught the attention of DHS. ICE had some important details to add. Dabelus has a Haitian citizenship and a Haitian passport. In other words, the guy belongs in Haiti. Who cares if he's a boxer?
Yes. ICE removed Jay Dabelus to Haiti. What the Associated Press conveniently left out of this gotcha piece is that he has dual citizenship in Bahamas AND Haiti.
An immigration judge ordered Dabelus removed from the country years ago, but he had a HAITIAN passport and stayed in… pic.twitter.com/onxahTlTxB
The mainstream media has been consistently running interference for illegal aliens for years, turning non-stories into supposed tragedies whenever a migrant is sent back home. The headlines should simply read: More migrants sent back to where they are supposed to be. Instead, the public is flooded with tales of despair and injustice at the very notion that some people don't belong in the US.
The narrative is growing tiresome.
Tyler Durden Wed, 09/02/2026 - 05:45Authored by Guy Birchall via The Epoch Times,
Sweden inked a deal with France for a quartet of Naval Group frigates during a ceremony in Stockholm on Aug. 31.
A Swedish flag in Stockholm on April 4, 2020. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty ImagesThe event in the Swedish capital was attended by the leaders of both nations, French President Emmanuel Macron and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who also agreed to deepen their defense cooperation more broadly.
The ships ordered by the Swedes will be manufactured by French state-controlled defense manufacturer Naval Group at its main surface shipyard in Lorient, located on Brittany's Atlantic coast, Macron said in an Aug. 31 post on X.
"This is the excellence of our defense industry that is recognized," Macron said, adding that it was also emblematic of "two nations that share a common vision of European sovereignty and security."
"From the Baltic to the Atlantic, we are strengthening together our capacity to protect Europe and building a more sovereign, more powerful, more credible European defense."
Macron thanked Sweden for showing confidence in France.
Kristersson said in a post on the same platform that delivery of the frigates would start from 2030, adding that Stockholm and Paris had also signed "a framework agreement on a strategic platform for defense cooperation between our countries."
"The agreements strengthen the operational Swedish-French security policy cooperation, as well as in the field of defense materiel and industrial development," he said, adding that the move strengthened Swedish security.
He also welcomed closer cooperation in "the Baltic Sea region and the Arctic, in NATO's Forward Land Forces Finland, support for Ukraine, [and] countering Russian hybrid threats."
The ships will cost Sweden 4.3 billion euros ($4.9 billion) and will be of the Frégate de Défense et d'Intervention (Defense and Intervention Frigate) (FDI) type, with a length of 400 feet and a displacement of 4,500 metric tons.
Such vessels are already in use by both the French and Greek navies, according to a Swedish government statement announcing the deal. The statement said the vessels will be equipped with advanced air defense capabilities, including Franco-Italian Aster 30 surface-to-air missiles and the Anglo-Italian-developed CAMM-ER surface-to-air missiles, among other weaponry.
They will additionally be armed with several Swedish systems, including RBS15 long-range anti-ship missiles, Torped 47 anti-submarine torpedoes, Giraffe 1X radar, 57- and 40-mm guns, and Trackfire, a remotely operated, fully stabilized weapon station.
All the Swedish-made elements will be manufactured by either Saab or BAE Bofors, with the new ships' main focus on air defense and anti-submarine warfare.
Of the broader agreement, Macron said in a speech at the ceremony: "We are building a new strategic framework. We are giving ourselves the means to act together."
"We have joint exercises and deployments. We share capabilities, and we have Franco-Swedish industrial partnerships," he said, adding that this "demonstrates the strength and importance of this European pillar of defense and how Franco-Swedish cooperation is becoming, well, an essential element of this European pillar."
Sweden and France are member states of both NATO and the European Union.
The move comes at a time when defense spending is ramping up across the continent, driven by the ongoing war in Ukraine, NATO's recent expansion, and the United States' stated desire to pivot from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Sweden became the newest member of NATO in 2024, after ditching a long-maintained policy of nonalignment, keeping itself out of military alliances for some 200 years.
Stockholm changed its stance on the alliance following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, as did the neighboring nation of Finland, which joined NATO in 2023.
On Aug. 28, Stockholm agreed to help surveil and protect Finnish territory until at least the end of the year, amid increased tensions in the Baltic region.
Tyler Durden Wed, 09/02/2026 - 05:00More than two-thirds of Canada's merchandise exports flow to the United States - its most significant trading partner, which makes the ongoing tit-for-tat tariff spat with the Trump administration a serious threat to their economy.
In the first half of 2026, Canada sent $214.8 billion (C$298.2 billion) in goods to the U.S. - roughly 68% of its total merchandise exports. The UK came in second at 9.2%, which was heavily influenced by precious metals transactions. China came in third at 5%.
Or, as visualized by Visual Capitalist's Sofie Gilbert:
As Gilbert notes further; Japan, Mexico, and South Korea followed at 1.5%, 1.2%, and under 1%, respectively. Together, those five markets received $45.8 billion (C$63.6 billion) over six months, roughly 21 cents for every dollar shipped to the U.S.
The United Kingdom Number Needs a CaveatThe dataset places the United Kingdom second overall at 9.2%, or $28.9 billion (C$40.1 billion).
Statistics Canada notes that the UK figure includes significant precious metals transactions, a pattern confirmed by Global Affairs Canada’s State of Trade 2025 report, which identifies gold exports as the primary driver of Canada’s UK shipment growth.
This helps explain why the UK’s 9.2% share is so high relative to Canada’s broader trade relationship with the country. Excluding precious metals, the EU and China are larger destinations for Canadian exports.
Why Tariffs Matter Despite Covering Just 5% of ExportsCanada-U.S. trade negotiations broke down in August 2026, with 50% tariffs now in effect on a range of Canadian goods. Canada’s reliance on a single dominant export market limits how quickly affected trade can be redirected elsewhere.
The new duties cover roughly C$28 billion worth of Canadian exports, about 5% of what Canada ships to the U.S. annually, according to BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic. BMO estimates the tariffs could cut half a percentage point from Canada’s GDP growth.
That estimate highlights the broader risk of trade concentration. The EU and China each absorb only about 5% of Canadian exports, meaning even substantial growth in those markets would replace only a fraction of the volume currently sent south.
Canada is the largest export partner of 25 states, so the trade exposure runs both ways. However, with more than two-thirds of Canadian exports destined for the U.S., Canada has considerably more at stake in any disruption to cross-border trade.
Tyler Durden Wed, 09/02/2026 - 04:15Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,
The European Commission has designated Reddit and Roblox as very large online platforms and ChatGPT as a very large online search engine under its Digital Services Act (DSA), subjecting these online services to higher scrutiny in the region.
The Berlaymont building, the European Union Commission headquarters, in Brussels on Dec. 15, 2025. Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty ImagesThe DSA sets rules for online services used by EU citizens, including social media networks, app stores, digital marketplaces, and online travel platforms.
Platforms or search engines that have more than 45 million monthly users in the European Union are classified as Very Large Online Platforms or Very Large Online Search Engines.
ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox have "declared that they reach at least 45 million average monthly users in the EU and thus meet the threshold for designation," the commission said in an Aug. 31 statement.
Once this designation is applied, these services must fulfill certain obligations, including establishing a point of contact for European authorities, reporting criminal offenses, and ensuring transparency in advertising and content moderation decisions.
The services must also identify, analyze, and assess "systemic risks" in their offerings, including those related to public security, electoral processes, public health, the protection of minors, illegal content, mental and physical well-being, and fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and media freedom.
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence system that engages with user prompts, including by searching the web, which qualifies it as an online search engine, the commission said. Since Reddit and Roblox - a gaming and creation platform - allow users to disseminate third-party content, the commission deemed them online platforms under the DSA.
Services designated as very large online platforms or very large online search engines are also required to share their data with the commission and national authorities to enable monitoring and assessment of these services for DSA compliance. The services must establish an internal compliance function to ensure identified risks in their offerings are mitigated.
The recent designations require ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox to comply with additional DSA obligations by January 2027.
The Epoch Times reached out to Reddit, Roblox, and OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
The commission's very-large-online-platform designation was previously challenged by Amazon in 2023. However, in a November 2025 decision, the Court of Justice of the EU's General Court declined to annul the designation.
At the time, Amazon said it was disappointed in the ruling.
"The Very Large Online Platform status was designed to address systemic risks posed by very large companies with advertising as their primary revenue and that distribute speech and information," the company said in a statement.
"The Amazon Store, as an online marketplace, does not pose any such systemic risks; it only sells goods, and it doesn't disseminate or amplify information, views or opinions."
Amazon Store continues to be listed as a very large online platform by the European Commission.
In total, the EU has now designated 28 services as very large search engines and online platforms under DSA, the commission said in its recent statement. This includes Apple's App Store, AliExpress, TikTok, WhatsApp, X, Wikipedia, and Facebook.
Henna Virkkunen, executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security, and democracy at the European Commission, said that the latest designations will hold ChatGPT, Reddit, and Roblox to a "higher standard of scrutiny and accountability in the European Union, in line with their large impact on our citizens and society."
"We continue to watch the digital landscape closely and will not hesitate to designate any platform that meets the threshold for enhanced supervision under the Digital Services Act," Virkkunen said.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has taken a strong stance against the EU's rules for American tech companies.
In a July 24 Truth Social post, Trump announced a formal investigation into the EU's trade practices, threatening to impose new tariffs after the bloc levied billions of dollars in fines on U.S. businesses.
The comments came after the European Commission fined Google 890 million euros (approx. $1 billion) for violating the Digital Markets Act, a complementary regulation to the DSA that targets online platforms.
Trump said that fines on Google and other U.S. tech companies will be reversed.
"The European Union will pay a very big price for this illegal and highly unethical conduct, which I have consistently warned them about," Trump said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Tyler Durden Wed, 09/02/2026 - 03:30