A cable signed by Marco Rubio directs every U.S. embassy worldwide to suppress “anti-American propaganda” using Pentagon psyops units.
Weeks earlier, the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria had already directed the country’s secret police to arrest two citizens over tweets critical of israel & the U.S.
"One radar system destroyed in this war cost [US] taxpayers a billion dollars. One. That is more than enough to fund every public school in Kansas City, build 5 full-service grocery stores ... and completely eradicate homelessness in Kansas City. Instead, it is smoldering wreckage in [Qatar]."
"Over 165 schoolgirls buried. 66 schools bombed."
"The capitalist imperialist forces that bomb children abroad are the same ones that starve our children."
"Empire does not stop at the border. It starts at home."
#Missouri #USA #Iran #Israel #Education #Military
"[T]he return of CoreCivic to Leavenworth carries such a deep historical weight."
"The haunting and once distant stain on the history of Kansas – Leavenworth's pro-slavery past – is once again knocking on the door."
#Kansas #USA #Incarceration #Deportation #EthnicCleansing #Slavery #Torture
"[V]ocabulary of empire."
"Imagine bombs falling on Manhattan. Imagine ten waves of airstrikes over five days on a city that size and then try to tell me who the terrorists are."
#USA #Iran #Israel #Protest #Media #Education #Military #Nuclear #Weapons
We are proud to announce Jon Jeter as the KC Defender's first International Correspondent.
Jon is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, former WaPo Bureau Chief, and the author of one of the most important books written this century about Western economic policy. He currently writes from Kenya.
Left media workers & publishers are opening physical spaces aimed at building collective power.
my latest for @truthout.org
truthout.org/articles/the...
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"Every dollar spent settling lawsuits for [KCPD officer] Blayne Newton’s violence is a dollar stolen from mental health services, from housing, from education, from the material conditions that actually produce safety. @kcdefender.bsky.social
kansascitydefender.com/justice/kcpd...
BREAKING: Kansas City is one of seven "mega centers" in ICE's planned nationwide concentration camp network.
A local real estate company, Platform Ventures, sold out Kansas City by selling a taxpayer-subsidized warehouse to make it happen.
Federal agents are already terrorizing KC residents. 🧵
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City council members told The Kansas City Defender the ordinance will slow the process, but stopping it entirely will require sustained pressure.
This is a developing story. We will continue to investigate.
The federal government could pursue locations in neighboring Grandview, unincorporated Jackson County, or across the state line in Kansas.
Even with the moratorium, the federal government has vast authority to override local ordinances through eminent domain and the Supremacy Clause.
Asked whether the moratorium could actually stop the facility, Mayor Lucas told KSHB "I think the simplest way I can answer that is it would probably end up in court."
THE CITY'S RESPONSE
Hours after ICE conducted its site walkthrough, Kansas City's City Council voted 12-1 to pass a five-year moratorium on permits, licenses, and zoning approvals for any non-municipal carceral facility.
PUBLIC MONEY FOR CONCENTRATION CAMPS
The warehouse was built with public support on land that Kansas City spent decades developing.
Numerous pages on Platform Ventures' website now return a 404 error, including those that previously listed staff.
The company's LinkedIn profiles have been removed.
According to Councilman Duncan, their phones ring unanswered to his calls.
"Their offices have gone dark."
"We should be publicly and privately shaming Platform Ventures," Duncan said. "They are a Kansas City company that has received public dollars for years and they need to get the message that the Kansas City community does not appreciate being sold out by a local company for quick financial gain."
In an interview with The Defender, Councilman Duncan told us "calls to Platform Ventures have gone unanswered."
The statement claimed Platform Ventures was approached in October 2025 with an "unsolicited offer" to purchase what it called a "vacant industrial warehouse."
"PV does not question prospective buyers on their intent after close," the statement read.
THE SECRET DEAL
On Friday, Platform Ventures broke its silence. In a statement, the company confirmed that "all negotiations are complete."
Platform Ventures, a Kansas City-based real estate firm with $2.7 billion in assets under management, is the property owner.
Polsinelli, one of the nation's largest law firms, was the legal representative handling the transaction.
Off-camera, a Department of Homeland Security supervisor confirmed to Abarca that the facility would hold at least 7,500 people.
ICE conducted a walkthrough last Wednesday morning.
Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca arrived at the facility to observe.
Federal agents surrounded his vehicle, threatened him with arrest, shined flashlights through his windows, and blocked his truck from leaving.
THE WAREHOUSE
The concentration camp planned for Kansas City would be built in a 920,400-square-foot warehouse at 14901 Botts Road in the city's far southern reaches.
She believes agents ran her license plates when she drove past the facility.
From 2:30 PM until nightfall, she says federal vehicles circled her house.
She believes they were waiting for her to leave.
"All I did was repost something on social media that I found on social media, and take the long way home so I could see with my own eyes whether or not they showed up. That was it. That was the extent."
"I'm a 49-year-old mom of two in the suburbs with no criminal history whatsoever. I don't even have a passport. So the idea that Homeland Security would be on my front porch is crazy."
She stopped briefly to say hello to friends she recognized, spoke a few words to an Associated Press reporter, and went home.
That afternoon, Department of Homeland Security agents showed up at her front door.
