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Passive Aggressive Phrases To Avoid With Friends

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Using passive aggressive phrases and failing to address the negative feelings doesn’t make conflict go away.

Friendships are supposed to be a source of comfort, joy and support. But even in the closest relationships, communication can break down, leading to tension.

“In friendship, like in all human relationships, misunderstandings and hurt feelings are inevitable,” said Vanessa Cornell, a friendship expert and founder of the community support network NUSHU. “What really determines the strength and resilience of a friendship is how those moments are handled. One of the quickest ways to undermine healthy communication is falling into passive aggression.”

Passive aggression is basically expressing your negative feelings in ways that are not direct. Some classic passive-aggressive behaviors include not replying to texts or changing the subject in conversation to avoid acknowledging what someone said. You might flake on invitations you previously said yes to, or you might ice someone out by being less warm and excluding them from your plans.

“Giving a friend the silent treatment rather than telling her what you are upset about is passive-aggressive,” said Irene S. Levine, a clinical psychologist and friendship expert. “It is a way to upset and punish the other person. A roommate who slams doors as she goes from room to room because she is upset about her friend not assuming her share of responsibilities for cleaning up that apartment. She is acting angry without saying anything.”

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Passive aggression also often manifests verbally through your choice of words and tone.

“Instead of openly sharing what’s going on emotionally, the message comes out in subtle ways, through sarcasm, withdrawal, backhanded comments or small digs that don’t quite say what needs to be said,” noted Thais Gibson, a relationship expert and founder of The Personal Development School.

It’s a natural tendency, particularly for people who are uncomfortable with conflict and confrontation.

“They may worry that the other person will blow up at them,” Levine said. “They may want to maintain a veneer of niceness. They may worry about losing the friendship.”

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Many folks simply don’t have the tools to express their feelings in a productive way. And there’s a lot of fear around being misunderstood.

“They also may have grown up with passive-aggressive parents, and have been conditioned to believe that it’s a safe way to express anger,” said psychotherapist Meg Gitlin. “I also think that culturally, there’s an expectation that good friends aren’t judgmental, which can be challenging as people are often hardwired to feel and express judgment.”

Avoiding confrontation and finding more indirect ways to express your feelings can feel easier or even more socially acceptable in certain contexts. Passive aggression might also seem like a good way to relieve tension in the short term.

But this approach is counterproductive to the longevity and health of a friendship. Failing to address the negative feelings doesn’t make them go away and instead just creates misunderstanding and distance. Below, relationship experts break down some common passive-aggressive phrases and statements from friends and share the healthier alternatives.

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‘Wow, must be nice.’

“This phrase often masks feelings like hurt, jealousy or feeling overlooked,” Gibson said. “Rather than naming the emotion directly, it comes out as sarcasm, which can create distance instead of understanding.”

You might say this after your friend casually mentions a luxurious vacation with a different group or an exciting life update that you secretly feel jealous or excluded from.

“A more supportive alternative would be, ‘I’m noticing I feel a bit left out, and I’d really like to talk about that,’” Gibson said.

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Levine similarly advised against undermining your friend’s positive experiences, achievements, or talents with sarcastic or otherwise passive-aggressive remarks.

“An example would be ‘You probably got promoted because you put in all that overtime,’” she said. “This downplays a friend’s talents and accomplishments, attributing the promotion to working many hours. This may stem from jealousy or anger that the friend has less time for her.”

Using passive aggressive phrases and failing to address the negative feelings doesn’t make conflict go away.

Emir Memedovski via Getty Images

Using passive aggressive phrases and failing to address the negative feelings doesn’t make conflict go away.

‘I thought we were closer than that.’

Therapist Natalie Moore shared the scenario of a friend who throws an intimate gathering, and you saw photos of it online, which led to hurt feelings.

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“You might text your friend ‘No invite for me, huh? I thought we were closer than that,’” she said.

But the healthier alternative would be reaching out to say, “Hey, I saw the photos of the event. Can we talk about it? I’m feeling left out, and it would help me to hear more about how you decided who to include.”

It’s a direct approach that emphasizes I-statements and open-mindedness.

“This presumes goodwill, honestly expresses your feelings of disappointment, and gives your friend a chance to explain her decision-making process,” Moore said.

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‘You do you’ or ‘If that’s what you want to do…’

“Thinly veiled as a supportive statement, this actually means ‘I don’t agree with what you’re doing, but I’m not going to say it outright,‘” Moore said. “A healthier alternative would be ‘I actually don’t think that’s a healthy choice for you. Are you open to hearing why I think that?’”

Another similar example would be, “Well, it’s not something I would do, but it makes sense that you would.”

“This statement expresses judgment and says that while the other person may do something, it’s not something they personally think is acceptable,” Gitlin said. “A more healthy alternative would be sharing an opinion ― even if it’s awkward ― like, ‘I want to be a supportive friend, but I don’t agree with this decision.’”

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She emphasized that people should accept that there will always be some differences in how two individuals see the world, even if they’re best friends.

“A judgment-free relationship would be great, but it’s not always possible,” Gitlin said. “Finding a way to express negative emotions or concerns in a more direct way may be scary, but long-term, it’s a better equation for a happy, healthy friendship.”

‘Chill out, it was a joke!’

“A real joke would be funny, and if someone has a reaction it’s likely because there’s something underlying there,” Gitlin said.

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Moore also gave the example of “Can’t you take a joke?” as a passive-aggressive response.

“This statement made after an offensive comment adds salt to the wound because instead of taking responsibility for being callous, you’re blaming the receiver for being too sensitive.”

Of course, sometimes something that was genuinely said in jest can land differently than it was intended. In those situations, it’s still counterproductive to dismiss the other person’s hurt feelings.

Telling someone to “chill out” because they had a negative reaction to your joke discounts their feelings and shifts any blame for the hurt solely onto them. Instead, you should acknowledge the pain, and if you genuinely don’t understand why your joke was upsetting to the other person, you can ask them to talk to you about it.

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“A healthier alternative would be, ‘I noticed that your mood shifted after I made that comment. Did I say something that offended you without realizing it?’” Moore said. “This one is an important one to say in a soft tone with attuned eye contact. You may have seriously hurt your friend’s feelings unintentionally and the repair needs to be handled quickly and sensitively in order to move on.”

‘Do whatever you want.’

Another passive-aggressive way a friend might express their disagreement would be to say something like, “Do whatever you want.”

“This often sounds like agreement, but underneath it usually reflects resignation or feeling unheard,” Gibson said. “Instead of true consent, it can be a way of withdrawing while avoiding direct conflict.”

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She believes a more supportive alternative would be saying something along the lines of, ‘I actually do have a preference here, and I’d like to share it.’”

‘You are overreacting to this.’

“Anything that invalidates a person’s reaction by categorizing them as sensitive or the like can be considered passive-aggressive,” Gitlin said.

Instead of undermining the other person’s feelings by criticizing their reaction, she recommended having a dialogue.

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“Try a statement that opens up to a larger conversation where you can share how you feel while seeking understanding instead of placing judgment,” Gitlin said. “This might sound like ‘I know you’re hurt, but maybe you could explain it more to me and we can talk through it together.’”

‘It sounds like you don’t really care what I think.’

“This kind of language puts blame and shame on the other person, rather than naming what’s actually happening, which is that we feel hurt,” Cornell said. “What we usually mean is something much more vulnerable and honest, like, ‘When I shared my opinion and you didn’t react, I felt hurt because it felt like my perspective didn’t matter.’”

She recommended addressing your hurt feelings directly with your friend rather than telling other loved ones, which can be a more subtle form of passive aggression.

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“Complaining to mutual friends can feel relieving in the moment, but it often erodes trust and undermines the friendship rather than supporting it,” Cornell said. “That said, not every slight needs to be addressed. No one is perfect, and sometimes the most compassionate choice is to let something go.”

She gave the example of a friend who didn’t show up for you, but because you know she’s going through a difficult season of her life, you decide to give her grace.

“When we feel hurt, the real question becomes, ‘Does this need a clearing, or can I genuinely let it go?’” Cornell said.If it keeps gnawing at you, that’s usually a sign the hurt wants and needs to be heard.”

Use I-statements and show openmindedness when address uncomfortable feelings with friends.

The Good Brigade via Getty Images

Use I-statements and show openmindedness when address uncomfortable feelings with friends.

‘It’s fine.’

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“This becomes passive-aggressive when it’s said while someone is clearly upset,” Gibson said. “The words suggest neutrality, but the tone, energy or behavior communicates something very different.”

Underneath the veneer of a passive-aggressive “fine” is usually another sentiment: “Something doesn’t feel okay, but I’m not sure how, or if it’s safe, to say what it is.”

“If a friend feels angry but unable to directly communicate their feelings, they would act out their anger and frustration while pretending they’re Ok ― or they might express their true emotions through sarcasm, saying ‘I’m fine’ when they’re clearly not,” said Glenda Shaw, author of “Better You, Better Friends.”

“A more supportive alternative would be ‘I’m feeling a bit bothered and need a little time, but I do want to talk about it,’” Gibson added.

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‘Not sure if you’ve gotten my texts but…’

“This statement on the surface may sound benign, but what it communicates subtly is that you’re unhappy with the response rate you’ve been getting,” Moore said.

But, in keeping with the pattern, the healthier option is to communicate that feeling more directly.

Moore suggested a message more along the lines of “Hey, I’m feeling a bit neglected by you lately because you haven’t been responding to my texts the way you used to. Is there something we need to work out? Let me know because I miss you a lot.”

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‘I guess you don’t think it’s important to spend time with your friends.’

This is another statement that puts a lot on your friend, rather than tackling the negative emotions you’re feeling.

“Try ‘When you canceled plans to spend time with your boyfriend, I felt hurt because it felt like our friendship wasn’t being prioritised,’” Cornell said.

She recommended a helpful formula for direct communication: I feel [insert emotion] when [insert behaviour or situation] because [impact or reason.] So for example: “I felt hurt when you canceled our plans because I was really looking forward to spending time together.”

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“These conversations become valuable information,” Cornell said. “They help my friends understand what I need, what I’m sensitive to, how I receive things, or even whether I misunderstood something. You can’t really care for your friends well if you don’t know how they tick.”

Ultimately, showing kindness and openness to friends fosters a closer and stronger relationship ― with each other and with yourself.

“Many of life’s greatest insights can be discovered by working through such issues in your friendships, the people with whom we choose to spend time,” Shaw said. “And through the process of navigating these situations we learn to be more factual, detached and better able to manage our expectations. These are some of life’s valuable lessons.”

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Murdoch’s Times doubles down on anti-Green smear campaign

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Green Party

Green Party

This article is the first in a series exploring British media’s smear campaign against the Green Party before the May 2026 elections — beginning with the Times.

Britain’s mainstream press is doubling down on a smear campaign against the Green Party in the run up to May’s local elections.

Repeated, targeted attacks against Zack Polanski’s party across legacy media can only be described as coordinated scare-mongering before polling day. Outlets including the Times, Telegraph, MEN and regional news are producing daily anti-Green Party stories pre-election, often mimicking each other’s exact framings.

As Britain’s foremost left-of-Labour party — albeit not exactly a high bar — the Greens are shaking politics up from the progressive left in a way not seen since 2017. Unsurprisingly, given the highly concentrated ownership and well-documented right-leaning biases of British media, they’re not happy about the Greens’ success.

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The Greens are set to make record gains across London’s city boroughs, England’s councils, the Welsh Senedd and Scotland’s Holyrood parliament this May. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the British political and media establishment will do whatever it takes to minimise those gains. (Remember Labour’s polling day misinformation van in Gorton and Denton?)

Given that it’s billed as the UK’s “paper of record,” one of the most ‘serious’ British media organisations, what’s the Rupert Murdoch-owned Times been saying?

Green Party — Sig(h)n of the Times

Well, the Times published this rather dramatic headline, with the snatch-quote attributed to — you guessed it — a Labour MP, party chair Anna Turley:

Greens investigate ‘crackpot’ candidates over social media posts

What were the offending posts? Per the Times:

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… posts resurfaced calling non-white ministers “coconuts”, questioning British sovereignty over the Falklands and defending “resistance to occupation” by Hamas.

As a white man, I’m not going to adjudicate on “coconut” — but what I will say is that the Times spinning this word as being “racist” and “divisive” entirely misses the point.

Sensible journalism, in my view, should focus on actual, material racism and division inflicted overwhelmingly on black or brown people first and foremost. This includes ‘hostile environment’ immigration policies of successive right-wing government ministers, from Patel to Braverman to Lammy, and the adjacent rhetoric. Yet rather than take such a meaningful approach, the Times spuriously equates words with actions. Symbolism is foregrounded over material reality.

The word “coconut” is intended to mean this: people of colour who gain positions of political power and authority, but use them to uphold rather than challenge systems of dominance, like racial marginalisation and/or hierarchy.

Again, examples include the racist immigration system or a foreign policy doctrine which enables unchecked war crimes and genocide. (Think: the first black US President Barack “Really Good at Killing People” O-bomber and his knack for unprecedented covert drone strikes on brown people in West Asia.)

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Indeed, as is stated in the original (now deleted) post the Times cited, by Lewisham Green councillor Hau-Yu Tam:

It’s reminiscent of Priti Patel admitting her family wouldn’t get in [to the UK] under her own immigration rules, but somehow even more callous. These coconuts.

To criticise this language and paint it as derogatory, rather than critiquing the harmful and degrading policy itself, is both old and misguided.

It’s exactly the same playbook as Zionists shunning people on university campuses for saying “from the river to the sea,” screaming “antisemitism” at them and making unfalsifiable hypotheses about what words could mean — rather than condemning the actual inhumane genocidal crimes committed against Palestinians.

Times and Times again…

Relatedly, the Times also criticised Tam for saying that students at the London School of Economics “were correct to defend the Hamas book.” So much for context!

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This followed a coordinated Zionist attempt to shut down a lecture by the author of Understanding Hamas: And Why That Matters, which students physically defended.

This, frankly, is absurd. For one thing, whatever you might think of them, Hamas are a resistance movement against the longest-standing and deadliest illegal military occupation in history, namely the IOF.

Tam included this in the post:

Resistance to occupation is permitted in international law.

Yet the Times frames this without any acknowledgement that it’s actually true! Instead, the Times intends to leave readers with the startling impression that only a Green “crackpot” could believe in such things as resistance to structural violence.

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International law?

Furthermore, even if you entirely disagreed with the movement’s legitimacy — which would put you at odds with international law — can anyone really criticise students for wanting to understand the world around them? Should history students be condemned for studying Nazi ideology, too, since most of us disagree with Nazism as a movement?

Clearly not. Even the most Hamas-hating Zionist should surely admit that there’s nothing wrong with anyone — let alone students — wanting to understand political phenomena, especially one of the most significant political movements of our era.

That is, of course, unless learning to understand Hamas exposes students to an independence movement analogous to African National Congress, Algeria’s National Liberation Front, the National Front for the Liberation of Angola, and countless other such movements throughout history.

Lastly, they stuck it to half-Argentinian Green candidate Jo Dowbor — somehow also a “crackpot” — for having a clearly nuanced opinion on the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands.

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If that’s the barrel-scraping the Times have to do to score political points, maybe they’re right to be worried after all. Perhaps the Times aims only to mount a resistance to the surging Greens “by any means necessary” — and this is what it takes.

Green Party’s Zack hits back

Reactionary press is nothing new — but the scale and rate of anti-Green sentiment across the British press has become quite pronounced ahead of the local elections on 7 May.

What’s novel, however, is that Zack Polanski has not held off from punching right back at the low-standards journalism spouted by the likes of Murdoch’s Sun and Viscount Rothermere’s Daily Mail (whose wife donated to Reform).

One Green source close to the party leadership told the Canary:

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The right-wing press are throwing everything they’ve got at us, but it’s just not working. Our membership is up, poll ratings are up, and we’re on course for a record-breaking set of local election results.

According to Polanski, the scare tactics deployed by Britain’s mainstream media are evidence that they’re scared of what Greens can achieve.

As he wrote in one X post: “The Murdoch empire is terrified.”

Featured image provided via author

By Cameron Baillie

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Meet the new Reform UK councillor using your money to fund Israeli occupation

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Alan Mendoza

Alan Mendoza

Dr. Alan Mendoza is the new Reform UK candidate for Abbey Road ward in Westminster who is quietly stealing our money to destroy Palestinian villages. The local elections on Thursday 7 May will see Mendoza beg for votes in London, but his primary loyalty seems to lie with Israel. Whilst he presents himself as ‘anti-establishment’, his career reveals a man deeply ingrained in the darkest wings of the British and Israeli establishments. And with him being Chief Advisor on Global Affairs for Reform UK, to which one does his allegiance lie?

Alan Mendoza — His original sin

In April 2011, Mendoza’s Henry Jackson Society (HJS) of which he is executive director, absorbed the Centre for Social Cohesion. The HJS is a Westminster think-tank that promotes “liberal interventionism” and a dark ‘transatlantic’ foreign policy. Basically, it’s a shill for Zionists to break into the heart of our politics. It was originally founded as a group for people from different political parties. Since then, it has been warped into a base for people who push for war. And they use hateful rhetoric against Muslim people in the UK.

The CSC merger was a massive moment for radicalisation. It opened the doors for notorious anti-Muslim wankers such as Douglas Murray to step into the heart of the organisation. This shift was so radical that it tore the society apart. Co-founder Matthew Jamison eventually tore into the HJS, denouncing it as a “far-right, deeply anti-Muslim racist propaganda outfit” that demonised Muslim people and Islam.

Another senior member to resign from the project in 2012 was Marko Attila Hoare. Citing the HJS’s obsession with “anti-Muslim and anti-immigration views” following the takeover as the final straw. This vile takeover ensured the HJS ceased being a foreign policy group and started being a Zionist weapon against Black, Brown and Muslim communities.

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Planting trees over a genocidal crime scene

Mendoza’s disgusting reach extends way beyond that racist little think-tank in London. As the President of the Jewish National Fund UK (JNF), he leads a charity that literally erases Palestinians and their history, just to fund illegal occupation. And they’re using our fucking money to do it. One of their most disgusting projects is Britannia Park, a leisure facility in Israel.

This park covers 10,000 acres. And it was built directly over the ruins of seven Palestinian villages, including Ajjur. These communities were ruthlessly ethnically cleansed in 1948 to make way for Israeli expansion. The JNF is planting forests over the bones of innocent Palestinians to make sure displaced people can never return to their homes.

This is a systematic process of erase and deny. It physically blocks the Right of Return for refugees. And why Mendoza preaches about ‘British values’, he heads an organisation that shreds international law and builds on the remains of stolen homes.

And it gets worse.

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The stolen land that WE foot the bill for

This isn’t just a devastating issue on the other side of the world. It is our fucking money they are using to commit these disgusting crimes. Through its subsidiary, KKL Charitable Accounts (operating as SmartGiving), Mendoza’s network moved an astounding £9,683,167 in the last financial year. And because it has charitable status, this theft of stolen land is subsidised by us. The British taxpayer is footing the bill through Gift Aid.

This vile little loophole allows wealthy wankers to get a 25% top-up from the government to fund projects that international law deems to be presumptive war crimes. To put it simply, our money is being used to erase Palestinian land and hand it over to settlers in Israel. And that fills me with rage. So whilst Reform UK says it wants to ‘stop the waste’ of public money, it’s own chief advisor is funnelling tax-payer money into illegal settlements behind the scenes.

In 2021, the KKL-JNF board even voted to officially facilitate land purchases in the occupied West Bank. So every quid they reclaim through Gift Aid by Mendoza’s Zionist charities, is a quid that we could use to heal our broken NHS and feed our hungry children. But no, our government is effectively giving it to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Alan Mendoza — Foreign agents are infiltrating our politics

Mendoza is now the Chief Advisor on Global Affairs for Reform UK. This is the man who is writing Nigel Farage’s foreign policy. A man who is deeply invested in Zionist expansion is definitely not going to be interested in fixing any broken system we have in the UK. The party’s ‘anti-establishment’ bullshit is nothing but a smoke screen designed to support and uphold racist ideologies fed to us by Israel’s far-right.

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This corruption of the UK political landscape is a family affair for the Mendozas it seems. Alan is married to Claudia Mendoza, who is the Chief Executive of the Jewish Leadership Council. So whilst her husband appears to be Israel’s infiltrator into our politics, she seems to be reinforcing their control quietly behind the scenes.

As the head of the JLC, Claudia lobbies our government to protect these Zionist entities. Her organisations orchestrate the crack downs on anti-Zionist activism and the pro-Palestine movement.

If we allow Alan Mendoza to be elected to the Abbey Road ward, we are effectively allowing a Zionist takeover of our own democracy. Mendoza doesn’t give a flying fuck about saving the public’s money. While our society is crumbling, our NHS failing and our kids are hungry, Mendoza diverts OUR money away from those issues. He is funnelling our cash into paving over the bones of massacred Palestinians.

Mendoza is a Zionist shill, and we have to do everything we can to stop him getting into power. Time to dig out these parasites that have latched on to Reform UK. We need to do it now before it’s too late.

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By Antifabot

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Trump’s 442k ICE deportations not enough for MAGA ghouls

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Trump

Trump

Donald Trump’s racist immigration forces deported over 440,000 people in the US fiscal year for 2025. His jackbooted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been terrorising American cities — and even killing US citizens — virtually since he came back to power in 2025.

US outlet Axios reported:

The top U.S. immigration enforcement agency deported 442,637 people between October 2024 and September 2025, according to newly-released statistics.

Adding:

The top-line figure is about 171,000 people more than the fiscal year before, but far short of Trump’s campaign promise to deport one million people a year.

Clearly Trump’s racist immigration regime is not hitting its grotesque targets:

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The figure is the first official deportation statistic released under the Trump administration and was included in a congressional budget justification report.

Axios reported:

The Office of Homeland Security Statistics hasn’t updated its data since November of 2024. Homeland Security’s much-hyped “self deportation” figure is not included in the report. The agency has claimed in press releases that more than two million have “self-deported” but hasn’t shared regular data.

MAGA sad about Trump’s mere 400k deportations

Meanwhile Trump’s fascistic Make America Great Again (MAGA) allies have said the president has gone soft on deportations. Nigh-on half a million people ejected not enough for them then…

The grim-sounding Mass Deportation Coalition is chief among the complainers. Its leader, Mike Howell, told Axios:

The truth is the first year was not a year of mass deportation

Adding:

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A conscious decision was made to go after the worst first, which was, we’ll call it a deviation from the central campaign promise of mass deportations.

A White House spokesperson told the outlet:

Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda and the President’s entire team is on the same page when it comes to implementing his policies.

Budgetary changes

And MAGA’s white supremacist weirdos might have more discomfort in store for them. A new report by Homeland Security, which control ICE, says that it has actually asked for less money for the next financial year:

The ICE report shows that the goal for next year is to deport 1 million people. But the agency has asked for less money in fiscal year 2027 than it did in fiscal year 2026.

ICE recently lost its boss after Trump fired nativist horror Kristi Noem and replaced her with another fascist tool, the preposterously named Markwayne Mullin. As the Canary wrote at the time:

Turns out that using a masked secret police to murder and kidnap people to concentration camps makes you unpopular, even in America.

As such, Noem has made a convenient sacrifice to make Trump look like he’s relenting. Meanwhile, nothing will change under Markwayne Mullin, save maybe that ICE will get a little more cautious, a little more covert in their actions.

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There is no number of deportations which will sate American fascism’s thirst for human suffering. Trump may be distracted by his failed war against Iran, but sooner or later his Sauron gaze will turn back to the US and his attention will return to the ignoble task of kicking out immigrants left, right and centre. We hope the American people will continue to fight back, as they have in Minnesota and elsewhere.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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Palestine participates in the Beach Games in China without a coach and half a team

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Palestine national beach soccer team

Palestine national beach soccer team

The Palestinian national beach soccer team has arrived in Sanya, China, to participate in the 2026 Asian Beach Games, but this time their arrival is unlike any previous appearance.

The team’s roster is incomplete. The coaching staff is absent. The international stadium is open to a team exhausted by years of inactivity.

Their progress has been halted by war, reduced to mere survival rather than competition.

Trapped in Gaza

The team enters the tournament with only 11 players. This includes five players from the Gaza Strip currently in Cairo, and six players from the West Bank, who are participating for the first time simply to fill the roster.

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This lineup seems more like an attempt to fill space than to build a complete team. In reality, it is all that remains of a team that was once close to the top of the sport.

The most heartbreaking aspect is the absences: the entire coaching staff is not traveling, and key players are trapped by the war in Gaza. They will be absent from the fields, along with the very essence of the game itself.

The long years of inactivity, stretching back to the outbreak of war, have left Palestinian beach soccer with nothing but a dormant memory – a sport barely surviving.

Sports eroded by war

Beach soccer in Palestine didn’t suddenly collapse; rather, it gradually eroded over nearly three years of inactivity.

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Training camps ceased, travel opportunities vanished, and international participation dwindled to almost nothing – a stark reflection of the direct impact of war on sports at all levels.

This sport wasn’t alone in its isolation; the beach volleyball team was also unable to travel to the same tournament, completing the picture of Palestinian absence from the competitions. It was as if participation this time wasn’t measured by the number of teams present, but by the number that couldn’t make it.

Despite all this, participation carries a dimension that transcends the result and the tournament itself. It’s an attempt to keep Palestine’s name present on the international stage, even if the presence is incomplete and burdened by circumstances. It’s a determination not to completely sever ties with the world.

The Palestinian national team’s memories harken back to a different time. When he was competing fiercely in Arab and Asian championships, coming close more than once to the World Cup dream, and even reaching the podium to win bronze at the 2012 Asian Beach Games in China.

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That win is a distant image that seems today to belong to another life, before war redrew the boundaries of the game, the field, and the opportunity.

By Alaa Shamali

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Disabled pensioner says Farage minders assaulted him over disabled parking spot

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Farage heavies manhandle pensioner

Farage heavies manhandle pensioner

Disabled Shetland pensioner Don Whittle has accused Reform UK leader Nigel Farage‘s ‘heavies’ of ‘manhandling’ him – assault, in other words – after Farage’s car took a disabled parking bay.

Incident caught on camera

75-year-old Whittle has rheumatoid arthritis, heart failure, a pacemaker and a spinal condition that weakens his arms and legs. He says that the thugs grabbed him after he tried to take photos of Farage’s car in a disabled spot he needed to drop his wife off. The incident was caught on camera:

‘Lucky’ henchmen

An unfazed Whittle quipped that the henchmen were “lucky – I could have used my martial arts training”. He went on:

I’m disabled and I take offence to people that park in ­disabled spots who are not disabled. I went down to take photographs of them parked there and so they started to move off and decided to park on a corner on double yellow lines. I photographed them there.

This clown wouldn’t let me through. And I couldn’t go through on the pavement because of the protesters. I just wanted to get through to the front to take pictures of them blocking the street. [After Farage got in the car] I walked past them and went and stood in front of his car, thinking, ‘Well, if you can stand and block me, I can stand and block you.’

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So I stood there. And two of his henchmen came out and manhandled me across the road out of the way. They weren’t considerate. They didn’t say, ‘Would you mind moving out of the way?’ They didn’t even ask. They just grabbed me. I said, ‘I’m disabled.’ And they didn’t care.

Farage and hangers-on in the town. (Image provenance unknown)

Shetland Greens intervene

Shetland Greens mounted a protest against Farage’s visit. Party candidate said:

We are here to oppose the toxic Trumpian politics of Nigel Farage. We stand against hate, our politics are guided by kindness, and we support the human rights of all people including migrants, ethnic minorities, and all marginalised people.

The Reform grifter could easily have afforded to pay for a parking space. He has been identified as having the second-biggest non-parliamentary earnings among all UK MPs after spending more than 1,100 hours outside Parliament working for fourteen outside employers. Clacton voters have complained that he is rarely in the constituency.

A sign spotted on a fence alongside one of Shetland’s main roads described Farage as a “frog-faced wanker”.

By Skwawkbox

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Pope calls leaders who spend billions on wars ‘tyrants’

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pope leo

The Pope has criticised world leaders who spend billions on wars. This comes just days after US president and all-around fucking dickhead Donald Trump depicted himself as Jesus on Truth Social.

Trump vs Pope

American-born Pope Leo has been critical of Trump and the genocide he and Israel are committing. He rightly made Trump look like an absolute cock with the most grace by saying:

War divides; hope unites. Arrogance tramples upon others; love lifts up. Idolatry blinds us; the living God enlightens. All it takes is a little faith, a mere “crumb” of faith, in order to face this dramatic hour in history together — as humanity and alongside humanity. #Peace

On 13 April, Trump attacked the Pope in a lengthy post. As Canary reporter Willem Moore said, feel free to read it all if you’ve got a spare 10 minutes and don’t respect your own time.

The paedophile president followed that up by posting the now-infamous AI image:

Surreal

The Pope responded to Trump’s latest outburst with:

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I don’t ‌think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in ‌the way that some people are doing.

I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, ⁠promoting dialogue and multilateral ​relationships among the states to look ​for just solutions to problems.

After much criticism from his own supporters, Trump deleted the post. He then tried to claim he was actually supposed to be a doctor, not Jesus. Because doctors typically place their hands on their patients’ foreheads and heal them with light, don’t they?

He also of course, blamed the ‘fake news’:

As the Canary also reported, JD Vance also tried it with the Pope, but got heckled in the process. Maybe you should just go pay him a visit, JD, it worked with the last one.

Now, on his tour of Cameroon, Pope Leo is doubling down on calling out genocide.

He criticised leaders who:

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turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to ​be found.

He continued:

The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild

Speaking to crowds, he said the world was ‘being ravaged by a handful of tyrants’ and that in Cameroon in particular there was ‘an endless cycle of destabilisation and death’.

Fresh off the back of his speech, the Pope tweeted another message which was blatantly aimed at Trump:

Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth

It’s clear that the Pope will not be intimidated by pathetic little men like Trump, now if only other leaders like Keir Starmer could follow in his wake.

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Though it will never not be fucking ridiculous that the bloody pope subtweets the president of the United States.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

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Support for Reform slashed following Farage’s crypto controversy

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Nigel fARAGE WITH DOWN POINTING ARROWS, reform

Nigel fARAGE WITH DOWN POINTING ARROWS, reform

With the local elections fast approaching, Reform would ideally like to see their polling go up. Instead, they just lost a sixth of their supporters in one week according to More in Common:

This is particularly embarrassing for Reform as the pollster More in Common is linked to their party:

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Reform plummet

Of course, we can’t trust polls by themselves. The fact that different pollsters get such wildly different results is testament to that. In the above, More in Common have the Greens at 13%; several other pollsters regularly have them outperforming Labour:

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At the same time, a sudden drop with a pollster can indicate that something is amiss for a party (that or something is amiss with the pollster).

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Looking at Politico’s Poll of the Polls, we can see that averaged out Reform are down six percentage points from where they were six months ago:

It’s no wonder Reform are losing support. The following are just some of the stories we’ve reported on in the runup to the local elections:

A fish rots from the head

On 13 April, Farage announced his partnership with Stack BTC. As part of this, he purchased an unseemly quantity of Bitcoin – i.e. the digital money which you can’t use to buy everyday things but you can use to scam people:

Farage bought the crypto from a company linked to Kwasi Kwarteng – the chancellor who delivered Liz Truss’s disastrous budget (the one which led to rampant inflation we never recovered from).

Journalist Fraser Nelson accused Kwarteng and Farage of working together to generate “hype” for their own benefit:

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Hype is what made crypto what it is.

The value of BitCoin kept going up because people kept buying it. Those who bought early made bank; those who bought late did not.

In other words, there was a pyramid-like shape to the affair.

Because of the nature of triangle-shaped ventures, it became harder and harder to get people to buy in. Resultantly, BitCoin’s value has plummeted in the past six months:

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Crypto holders need the value to keep going up – hence the promotional deals like this one with Farage.

A long way to go

Reform UK have certainly lost support, but we need to make sure they lose more.

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Whether it’s jumping into bed with dodgy donors or sucking up to Trump, this party is trouble.

We just don’t want the public to realise too late that Farage and co never had their best interests at heart.

Featured image via Canva

By Willem Moore

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Israel’s Lebanon house demolitions are part of an explicitly genocidal doctrine

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lebanon

The BBC has confirmed Israel is demolishing hundreds of homes in southern Lebanon. Yet the corporation left out some key context: home demolitions are a part of an explicitly genocidal strategy know as the Dahiya doctrine.

BBC Verify used satellite imagery to confirm hundreds of homes had been deliberately destroyed with airstrikes or Israeli occupation force (IOF) demolition teams on the ground.

The BBC report said:

BBC Verify analysis found more than 1,400 buildings had been destroyed since 2 March based on verified visual evidence.

This is just a snapshot of the overall damage caused by Israeli air strikes and demolitions, because of limited access on the ground and available satellite imagery.

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The reported acknowledged that the “true scale” is likely to be “much higher”.

The BBC did report some of the context:

Israel’s levelling of these structures comes after Defence Minister Israel Katz’s order on 22 March to “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes” near the Israeli border based on the “model in Gaza” as part of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Adding that:

The systematic demolition of these towns and villages may amount to a war crime, international law experts told BBC Verify.

And to their credit (for once) the BBC noted that Israel provided no evidence:

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that Hezbollah has embedded military infrastructure within civilian areas in the region.

But there is still a lot missing from their report…

Lebanon: vital context

Here’s a breakdown of how we actually got here – usually missing from legacy media reporting.

Israel violated the US-brokered Lebanon 2024 ‘ceasefire’ over 15,400 times since it was signed. Must be a world record. Yet a short salvo from Hezbollah in early March 2026 was framed as a signal outrage by legacy media. That attack has been cited by the settler-colonial state as a pretext to invade.

Not satisfied with pulling the US and its allies into a runaway war with Iran, Israeli troops have pushed into Lebanon with airstrikes pummelling the capital Beirut.

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The Canary reported the early moments of the new war here. You can read about the secretive Israel-US ‘side letter’ pact which gave Israel carte blanche to keep bombing through the ‘ceasefire’ here. And our extensive coverage of Israel’s ceasefire regular breaches here.

But there’s more…

Dayiha scorched earth doctrine

The so-called Dayiha doctrine was born in Lebanon and sharpened over many years. This scorched earth approach to ‘counter-insurgency’ found its fullest expression in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza. Now it is back where it began: Lebanon’s combative south.

As the Canary reported on 6 March, just days into the new Israel invasion, peace and conflict expert professor Paul Rogers explained the history and character of the doctrine particularly well in the context of Gaza in December 2023. Surveying the early devastation in the enclave, he said the horror spoke to a:

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specific Israeli way of war that has evolved since 1948, through to its current Dahiya doctrine, which is said to have originated in the 2006 war in Lebanon.

Rogers said:

In July of that year [2006], facing salvoes of rockets fired from southern Lebanon by Hezbollah militias, the IDF fought an intense air and ground war.

However:

Neither succeeded, and the ground troops took heavy casualties; but the significance of the war lies in the nature of the air attacks. It was directed at centres of Hezbollah power in the Dahiya area, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, but also on the Lebanese economic infrastructure.

It was there in Dahiya that Israel’s genocidal impulses mutated into a new policy of annihilation.

As Rogers explains:

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This was the deliberate application of “disproportionate force”, such as the destruction of an entire village, if deemed to be the source of rocket fire.

One graphic description of the result was that “around a thousand Lebanese civilians were killed, a third of them children. Towns and villages were reduced to rubble; bridges, sewage treatment plants, port facilities and electric power plants were crippled or destroyed.”

This “deliberate application” of massive Israeli violence goes far beyond fighting ‘terrorists’ and aims to destroy the very means of life. 

As we always make sure to point out, Israel’s ambitions in Lebanon are not and have never been ‘defensive’. In the Zionist fever-dream of a Greater Israel, Lebanon is already theirs. So are large parts of other neighboring countries. The application of the latest version of the Dahiya doctrine to Lebanon is just the last expression of this Western-backed colonialist yearning.

Featured image via the Canary

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By Joe Glenton

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Labour facing electoral wipeout in the Welsh Senedd

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Keir Starmer and the Welsh flag, Labour

Keir Starmer and the Welsh flag, Labour

Polling suggests that Labour are facing a wipeout in the upcoming local elections. As these elections will also see votes in the Scottish and Welsh assemblies, this could see the party of government reduced to a movement which doesn’t exist outside England:

Labour collapse

Pollsters have been predicting that the party faces oblivion in the Senedd (Welsh parliament) for a while:

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The leading party is Plaid Cymru, which is a nationalist party that wants to achieve Welsh independence. The fact that Plaid are doing well shows many Welsh voters are coming around to the party’s way of thinking.

Instead of offering a positive alternative, Starmer’s party are putting out materials like the following:

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We saw an example of Labour’s fading Welsh fortunes in the Caerphilly by-election of October 2025:

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This is what ex-Labour mayor Jamie Driscoll wrote for the Canary following Labour’s defeat:

Caerphilly is a constituency of South Wales Valleys. The spiritual home of the Labour movement. Labour’s superficially impressive haul of 411 Westminster MPs in July 2024 was an anti-Tory vote. They’ve squandered their opportunity.

Labour have been insincere, insidious, and incompetent. Having won the leadership by lying to Labour members (remember his Ten Pledges?), team Starmer doubled down and told different lies to different sections of the electorate. It’s not just that they are floundering in the polls. The party is structurally ashamed of itself. This time last year my social media feeds still had a handful of tribal Labour loyalists saying “give them time”.

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No more.

Disasterclass

Keir Starmer looks set to go down in history as the politician who ended Labour’s viability in Wales. The question is whether his next record will be ending the party’s viability everywhere else.

Featured image via Getty

By Willem Moore

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Trump posts new pic of himself with a giant AI Jesus

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Images of Trump with Jesus

Images of Trump with Jesus

Trump got in trouble recently for depicting himself as Jesus Christ. Following a considerable backlash from his Christian supporters, Trump had to delete the image and said it was supposed to be him as a doctor – a claim which made zero sense.

Now, Trump is once again flirting with controversy by posting the following:

Trump is 6ft 3in, by the way, so that Jesus must be 6ft 7in at least.

Oh, and although it looks like Jesus is giving Trump a ‘hand’, that’s actually just how the picture was cropped.

And no, we can’t explain the expression on Trump’s face.

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Trump has a go at “Radical Left Lunatics”

This was how Trump captioned the post:

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Trump is suggesting it’s the “Radical Left Lunatics” who have taken offence. As we reported, however, it was Trump’s Christian base who really took offence to his obviously blasphemous post. And as Forbes added:

The post sparked instant backlash, largely from conservative Christian factions of Trump’s base, including prominent conservative Christian journalist Megan Basham who called it “OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy” and political commentator Cam Higby who said he spends “8 hours a day” defending Trump but “will not defend blasphemy.”

Trump would later claim he was supposed to be a “doctor” in his now-deleted post:

This made zero sense, because doctors don’t dress as Jesus Christ:

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Since then, the following theory has emerged:

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The religious roundup

In other news, war secretary (and supposed Christian) Pete Hegseth quoted Pulp Fiction because he’s never read an actual Bible:

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Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, meanwhile, fell out with Trump as a result of him attacking the Pope:

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Trump fired back with the classic ‘I know you are but what am I‘ – a classic line from Pete Hegseth’s Bible:

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As the Guardian reported, Trump has since said:

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“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump claimed, adding: “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”

It’s unclear why Trump thinks Leo owes his papacy to Trump; possibly because both men are American?

Does Trump think the Catholics were so impressed with Trump that they had to promote a Yank of their own?

Hmm – that does sound like the sort of thing he’d think, actually.

This is the Pope’s latest message anyway:

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End of days

The Guardian also noted:

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In his subsequent comments to reporters, Trump remained highly critical, saying: “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime I guess,” adding: “He’s a very liberal person.”

The reference to ‘liking crime’ shows how much Trump has degenerated.

Going tough on crime and punishment has always been a Republican talking point, but you can’t just level the argument against anyone. Accusing the Pope of loving crime because he opposed America’s illegal war on Iran makes zero sense to anyone besides Trump himself.

At this point, we’re just praying giant AI Jesus shows up to save us all.

Featured image via Truth Social

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By Willem Moore

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