BReuters just posted a number that's going to start a lot of fights tonight: 980,000 deportations in the first 18 months of this administration.
BThat's a massive number. Nearly a million people. And it's from the Migration Policy Institute, not a campaign press release.
BRight. But here's the part that's going to get lost: only about 20 percent of those deported had a criminal conviction.
BWait, so four out of five people deported had no criminal record? That's not what the administration has been saying.
BThat's what the Washington Post is reporting. The administration has been emphasizing criminals, but the data tells a different story.
BOkay, but hold on. You can be in the country illegally without a criminal conviction. That's still a deportable offense. The number isn't misleading just because most weren't convicted of a separate crime.
BI'm not saying it's misleading. I'm saying the public conversation has been about violent criminals, and the actual policy is much broader.
BBut that's the point of immigration enforcement! You don't need a conviction to be removed. The law is the law.
BAnd the law is being enforced at a scale we haven't seen in decades. That's the story. Whether you think that's good or bad depends on your politics.
BI think it's worth asking: if 80 percent have no criminal record, are we actually making communities safer, or just making a lot of people disappear?
BThat's a fair question. And it's one the administration is going to have to answer as these numbers get more attention.
BMeanwhile, the BBC has a genuinely disturbing investigation out of Sudan. They're reporting that RSF fighters deliberately targeted hospitals.
BThe UN human rights chief says these attacks may amount to war crimes. That's not a phrase they use lightly.
BThe BBC found evidence of multiple attacks on medical facilities. Doctors, patients, nurses — targeted while trying to save lives.
BAnd this is happening while the world's attention is elsewhere. Sudan has been a catastrophe for over a year now.
BIt's the kind of story that should be dominating headlines, but it's been buried under everything else.
BThe RSF is a paramilitary group that's been fighting the Sudanese army for control of the country. And now they're hitting hospitals.
BDeliberately. That's the key word. This isn't collateral damage. It's a strategy.
BAnd the UN is saying it may be a war crime. That's a legal threshold, not just a moral one.
BI want to know what the international community is actually going to do about it. Because we've seen a lot of statements and not much action.
BThat's the frustrating part. We have the evidence, we have the legal framework, and yet the killing continues.
BDifferent world entirely: L'Oréal is saying weight loss drugs are hurting their beauty sales.
BThat's a sentence I never thought I'd say on air. Ozempic is coming for the skincare industry.
BThe CEO says GLP-1s are 'a very important phenomenon for us.' Translation: people are losing weight and buying less makeup.
BIt makes sense, actually. If you're feeling better about your body, you might spend less on products that promise to fix it.
BOr maybe people are just spending their money on the drugs instead of the creams. Either way, it's a real shift.
BThe beauty industry has been recession-proof for decades. Now it's facing a threat from a completely unexpected direction.
BI love this story because it shows how interconnected everything is. A diabetes drug changes the entire beauty market.
BAnd L'Oréal is one of the biggest companies in the world. If they're worried, it's a real trend.
BThe BBC also has a piece about Western diplomats in Moscow living under 'constant paranoia.'
BThat sounds about right. Working in Russia right now is not exactly a relaxing posting.
BThey're comparing it to the Cold War. Surveillance, harassment, the whole package.
BIt's a reminder that even as we talk about negotiations and diplomacy, the actual work of diplomacy in Moscow is incredibly difficult.
BAnd it's not just the Russians. Western diplomats are saying they can't even have a private conversation without assuming someone's listening.
BThat's the 'constant paranoia' part. It wears on you. It changes how you do your job.
BWhich is exactly the point, I suspect. Make the diplomats so paranoid they can't function effectively.
BAnd yet they stay. Because someone has to be there, doing the work, even when it's miserable.
BThat's the news tonight.