This evening, lawyers for the Department of Justice told a federal court that the administration does not believe it has a legal obligation to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States, despite a court order to do so.
Bravo Sean McGarvey for his call to action on behalf of the Builders Trade Union workers. It's been well documented how ruthlessly tRump has shafted these guys over the years with his failed real estate builds. In other words, 'Listen up you dumb f*ck, the tribe has spoken.'
Here's a way we can all take action today: Stop Avelo Airlines from participating in human trafficking by flying individuals kidnapped by ICE and denied due process to other countries. Sign the petition to boycott Avelo Airlines and tell others. Flood the CEO with calls. Leave an honest review online. Bring down this company like Tesla so that no other airline will dare to pick up the contract.
Janete, we have a special problem with Avelo here in Salem, Oregon, as they are the airline serving the airport. The city council put in all kinds of money in this project despite opposition. People are calling for the city to end this contract and many have voiced their opposition to Avelo. However, we have those that think this is OK and will continue to use the airline. Salem is the state capital, but it is midway between Portland and Eugene, both of whom have better airports. I can't predict what will happen here, but many of us are unhappy with the current situation.
Continuous pressure on the city council to demand that Avelo cancel its contract with ICE will take time but may work in the end, especially if council members come to understand that their future as a council member depends on it. Picket city hall and the airport to raise awareness. Folks in every city and town needs to find their most effective rallying hot spot, whether it's city hall, the local Social Security office, the airport, a Tesla dealership and encourage peaceful nonviolent protests. Picket and picnic at city hall!
The guy who did damage at the local Tesla dealership is now in the hands of people like Bondi, so yes, peaceful protests. I do not know what people have planned. I do not live in the city, so council members could ignore anything i wrote to them. We had a good turnout on the big protest day and I see plenty of posts from people who are furious about this and likely to picket. The one person I know who is up on the city says that the council will not act. We will see.
Picketing City Hall would be an effective way to remind council members that they CAN be Voted out. I am so sorry Salem has to deal with this ugliness.
Acknowledge personally that right makes might, and then have a way to discover "right" when people disagree.
Once you have given up the idea that there is a way to discover right in lieu of some version of "I'm right, you're wrong, and this conversation is over," you have given up on the idea that we are all equal.
Unfortunately, Michelle, one of the underlying layers of rot in our nation is that money talks at the expense of one's values, or better yet said in this case, no values whatsoever. I'm on the other side of this nation with no way to lend my voice for your cause that I know of. I can only hope that there is some way that you good folks can make it difficult for the city council. This should be a strong issue for those who wish to replace the current leadership.
People can stand against this airline all over the country wherever they are. I think I see below that there is some kind of petition going. As for the city council, they are a mix of progressive and regressive with the new mayor on the regressive side. They always ignore citizens when they want to re: a damn for profit baseball team in the jewel of a downtown park. Neighbors complained for naught and it is right across the street from the hospital where the ER cases arrive. This was done with the help of Willamette University. This is addition to the financing improvements to the airport. Then of course, the budget is awful and unless a levy passes we are looking at less for the library, parks, and the senior center. Always money for sports and things that serve a few, but not much for the big problems.
I feel your pain Riad. I'm in 'flyover' country, mid-west. At some point, the bulk of the power in demonstrations will be getting all these "seemingly" disparate dissatisfied groups with their own grievance to band together and protest en mass, together. At the end of any day, they need to realize that many of their issues are of the same category: The revocation of fundamental and unalienable rights, be it women's health, voting rights, etc., etc. Oh, and btw, do you think we will ever see 'Aleppo pepper' back on shelves commonly again ? I miss that stuff. Cheers anyway !
The Supreme Court needs to take a clear stand on Abrego Garcia's immediate return. They should have no difficulty determining that the law guarantees the right of all legal residents of the United States to due process. Like all of our laws, that law either applies to everyone or it applies to no one.
This is the moment of truth of the Supreme Court. The Trump regime has already been given "due deference" as the Supreme Court requires. Time for the top court of the land to stand up for the rule of law.
This is why we have the rule of law. Or did until the Charles Koch-Leonard Leo-Roberts Court.
This is what off-shoring incarceration looks like. (Foreign nationals in Guantanamo have more Constitutional rights than legal US residents have under the Trump GOP regime.)
"The White House on Monday scoffed at the prospect of returning from El Salvador a Maryland man who had been mistakenly deported, despite court orders urging it to pursue his return. It said it was now up to El Salvador to decide whether to do so. President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, in a visit to the Oval Office, said the idea that he would send the man back was “preposterous.”"
Hiro, yes, it is the job of the Supreme Court to determine whether or not the law is being broken. If they flatly refuse to do their job, we still have the Congress. The Congress can't help by passing a new law since the law already says that legal residents have a right to due process. But it is their job to remove any president who flatly refuses to obey the law.
I think you are on the mark Hiro. This must be framed, country wide as an issue of SCOTUS vs Trump; Over and over again, repeated across all social media as such. When they take it down, repost it till it catches fire.
SC is above T & his team of illegal actors. Not sure how it would happen but, they all need to tell 'the president' he is in no position to chose which set of laws he gets to break!
The Supremes have already weighed in: 9-0 against Trump. Here’s the problem: the Supremes have already shot themselves in the foot! With the exception of the three left of center ladies, the court unwittingly and stupidly gave away all their cards to this power hungry addict. What rehab protocols SCOTUS may have may well be too far in the future as currently Trump has both chambers in his pocket. The People must now be the formidable resistance.
Not as well known as you might want to believe Kazz. It and all the other illegal, unscrupulous actions by the scoundrel need cataloging and some citations added for reference / proof. You'd be surprised at the lack of common knowledge across this land. Consider for instance that many, many voting age folks born after 1981 couldn't bear witness to any of his past / present. As well, consider how very many didn't even pay attention to any of it, including the supply side economic regime; All that was just "normal," hence my note earlier that could seem accusatory and presumptuous. The bulk of us herein 'are' aware owing to our ages and relative enlightenment. My thrust of that was to cause us all to further consider the fog of time and experience. Education and diploma's can be purchased; Our lived experiences can not. I'd care for us all to patiently leverage our collective and individual lived experiences to the max. It's worth considering also, that we as the largest part of this group, enjoy a greater luxury of time to read and add to our knowledge; Those scurrying about on the hamster wheel for existence don't necessarily have that luxury and it's gotten far more difficult with all the off shoring of industry here and in other western democracies that are also experiencing end stage, toxic capitalism. At the core of a lot of our ills is an age old demand; A supremacy of property. The myth told about the in-civil war here by the partially vanquished, is that it was all about 'states rights.' Only partially true; It was about states rights to enslave human beings for profit.
@Janette "Let’s be very clear about exactly what’s happening here: President Donald J. Trump is claiming the power to ignore the due process of the law guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, declare someone is a criminal, kidnap them, send them to prison in a third country, and then claim that there is no way to get that person back."
The other day I posted that the US and El Salvador have an extradition treaty and that SCOTUS could have issued a writ of mandamus to Trump/Rubio to extradite him -- but didn't.
I don't know whether the judge was asked to enter an order of mandamus.
A writ of mandamus is a court order compelling a lower court, government official, or agency to perform a specific act that they are legally obligated to do. It's used when there's no other adequate legal remedy to force compliance with a clear legal duty. In essence, it's a way to ensure that those in authority follow the law and fulfill their official duties
Have the Trumpies thought about what would/will happen if Abredo Garcia dies? My guess is that it'll be a reaction like Arab Spring. Sadly, maybe that's what it takes. The cruelty, the glee in the cruelty is sociopathic.
More like when the Saudi's assassinated the American journalist Jamal Khashoggi - at an embassy no less; dismembered his body and disappeared the corpse, under tfg 1 regime in 2018. Shortly thereafter, say 2018, wasn't Kushner more or less a defacto ambassador to the Saudi crown and eventually his business received a 2 billion dollar investment from the Saudi sovereign fund ?
I fear greatly for his (Abrego's) safety. This is a national disgrace, and insult to all our citizens and must be dealt with forcefully. Impeach, arrest, or whatever but this must be resolved now.
Trump is a national disgrace, revealing the fact that there are tens of millions of Americans who are stupid, ignorant and racist. This is our Second Civil War, with the oligarchs paying for the propaganda to influence those who are stupid, ignorant and racist so that they can make even more billions of dollars. It is shameful. Many, perhaps most, are invested in Trump the way some are in Jesus and others in Muhammad. It isn't rational.
The state department will probably ensure that won't happen.
I think that eventually he may be still subject to deportation -- to anyplace that will take him except El Salvador. He is in limbo -- here because he feared for his life in his home country.
Once upon a time, Adminstrative Procedure Act due process applied to respondents in deportartion hearings, but Congress, during the Bracero period of the Eisenhower administration, eliminated APA hearings.
The Secretary of State is Marco Rubio. He is not likely to interfere with the president's push toward a fascist state. Mr. Garcia is a test case. Any naturalized citizen (we have a few in Congress) could be next to be taken off the street by the secret police (ICE) and deported. The Government then just says "oops our mistake".
That may be true and as # 45 Trump was working on a "denaturalization" program to do just that.
Garcia is not a naturalized citizen.
IMHO Rubio is a wuss but serves 1. Norman Braman 2. CANF. 3. Donald J. Trump. If Garcia is injured, it will have repucussions locally, so I think he's monitoring the situation. Sounds like Garcia is in solitary confinement.
I'm sorry USA, but has he ever obeyed the law? Has he ever been placed in a jail cell where he belongs due to his blatant crimes against women, against our country and humanity?
I missed your comment from the other day, Daniel, about the extradition treaty and the writ of mandamus. Thank you for repeating that insight. Other Supreme, even those with mor conservative Justices like Chief Justice Burger or Justice Stevens might well have issued such a writ.
Not this one. To do so would, in Chief Justice Roberts's mind, would be judicial over-reach by encroaching upon a President's absolute immunity in 'conducting foreign policy'. Ah, consistency truly is the hobgoblin of little minds.
But Daniel, you're overlooking the fact that ALL cabinet positions now are non-functional DonOLD suckups so since he is a racist fascist, they are too and expecting them to say anything legal or contrary to DonOLD thought won't be happening.
Germany in the 1930's ...this will take immense effort to get our freedoms back now...it's a mountain..but baby steps always puts you at the TOP of any mountain ..........you just never ever ever give up :)
We should not have to tip toe around these people. We must learn how to control the violent out of touch behavior as we would someone with mental illness.
I've been on hiatus from politics for several hours of the weekend, watching some movies. Have I missed any words of outrage from Republicans about this escalation of violence? I'd hate to falsely accuse Republicans of complicity by silence!
Disgraceful and lawless. I continue to believe they are protecting themselves as well as the White House because many of them were actively involved in planning January 6, 2021
Dave and I found distraction this weekend -- attended a Supercross Championship race in Philadelphia, balancing out the weekend with a two-hour visit to the Barnes Foundation Museum - lots of Cezannes and Renoirs.
Stephanie, we went to the first symphony concert we had been to in years on Friday night. It was transporting. The first piece was wild and started with bird song from the audience's phones....if you could figure it out; the second was The Lark Ascending and finally, Beethoven's 6th.
And I'm attending a photo webinar this evening, photographing butterflies and flowers on Wednesday and attending a symphony on Thursday. There will be no time for politics...only beauty and the sound of music.
This is my Governor, and Trump & his administration has not said one word about what happened here in Pennsylvania. Depraved is too good a word for all of these evil people…
This makes using our Constitutionally guaranteed right to protest pretty scary. How long will it be before DonOLD will send in the military with live ammo to protests he doesn't like. He thought shooting peaceful protesters in 1.0 was a good idea. And now this
Frightened of the authoritarian nature or our government’s executive branch, disgusted with the spineless, apathetic nature of the republicans in our legislative branch, furious with the 6 “bought-and-paid-for” members of SCOTUS, unsure of what the judicial branch of our government can and will do quickly enough, AND damned sure we the people must find new leadership and “take back” our democratic republic NOW or we will be living in shame and fear for years to come. Our “founders dream” has now become the “American nightmare”. Wake up and act!
The story literally brings tears to my eyes because I fear that we have already lost our country. Trump executive power has overwhelmed the Supreme Court and Congress. He controls our wealth with his tariffs such that he can single handedly move the DJIA nearly 3,000 points in a single day. His next executive orders will be to "fix" our election system which he has long asserted is corrupt. And, with that, our democracy is over. The GOP, FOX News and Trump's hooded secret police who now arrests innocent people in broad daylight have allowed this to happen. Trump is going to be impossible to stop without the help of our GOP friends. We should not be afraid to discuss politics. Such discussions are no longer inpolite, rather they are our last hope.
Regarding your statement that we should not be afraid to discuss politics. I'm a 63 year old RN who works part-time in a hospital owned obgyn practice in a purple northeast state. In addition to the horrible things taking place at the federal level, we have the world's largest state legislature which for decades now has been increasingly populated with free staters and extremist republicans, currently in the majority, along with republican governor. They are decimating us. Cuts to healthcare across the board, including a plan to repeal a very successful vaccine program that costs taxpayers nothing but instead is pre-funded by insurance companies. This despite thousands of healthcare providers, insurance providers and the general public opposing it. Trump pulled back 80 million $$ from DHHS sent to the state as Covid funds.
Do we talk about politics at all in our office? Never. Despite being directly affected by the cuts to come, it's crickets. It feels like gaslighting every time I go to work. All this happening around us every damn day and it's just like business as usual, nothing to see here. By the time some of us start losing our jobs, and we will in the coming cuts, it will be too late to change it. So the other day, during one of our rare opportunities for a little chat, I mentioned that I had gone to the Hands Off protest the weekend prior. One NP said, "good for you, thanks for doing that". A PA said, "that's cool; I'd do that if I wasn't so busy with my family on the weekend." The sad fact is that these young people are working hard full-time and have families to raise. They continue to try to provide some normalcy for their kids. They don't have time to pay a lot of attention to the news, especially with chaos every day, who wants to make an extra effort to sort that all out with so much else going on in life? I was the same in my 30s and 40s. I see my son and DIL in the same situation.
Make no mistake, this is how THEY want it. So busy keeping our heads above water we can't pay attention to the dismantling and retreat from democracy.
I so relate to our young families being overwhelmed with their responsibilities and obligations, which is why as a mother and grandmother, I plan to keep attending the rallies for their well being as well as my own. I have to do something for my family, for the young international students whose visas are being revoked, for the hardworking immigrant families living in fear, and the list goes on. Bravo to the union leader for standing up for a fellow union member and human being who is suffering needlessly and cruelly. And thank you, Heather for your amazing writings. The words are spreading.
we have lost our Country...but we have NOT LOST the fight to get it back..that is just beginning. What is the alternative..we will be living just as the Russian people do now ! NO...we are 350 million patriotic ? Americans and he is one insane pathetic weak putin wanna be...Not going to happen here..but it will take ALL to fight back
All sounds good. And just HOW do you think we will go about that? That is the rub, isn't it? We do not have enforcement on our side. I'm awake...and I am ready to act. To DO something. And what do you suggest that something is? I'm not sure that waiting it out until 2026 is going to do it.
Penny, you and me plus… I suspect..millions of us have that question. Oddly or not so oddly, I’m thinking outside our borders to countries that hold our huge debt in trillions. Their leverage can literally destroy the value of our currency. The orange turd does not want us to know this.
Capitalize that.
Look it up. Japan, the EU, and hurray Canada! 🇨🇦 That’s what has stoped the monster from levying tariffs. CN bought up treasury bonds…. then as t began his tariffs tantrums, CN, the EU and Japan began to leak them lowering the value of those bonds. Remember that abrupt tariff U-turn the monster did?
Agree. I'm going to protests but I'm unsure what that is actually accomplishing other than to stoke ourselves up with the like-minded crowds. But then what? With an administration, Congress and SCOTUS that pays us no mind when we protest, write and call, and businesses that yawn when we boycott, what more are we supposed to do? I've heard people call for a general strike but I don't think many Americans have the resources for that.
Totally agree that waiting until midterm elections is not the solution. We the people have to continuously “flood the zone” of public opinion with our voices and talk with our friends, family and community members, especially those who don’t apparently share our views. I guarantee if we listen carefully, we will find common ground and from there we can move with common purpose. I wish I had a simpler answer. These are not normal or simple times and the “problems” will have complex solutions crafted by coallition and in camaraderie. Keep asking the questions. Keep speaking up. Keep defending our democratic republic. Don’t let the bullies keep you down, let the rest of us lift you up, and when you can, reach a hand out to lift another. It might just be me, so thanks in advance.
My husband is also from the UK and we came here together in 1981. I had gone to London for grad school and we met while teaching in an art college in Wales. If we had been able to look this far ahead we would have stayed in the UK. I wish we had.
I agree. What a mess! I worry about a young man whom I know who involved himself in the Campus Ministry program while at the University of Delaware. He is a doctor who came to study our Public Health system. He's Rwandan. He is a nice young man who wants to help his people.
Many will keep their heads down until the last minute. They want their degrees. But many potential students and academics will stop going the US, unless they are from Saudi Arabia, Russia or Israel (and even then, half of Israel is appalled by both Trump and their own PM). This is an opportunity for European, Canadian and Asian universities. Remember that US universities only became attractive to large numbers of foreign academics from 1933, after the Nazis took control of the German universities. This spread later to Austrian and Czech universities, and to the whole of Europe. Even Britain, after the war, lost many scholars and scientists because the UK was too broken by the war to offer them the kind of future they could hope for in the USA. Now the movement will reverse.
Agreed. I wrote this piece about Studying Abroad, not as doing a semester or a year abroad, but truly going abroad. My daughter is doing that right now. Of course, as a dual citizen it is not quite the same for her as someone who is not, but she has plenty of friends who are from other countries, as well as an American friend who went through the same process as she did.
Now she is starting her second semester today, and has gotten the hang of the system from her first semester which had a huge learning curve. That is figuring out what classes to take in her major and minor without an advisor. They are available, but not that available. Also, learning that she needed to sign up for her final exams. One gets to take them more than once because so many people fail them. That is true in the Netherlands too. A friend in California has a son who is going to Uni in the Netherlands, in a similar situation but his whole program is in English and everyone speaks English. This is not true for my daughter. Her world is in German now. Lots of people from around the world learn German at a language school for a year, then spend a year in Studienkolleg, then go to the degree program that they want. Most undergraduate programs are 3 years.
A friend of my daughter's who has been at a US university for her first 2 years of Uni is now transferring to a German university the following year.
Margaret, I wrote those very same words upon reading Susan's comments.
I *am* frightened, and we are not yet 3 months in. But this is what they want us to be: afraid. Afraid that we'll lose our jobs, our earned benefits, our freedom, our comforts, and more, if we don't fall in step. When law firms are agreeing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars pro bono defend and promote this regime's initiatives in order to stay on you-know-who's good side, you know we are in deep dark waters.
Every time I think CF47 has crossed the Rubicon (or rather, Rubicons; Caesar only crossed it once) and the cowardly republicans will grow a spine, I am sorely, um, I don’t know, surprised? This New Yorker article about John Thune and the Republican capitulation captures the current state of un-governing. Thune et al (except for MAGA extremists) have put on their rose colored glasses and rolled over like pliant golden retrievers begging for a belly rub. (Sorry about the mixed similes.)
Our continent is full of countries in which people are "disappeared"--in most cases tortured, murdered, and thrown into unmarked graves, usually never found or found long after. That's what we accelerating toward. It will take a great many courageous and committed people to matter. It is not an easy or simple choice. But it is a choice. And we confront it now.
Why, just because we have devolved into a dictatorship? I never thought we would live to see what has happened to the United States of America. We are not that any more - thanks to Mitch McConnell and the traitors in Congress.
Adding insult to injury, nearly 400 books were removed from the U.S. Naval Academy's library at the behest of the current (mis)administration. (I wonder if they burned them.) Heaven forbid we should allow future military officers to read "trash" from authors like Maya Angelou.
And it is also time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. Who is there to arrest the “President.” Not a soul on planet earth, apparently. We need Ike
The Daily Beast reported this weekend that on Elon Musks orders a Senior Social Security executive be physically removed for not allowing his Doge Boys to fraudulently update the status of several thousand immigrants to deceased. Not only is this fraud, but also assault. In my 50+ years of working as a computer programmer never once did I witness a violent action between anyone. This is a page right out of Nazi Germany and must be addressed.
I have already written to my Senators and Congressman about their inaction regarding the Trump administration's flagrant disregard for the courts and the law.
Why is Elon Musk not in jail or better yet deported back to South Africa?
Sadly, I screamed this very thing back in first go around. Just got banned from T and FB. Also newspapers stopped printing letters. Friends and family took off masks and became strangers. I so agree. Muskrat gave chump the means to destroy us. Chump gave muskrat the power right back. The SC sitting on it’s collective hands.
My fear is that Substack will be shut down? I don't see how they can bring down YouTube. Google is too powerful to mess with. But there is much dissent on YouTube. You know the Fascist takeover is complete once YouTube is shut down.
And trumpers aren't violent, unless of course this was done by some nonpolitical psychopathic arsonist. Jan 6th and threats to judges and their families, jurors, lawyers, voter intimidation are peaceful political statements. ( I am being sarcastic in case you didn't know it)
The SC is totally useless. Look at the immigration ruling. The government should look into it but doesn't have to do anything about it in deference to the foreign government.
Wapo has a not good enough for prime time comment section. NYT sometime punishes my comments for 24 hours. I do not like the attitude of either editorial board… too tepid. But if they were anymore damning the Supreme Court would allow trump to shut the papers down….. so it’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t
I just keep writing postcards to Democratic voters (from TonyTheDemocrat come addresses and instructions) and going to Indivisible meetings. At 90, better use of energy than marches, I’ve decided. Started with Kent State and Vietnam, last was Dobbs rally.
Ironically. Musk is a South African, Canadian (from his mother) and American citizen. Maybe he should be handcuffed and sent to El Salvador. He might miss his t-shirts. Looking at the background of the El Salvador picture of Noeme, the dog killer, it seems that a lot of those guys weren't wearing shirts.
Excuse me, but it's up to Americans to get rid of their president and his accomplices, unless he starts invading other countries. At which point, other countries will fight back. We already have our hands full with Russia.
And the fight was honest and true. The huge numbers who came over here to fight fascism were all in. We don't forget, even though it seems some Americans do.
The good old USA has painted itself into a corner. Getting out will be messy or will we elect to stay facing the wall while chump and crew of destruction continue their rampage.
Join the protests from wherever you are, in any way you can. Having been at a "Hands Off" protest, I can tell you that our numbers out at the demonstrations matter. And call your members of Congress, Senators. Find your thing and do it - this is red lights blinking everywhere we look
They show our “rulers” that we are numbers and we do not approve and will vote them out. (And if neither we nor the courts can get them out, we will THROW them out.)
I'm sorry to be a wet blanket on your zeal, but at this point, our "rulers" do not care about public (dis)approval. They have what they want: power without accountability. The corrupt SCOTUS provided that.
Pre-election, Donald cared about his "ratings." Now that he is in the White House, surrounded by loyalists and sycophants, he doesn't give a rat's hat about public opinion.
The judiciary is in his pocket. The legislature is cowering in the corner. The military belongs to him. Troublemakers will be rounded up and shipped to offshore prisons, where they suddenly become "beyond the reach" of U.S. jurisdiction.
Free and fair elections are a thing of the past, with MAGA controlling the process.
The only event that will save us is Donald's sudden expiration.
There is still a benefit to joining in protests. It helps participants know we are not alone, which can be an enormous emotional boost to people falling into despair. Also, protest speakers often impart valuable information that can educate people and help us cope. But in terms of effecting actual change, protesters should keep our expectations low.
Good question, Sabrina, but let me flip it around. What does quietly sitting in our homes in front of the television do when people are kidnapped and sent to other countries to be tortured? The answer is that sitting quietly sends the message that we accept the lawlessness of this rogue regime. We do not. When we show up in the streets, we build our courage. We show others they’re not alone, and give them courage. We show the perpetrators masquerading as a government that we will refuse, resist, and ridicule their abuse by any nonviolent means necessary. And, we will defeat them.
Went to the Hands Off protest inn Hartford. It was nothing like the size of DC or NY, but we had a respectable several thousand plus there were smaller ones around the state. I had to laugh when I read that trump said that he didn't know what we were protesting about. I guess he only pays attention to those riots that he has caused. Also, he never really watched any of the demonstrations very carefully because it was VERY clear what was being protested. I guess he really can't read.
A Canadian here, this is hopefully taken as a simple basic question.
If the US is paying El Salvador 5 million dollars to house individuals in a Prison in that country, would this not create a relationship where by payment for service, the US retains effective control of all those Detainees ?????
Heather gets it exactly. We are at that worst crisis we feared.
The convicted criminal in the White House puts his right to criminality over all other U.S. law. Puts his narcissist, felonious, rapist self over U.S. law, international law, all our longest-held alliances, and every decency which he and his fellow vulgarians cannot even begin to imagine.
We have a chance to say we live together -- many of us -- in one country.
We live by laws we have made. And amended. And yet may amend. We live by large measure of respect for others.
But no respect for wanton criminals who have zero respect our laws, our multiplicity, our joys in our many and many diverse landscapes, cuisines, arts, and traditions.
Some pithy lessons you cite, some instances you know of our best traditions, decencies.
All of us who live in that America, in that history, those aspirations, need to talk, interact much more with each other while the thieves, rapists, plunderers, predators, and all their billionaire vulgarities are ruling now so as they do.
Phil, as always, your insights retore my posture as I think through them. The most important civic / republican virtue you mention, at least for me in this difficult time, is "aspiration". Fortunately, your thoughts stay on; unfortunately, my posture does not. Thank you for taking the time to read through the post. I appreciate your doing that, Sir.
Here you go. The linked in links are abbreviations. They should click through to the link source-page.
++++++++
NO MORE PUSSY-footing AROUND: starting right here right now.
A cherished colleague posted this article for which I am indebted to her. Team Trump, simply said, is Team Treason. It is hard for me to stick my neck out. So permit me to speak of four experiences, briefly, that lead me here: twin stories mean treason. We know it and must acknowledge it
First, I was eight years old when my mother, a practicing R.C., slammed down, on a coffee table, a magazine article turned to a page about the start of canonizing Pope Pius XII. She raised her voice, stating, in effect, "This was an evil man. He did nothing to protect Jews in order to enhance the position of the Catholic Church." I was confused, looking at a photo of a man in holy garb. My mother then stated something like (in language intelligible to a third grader), "Any educated Catholic who never has doubts is neither educated nor Catholic."
Just seven years later, I had this amazing Latin teacher in high school. He had been living in Connecticut in the early 1960s and signed up for the Milgram experiment. After about the third switch in the ascending voltages to be administered to a subject when he got answers wrong, this man stood up and walked out. When the administrator told him to stay or he would lose the fifty bucks for participating, he politely told the man to keep the money; that he was out. This story did not teach us much Latin, but it taught us a lot about humanity: American smugness that "it could never happen here" was a myth.
When I was at a college in Tunisia six years ago, l loved my students who argued openly with me and asked pointed questions, as I often encouraged them to do to focus on critical thinking. Trump had done something aggressive. Students challenged me about the U.S. In a rare moment of candor, I admitted that, in effect, "We are no longer King of the Mountain and we are having difficulty in coming to terms with that."
Lastly, in Przemyśl, briefly, three years ago, aiding Ukrainian refugees, I met a lot of neat young people. One was from Belarus. When I asked him where he was from, he said Minsk. He felt ashamed of being Belarussian; that is why he came to Poland to help Ukrainians. For once, I came up up with the right thing to say, in effect, "Don't be ashamed. You were born in Belarus, not your doing. You are here, That's your doing; you're a good man."
“ President Donald J. Trump is claiming the power to ignore the due process of the law guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, declare someone is a criminal, kidnap them, send them to prison in a third country, and then claim that there is no way to get that person back.”
The supreme court ruled that the president has immunity for crimes while performing his official duties so yes, he is above the law. Trump can defy court orders. What did Chief Roberts expect??! He wrote the damn majority decision.
Garcia's legal team has included in a new court filing Trump's offhand remark yesterday to reporters on Air Force One that if the Supreme Court had ordered him to return Garcia then he would comply because of his respect for the court. Some legal commentators have argued that this casual remark has undermined the government's case that it is powerless to secure Garcia's return. However, the administration is continuing to send alleged gang members to El Salvador where their arrival is welcomed by dramatic staged videos with blazing soundtracks, posted by the justice minister. There's no indication that any of the latest batch of deportees has been allowed legal representation as required by SCOTUS. It's clear that Trump doesn't give a fuck.
For a while I guess he was preoccupied with just staying out of jail, but now that's behind him getting richer is back right up there at the top of his list of priorities.
Having observed Donald's activities since he emerged into public notice decades ago, I posit that avoiding imprisonment has never been a preoccupation for him. It has been a way of life. In the way that you pay your utility bills every month, Donald has retained his lawyers to keep him out of prison.
Nothing has ever knocked money out of the top slot in Donald's learning-disabled mind.
His first run for office was a gambit to burnish his brand, thereby increasing his income. When he unexpectedly won, he discovered how the office could be monetized. But lacking a cabinet of loyal enablers, he missed a lot of opportunities to generate revenue. He vowed not to make that mistake the next time.
Donald isn't good at anything, including being president. But the office of president can give a lot of people what they want, and they are willing to pay for it. Putin, christian nationalists, tech bros and oligarchs were all happy to contribute money and influence to Donald's campaign in order to reap the power and wealth he could give them from his high perch.
And Donald is like the blackmailer who keeps demanding more cash after he finds out who has the money and willingness to pay.
Revenge is a prominent feature of Donald's second occupation of the White House, but it isn't the point. Donald is punishing his opponents as a warning to all who might try to hamper his effort to become the richest man in the world.
The only form of diplomacy that Trump seems to recognise is the shakedown. His now infamous press conference with Zelensky is one example. His price for helping the Ukrainians to defend their country is their mineral wealth (and he's backdating that claim to cover aid that was freely given to the Ukrainians by the Biden administration). Recently he has upped his claim and also wants to control the gas pipeline that runs through the country into Europe, presumably as leverage to extort the europeans - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/12/us-demands-control-from-ukraine-of-key-pipeline-carrying-russian-gas
It is exactly the same in Gaza, where his price is US control of the Gaza Strip to turn it into the Riviera of the Middel East, doubtless with its own Trump Tower.
His threats to invade Greenland and Panama are also a form of extortion to acquire mineral wealth and access to the Panama Canal which create a revenue stream for the US.
His arbitrary use of executive powers against law firms is another example of a shakedown. Their senior partners have to walk his version of the Road to Canossa and offer tributes in pro bono work and promises to cancel DEI initiatives at their firms.
His tariff policy is his attempt to extort the whole world on the basis of the addled view that the US should have no trade deficits with any country.
His second term is like watching the Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui play out in real time in the real world, with all the absurdity retained.
He thinks he IS the state. Very Louis XIV ("l'état, c'est moi"). This French king, often called The Sun King, left his kingdom so ruined that it took decades to recover. In fact, France was no longer a kingdom by the time it fully recovered from the solar scorched earth policy of Louis XIV.
I hope you can reverse it. It's in the hands of the people and politicians of goodwill... and of enough people amongst the enforcers to stand up against tyranny. Didn't you do it a few times before?
I hope we can reverse it Sophie, but what gets me really upset is why we couldn't prevent this nightmare to happen to being with. After all, we knew what to expect from this horde. It was written in Proyect 2025 and in the behavior of the scumbag president.
As, J L, he owns any woman's "pussy" -- as he put it -- he deigns to grab.
Hah, hah, hah, hah, "bing, bing, boing, bong" (images now, too, of his hands jerking off two phalluses simultaneously, or of him fellating a microphone, both of which he's used public venues to show to Putin and the other oligarchs that he's their boy, and to show Clarence that, don't worry, corruption now belongs indeed to our highest places).
Well, he bought it in November 2024. Or won it in a lottery, or something. Either way, it was with other people's money, just like all his businesses.
This is the constitutional crisis we've been fearing. If we don't stand up to this, he has truly succeeded in nullifying the government. He does, in fact, own the country.
And Roy Cohn taught Trump to NEVER admit he has made a mistake. This will probably cost Mr Garcia his life... and put the rest of us in great danger too.
I think the hand-picked Roberts Court majority, with their collective support of the Constitution- perverting “unitary executive” philosophy of government, zeroed out their own role as legislative umpires. They assumed a President that respected the law and the Constitution, or at least were not so craven as to use the office merely for personal gain. They have boxed themselves into a corner with the Frankenstein monster that is Trump. It remains to be seen whether, even if 2 or 3 Justices reversed course, their rulings would have any impact at this point, with the DOJ now being a wholly owned subsidy of the Trump Inc. regime.
And heaps of blame can go to McConnell too -- who denied Obama a rightful nominee and then rushed in Barrett when voting had already begun in the next election -- negating his earlier rationale. They are despicable.
It's a horrible thing to think but I have to wonder: is Roberts is a Russian asset? His opinions have run counter to everything we know of what the founders intended. The bullshit about absolute immunity -- after 250 years of no one thinking of such a thing?
I think they did not give a damn because they assumed he would not mess with them. Naive though it sounds. They have been created by a monster, and some of them are helping that monster to devour them.
Most of SC enjoying the orgy. It’s what Mitch and repubs have been working (and cheating) for for most of my long life. As muskrat said, this is your chance, maybe your last chance. That shut down any resistors…
Leo seemed to stay under the radar for a while. All of a sudden his evil was everywhere. Sort of like dark matter. One can see the effects before one can see the cause.
And the absolute cruelty of this regime needs to be the point for what is left of a free and just society. The danger could hardly be more clear and present.
It is astounding and frightening that such patent cruelty fails to proportionately alarm the public or the press. The separation, incarceration, and deliberate (and that is documented in Trump's first term as deliberate, and for many families remains permanent) loss of CHILDREN as sociopathic, punitive policy. So blatant was the cruelty that the Trump regime argued in federal court that it had the right to deny even the basic comforts of blankets and soap to immigrant children. Yeah, there was coverage of this, but the enormity of this, crime against humanity kind of fell though the cracks. Even the enormity of the death toll of COVID and the irresponsible aid and comfort to a heartless, invasive, enemy, a dangerous predatory virus, provided by Trump and his retinue, was a patent crime in and of itself, yet took a back seat to other issues, such as Biden's flubs, even in news sources I respect, let alone in the public's priorities.
That said, the blatant cruelty of the present moment defies adequate description. The blatant injustice is monumental. This portends the stuff of which histories most regrettable horror stories are made: sociopathic abandonment of compassion and conscience.
“Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarcy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.”
We basically have an entire Constitution that already says it, but that's now only a piece of worthless parchment, thanks to a certain worthless piece of manure in the White House.
Well said, so what will SCOTUS now do? They've painted themselves into a corner. Will they rescind that ruling? Can they? This all seems to follow the story of Julius Caesar. The Supreme Court has created a monster and is powerless to quell it. Another fine mess like women's rights. The Supreme Court have no foresight. Another fine mess.
God knows what they (MAGA "justices") really care about. At least they voted 9-0 that Abrego Garcia has legal rights. They are the quintessence of the the "activist", shamelessly biased, judges they Orwellianly fume about.
Roberts has been so concerned about the “legacy” of the Roberts Court. Well, I think that is now a settled matter. The Roberts Court turned our Democracy into a Dictatorship. The only question that remains, was it deliberate, based on rigid “originalist” ideology, or simple stupidity and naïveté. Doesn’t really matter, in the long run. We are heading into decades of repression.
“This evening, lawyers for the Department of Justice told a federal court that the administration does not believe it has a legal obligation to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States, despite a court order to do so.”
I stopped reading here—I will go back and finish reading today’s letter, but I wanted to pause here first.
My dear lawyers from the DOJ, did you pass the bar? Are you in fact lawyers? Up is not down. You have a court order and you are saying that you don’t think you have a legal obligation to follow it? You cannot be this stupid. So something else is clearly going on. You have decided, apparently, to disregard your clear legal obligation but you are too cowardly to say so directly. So which is it—you are stupid beyond belief, or you are contemptible cowards? I suppose you could be both.
I will now continue reading Heather Cox Richardson’s letter.
The DOJ has been replaced by Stepford lawyers whose only job is to contort the law to support Trump’s bidding. How an aging, bloated, demented con man with a 3rd grade vocabulary managed to pull this off is beyond me, and I keep wondering what nefarious threats keep this nightmare going.
The far-right foundations enacting the Powell memo knew they first had to dehumanize America's schools. They did this. And standardized testing has gone on perverting, poisoning since.
I know this is your signature issue, Phil, and I can't disagree that the massive turn to standardized testing and away from the arts and humanities is a terrible policy. But I don't think this is what accounts for the failure of well-educated politicians and attorneys and judges to DO THEIR JOBS under the Constitution.
William, one need only look at the line of formerly prestigious large law firms which have lined up to bargain themselves into free servitude to tRump and his administration to see the direction in which those whom we used to hire to plead our cases in court and advise us in the conduct of our affairs us legally to understand the direction “the law” has taken in the United States of America!
But we must continue to distinguish between the judges who are respecting US law and those who did nit want to vote with Roberts. I will give him that much credit, but no more. Thank you to Phil Balla who reminded us of the Powell memo.
I have suspected from the first sign of reluctance to "bring Abrego Garcia home" that the administration fears (at the least) national interviews about the prison conditions in El Salvador, and (at worst) serious evidence of torture and abuse that they don't want reported to the US public.
I suspect he was handed over to the very people he was fleeing from and that, sadly, he is no longer alive. That's one reason Trump is dragging is feet on this.
Judge should subpoena K. Noem to court and make her testify under oath. A public spectacle about what she saw and what they are doing. Confront her with Trump's statement. Ultimately I think judge will rule 'effectuate' means 'do it if possible' and Trump saying it is possible means SCOTUS says 'do it'. That is our best outcome here, unless some legal whiz comes up with something better that has yet to be floated publicly. In addition, in some manner the $6M should be withheld subject to Garcia's return. Bet ya President 'Oopsie' puts guy on plane pronto.
Funny you should say that, as I’ve been thinking about that horrible place, the people who incomprehensibly WORK there, what it must be like for the prisoners (some of whom must be criminals, but…????) to be completely dehumanized with the head shaving and white shorts, and what the sudden influx of these Venezuelans (and at least one Salvadoran) must have been like…and then the advent of La Noem in her ICE cosplay gear, with the snug white T mirroring the white shorts of the prisoners, and her $50K Rolex glittering there below her mandatory Mar-a-Lago hair extensions and lip fillers…and then imagining what kind of surreal scene it would’ve been if she’d been a human being instead of whatever she is, and would’ve brought the “administrative error” back to the USA…and what that trip would’ve been like.
Hard to see her treating Abrego Garcia like a human being, as she and the whole ugly mob of Trumpists don’t see immigrants as their equals in that sense. And then I stopped trying to picture any of it, as I’ve had too many Noem-shooting-14mo-dog images in my mind, and the Noem-kills-goat-for-being-goat images are almost worse.
I think he wants to teach you all a lesson - "look what happens if I want it to" - who would have the guts to oppose him openly, and I can't blame people.
I’m crazy hopeful that that exact thing will happen and the orange sadist will take the glory. Fantasy, yes, but I need some fantastical thoughts in these grim, grim times, and A Minecraft Movie was utterly horrible.
My anger is much greater than my fear. This administration is simply a bunch of mean entitled egomaniacs. Not one ounce of concern or empathy. They do not deserve any respect. Continually violating our constitution and defying the laws of our nation. Like a thin skinned bully who can “dish it out but can’t take it”. Like a child that flips the game board when he doesn’t win. Enough is enough. I will just get louder.
“Here’s the thing: Once you give up the idea that we are all equal before the law and have the right to due process, you have given up the whole game. You have admitted the principle that some people have more rights than others. Once you have replaced the principle of equality before the law with the idea that some people have no rights, you have granted your approval to the idea of an authoritarian government. At that point, all you can do is to hope that the dictator and his henchmen overlook you”
Almost everything this administration has done flies in the face of, “equal before the law” and “the right to due process”.
How do we get a foothold in a nation where the law doesn’t apply anymore? How do we proceed when the rules of the game are being changed on a whim and at every move? I continue to believe that the first move is to protect the vulnerable. I’m not under any delusion that the henchmen won’t come for me too. Most certainly if I don’t help in anyway I can. Again, I will get loud.
Union workers, all workers, all patriotic Americans need to stand up, be heard and take any and all actions necessary, including a national strike, to stop this corrupt group of thugs from continuing to destroy our country. The courts have failed us. Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch should burn in hell. The Republicans in Congress are spineless traitors. This is not politics. This is a criminal takeover of our country.
Nothing is off the table for this awful regime. From it will never happen, to an everyday occurrence. They make up their own truths, creating their own lawless rules.
I'm sitting here and don't even know what to say. I'm shocked. I can't believe that anyone would think this is acceptable. In my thinking, it's criminal to accept this.
Use this spreadsheet to call/email/write any of our representatives as often as possible. Not just your own state reps, reach out to those in other states. Be as loud as you can and share this. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
Matilda, many folks have been warning of this for awhile…especially with each new ***surprise!*** he throws at us, particularly the, ahem, unconstitutional ones! He’s just doing it loud and proud now because all those MAGA-adjacent wieners in congress are too cowed to resist. Mitch had his chance to do the right thing but waffled…what a festering legacy.
I already wrote to my Senators and Congressmen today, who all act like everything is normal. Meanwhile, Trump has led us into a recession with his every changing tariffs.
Marco Rubio posted a message on Twitter/X yesterday saying that the alliance between Trump and Bukele had "become an example for security and prosperity in our hemisphere.” Bukele is visiting the White House today, the first Latin American leader Trump has met since returning to office in January. One would have though that with such a pally relationship it should be no problem at all securing the return of Garcia. The White House's reliance on the importance of respecting state sovereignty in this case looks hollow against the background of Trump's frequent threats against other countries who resist him - like Venezuela, who initially refused to take back deportees but was cowed into submission.
This type of behaviour is typical of Trump. His lies are not subtle misrepresentations but big, splashy things and he understands the importance of repeating them long after they've been debunked. A whole media ecosystem exists to support him in this endeavour. As Goebbels once wrote: "The essence of propaganda is not in variety, but rather the forcefulness and persistence with which one selects ideas from the larger pool and hammers them into the masses using the most varied methods." Likewise, his determination to ignore and evade constitutional and judicial restrictions on his behaviour are also egregious and drawn in primary colours.
Thus, ten more alleged gang members were sent to El Salvador on Sunday. El Salvador’s justice minister, Gustavo Villatoro posted a Twitter/X message showing their dramatic arrival in the country shackled and surrounded by armed soldiers and armoured police against the background of a blazing score from a John Woo film. Some of these men were apparently deported under the Enemy Aliens Act and it does not appear that any of them were allowed legal representation.
This just illustrates the heinous nature and criminal mindset of Donold. Indeed it is the deviousness of the entire Trump regime exposed and on trial already. If they were able to render 10 more said 'gang members' to El Salvador just today, then it means for the return trip there was an empty plane that could have easily had Abrego Garcia on board and brought back as several court orders have demanded.
The case has become a cause celebre for the Trump administration because they have every intention of just rounding up people who look like immigrants willy-nilly and deporting them. American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote on Twitter/X: “In order for ICE to declare someone an ‘Alien Enemy,’ ICE must first determine they are a Venezuelan over age 14, and then second find 8 points on a scoring guide they made up… This checklist is shocking. A person can be declared an ‘Alien Enemy’ based ONLY on communications with someone ICE says is a member, and nothing more.” This is the checklist which was obtained in court proceedings by the ACLU - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436.67.21.pdf
Is Trump going to invade Greenland, Panama, or Canada? Is he going to arrest Rachel Madow and send her to El Salvador? Is he going to suspend Social Security? I don't know. If he invades Canada I will (at 76 years old) volunteer to help Canada. Would I be a traitor? Congress let this happen, all of them. Cowardly Congress sold us out, lock stock and barrel.
You can all go to hell. Is he dead yet? I hope so everyday.
The actions of the Trump Administration and the position of the federal government in the Abrego Garcia case are clearly and overwhelmingly contemptuous. Judge Xinis should hold Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary in contempt and jail her, with or without her Rolex until she complies with the orders of both Judge Xinis and those of the Supreme Court
Hmmm, Daniel, perhaps we could do a “prisoner swap” for Garcia and others illegally sent to El Salvador w/o due process, and exchange them for Trump, Vance, Noem, Musk, Miller,Johnson and anyone else complicit in the nightmare. Let them have a Club Fed vaycay and get a taste of “their” own medicine.
Great idea! Let's swap an equal number of Republican congress critters for all the immigrants sent illegally to El Salvador. Then there would be some real criminals in CECOT.
Are we going to start adding up the complicit, Barbara?
The billionaires, the far right media celebs, the mainstream media humanities illiterate, the evangelical racists, the social-media algorithm-ed fascist?
Great idea, and one that seems quite popular with our fellow criminal syndicalists here! I still have to get up to your North Coast newly Cal "Polyied", brewpub haven. Hope you are well.
“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
The American gulag archipelago is expanding. This regime is collaborating with the two countries with the highest incarceration rates in the world to expand our prison system.
Incarceration rates by country, per 100,000 people:
I have never been more frightened for our country.
I've never been more enraged and determined to act.
Bravo Sean McGarvey for his call to action on behalf of the Builders Trade Union workers. It's been well documented how ruthlessly tRump has shafted these guys over the years with his failed real estate builds. In other words, 'Listen up you dumb f*ck, the tribe has spoken.'
Absolutely. Well said.
Here's a way we can all take action today: Stop Avelo Airlines from participating in human trafficking by flying individuals kidnapped by ICE and denied due process to other countries. Sign the petition to boycott Avelo Airlines and tell others. Flood the CEO with calls. Leave an honest review online. Bring down this company like Tesla so that no other airline will dare to pick up the contract.
Petition: https://www.change.org/p/we-won-t-fly-avelo-until-they-stop-ice-flights-no-volaremos-con-avelo
There are many sources with information about Avelo's contract. Here's one: https://aviationsourcenews.com/avelo-airlines-faces-boycott-calls-over-ice-deportation-flights/
Janete, we have a special problem with Avelo here in Salem, Oregon, as they are the airline serving the airport. The city council put in all kinds of money in this project despite opposition. People are calling for the city to end this contract and many have voiced their opposition to Avelo. However, we have those that think this is OK and will continue to use the airline. Salem is the state capital, but it is midway between Portland and Eugene, both of whom have better airports. I can't predict what will happen here, but many of us are unhappy with the current situation.
Continuous pressure on the city council to demand that Avelo cancel its contract with ICE will take time but may work in the end, especially if council members come to understand that their future as a council member depends on it. Picket city hall and the airport to raise awareness. Folks in every city and town needs to find their most effective rallying hot spot, whether it's city hall, the local Social Security office, the airport, a Tesla dealership and encourage peaceful nonviolent protests. Picket and picnic at city hall!
Other suggestions?
The guy who did damage at the local Tesla dealership is now in the hands of people like Bondi, so yes, peaceful protests. I do not know what people have planned. I do not live in the city, so council members could ignore anything i wrote to them. We had a good turnout on the big protest day and I see plenty of posts from people who are furious about this and likely to picket. The one person I know who is up on the city says that the council will not act. We will see.
Picketing City Hall would be an effective way to remind council members that they CAN be Voted out. I am so sorry Salem has to deal with this ugliness.
Other suggestion:
Acknowledge personally that right makes might, and then have a way to discover "right" when people disagree.
Once you have given up the idea that there is a way to discover right in lieu of some version of "I'm right, you're wrong, and this conversation is over," you have given up on the idea that we are all equal.
Unfortunately, Michelle, one of the underlying layers of rot in our nation is that money talks at the expense of one's values, or better yet said in this case, no values whatsoever. I'm on the other side of this nation with no way to lend my voice for your cause that I know of. I can only hope that there is some way that you good folks can make it difficult for the city council. This should be a strong issue for those who wish to replace the current leadership.
People can stand against this airline all over the country wherever they are. I think I see below that there is some kind of petition going. As for the city council, they are a mix of progressive and regressive with the new mayor on the regressive side. They always ignore citizens when they want to re: a damn for profit baseball team in the jewel of a downtown park. Neighbors complained for naught and it is right across the street from the hospital where the ER cases arrive. This was done with the help of Willamette University. This is addition to the financing improvements to the airport. Then of course, the budget is awful and unless a levy passes we are looking at less for the library, parks, and the senior center. Always money for sports and things that serve a few, but not much for the big problems.
I feel your pain Riad. I'm in 'flyover' country, mid-west. At some point, the bulk of the power in demonstrations will be getting all these "seemingly" disparate dissatisfied groups with their own grievance to band together and protest en mass, together. At the end of any day, they need to realize that many of their issues are of the same category: The revocation of fundamental and unalienable rights, be it women's health, voting rights, etc., etc. Oh, and btw, do you think we will ever see 'Aleppo pepper' back on shelves commonly again ? I miss that stuff. Cheers anyway !
Done and done!! Donated and signed the petition. This administration's outrageous behavior has to be stopped. And any business that supports
tRump has to answer to a boycott. Sycophants must be put on notice!
My darling, now past Mom used to tell me "If you really want to hurt someone or something, hit them in the wallet."
Thank you! It feels good to take action.
I have signed the petition as did the people I forwarded it to!
Great - thank you!
The Supreme Court needs to take a clear stand on Abrego Garcia's immediate return. They should have no difficulty determining that the law guarantees the right of all legal residents of the United States to due process. Like all of our laws, that law either applies to everyone or it applies to no one.
This is the moment of truth of the Supreme Court. The Trump regime has already been given "due deference" as the Supreme Court requires. Time for the top court of the land to stand up for the rule of law.
I won't and you can't make me.
I will and you can't stop me.
This is why we have the rule of law. Or did until the Charles Koch-Leonard Leo-Roberts Court.
This is what off-shoring incarceration looks like. (Foreign nationals in Guantanamo have more Constitutional rights than legal US residents have under the Trump GOP regime.)
"The White House on Monday scoffed at the prospect of returning from El Salvador a Maryland man who had been mistakenly deported, despite court orders urging it to pursue his return. It said it was now up to El Salvador to decide whether to do so. President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, in a visit to the Oval Office, said the idea that he would send the man back was “preposterous.”"
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04/14/us/trump-news-tariffs
Another 'polluter' in the WH. Geez, the place needs fumigating.
David, I think your call is effective：Make the issue not beween Garcia vs Trump but Supreme Court vs Trump.
Hiro, yes, it is the job of the Supreme Court to determine whether or not the law is being broken. If they flatly refuse to do their job, we still have the Congress. The Congress can't help by passing a new law since the law already says that legal residents have a right to due process. But it is their job to remove any president who flatly refuses to obey the law.
Respectfully, David, until the midterms come our way, I don’t see it happening.
David, thanks for telling me that the Congress has the power to remove president who does not obey laws. That is reassuring.
I think you are on the mark Hiro. This must be framed, country wide as an issue of SCOTUS vs Trump; Over and over again, repeated across all social media as such. When they take it down, repost it till it catches fire.
D4D, a great idea. "Hnds-Off" + "SCOTUS or Trump"
SC is above T & his team of illegal actors. Not sure how it would happen but, they all need to tell 'the president' he is in no position to chose which set of laws he gets to break!
The Supremes have already weighed in: 9-0 against Trump. Here’s the problem: the Supremes have already shot themselves in the foot! With the exception of the three left of center ladies, the court unwittingly and stupidly gave away all their cards to this power hungry addict. What rehab protocols SCOTUS may have may well be too far in the future as currently Trump has both chambers in his pocket. The People must now be the formidable resistance.
And both chambers are stuck in their chamber pots! DC must smell great.
They can refuse to hear ALL of the trump appeals/cases until he complies.
¡Hear, here! ¡Bravò, Mr McGarvey, bravò! Thank you, Kazz.
Not as well known as you might want to believe Kazz. It and all the other illegal, unscrupulous actions by the scoundrel need cataloging and some citations added for reference / proof. You'd be surprised at the lack of common knowledge across this land. Consider for instance that many, many voting age folks born after 1981 couldn't bear witness to any of his past / present. As well, consider how very many didn't even pay attention to any of it, including the supply side economic regime; All that was just "normal," hence my note earlier that could seem accusatory and presumptuous. The bulk of us herein 'are' aware owing to our ages and relative enlightenment. My thrust of that was to cause us all to further consider the fog of time and experience. Education and diploma's can be purchased; Our lived experiences can not. I'd care for us all to patiently leverage our collective and individual lived experiences to the max. It's worth considering also, that we as the largest part of this group, enjoy a greater luxury of time to read and add to our knowledge; Those scurrying about on the hamster wheel for existence don't necessarily have that luxury and it's gotten far more difficult with all the off shoring of industry here and in other western democracies that are also experiencing end stage, toxic capitalism. At the core of a lot of our ills is an age old demand; A supremacy of property. The myth told about the in-civil war here by the partially vanquished, is that it was all about 'states rights.' Only partially true; It was about states rights to enslave human beings for profit.
Hi Dan, here’s some of the links to Don the Con stiffing contractors:
https://fortune.com/2016/09/30/donald-trump-stiff-contractors/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-taj-bankruptcy-left-many-contractors-angry-1467289618
https://theweek.com/articles/783976/brief-history-trumps-smalltime-swindles
The list goes on.
Keep on at it Kazz - Brava !
@Janette "Let’s be very clear about exactly what’s happening here: President Donald J. Trump is claiming the power to ignore the due process of the law guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, declare someone is a criminal, kidnap them, send them to prison in a third country, and then claim that there is no way to get that person back."
The other day I posted that the US and El Salvador have an extradition treaty and that SCOTUS could have issued a writ of mandamus to Trump/Rubio to extradite him -- but didn't.
I don't know whether the judge was asked to enter an order of mandamus.
A writ of mandamus is a court order compelling a lower court, government official, or agency to perform a specific act that they are legally obligated to do. It's used when there's no other adequate legal remedy to force compliance with a clear legal duty. In essence, it's a way to ensure that those in authority follow the law and fulfill their official duties
Daniel. Cheato does NOT follow any laws. He’s the criminal that need to be sent to El Salvador.
All we can do is try to impeach him. Read Feathers of Hope. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/
Impeach? With which Republicans? Let me know when you find them!
READ the link above.
2026!
Abrego Garcia is a "stone in the shoe" of the administration. It will be surprising if he lasts to the end of the month. Accidents do happen.
Have the Trumpies thought about what would/will happen if Abredo Garcia dies? My guess is that it'll be a reaction like Arab Spring. Sadly, maybe that's what it takes. The cruelty, the glee in the cruelty is sociopathic.
Trump is itching for an uprising. He’d turn the military on us in a heartbeat.
I truly believe most of our law abiding Military would STAND DOWN if T called them against us!
More like when the Saudi's assassinated the American journalist Jamal Khashoggi - at an embassy no less; dismembered his body and disappeared the corpse, under tfg 1 regime in 2018. Shortly thereafter, say 2018, wasn't Kushner more or less a defacto ambassador to the Saudi crown and eventually his business received a 2 billion dollar investment from the Saudi sovereign fund ?
My guess is a trumpy or not, we might never know it.
Who would know?
I fear greatly for his (Abrego's) safety. This is a national disgrace, and insult to all our citizens and must be dealt with forcefully. Impeach, arrest, or whatever but this must be resolved now.
Trump is a national disgrace, revealing the fact that there are tens of millions of Americans who are stupid, ignorant and racist. This is our Second Civil War, with the oligarchs paying for the propaganda to influence those who are stupid, ignorant and racist so that they can make even more billions of dollars. It is shameful. Many, perhaps most, are invested in Trump the way some are in Jesus and others in Muhammad. It isn't rational.
The state department will probably ensure that won't happen.
I think that eventually he may be still subject to deportation -- to anyplace that will take him except El Salvador. He is in limbo -- here because he feared for his life in his home country.
Once upon a time, Adminstrative Procedure Act due process applied to respondents in deportartion hearings, but Congress, during the Bracero period of the Eisenhower administration, eliminated APA hearings.
The Secretary of State is Marco Rubio. He is not likely to interfere with the president's push toward a fascist state. Mr. Garcia is a test case. Any naturalized citizen (we have a few in Congress) could be next to be taken off the street by the secret police (ICE) and deported. The Government then just says "oops our mistake".
That may be true and as # 45 Trump was working on a "denaturalization" program to do just that.
Garcia is not a naturalized citizen.
IMHO Rubio is a wuss but serves 1. Norman Braman 2. CANF. 3. Donald J. Trump. If Garcia is injured, it will have repucussions locally, so I think he's monitoring the situation. Sounds like Garcia is in solitary confinement.
Wonder what would happen if ICE came after a member of congress?
Our state department is being run by a timid sissy who cannot speak without coaxing from the T team!
Tell it to Norman Braman and CANF.
And that too is a scary aspect of this lawlessness.
I'm sorry USA, but has he ever obeyed the law? Has he ever been placed in a jail cell where he belongs due to his blatant crimes against women, against our country and humanity?
Joanne, I think you should make it clear that you are writing about Donald J. Trump, not Garcia.
oh my! I cry for Garcia!! It's the orange cat turd trump. He must be removed.
I missed your comment from the other day, Daniel, about the extradition treaty and the writ of mandamus. Thank you for repeating that insight. Other Supreme, even those with mor conservative Justices like Chief Justice Burger or Justice Stevens might well have issued such a writ.
Not this one. To do so would, in Chief Justice Roberts's mind, would be judicial over-reach by encroaching upon a President's absolute immunity in 'conducting foreign policy'. Ah, consistency truly is the hobgoblin of little minds.
Ned, Roberts and the others of the cadre can go pound sand. I did read that the Handmaiden wasn't exactly in line lately however.
But Daniel, you're overlooking the fact that ALL cabinet positions now are non-functional DonOLD suckups so since he is a racist fascist, they are too and expecting them to say anything legal or contrary to DonOLD thought won't be happening.
The problem in the court system is that virtually all of the lawyers have refused to challenge SCOTUS.
If a USDC judge orders something, it is done or appealed immediately.
Guess it's time for us commoners to remind SC they have the power to force T & Co. to bring that guy home.
Still at the USDC level.
And, if they ignore that writ.............??
Cross bridges when you get to them....
Early Monday Morning 4/12/25 BREAKING:
Per Ali Vitali on "Way to Early". " A [38 year old] is in custody after [he] set a 🔥fire at PA Governor Shapiro's residence".
The Defendant has already been charged with state charges:
* Attempted Murder
* Terrorism
* Aggravated Assault
* Aggravated Terrorism
Gov. Josh Shapiro: "This type of violence is not OK" regardless of the person or party targeted.
The Governor's entire Family is Safe 🙏
Be Safe All
Germany in the 1930's ...this will take immense effort to get our freedoms back now...it's a mountain..but baby steps always puts you at the TOP of any mountain ..........you just never ever ever give up :)
Thank you Shauna, everyone keep your footing. Just 1 step at a time.
Absolutely. These heinous acts must be called out and resisted every day.
and Shapiro avoids pointing out that 99.9% of incidents of violence, and threats of violence, are from the right.
Very fine people ...
yes, trying not to enraged them further.
We should not have to tip toe around these people. We must learn how to control the violent out of touch behavior as we would someone with mental illness.
I've been on hiatus from politics for several hours of the weekend, watching some movies. Have I missed any words of outrage from Republicans about this escalation of violence? I'd hate to falsely accuse Republicans of complicity by silence!
Hilarious...no outrage, no dissent from them...only fawning and passing bills to disenfranchise women voters so they can try to stay in power.
Disgraceful and lawless. I continue to believe they are protecting themselves as well as the White House because many of them were actively involved in planning January 6, 2021
You betcha'
Dave and I found distraction this weekend -- attended a Supercross Championship race in Philadelphia, balancing out the weekend with a two-hour visit to the Barnes Foundation Museum - lots of Cezannes and Renoirs.
It's so important to find joy, wonder, and beauty in our lives. They help calm the fear and rage.
... and random access of kindness. :---)
Stephanie, we went to the first symphony concert we had been to in years on Friday night. It was transporting. The first piece was wild and started with bird song from the audience's phones....if you could figure it out; the second was The Lark Ascending and finally, Beethoven's 6th.
And I'm attending a photo webinar this evening, photographing butterflies and flowers on Wednesday and attending a symphony on Thursday. There will be no time for politics...only beauty and the sound of music.
Please remember the 11 dead at Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh, 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_synagogue_shooting
Daniel, a real case of antisemitism, not this fake crap for suppressing those who voice support for Palestine.
Don't get me started. Nobody I mean NOBODY is reporting tha the PA issued a fattah against Hamas.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/fatah-urges-hamas-to-cede-power-in-gaza-to-safeguard-palestinians-existence/
https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-boost-financial-support-palestinian-authority-2025-04-14/
All protesters are not equal -- for more reasons than one.
Some of the worst white supremacists -- some who would exterminate Jews -- are taking advantage of the situation.
Are they sending him to El Salvador? If not, he is probably white.
This is my Governor, and Trump & his administration has not said one word about what happened here in Pennsylvania. Depraved is too good a word for all of these evil people…
And a public statement of support for Shapiro and his family coming from the WH...?
Just finished reading Schumer's book-Anti-Semitism in America. Ghost written or not, I cried.
The people are angry and frustrated.
Just a simple correction...Monday 14,2025
Uncle Sam NEEDS YOU ! And me and all of us now
#PublicHealthHaiku
Succumbing to fear /
MAGA's hope and plan for us /
Now's the time to act!
Your rage justified /
Transform fear into action /
I agree with you!
This makes using our Constitutionally guaranteed right to protest pretty scary. How long will it be before DonOLD will send in the military with live ammo to protests he doesn't like. He thought shooting peaceful protesters in 1.0 was a good idea. And now this
Impeach Him Now, Our Lives Depend On It.
Stand up and speak out, "we the people" have the ultimate power! Join us.
I’ve never been more frightened *of* our country.
Frightened of the authoritarian nature or our government’s executive branch, disgusted with the spineless, apathetic nature of the republicans in our legislative branch, furious with the 6 “bought-and-paid-for” members of SCOTUS, unsure of what the judicial branch of our government can and will do quickly enough, AND damned sure we the people must find new leadership and “take back” our democratic republic NOW or we will be living in shame and fear for years to come. Our “founders dream” has now become the “American nightmare”. Wake up and act!
The story literally brings tears to my eyes because I fear that we have already lost our country. Trump executive power has overwhelmed the Supreme Court and Congress. He controls our wealth with his tariffs such that he can single handedly move the DJIA nearly 3,000 points in a single day. His next executive orders will be to "fix" our election system which he has long asserted is corrupt. And, with that, our democracy is over. The GOP, FOX News and Trump's hooded secret police who now arrests innocent people in broad daylight have allowed this to happen. Trump is going to be impossible to stop without the help of our GOP friends. We should not be afraid to discuss politics. Such discussions are no longer inpolite, rather they are our last hope.
Regarding your statement that we should not be afraid to discuss politics. I'm a 63 year old RN who works part-time in a hospital owned obgyn practice in a purple northeast state. In addition to the horrible things taking place at the federal level, we have the world's largest state legislature which for decades now has been increasingly populated with free staters and extremist republicans, currently in the majority, along with republican governor. They are decimating us. Cuts to healthcare across the board, including a plan to repeal a very successful vaccine program that costs taxpayers nothing but instead is pre-funded by insurance companies. This despite thousands of healthcare providers, insurance providers and the general public opposing it. Trump pulled back 80 million $$ from DHHS sent to the state as Covid funds.
Do we talk about politics at all in our office? Never. Despite being directly affected by the cuts to come, it's crickets. It feels like gaslighting every time I go to work. All this happening around us every damn day and it's just like business as usual, nothing to see here. By the time some of us start losing our jobs, and we will in the coming cuts, it will be too late to change it. So the other day, during one of our rare opportunities for a little chat, I mentioned that I had gone to the Hands Off protest the weekend prior. One NP said, "good for you, thanks for doing that". A PA said, "that's cool; I'd do that if I wasn't so busy with my family on the weekend." The sad fact is that these young people are working hard full-time and have families to raise. They continue to try to provide some normalcy for their kids. They don't have time to pay a lot of attention to the news, especially with chaos every day, who wants to make an extra effort to sort that all out with so much else going on in life? I was the same in my 30s and 40s. I see my son and DIL in the same situation.
Make no mistake, this is how THEY want it. So busy keeping our heads above water we can't pay attention to the dismantling and retreat from democracy.
And sadly this is the plan Beth. Thx for attending protest!
I so relate to our young families being overwhelmed with their responsibilities and obligations, which is why as a mother and grandmother, I plan to keep attending the rallies for their well being as well as my own. I have to do something for my family, for the young international students whose visas are being revoked, for the hardworking immigrant families living in fear, and the list goes on. Bravo to the union leader for standing up for a fellow union member and human being who is suffering needlessly and cruelly. And thank you, Heather for your amazing writings. The words are spreading.
YAY!!!!
we have lost our Country...but we have NOT LOST the fight to get it back..that is just beginning. What is the alternative..we will be living just as the Russian people do now ! NO...we are 350 million patriotic ? Americans and he is one insane pathetic weak putin wanna be...Not going to happen here..but it will take ALL to fight back
I'm far more interested in the Independents, and non-aligned.
All sounds good. And just HOW do you think we will go about that? That is the rub, isn't it? We do not have enforcement on our side. I'm awake...and I am ready to act. To DO something. And what do you suggest that something is? I'm not sure that waiting it out until 2026 is going to do it.
Penny, you and me plus… I suspect..millions of us have that question. Oddly or not so oddly, I’m thinking outside our borders to countries that hold our huge debt in trillions. Their leverage can literally destroy the value of our currency. The orange turd does not want us to know this.
Capitalize that.
Look it up. Japan, the EU, and hurray Canada! 🇨🇦 That’s what has stoped the monster from levying tariffs. CN bought up treasury bonds…. then as t began his tariffs tantrums, CN, the EU and Japan began to leak them lowering the value of those bonds. Remember that abrupt tariff U-turn the monster did?
Thank Carney:-)
Agree. I'm going to protests but I'm unsure what that is actually accomplishing other than to stoke ourselves up with the like-minded crowds. But then what? With an administration, Congress and SCOTUS that pays us no mind when we protest, write and call, and businesses that yawn when we boycott, what more are we supposed to do? I've heard people call for a general strike but I don't think many Americans have the resources for that.
The pitchforks will soon be coming out. Rural red America and urban young people with nothing to lose.
2026 seems so far away.
Totally agree that waiting until midterm elections is not the solution. We the people have to continuously “flood the zone” of public opinion with our voices and talk with our friends, family and community members, especially those who don’t apparently share our views. I guarantee if we listen carefully, we will find common ground and from there we can move with common purpose. I wish I had a simpler answer. These are not normal or simple times and the “problems” will have complex solutions crafted by coallition and in camaraderie. Keep asking the questions. Keep speaking up. Keep defending our democratic republic. Don’t let the bullies keep you down, let the rest of us lift you up, and when you can, reach a hand out to lift another. It might just be me, so thanks in advance.
Lonnise, I stand with all Americans who are willing to fight and take back our country!
I was a ten-year arrived with her family in 1949 from the UK. We prospered into the what became the Middle Class. I worked in schools
If I were ten-years old today, and my parents and brother were alive there is no chance my parents would consider such a move.
My husband is also from the UK and we came here together in 1981. I had gone to London for grad school and we met while teaching in an art college in Wales. If we had been able to look this far ahead we would have stayed in the UK. I wish we had.
I agree. What a mess! I worry about a young man whom I know who involved himself in the Campus Ministry program while at the University of Delaware. He is a doctor who came to study our Public Health system. He's Rwandan. He is a nice young man who wants to help his people.
I’m sure they wouldn’t. I wouldn’t either so very disheartening.
Seig Hiel ! Elon
Foreign students need to leave. The US is run by a madman, and he is supported by madmen and madwomen.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/foreign-students-at-a-us-university?r=f0qfn
Many will keep their heads down until the last minute. They want their degrees. But many potential students and academics will stop going the US, unless they are from Saudi Arabia, Russia or Israel (and even then, half of Israel is appalled by both Trump and their own PM). This is an opportunity for European, Canadian and Asian universities. Remember that US universities only became attractive to large numbers of foreign academics from 1933, after the Nazis took control of the German universities. This spread later to Austrian and Czech universities, and to the whole of Europe. Even Britain, after the war, lost many scholars and scientists because the UK was too broken by the war to offer them the kind of future they could hope for in the USA. Now the movement will reverse.
Agreed. I wrote this piece about Studying Abroad, not as doing a semester or a year abroad, but truly going abroad. My daughter is doing that right now. Of course, as a dual citizen it is not quite the same for her as someone who is not, but she has plenty of friends who are from other countries, as well as an American friend who went through the same process as she did.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/study-abroad?r=f0qfn
Now she is starting her second semester today, and has gotten the hang of the system from her first semester which had a huge learning curve. That is figuring out what classes to take in her major and minor without an advisor. They are available, but not that available. Also, learning that she needed to sign up for her final exams. One gets to take them more than once because so many people fail them. That is true in the Netherlands too. A friend in California has a son who is going to Uni in the Netherlands, in a similar situation but his whole program is in English and everyone speaks English. This is not true for my daughter. Her world is in German now. Lots of people from around the world learn German at a language school for a year, then spend a year in Studienkolleg, then go to the degree program that they want. Most undergraduate programs are 3 years.
A friend of my daughter's who has been at a US university for her first 2 years of Uni is now transferring to a German university the following year.
It's very enriching to learn and work in another language. It's also healthy for cognitive functions!
Agreed! It gives you more freedom. More options.
Margaret, I wrote those very same words upon reading Susan's comments.
I *am* frightened, and we are not yet 3 months in. But this is what they want us to be: afraid. Afraid that we'll lose our jobs, our earned benefits, our freedom, our comforts, and more, if we don't fall in step. When law firms are agreeing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars pro bono defend and promote this regime's initiatives in order to stay on you-know-who's good side, you know we are in deep dark waters.
Every time I think CF47 has crossed the Rubicon (or rather, Rubicons; Caesar only crossed it once) and the cowardly republicans will grow a spine, I am sorely, um, I don’t know, surprised? This New Yorker article about John Thune and the Republican capitulation captures the current state of un-governing. Thune et al (except for MAGA extremists) have put on their rose colored glasses and rolled over like pliant golden retrievers begging for a belly rub. (Sorry about the mixed similes.)
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/07/john-thune-profile-senate-majority-leader
rightfully so.
Our continent is full of countries in which people are "disappeared"--in most cases tortured, murdered, and thrown into unmarked graves, usually never found or found long after. That's what we accelerating toward. It will take a great many courageous and committed people to matter. It is not an easy or simple choice. But it is a choice. And we confront it now.
Sounds like our treatment of Native Americans. Wherever we go.
You and me both, Ma'am. It does not seem real, yet it is.
Why, just because we have devolved into a dictatorship? I never thought we would live to see what has happened to the United States of America. We are not that any more - thanks to Mitch McConnell and the traitors in Congress.
Union Yes! Let us hope nothing, nothing gets built in the US until he is returned.
I've never been more frightened of your country. And enraged.
Adding insult to injury, nearly 400 books were removed from the U.S. Naval Academy's library at the behest of the current (mis)administration. (I wonder if they burned them.) Heaven forbid we should allow future military officers to read "trash" from authors like Maya Angelou.
Susan. NONE of us are safe with this administration of thugs. They are the ones that need to be sent to El
Salvador
Susan, I have never been more frightened *of* our country.
Or frightened OF our country.
I have never been more frightened OF OUR COUNTRY.
We are on the eve of destruction - my fear is palpable.
And everyone in it.
I have never been so glad I emigrated to a more law-abiding country. At least I think it is.
Truly terrifying. Anyone that Trump doesn’t like can now be sent to a hellhole outside the US.
"Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their fellows"
And it is also time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. Who is there to arrest the “President.” Not a soul on planet earth, apparently. We need Ike
The Daily Beast reported this weekend that on Elon Musks orders a Senior Social Security executive be physically removed for not allowing his Doge Boys to fraudulently update the status of several thousand immigrants to deceased. Not only is this fraud, but also assault. In my 50+ years of working as a computer programmer never once did I witness a violent action between anyone. This is a page right out of Nazi Germany and must be addressed.
I have already written to my Senators and Congressman about their inaction regarding the Trump administration's flagrant disregard for the courts and the law.
Why is Elon Musk not in jail or better yet deported back to South Africa?
Sadly, I screamed this very thing back in first go around. Just got banned from T and FB. Also newspapers stopped printing letters. Friends and family took off masks and became strangers. I so agree. Muskrat gave chump the means to destroy us. Chump gave muskrat the power right back. The SC sitting on it’s collective hands.
My fear is that Substack will be shut down? I don't see how they can bring down YouTube. Google is too powerful to mess with. But there is much dissent on YouTube. You know the Fascist takeover is complete once YouTube is shut down.
I am surprised Substack has not been hit- yet. May Substack has done a back room deal.
I am gobsmacked today for the Shapiro family being fire bombed during their seder. The silence is deafening.
I am trying to keep my terror under control.
And trumpers aren't violent, unless of course this was done by some nonpolitical psychopathic arsonist. Jan 6th and threats to judges and their families, jurors, lawyers, voter intimidation are peaceful political statements. ( I am being sarcastic in case you didn't know it)
Expect them to try, unless they have control over content.
The SC is playing stinky finger.
And they rule, except for chump, apparently
The SC is totally useless. Look at the immigration ruling. The government should look into it but doesn't have to do anything about it in deference to the foreign government.
They are our enemy within as much as chump
I would not have a subscription to any paper that would print my opinion!
Could that be our problem…
Wapo has a not good enough for prime time comment section. NYT sometime punishes my comments for 24 hours. I do not like the attitude of either editorial board… too tepid. But if they were anymore damning the Supreme Court would allow trump to shut the papers down….. so it’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t
I just keep writing postcards to Democratic voters (from TonyTheDemocrat come addresses and instructions) and going to Indivisible meetings. At 90, better use of energy than marches, I’ve decided. Started with Kent State and Vietnam, last was Dobbs rally.
I doubt South Africa will have him back.
Ironically. Musk is a South African, Canadian (from his mother) and American citizen. Maybe he should be handcuffed and sent to El Salvador. He might miss his t-shirts. Looking at the background of the El Salvador picture of Noeme, the dog killer, it seems that a lot of those guys weren't wearing shirts.
Excuse me, but it's up to Americans to get rid of their president and his accomplices, unless he starts invading other countries. At which point, other countries will fight back. We already have our hands full with Russia.
True, I recall Germany was ok until other countries in their sights.
Pretty much. And the US only reacted years later (although much of public opinion was against Hitler, most didn't want war until Pearl Harbor).
Japan made us do the right thing. Then off our young men went…
But the Nazi lovers just went quiet for a while, and revamped. Truman got a glimpse of their return.
And the fight was honest and true. The huge numbers who came over here to fight fascism were all in. We don't forget, even though it seems some Americans do.
Spot on, JD.
I believe we were isolationist at the time. Roosevelt was the one persuading Congress to send aid.
He was a good friend of Britain.
Are Better Angels of Our Nature in the house?
Not many in Texas
What an absolutely ridiculous question. Are you connected to reality?
But there are none.
Sorry, but you're just too powerful - nobody else can help you but you yourselves.
The good old USA has painted itself into a corner. Getting out will be messy or will we elect to stay facing the wall while chump and crew of destruction continue their rampage.
Yep, it looks like it will come to the big "fight, flight or obey" decision. Segregation is not an option, I assume?
I wish, MAGAts are all over, sad to say. And they cheat, lie, deceive and ignore laws. Or legitimatize their actions.
Do you read Robert Hubbell? I am with him, forget his supporters. They are too far gone. Go after the people who did not vote this election.
Join the protests from wherever you are, in any way you can. Having been at a "Hands Off" protest, I can tell you that our numbers out at the demonstrations matter. And call your members of Congress, Senators. Find your thing and do it - this is red lights blinking everywhere we look
What do protests do when people are kidnapped and sent to oyher countries to be tortured or Governor's homes are fire bombed?
They show our “rulers” that we are numbers and we do not approve and will vote them out. (And if neither we nor the courts can get them out, we will THROW them out.)
I'm sorry to be a wet blanket on your zeal, but at this point, our "rulers" do not care about public (dis)approval. They have what they want: power without accountability. The corrupt SCOTUS provided that.
Pre-election, Donald cared about his "ratings." Now that he is in the White House, surrounded by loyalists and sycophants, he doesn't give a rat's hat about public opinion.
The judiciary is in his pocket. The legislature is cowering in the corner. The military belongs to him. Troublemakers will be rounded up and shipped to offshore prisons, where they suddenly become "beyond the reach" of U.S. jurisdiction.
Free and fair elections are a thing of the past, with MAGA controlling the process.
The only event that will save us is Donald's sudden expiration.
I guess we won't be seeing you out there in the streets with us LOL
There is still a benefit to joining in protests. It helps participants know we are not alone, which can be an enormous emotional boost to people falling into despair. Also, protest speakers often impart valuable information that can educate people and help us cope. But in terms of effecting actual change, protesters should keep our expectations low.
Good question, Sabrina, but let me flip it around. What does quietly sitting in our homes in front of the television do when people are kidnapped and sent to other countries to be tortured? The answer is that sitting quietly sends the message that we accept the lawlessness of this rogue regime. We do not. When we show up in the streets, we build our courage. We show others they’re not alone, and give them courage. We show the perpetrators masquerading as a government that we will refuse, resist, and ridicule their abuse by any nonviolent means necessary. And, we will defeat them.
Please read up on the Maidan Revolution (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_of_Dignity ) and South Korean protests earlier this year (https://www.npr.org/2025/01/05/g-s1-41103/south-korean-protesters-demand-yoons-ouster ). They want us to feel helpless and we should NOT do that. Rallies and protests are growing, spreading. Join us!
Went to the Hands Off protest inn Hartford. It was nothing like the size of DC or NY, but we had a respectable several thousand plus there were smaller ones around the state. I had to laugh when I read that trump said that he didn't know what we were protesting about. I guess he only pays attention to those riots that he has caused. Also, he never really watched any of the demonstrations very carefully because it was VERY clear what was being protested. I guess he really can't read.
I bet he saw some of the signs that have circulated on social media! Good on you for the showing in Hartford - thanks for being out there, Karen.
all of us.
At least Jim Jones had kool aide for his………
Yes, but Trump would charge his cultbfor the kool-aid, and they would gladly pay.
Including US senators!! Where are they???
A Canadian here, this is hopefully taken as a simple basic question.
If the US is paying El Salvador 5 million dollars to house individuals in a Prison in that country, would this not create a relationship where by payment for service, the US retains effective control of all those Detainees ?????
Will this be our Spartacus moment?
Maybe God will save the world from these Narcissistic lunatics.and the people who voted for them.
Heather gets it exactly. We are at that worst crisis we feared.
The convicted criminal in the White House puts his right to criminality over all other U.S. law. Puts his narcissist, felonious, rapist self over U.S. law, international law, all our longest-held alliances, and every decency which he and his fellow vulgarians cannot even begin to imagine.
A nightmare to say the least. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7311612324933500928/
We have something vital, Ned.
We have a chance to say we live together -- many of us -- in one country.
We live by laws we have made. And amended. And yet may amend. We live by large measure of respect for others.
But no respect for wanton criminals who have zero respect our laws, our multiplicity, our joys in our many and many diverse landscapes, cuisines, arts, and traditions.
I've read your good link, Ned. Very good.
Some pithy lessons you cite, some instances you know of our best traditions, decencies.
All of us who live in that America, in that history, those aspirations, need to talk, interact much more with each other while the thieves, rapists, plunderers, predators, and all their billionaire vulgarities are ruling now so as they do.
Phil, as always, your insights retore my posture as I think through them. The most important civic / republican virtue you mention, at least for me in this difficult time, is "aspiration". Fortunately, your thoughts stay on; unfortunately, my posture does not. Thank you for taking the time to read through the post. I appreciate your doing that, Sir.
Is there another source, other than LinkedIn, through which I can access this information?
Phil Balla's subsequent comment has me tantalized.
I'm not a member of LinkedIn and I don't want to be. Becoming a member is the only way I can find to link in even when I try to go through Google.
Here you go. The linked in links are abbreviations. They should click through to the link source-page.
++++++++
NO MORE PUSSY-footing AROUND: starting right here right now.
A cherished colleague posted this article for which I am indebted to her. Team Trump, simply said, is Team Treason. It is hard for me to stick my neck out. So permit me to speak of four experiences, briefly, that lead me here: twin stories mean treason. We know it and must acknowledge it
https://lnkd.in/eaKg-e3U
First, I was eight years old when my mother, a practicing R.C., slammed down, on a coffee table, a magazine article turned to a page about the start of canonizing Pope Pius XII. She raised her voice, stating, in effect, "This was an evil man. He did nothing to protect Jews in order to enhance the position of the Catholic Church." I was confused, looking at a photo of a man in holy garb. My mother then stated something like (in language intelligible to a third grader), "Any educated Catholic who never has doubts is neither educated nor Catholic."
https://lnkd.in/eYRg8AvD
Just seven years later, I had this amazing Latin teacher in high school. He had been living in Connecticut in the early 1960s and signed up for the Milgram experiment. After about the third switch in the ascending voltages to be administered to a subject when he got answers wrong, this man stood up and walked out. When the administrator told him to stay or he would lose the fifty bucks for participating, he politely told the man to keep the money; that he was out. This story did not teach us much Latin, but it taught us a lot about humanity: American smugness that "it could never happen here" was a myth.
https://lnkd.in/egjrzC9g
When I was at a college in Tunisia six years ago, l loved my students who argued openly with me and asked pointed questions, as I often encouraged them to do to focus on critical thinking. Trump had done something aggressive. Students challenged me about the U.S. In a rare moment of candor, I admitted that, in effect, "We are no longer King of the Mountain and we are having difficulty in coming to terms with that."
https://lnkd.in/eH2VCCb8
Lastly, in Przemyśl, briefly, three years ago, aiding Ukrainian refugees, I met a lot of neat young people. One was from Belarus. When I asked him where he was from, he said Minsk. He felt ashamed of being Belarussian; that is why he came to Poland to help Ukrainians. For once, I came up up with the right thing to say, in effect, "Don't be ashamed. You were born in Belarus, not your doing. You are here, That's your doing; you're a good man."
https://lnkd.in/eb-tfTZ2
Decency Phil? They can't imagine what him and his fellow vulgarians never had.
And what will Congress do?
Absolutely nothing.
I can 'heart' that :-(
“ President Donald J. Trump is claiming the power to ignore the due process of the law guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, declare someone is a criminal, kidnap them, send them to prison in a third country, and then claim that there is no way to get that person back.”
The supreme court ruled that the president has immunity for crimes while performing his official duties so yes, he is above the law. Trump can defy court orders. What did Chief Roberts expect??! He wrote the damn majority decision.
Garcia's legal team has included in a new court filing Trump's offhand remark yesterday to reporters on Air Force One that if the Supreme Court had ordered him to return Garcia then he would comply because of his respect for the court. Some legal commentators have argued that this casual remark has undermined the government's case that it is powerless to secure Garcia's return. However, the administration is continuing to send alleged gang members to El Salvador where their arrival is welcomed by dramatic staged videos with blazing soundtracks, posted by the justice minister. There's no indication that any of the latest batch of deportees has been allowed legal representation as required by SCOTUS. It's clear that Trump doesn't give a fuck.
Did he ever about anything other than being richer Russell?
For a while I guess he was preoccupied with just staying out of jail, but now that's behind him getting richer is back right up there at the top of his list of priorities.
Having observed Donald's activities since he emerged into public notice decades ago, I posit that avoiding imprisonment has never been a preoccupation for him. It has been a way of life. In the way that you pay your utility bills every month, Donald has retained his lawyers to keep him out of prison.
Nothing has ever knocked money out of the top slot in Donald's learning-disabled mind.
His first run for office was a gambit to burnish his brand, thereby increasing his income. When he unexpectedly won, he discovered how the office could be monetized. But lacking a cabinet of loyal enablers, he missed a lot of opportunities to generate revenue. He vowed not to make that mistake the next time.
Donald isn't good at anything, including being president. But the office of president can give a lot of people what they want, and they are willing to pay for it. Putin, christian nationalists, tech bros and oligarchs were all happy to contribute money and influence to Donald's campaign in order to reap the power and wealth he could give them from his high perch.
And Donald is like the blackmailer who keeps demanding more cash after he finds out who has the money and willingness to pay.
Revenge is a prominent feature of Donald's second occupation of the White House, but it isn't the point. Donald is punishing his opponents as a warning to all who might try to hamper his effort to become the richest man in the world.
The only form of diplomacy that Trump seems to recognise is the shakedown. His now infamous press conference with Zelensky is one example. His price for helping the Ukrainians to defend their country is their mineral wealth (and he's backdating that claim to cover aid that was freely given to the Ukrainians by the Biden administration). Recently he has upped his claim and also wants to control the gas pipeline that runs through the country into Europe, presumably as leverage to extort the europeans - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/12/us-demands-control-from-ukraine-of-key-pipeline-carrying-russian-gas
It is exactly the same in Gaza, where his price is US control of the Gaza Strip to turn it into the Riviera of the Middel East, doubtless with its own Trump Tower.
His threats to invade Greenland and Panama are also a form of extortion to acquire mineral wealth and access to the Panama Canal which create a revenue stream for the US.
His arbitrary use of executive powers against law firms is another example of a shakedown. Their senior partners have to walk his version of the Road to Canossa and offer tributes in pro bono work and promises to cancel DEI initiatives at their firms.
His tariff policy is his attempt to extort the whole world on the basis of the addled view that the US should have no trade deficits with any country.
His second term is like watching the Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui play out in real time in the real world, with all the absurdity retained.
Yes, he cares about revenge for perceived slights on his greatness.
True Sophie.
And there it is in a nutshell Sue. He believes he's above the law.
Thanks to John Robert's decision that he is above the law, even SCOTUS has their hands tied.
Trump's ever changing tariffs are moving us closer to a world wide recession.
He thinks he owns the state.
He thinks he IS the state. Very Louis XIV ("l'état, c'est moi"). This French king, often called The Sun King, left his kingdom so ruined that it took decades to recover. In fact, France was no longer a kingdom by the time it fully recovered from the solar scorched earth policy of Louis XIV.
That's the future of our country Sophie, except that we already are no longer a Republic.
I hope you can reverse it. It's in the hands of the people and politicians of goodwill... and of enough people amongst the enforcers to stand up against tyranny. Didn't you do it a few times before?
I hope we can reverse it Sophie, but what gets me really upset is why we couldn't prevent this nightmare to happen to being with. After all, we knew what to expect from this horde. It was written in Proyect 2025 and in the behavior of the scumbag president.
As, J L, he owns any woman's "pussy" -- as he put it -- he deigns to grab.
Hah, hah, hah, hah, "bing, bing, boing, bong" (images now, too, of his hands jerking off two phalluses simultaneously, or of him fellating a microphone, both of which he's used public venues to show to Putin and the other oligarchs that he's their boy, and to show Clarence that, don't worry, corruption now belongs indeed to our highest places).
Well, he bought it in November 2024. Or won it in a lottery, or something. Either way, it was with other people's money, just like all his businesses.
This is the constitutional crisis we've been fearing. If we don't stand up to this, he has truly succeeded in nullifying the government. He does, in fact, own the country.
And Roy Cohn taught Trump to NEVER admit he has made a mistake. This will probably cost Mr Garcia his life... and put the rest of us in great danger too.
You have been paying attention. The SC asked for this.
Roberts is shrewd enough to know the kind of person he was potentially handing impunity to.
And he is complicit and responsible
I think the hand-picked Roberts Court majority, with their collective support of the Constitution- perverting “unitary executive” philosophy of government, zeroed out their own role as legislative umpires. They assumed a President that respected the law and the Constitution, or at least were not so craven as to use the office merely for personal gain. They have boxed themselves into a corner with the Frankenstein monster that is Trump. It remains to be seen whether, even if 2 or 3 Justices reversed course, their rulings would have any impact at this point, with the DOJ now being a wholly owned subsidy of the Trump Inc. regime.
And heaps of blame can go to McConnell too -- who denied Obama a rightful nominee and then rushed in Barrett when voting had already begun in the next election -- negating his earlier rationale. They are despicable.
Unquestionable so, Laurie.
It's a horrible thing to think but I have to wonder: is Roberts is a Russian asset? His opinions have run counter to everything we know of what the founders intended. The bullshit about absolute immunity -- after 250 years of no one thinking of such a thing?
No need to be a Russian asset to be anti-democratic. It's a homegrown American tradition as well.
Good point. Sad that it's the chief justice of the Supreme Court who fits that description.
I think they did not give a damn because they assumed he would not mess with them. Naive though it sounds. They have been created by a monster, and some of them are helping that monster to devour them.
Well-put, Maureen.
Most well-put.
I wish it were not so, Phil. I truly do.
Well, of the "Too much is never enough" billionaire junta. Trump is their mascot.
Most of SC enjoying the orgy. It’s what Mitch and repubs have been working (and cheating) for for most of my long life. As muskrat said, this is your chance, maybe your last chance. That shut down any resistors…
Spot on, JD. It is exactly what McConnell engineered, with the help of Leonard Leo.
Leo seemed to stay under the radar for a while. All of a sudden his evil was everywhere. Sort of like dark matter. One can see the effects before one can see the cause.
Not sure this is correct.
I didn’t dream this nightmare and I’m not demented.
It most definitely is correct.
It's absolutely correct; Not everyone was in dream land.
Susanus, it is exactly what they wanted, maybe even more than they dreamed they could ask for.
The cruelty is just astounding!
It is the point!
Pure sociopathic evil. Enjoyment of persecution.
And the absolute cruelty of this regime needs to be the point for what is left of a free and just society. The danger could hardly be more clear and present.
It is astounding and frightening that such patent cruelty fails to proportionately alarm the public or the press. The separation, incarceration, and deliberate (and that is documented in Trump's first term as deliberate, and for many families remains permanent) loss of CHILDREN as sociopathic, punitive policy. So blatant was the cruelty that the Trump regime argued in federal court that it had the right to deny even the basic comforts of blankets and soap to immigrant children. Yeah, there was coverage of this, but the enormity of this, crime against humanity kind of fell though the cracks. Even the enormity of the death toll of COVID and the irresponsible aid and comfort to a heartless, invasive, enemy, a dangerous predatory virus, provided by Trump and his retinue, was a patent crime in and of itself, yet took a back seat to other issues, such as Biden's flubs, even in news sources I respect, let alone in the public's priorities.
That said, the blatant cruelty of the present moment defies adequate description. The blatant injustice is monumental. This portends the stuff of which histories most regrettable horror stories are made: sociopathic abandonment of compassion and conscience.
So Hitlerian and Stalinist (or you name the emperor, king, or dictator).
Absolute power is said to corrupt absolutely; what the Constitution was designed to fend off.
Lord Acton knew what he was talking about.
Not a chance
Time for that to change. We need a constitutional amendment that makes it clear that no governmental official, elected or otherwise is above the law.
“Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarcy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.”
- ( that radical leftist), Thomas Paine.
We basically have an entire Constitution that already says it, but that's now only a piece of worthless parchment, thanks to a certain worthless piece of manure in the White House.
It's by no means worthless, but it is trapped in a hostage situation.
Well said, so what will SCOTUS now do? They've painted themselves into a corner. Will they rescind that ruling? Can they? This all seems to follow the story of Julius Caesar. The Supreme Court has created a monster and is powerless to quell it. Another fine mess like women's rights. The Supreme Court have no foresight. Another fine mess.
God knows what they (MAGA "justices") really care about. At least they voted 9-0 that Abrego Garcia has legal rights. They are the quintessence of the the "activist", shamelessly biased, judges they Orwellianly fume about.
Roberts has been so concerned about the “legacy” of the Roberts Court. Well, I think that is now a settled matter. The Roberts Court turned our Democracy into a Dictatorship. The only question that remains, was it deliberate, based on rigid “originalist” ideology, or simple stupidity and naïveté. Doesn’t really matter, in the long run. We are heading into decades of repression.
“Originalist” is a euphemism for "We are making it up as we go".
“This evening, lawyers for the Department of Justice told a federal court that the administration does not believe it has a legal obligation to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States, despite a court order to do so.”
I stopped reading here—I will go back and finish reading today’s letter, but I wanted to pause here first.
My dear lawyers from the DOJ, did you pass the bar? Are you in fact lawyers? Up is not down. You have a court order and you are saying that you don’t think you have a legal obligation to follow it? You cannot be this stupid. So something else is clearly going on. You have decided, apparently, to disregard your clear legal obligation but you are too cowardly to say so directly. So which is it—you are stupid beyond belief, or you are contemptible cowards? I suppose you could be both.
I will now continue reading Heather Cox Richardson’s letter.
The DOJ has been replaced by Stepford lawyers whose only job is to contort the law to support Trump’s bidding. How an aging, bloated, demented con man with a 3rd grade vocabulary managed to pull this off is beyond me, and I keep wondering what nefarious threats keep this nightmare going.
Testing, Maureen.
The far-right foundations enacting the Powell memo knew they first had to dehumanize America's schools. They did this. And standardized testing has gone on perverting, poisoning since.
I know this is your signature issue, Phil, and I can't disagree that the massive turn to standardized testing and away from the arts and humanities is a terrible policy. But I don't think this is what accounts for the failure of well-educated politicians and attorneys and judges to DO THEIR JOBS under the Constitution.
No they are not lawyers, they are toadies for Trump.
When I was in law school I held the Supremes and the DOJ in great esteem. Impossible to do that today.
Well, at least the question "Where is the judiciary?" is now cleared.
William, one need only look at the line of formerly prestigious large law firms which have lined up to bargain themselves into free servitude to tRump and his administration to see the direction in which those whom we used to hire to plead our cases in court and advise us in the conduct of our affairs us legally to understand the direction “the law” has taken in the United States of America!
But we must continue to distinguish between the judges who are respecting US law and those who did nit want to vote with Roberts. I will give him that much credit, but no more. Thank you to Phil Balla who reminded us of the Powell memo.
Bukele could just have brought Abrego Garcia with him. I'm guessing that his plane isn't a two-seater.
We are assuming that Abrego Garcia is even still alive, and/or unharmed....
I have suspected from the first sign of reluctance to "bring Abrego Garcia home" that the administration fears (at the least) national interviews about the prison conditions in El Salvador, and (at worst) serious evidence of torture and abuse that they don't want reported to the US public.
Exactly
I suspect he was handed over to the very people he was fleeing from and that, sadly, he is no longer alive. That's one reason Trump is dragging is feet on this.
I am also afraid he is already dead.
Kristi Noem could’ve brought him back with her!
Judge should subpoena K. Noem to court and make her testify under oath. A public spectacle about what she saw and what they are doing. Confront her with Trump's statement. Ultimately I think judge will rule 'effectuate' means 'do it if possible' and Trump saying it is possible means SCOTUS says 'do it'. That is our best outcome here, unless some legal whiz comes up with something better that has yet to be floated publicly. In addition, in some manner the $6M should be withheld subject to Garcia's return. Bet ya President 'Oopsie' puts guy on plane pronto.
If she didn't shoot him.
Funny you should say that, as I’ve been thinking about that horrible place, the people who incomprehensibly WORK there, what it must be like for the prisoners (some of whom must be criminals, but…????) to be completely dehumanized with the head shaving and white shorts, and what the sudden influx of these Venezuelans (and at least one Salvadoran) must have been like…and then the advent of La Noem in her ICE cosplay gear, with the snug white T mirroring the white shorts of the prisoners, and her $50K Rolex glittering there below her mandatory Mar-a-Lago hair extensions and lip fillers…and then imagining what kind of surreal scene it would’ve been if she’d been a human being instead of whatever she is, and would’ve brought the “administrative error” back to the USA…and what that trip would’ve been like.
Hard to see her treating Abrego Garcia like a human being, as she and the whole ugly mob of Trumpists don’t see immigrants as their equals in that sense. And then I stopped trying to picture any of it, as I’ve had too many Noem-shooting-14mo-dog images in my mind, and the Noem-kills-goat-for-being-goat images are almost worse.
I think he wants to teach you all a lesson - "look what happens if I want it to" - who would have the guts to oppose him openly, and I can't blame people.
The dog killer visited El Salvador a few weeks ago. She could have brought him home as well.
Noem's photo op at the prison in El Salvador was pathetic, with Noem sporting her $50 thousand dollar Rolex watch.
I’m crazy hopeful that that exact thing will happen and the orange sadist will take the glory. Fantasy, yes, but I need some fantastical thoughts in these grim, grim times, and A Minecraft Movie was utterly horrible.
Yeah, Betsy, when I heard he was going to Mar a Lago I’d hoped he would bring along Abrego Garcia…‘twas a fleeting thought.
Great point, there, Betsy. Just gets more and more UGGGGly.
My anger is much greater than my fear. This administration is simply a bunch of mean entitled egomaniacs. Not one ounce of concern or empathy. They do not deserve any respect. Continually violating our constitution and defying the laws of our nation. Like a thin skinned bully who can “dish it out but can’t take it”. Like a child that flips the game board when he doesn’t win. Enough is enough. I will just get louder.
“Here’s the thing: Once you give up the idea that we are all equal before the law and have the right to due process, you have given up the whole game. You have admitted the principle that some people have more rights than others. Once you have replaced the principle of equality before the law with the idea that some people have no rights, you have granted your approval to the idea of an authoritarian government. At that point, all you can do is to hope that the dictator and his henchmen overlook you”
George Orwell said it best. Original rules: All animals are equal. After takeover: but some animals are more equal than others.
Yes. That was my thought, too. Is Orwell no longer read in schools?
Almost everything this administration has done flies in the face of, “equal before the law” and “the right to due process”.
How do we get a foothold in a nation where the law doesn’t apply anymore? How do we proceed when the rules of the game are being changed on a whim and at every move? I continue to believe that the first move is to protect the vulnerable. I’m not under any delusion that the henchmen won’t come for me too. Most certainly if I don’t help in anyway I can. Again, I will get loud.
Union workers, all workers, all patriotic Americans need to stand up, be heard and take any and all actions necessary, including a national strike, to stop this corrupt group of thugs from continuing to destroy our country. The courts have failed us. Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch should burn in hell. The Republicans in Congress are spineless traitors. This is not politics. This is a criminal takeover of our country.
National Strike! THAT is the best idea I have heard in a long time!
Thanks. I second everything you wrote, except GOP MOC can burn in hell too.
Nothing is off the table for this awful regime. From it will never happen, to an everyday occurrence. They make up their own truths, creating their own lawless rules.
I'm sitting here and don't even know what to say. I'm shocked. I can't believe that anyone would think this is acceptable. In my thinking, it's criminal to accept this.
Keep being loud!
Use this spreadsheet to call/email/write any of our representatives as often as possible. Not just your own state reps, reach out to those in other states. Be as loud as you can and share this. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit
Thank you Megan-saved!
You’re welcome! Thank you for using your voice right now!
Thank you
We are now in a constitutional crisis. Anyone going to publicly say it?
Matilda, many folks have been warning of this for awhile…especially with each new ***surprise!*** he throws at us, particularly the, ahem, unconstitutional ones! He’s just doing it loud and proud now because all those MAGA-adjacent wieners in congress are too cowed to resist. Mitch had his chance to do the right thing but waffled…what a festering legacy.
I just did in my comment:
The Constitution is dead. Now what do we do?
But we need Chuck Schumer to say this... but I won't hold my breathe waiting for him to do so.
I already wrote to my Senators and Congressmen today, who all act like everything is normal. Meanwhile, Trump has led us into a recession with his every changing tariffs.
Marco Rubio posted a message on Twitter/X yesterday saying that the alliance between Trump and Bukele had "become an example for security and prosperity in our hemisphere.” Bukele is visiting the White House today, the first Latin American leader Trump has met since returning to office in January. One would have though that with such a pally relationship it should be no problem at all securing the return of Garcia. The White House's reliance on the importance of respecting state sovereignty in this case looks hollow against the background of Trump's frequent threats against other countries who resist him - like Venezuela, who initially refused to take back deportees but was cowed into submission.
This type of behaviour is typical of Trump. His lies are not subtle misrepresentations but big, splashy things and he understands the importance of repeating them long after they've been debunked. A whole media ecosystem exists to support him in this endeavour. As Goebbels once wrote: "The essence of propaganda is not in variety, but rather the forcefulness and persistence with which one selects ideas from the larger pool and hammers them into the masses using the most varied methods." Likewise, his determination to ignore and evade constitutional and judicial restrictions on his behaviour are also egregious and drawn in primary colours.
Thus, ten more alleged gang members were sent to El Salvador on Sunday. El Salvador’s justice minister, Gustavo Villatoro posted a Twitter/X message showing their dramatic arrival in the country shackled and surrounded by armed soldiers and armoured police against the background of a blazing score from a John Woo film. Some of these men were apparently deported under the Enemy Aliens Act and it does not appear that any of them were allowed legal representation.
This just illustrates the heinous nature and criminal mindset of Donold. Indeed it is the deviousness of the entire Trump regime exposed and on trial already. If they were able to render 10 more said 'gang members' to El Salvador just today, then it means for the return trip there was an empty plane that could have easily had Abrego Garcia on board and brought back as several court orders have demanded.
The case has become a cause celebre for the Trump administration because they have every intention of just rounding up people who look like immigrants willy-nilly and deporting them. American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote on Twitter/X: “In order for ICE to declare someone an ‘Alien Enemy,’ ICE must first determine they are a Venezuelan over age 14, and then second find 8 points on a scoring guide they made up… This checklist is shocking. A person can be declared an ‘Alien Enemy’ based ONLY on communications with someone ICE says is a member, and nothing more.” This is the checklist which was obtained in court proceedings by the ACLU - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436.67.21.pdf
I didn’t hear that more were deported!! JFC!
Yup! - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/13/us-deportations-el-salvador-marco-rubio
They're rounding up anyone bearing any tattoo in a rather dubious compendium of gang-related tattoos and other information gathered by Homeland Security and obtained by the ACLU, which they use as a points-based system - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436/gov.uscourts.dcd.278436.67.21.pdf
But not all tattooed men need fear deportation - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cedleq79902o
Is Trump going to invade Greenland, Panama, or Canada? Is he going to arrest Rachel Madow and send her to El Salvador? Is he going to suspend Social Security? I don't know. If he invades Canada I will (at 76 years old) volunteer to help Canada. Would I be a traitor? Congress let this happen, all of them. Cowardly Congress sold us out, lock stock and barrel.
You can all go to hell. Is he dead yet? I hope so everyday.
The actions of the Trump Administration and the position of the federal government in the Abrego Garcia case are clearly and overwhelmingly contemptuous. Judge Xinis should hold Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary in contempt and jail her, with or without her Rolex until she complies with the orders of both Judge Xinis and those of the Supreme Court
Hmmm, Daniel, perhaps we could do a “prisoner swap” for Garcia and others illegally sent to El Salvador w/o due process, and exchange them for Trump, Vance, Noem, Musk, Miller,Johnson and anyone else complicit in the nightmare. Let them have a Club Fed vaycay and get a taste of “their” own medicine.
Great idea! Let's swap an equal number of Republican congress critters for all the immigrants sent illegally to El Salvador. Then there would be some real criminals in CECOT.
Are we going to start adding up the complicit, Barbara?
The billionaires, the far right media celebs, the mainstream media humanities illiterate, the evangelical racists, the social-media algorithm-ed fascist?
What a delicious dream Barb...
Good Morning, Barbara!
Great idea, and one that seems quite popular with our fellow criminal syndicalists here! I still have to get up to your North Coast newly Cal "Polyied", brewpub haven. Hope you are well.
"with or without her Rolex"
That's HARSH!
Substack needs a laughing emoji!
I though torture was illegal in this country.
“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.”
― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956
The American gulag archipelago is expanding. This regime is collaborating with the two countries with the highest incarceration rates in the world to expand our prison system.
Incarceration rates by country, per 100,000 people:
1. El Salvador 1,659
2. Cuba 794
3. Rwanda 620
4. Turkmenistan 576
5. United States 541
Canada's rate? Only 90.
Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country
LOVE data!
Great post, especially with the data!