(Hey, folks: we are still without power, making laptop time very limited. Please excuse errors and awkward phrasing that didn’t get combed out.) On Monday, Republican governor Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law a measure that gives local law enforcement officers the power to arrest migrants, and local judges the power to send them to Mexico. Entering the state illegally would become a state crime, punishable by the state.
I am so moved that you wrote this when you were out of power. Your devotion to the truth, to history, and to your readers, is a bulwark against our deepest fears.
Interesting. I don't think Abbott or the Texas GOP legislators realize that this state law has the (most likely) unintended consequence of giving the arrestees due process rights under our Constitution -- something they don't have under our federal immigration laws.
.
That is because it is not a crime to be in this country without authorization. It is a civil matter, which is why people who are detained for immigration violations have no right to an attorney along with other rights that they would be afforded if it were a crime.
Wow. Businessmen. Power, greed, enslavement. I guess some things never change. They all want to be kings. Thank you for an amazing enlightenment tonight Professor... we must vote. Peace, life, liberty, and the simple pursuit of happiness. Why do they make it so hard? And so much hatred. I do believe we are all one for the country. It is always a time of compassion. And more so right now. Share with others in need, and we will rise above. Be kind….it feels good.
Yes: it's "far easier to dominate a state legislature than the federal government."
That why over the past 50 years ALEC has been so successful drafting far-right legislation which would then coast through most U.S. state legislatures.
This, the American Legislative Exchange Council, has kept America racist, gerrymandered, subject to automatic weapon massacres in all public venues, narcotized, and -- I'd say, worst -- dumb. Millions of Americans got this way thanks to these mostly Republican, easily bought legislatures defunding schools, overworking teachers, and gutting humanities as key to turning them all over primarily to the standardized testing billionaires.
Heather Cox Richardson has got the key larger history -- the tensions between federal and state. But it's the billionaires behind what Jane Mayer calls "Dark Money," and what Sheldon Whitehouse calls "The Scheme" which explains the deeper vulgarity rampant across the land.
The decision by the Colorado Supreme Court has spawned a host of statements from the MAGA Senators and Representatives that on first glance appears that their motivation is solely to give cover and support to DJT. That is not so.
A close reading of article three states:
“shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof “.
That means that members of Congress or Senate who knowingly knew that DJT was guilty of engaging in the insurrection and failed to vote him guilty during the second impeachment process gave “aid and comfort” to DJT and thus may be subject to have violated Section 3 as well. Moreover, statements from our elected officials that January 6 was “ a walk in the park” or that “DJT did no wrong” might find themselves answering to a US Federal Court. Watch for their denials as the case against DJT gains traction.
Thank you writing this in a difficult situation. Hope power is bak soon. Thanks for the careful analysis of the current situation and the historical setting that clarifies where comes from----we live in the shadow of the Old (and the New) South---a very dark and deepening shadow. Thanks for shedding light....in this darkness.s
Of course the irony in all of this is that the Democrats have tried for years to reform the nation's immigration laws and work with Republicans on compromises. And the GOP, as in most things, refuses to agree to anything, instead perpetuate problems for political theater rather than solve them.
It is comforting to know that in our history those who would destroy equality and deny voting rights, and violate the Constitution, are losers. They will keep trying to win, and for those of us whose flame burns bright to support our constitution we must not give up. I am glad we have written documents and historians to explain them. Abbott, DeSantis, Lindsey Graham, Marjorie Taylor Greene, all those misfits, may they go screaming into oblivion, along with the orange haired manure pile.
Race, money, and greed. Through lines all through our history. Every time any forward progress is made toward a more perfect union that has equal protection under the law and equality opportunities for everyone, the deplorables all want to drag us back in time to the previous century or even farther. Case in point, Donald Trump happened after we elected Barack Obama. I thought by doing so, we had made progress, but I was SO wrong. The election of tRump showed me that we really are as racist a society as I feared. Certainly, racism is in the DNA of our political system, even though all Americans are not racist. There is always significant pushback to progress for women and minorities.
I think it’s time to get rid of Republicans permanently. Haven’t they killed enough people already and destroyed enough lives? How much worse do we have to let them get? We need to build a self-sufficient dome world somewhere where they can be locked in and can live with just themselves.
Thank you so very much for keeping us both informed and enlightened, in spite of the difficulties faced by the American Northeast due to worsening weather. I have a better understanding now of what the "originalists" are thinking when they (in my opinion) misinterpret the Constitution.
Article 1, Section 2 does indeed uphold slavery as does Article 1, Section 9 - at least until 1808. It wasn't until Amendment 13 (1865 - 101 years after the Declaration of Independence) that slavery was Constitutionally ended, and even then the authors of Amendment 13, gave the slaveholders an out with the phrase "except as punishment for a crime".
I often wonder if we wouldn't have been better off had the Union allowed those 11 States to secede. They would have formed a totally contiguous country. We of the United States would have had no reason to return escaped slaves to their masters. We had more money, more people, more industry and a growing agricultural industry. We could buy our own cotton from Egypt. We sure as hell didn't need tobacco. We out gunned and out-strategized them. Most of all we could give them baby donnie all wrapped in a bow. Sent help to Ukraine, concentrated on making Netanyahu straighten up . Biggest plusses of all - they could keep Abbot, DeSantis, Gaetz, Greene, Hawley and the MAGAts.
Let's face it, immigration issues are quite synonymous with racial prejudice. Republicans are afraid that in a true democracy, their rich elite-ism will be lost. It's okay, according to them, if migrants want to come here and work for pennies on the dollar as servants and return home to poverty, but don't want 'outsiders of color' to work for the American dream. Let's not be afraid of this ploy. Let's reveal it for what it is.
I’m very impressed that you produced under such adverse conditions; thank you!
The big picture is federal control versus state control. What the news media seems to be missing is that the law allows state lawmen to arrest people SUSPECTED of being undocumented with no legal recourse. They are assumed to be guilty and there is no provision stated of legal representation who are fluent in their language of choice. The rights expected for citizens are being waived. Much like his flying asylum seekers to Chicago (because the buses are no longer available) and dumping them, the cruelty seems to be the point —both for the asylum seekers and for the cities with no infrastructure to deal with the influx who are forbidden to work.
So just so I’m straight about how this works(primarily for republicans); states have every right to make laws unto themselves and expect no one to interfere with their actions, ESPECIALLY not the federal government of which they still are a part, UNLESS a state high court makes a decision that they don’t agree with and then they want the top federal court to weigh in and preferably rule in their favor? That’s how these so-called citizens of our United States have always rolled throughout our history it seems. It’s their preferred weapon of choice; arguing out of both sides of their mouths.
I am so moved that you wrote this when you were out of power. Your devotion to the truth, to history, and to your readers, is a bulwark against our deepest fears.
Interesting. I don't think Abbott or the Texas GOP legislators realize that this state law has the (most likely) unintended consequence of giving the arrestees due process rights under our Constitution -- something they don't have under our federal immigration laws.
.
That is because it is not a crime to be in this country without authorization. It is a civil matter, which is why people who are detained for immigration violations have no right to an attorney along with other rights that they would be afforded if it were a crime.
.
Crappy, inhumane law nonetheless.
Wow. Businessmen. Power, greed, enslavement. I guess some things never change. They all want to be kings. Thank you for an amazing enlightenment tonight Professor... we must vote. Peace, life, liberty, and the simple pursuit of happiness. Why do they make it so hard? And so much hatred. I do believe we are all one for the country. It is always a time of compassion. And more so right now. Share with others in need, and we will rise above. Be kind….it feels good.
Yes: it's "far easier to dominate a state legislature than the federal government."
That why over the past 50 years ALEC has been so successful drafting far-right legislation which would then coast through most U.S. state legislatures.
This, the American Legislative Exchange Council, has kept America racist, gerrymandered, subject to automatic weapon massacres in all public venues, narcotized, and -- I'd say, worst -- dumb. Millions of Americans got this way thanks to these mostly Republican, easily bought legislatures defunding schools, overworking teachers, and gutting humanities as key to turning them all over primarily to the standardized testing billionaires.
Heather Cox Richardson has got the key larger history -- the tensions between federal and state. But it's the billionaires behind what Jane Mayer calls "Dark Money," and what Sheldon Whitehouse calls "The Scheme" which explains the deeper vulgarity rampant across the land.
The decision by the Colorado Supreme Court has spawned a host of statements from the MAGA Senators and Representatives that on first glance appears that their motivation is solely to give cover and support to DJT. That is not so.
A close reading of article three states:
“shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof “.
That means that members of Congress or Senate who knowingly knew that DJT was guilty of engaging in the insurrection and failed to vote him guilty during the second impeachment process gave “aid and comfort” to DJT and thus may be subject to have violated Section 3 as well. Moreover, statements from our elected officials that January 6 was “ a walk in the park” or that “DJT did no wrong” might find themselves answering to a US Federal Court. Watch for their denials as the case against DJT gains traction.
Thank you writing this in a difficult situation. Hope power is bak soon. Thanks for the careful analysis of the current situation and the historical setting that clarifies where comes from----we live in the shadow of the Old (and the New) South---a very dark and deepening shadow. Thanks for shedding light....in this darkness.s
Of course the irony in all of this is that the Democrats have tried for years to reform the nation's immigration laws and work with Republicans on compromises. And the GOP, as in most things, refuses to agree to anything, instead perpetuate problems for political theater rather than solve them.
It is comforting to know that in our history those who would destroy equality and deny voting rights, and violate the Constitution, are losers. They will keep trying to win, and for those of us whose flame burns bright to support our constitution we must not give up. I am glad we have written documents and historians to explain them. Abbott, DeSantis, Lindsey Graham, Marjorie Taylor Greene, all those misfits, may they go screaming into oblivion, along with the orange haired manure pile.
Race, money, and greed. Through lines all through our history. Every time any forward progress is made toward a more perfect union that has equal protection under the law and equality opportunities for everyone, the deplorables all want to drag us back in time to the previous century or even farther. Case in point, Donald Trump happened after we elected Barack Obama. I thought by doing so, we had made progress, but I was SO wrong. The election of tRump showed me that we really are as racist a society as I feared. Certainly, racism is in the DNA of our political system, even though all Americans are not racist. There is always significant pushback to progress for women and minorities.
It's difficult not to give way to terrible anger at this point.
I think it’s time to get rid of Republicans permanently. Haven’t they killed enough people already and destroyed enough lives? How much worse do we have to let them get? We need to build a self-sufficient dome world somewhere where they can be locked in and can live with just themselves.
Thank you so very much for keeping us both informed and enlightened, in spite of the difficulties faced by the American Northeast due to worsening weather. I have a better understanding now of what the "originalists" are thinking when they (in my opinion) misinterpret the Constitution.
Article 1, Section 2 does indeed uphold slavery as does Article 1, Section 9 - at least until 1808. It wasn't until Amendment 13 (1865 - 101 years after the Declaration of Independence) that slavery was Constitutionally ended, and even then the authors of Amendment 13, gave the slaveholders an out with the phrase "except as punishment for a crime".
I often wonder if we wouldn't have been better off had the Union allowed those 11 States to secede. They would have formed a totally contiguous country. We of the United States would have had no reason to return escaped slaves to their masters. We had more money, more people, more industry and a growing agricultural industry. We could buy our own cotton from Egypt. We sure as hell didn't need tobacco. We out gunned and out-strategized them. Most of all we could give them baby donnie all wrapped in a bow. Sent help to Ukraine, concentrated on making Netanyahu straighten up . Biggest plusses of all - they could keep Abbot, DeSantis, Gaetz, Greene, Hawley and the MAGAts.
Texas residents won't forget the shit Abbot has spread in Texas.
Let's face it, immigration issues are quite synonymous with racial prejudice. Republicans are afraid that in a true democracy, their rich elite-ism will be lost. It's okay, according to them, if migrants want to come here and work for pennies on the dollar as servants and return home to poverty, but don't want 'outsiders of color' to work for the American dream. Let's not be afraid of this ploy. Let's reveal it for what it is.
I’m very impressed that you produced under such adverse conditions; thank you!
The big picture is federal control versus state control. What the news media seems to be missing is that the law allows state lawmen to arrest people SUSPECTED of being undocumented with no legal recourse. They are assumed to be guilty and there is no provision stated of legal representation who are fluent in their language of choice. The rights expected for citizens are being waived. Much like his flying asylum seekers to Chicago (because the buses are no longer available) and dumping them, the cruelty seems to be the point —both for the asylum seekers and for the cities with no infrastructure to deal with the influx who are forbidden to work.
So just so I’m straight about how this works(primarily for republicans); states have every right to make laws unto themselves and expect no one to interfere with their actions, ESPECIALLY not the federal government of which they still are a part, UNLESS a state high court makes a decision that they don’t agree with and then they want the top federal court to weigh in and preferably rule in their favor? That’s how these so-called citizens of our United States have always rolled throughout our history it seems. It’s their preferred weapon of choice; arguing out of both sides of their mouths.